Here's a jaded look ahead at the worst the Fall 2005 TV season has to offer. Based on absolutely nothing other than the shows' titles, their network-created webpages, and my boundless cynicism.
Part 1: The Big Three
ABC
-ABC has made the bold move of immediately following Jake in Progress, a thirty minute show about a ladies' man whose friends have all settled down and who now finds himself ready for commitment for the first time in his life, with What About Brian, a show about a ladies' man whose friends have all settled down and who now finds himself ready for commitment for the first time in his life. But — here's the kicker — it's a sixty minute show! Don't tell me ABC doesn't have fresh ideas!!
-Tom's reasons why not to watch Emily's Reasons Why Not: 1) It stars Heather Graham, who is such an incredibly bad actress, it's almost anti-acting. 2) There's no need for a second reason.
CBS
-I love Paula Marshall. I think she's beautiful and funny and wonderful in every show she's ever been in. Unfortunately, she has killed nearly every show she's ever been in. Stone cold dead. Like Ted McGinley, she's a serial show-killer. (Sports Night never had a chance — it guest-starred both of them!) The upshot of which is: don't get hooked on Out of Practice (even if it does also feature Stockard Channing and Henry Winkler). Hey, this will be her first kill on CBS! Way to go, Paula!
-This is the kind of show that makes me want to smack someone. First of all, that title: Ghost Whisperer. Are they serious with that crap? Horse Whisperer was a lame enough name; good job on giving it that extra little twist to make it even lamer. Second, it claims to be "inspired by the cases of famed psychic James Van Praagh." Which infuriates me. For the last time, America: "psychics" are bullshit. They are con artists, nothing more. Basing a TV show on the chicanery of such a charlatan is tantamount to endorsement of his "powers"; it aids and abets the deception and exploitation of the gullible and bereft. I feel the same anger about the inexplicably popular Medium. Which of course brings us to number three: this could not be a more blatant rip-off of Medium. Hot babe with psychic powers solves crimes. Come on! Can't you at least pretend you're trying to be original? And finally, we have the star: Jennifer Love Hewitt. Really? In a crime drama? I'm out!! I don't have the most discerning of TV viewing habits; I will watch practically anything. I'll tell you what: I will never watch this.
Article comments
1 - Baronius
If you were an insider, you could watch the first episode of each new show and be able to tell us ... nothing more than you just did. The pilot episode has become a combination sales pitch / prehistory in which everything the show will be is put into place. It's second cousin to the movie trailer. And this is what the Entertainment Monitering Industry uses to predict the quality of a new show.
Shouldn't Hewitt's ripoff of Arquette's Medium be called Large and Firm? (I didn't type that; someone else must have.)
2 - Temple Stark
BC Video editor Eric Berlin chose this for a pick of the week. Click HERE to fnd out why.
Thank you. EE Temple
3 - Bob A. Booey
Good stuff, Tom the Dog.
I like you. Write more often and I'll scratch your belly.
That is all.
4 - Bob A. Booey
But I better not see any pink lipstick or I'm so done with it.
That is all.