September 14, 2004
The New Fall Season
The new fall TV season has started, and it's almost as if Gothamist didn't notice. We can't say for sure if it's that we're used to the hundreds of cable channels that are catered to our whims, our love for DVDs, or spending too much time blogging, but the new fall season just seems like a formality. Seinfeld came on in the midseason, as did Twin Peaks; Melrose Place was the first big summer premiere in the 90s, and now HBO has taken the idea of seasons and thrown them out the door. Nah, what we liked best about the new season so far are the withering reviews, like this bit from Brian Lowry's Variety review of Jack and Bobby (registration required): "Jack, it becomes clear, will toughen Bobby, while Bobby's gentleness provokes warmth and protectiveness in his older brother. (This will come as news to younger brothers such as myself, who were regularly used as circus props and battering rams.)" Surprisingly, the Washington Post's Tom Shales liked Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood in LAX, calling it "good trash." Gothamist preferred low culture's take on other venues for airport TV drama.
And clearly Gothamist is trapped in a bizarro world when the new shows we're looking forward to are both on the UPN: Veronica Mars, because we too wanted to be a detective in high school, and Kevin Hill, because you can't go wrong with Taye Diggs, Patrick Breen, Michael Michele, and an "angry-looking infant with hoop earrings" as the NY Times' Virginia Heffernan put it. Lost on ABC does look interesting, if only because there's Matthew Fox, whose tortured Charlie Salinger we have missed. (The returning shows we're eagerly awaiting - Law & Order, The O.C. and Joan of Arcadia...Scrubs returned last week, but who knew?)
But it's possible that no season opener will top Oprah's first episode of her 19th season: The footage of the screaming women when it was revealed that all 276 studio audience members got cars as a gift reminded us of the SNL sketch where the fans go totally insane (see SNL Revealed!, scroll to #7, from Whatevs). This is why Oprah is all powerful: Companies will give her stuff to hype...Gothamist wants to know how many Pontiac G6 will be sold after this stunt. [More from Ron Mwangaguhunga]
We love Zap2It's 2004 Fall Season guide and will be reading Television Without Pity to at least know what's happening on shows we don't watch. And there tends to be some good gossip on Defamer.
What are you watching this season?
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Seasons are meaningless now, yes. I'm still on season two of Six Feet Under and doesn't EVEN matter. Renting it all for a total of $10 is sooo much cheaper than getting cable, and when most of the good shows are on cable, well, it's a circular thing out of which emerges the fact that network television is good for nothing except nursing a hangover, and alas, I don't usually have hangovers during primetime.
is there anything cuter than taye diggs holding a baby? too bad that show is on upn or the wb.. i banned both of those networks long ago.
No more Six Feet Under; let the withdrawal set in...
What about that last episode? Nate seems to have closure, Claire is finally working Billy, and maybe David is on the road to recovery?
P.S. What does HBO have in its place?
K:
"The Wire" -- the best show to be on television in the last 10 years -- starts this coming Sunday in "Six Feet Under"'s time slot.
This is one of the few DO NOT MISS shows on TV>
So I've heard. Isn't that already on in the 8:00 slot? Does it have a new season beginning?
Now you don't even have to turn on the TV to get the new shows - WB11's got a new WB show, The Mountain, streaming online (http://mountain.trb.com/wpix.htm). I can't believe they're doing this. I bet by next year, we see a lot more of these online shows.
As far as the show itself goes, it's like Melrose Place on a ski slope, but with a better sound track. The boss from The X Files gets to reprise his short-lived role from Tarzan as The Evil Uncle.
K, The Wire is so good I get depressed each time it ends. I think Omar is one of the best characters ever. I wonder who the crime lords will be this year, and who's going to end up walking a beat next to the dump.
Cool - will have to check it out. Takes place in B-more right?
Speaking of sci-fi, I need a new good series. Hasn't been one in a while. Farscape wasn't bad.
This reality shit is getting boring and trite. Lack of imagination and no intrinsic artistic value.
But the more the masses watch (and thus support) crap TV, the more it promulgates.