TV with MeeVee

Fox Announces 2008-09 Season Plans

Fox wants you to feel their electricity. No, really. "“Broadcast television needs a jolt. We feel it’s our responsibility, as the No. 1 network for the last four seasons, to provide that electricity,” Fox Broadcasting Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori says in remarks  prepared for his upfront presentation to advertisers in New York today.

The schedule announced this morning puts the most focus on dramas from J.J. Abrams ("Lost") and Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"). The network is not exactly reinventing the wheel, but they are putting something besides repeats on Friday night. And the bloated "American Idol" results show gets cuts back to a half hour in '09.

Fox executives on a conference call with reporters this morning admit that, like the other networks, Fox has fewer new shows due to the writers strike's disruption of the development cycle. Of course, when you're the most-watched network among total viewers as well as viewers 18-49 ...no worries mon. And they say they actually have shows in development now for all the way to the start of 2010.

Two new series debut in the fall:

"Fringe" (above), a thriller from Abrams, stars newcomer Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble as allies thrown together to investigate weirdness emanating from a mysterious Boston plane crash. Think "Lost" meets "The X-Files." It will air behind "House" on Tuesday nights in the fall.

"Do Not Disturb" is a comedy with Jerry O'Connell as a manager at an upscale New York hotel; Jason Bateman of "Arrested Development" will direct some episodes.

The "24" prequel also airs in November, as we reported earlier this morning. One Fox exec on the call just termed it "a really cool piece of standalone business."

Coming after the first of the year - along with "24" and "American Idol" - are four more new series, including another giving-it-away reality show, called "Secret Millionaire."

The year's most anticipated drama is Whedon's "Dollhouse" (right). Eliza Dushku, who enlivened the final seasons of "Buffy," stars as one of an underground group who have their personalities "wiped" and replaced with new ones in order to better carry out their secret missions.

In the spring we'll see two comedies, the unlikely "Family Guy" spinoff "Cleveland" and the animated "Sit Down, Shut Up," from "Arrested Development" creator Mitchell Hurwitz. That's about a group of less-than-dedicated teachers, with Bateman leading the voice cast.

Tidbits from the conference call:

Someone just asked the execs how they decided whether to give "Fringe" or "Dollhouse" the fall launch. Entertainment President Kevin Reilly - I think it was him, anyway - said it was "a high-class problem to have." Whedon had seven scripts written from the get-go, but Abrams finished pilot production sooner. Whdeon welcomed the extra time, the execs said.

Talking To Christina Applegate & Co. About "Samantha Who?"

The new ABC sitcom "Samantha Who?" stars Christina Applegate as a woman who wakes from a coma to find she has retrograde amnesia - she can walk and talk and drive, she just can't remember anything about her life, not family or friends or lovers. Gradually she finds out that 'Old Sam' has been a rotten human being; 'New Sam' decides to change her ways. Call it a kindler, gentler "My Name Is Earl."

"Some people call this 'My Name Is Girl,' and I hate those people," co-creator Donald Todd said at press tour this summer. He was joking, kinda.

"There's an element of this show that can draw on the same kind of setup, someone who discovers a problem and has to go fix it. But with us that's only one element of the show... There are so many avenues for stories on this, but one will be land mines that she has discovers, that she has set out there as Old Sam, and she will want to make amends," Todd said.

At least Applegate won't have to write a backstory for her character this time - she'll be finding it out as she goes along. "What I kind of liked about this is that it was fresh," Applegate said. "Everything was a discovery."

Among the discoveries is that Old Sam's boyfriend, played by Barry Watson, actually broke up with her right before she was hit by a car and knocked into that coma. His relationship with New Sam begins platonically, but there's still some chemistry there...

"I don't know if we're going to seal the deal at any point," Applegate said. "But I think that he's a safe place for Sam, and there's just something there, she really likes him. And it's sort of sad to have this, him having brojen up with her before this, and that's tugging at her heart, because he's sort of the perfect guy for her, maybe not for Sam before, but for this new Sam."

Review: "Life Is Wild" Isn't

I wish I could say I was more impressed with this sweet little show about family harmony, racial understanding and the beauty of nature. It is sweet enough to be a hit with animal-loving 12-year-old girls of all ages. But that's the thing - except for a few good lines from grumpy boozed-up grandpa, "Life Is Wild" is basically a kid's show. Tune in for the beautiful animals if you will. But don't expect too much in terms of nuanced drama. Suffice to say that the big dramatic climax involves the entire family watching intently as a lioness and her cub are reintroduced after a separation. Did I mention that two of the children are pining for their dead mom? Are you in a diabetic coma yet?

Teenager Katie Clark and her little brother Chase lost her mother to cancer three years ago. Then their veterinarian dad, Danny, married pretty lawyer Jo. Jo brought her rebellious teenaged son Jesse and his little sister Mia to their blended family. Now Jesse's acting out, and everyone's in turmoil. So Doctor Danny decides the answer is: a) counseling b) having dinner together as a family every night to improve communications or c) moving the whole brood to a lodge in a South African game preserve. This being television, the answer is, of course, c.

This makes sense - not really, but the screenplay says so - because the Blue Antelope Lodge is where Katie's dead mother grew up. Now Katie's reclusive grandfather, Art, is running the joint into the ground. Doctor Danny's arrival will ease the critical shortage of vets in the area. The kids can forget all about their iPods and cellphones and romp and play with the pretty animals. Jo will help Art resurrect the lodge. And they'll all help each other heal and become a true family. Cue the baby hippo!

MeeVee Exclusive: Paul Adelstein, From "Prison Break" To "Private Practice"

I'm not a big "Grey's Anatomy" fan. We have people for that. I am, however, a big "Prison Break" fan. My jaw dropped when I found out that the homicidal, fanatical and ultimately tragic Agent Paul Kellerman of "Prison Break" was moving over to become a Santa Monica pediatrician on the "Grey's" spinoff "Private Practice." It's quite a little stretch. So after the "Private Practice" session at press tour this summer, while all the "Grey's" devotees were chasing creator Shonda Rimes and star Kate Walsh around the room, I cornered Adelstein for a chat. (At right, Adelstein during the press conference.)

I call it an exclusive, although my friend from JewReview.net was there and got in a couple of questions about Adelstein's faith. His suburban-Chicago congregation got so out of control with the lavish bar mitvahs, the actor said, that their rabbi banned them before he could have one.

With the two of us, Adelstein was funny and pretty candid, especially about playing Kellerman. On "Private Practice," he's Dr. Cooper Freedman, a good doc with a screwed-up dating life who's close friends with Amy Brenneman's Dr. Violet Turner.

Cooper, he said, is an example of "people in their 30s who really have this extended adolescence now, which I think is prevalent in this country and a really interesting thing to explore...

"Pushing Daisies" Interviews: Foreplay In Beekeeper Suits

It's probably the only show that was inspired by "Amelie" and "CSI." ABC's "Pushing Daisies" is a "forensic fairytale" and one of the season's most talked-about new shows. The oddball cast of characters centers around Ned, a piemaker with a miraculous gift - he can revive the dead with a touch. Problem: The second time he touches them, they're toast. Things get really complicated when he revives the love of his life.

To whet your appetite for tonight's debut, here are excerpts of stars Lee Pace and Anna Friel, creator Bryan Fuller, director Barry Sonnenfeld and other cast members talking about the show at press tour in Hollywood...

Q: Can you talk about the genesis of the concept, what was the core idea and then how you decided to develop it so it took on its full chrome here?
Fuller: Sure. The story actually started out as a spinoff of "Dead Like Me," and I put it in my back pocket. And when I went to Warner Brothers and was talking about ideas to do for a new show, I pitched them the idea of a guy who can touch dead people once and bring them back to life, and if he touches them again they go back to being dead. problem is, he touches a dead girl, falls in love with her, and can never touch her again. So that was sort of the core of the idea. It was built around this impossible romance, which kind of infects all the stories around it, so everything has a little bit of sweetness to it.

Review: "Pushing Daisies" Blooms, But Is It A Hothouse Flower?

It's the strangest show of the new season. Also the sweetest. One of the most talked-about. And certainly the most original. The "forensic fairytale" called "Pushing Daisies" debuts tonight on ABC. There's no question that it's different. The question is whether America will tune in week after week. You should at least give it a try. This kind of daring - by the creators and by ABC - deserves to be rewarded. I promise you this: You've never seen anything like it.

OK, smart guy, but what's it about? Ned is a young boy with a special gift: He can bring the dead back to life with just a touch. It works on a fly, his dog, his mom. He also learns that when he touches them a second time, they're dead again, this time forever. D'oh! Among the unforeseen consequences of Ned's unexplained gift is that he is separated from the little girl he loves, whose name is Chuck.

As an adult, Ned (Lee Pace) runs the local pie shop. He's a bit of a loner, understandably wary of forming attachments. Then a private detective named Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) learns of his gift and convinces Ned to join him in a seemingly simple scheme - Ned will revive murder victims just long enough for them to name their killers, and then he and the detective will split the reward money.

Ned's life gets even more complicated when one of the victims he revives turns out to be Chuck (Anna Friel), now a lovely young woman. He can't bring himself to touch her a second time, so pretty soon they're falling in love again - but a single kiss and she'll be dead forever. While they're working that out, she's going to hang around and help Ned and Cod solve crimes.

Done poorly, or on CBS, this is "Ghost Whisperer." But "Pushing Daisies" is the creation of Bryan Fuller, who was behind the short-lived "Wonderfalls" and also wrote part of the first season of "Heroes." And his script has been realized by director Barry Sonnenfeld, who did "Men in Black" and "Lemony Snicket" and "The Addams Family." Together they've come up with a look that is bright and quirky, with oversaturated colors, digital backgrounds, and bizarro sets. It's a dream world, wholesome and cartoony and somehow unsettling all at the same time.

Morning reading

• Most important story of the day, if it pans out: The Writers Guild may be ready to go on strike when its contract expires on Nov. 1, instead of next spring in concert with the actors. That could throw the TV season into turmoil. (Ausiello)
• One critic almost kinda actually liked "Carpoolers." My friend has lost his mind. (TV Barn)
• The NYT critic hated "Carpoolers" like I did, although I'm not sure what "circumscribing the parameters of their own lameness" means in English. (NYT)
• The new series lack buzz. (Hollywood Reporter via Reuters)
• "Queer Eye" debuts for a fifth season tonight. I know, I know - "Is that still on?" (BuzzSugar)
• Tim Gunn dishes on "Project Runway" while promoting his book and new show. (TV Squad)
• Recapping "Dancing With The Stars." (TV Squad)
• "World's Most Boring TV Show." Why is my reaction, "I've gotta watch that!" ?? (Reuters)

Review: "Carpoolers" Is A Junker, "Cavemen" Are In Hiding

All signs are bad for the ABC comedy hour premiering tonight. The controversial "Cavemen" took so much abuse from those who saw the original pilot that it has been completely re-shot in recent weeks, and gosh darn it, ABC just couldn't quite get it ready in time to send out advance copies to critics. No matter, I hate it anyway.

Based on the Geico commercials - and no matter what anyone says, that is a bad sign - the show tries to make comedy of the prejudice against cavemen living amongst us. What it really does, however, is put funny makeup and wigs on prejudice. It trivializes that which it is supposedly satirizing. To quote the Boss, Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse? In this case, definitely something worse.

Which brings us to "Carpoolers." If I was ABC, I might have held onto this one, too. But they sent it out, and I watched, and it is so not good. Ironically, at times it has the generic atmosphere of an insurance commercial. Despite the fact that "Carpoolers" was created by Bruce McCulloch, one of the Kids in the Hall, it's just dreary in its hackneyed "humor." Desperate for laughs, the writers try for a self-conscious wackiness that never connects.

One example: Each morning the four carpoolers compete with a slightly more upscale carpool for the last spot in the office park parking lot. One of them sneeringly refers to their competitors as "the fancy carpool with their sushi," and we even see one of the other guys waving chopsticks in the air. Just one problem here: NOBODY EATS SUSHI FOR BREAKFAST. Stupid.

Review: "Aliens In America" Rocks The Fatwa

Sitcoms provide plenty of evidence for the idea of America as the Great Satan. Just think of Fox's "'Til Death." But tonight, CW's "Aliens in America" proves that the sitcom can also take on potentially explosive material like a Pakistani Muslim in small-town Wisconsin and handle it with smarts and subtlety and lots of genuine laughs. Of course the real subject here is how difficult it is to be a teenager of any religion or ethnicity, anytime, anywhere. Justin Tolchuk and his Pakistani exchange student pal Raja are both fish out of water in the local high school.

It will be interesting to see how the Muslim community reacts to this sweet, funny show about cross-cultural relations. At press tour this summer, the most hostile questions came from midwestern reporters who felt their people were being stereotyped as bigoted hicks. But it's not midwesterners - it's people everywhere whose prejudices and rationalizations are lampooned, and the high schoolers are far crueler than the few adults onscreen. Raja comes across as the most level-headed person on the show, but he too has his blindnesses. I wouldn't say this is a brilliant show, but it's astonishingly even-handed and humane. Perhaps because of that, I do not picture Osama bin Laden cracking up when he dials it up on the satellite in his mountain redoubt. Everyone else ought to find it full of laughs and sweetness, the best new half-hour this season.

Pushing "Pushing Daisies"

Yep, "Pushing Daisies" debuts Wednesday night on ABC. One of the most talked-about shows of the year, at least among critics - and therein lies the challenge. It's going to be ginormously interesting to see if the general public locks in with this highly stylized, dreamlike, fantasy-romance-mystery series. We're review it here on Wednesday But there's already a smart new fan site for the show, The Piemaker.com, and today they've got the stirring tale of a recent set visit to the show. Perhaps the most revealing thing about it is just how deeply into this show some people are.

"Moonlight" In The Shadows

"Moonlight," the vampire detective show bowing tonight on CBS, has been almost completely made over on- and off-camera since a short "presentation" that was shown to us critics this summer. Among other things, the studio hired and then jettisoned an executive producer from "Angel" whose presence gave everyone ideas about the show's, um, inspiration. Star Alex O'Loughlin as the handsome though blood-drinking "hero" is about the only thing that hasn't changed. He's Mick, an L.A. vamp with a conscience who buys his blood from a dealer and takes on a mission reining in his less moral fellow vamps. Unfortunately, this is the only new fall show from the five major networks I haven't received. But to judge by other critics, it's no great loss...

"Yet it would be one thing if "Moonlight" stole from the best and made it its own. What it does instead is steal other shows' lifeblood and water it down -- and as any vamp can tell you, that's no way to improve the flavor." (Ted Cox, Daily Herald)

"This bites...feels in every way a throwback to 1990s syndicated dramas..." (Televisionary)

"Even the show's liveliest element, the newsroom of a TMZ.com-like Web site where intrepid reporter - and blond mortal - Beth Turner (Sophia Myles) works, is packed with people who say things like, 'Don't think - go. Mama needs fresh content.' I know how Mama feels." (Ellen Gray, Phila. Daily News)

"Watching the new CBS vampire show, Moonlight, one gets the sense that the resurgence of science fiction/fantasy shows on broadcast networks may prove short-lived." (The TV and Film Guy)

A couple of afternoon reads

• Last night's ratings for new and returning shows were a mixed bag. ABC did good with "Dancing With The Stars," and "Private Practice" won its timeslot - but not by much over NBC's "Bionic Woman." NBC's "Life" lost a bunch of viewers halfway through. And things don't look so hot for CW's "Gossip Girl." (Televisionista, TVSquad, and real numbers at The Futon Critic)
• On the brighter side, with the return of "The Office" tonight, we also get the return of "The Office Thursday on GMMR." If you're giddy with anticipation over Jim and Pam's dinner date, this is the place for you.

Best Gimmicks Ever: "Elvira," "Wonder Woman," "Knight Rider"

OMG: Televisionary says we're going to get a new "Knight Rider." (The old one, with Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, is still in syndication on TVLand).  That's better news than hearing that Jessica Biel is going to be in the remake of "Wonder Woman" or that the "Search For The Next Elvira" is going to be airing on October 31 (of course). Oh, who am I kidding, I just threw all three of those things together for one big festival of nostalgia. Now, back to looking up gossip about the stars of "Bionic Woman..."

Afternoon tidbits

Sometimes things get past us while we chronicle the torrent of new programming that is premiere week:

• Apparently they've re-shot so much of "Cavemen" we're not going to get an advance pilot before the premiere. And the location has been moved from Atlanta to San Diego for production reasons; in any case, they're filming in L.A. (AP)
• One blogger finds the pilot of "Moonlight" every bit as disappointing as we've heard. (TV Squad)
• You can watch Sunday's season premieres of "Dexter" and "Brotherhood" online right now. (BuzzSugar)

Review: "Bionic Woman" = Hot Chicks Fighting In The Rain

Scifi/action fans have three great new choices this season, with the hilarious "Reaper," the upcoming "Sarah Connor Chronicles," and "Bionic Woman," debuting tonight on NBC. Michelle Ryan (right) stars as Jamie Sommers. This is moody, broody stuff, and I don't just mean because Isaiah Washington begins a multi-episode appearance next week. (We kid because we love! But not in a homosexual way!)

"Bionic Woman" is scifi noir, part of a modern tradition that dates back at least to "Blade Runner," with chilly blue-white lighting and lots of cyberiffic people making difficult existential choices while wearing frowny faces.

That doesn't mean I didn't like it. Actually, this is one new show that really knows what it's doing. For example:

1) They cast Katee Sackhoff (left), "Battlestar Galactica's" Starbuck, as Jamie Sommers' nemesis, Sarah Corvis, her predecessor in bionic hotness, now gone very, very bad.
2) They end the pilot episode with a big fight scene for Jamie and Sarah. On a rooftop. At night. In the rain.

A gazillion pages of XXX fanfic will no doubt be spun off from this drenchingly sexy battle royale. (And this time we do mean in a homosexual way. Or technically, a Sapphic/bionic way.)

First show of the season to bite the dust is... (drumroll please)

"Nashville" just got canned (ok, it's not totally canceled, just pulled til "later," but we all know what that means) after only 2 weeks. Looks like that plucky team of aspiring country-music and reality-TV stars should stick to CMT. The only question in my mind: will "Cavemen" get even that far?

On the plus side, sci-fi fans will be happy to know that "Eureka" just got picked up for a third season.

Review: "Life" Gets Weird For An Ex-Con Cop

In "Life," debuting tonight on NBC, yet another British actor gets a lead in an American series, playing an American. Hopefully they're all sending checks to Hugh Laurie.

First, though, I just gotta say, whatta crappy title. I mean, way to tell us ZERO about the show. Sigh. Which is too bad, because this copper is kind of interesting. In fact, he's such a twitch I'm not sure yet if I want to see him for an hour every week.

Damian Lewis, best known for "Band of Brothers," stars as Charlie Crews, a big-city detective who is making up for lost time. More than a decade ago, he was convicted of a triple murder he didn't commit, and now, after years of very hard time, he's been exonerated and sprung, complete with a gazillion-dollar legal settlement from the city. He's also got his badge back, although not everyone on the force is happy to see him again.

Mostly, though, what Charlie's got is a seriously weird attitude.

"Reaper" Re-shoots: Somebody Call A Razor!

Just one flaw in the otherwise terrific pilot episode of "Reaper" as it aired last night on CW. A handful of scenes were re-shot to accommodate the re-casting of hero Sam's crush. (Missy Peregrym now has the part.) But in those new shots last night, Bret Harrison as Sam had WAY more stubble in the moustache area than in the shots from the original pilot. It was kinda silly.

Review: "Dirty Sexy Money" Makes Dysfunction Funny

CBS' new "Cane" treats its multi-generational family soap with deadly seriousness. ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money," debuting tonight, goes in the other direction. It treats the super-rich Darling clan rather like the Munsters as seen by TMZ.com. It's not great, but it will make you laugh, and if you enjoyed the campier moments of "Dallas" or "Dynasty," this is the 21st century version, complete with a running joke about Blackberry ringtones.

Peter Krause of "Six Feet Under" stars as Nick George, an outwardly idealistic young attorney in Manhattan. When his father, also a lawyer, dies in a mysterious plane crash, Nick is wooed to replace him as retainer to the Darlings. It's a fraught decision, as Nick grew up in the shadow of this powerful family and the job broke up his parents' marriage. But he's won over by the offer of a $10 million-a-year charitable foundation in his dad's name from patriarch Tripp Darling, played with menacing restraint by Donald Sutherland. So Nick plunges in to the family's many, many, many troubles.

This leads to a moment when he tells one of the Darling sons, "You're going to be a senator. Don't you as a U.S. senator have to have enough courage to walk into a hotel room and give a tranny hooker a check?"

"Private Practice," First Look

(Ed. note: We posted this review last week, but since the show debuts tonight, we thought we'd give you another look...)

I've seen the first episode of "Private Practice," and let me say this: it was good. 

Okay, some of it was good, because when it was good, it was very good.  But there were rough spots, and when those were bad, they were very bad. So the question these days really is this: "Private Practice" - redheaded step-child of the season, or the smash hit that we hoped for at first?

It won't be the critics who'll decide, and it won't be the fans.  It won't be the producers, the writers, or the cast.  It'll be one person, and one person alone: Shonda Rhimes.

The success of "Private Practice," debuting Sept. 26 on ABC, rests entirely on Shonda's shoulders, and three years ago that would've been a good thing. You know, before the crash-and-burn that was this past season of "Grey's." From the penitent interviews Shonda has been giving, it seems like she's finally got the message: You can only push the characters so far before they just become impossible to believe - and, worse, relate to. When Meredith says, "Seriously?" the answer shouldn't be, "No."

This "Seriously?" problem with "Grey's Anatomy" last season was what pissed off fans during the spinoff episode for "Private Practice" last season.  The talking elevator was hard to swallow, but at least it was a hard-to-swallow moment in the plot.  The slo-mo gawking as their dripping, muscular surfer-boy receptionist walked in from lunch, the sleeping-around of the surrogate mother - those were hard-to-swallow character points.  And in a show from Shonda Rhimes, the woman who single-handedly brought decent character development back to network TV, that's unforgivable.

So the question is: did the first real episode, with the full power of its own crew, producers, and writers, manage to do better?

(Spoilers lie ahead, so proceed at your own risk!)

Loving "Reaper," Part 2

OK, so I already told you the setup for "Reaper," and the big deep subtle reasons why it works. Now let me tell you why it's so puppy-dog likable and why I think it's better than "Chuck." And then if you're still not convinced that you should watch the premiere tonight on CW, I will come to your house and change the channel for you.

And by the way, a caveat: I am an insane "House" fan, and "Reaper" airs opposite it. If you don't get reviewer DVDs of both shows (nyeah nyeah) or have a DVR, I understand this is going to be a difficult decision. But if you must choose just one show tonight, consider that "House" is, deservedly, a giant-ass hit, and "Reaper" is a brand new series on a dinky little also-ran network. Who needs your help more? When I'm done with this post, I'll share a few spoilers about tonight's "House," too.

So why "Reaper?" Five more reasons:

1) The leading man. Bret Harrison was the best thing about the wildly uneven Fox sitcom "The Loop," a put-upon everyman wading through a horde of scenery-chewing loonies. There were great moments on that show, and also scenes so bad I changed the channel. Here his pained looks and yelps of outrage are in the service of a much more finely calibrated script that actually makes sense from scene to scene. And he's like, a real guy, not a cartoon. His wounded innocence and nascent courage here provide the grounding for all...the...crazy....shit.

Pictured: Rick Gonzalez as Ben, Bret Harrison as Sam, and Tyler Labine as Sock, from episode two.

Review: Don't Miss The "Reaper"

The most fun you can having watching TV this week comes tonight, when CW rolls out the premiere of "Reaper." It's hilarious and scary and more believable than "Chuck," to which it's often compared, even though one of the main characters is...The Devil.

Bret Harrison stars as Sam, a slacker clerk at the Work Bench big box store - think Home Depot. He ends up with a Satanic side job, capturing Hell's escapees with the help of his co-workers and a few supplies from the store. Never has a Dirt Devil vacuum done such important work.
(Pictured: Harrison and Labine.)

As the show opens, Sam is an underachiever and not really proud of it. For some reason his parents have let him drift, and his party-hearty buddy Sock (Tyler Labine) encourages it. Then, on his 21st birthday, a bunch of deeply weird stuff begins happening to Sam - dogs freak out at his approach, and then he gets carjacked by this really friendly guy in a nice suit. And oh yeah, he seems to have acquired a few minor super powers. Sam is freaking out even before his parents tell him why all this is happening, why they've never pushed him toward college and a career: Before he was born, they sold his soul to the Devil, aka the guy in the back seat, effective when he turns 21.

When Sam hits his birthday party that night, he is seriously ready for some shots.

Review: "Cane" Offers Strong Drama, Smits...And Mojitos

CBS viewers who tune in for the season premieres of “NCIS” and “The Unit” tonight are likely to stick around for the premiere of “Cane.” “Cane” delivers enough action to lure fans of those two shows. Like them, it has a familiar TV face front and center in Jimmy Smits. Also like them, “Cane” is solidly crafted and very traditional television.

But “Cane” is also something very different: The first serious TV show about a large and successful Latino family. The Duques are a wealthy sugar-cane growing clan and seem to own about half of Florida. They’re Cuban-American, and their culture – their food, their music, their language and their tangled political history – is very much a part of the show.

In days to come I’ll pass along interviews with Smits, Rita Moreno, Nestor Carbonell and more. The other actors, especially Moreno, said they were deeply moved to find a Latino family in such a powerful position on TV. Smits, though, dogged kept our conversation on the drama, and he was very candid about why. He doesn’t want this to be “the Latino show.” He wants it to be a butt-kickingly successful prime-time series.Certainly there’s enough suds for that; the show earns its frequent “Dallas” comparisons.

Stars Liveblogging For NBC Premieres (CORRECTED)

If you're checking out the premieres of "Chuck" and "Journeyman" on NBC tonight, you might want to power up the laptop at the same time for liveblogging and chat with the stars and creators of the two shows as they air. "Chuck" star Zach Levi and creator Josh Schwartz will be online at http://blog.nbc.com/chuck/ beginning at 8 ET. "Journeyman" Star Kevin McKidd will be online during at show at http://blog.nbc.com/journeyman/ beginning at 10 ET. And perhaps most important, "Heroes" creator Tim Kring and star Jack Coleman (aka H.R.G. - pictured ) will be at http://blog.nbc.com/heroes/ beginning at 10 ET, after the season premiere. NBC sez the "Heroes" site has been redesigned and now includes the final piece of the Yamagata Fellowship doc.

CORRECTION: NBC's folks emailed again to say they told us wrong before - each liveblog starts after the show, so online fun for "Chuck" begins at 9, "Heroes" at 10 and "Journeyman" at 11 ET. Also, McKidd is out and "Journeyman" creator Kevin Falls is in.

Review: "Chuck" Turns Nerd Herd Into Mod Squad

Zach Levi, a supporting player on “Less Than Perfect,” gets a chance to shine in “Chuck,” one of the new shows that critics really seem to like this fall. I’m not sure I can make up my mind about it until I see a couple more episodes. The pilot is pretty entertaining, even though the plot’s ridiculous. One of the reasons I prefer CW’s similar “Reaper” is that it makes a story about the Devil and Hell seem entirely believable in the middle of the suburbs, while “Chuck” has a hard time doing the same with its CIA and NSA spooks. Go figure.

Levi plays the titular Chuck, a Nerd Herd worker at the Buy More store – think Geek Squad and Best Buy. He’s a pathetic loser, still living with his sister and mooning over the girl he lost to his dashing college roommate, Bryce, five years ago. Then one day he gets an email from Bryce that bursts into a psychedelic video montage. Chuck is hypnotized by the images, not realizing that he is downloading all of the government’s secrets directly into his brain. Unbeknownst to Chuck, Bryce is a government superspy involved in some sort of interagency conspiracy – but not so super that he doesn’t get dead shortly after emailing Chuck. Now there’s only one set of files, and it’s in Chuck’s head.

Review: "Journeyman" - What Year Is It, Anyway?

Bob Dylan once sang that to live outside the law you must be honest. To write successful sci fi/fantasy, your craziest premise has to make gut-level sense to the audience. On the time-traveling “Journeyman,” which debuts tonight on NBC, the writers have failed in that basic task.

Since “Viva Laughlin” doesn’t debut until October, “Journeyman” could be the first series canceled this fall. This despite the facts that it 1) comes from a couple of “West Wing” staffers, 2) airs in the plum post-“Heroes” time slot and 3) stars the charismatic Kevin McKidd from HBO’s “Rome.” Too bad.

McKidd (left) plays Dan, a San Francisco newspaper reporter who suddenly starts time-traveling. One minute he’s standing on the street in present-day San Francisco, and then BLIP, he’s stumbling to his feet in 1988 or 1994, in some other part of town. He gets to wander around in the past for a while, and then just as suddenly, BLIP, he’s back to the present, where people are pissed at his sudden disappearances.

Review: "Big Bang Theory" Means Time To Mock The Geeks

I was glad to hear Johnny Galecki was coming back to TV. On “Roseanne,” he was endearingly befuddled as Darlene’s doormat boyfriend. But, unfortunately for a show that's supposed to be about geniuses, “The Big Bang Theory” is fatally dumb. The sitcom, debuting tonight on CBS, starts in the lobby at a high-IQ sperm bank and, well, that pretty much tells you all you need to know. The humor doesn't get much smarter than the junior-high level double entendre in the title.

Galecki and Jim Parsons are Leonard and Sheldon, two socially awkward geniuses of a kind found mainly on TV. They sit around their apartment knocking out groundbreaking higher-math equations and parsing sci fi trivia while wishing they could score with a real girl. Enter their new neighbor, Kaley Cuoco as Penny, a bubbly sexpot who seems oblivious to her effect on these two loads.      

Actually, that’s a typo. I meant to type “lads.” But “loads” works.

(Pictured: Cuoco, Parsons and Galecki.)  

"Kid Nation" - Joyful Romp or Child Slavery?

You'll have to be the judge, because you won't be reading a review of "Kid Nation" here. CBS wouldn't release the pilot to critics in advance, even though we saw a fairly polished five- or seven-minute promo back in July. It can't be that they're not done editing. More likely they're still smarting from the beating they've received in the press over their, um, careful parsing of the child labor laws and the subsequent tumult. Child labor laws are, um, good, of course. Without them they only would have needed one baby to make "Full House," and then we wouldn't have the Olsen Twins. Oh, wait...

Anyway, under normal circumstances a show like this would be impossible to produce, and I'm actually rather sympathetic to what the producers were trying to do. I'll change my mind in a heartbeat if we start seeing "Kid Big Brother" and "Kid Beauty and the Geek" all over the schedule. But if the show tonight is anything like the promo, it will be watercooler TV for the whole family, which is pretty rare these days. I say let's hold the torches and pitchforks at least until we've seen it.

"Gossip Girl" Review: Heinous Little Bitches

CW has two of this fall's best and brightest new shows - "Aliens In America" and "Reaper" - but, this being TV, the network had to put some totally cynical crap on the air to balance them out. Thus, "Gossip Girl." Based on a popular series of young adult novels, the series chronicles the social doings - drinking and doping and screwing and gossiping and backstabbing - among a group of rich prep-school brats in Manhattan. And in one of this season's many nods to that Internet thingie, the tale is narrated in voiceover by a mysterious blogger called Gossip Girl, who seems to be everywhere and nowhere all at once.

I went to high school in the '70s. I'm hardly shocked at teenagers puffing a little weed in the park or jumping each others' bones in the spare bedroom. What sets me back about "Gossip Girl" is how cynical, amoral and sad it all seems. These kids aren't drinking, getting high and having sex for the fun of it, but rather for social positioning. And it doesn't seem to make them happy. But if this is supposed to be a cautionary tale, it's far too glamorous. It looks more like destructive role-modeling, a mean-girl how-to. Providing aspirational decadence for the heinous little bitches of tomorrow. Nice.

"Back To You" Review: Zingers From Back In The Day

"GOOD LORD, cut your nails! It's like a falcon landed on my wrist!" If you hear that in Frasier Crane's voice and you laugh, then you'll like "Back To You," the new - sort of - Fox sitcom debuting tonight. This is a traditional three-camera, setup-punchline sitcom complete with obnoxious laugh track, made by skillful practitioners of the craft. It's TV comfort food. Take out the YouTube references and maybe dial back the sex jokes just a bit, and you could put this in the way-back machine and air it in 1982 or 1978 without anyone noticing a problem. Hell, Fred Willard would be wearing the same sportcoats.

Kelsey Grammer ("Frasier") stars as the perfectly named Chuck Darling, a "preening gasbag" of a local news anchor who returns to his old station in Pittsburgh after an on-air meltdown in Los Angeles that became a YouTube sensation. Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond") is Kelly Carr, the co-anchor he left behind, who's less than thrilled to see him back at her side. She's the one with the nails like talons, and the one who pins him with the "gasbag" tag. These are expert practitioners of two-handed insult comedy, flinging the zingers at each other with the kind of underlying spin that reveals the lingering feelings from before Chuck left for L.A. There's also the matter of a one-night stand, and a related plot twist that anyone over the age of 8 (or is it 10?) will get long before its on-air revelation.

All that said, you will laugh.
"I still vomit before every show," Willard's throwback sports anchor admits.
"Well, if it ain't broke..." Frasier, I mean Chuck, says with a thoughtful expression.

Your Minimum Daily Requirement Of Morning Links

• Who won "Big Brother 8?" Who cares! Well, actually, Give Me My Remote Does. Let's just say the choice was hilariously appropriate. (GMMR)
• Pictures and spoilers from the season premiere of "Friday Night Lights." (Televisionista)
• "The Office" spoilers and pix. (GMMR)
• Are "Heroes" co-stars Milo Ventimiglia and Hayden Panettiere dating? She just turned 18 and he's what? (Televisionista)
• "Gilmore Girls" star Lauren Graham inks a big development deal with NBC. (TV Squad)
• Molly Shannon signs for a multi-ep stint on "Pushing Daisies" as the owner of a saltwater taffy shop across the street from the Pie Hole. (Ausiello)

"Back To You" Brings Grammer, Heaton Back To Sitcoms

Ask a star a leading question and you can see a whole press conference going south right before your eyes. That seemed about to happen at this summer's press tour session for "Back To You," the new Fox sitcom that debuts Wednesday night, with Kelsey Grammer of "Frasier" and Patricia Heaton of "Everybody Loves Raymond" as bickering local news anchors.

A reporter listed shows like "Seinfeld" and "Friends," where the stars had washed their hands of sitcoms afterward, then asked, "If you could explain to us why you guys seem to have a different perspective, where you say, 'Well, we're happy to come back to (sitcoms) even though we've been on these classic shows that were so successful'?"

Grammer looked down from the stage with an expression of disdain familiar to anyone who'd ever seen him as Frasier Crane. "That's what you're writing?"

"That's what I'm asking," replied the reporter. "It depends on what you say."

Morning Links Madness!

First, one more look at the only really funny moment during Sunday night's Oscarcast:

• Talkin' 'bout Fox bleeping the Emmys. (New York Times)
• "Match Game" wiseacre Brett Somers has died at 83. (Associated Press.)
• Tim Goodman has some last thoughts on the Emmycast: "All this controversy about Sally Field's stupid speech. The woman should be banned from accepting anything, except advice. Like this: Shut it. Take the trophy, go home." (SFGate.com)
• A sweet sentiment from The TV Addict: "This summer will be forever remembered as quite possibly the best summer of television ever." (TVAddict.com)
• Josh Schwartz talks about "Gossip Girl" (boo) and "Chuck" (yay): "It's really hard to do a show about people in their 20s. It becomes a lot of navel-gazing, people complaining about their lives. But if a guy in his 20s is complaining about his life because he was almost killed by a ninja the night before, now you've got something." (BuzzSugar)
• Pix of Neil Patrick Harris of "How I Met Your Mother" and his boyfriend at the Oscars. (Televisionista)
• Recapping "Prison Break" at GMMR: "I felt like I needed a shower after watching tonight’s episode just to get the stink and the grime off of me." (GMMR)
• Pictures of the "Smallville" action figures and pictures of the stars at Emmy afterparties - which is more lifelike? (Televisionista)

Season Begins With "K-Ville," "Prison Break"

The single best performance on any new series this fall belongs to Anthony Anderson as Det. Marlin Boulet on Fox's "K-Ville." The post-Katrina New Orleans police drama, debuting tonight on Fox, centers on Ninth Ward native Boulet, who struggles to hang on to his home, his family, his city and at times his sanity amid the ruins. Anderson's fiercely committed performance gives this show a gravity that helps it overcome a couple of overblown action sequences. Along with the third-season premiere of "Prison Break" on Fox tonight, it gets the fall TV season off to a solid start. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

Boulet is rebuilding his flood-damaged home amid the ruins of his neighborhood, even though his wife and child have moved to Atlanta to escape the devastation. He's also still recovering from the horror of Katrina, which was made worse by the desertion of his partner, one of many Nawlins cops who simply fled amid the madness. As the series opens, he gets a new teammate, Cole Hauser's enigmatic Trevor Cobb, an ex-Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan. They roar into action when gunmen target a series of benefits for Ninth Ward rebuilding. A couple of gunfights and car chases later, the case leads to some mercenaries who after serving in Iraq found post-flood Nawlins a similarly fertile environment...                                                                      (Above: Hauser and Anderson.)

Fall TV Night-By-Night: Saturday and Sunday

Saturday? We don't need stinkin' Saturday. Watch college football on ABC, or "Torchwood" on BBC America, and forget about "Cops" and the endless reruns on the other networks. Sunday, though, is as always another story, featuring the season's most bizarre new show ("Viva Laughlin," right) and several returning favorites.

ABC's trio of hits - "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers & Sisters" - returns on Sept. 30. The big excitement here has to be Dana Delaney and Nathan Fillion joining the cast of "Desperate," a show that seems in definite though not desperate need of some fresh fuel. It will be interesting to watch the ratings here.

CBS will still have "60 Minutes" at 7 and "Cold Case" at 9, and it's swapping in James Woods as "Shark" at 10. The show has curdled a little as Woods' bracingly hard-edged character has gotten soft around the edges; we'll see if that trend slows or accelerates as Jeri Ryan's character becomes his co-worker instead of his boss. Kevin Pollack as the new DA ought to be good, though. But the big news here...

"Chuck" Gets A Girlfriend From "The O.C."

Turns out maybe Chuck on NBC's "Chuck" won't be getting romantic with the hottie superspy like I thought. In fact, a blue collar gal played by Rachel Bilson - aka Summer Roberts of "The O.C." - may be Chuck's love interest, at least for a few episodes beginning in October. And it's not because Bilson just really likes schlubby Jewish boys with a taste for pop culture trivia. This has everything to do with the fact that producer Josh Schwartz is behind both shows. (From our friend The TV Addict.)

Fall TV Night-By-Night: Friday

Three new shows, all at 9 p.m., and one of them premieres tonight. Yet it's a returning show that's about the only thing I can recommend on Friday night. Still, Fridays are better than "random repeat Saturdays."

Beginning on Oct. 12, ABC will air "20/20" at 8 and put on "Men In Trees" at 10 on Fridays. I'm baffled at the endurance of the latter, a shotgun wedding between "Northern Exposure" and "Sex And The City" - She's a writer of romantic advice! She needs it herself! And there are bears! It's not a formula I get, and star Anne Heche just strikes me as weird. But whatever. The one new show bowing that night on the network is "Women's Murder Club," a rote drama based on novels by the serial-killer-novel hack James Patterson. It stars Angie Harmon as a cop who's assisted in solving murders by her circle of friends in other professions. I will not be watching.

CBS rolls out its Friday schedule on Sept. 28, with the inexplicably popular bit of Jennifer Love Hewitt nonsense "Ghost Whisperer" at 8 and the modest procedural success "Numb3rs" at 10. At 9, the eye will offer "Moonlight," a new series with Alex O'Loughlin (pictured) as a vampire private eye. Yup.

Fall TV Night-By-Night: Thursday

Only one new show tonight but a considerable amount of new attitude scattered around the schedule, and Sunday night's Emmys could add some more for "Ugly Betty," "Grey's Anatomy," "The Office" and others.

The new show is ABC's "Big Shots," at 10, which delivered a very funny press conference from stars Michael Vartan, Dylan McDermott, Joshua Malina and Christopher Titus, and could be a ratings winner. They're four reasonably powerful and successful guys, but the show follows mainly their romantic and domestic difficulties. It was at least unofficially called "Big Dicks" in the beginning, and seems intended to take a male-centric view of the world. But as it follows the guest-star-laden "Ugly Betty" at 8 and "Grey's Anatomy" at 9, I think ABC is counting on a large number of women sticking with the network to eyeball Vartan and McDermott. Not a bad b