The top ten returning shows I’m looking forward to this season
Yesterday, I looked at the five new shows that I’m most looking forward to this season. It’s a pretty short list, unfortunately. Heck, I only had one on the “Honorable Mention” list. Thankfully, there’s quite a bit of good stuff returning to the network schedule this season. I could, however, come up with just as long of a list of stuff that I wish was coming back that’s not. I should, as Brett has been known to tell me, “shut up and quit my whining” (my words, not his).
First, a cheat. I know I said that this was about the upcoming TV season, but we cover Web Shows here on the ‘Clack, so I’m taking a (very appropriate) liberty. The third season of The Guild started this week (or last week, if you’re an Xbox Live Gold Member), and I can’t wait. I only found The Guild after Dr. Horrible introduced me to Felicia Day, but I’m glad that I did, as it’s one of the most consistently funny things out there on any medium. The addition of CliqueClack favorite (and my hero as a kid) Wil Wheaton to the cast is only going to ramp things up for the third installment. If you haven’t seen it, head to www.watchtheguild.com right away.
ABC smartly takes advantage of Scrubs DVDs
The DVD for the eighth season of Scrubs comes out next Tuesday, and we happened to get an advance copy the other day. As you know (at least if you’re a fan of Scrubs), the eighth season aired on ABC rather than NBC, so it’s only natural that the DVD would be associated with that network. And now ABC is smartly taking advantage of the fans who followed the network swap by including a little something extra along with this DVD set.
Within the shrinkwrap packaging of the DVD is another DVD with what ABC calls its “ABC Starter Kit.” Essentially this DVD contains what any newcomer to many of their returning hit shows would need to understand what the shows are about. In this DVD, at least, there are short videos for Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Ugly Betty, Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives and Castle. There’s a bonus two-hour “event” for Brothers & Sisters included in the DVD as well as the pilot episode of Castle.
Upfronts: shows live, shows die, shows move – The Week in Clack
The big news of the week was, of course, the upfronts. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW all unveiled their new lineups, and in doing so killed According to Jim, Cupid, Deal or No Deal, Everybody Hates Chris, The Game, Life, My Name Is Earl, Privileged, Reaper, Samantha Who?, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Without a Trace and The Unit.
- The CW moved Smallville to Fridays and is launching Twilight The Vampire Diaries in its slot. Also, Fox 1992 called and it wants its Wednesday lineup back.
- Fox is bringing SYTYCD to the fall to keep Idol’s timeslots warm until January, moving Fringe to take on CSI, and thinks a better Dollhouse lead-in is a couple of comedies; and one of them is ‘Til Death.
- CBS is spinning off NCIS: LA and bringing back Moonlight’s Alex O’Loughlin in a new medical show. They also stole Medium from NBC and are sticking it after Ghost Whisperer on Fridays.
- NBC has Jay Leno on… every night. More SNL Weekend Update on Thursdays, and timeslot-sharing shows, like Heroes Mondays at 8 in the fall, before making room for Chuck (YAY!) in January.
- ABC sticks with Scrubs, and a Wednesday with four new comedies and four old faces: Hank (Kelsey Grammer), The Middle (Patricia Heaton), Cougar Town (Courteney Cox Arquette) and Modern Family (Ed O’Neill).
- Even more not famous former Illinois governor Rod’s wife Patti Blagojevich is joining NBC’s I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.
- Shawn Johnson made the Olympic DWTS championship alumni association a trio.
- Despite being canceled, Earl is twit-titioning to save its life, and TBS may be interested in saving it.
- Reaper is seeing if they can go syndicated to stay alive. And with Tyler Labine starring in the picked-up Sons of Tucson, if it works things could get interesting.
- Kara DioGuardi showed up “bikini girl” on American Idol by outsinging her and out-looking-hot-in-a-bikini-ing her.
The post-hiatus high
Scripted primetime programming: it’s why I watch TV. Sure, I enjoy Conan occasionally and I catch up on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report over the weekend, but they don’t warrant the same level of devotion I give to my favorite scripted shows.
That said, devotion does not always equal satisfaction. The first half of the season left me pretty pretty underwhelmed with Desperate Housewives, despite the five-year jump into the future, which seemed a little gimmicky to me. Ditto for Grey’s Anatomy. I liked Fringe, but still hadn’t warmed up to the main character, which is kind of important. However, instead of inspiring me to do something constructive with my time, the subpar quality of (some of) the shows I was watching really only served to plunge me further into a state of withdrawal during the weeks-long hiatus over the holidays.
Now (finally!) the shows we’ve been missing are starting to trickle back into our lives, and I don’t know if it’s just the rush of having new episodes to watch, but everything has been much more entertaining!
Week in Clack – Firsts, interviews and controversy
Week of January 4 to January 11
Clever, insolent, creative, irreverent; even a little twisted. I speak of the writers here at CliqueClack, and the unique posts they churn out day after day. How could we let seven days go by without highlighting some of the week’s gems?
TV’s back, baby, and so are we! Sure, we had some great content during the winter hiatus, but with actual new programming on this week, we were utter clack-a-holics.
It was a week of firsts, which I suppose is fitting with the new year and all.
- We broke the news first on the Internet, folks … the successful The Librarian mini-series franchise is coming to the big screen, hopefully to be shot later this year.
- Jason reviewed the first two back-to-back episodes of Scrubs on ABC, and had some good things to say about the transition. What did you think?
- Scott debuted his BBC Babble column, about all things British and on TV, of course. US shows have been greatly inspired by their British counterparts, to say the least….
- Annie debuted her Gossip Girl Virgin diary — OMG!
- Kona debuted Diary of a Weeds Virgin, shedding a whole new light on suburbia for her.
- Damages season premiere was splendidly reviewed by Jane; so glad this show is back and still intriguing!
- My Name is Earl came back, and Bill not only reviewed it, he illustrated his post. You don’t want to miss his take on Jason Lee (or The Odd Couple, for that matter).
- Psych’s first episode of the new year debuted to Brett’s favorable review.
My romance with bromance (on TV)
Hey guys, did you know that “bromance” has its own Wikipedia entry? While I’m not too surprised, I still think its pretty funny. In fact, the word itself always makes me chuckle a little bit. I can’t help it!
The bromance has long been a staple of TV comedy, whether we had the word for it yet or not. Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, Gilligan and the Skipper, all had their own special kind of relationship.
Now, I’m a young’n, so my favor lies with more recent series for the most part. Here are just a few of the greatest bromances to grace the small screen:
Never fear, the Brain Trust is here! Just make sure you know where to find it (hint: ABC)
The Janitor (no other character name known) has a problem. Who does he turn to? Not a family member, or one of the many doctors at Sacred Heart Hospital. No, he calls on his very own Brain Trust, that collection of otherwise clueless minds on Scrubs, who work in tandem to solve his problems.
The Brain Trust has had two manifestations. One we’ll call pre-Ted, one with-Ted (you thought I was going to say post-Ted, didn’t you?) The pre-Ted incarnation of the BT was sad (as opposed to pathetic). The core of the group: Read the rest of this entry »
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