So, I see the Peacock Network released half a Fall schedule today. The other half, which will reveal the fates of Chuck, Life, Medium and a couple of others, is due May 19.
Of the six new shows NBC announced Monday, only one looks halfway interesting to me and that's Day One, a post-apocalyptic drama set in Van Nuys (I know, I know... how could you tell?) The rest are... well, fairly clichéd or rehashed, I think.
And, come to think of it, even Day One wouldn't be the first post-apocalyptic network drama featuring a group of scrappy survivors struggling to rebuild civic society while unraveling the mystery of how the catastrophe came to befall them. That sounds a lot like Jericho, doesn't it?
Here's the rest of the new line-up:
Parenthood: Single-mom moves home with her parents and deals with modern family pressures with her three other grown siblings. Sounds like Brothers and Sisters.
Trauma: It's about paramedics -- sounds like ER with ambulances.
Mercy: It's about nurses -- sounds like ER with the nurses in the leading roles and doctors as supporting cast.
100 Questions: It's a romantic comedy in which a woman seeking Mr. Right signs up for an online dating service has to answer a 100-question compatibility test. Each question elicits a wacky anecdote. Sounds like How I Met Your Mother.
Community: A comedy set at a community college filled with misfits -- basically, it's any comedy set in a high school in the past 30 years -- let's pick a name out of a hat... oh, I don't know.. Welcome Back Kotter! -- relocated to a community college, which is sort of like high school for older people. Whatever the merits of the show, Community also stars Chevy Chase, so it's doomed.
Are any of these descriptions fair? With the exception of the bit about Chevy Chase, I'd say almost certainly not. I don't know a thing about these shows, other than what I've read at The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly, and NBC's Fall 2009 site. Will I watch any of them? I'll certainly give Day One a shot. I might check in with Community to see how quickly Chase sucks out the funny.
As for the rest: Meh. What's on ABC?
Update: Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker graded the new NBC shows based solely on the short clips from the network, which is only marginally better than dismissing the shows out of prejudice and sheer ignorance, as I did above. That's why Tucker is paid the big bucks.
The one thing "Community" has going for it: It's from Dan Harmon, who's done a lot of really funny, clever, and surprisingly well-written stuff online at Channel 101. He also co-created "The Sarah Silverman Program." Throw in Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed a lot of great episodes of "Arrested Development," and the show might actually be funny.
And hey, Chase was pretty darn good on "Chuck."
I don't know Harmon or his work. I generally don't mind Sarah Silverman's stand-up, and I loved her bit in "The Aristocrats," but I never really got into "The Sarah Silverman Program." I'm not sure why. I watched a few episodes, but it didn't do much for me. And I completely missed out on "Arrested Development," which everyone who watched seems to like. Maybe I'll catch it on DVD someday.
As for Chevy Chase on "Chuck," I guess you might have a point. I don't know if it was Chase's performance so much as the send-up of Steve Jobs that made that character as enjoyable as it was. Let's just say I'm glad he had a limited role.
I've been meaning to do an article on Channel 101 for ages -- it's the site that launched the Lonely Island folks to SNL stardom. Dan Harmon, along with "Scud: The Disposable Assassin" creator and general brilliant madman Rob Schrab, co-founded the site. Some of the better stuff he's done:
Call Me Cobra: Harmon wrote this all-too-brief but very clever series in which Drew Carey plays an out-of-work actor who finds himself impersonating a tough-guy troubleshooter.
Laser Fart: Harmon plays a superhero who, yes, farts lasers. Somehow, the show manages to be funny, inventive, and weirdly moving. Episodes 3 - 9 are the show's best.
Water & Power: Harmon's latest, a fairly amusing sendup of "Law & Order."