Sunday, September 23, 2007

CW Fall TV premiere

I'm trying to get the energy up to do justice the the last network that I'm going to report on--the CW. The network, which was a combination of the WB and UPN last year is on the second year of it's new experiment. As with last year, the shows that are keeping the network up and running are it's old favorites--"Smallville" (a personal favorite of mine, naturally) and "America's Next Top Model" (which I'm told is a show full of fierceness and not much in the way of dead eyes.

But, there are some other shows on the CW this year that just might make people pay attention. Hopefully I can shake off the lack of energy I'm feeling after driving to Chicagoland and back in two days and get this last network review done and move on with my life--especially since Premiere is now upon us and I've been waiting until the last minute to get this all done. Thanks for sticking around with me and I hope my paltry reviews can give you some help in determining what new shows you might give a chance to this year.

(As always, you can catch up with my previous reviews of NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox.)

Reaper (Tuesdays @ 9 pm)--You know what we need more of on television? We need more Satan. Sure, you could say that one of the Devil's finest moments was persuading some NBC executive to greenlight "Whoopi" a few years ago, but since then, the Prince of Darkness hasn't had much of a presence on the Boob Tube (though I bet he watches a lot of "The Girls Next Door." Anyway, Beelzebub is coming back onto television, in a stylish new show called "Reaper." In this show, a 21-year-old slacker discovers that his parents sold his soul when he was a baby, which explains why they never seemed to care much that he was always an underachiever. So now, he's in a weird position of being Satan's bounty hunter and now Satan has to try and whip this lazy kid into evil shape. I've heard a bit of good buzz about this show--probably centered around Ray Wise, the Hey It's That Guy! actor that plays the Devil. Who wouldn't want to play the Devil, right? Fun!

Gossip Girl (Wednesdays @ 9 pm)--Nobody knows more about using a blog to dish the dirt on the rich, famous, and influential than I do. I know things about people that, if I choose to publish it, could blow the lid off several small groups of people for at least a few minutes. But, I choose to use my power and knowledge for good rather than for evil. Of course, I never lived a privileged life of a hipster preppy at an exclusive private school. If you take the insider voice overs of "Heathers" and the snobby lives of the Sarah Michelle Geller version of "Dangerous Liaisons," you're getting close to what "Gossip Girl" is all about. This is another show that the critics seem to be in love with. I've read that it brings back the guilty fun of watching Beverly Hills 90210 (another show I never watched). But, expect a lot of good looking kids in fancy clothes, acting nastily and privileged.

Online Nation (Sundays @ 7:30)--if you don't want to watch football on Sundays, this show might be mildly diverting. But, VH1 and E! have sort of cornered the market of these shows that televise the zeitgeist's most amusing new clips and web-based stunts.

Aliens in America (Monday Oct. 1 @ 8:30)--I'm really afraid that this is going to be another "Perfect Strangers." It sounds like it could be spectacularly bad.

Life is Wild (Sunday Oct. 7 @ 8 pm)--This show looks and feels like "Wildfire" and some other basic cable shows that feature hard to handle teens in exotic locations. I'm not interested, but I want to give you readers all the shows available for your viewing pleasure or rejection.


So, there you go everyone.

For better (and much worse) you've got this year's Fall TV Preview posts. If you want more, better information on all that's new and all the returning shows that I didn't touch, check out Entertainment Weekly's helpful graphics.

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