Wow, CBS. Way to play the field... Only ONE new crime procedural?! I'm shocked! Although, given that that new crime procedural is a spin off of NCIS, I'm going to have to revoke all praise. Aside from that, I have to say that it is nice to see them at least trying to diversify their portfolio. Only one of their fall offerings really looks all that promising so far, but hopefully by fall they'll have a few more viable options.
In all honesty, CBS has never taken up much space on my schedule, so the bar is pretty high. I'm hopeful Julianna Marguiles can buck the trend, but it won't be easy. ABC has always had a better track record. As such, the write up of their fall season is taking longer than one would hope. Eventually, eventually...
Anyway, here's what CBS has planned:
THREE RIVERS
My Take: Right off the bat? I'd say Alex O'Loughlin and his legion of Moonlight-lovin' devotees deserve much better. This looks like your run of the mill medical show, no matter how much they try to dress it up as something new and unique. This time, it's organ donors, recipients, and doctors, see... Yeah, not so much. The problem with focusing on one aspect of medicine is that it tends to pigeon-hole a series. One of the reasons ER was so successful is that it didn't focus on any one group in the hospital. In any given episode, there could be surgical patients (including organ donation scenarios), ER cases (well, duh), issues revolving around recurring patients, nurses, police, paramedics, hell, even the desk clerks. Having that kind of flexibility and variety kept things fresh for years and years. It looks like this show is angling for a procedural type approach to a medical show, and I have to tell you, I think that's going to get real old real fast. By and large, I really don't think I need an entire episode devoted to one set of medical circumstances. I already don't care if that kid will ever play basketball again (and didn't really care the first 874 times I saw a similar storyline elsewhere)... Also, the earnestness (and borderline saccharinity) of the doctors seems pretty eye-rollingly overbearing. It's a shame that such a promising cast (hey, hey! I thought I recognized Shane and lo and behold, it's her!) ended up in a pretty mediocre-looking show. Annnd, it sounds like I'm not the only one who's less than impressed so far. Looks like the brass at CBS is planning to re-tool the show before it premieres and will even do a fair bit of re-casting. The premise isn't terrible, really, it's just been done (and done, and done, and done). I'm hoping the revamp can add some life into this seemingly lackluster show. It's got decent bones to work with (wow, pun SO not intended) and a very promising cast, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed they can turn it into something viable. I happen to know a transplant surgeon, and from what I hear of his schedule, it really could be become something gripping, a little more unique, and a whole lot better. Seriously, this doctor I know only sleeps every third day... If that's a profession-wide phenomenon, you can go ahead and schedule me for surgery the morning after the third day, thanks.
THE GOOD WIFE
The Good Wife Promo - Behind The Scenes
by SeriesNet
My Take: I'm quite surprised, and a little delighted to say that this show actually looks really good. It may just be the vintage ER fan deep within me speaking, but Julianna Marguiles is just wonderful. This could have been your typical legal drama, but she infuses every role with something very real and engaging. I know so many women who have mortgaged their entire professional existence in a similar way to Marguiles' character and I've wondered how these women would fare if something horrible happened. I know there are rewards to raising children (so I've been told at least... I'm still on the fence), but the thought of taking such a promising career in something you're truly passionate about and just putting it on the back-burner for 13 years is unfathomable to me. And yet, it's so often the case. Better than that the scads of wives out there who have little to no education and practically no work experience to fall back in case of the unfortunate. As you can tell, I'm not an advocate of putting all your eggs in someone else's basket... Anyway, it's refreshing to see a character really take charge of her life after something so public, so humiliating, and so overwhelmingly game-changing happens. I think Marguiles is going to do great things with this role, and with a supporting cast that boasts Matt Czuchry (say what you will about Gilmore Girls, the kid can hold his own--god, I miss that show!) and Christine Baranski, I think The Good Wife has a hell of a lot of potential. In all honesty, it's been a long time since I had a good legal drama on my slate (since, like, The Practice, I dare say) and I'm hoping this little number lives up to expectations. Add to the solid foundation and excellent casting a clear, yet restrained sense of levity, and I think we have a winner here.
ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE
My Take: Well, it's pretty much Knocked Up, the TV series, and I really, really, really hated Knocked Up... Granted, this doesn't look anywhere near as terrible as the film (what with the merciful lack of Katherine Heigl and the refreshing addition of a leading man who isn't utterly repulsive), but it's the same basic premise, only hopefully without all the same ridiculous trappings. What I hated most about the film was that the male characters were gross, unappealing, stupid, and useless and all the female characters where controlling, shrewish harpies. I don't know about you, but that's a whole lot of people I have no desire to watch (I still can't understand how anyone enjoyed that film even a little bit). Anyway, the cast here doesn't look anywhere near as repellant, so that's good, but the concept is still seriously lacking. Aside from just being a cheesy sit-com conceit, it once again begs the question of why she would go through with the pregnancy. For the sake of this show, I really hope they actually address that. Any woman who watched Knocked Up spent the better part of the film wishing to hell someone would either bring up the possibility of terminating the pregnancy or offering some sort of reason (anything!) that could explain why she's going through with it when it will undoubtedly uproot her life and ruin her career. I'm not saying there aren't viable reasons, because there totally are, but in Knocked Up, nothing is offered in any way, and it's ridiculous. I understand that the script was written probably entirely by men, and that that might not be as much of a consideration (at least that's the only explanation I can drum up), but for a couple who just met, have not chemistry whatsoever, and who DO NOT want a child, it's something even a male writer should have considered. Anyway, here's hoping this show has the brains to bring it up. I'm sorry this turned into a rant about a movie, but when the concept is this similar, the show has to be prepared for comparisons. In short, I already have a bias against this show, and then knowing that a child will be the focus of the second season (on the off chance it gets one), pretty much seals the coffin. Babies are the quickest way to ruin a show, so the good ones either avoid them entirely, or never actually have them as key plot points. This show has no such luxury. Blah.
NCIS: THE NEXT GENERATION (okay, so it's really NCIS: Los Angeles, but that's just no fun)
My Take: Never watched the first NCIS, no plans to watch this one. And if there's one thing I've learned about surveillance from Burn Notice, it's that it's boring. Seriously, when "surveillance snacking" is a square on our Burn Notice Bingo game (burn-o!), it's got to be pretty dull. So yeah, a show that's devoted to it? I'll pass. I've never understood why the original version was successful in the first place. What little I've seen has been pretty bad, if not extremely bad. Indeed, the only reason I've ever watched any of it is that I was stuck in a hotel room with nothing else on and no DVR to save me. Turns out, I should have just gone to bed. In spite of all this, knowing CBS, I fully expect you'll be seeing at least 3 or 4 dozen more spin-offs in the future. Maybe I'll give NCIS: Omaha a chance...
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