This week looks like a strange one in TV land

by Rick Kushman

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

7 July 2008

The TV world has a couple crazy weeks coming up. Starting Tuesday, television critics from the United States and Canada will be in Beverly Hills, Calif., for press sessions and meetings with the people who make TV, and it’s going to be a little wild.

It’s the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour, and what makes this one look especially strange - and, believe me, when critics get together with TV execs, produces and stars, it’s always a little strange - is that no one has seen the new fall shows.

Not even the network bosses. That’s because, in a lot of cases, they haven’t been shot yet.

Development was thrashed by the writers strike, so half of the shows don’t have pilots yet, other new series are being reworked, some are still in the larval stage of ideas and scripts, and neither the critics nor the networks have any kind of handle on what fall 2008 TV will look like.

Honestly, that sounds like good fun to me. I look forward to the press conferences with network presidents who just keep answering, “I dunno.”

The TV industry is still in tatters from probably its worst season ever. Lots of it was the strike that stopped work for 100 days, but even before the strike, the season was sputtering.

There were no real hits, ratings were down, the industry was morphing as viewers watched more and more shows online or on DVD, and everyone was scrambling to react.

This coming season could be even more hinky. An actors strike is possible by the end of summer, ratings keep dropping for the major networks (though cable is doing OK this summer), and those coming fall lineups are thin.

That’s the other thing. The big nets are launching only 16 new shows this fall, about half the usual total, thank you, again, writers strike.

The networks are also trying to restart some good, but not necessarily popular, shows from last fall. Hopefully, a couple, like NBC’s “Life” or ABC’s “Pushing Daisies,” will catch on.

On the other hand, January’s midseason lineup could be stuffed with new, even good, shows because by then production will have caught up. Unless the actors go out on strike.

We’ll be talking about all that over the next weeks. I’ll be asking execs and producers about plans and changes, bugging stars about doings on their shows, and talking to everyone about how the constantly shifting entertainment world will affect viewers.

I’ll keep you posted on all that, and I’ll toss in whatever tidbits come from any good parties - oh yeah, did I mention they throw a lot of parties in Hollywood? Poor me, right?

Now, let’s get to Stuff to Watch (or Not), starting with a heads-up about the return on Thursday of one of my favorite shows, USA’s wildly entertaining “Burn Notice.”

Wednesday:

“Click and Clack: As the Wrench Turns” (9 p.m. on PBS): Any fan of NPR’s “Car Talk” will be excited to hear that Tom and Ray Magliozzi have expanded to PBS and television. Until they see the show.

Somehow, this animated hour manages to take two of the most engaging personalities in American media and make them dull. The show is silly, and not the clever silly from “Car Talk,” just silly like a bad Saturday morning cartoon. And it miscasts the brothers as low-grade scam artists instead of the cheery, charming guys we know they are.

On the plus side, their radio show is still one of NPR’s most popular.

Thursday:

“Greatest American Dog” (8 p.m. on CBS): It’s a combination of Stupid Pet Tricks and a cute dog competition. Sounds like my kind of TV.

“Burn Notice” (10 p.m. on USA): This bright, cheeky blend of spy thriller and “The Equalizer” is a highlight of the summer TV season. It stars Jeffery Donovan as Michael Weston, a spy who got fired - or “burned” - and he doesn’t know why.

He’s back in Miami, and with the help of friends, including ex-girlfriend/former IRA operative, Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), he takes cases for people who need his kind of skills. Meanwhile, he’s figuring out why he got burned. Season two starts with “Battlestar Galactica’s” Tricia Helfer playing a slick agent who may be the one causing all Michael’s troubles.

Among the many charms of this show is the brisk and tricky plotting, the electric feel of Miami, Donovan’s dry, witty manner, and the voice-overs in which Michael instructs viewers how to handle high-risk situations - like we’d actually be in them.

Altogether, the surprisingly endearing characters, the smart plot twists, the charisma of the stars, and the stream of droll lines make this show simply captivating.

Friday:

“Flashpoint” (10 p.m. on CBS): CBS starts a new, complex, and all-around interesting cop show about an elite SWAT-like team and the impact on its members of what they do. These characters aren’t more bravado-filled supercops, they’re real - if very capable - humans.

“Stargate Atlantis” (10 p.m. on Sci Fi): It’s season five and the gang is back at exploring that pesky Pegasus Galaxy.

Sunday:

“Earth: The Biography” (9 p.m. on National Geographic Channel): This three-night, five-hour documentary is in the style of Discovery’s “Planet Earth,” using spectacular photography to look at some of the most powerful forces and moods of Mother Nature.

“Generation Kill” (9 p.m. on HBO): David Simon and Ed Burns - the team behind HBO’s brilliant “The Wire” - take on the early days of the Iraq war with their usual eyes for detail and nuance, their straightforward, eloquent writing, and their sympathy for the little guy. This seven-week series is based on the acclaimed book by Evan Wright, who was embedded with the U.S. First Recon Marines.