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ShareIt’s a little early to be making this call, but this could be one odd fall TV season coming up.
This broad and decidedly premature finding comes after watching the pilot episodes of two dozen new shows, and for what it’s worth, I’m not doing my wild happy dance for anything.
Disclaimer: The networks have asked TV critics not to officially review the pilots just yet, which is fair. Pilots are always iffy, and shows always change - for both better and worse. Last season, “30 Rock’s” pilot was terrible, and it got remade. Then, the one that aired was very terrible, yet now the show’s morphed into one of the best comedies on TV.
So, I shouldn’t say yet what I think about ABC’s “Caveman,” probably the most high-profile new series because it grew out of the cheeky Geico commercials. If this helps, I can say, uh, sure did like those commercials.
Anyway, that’s off the point, which is that there’s no instant “wow” out there this year. There’s solid stuff, but no “Lost,” or “Desperate Housewives” or “Heroes.” There’s no “Friday Night Lights” or “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” which made people think they were watching a feature film.
But that’s not the only weird thing. There are a couple good comedies. Genuine, old-school sitcoms that are simply well done. Plus, the network that might have the best crop of new shows could be the CW.
See what I mean? It’s like we’re in a Bizarro world.
And speaking of Bizarro worlds - which is why I bring this all up - most of the TV critics from the United States and Canada are gathering in Beverly Hills for nearly three weeks of interviews, meetings and parties with the people who make TV.
It’s the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour - or simply “TCA” - and it’s the foundation for much of the reporting that critics like me do the rest of the year. It’s lots of work, lots of fun, and lots of Hollywood weird. We’ll make sure to keep you posted on the weird.
Everyone from PBS and cable networks to the big broadcasters will get a couple of days each to offer up panels with producers and cast members of all their new shows.
They will also hold press conferences with their top executives, which is something that happens nowhere else in the entertainment universe. Presidents of major companies stand in front of a room full of reporters and say things like, yeah, on second thought, maybe “Real Wedding Crashers” wasn’t such a great idea.
This odd dance is being held at the Beverly Hilton, and it will include nightly parties or mixers - often both - with all sorts of TV industry people. Frankly, the stars hate these things. They hate press conferences that can roam through all sorts of odd subjects, and they especially hate going to parties with a pack of TV critics - not that I blame them. I don’t love partying with me, either.
Seriously, there is a ton of great information to be found at these things, and it’s how most of us who cover TV get a read on writers, producers and stars. It’s where we see the dynamics of each network, and how we learn the current concerns and trends in a very fluid industry.
Maybe most of all, it’s when we look people in the eye and see whether they really have the goods to write or star in TV shows, or to run a TV network. (Bad example: Last summer, everyone around NBC’s clunker “20 Good Years” seemed way too satisfied to even begin fixing that mess. They never did. Good example: Tina Fey and the crew on “30 Rock” told us tons about the good and bad of their show, and they made it into an Emmy contender.)
For TV critics, TCA is a cross between a three-week political convention, with nearly every minute scheduled with events that may or may not be important, and TV camp. There will be 100-plus critics living and breathing TV (and having conversations that would bore the shirt off normal people), and seemingly every human involved in the industry tromping through, if only for a moment or two.
So I’ll be reporting on that for the next few weeks. I’ll be telling about what’s happening in that Bizarro world of TV, getting a feel for what the new season really will look like, and trying to stay up late enough to hear what programming execs think of their schedules after a couple of rounds of scotch.
I can tell you now there will be questions about why so many shows are built around loveable nerds, including the comedies “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS) and “Aliens in America” (CW), which both have lots of potential, and the charming dramas like “Chuck” (NBC) and “The Reaper” (CW), which would be two of my favorite pilots, if I was allowed to have favorites this early in the game.
I can also tell you we’ll ask about the fascination with all the super-powered characters - real answer: “Heroes” was last season’s only hit - which includes the guys in “Chuck” and “The Reaper,” not to mention the other recognizable new series, NBC’s “Bionic Woman.”
The thing about these events is there are always a couple of truly horrible moments - in a good way. Last July, for instance, in one streak of sessions, we saw Dan Rather and Shannon Doherty weeping away, then Danny Bonaduce sounding like the mature voice of reason. And there are always moments of brilliance, which we might get this time from press conferences with people like Larry David, Holly Hunter or Ken Burns.
There will also be that weird stuff that comes naturally from having a chunk of Hollywood pressed together with the people who cover them. And if that’s not any good, we’ll always have the gossip.
