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This was one of those fall premiere seasons when no new network show leaped off the screen.
No “Lost.” No “24.” Not even a “Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer.” It happens. And when it happens, I’ve learned to hedge my bets.
Since mid-July I’ve been telling you that while some TV pilots impressed me, I wanted to see the second episodes of these new fall shows before passing final judgment. I’ve now had that opportunity. So have viewers.
Based on what I’ve seen, my faith in series like “Chuck” and “Women’s Murder Club” has so far been rewarded, as those shows enjoyed decent if not spectacular ratings. “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff “Private Practice” also didn’t let me down, in the sense that I couldn’t stand it (and still can’t) but thought it would become a hit anyway.
Alas, the second episodes of “Reaper” and “Pushing Daisies” were worse than their premieres—and the viewers seemed to agree.
I’ll highlight these and other new shows in a moment. First, though, you may be noticing that the usual flurry of hiatus notices is missing this October. There are two types, scheduled and unscheduled, like voluntary and involuntary retirements. When you read that a show has been “put on hiatus,” that usually means it’s unscheduled. Oh, it might eventually return, but make no mistake: A show put on hiatus has fallen from grace and rarely earns back its DVR season pass.
So far this season, however, no network show has suffered this fate, which is unusual. Robert Seidman, who crunches Nielsen ratings for the Web site TVBythenumbers.Com, thinks that only three shows—Fox’s “Nashville” and “K-Ville” and NBC’s “Journeyman”—are in any danger.
Seidman and other industry watchers believe even low-rated TV programs are safe for now. That’s because the Oct. 31 deadline is approaching for TV writers and the big studios to complete the first new negotiated contract in 22 years.
If talks between the two sides break down, Hollywood may be crippled by a writers strike. Thus the networks need as many fresh episodes as they can get to serve as strike insurance. Which means that shows that usually would be thrown in the dead pool by now continue to sun themselves on the deck.
On to the shows. Here are my second impressions:
“Reaper” (9 p.m. Tuesdays, CW). My pick for the best new show of the fall season has turned out, instead, to be the biggest letdown. In the first episode young Sam (Bret Harrison) learned he had become a kind of dog catcher for the Devil (Ray Wise). This was a hard pill to swallow, but Sam had come around by the end of the hour, because he realized tracking down bad guys who belonged in hell made him feel better about living with his parents and working a dead-end job.
And then in the second episode ... he did it all over again, virtually scene by scene. Oh, well, it’s not like anybody noticed: Fewer than 3 million saw either episode. Actually, that’s not bad for the CW, which would shrivel up and blow away were it not for “America’s Next Top Model” and WWE wrestling.
Last week “Reaper” had climbed to 3.5 million viewers—which is OK, but to put that in perspective, it would barely crack the list of T op 40 cable shows.
“Chuck” (8 p.m. Mondays, NBC). By contrast, the other promising pilot about an underachiever who works in a big retail store has improved every week. A lot of that is due to the seemingly endless personality of Zachary Levi. As the title character carrying the nation’s security secrets in his techie brain, he’s an appealing mixture of geek and do-gooder, with just a touch of ladies’ man.
He also enjoys a superior supporting cast, including Joshua Gomez as his sidekick Morgan, and Adam “Not a Brother” Baldwin as his trigger-happy NSA shadow. Ratings aren’t great but better than they are for “Journeyman,” the other show in NBC’s Monday-night “Heroes” sandwich.
“Private Practice” (9 p.m. Wednesdays, ABC). Though I still don’t understand why Kate Walsh left “Grey’s Anatomy” for this mess, “Private Practice” is proof once again that brand extension works. With her cast of retreads (Taye Diggs, Amy Brenneman) slogging through some truly mediocre scripts—I want to throw the writers’ favorite word back at them: focus!—this soap by the surf has become the top-rated new show this season. Seidman calls its ratings “Heroes-esque,” because they rival the numbers for last season’s most popular new show. Why do I think there’s a “Grey’s” crossover episode in this show’s future?
“Bionic Woman” (9 p.m. Wednesdays, NBC). This remake of the campy `70s show hasn’t been the superhero NBC wanted it to be. That’s because the network followed its expensive, eye-popping pilot with a horribly muddled second episode.
By the third week “Bionic” had debugged itself (and added “Grey’s” exile Isaiah Washington to the cast), and viewers seemed to be in a forgiving mood. It’s still the third highest-rated new series this fall, even with a drop-off in audience and the fact that “Private Practice” and the always-popular “Criminal Minds” are its competition.
“Pushing Daisies” (8 p.m. Wednesdays, ABC). More like “pushing its luck.” I had hoped someone would tone down the annoying British announcer who dominated the first episode of this whimsical series about Ned (Lee Pace), the pie maker who can raise the dead. But no, the Brit was back with a vengeance in W eek 2 and 3. Even the dead lady on “Desperate Housewives” doesn’t yak as much as this guy. You’d think some ABC executive would’ve piped up and said, “Gee, this is awfully self-indulgent.” Now it may be too late. “Pushing Daisies” lost a vertigo-inducing 3 million viewers in one week, and viewers don’t just come back with the touch of a finger.
“Kid Nation” (8 p.m. Wednesdays, CBS). No wonder CBS let the hype for this show build to a fever pitch over the series. Turns out that a reality show featuring all youngsters “forming their own civilization” was just a cover for a “Survivor” spinoff for preteens. I still like it, but I don’t exactly rush to my DVR to see what happened this week. Neither does anyone else—its ratings are now below “Cavemen’s,” and I’m not picking up a lot of chatter about a potential “Kid Nation 2.”
“Women’s Murder Club” (9 p.m. Fridays, ABC). Despite my being one of only a few TV critics in the country who liked it, viewers sought out the Angie Harmon crime drama that ABC hid on its Friday night schedule. Nearly 11 million tuned in for its debut (unfortunately, as I predicted, it took some of those viewers away from “Friday Night Lights” on NBC). The first episode was different from the pilot sent to me in June, but I liked it.
“Gossip Girl” (9 p.m. Wednesdays, CW). An awful show is getting awful ratings, even by the ocean-bottom measurements of the CW network. Only about half the people watching “America’s Next Top Model” stick around to watch this demeaning teen soap opera about rich, narcissistic Manhattanites. Yet the CW ordered more scripts from its producers, enough to fill the rest of the season with new episodes. (The network claims tons of teenagers are watching on DVRs.) “Gossip Girl” is yet another reason for avoiding a writers strike—so we can send it to Hiatusville, where it belongs.
“Dirty Sexy Money” (10 p.m. Wednesdays, ABC). As I had hoped, this sprawling ensemble comedy starring Peter Krause as a lawyer for a family of rotten scoundrels makes progress each week. Still, ratings should be higher for a show with so much star power (like Donald Sutherland) that’s airing at the peak hour of prime time.
“Back to You” (8 p.m. Wednesdays, Fox). Fox wanted another comedy to package with “`Til Death,” so it went out and found another unemployed “Everybody Loves Raymond” actor (Patricia Heaton), paired her with a living, breathing television cliche (Frasier Crane, aka Kelsey Grammer) and put the two sitcoms side by side on the schedule.
So far the strategy is working: There was no reason to watch “`Til Death,” and now there’s no reason to watch “Back to You.” Viewers agree, though ratings seem to be meeting Fox’s modest expectations for the time period.
