Thursday, August 28, 2008

Fall Season Preview: September (And one August) Edition

I’m telling you I can’t wait for fall TV. This summer’s been a dead zone for TV for me between usual summer fare bumped by the strike, a disappointing Mole resurrection and 30 Days ending way too early in July. In fact, this year has been pretty dry with the strike whittling down my usual fare. But next month alone has a lot to offer. Here’s the score:

August 29 – Sixth Season premiere of Real Time With Bill Maher (Fall Edition). OK this is cheating a little bit, but this is one of the few political discussion shows I can bear. While I don’t agree with everything Maher says (and he can often come off as smug, especially discussing environmentalism and vegetarianism), the discussion is usually interesting, and Maher sometimes says things that need to be said. With this election season rivaling the last presidential election, it’s good to have the show back as the season heats up.

September 1 – Fourth Season Premiere of Prison Break. Yes last season failed to live up to expectations. Yes the show has been inconsistent since they broke out of Fox River in season one. Yes Susan/Gretchen is no where near as compelling a villain as Kellerman. Yes behind the scenes drama hindered on screen events. I’m still going to be tuning in, if only to ease the withdrawals from almost 18 months without new 24. Plus, Michael Rappaport joining the cast should make it at least watchable (notwithstanding the awful War at Home).

Promos: With the big reveal viewers probably already know http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhbcmEyiQMY

September 2 – Seventh (and Final) Season Premiere of The Shield. I’ve missed this show a lot. I thought last season ended abruptly, as if this season was meant to be the second part. This show put FX on the map and showed that you didn’t have to be on HBO to put out a quality product on cable. This premiere is the beginning of the end for FX’s flagship programs, all of which are due to take their final bows in the next couple years (let’s see how they handle it compared to HBO). I can’t wait to see how the fall of Vic Mackey comes to fruition (my money is that Dutch takes him down). A few clips are available on Hulu, and it was hard to stop at just two.

Final Season Trailer: Not as good as the Johnny Cash one for season five, but it uses a Beck song. http://www.hulu.com/watch/23297/the-shield-the-shields-final-season#s-p1-st-i0

September 3 – Series Premiere of Sons of Anarchy. The ads during 30 Days didn’t do much for me, but hearing the cast, including Ron Perlman, Drea de Mateo, Mitch Pileggi and Jay Karnes (two FX shows at the same time!), is making me look forward to checking it out.

Promo: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=40643112

September 7 – Fifth Season Premiere of Entourage. It’ll be interesting to see this summer show try a fall slot (it was preempted because of, wait for it, the writer’s strike). This show is probably a lot better enjoyed in the summer, when summer blockbusters are on the minds of people watching shows about people in show business. Whatever the case, hopefully Jeremy Piven will continue to be hilarious and I continue to wish the made up movies on the show were real (make Aquaman happen suits!)

September 7 – Series Premiere of Fringe. It’s JJ Abrams, and I was a fan of Alias and I love Lost (although that’s more Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse). From what little I’ve seen, it sounds cool. Not to mention Lance Reddick, who will always be Cedric Daniels before Matthew Abaddon to me, is in it. I don’t remember much from the trailer, but that’s fine by me. Abrams’ shows tend to be best going in fresh.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAu4L5_Fl84

September 7 – Series Premiere of True Blood. From writer/director Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under and writer of American Beauty (one of my favorites despite the glut of movies/shows that tried and failed to be it), it’s about vampires and I know little else other than that. The marketing is intriguing with vampire advocacy groups, synthetic blood bottled for mass consumption and a religious-based opposition group in the promotional material. It’d be nice to see HBO have a sci-fi show that was a success since Carnivale proved big, expensive and not buzz worthy enough (if you can slog through that slow as molasses first season, the second pays it off). I’ve heard good reviews so far, and it seems like it’s going to avoid the Ball pratfall of taking itself too seriously. So long as they don’t do an episode where a vampire gets kidnapped by the most incompetent kidnapper ever and they spend half the episode on it, I’ll give it a shot.

Video: Nightline-style spoof of the context of this world. http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/otherworlds/

September 13 – Thirty-Fourth (Thirty-Fourth!) season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Yes the show is mostly miss, but often if they get a decent host it’ll make it watchable (and I want bragging rights for when the next “Lazy Sunday”, “D*** in a Box” or “Iran (So Far Away)” happens).

September 18 – Fourth Season Premiere of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Thank Hulu for getting me into this since I missed out when it first came on (I instead chose the unpleasant Starved). This show is definitely Seinfeld if they went as far as a cable network would allow. There is nothing redeeming about any of them, but they are hilarious.

“Goin’ Back to Philly” music video: Basically this is the complete trailer that’s been seen in 30 second shots all summer on FX. http://www.hulu.com/watch/27147/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-goin-back-to-philly-music-video#s-p3-st-i1

September 21 – 60th Emmys. OK, I’ll probably more likely read the results than watch, but it’s important to keep track, no matter how conflicted I am over some of the choices (I’m rooting for Michael Emerson and glad they recognized Lost in its comeback season, but still upset that they never nominated Michael K. Williams for his brilliant portrayal of Omar on The Wire, which itself was barely noticed by the academy). It’s a sad cycle.

September 22 – Second Season Premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. This was one of only two new show I picked up last season. I’m a huge fan of the movies (even the last one, which was fun popcorn, and I’m looking forward to Salvation) and this series was entertaining. Too bad the strike (sorry if I go overboard with strike talk) cut the season in half. Hopefully the second season pulls a Buffy, where it finds its groove and lives up to its potential. Brian Austin Green, originally a puzzling casting choice with his best known work on 90210, turned out to work really well. Now that he’s a regular this season, they’ll be able to expand upon his role, as the first human perspective into the dark future since Kyle Reese, the brother of Green’s character, from the first movie.

Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i9865Mj_vM

September 22 – Third Season Premiere of Heroes. It seems like forever since the second season ended. Truncated because of the strike, it’s had to stew for almost ten months in residual criticism as it went from freshman phenom to sophomore slump, and that awful Going Postal web series didn’t do them any favors either. I’m sure some people who only read my reviews of the second season (when I picked it up) thought I started reviewing it to bash it because I’m too cool for the room, but that’s not true. The show was enormously entertaining in its first year, and it has the potential to return to that with the “Villains” volume, not to mention some of the guest stars would make great additions to the cast.

Trailer: Is that Malcolm McDowell (Linderman) I hear (at :45)? http://www.hulu.com/watch/27059/heroes-choose-a-side#s-p1-st-i1
Bonus: Full Trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJxBw3uc5cU

September 25 – Fifth Season Premiere of The Office. Unfortunately the fourth season was largely weak, with those bloated hour long episodes at the beginning and (again) the strike. However, I still love the ensemble and even at its worst can make me smile or cringe in a good way. I can’t wait to see what they do with Amy Ryan (aka Beadie Russell from The Wire.) What I really hope for in the coming season is fewer “sitcomy” moments where Michael and Dwight come off as cartoons (they walk a fine line) or end up in situations where the only logical resolution is Michael getting fired (or arrested like in the infamous pizza delivery guy subplot) and it doesn’t happen. Again, I don’t want to be too harsh on this show. Everyone involved is highly talented and funny, and I think they can return to great stuff like seasons two and three.

Teaser (Jim & Pam): http://www.hulu.com/watch/30824/the-office-pam-and-jim-denied

September 28 – Second Season Premiere of Californication. This show came out when chatter started over whether Showtime was inheriting the HBO torch of quality programming. It’s easy to see why with HBO’s vanguard shows ending and little else to fill the schedule or fire the public’s imagination like Sopranos and Showtime coming out with critical and commercial hits. Showtime isn’t there yet, but Weeds and Dexter are almost the Sex and the City and Sopranos (to make a comparison) of Showtime. Californication isn’t great (yet), but it’s still pretty entertaining, and David Duchovny does a good job as author Hank Moody. Also on a superficial level, Natasha McElhone is one of the most beautiful women on TV. It should make a good chaser to the dark stuff on Dexter.

September 28 – Third Season Premiere of Dexter. I picked up season one on DVD a year ago on a whim based on positive word of mouth and I’m glad I did. This show has quickly become one of my favorites. The second season, which I watched on OnDemand, was even better, delving into Dexter’s character and some great cat and mouse moments. Since I get Showtime now, I can watch the episodes live rather than wait until DVD. I’m really looking forward to what Jimmy Smitts is going to bring to the show. It’ll also be fun to have two great anti-hero shows (The Shield being the other one) on at the same time. Michael C. Hall has always been great since Six Feet Under, and it’s great he found another venue for his talent so quickly.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsu2YYUozP4