Are you looking forward to any new TV shows this fall?

[Tannerman]

Just wondering if you are going to try to watch a new show at all this fall, when the season starts.

I may give "The Amazing Race" and "Enterprise" a couple views. How about you?

[jasonfletcher]

I won't exactly be trying to setup my vcr to record any of these, but there were previews for four new shows that looked interesting.

1. Enterprise--somehow this is supposed to be early in the Star Trek universe. I wonder how it corresponds with Kirk & Crew

2. I don't know the name of the show or the network, but it's about this really hot chick who's undercover, cia, secret service, nsa, something like that. looks suspensful and funny (throw in a hot chick, a voila!)

3. I don't have HBO, but I wish I did just to catch a glimpse of Spielberg/Hanks new series "Band of Brothers" coming out.
4. I just saw the previews for this one the other day. I think Gary Busey is in it. Something very mysterious about one day, and it is going to take the whole season to show what happened on this one day. Seems really cool from the video clips. Who knows.

[Wally]

I don't plan on catching too many new shows this fall. If I do, the one that I think looks the most interesting is Emeril's cooking sitcom. He is a blast to watch cook, so I would guess that his sitcom will be good.

[Tannerman]

1. Enterprise--somehow this is supposed to be early in the Star Trek universe. I wonder how it corresponds with Kirk & Crew

It's set before Kirk, so everything is more primative, etc. The official spin is "Set in the 22nd century, nearly 150 years before James T. Kirk and only 100 years from now, Enterprise introduces us to the pioneering days of space exploration, when interstellar travel is in its infancy, and a universe --; and the unknown --; portends both danger and awe,"

"Appropriately, the crew of Enterprise exhibits a sense of wonder as well as a little trepidation about the strange things and beings they will encounter. Being among the first to explore deep space, they will have to prove they are ready for life among the stars."

This is a UPN show, showing on Wednesdays 8pm ET

2. I don't know the name of the show or the network, but it's about this really hot chick who's undercover, cia, secret service, nsa, something like that. looks suspensful and funny (throw in a hot chick, a voila!)

This is ABC's "Alias". I don't know much about it, but it seems to be their response to FOX's "Dark Angel", which has done well in its first year. Sundays, 9 ET.

Official spin is: "Terror-filled eyes. Lungs choked with water. A pounding heartbeat. For Sydney Bristow, a vivacious, athletic grad student, it's a typical day in her life at her not-so-typical after-school job: she's an agent for SD-6, a top-secret division of the CIA -- and she's being tortured.
Recruited freshman year, the then-shy-and-lonely Sydney jumped at the chance to be part of something bigger than Comp 101 and Calculus II. Little did she know how great she'd be at espionage or how much she'd love it. Today, Sydney still kicks serious butt for SD-6, but she's no longer shy or alone. Boyfriend Danny has proposed, and Sydney's facing a huge dilemma: what does she want from the rest of her life, and what does she tell Danny? Revealing her secret is verboten, and if there's one rule you don't break -- this is the one rule you don't break.

But Sydney breaks it.

Suddenly, Sydney's world is spun terrifyingly sideways: Danny's in grave danger, and Sydney's in a fight for her life, learning way too much, way too fast. She discovers that her long-estranged father is also SD-6 and that the organization might be covering up a secretly nefarious purpose. Plus, that nasty terrorist is still holding Sydney's head under water, and coercing information from Sydney is like pulling teeth -- so he's about to try that, too..."

3. I don't have HBO, but I wish I did just to catch a glimpse of Spielberg/Hanks new series "Band of Brothers" coming out.

I've read a lot of good stuff about this in Electronic Media. In fact, just in the last week, my local cable company has sent me 2 ads just for this series (and trying to get me to sign up). I don't have cable though.

4. I just saw the previews for this one the other day. I think Gary Busey is in it. Something very mysterious about one day, and it is going to take the whole season to show what happened on this one day. Seems really cool from the video clips. Who knows.

I believe you are referring to FOX's "24", where it takes 24 episodes, each done in a real-time one hour format, to unveil a presidential assasination plot. Neat concept, almost too thought provoking for FOX... It might get canned after 12 episodes.

I don't plan on catching too many new shows this fall. If I do, the one that I think looks the most interesting is Emeril's cooking sitcom. He is a blast to watch cook, so I would guess that his sitcom will be good.

"Emeril" on NBC. This show currently has the distinction of being the odds on favorite at being canceled first (tied with NBC's "Beyond Schwartz" and ABC's "Bob Patterson"). It's gone through I think 3 rewrites now... all with different talent and producers. We'll see.

[Tannerman]

Despite my detailed response, I'm not a TV freak. Frankly, I think most of the fall lineup is crap. There are very few shows that I watch on a regular basis, if any. Heck, I'm probably stuck watching more "Friends" and "Seinfeld" reruns in syndication.... But I read about all this stuff weekly since I get the trade magazines... I like to keep up with the field that I spent all that Taylor tuition on, even though I'm not working in it

[Childs]

I can't say many of the new show look great. I want to see Jason Alexander in "Bob Patterson" because I'm curious. According to Alexander, there have been rewrites, but no crazy occurances or turmoil on the set. I am looking forward to new episodes of "Who's Line is it Anyway" and "CSI". Other than that, I can't think of many shows I actually watch. Maybe "Frasier"?

I still watch the "Simpsons", "Seinfeld", and "Iron Chef" when I get the chance.

[Wally]

My dad was on a panel that gave their opinion after watching a preview episode of "Bob Patterson" and he said the show was horrible. The review he saw was aired on a Sunday afternoon and he said that he couldn't believe that it even made it past the censors to be on network TV.

[jasonfletcher]

I pulled this article out of Christianity Today online www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/136/22.0.html


Weblog
Home > Christianity Today Magazine > Weblog

Christianity Today, Week of September 4

"TV Is About to Get Worse"

Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted
Fall TV preview: Nudity, profanity, and obscenity
Having concluded his season of The West Wing by having the fictional president call God a "feckless thug" and telling him "to Hell with you" (albeit in Latin), show creator Aaron Sorkin is eager to take the Lord's name in vain this season. If it happens, reports The New York Times, it would break a longstanding taboo. Other shows are scrambling to break different taboos. NYPD Blue creator Steven Bochco wants to use "a scatological reference that has never before been uttered on an ABC series" on his new show Philly. The pilot for CBS's Wolf Lake contains "a particularly revealing sex scene." And an unnamed CBS script includes a word "considered to be on the furthermost reaches of decorum." (God bless The New York Times for its apparent in-house rules on profanity—it neither prints the words themselves nor the dash-dash-dash euphemisms.) "Standards have eased gradually over the decades," explains Times writer Jim Rutenberg. "But the struggles behind the scenes are growing more strident and more complicated—making some people wonder where the boundaries of taste will settle in the next few years." The television show creators are pointing to the popularity of HBO's The Sopranos as evidence that Americans want more nudity, profanity, and violence in their entertainment. But if nudity, profanity, and violence were what made The Sopranos so popular, wouldn't Cinemax be the highest-rated cable station? What's particularly ironic is that Sorkin, Bochco, and other show creators who are saying network TV should be more like The Sopranos are the same people who are always complaining about the lack of original network programs.

[Egnix]

"New" shows? I saw something about a new show with Keiffer Sutherland...might check that out.
Other than that, probably not. I have enough "old" shows to waste my time on...
...like...
Futurama (though the season premiere isn't until December, ugh!), The Mole II, Who's Line is it Anyway?, Real World, Road Rules...

[Egnix]

...and Junkyard Wars...

[Tannerman]

I caught the front end of NBC's "Lost" last night... ok show, but I won't be watching it. Also saw the beginning of "The Amazing Race" on CBS (taped the rest, as I had things to do). Looked pretty good... heck, even my mom watched it (and she hates Survivor)....

[Tannerman]

So I watched my taped copy of "The Amazing Race" last night... I'd watch it again. It's got it's pretty exciting moments (heck, there was even a crazy road race that felt like Cannonball Run). I hear CBS will be showing an encore presentation on Sunday night, September 9, 8:00PM ET/PT, and a new episode on Wednesday, 9:00PM ET/PT. Check it out if you ain't doing much.

- The Amazing Race Official Site

(Also, for you Transformers fans, the cartoon starts Saturday morning - 7am here, check your local listings...)

[Wally]

Did anyone else catch Alias on Sunday night? I saw a preview for it and thought it would look good. It turned out to be great. They kept saying that it was a drama in the commercials for it, but it had a lot of action.

[Tannerman]

I think what helped that show was the commerical free run... felt more like a movie that way (plus it helped that the chick was somewhat visually pleasing to the eyes).

Dad watched it; I caught parts of it. I loved ABC's strategy of screwing over NBC's premier of "UC: Undercover" by running "Alias" 9 minutes long...

[Wally]

It was nice that it was commercial free. It is too bad that more TV stations don't do that more often. I get so tired of comercials and most TV stations lose me as a viewer as soon as a commercial comes on and there is a high chance that I will find something else to watch on another channel before I make it back to their channel. My remote felt neglected during that hour and nine minutes on Sunday.