Pilot Watch: Fringe

We're in the middle of the writing break now, and as my bosses unsurprisingly want me to wait for the Fox News/Karl Rove session before I do any column-writing, I thought I would write up my thoughts on Fox's "Fringe," which Fox screened last night on the hotel's closed-circuit system. The panel itself wasn't incredibly newsworthy, though I got J.J. Abrams to say afterwards that they'll make Lance Reddick available as needed to the "Lost" guys (and said that he initially resisted casting Reddick here to avoid keeping him off "Lost," until he realized he'd have more control over the situation than if Reddick wound up on someone else's show), so I'm going to stick to my traditional Pilot Watch format.

Same caveat as always applies: this is not a review. The version I saw has a number of significant changes from the one that leaked online, and J.J. and company said they might be tweaking it even more between now and when it debuts in the fall. These are just my first impressions, coming up after the jump...

"Fringe"
Who's in it: Anna Torv (Australian newcomer), Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Kirk Aceveda, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Mark Valley, a cow
What it's about: An FBI agent (Torv) recruits a mentally ill genius (Noble) and his brilliant and bitter son (Jackson) to investigate crimes involving fringe sciences like cloning, telepathy, etc.
Pluses: J.J. and company know what they're doing. It's a slick pilot with interesting characters, a plot that moves and some good action sequences. Noble and Jackson are very strong as genius father and son (I always liked Jackson as Pacey and am glad to see him in a good adult role), and supporting players like Reddick (as Torv's hard-line boss, not much of a stretch from his work on "The Wire") and Brown (as an executive of a cutting-edge science company) do the expected lot with a little, in terms of screen time. J.J. admitted at the session that "Alias" got too incoherent too quickly and promised stronger episodic elements each week, in addition to whatever ongoing story arcs he has planned.
Minuses: Didn't wow me in the way that the "Lost" or "Alias" pilots did, and I'm not sure how much of that is on Anna Torv, who didn't make nearly as strong an impression as the two male leads. But even if it's nothing more than a well-made "X-Files" copy, I can see myself watching it on a regular basis. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch '08: CBS

As I mentioned recently, CBS is thus far the only network to send out pilots, and they only sent out four of the six. ("Harper's Island" is being reshot from scratch; I'm not sure why I only got a cutdown of "Eleventh Hour.") Still, since I've seen these, might as well write up what I've got.

The same caveat as always applies: these are not reviews. These are just my initial impressions of pilots that can and likely will make significant changes between now and when the season starts. I've seen many pilots get much better between this time of year and September, and I've also seen pilots I love quickly take a turn for the worse.

Thoughts on "The Mentalist," "The Ex-List," "Project Gary" and "Worst Week" coming right up...

"The Mentalist"
Who's in it: Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Owain Yeoman, Tim Kang and Amanda Righetti
What it's about: A former TV psychic/charlatan (Baker), following a personal tragedy, uses his real abilities -- acute powers of observation -- to help the California Bureau of Investigations solve crimes.
Pluses: I understand why CBS believes Baker is a star-in-waiting -- he's handsome, charismatic and has a knack for playing likable bastards -- and this seems a much more viable star vehicle for him than either "The Guardian" (which was unrelentingly grim, though I liked it) or "Smith" (which was dull and where he was third banana at best). Here he gets to smile, be a bit cheeky and abrasive (his character enjoys playing mind games with his CBI colleagues) and still save the day.
Minuses: The hero's gimmick is a complete rip-off of "Psych," though I suppose the premise here is "What if the guy from Psych came clean?" That, or "What if Psych was almost entirely without humor?" Though Baker smiles more in the pilot than he did during the entire run of "The Guardian," "The Mentalist" isn't exactly a light romp. Plus, it's yet another CBS crime procedural, even with the slight twist, and I don't know that I need another one of them in my life right now.

"The Ex-List"
Who's in it: Elizabeth Reaser, Rachel Boston, Alexandra Breckenridge, random guys I don't recognize, plus Gordon Clapp in a recurring role
What it's about: At her sister's bachelorette party, a woman (Reaser) is told by a psychic that she has to get married within the year or she'll be single forever -- and that she's already been romantically involved with the man she's destined to marry.
Pluses: Creator Diane Ruggiero (Rob Thomas' deputy on "Veronica Mars") gives great snappy dialogue. Reaser, being asked to carry a project after doing interesting supporting work elsewhere (notably as Ava on "Grey's Anatomy") is the total package: funny, likable, sexy. Dan Fienberg's favorite actor, Eric Balfour, is very funny as the first ex on the list. Though I'm not exactly the target demo, I could see myself watching this on a regular basis for more than just Taking One For The Team reasons.
Minuses: There are some minor character logic issues I have with the pilot story, and though Ruggiero insists she has brilliant plans in mind for seasons two, three, etc., I wonder if the premise is too limited.

"Project Gary"
Who's in it: Jay Mohr, Paula Marshall, Jaime King, a couple of kids
What it's about: Recent divorcee Gary (Mohr) tries to start a relationship with an attractive younger woman (King) while sharing custody of two kids with his controlling, intrusive ex-wife (Marshall)
Pluses: All three leads aren't without charm, and (in a role I'm not sure is regular or recurring) Larry Miller gets some good laughs out of his dialogue.
Minuses: It's a very traditional sitcom, laced with the kind of smuttiness that's become mandatory post-"Two and a Half Men." King's playing very much against the type (hot airhead) she played so well on "Kitchen Confidential," while Marshall may be playing too much to type as Mohr's shoe-squeezing ex.

"Worst Week"
Who's in it: Kyle Bornheimer, Erinn Hayes, Kurtwood Smith, Nancy Lenehan
What it's about: A nice guy (Bornheimer), through no fault of his own, repeatedly turns into a walking disaster area whenever he and his girlfriend (Hayes) are around her parents (Smith, Lenehan).
Pluses: A number of laugh-out-loud moments in the pilot. Smith, as anyone who watched "That '70s Show" knows, can do withering sarcasm in his sleep, just as Lenehan continues her recent streak of playing daffy-but-clever sitcom moms (see "My Name Is Earl," "My Boys," etc.). Bornheimer neatly straddles the line between ridiculous clown and relatable guy with horrible luck.
Minuses: As with "Ex-List," I wonder about sustainability. The chain of mishaps in the pilot is so intricate that I have a hard time seeing the creators reaching that level on a weekly basis. Also, is this a good fit on CBS? This is a network where "How I Met Your Mother," which at least straddles the new/old comedy divide, hasn't always had the easiest time getting traction; will the "Two and a Half Men" audience take to a show with no laughtrack that seems like it belongs on NBC or ABC? Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch stuck in holding pattern

Still getting back into the swing of things after my Memorial Day adventures took up an extra day on the backend. I'm hard at work on the first "wire" review and gradually starting to watch new summer fare. ("In Plain Sight": as much fun as expected. "Swingtown": ugh.)

Ordinarily, this would be the time of year on the blog where I'd be offering up my initial impressions (but not reviews) of the network pilots, but that's proving problematic this year, because there aren't that many pilots yet.

ABC pushed back all of its series development for mid-season, with its only new scripted pick-up being a show they developed last year, "Life on Mars," and where the pilot is going to be redone enough (with a brand-new creative team) that it would be all but worthless for ABC to send out a pilot, much less for me to watch it. NBC picked up their new shows without going through the pilot process, which means they don't have completed first episodes of anything yet. And while Fox has pilots, they haven't sent them out yet, and in the case of "Fringe," they may not send it out until right before press tour.

Even CBS, which boasted during upfront week of a relatively stable development process, only sent out four of their six new series, with only clip reels for "Harper's Island" (because it's being recast and shot from scratch; the clip reel was just a sales tool) and "Eleventh Hour" (for reasons unknown). I dipped into a couple of the CBS shows before I left for the holiday weekend, and when I find time to watch the rest, I'll write them all up. (In the meantime, Fienberg has offered up his take on the CBS drama pilots, and his take on the two sitcoms.) But that may be it for Pilot Watch '08 for quite some time, if not rendering the concept completely moot. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch 2007 revisited: The best and the rest

Okay, I have a minute to breathe here, and we already have new shows debuting ("Nashville" last week, "K-Ville" last night), so it's time to do a reprise my Pilot Watch by looking at the final versions of these shows (when available) and also whether my opinion's been altered by additional episodes (ibid). When I did this last year, I used a Top 10 format where I actually had difficulty narrowing the list to 10; this year, I'd be hard-pressed to name a Top 5. Top 3, sure, but after those, there's a lot of shows that could go either way, or could simply stay mediocre.

After the jump, I'm putting the fall shows (save the aforementioned Fox 'ville shows) into three categories: Top 3, the rest of the shows I've seen final versions of, and the ones where I'm still waiting on a final pilot (or, in some cases, a pilot of any kind).

Top 3

"Reaper" (CW, Sept. 25)
Premise: Underachieving big box store employee discovers he has powers he doesn't want and has to go work for the Devil because his parents sold his soul before he was born.
What I've seen: Revised pilot, with Missy Peregrym replacing Nikki Reed and no other noticeable changes.
Why I like it: Easily the most polished, assured and just plain fun pilot of the season. Bret Harrison from "The Loop" is well cast as another human punching bag and Ray Wise is perfection as an incredibly charming Ol' Scratch. If it's not the next "Buffy," that's only because the creators are interested in doing their own thing.
Why I'm worried: Only seen one episode, and while the pilot seems to lend itself well to an ongoing series, there's no guarantee ensuing shows will be as good as this one. Who knows how valuable director Kevin Smith was to what made it work?

"Chuck" (NBC, Sept. 24)
Premise: Underachieving big box store employee discovers he has powers he doesn't want and has to go work for the U.S. government because his former college roommate downloaded a computer full of intelligence files into his brain.
What I've seen: The final pilot plus two more episodes.
Why I like it: Zachary Levi's likable and funny as Chuck, Adam Baldwin and Yvonne Strahovski kick ass in entertaining ways as his two government handlers (Strahovski usually doing so in the sort of outfits Jennifer Garner used to wear on "Alias"), and it deftly blends comedy, action and even a bit of light relationship drama. Of the three episodes I've seen, the third one is the best, which is a good sign for the future.
Why I'm worried: Not too worried now that I've seen all three, but it does take two whole episodes to get all the premise set-up out of the way before Chuck can go on an honest-to-goodness mission that reflects what the show will look like going forward, where "Reaper" hits the ground running and seems on-format from the pilot on. But the only thing that really puts "Reaper" a notch higher is Ray Wise as Satan, the kind of scenery-chewing character "Chuck" doesn't have. (I'm not saying the show needs one long-term, but Wise is one hell of a hook in the early going.)

"Pushing Daisies" (ABC, Oct. 3)
Premise: A piemaker has the power to bring dead people back to life -- with several caveats -- and finds his life complicated by a private eye and the resurrection of his childhood sweetheart.
What I've seen: The final pilot, which seemed identical to the one I reviewed in early summer. Why I like it: A fresh concept, gorgeous visual style and confident storytelling approach, highlighted by Jim Dale (voice of the great Harry Potter audiobooks) as the narrator. The tagline "a forensic fairytale" seems about right. Good cast, too; Lee Pace and Anna Friel have really nice chemistry as the couple who can never touch, Chi McBride adds some essential cynicism as the private eye, and Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene just get to be weird, which they're good at.
Why I'm worried: The twee-ness didn't bother me in the pilot, but this one feels like it could get very precious, very quickly. There's a procedural element to provide stories week to week (Pace uses his gifts to solve murders and collect rewards), but I don't know that this one's built for the long haul. Plus, it's a Bryan Fuller show in a lousy timeslot, so it's no doubt doomed.

Some others I've seen (in chronological order)

"Back to You" (Fox, tomorrow)
I'll be linking to my review of this come morning.

"Gossip Girl" (CW, tomorrow)
Premise: Adaptation of the popular young adult novels about rich Manhattan teens.
What I've seen: Final pilot, which seemed identical to the original.
In a nutshell: I prefer the "Chuck" side of Josh Schwartz to this. Not to say it isn't well-done, but it's much more youth-targeted than "The O.C." was. I'll give it some rope, but without more adult appeal (which I understand is besides the point here), I'm going to feel like a perv in a hurry.

"Kitchen Nightmares" (Fox, tomorrow)
Premise: Adaptation of Gordon Ramsay's other UK series, where he has a week to revive failing restaurants by any means necessary.
What I've seen: Two episodes
In a nutshell: I like Ramsay here a lot more than on "Hell's Kitchen," where every situation is contrived to give him an excuse to act like a d-bag to the contestants, but this one's inessential to my life, especially given the timeslot competition.

"Big Bang Theory" (CBS, Sept. 24)
Premise: Two CalTech nerds with minimal social skills befriend the blonde bimbo from across the hall.
What I've seen: Final pilot, with some mild revisions (a new joke here and there)
In a nutshell: I like Jim Parsons as one of the two geeks, but it's a more extreme version of my issues with "Back To You": some funny, professional moments here and there and a whole lot of stereotypes and predictable hackery the rest of the time.

"Journeyman" (NBC, Sept. 24)
Premise: San Francisco reporter begins traveling back in time, where he has to do good deeds while running into his presumed dead ex-fiancee.
What I've seen: Final pilot, plus a second episode.
In a nutshell: Kind of agressively meh. (How's that for incisive criticism?) Other shows have done more interesting things with this material, but it's competently put together, and it's not like I'm going to be watching "CSI: Miami" or "The Bachelor," so I'll give it time. Your opinion of it will probably depend on how much affection you have for Kevin McKidd from his stint on "Rome," a show I could take or leave.

"Cane" (CBS, Sept. 25)
Premise: A Cubano "Godfather," as a Miami family with a sugar and rum empire deals with crises within and without.
What I've seen: Final pilot, pretty much the same as I saw in early summer.
In a nutshell: I want it to be better, both because I like Jimmy Smits and because I always root for diversity on television, but this is a really watered-down, made-for-TV "Godfather." Smits, Hector Elizondo and Nestor Carbonell have some interesting things to do, but the characters beyond them range from underwritten to completely dull. Not a bad show, but also not one that seems to have a lot of room to grow from its current mediocrity.

"Private Practice" (ABC, Sept. 26)
Premise: The "Grey's Anatomy" spin-off we first met last May.
What I've seen: The same backdoor pilot we all saw in May, plus the first real episode.
In a nutshell: It's like Good Shonda and Bad Shonda are constantly at war with each other, and for the most part, Bad Shonda is winning. Very David E. Kelley-esque, and not in a good way. The characters behave indistinguishably from the "Grey's" interns, even though they're about 10 years older and supposed to be more mature. Kate Walsh is still tremendously likable and there are some glimpses of Good Shonda here and there, but the backdoor pilot was a pretty good quality barometer.

"Bionic Woman" (NBC, Sept. 26)
Premise: Remake of the '70s action show.
What I've seen: Slightly revised pilot, with the only real changes involving the new, non-deaf sister.
In a nutshell: There's some good stuff in it (the opening sequence and anything else with Katee Sackhoff), but I'm underwhelmed by Michelle Ryan and underwhelmed by the action sequences, which tend to get worse, not better, after a pilot. Also not feeling any of the supporting characters yet, with the possible exception of Will Yun Lee as the fight trainer. Good production team in place (even with the exit of Glenn Morgan), so I'm not abandoning hope just yet, but I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did.

"Life" (NBC, Sept. 26)
Premise: Cop gets out of prison after 12 years for a crime he didn't commit, returns to the force, loves fruit.
What I've seen: Final pilot plus second episode.
In a nutshell: Mediocre imitation "House," and while Damian Lewis' American accent is flawless, his character is annoyingly quirky (I'm bored with both the Zen koans and the constant fruit snacking already) and the police cases are as dull as on every other new cop show these days. I loved Lewis in "Band of Brothers," so this gets one or two more chances, but I'm not feeling it at all.

"Big Shots" (ABC, Sept. 27)
Premise: Four rich white tools hang around with each other to discuss how hard it is to be a rich white tool.
What I've seen: A pilot that I've been told by ABC is now acceptable for review, though it won't be identical to what airs on the 27th (they're still tweaking at this late date).
In a nutshell: The premise description about covers it. Rarely have I hated every single character in a pilot as I much as I hate these guys, and I have some level of personal and professional affection for Titus and Joshua Malina and no real opinion one way or the other on McDermott and Michael Vartan, so it's not like I went into this pre-disposed to hate the show. Rob Thomas has been brought in as a consulting producer, but even if he has a lot of power (which isn't clear from that title), this show needs a miracle worker. By far the worst pilot I saw this year -- yes, even worse than "Cavemen."

"Aliens in America" (CW, Oct. 1)
Premise: Wisconsin high school geek's parents import a foreign exchange student to guarantee him a friend and are horrified when the new kid is a Pakistani Muslim.
What I've seen: Revised pilot (with Scott Patterson as the dad) plus second episode.
In a nutshell: Reminiscent of "Malcolm in the Middle," "Everybody Hates Chris" and even, faintly, "Freaks and Geeks," though comedically it trends more towards the "Everybody Hates Chris" "smile, nod and say, 'That was funny'" reaction than the huge laughs of the other two. Also, Patterson was a bad fit as the dad, especially since they didn't bother to reconceive him after they dumped Patrick Breen. So essentially you have a guy built like an ex-ballplayer trying to seem like a nerd by making his voice really high and thin.

Stuff I have yet to see final versions of (if that)

"Kid Nation" (CBS, tomorrow)
They're not sending this out for anyone to review.

"Dirty Sexy Money" (ABC, Sept. 26)
The original pilot spent so much time introducing all the characters that I'm not sure if I liked it. We'll see.

"Moonlight" (CBS, Sept. 28)
I have yet to see a pilot, period, for this thing. For all I know, they're going to fire everybody again -- except Alex O'Laughlin, as usual -- in a few days and start from scratch.

"Cavemen" (ABC, Oct. 2)
They're sort of starting over from scratch, so I'll reserve judgment, but if I was going to pick a commercial to make into a series, "I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC." would be much higher on my list.

"Carpoolers" (ABC, Oct. 2)
Some potential there, but not realized in the original pilot. Really want to see a second episode of it.

"Life Is Wild" (CW, Oct. 7)
They recast both the parents (which I don't understand, since Brett Cullen and D.W. Moffatt are basically the same guy, anyway), so we'll see. But remember what I said about the minimal adult appeal of "Gossip Girl"? That show is "Diagnosis Murder" compared to "Life Is Wild."

"Women's Murder Club" (ABC, Oct. 12)
I don't know that I'd ever watch it again, but the original pilot seemed like a competent start to a slightly different police procedural.

"Samantha Who?" (ABC, Oct. 15)
Maybe it'll have a different title by then. Like Christina Applegate, think the writing (particularly for the supporting cast) needs work.

I think that's everything, but if I left something out, let me know and I'll add it in. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch 2007: ABC, Part 2

And so we come to the end of Pilot Watch '07. Unlike last year, most of the networks (except Fox) didn't bother sending out their mid-season stuff, so I haven't gotten a look at "Lipstick Mafia" or "Cashmere Jungle" (or whatever they're called) or "Swingtown." On the plus side, the only fall show I didn't get a pilot for was "Moonlight," and that's because they're starting over from scratch. (Watching the Shannon Lucio/non-David Greenwalt version would be as big a waste of time as watching Fox's "Wedding Album" a year ago, which got completely revamped into "The Wedding Bells.")

Thoughts on "Big Shots," "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Women's Murder Club" coming right up...

"Big Shots"
Who's in it: Dylan McDermott, Michael Vartan, Joshua Molina, Christopher Titus, Nia Long, Paige Turco, and more
What it's about: Four Master of the Universe types get together at the country club to play golf and get advice on handling the women in their lives
Pluses: Good to see all the leads employed (I was a big "Titus" fan), and McDermott and Titus play well against type.
Minuses: One of the guys actually utters the line "Men -- we're the new women," apparently to justify the amount of time the guys spend talking about relationships and their feelings. I'm already frustrated by a Niles-and-Maris-style running gag where Titus is forever complaining about his wife without us ever getting a good look at her.

"Dirty Sexy Money"
Who's in it: Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh, Billy Baldwin, Samaire Armstrong, and more
What it's about: When the private attorney to a rich and powerful Kennedy-type clan called the Darlings dies under mysterious circumstances, the Darling patriarch (Sutherland) recruits the lawyer's do-gooder son (Krause) to come work for the family that dominated his childhood.
Pluses: It's a Greg Berlanti production, which means it has all the soapy elements you expect, but more smartly executed. Despite playing a character who could easily act like more of a self-righteous prig than Nate Fisher, Krause is very likable. Glenn Fitzgerald (who did a multi-episode stint on "Six Feet Under" as a young guy dying of cancer) is a lot of fun as the most obnoxious Darling -- who just so happens to be a man of the cloth.
Minuses: As the Darling sibling who's had a lifetime of semi-resolved sexual tension with Krause, Natalie Zea (a Rebecca Gayheart lookalike) doesn't seem as irresistible as the script is calling for. Most of the characters are very broad -- especially Armstrong as a Paris Hilton-type -- which is fine for a pilot where you're introducing a lot of characters, but no good going forward. (I trust Berlanti enough to not worry too much about this.)

"Women's Murder Club"
Who's in it: Angie Harmon, Laura Harris, Paula Newsome, Aubrey Dollar
What it's about: A San Francisco cop, prosecutor, medical examiner and reporter regularly get together to solve the really tough cases and provide relationship advice to each other. Based on the series of James Patterson novels.
Pluses: Where most of the season's other new cop shows like "Life" and "New Amsterdam" either treat the crimes as an afterthought or just can't be bothered to come up with a good one, former "Angel" writers Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain have written some decent mysteries (or at least adapted them well from Patterson's books). Harmon's well-cast enough as a self-destructive cop that it made me realize how badly Sam Waterston missed her. For what it's trying to do, this show does it well.
Minuses: What it's trying to do isn't something I'm terribly interested in. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch: ABC, Part 1

In between my recent brushes with celebrity, I was pleased to see the arrival of the ABC pilots. I've watched four of them so far, and rather than wait until I've had time to view them all, I'm just going to hit those four: the much-anticipated "Pushing Daisies," plus the sitcoms "Carpoolers," "Cavemen" and "Sam I Am."

It's been a little bit since the last Pilot Watch, so I'll put the disclaimer in full: These are not reviews, just first impressions. I know that many things can and will change between now and September, from recasting to rewriting to complete overhaul. This is just how I responded to these pilots at first glance.

"Pushing Daisies"
Who's in it: Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Kristin Chenoweth, Swoosie Kurtz and the voice of Jim Dale
What it's about: A pie-maker has the ability to bring living things back from the dead by touching them, but with several strings attached: if he touches them again, they die for good, and if he doesn't touch them again within 60 seconds of resurrecting them, someone else nearby will die in their place. While working alongside a private eye who's found a way to make money off the pie-maker's power, he resurrects his childhood sweetheart and has to face a lifetime of never touching her.
Pluses: I was never as enthralled with previous Bryan Fuller-produced series like "Wonderfalls" and "Dead Like Me" as a lot of my critical bretheren, but this one really clicked for me. Pace (the brother on "Wonderfalls" and the co-star of the underrated Showtime romantic tragedy "Soldier's Girl") has the right mix of quirk and reserve for the material, Friel makes the resurrected girlfriend's matter-of-factness seems sensible and appealing. The production design, the direction of Barry Sonnenfeld (the visually richest thing he's done since the Addams Family movies, if not since he was DP for the Coen brothers), and the narration of Dale (voice of the amazing Harry Potter audiobooks) all combine with Fuller's off-beat writing to create what's far and away my favorite pilot of the season.
Minuses: If you thought Fuller's previous shows were a bit too twee, this won't change your mind. Both visually and tonally, it's going to be damn difficult to replicate the feel of the pilot on a weekly basis.

"Carpoolers"
Who's in it: Fred Goss, Jerry O'Connell, Faith Ford, Jerry Minor, T.J. Miller and Tim Peper
What it's about: Four guys of varying backgrounds commute together to their jobs at a nearby office park.
Pluses: I quite like Minor (the one on the left in the photo) as the repressed nerd who usually winds up driving the carpool, as well as Miller, who plays the man-child son of Goss and Ford's characters and spends the entire pilot wandering around in a ratty bathrobe and tighty-whities.
Minuses: I've never been in a carpool myself (I hate the environment too much for that), but these guys seem to talk about their feelings an awful lot more than I ever do with my best male friends, let alone three quasi-strangers with whom I share nothing but geographic proximity.

"Cavemen"
Who's in it:Bill English, Nick Kroll, Dash Mihok, Kaitlin Doubleday and John Heard
What it's about: Spin-off of the Geico commercials, about three twentysomething cavemen struggling with prejudice in 21st century Atlanta.
Pluses: Mihok (who you might remember from "Felicity," or the Leo/Claire "Romeo and Juliet"), as the requisite dim-bulb, shows some physical comedy chops, particularly in a dance number at a cowboy-themed country club party. In the right hands, this could be that interesting satire of race relations that Steve McPherson was bragging about at the upfront. After expecting to cringe throughout the entire 21 minutes, I never really did.
Minuses: Didn't laugh much, either. The 21 minutes just kinda came and went with almost no reaction from me, good or bad.

"Sam I Am"
Who's in it: Christina Applegate, Jean Smart, Kevin Dunn, Melissa McCarthy, Barry Watson, Jennifer Esposito, Tim Russ
What it's about: A woman wakes up from an eight-day coma with no memory of who she is, and gradually discovers that she was a very nasty person pre-coma.
Pluses: As she showed in "Anchorman," Applegate has grown up to be a really polished, likable comedienne. The "Regarding Henry"-style plot ("Regarding Henrietta?") has potential, and there's a very funny moment where it's realized, when Sam -- having just discovered she's a recovering alcoholic -- attends an AA meeting and can't decide what to sample from the coffee/pastry table.
Minuses: With the exception of Watson (as Sam's boyfriend) and Russ (as her doorman), the supporting characters feel way too broad. As with "Cavemen," I largely sat through the pilot, not responding to any of it. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch 2007: CBS

You should be able to recite my pilot disclaimer in your sleep by now: these are just first impressions, not reviews, because too many things can and will change between now and September.

CBS has five new series, but only sent out full pilots for the three below. The vampire detective show "Moonlight" is being retooled, and they say there was never a full pilot made anyway, and all I have of that and "Kid Nation" is the cut-down from the upfront, which I don't want to watch because the cut-downs inevitably give away stuff that I'd rather find out about in context.

Fienberg beat me to the punch for once on the CBS pilots, and once again our thoughts are going to be eerily similar (he even claims that he made a note of the Gary Cole point I make below, but didn't remember to include it in the final version), once again doing little to disprove the theory that we're the same person.

"The Big Bang Theory"
Who's in it: Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons
What it's about: "Beauty and the Geek: The Sitcom," in which two Cal Tech nerds befriend the blonde hottie who moves in across the hall.
Pluses: The traditional setup-joke paradigm is on its last legs, but co-creator Chuck Lorre (of "Two and a Half Men" and "Dharma & Greg" fame) is one of the few working sitcom writers who can occasionally breathe a little life into it. I laughed a few times, particularly at the odd line readings of Parsons.
Minuses: A major plot point of the pilot: the hot blonde's shower breaks, so she has to shower (and parade around in a towel) in the nerds' apartment. This is an actual plot in a sitcom being made in 2007. In general, the show threatens to make "Two and a Half Men" seem like a model of subtlety.

"Cane"
Who's in it: Jimmy Smits, Hector Elizondo, Nestor Carbonell, Rita Moreno, Polly Walker and more.
What it's about: "Godfather"-style soap about a Cuban-American family trying to protect their sugar and rum empire.
Pluses: Some good performances, especially by Smits and Carbonell, a venue that will give a lot of talented but underemployed Latin-American actors a chance to show their stuff (as regulars or guest stars), and a world that doesn't feel like one I've seen a million times before.
Minuses: The CBS house style gives this a flat, cheap TV look that ruins a lot of attempts to create a "Godfather" vibe (an outdoor party scene that's clearly meant to evoke all those Corleone shindigs seems to have 7 guests). The subplots about the younger generation of the family feel like nothing more than what they are: a futile attempt to get kids to watch an '80s-style CBS soap opera. If this show succeeds, Carbonell may not be able to go back to "Lost," meaning we won't find out whether Richard's immortal or the "Lost" makeup team just had a bad day at the office.

"Viva Laughlin"
Who's in it: Lloyd Owen, Madchen Amick and, in a semi-recurring role, Hugh Jackman
What it's about: Remake of BBC's "Viva Blackpool" miniseries, a crime/romance/musical hybrid about an aspiring casino owner in a small gambling town.
Pluses: Jackman (who's also a producer) is sensational in his few minutes of screen time, particularly an entrance that has him singing along to "Sympathy for the Devil." (As with the original, the music numbers aren't quite singing and aren't quite lip-synching.)
Minuses: Jackman's future availability is unclear, and the show suffers badly without him. Owen comes across like Gary Cole playing Mike Brady (albeit without the perm, I guess), not nearly charismatic enough to carry such an odd genre mash-up, and Eric Winter seems far too generic to be playing the quirky homicide cop (a role originated by David Tennant). There are only four or five musical numbers in the whole hour. That's probably a fair representation of what production will be able to do on a weekly basis, but the long gaps between songs only serve to remind you that they're by far the most interesting thing about the show. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch 2007: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Wrapping up my look at the Fox pilots with one of the season's more anticipated shows, albeit one that won't be airing until mid-season.

Repeat after me: This is not a review, just a first impression. I understand that many things can and will change between now and when the show actually airs.

"The Sarah Connor Chronicles"
Who's in it: Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau
What it's about: Spin-off of the "Terminator" movies, picking up a few years after "Terminator 2," with Sarah and John Connor on the run, until the arrival of some more machines from the future convinces them to change their plan.
Pluses: Headey's very good, and while she doesn't live up to the intensity (not to mention the biceps) of Linda Hamilton in "T2," the character as written and performed in that movie wouldn't be sustainable for a series. This is a happy medium. "Firefly" fans will be very pleased with Glau's role in the story. Owain Yeoman, of all people (late of "Kitchen Confidential" and the never-seen "Commando Nanny," but also of "The Nine"), makes a more-than-passable old-school Terminator. Several exciting action sequences.
Minuses: Not sold on Dekker as the future messiah, even though the character spends much of the pilot complaining that he doesn't fit the part, either. The action's good but not superlative, and with very rare exceptions (essentially "Alias," "24" and "Lost"), series TV action tends to get worse, not better, as the production grind goes along. Doesn't necessarily feel like a long-term concept. The script relies a lot on people's memory of a 16-year-old movie (there's a lot of Miles Dyson talk), yet it monkeys enough with the continuity of the movies ("T3" essentially can't co-exist with this story) that the hardcore fanboys are going to complain. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch 2007: Fox dramas (mostly)

Okay, so I had intended to watch all four of Fox's drama pilots yesterday, saving the presumed best ("Sarah Connor Chronicles") for last, but other work issues kept getting in the way and I only saw three of them. And since I don't know that I'll have time to watch "Sarah Connor" today, I figured I'd just post what I'd already done.

You should be able to recite the usual disclaimer from memory by now: These aren't reviews, just first impressions of shows that can and/or will make significant changes between now and September.

"Canterbury's Law"
Who's in it: Julianna Margulies, Linus Roache, Ben Shenkman, Jocko Sims and Trieste Dunn
What it's about: A defense lawyer still trying to reassemble her personal life after a tragedy gets a reputation for taking on unpopular cases, like a mentally ill man accused of killing a little boy.
Pluses: Denis Leary and company have managed to create a show with a female heroine that isn't dripping with the misogyny that too often infects "Rescue Me." Margulies character is deeply-flawed, but in a sympathetic way, and well-played by her. Nice to see Shenkman (from "Angels in America") in a semi-weasely role as an ex-DA who now works for Margulies but still behaves like a prosecutor.
Minuses: I feel like I've seen all of this before on old episodes of "The Practice," though Margulies is a vastly better actor than Dylan McDermott.

"K-Ville"
Who's in it: Anthony Anderson, Cole Hauser, John Carroll Lynch, Tawny Cypress
What it's about: A New Orleans cop (Anderson) whose partner deserted him during the Katrina flooding has to break in a new partner (Hauser) while patrolling the devastated streets of the city.
Pluses: As anyone who watches "The Shield" knows, Anderson is a fine dramatic actor with great presence, and he's given the kind of complicated, verge of a nervous breakdown type character that usually goes to middle-aged white guys like Dennis Franz and Denis Leary. Hauser's a solid strong-but-silent type. The setting and location filming are tremendous; I got choked up just watching some of the B-roll footage of devastated houses scrawled with anti-government graffiti ("Fix Everything My Ass" being a highlight).
Minuses: The setting threatens to overwhelm the fairly stock mystery plot at the center of the pilot. A twist involving Hauser's backstory has the potential to be very dumb if not handled correctly down the line.

"New Amsterdam"
Who's in it: Nicolaj Coster Waldau, Alexie Gilmore, Stephen Henderson and Zuleikha Robinson
What it's about: After saving the life of a Native American woman, a Dutch colonial soldier is made immortal -- at least until he meets his one true love, at which point he's supposed to turn back into one of us -- and in the present day works as a homicide detective in the NYPD.
Pluses: Novel twist on a lot of old cop show tropes -- our hero is in AA, where he boasts of having something like 16,000 days sober -- and Waldau's an interesting leading man. I want to give this one a long look just to see what he does next.
Minuses: Waldau's American accent is far more inconsistent than, say, Damian Lewis on "Life," and while there's a built-in excuse for it (is 400 years enough time to shake off all those glottal stops?), nobody ever mentions it, not even the new partner who's suspicious about everything else he says and does. The one true love aspect feels like something that would lend itself far better to a movie than an ongoing series, especially since we're allegedly introduced to her in the pilot. (Maybe they could subtitle this "Have you met Nicolaj Coster Waldau?") As with "K-Ville" and "Life," the actual murder mystery stories are going to need punching up. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch 2007: Fox comedies

Because Fox has so many new shows, I'm splitting them up into gendre. The three sitcoms right now, the dramas to follow at some point.

Usual disclaimer applies: these are not reviews, just initial impressions. Too many things can and will change between now and September to make any kind of final judgments on any of these shows at this early stage.

"Back to You"
Who's in it: Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Fred Willard and that one guy from "Out of Practice" who wasn't a showkiller
What it's about: A successful anchorman loses his job for an on-air flub and has to return to his old gig in Pittsburgh, where the female partner he left behind a decade earlier resents his return.
Pluses: Grammer, Heaton and Willard (as a sexist sportscaster) are all comedy veterans who know their way around a punchline.
Minuses: The punchlines aren't very good. I wrote about "'Til Death" last year that Brad Garrett was able to sell some lousy jokes, and either he's a better salesman than Frasier and his ex-sister-in-law, or the jokes are even lousier here. I laughed a handful of times, but I cringed far more often.

"The Return of Jezebel James"
Who's in it: Parker Posey, Lauren Ambrose and Scott Cohen
What it's about: Long-estranged sisters -- one a Type-A book editor unable to conceive, the other a slovenly 20something -- reunite when the older one asks the younger one to carry her baby.
Pluses: Posey and Ambrose have great chemistry, and the pilot picks up significantly when the two of them get to work together.
Minuses: Amy Sherman-Palladino's writing does not work with a laugh track, which makes jokes I might have otherwise smiled or even laughed at feel like hackery.

"The Rules for Starting Over"
Who's in it: Craig Bierko, Rashida Jones, Shaun Majumder and Johnny Sneed
What it's about: Four friends in their 30s struggle to re-enter the dating world at the end of long relationships.
Pluses: Umm... it's nice to know Rashida Jones will have another job lined up once "The Office" sends Karen on her way.
Minuses: This is produced by the Farrelly brothers, but it feels like bad imitation Farrelly, with token gags about a human being sexually assaulted by an animal, a disabled character who tells jokes about his condition but won't tolerate them from others, etc. Bierko can be interesting when he gets to play manic (see his ADD musician on "Sex and the City," or him on "Boston Legal" this year), but he makes a poor straight man. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch 2007: CW

Sonuva... for the second time in a row, Blogger published my Pilot Watch post early -- this time before I had written anything but a subject line. Apologies to any RSS readers who are confused. Maybe this is a sign I shouldn't be doing these things. Nahh...

Anyway, the CW was the next network to send out their wares. (Fox arrived late today, but they have 29 new shows or something, so it may be a few days before I get to them all. Maybe I'll split it up like last year.) Usual disclaimer applies: these are not reviews, just initial impressions. Too many things can and will change between now and September to make any kind of final judgments on any of these shows at this early stage.

"Aliens in America"
Who's in it: Dan Byrd, Amy Pietz, Patrick Breen, and Adhir Kalyan
What it's about: A high school loser's parents try to give him an instant friend by opening their home to an exchange student, only to be horrified when the boy turns out to be a Pakistani Muslim.
Pluses: No laugh track, as it's shot in the same low-key, one-camera style as "Everybody Hates Chris." Some potential for social satire with the school's tone-deaf reaction to the exchange student. Pietz doesn't in any way invoke memories of "Caroline in the City," to the point where I was surprised it was her when I checked the credits.
Minuses: Not funny, though I acknowledge I'm a couple of decades past the target demo.

"Gossip Girl"
Who's in it: Kristen Bell's voice, a bunch of parental types played by Kelly Rutherford, Sam Robards and Matthew Settle (awesome as Capt. Speirs in "Band of Brothers"), Penn Badgley (late of 12 failed WB series) and a bunch of relatively unknown kids.
What it's about: Josh Schwartz adapts Cecily Von Ziegesar's series of young adult novels about the drama at a fancy Manhattan prep school.
Pluses: I don't know anything about the books, but Schwartz has either found the hidden "O.C." analogues in them or imported them on his own, because there's an outcast guy with a crush on a popular girl, a fistfight at a black-tie party and one-liners aplenty. Badgley (the best thing about the otherwise forgettable "Bedford Diaries") is very appealing as the not-quite-Seth Cohen, and Settle has some nice moments as his washed-up rocker dad. Good soundtrack and a clever use of text-messaging as the 21st century grapevine. (When a scandal happens at a party, everyone's noses are glued to their Sidekicks instead of the traditional "watermelon, canteloupe" crowd murmur noise.)
Minuses: It feels like Schwartz split himself into two this year, with "Chuck" incorporating most of the adult-appeal qualities from "The O.C." (especially the humor), while "Gossip Girl" more directly embraces the teen angst stuff. Doesn't make it a bad show -- it's already light-years better than "One Tree Hill" -- but I'm gonna need some persuading to believe it's something I would watch long-term.

"Life Is Wild"
Who's in it: Brett Cullen and a bunch of unknowns.
What it's about: A New York City teenage girl is horrified when her veterinarian father man moves their entire blended family to a South African game preserve.
Pluses: Like "Lost," shoots in an exotic location that adds a whole lot to the presentation. Even when I wasn't that interested in the family angst, my attention was kept by the scenery and the wildlife. (Though it's hard to beat something like "Planet Earth" for that.)
Minuses: I'm thinking my "inessential to my life" description of the "Grey's Anatomy" spin-off may be a go-to phrase for me in this pilot season. I'm not the target demo, and unlike some other CW/WB/Fox shows about teens that held my interest, this one feels far more narrow in its appeal, like a show for The N. I don't object to its existence, but I can't imagine watching episode 2.

"Reaper"
Who's in it: Brett Harrison, Tyler Labine, Nikki Reed and Ray Wise
What it's about: Slacker who works for a big box hardware store discovers that his parents sold his soul to the Devil before he was born, and now he has to work as a bounty hunter recovering souls who have escaped from Hell.
Pluses: Harrison is just as much fun here as an underachiver as he was as an overachiever on "The Loop." Wise is having himself a ball as Ole Scratch and Tyler Labine makes a fine sidekick. The tone is just on the right side of tongue-in-cheek, with gags like Satan giving Harrison a souped-up Dirt Devil to nab the old souls, yet there are moments that feel genuinely scary and even, on occasion, touching. (Suffice it to say, the parents feel awful about what they did.) A worthy successor to the WB/CW's tradition of wisecracking supernatural action shows. So far, this and "Chuck" have been my two favorite pilots. And speaking of which...
Minuses: As Fienberg (who's working his way through the pilots himself over at Check the Fien Print) warned me, this show is almost identical to "Chuck," save that the hero is recruited by Satan instead of the U.S. government. (Hair-splitting for some, I know.) The tones are the same, both guys have day jobs at big box stores, dorky sidekicks, disapproving siblings, etc., etc. So, naturally, both have been placed in the same timeslot, which is no good for anyone. Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch 2007: NBC

Stupid razzafrazza Blogger. I hit the Publish button a few hours ago when I only meant to save a draft of this post. So apologies for any confusion engendered by the incomplete version that briefly got out there.

Anyway, I'm going to continue the tradition started last spring, wherein I share my first impressions on the network pilots as I get a chance to watch them. The same caveat as always applies: these are not reviews, because too much can and will change between now and when these things air. (For instance, the version of "30 Rock" I wrote about at this time last year still had Rachel Dratch in the Jenna role.) I've seen bad pilots make significant improvements over the summer -- and, of course, I've seen shows with great pilots fall apart as early as week two. (See "The Nine.") This is just something to get the conversation started.

NBC actually overnighted their pilots to critics for arrival the morning after their upfront, so they're obviously first in the queue. No idea when the next batch will arrive, or which network it'll be from. Thoughts on all four NBC shows after the jump...

"Bionic Woman"
Who's in it: Michelle Ryan, Ann from "Arrested Development" (aka Mae Whitman), Miguel Ferrer, Molly Price and, in a recurring role, Katee Sackhoff
What it's about: Smarter, more serious remake of the '70s campfest, this time about a San Francisco bartender badly injured in a car crash and made better, stronger and faster by her supergenius boyfriend and the team of military scientists he works with.
Pluses: Looks good, moves well, feels credible in the same way the new "Battlestar Galactica" (which shares exec. producer David Eick) found the gravitas of another cheesey '70s show. Ryan and Whitman have nice chemistry as the bionic woman and her rebellious, hearing-impaired sister (and casting a non-deaf actress in the part suggests to me that big sis won't always have a family monopoly on bionic ears). As a previous bionic woman gone bad, Sackhoff is so much fun that they quickly expanded her role to something semi-ongoing.
Minuses: Sackhoff pretty thoroughly upstages Ryan, though of course the badass villain role is easier to make a quick impression with. Special-effects don't look too special yet, though that's something I'm sure will be improved between now and fall.

"Chuck"
Who's in it: Zachary Levi, Adam Baldwin, Yvonne Strzechowski, Sarah Lancaster and more. More importantly, Josh Schwartz is the creator.
What it's about: Underachieving nerd who works at a big box electronics store unwittingly turns his brain into a supercomputer when his college roommate-turned-spy e-mails him a database packed with government secrets.
Pluses: Schwartz's sense of humor applies well to a James Bond/"Alias"/"Greatest American Hero"-type world. Some tongue in cheek action and some serious stuff (including a clever use of parking barriers). All three leads are well-cast, and it's especially amusing to notice the uncanny resemblances between Levi and Adam Brody and between Strzechowski and Olivia Wilde; it's like "The O.C." season two, but with guns and explosions!
Minuses: Can Schwartz maintain this tone long-term? There's more precedence for this kind of series than there was for a self-aware soap opera, but how long does Chuck's knowledge prove useful? Doesn't the database get outdated after a season or two?

"Journeyman"
Who's in it: Kevin McKidd, Reed Diamond, Moon Bloodgood and Gretchen Egolf
What it's about: A San Francisco newspaper reporter begins traveling back in time for reasons unknown to help improve the lives of strangers. In the present, his wife and brother think he's crazy or on drugs; in the past, he keeps bumping into his long-missing ex-fiancee.
Pluses: McKidd's a strong leading man (albeit not nearly as insane as he was on "Rome"). Nice use of San Francisco landmarks to help create McKidd's feeling of dislocation each time he finds himself in the past. Diamond is so well-cast as McKidd's brother that you have to wonder if there's a biological connection in the real world we don't know about. There's an especially lovely moment at the end where McKidd figures out a way to convince his wife that he's not losing his mind.
Minuses: McKidd's first "mission" in the past, or whatever it is, isn't that interesting. I'll forgive that in a pilot where establishing the characters and the premise is more important, but not long-term, especially not if Dean Stockwell isn't going to be popping up to crack one-liners and walk through walls. Overall, the show seems a less-compatible fit with "Heroes" than either of "Chuck" or, especially, "Bionic Woman."

"Life"
Who's in it: HBO and Showtime's finest: Damian Lewis from "Band of Brothers," Sarah Shahi from "The L Word" (and Tony Soprano's peyote trip), Robin "Calamity Jane" Weigert, Melissa Sagemiller from "Sleeper Cell" and Adam Arkin from, um, "Chicago Hope."
What it's about: After spending 12 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, a cop is exonerated and reinstated to the LAPD (along with a multi-million dollar settlement), where he applies the lessons of Zen he learned in the can.
Pluses: Lewis' American accent is at least as good as fellow Brit Hugh Laurie, and he makes a better "House, P.D." than whatserface on "Bones." Some nice interplay 'twixt Lewis and Arkin, playing his former cellie and current financial advisor. Always nice to see Robin Weigert cleaned up.
Minuses: Lewis' punchlines aren't as funny as Laurie's, and the pilot mystery isn't that involving. I'm not sold on Shahi as a tough cop. The writers need to find a more interesting way to illustrate their hero's newfound nature than his love of fruit. There's a massive conspiracy thread behind his incarceration, and I've been burned out on TV drama conspiracy theories for at least two years now. Click here to read the full post