vindy.com | SNEAK PEEK

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Fall TV season promises unforgettable new shows

By Gail Pennington

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

For a TV critic, the fall TV season is a lot like Christmas, I’ve always said.

Preview discs of the broadcast networks’ new series carry shiny promise.

But although a few colorful packages will hold exciting new toys, plenty of others will turn out to be filled with socks and mittens — or, worse, to be empty.

With the summer edition of the Television Critics Association press tour fast approaching, I’ve been watching a lot of preview discs in the past few weeks, and now I’m prepared to give you a sneak peek at the network shows that will come to your TV this fall and beyond.

These aren’t reviews; a full preview of the new broadcast shows will run early in September.

Many of the pilot episodes I’ve watched are still rough cuts at this point, and changes big and small will be made before premiere week in September.

But here’s a little tease of what’s to come.

MOST PROMISING SHOW OF FALL

“Once Upon a Time,SDRq ABC

In a breathtaking drama from two producers of “Lost,” fairy-tale characters (including Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White) are stuck in our world, with no knowledge of who they really are.

How did this happen? The first episode explains it with remarkable clarity.

Jennifer Morrison (“House”) is an outsider with a pivotal role in the whole mess.

“Once Upon a Time” is also the best drama based on fairy tales.

Yes, there are two. Not so successful is NBC’s very dark and a bit confusing “Grimm,” with David Giuntoli as a cop who turns out to be destined to fight fairy-tale monsters.

BEST SHOW YOU WON’T SEE THIS FALL

“Smash,SDRq midseason on NBC

Wow. Just wow. This musical drama is like nothing else on TV — and yes, that means it’s nothing like “Glee.”

Debra Messing, reinvented, heads the big ensemble cast; she plays a Broadway songwriter who, with her partner (Christian Borle), happens on an idea that could become their big smash.

Anjelica Huston and Katharine McPhee also star, and there are many songs, both originals and standards.

NBC is pairing “Smash” with “The Voice” at midseason, but that’s too long to wait.

Another good show you won’t see this fall is ABC’s “GCB,” formerly “Good Christian Belles,” and before that “Good Christian (Another ‘B’ Word).” In the comedy-drama, a former “mean girl” returns in disgrace to Dallas and faces old high school enemies still holding grudges.

The big cast includes Kristin Chenoweth (as the worst of the grudge-holders) and Annie Potts.

MOST PROMISING COMEDY

“Up All Night,SDRq NBC

Will Arnett (adding a layer of humanity to his reliable hilarity) and Christina Applegate are new parents struggling with how their lives have changed, and Maya Rudolph is a laugh riot as Applegate’s boss.

“Up All Night” is also the most promising parenting comedy. In that category, the least promising is Fox’s “I Hate My Teenage Daughter,” with Jaime Pressly and Katie Finneran as mothers who’ve raised horrible, prima donna teens.

DRAMA MOST LIKELY TO GIVE YOU A HEADACHE

“Person of Interest,SDRq CBS

From J.J. Abrams’ shop, this complicated puzzler stars Michael Emerson (Ben on “Lost”) as a mystery man whose computer can predict crimes that are yet to happen, and Jim Caviezel as the bum with a tragic past he recruits to stop them.

Trying to figure out the nuances of this premise is likely to leave you as numb as Caviezel acts.

Also headachey is the CW’s “Ringer,” with Sarah Michelle Gellar as twin sisters in mind-bendingly different kinds of trouble.

SITCOM THAT WOULD MOST LIKE TO BE ‘MODERN FAMILY’

“Last Man Standing,SDRq ABC

Tim Allen stars as a manly man (and father of three daughters) who’s resistant to all things newfangled in a sitcom that critics will hate but audiences just may love.

MOST PROMISING SHOW SET IN A PRIOR DECADE

Neither one is “Mad Men,” but I liked ABC’s “Pan Am,” about pilots and flight attendants in the days when air travel still was special, better than NBC’s “The Playboy Club,” set in Chicago in the 1960s and more about the Mob than the Bunnies. (There are Bunnies, of course, but they aren’t stereotyped in sexist ways.) The problem with “The Playboy Club” is that it’s very dark (both visually and in tone) and completely without humor.

LEAST NECESSARY REMAKE

“Prime Suspect,SDRq NBC

The British original featured a tour-de-force performance by Helen Mirren that overshadowed flaws in the storytelling. NBC’s new one has Maria Bello, who overshadows none of the annoyances.

Also unnecessary, but entertaining enough (in a “Hawaii Five-0” way), is ABC’s “Charlie’s Angels,” a virtually line-by-line remake of the cult classic.

BEST COMEBACKS

Rachel Bilson, Summer on “The O.C.,” is a heart surgeon named Hart who needs more empathy (er, heart) and joins a small-town Alabama practice in the CW’s “Hart of Dixie.”

The show starts off being so ridiculous, you’ll wonder if the CW is playing a practical joke, but by the end, you might be willing to spend a little more time here.

Also back on the CW — Britt Robertson of “Life Unexpected” learns the scary truth about her heritage in “The Secret Circle.”

DRAMA THAT MIGHT BE BETTER AS A MOVIE

“Awake,SDRq NBC (midseason)

Jason Isaacs is wonderful as a man whose wife died in a car crash — or was it his son? Each day when he wakes up, a different one is alive and the other is dead.

The high-concept series is extremely watchable, but it’s impossible not to wonder how writers will sustain the premise in the long run.

MOST PROMISING COMEDY WITH ‘MAN’ IN THE TITLE

“Man Up,SDRq ABC

Tough call, but this ABC sitcom about suburban men is less annoying than the previously discussed “Last Man Standing” and more focused than CBS’ “How To Be a Gentleman,” about a magazine columnist and his uncouth friend (Kevin Dillon of “Entourage”).

MOST PROMISING COMEDY WITH ‘GIRL’ IN THE TITLE

“The New Girl,SDRq Fox

Zooey Deschanel is adorable (or annoying; your call) as an eccentric young woman who moves in with three guys.

Meanwhile, on CBS, Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs are “2 Broke Girls” who work in a diner and go into business together in a comedy with some potential but few laughs.

BEST STAR IN A FORGETTABLE SHOW

Poppy Montgomery, “Unforgettable,” CBS

This is just a procedural, but Montgomery (“Without a Trace”) is strong as a cop with that “remembers everything” memory condition.

MOST HEAVILY PROMOTED SERIES NOT YET PROVIDED FOR PREVIEW

Steven Spielberg’s “Terra Nova,SDRq Fox

Really, Fox?