“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”
By: Amrie
Never were truer words spoken. This time, I’m referring, of course, to The Up Fronts!
This past week brought out some tears. Of joy, over surprise renewals; of sadness for uncalled-for cancellations; of boredom for an overturned “cancellation” of the worst show on TV. Here is my take on the Up Fronts. The Good. The Bad. And the Ugly.
THE GOOD!!!
The Cold Case / Without a Trace pairing on CBS Sundays.
• A solid 2 hour block of entertaining crime procedurals that dare to not only be different, but to push the limits on a constant basis.
• CBS is hoping for ratings gold with this, and since both shows have a loyal following, there’s definitely a good chance it could happen!
Grey’s Anatomy is moving out of Desperate Housewives’ shadow.
• It will finally get a real chance to prove that people haven’t continued watching simply because it’s on after Desperate Housewives, but rather because it’s one of the most intelligent, endearing, flat-out wonderful shows on TV!
• Grey’s finally gets to be a stand alone hit, being used as a launch pad for another new promising series!
Reba was given a last-minute, 13-episode stay of execution.
• Reba is such a light-hearted family comedy. I can’t get enough of the charming Steve Howey playing the moronic, albeit successful, Van, or Melissa Peterman and her spot on insanity as Barbara Jean!
• A smart decision on the part of the CW execs.
Great pickups of brand new series!
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (looks really promising, and can Matthew Perry BE anymore awesome than he already was???)
• Heroes (Milo Ventimiglia and Greg Grunberg. Need I say more?)
• The Nine (Scott Wolf gets to stay on TV!!)
• Six Degrees (JJ Abrams, I’ll follow you anywhere [except to MI:3…my hatred for Tom Cruise outweighs my love for you]).
Veronica Mars. The CW Tuesdays at 9.
• It’s got a great partner in the trying-to-rejuvenate-itself-and-its-characters Gilmore Girls.
• I was not ready for Jason Dohring to be off-air. Not at all.
THE BAD
Thursday-at-9 is the new Wednesday-at-8 or Tuesday-at-9.
• The O.C. and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip might unfortunately become casualties of the war between CSI and Grey’s Anatomy.
• I have to make that awful “what do I watch live and what to do I TiVO, record on my bedroom VCR, or record on my basement VCR?” decision!
• If Desperate Housewives continues its downward creative spiral, lead-out show (in the newly vacant Sunday-at-10 spot) Brothers and Sisters could lose out on viewers.
With a cast including Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart), Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), Brenda Chenowith (Rachel Griffiths) and the Vice President Caroline Reynolds (Patricia Wettig), it would be a shame to see it falter.
• Without a Trace’s loyal fans are going to stick with it, so a bad lead-in to a brand new show could ruin it.
• Promising freshman series didn’t get a chance for the sophomore slump!
• Invasion was cancelled after a seriously mind-bending cliffhanger that left fans yelling “what did you do” right along with Russell!
• Commander-in-Chief had the biggest wealth to poverty drop of the season. It started out so successfully, and has ended with a sad “burn-off” of episodes to just finish out the season.
• One Tree Hill was renewed.
I don’t hate this show, but isn’t there enough mindless drivel on TV?
Another year of watching Chad Michael Murray pick up a new co-star / fiancé is one year too many.
THE UGLY
• 7th Heaven is back.
The show that won’t die is back. The idiot!twins (thanks to TWoP) and their merry Cam-dense clan are back to hurt us all. Maybe I’m taking it a step too far to say that the day 7th Heaven was resurrected was the worst day of my life, but I’m saying it, and I mean it. Because of this, I’m led to my next ugly point, and it gets me crying just thinking about it.
Everwood. Cancelled.
I’m taking a minute here to sob heavily….and I’m back.
This amazingly honest family drama was unjustly bumped from the schedule because of the 7 million people who turned to 7th Heaven’s “series” finale to watch in glee as the worst 10 years of TV came to an end.
I’m sorry Chris Rock. 7:00 PM on a Sunday.
I love your show. I’ll look for the DVD when your show is wrongfully and prematurely cancelled due to a lack of viewers. It’s all because of the monkeys in charge, and for that I am truly sorry.
Bones to Fridays in January.
It isn’t the finest-acted, most intricate show on TV. But I love it. Truly, madly, deeply, I want to stand with it on a mountain… I worry that I’m the only viewer that will follow it to Fridays at 8 after the Ryan-Seacrest-Simon-Cowell-repressed-attraction Hour comes back in January and bumps the schedule all over the place!
Scrubs will return “at some point.”
It better be sooner rather than later.
It better be in a steady time slot.
Good TV + Good Music = An Obsession
This week’s GT+GM=AO comes from not-necessarily-good-all-the-time TV; however, the good music more than makes up for it!
The O.C. + Imogen Heap in general = One shocker of a season finale!
In Season 2’s finale, as Ryan and Trey fought and Marissa shot Trey, Imogen’s “Hide and Seek” played eerily in the background. Season 3’s finale, Imogen’s version of “Hallelujah” accompanied Marissa’s death scene on the oddly vacant Ocean County side-road. Her music is simple at times, complicated at others, but always beyond entertaining. Download these two songs, or look for “The Walk.”
Thanks all, for reading! Join me next week as I break out my “best / worst” awards for the 2005-2006 TV season.
As always, shoot me a hello – mytakeontv@yahoo.com