5 TV Shows To Watch In An Otherwise Uninspiring Fall Season
One of the most painful ironies of the TV business is the way short term business needs force action that makes no sense in the long run.
Consider this week's start of the fall TV season. There's a heap of brand new programs coming to the networks just as broadcasters face more competition than ever from shows on cable and online. This means there's never been a greater need for ambitious, groundbreaking material to prove the broadcast networks haven't become the buggy whips of the media business.
But instead, because they must court advertisers and the widest audiences possible, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox have developed nearly two dozen new series which can mostly be summed up by one word: Retrenchment.
Last year, broadcast TV shows like Black-ish, Jane the Virgin, American Crime and Empire made a big impression with new stories offering fresh takes on family, romance, race and society.
So, of course, using the topsy-turvy logic of the television business, this year's season is packed with shows that play it safe trying to stitch a new face on old concepts.
There are TV versions of old movies (Fox's Minority Report, CBS' Limitless), retreads of old hits (NBC's Heroes Reborn) and new shows which seem like retreads of old hits (ABC's Dallas-style soap opera Blood & Oil).
In this limited field, only a few new programs have soared. Here's a quick list of my top five TV shows of the fall (along with a couple to avoid at all costs).
Five shows to watch:
The Muppets: It's tough to go wrong with a dose of Kermit and Miss Piggy. So it makes sense ABC would bring The Muppet Show into the 21st century with a comedy filmed like a faux-documentary — spiced with the kind of shaky camera work and "confessional" interviews already seen on network sibling Modern Family. This show centers on the Muppets' efforts to produce a late-night show hosted by Miss Piggy as she and Kermit are negotiating a high-profile breakup. When Kermit sighs after an argument with Piggy and pronounces his life a "bacon wrapped hell on Earth," you know you're in new territory — kinda like The Larry Sanders Show-meets-Muppets 2.0. Debuts Sept. 22 on ABC.
Supergirl: Yes, I'm a comic book nerd who has been waiting a long time for a superhero series featuring someone who isn't a white guy. Still, I'm excited by the first episode of CBS' earnest take on Superman's cousin. The show has a loose connection to the most recent Man of Steel movie, depicting a relative from Superman's doomed homeworld who got caught up in space travel and arrived on Earth many years after he did. Crafted by the producers who made the CW's superhero hits The Flash and Arrow, Supergirl laces its story about a wannabe hero who can fly and lift a passenger jet with the emotional tale of a young woman ready to push herself to the limit while trying to hold her non-superhero life together. Melissa Benoist (Glee, Whiplash) is spot-on as Supergirl and Ally McBeal alum Calista Flockhart chews the scenery appropriately as media mogul Cat Grant. The show debuts Oct. 26.
Grandfathered and The Grinder: Both of these Fox series are centered on pretty boy leading-man TV stars who don't always get credit for how funny and sharp they can be. Grandfathered features John Stamos as a self-centered forever bachelor who discovers he has a son and a grandson in the same moment, turning the typical criticism of Stamos — that he too often seems like a TV-sized version of megastar George Clooney — and making it work for this character. The Grinder stars Rob Lowe as an actor who played a lawyer for many years on TV returning to his hometown to help a law firm led by his perpetually overshadowed brother — played by perpetually overshadowed Wonder Years alum Fred Savage. Both shows are surprisingly nimble comedies and yet both programs are also limited by predictable story lines. Here's hoping these characters can soar beyond those drawbacks in a hurry. Both shows debut Sept. 29.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Originally intended for Showtime, this CW series centers on a high-strung overachiever who walks away from a high powered legal career to chase a high school ex-boyfriend who dumped her years ago. She checks off all the stereotypes — obsessive, manic and impulsive — as she moves to the town of West Covina, Calif., to win him back. Oh yeah, and it's a musical comedy, with a showstopping production number about getting ready for an important date and a cast with serious Broadway credits. Still, star Rachel Bloom, who's also the show's co-creator, is an energetic talent worth watching closely, even when the program's oddball premise gets in the way. This bows Oct. 12.
Don't bother with ...
Dr. Ken: It's the worst malady for any old school multi-camera sitcom: Domineering Star Syndrome, a TV comedy illness in which only the star is allowed to be funny. Turns out, a serious case of DSS has hobbled comic actor Ken Jeong's disappointing ABC sitcom about an acerbic doctor with a wacky family — no one else gets to shine. So Jeong winds up working way too hard to prop up predictable storylines with middling humor. Debuts Oct. 2.
Truth Be Told: This awkward, completely unfunny NBC sitcom about two couples who are best friends — one is black and the other is a white man married to a biracial woman — feels like a program developed by a committee determined to Tell The Truth About Race In America. Instead, they've created a show with no unique characters that struggles for anything but the most obvious observations. Makes you wonder who Saved By the Bell alum Mark-Paul Gosselaar ticked off to get stranded in such a hapless effort. Starts Oct. 16.
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Transcript
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And some familiar faces return to the small screen this week - Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear and Cookie Lyon, the matriarch of the hit show "Empire." Yes, it is the start of the fall TV season, and NPR's TV critic Eric Deggans came over to help us navigate the many new and returning shows.
Good morning.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: And, Eric, you do watch a lot of television.
DEGGANS: Yes, I do.
MONTAGNE: You do, but I know for sure that you are watching a lot more television these last few weeks. And so tell us what the new season looks like.
DEGGANS: Well, you know, a lot of times when I watch these shows, a theme starts to emerge, and what I'm seeing this fall is retrenchment. You know, it just seemed like last season we had shows that were way more revolutionary. They had new things to say about family and race. And this year, we're seeing Fox redo "Minority Report," an old film. We're seeing ABC do an African-American version of "Uncle Buck," another old film. Even my favorite show from this fall is a little bit of a reboot in a way. It's ABC's new version of "The Muppets." Now, this show is kind of - it's filmed faux documentary style. It stars the veteran producer and actor Kermit the Frog, who's making a late-night show with Fozzie Bear that stars Miss Piggy.
MONTAGNE: And I know you have a little clip for us.
DEGGANS: Yeah, here's a scene where Peggy and Kermit are fighting because she wants to drop actress Elizabeth Banks as a guest at the last minute.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE MUPPETS")
STEVE WHITMIRE: (As Kermit the Frog) If you want me to cancel Elizabeth Banks, then you better have a good reason.
ERIC JACOBSON: (As Miss Piggy) I have an excellent reason. I hate her stupid face.
WHITMIRE: (As Kermit the Frog) My life is a bacon-wrapped hell on Earth.
MONTAGNE: Kermit the Frog - I love Kermit the Frog. And there is another show that is getting a lot of buzz this season, "Supergirl." And just between us, Eric, I was a huge fan, collected "Supergirl" comics when I was a little girl.
DEGGANS: A fellow comics nerd, this is great. This is great. Well, this show comes to CBS in October. And, you know, like I said, I'm a comics nerd, too, so maybe you need to take this with a grain of salt, but I was pleasantly surprised by "Supergirl." Now, the producers who do "The Flash" and "Arrow" for the CW, they're also during this show for CBS. And it stars "Supergirl," Kara Zor-El, who's a cousin of the legendary Superman, got all the same powers. But, you know, in her secret civilian identity, she's the personal assistant to a media mogul who's played by Calista Flockhart. Now, we've got another scene here. She's trying to convince her boss not to call her secret superhero alter ego, Supergirl.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SUPERGIRL")
MELISSA BENOIST: (As Kara Danvers) If we call her Supergirl, something less than what she is, doesn't that make us guilty of being anti-feminist?
CALISTA FLOCKHART: (As Cat Grant) What do you think is so bad about girl? I'm a girl and your boss and powerful and rich and hot and smart. So if you perceive Supergirl as anything less than excellent, isn't the real problem you?
MONTAGNE: Oh, (laughter) interesting setup.
DEGGANS: Yeah, this really feels like the producer's trying to argue with people who might say that the term Supergirl feels a little sexist or out of date. But it is the name of a classic character, so if they're going to do the show, you kind of have to call her that.
MONTAGNE: Let's shift to shows that are coming back. What are you looking forward to seeing this fall?
DEGGANS: So, Renee, one of the best things about this job is that I get to see TV shows in advance. So I've already seen the first episode from the new season of Fox's hip-hop family drama, "Empire." And I got to say, man, it is still as gloriously over-the-top and funky as the first season. Of course the big question is whether or not audiences will keep showing up the way they did last season when the show grew every week in audience. The first new episode that we're going to see this fall has Al Sharpton. It's got Chris Rock in a guest role. And it's got Taraji P. Henson's over-the-top character Cookie Lyon dancing in a gorilla suit. I mean, how can you go wrong with that?
MONTAGNE: NPR critic Eric Deggans with that preview of the TV fall season. Thanks very much.
DEGGANS: Always a pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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