Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles in Supernatural Season 5. the CW 2009.

Tomorrow is September, yep already. With majority of Summer TV winding down (oh, the season finale of HBO’s True Blood is September 13th, sucks we have to wait two weeks, but I can’t wait), the broadcast networks of NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and CW are about to premiere their television lineup of favorites and new series, with the CW pretty much leading the way with 90210 and Melrose Place on September 8th. But the biggest premiere of all of TV, comes from the CW’s very own Supernatural, returning for a milestone 5th season with the rise of Lucifer, on September 10th. But instead of following Smallville (which doesn’t return until Sept. 25), a new series will premiere in the Thurs 8PM slot, The Vampire Diaries, which, like True Blood and Twilight, is based on books, but more closer to Twilight in that its teeny, so I don’t expect much from it, it won’t even touch the greatness the WB had with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much less touch the latest TV-Vamp sensation, True Blood. Anyway, it’s got vamps, I’ll still check it out. There are other CW shows, but if I mention all shows coming back, this will be a long post, so I’ll stick with what I’m watching (note, that doesn’t include Melrose or 90210, those were just for the purpose of noting the main beginning to Fall TV).

FOX is next in line, with their own Thursday night lineup, with Bones (also 5th season) and the 2nd season of Fringe on Sept. 17. NBC’s comedy night returns, but w/o Earl, the only show I think worth checking out is Community, which will start in the 9:30 slot, before moving to 8PM in early Oct. and stars Chevy Chase.

And then there’s CBS and ABC, and very few NBC shows to watch (mostly due to the Jay Leno Show, starting Sept 14):

Monday, September 21 will mark the, yeah, 5th season of How I Met Your Mother on CBS at 8PM (actually all of CBS Monday Comedy night, and one drama). ABC will also bring back Castle on Sept. 21 as well at 10PM. NBC’s Heroes returns to a 4th season at a new time (8PM), and the 6th season of FOX’s House at 8PM as well (busy busy Monday, certainly make full use of DVR & my DVD Recorder).

CBS’s 7th season of NCIS returns Tuesday, Sept. 22, along with the new spin-off series, NCIS: LA. ABC’s V premiere’s Nov. 3 on Tuesday 8PM. Wednesday, Sept. 23 will bring back CBS’s Criminal Minds (no surprise, a lot of 5th seasons), and also that night ABC’s comedies, including Courteney Cox’s new show Cougar Town (9:30PM), and the TV adaptation of Witches of Eastwick, simply titled Eastwick at 10PM. NBC also has a new series, starring former Buffy alumna Michelle Trachenberg, in Mercy, airing at 8PM.

Thursday, Sept 24 will see the 10th season return of CSI, unfortunately, with FOX’s moving of Fringe, and Superntural still on, and for a few weeks, the new NBC comedy Community, I won’t be watching it, but I feel need to mention it, as I did like it, a little. ABC also has a new show, Flash Forward at 8PM that may be worth checking out.

Eliza Dushku stars as Echo. FOX promo.

And Friday, September 25th, we will once again enter the Dollhouse on FOX at 9PM, plus the CW’s move of Smallville to Friday at 8PM, and CBS bringing Medium back and premiering it in the 9PM slot, between Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs (which I’ve lost interest in).

And, then there’s the FOX animation-domination night (really, it’s a Seth MacFarlane animation-domination night), coming back Sept. 27, with new series The Cleveland Show, a Family Guy spinoff, which will still lead into the other MacFarlane show, American Dad. And, the record-breaking season of the Simpsons (officially, the 21st season now), starting it all at 8PM. (note, there is an NFL overrun, so set DVRs accordingly). CBS’s new series Three Rivers premieres Oct. 4th, which stars Alex O’Loughlin, aka Mick St. John from CBS’s canceled vampire series Moonlight which I’m still pissed about (one year later, and it would have still been on).

And let’s not forget the cable shows, though most bring in the goods during the summer, doesn’t mean they don’t try to take over from fall nights.

Recently premiered returns of Monk and Psych on USA’s Fridays overlap into the fall, well, Monk appears to be airing it’s final season through, while Psych goes on hiatus after Oct. 16 to make room for the new series White Collar (Oct. 23), which seems to be USA using the final season of Monk to lead into a new show, to gain viewers, so when Psych returns, they both end this season together and become the new Friday-night pair for the USA network. Also, we still of SyFy’s Ghost Hunters on Wed. 9pm, and its buddy Destination Truth returns on Sept 9 at 10PM. Comedy Central’s South Park returns on Oct. 7. F/X will bring back Nip/Tuck for its 6th season on a new night, Wednesday at 10PM on Oct. 14.

And of course, SyFy has their Friday nights, with the latest Stargate spin-off, Stargate Universe on Oct. 2 at 9PM (2 hour premiere), and the next week will see the return of Sanctuary. (BUSY busy, Friday for me too).

And then there are midseason shows, including the return of Chuck on NBC, which will be in March, after the Winter Olympics.

Full Guide to Fall 2009 by the futon critic

Can’t wait

Oh, of course there will have to be one more thing the Prez would have to do to piss people off; have a 15-some-odd minute farewell speech, and of course, like every damn presidential BS, it’s airing on Thursday. CBS is gonna keep it’s lineup, just delaying everything. NBC (My Name is Earl), ABC (Scrubs), and FOX (Kitchen Nightmares) will air repeats to fulfill their 8PM half hour (the 8PM hour in case of FOX), and everything will go as scheduled. CW is unaffected because their cooler (despite the, um, Gossip Girls and 90210s, but Thursday is the most important day of them all). Therefore, Smallville and Supernatural will both comes back as scheduled with the second half of their respected seasons, no delays whatsoever.

Unfortunately, since FOX doesn’t have a 10PM primetime lineup that could allow for some adjustments as with the others (though, I don’t get why they couldn’t do what CBS is doin’ and delay everything, causing the local programming (generally news) to start around 10:15. Instead, we’re gonna have to wait on Bones, which hasn’t been new since late November. Boo to you FOX. So we have to now wait another week. BOOOOOOO!

Well, guess the good news is I can devote all attention to the CW, because the Superman myth is getting deeper, and Supernatural is getting much stronger. If only more people can stop assuming that all CW programming is too teen oriented to watch. True, Mondays and Tuesdays are very teeney (and extremely soapy, so very girly). But Thursday is no such thing. Sure the whole Clark and Lana thing was soapy at times, but she’s only a recurring character now, not a regular, so less of her. Point is, we’re getting more Justice League, leaning more towards Lois and Clark, and have Doomsday, the one that killed Superman. The action is bigger, there’s even a change of a ninth season, so it’s doing something right (although, I still think it’ll be better to end this year with a bang, rather than run the risk of fizzy, like it did with the 6-7 season timeframe). As for Supernatural, what other words are there to describe quite possibly the best show ever? We’ve dealt with the demons, learned of angels, and the apocalypse is coming. Will Sam and Dean be able to stop Lillith from raising Lucifier? And I am aware there is some rumor, luckily, I didn’t read it, so no comments on anything related to that, please).

But still, though Smallville has had its moments, and I love Superman in general, at the start of this year, I made a decision: Bones is too good not to watch. Nearly three months is too long of a winter hiatus, so anyone that watched it, don’t forget it. We have DVRs for a reason now (or at least DVD-Recorders I suspect).

Death to Reality, Triumph to Quality and Creativity.

the futon critic

I couldn’t come up with a better title for this post.  FOX has announced its midseason changes.  The only think staying will pretty much be Fringe (sticking Tues 9pm, getting Shit Idol viewers, whatever), and the return of 24 will stay Mon 9pm, and Sunday will still be “Animation Domination”, and then there’s that Kitchen show on Thurs.  Shit Idol loves to fuck everything up.  Why people watch it is beyond me.  House will not be on Tues 9pm as originally predicted, nope, it’s gonna be Mondays at 8PM (teamed with 24, despite Bones being a better pair for House, IMO).  A new series Lie to Me will be on Wed 8pm.  That makes Bones and Terminator homeless, plus the highly anticipated Whedon show, Dollhouse (which was originally gonna be on Monday).  This is FOX’s dumbass move:

Bones will seek shelter on Thursdays at 8PM, while Friday night will be FOX’s Sci-Fi Fridays (sound familiar?  That’s because the best sci-fi lineup to last is Sci-Fi channel’s Stargates (both of them), Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica), and so on..).  Whedon’s new show, with two former Buffy/Angel alum Eliza Dushku and Amy Acker will have the 9PM timeslot, b/c Terminator’s ratings (starring another Whedon actress, Summer Glau) has been so well to lead off Fridays.

Why is the Friday move so bad?

History.

You know Jessica Alba?  Well before she was a movie star, she starred in this little old series called Dark Angel.  It aired on Fridays and was killed after 2 seasons (I think it only last that long b/c it had, well, Jessica Alba, boobs and butts means something to FOX apparently).  But it was a genuinly good, fantastic, superior show.  It was basically replaced by, guess what, Joss Whedon’s Firefly, and we all know what happened with that.  And the little, much short lived and almost highly as loved, Wonderfalls, started on Fridays.  Guess what, it was canned after 3 or 4 episodes.  What do they all have in common.  They were sci-fi series.

Alone, sci-fi and FOX don’t go well together.  Look at Terminator, enjoying a second season since it’s series premiere had fantastic numbers, and the first season overall did well, the second, well, not too bad, but not the 10+mil it got before.  Take a look at former Eliza Dushku series Tru Calling, with a 1st season that aired against the last season of NBC’s Friends, FOX tried its best to be supportive, even granting a second season (I guess they recoginzed the timeslot it was in to be very challenging).  However, its team-up with the OC was delayed by months, and during that time, they already canned it, after canning both North Shore (which did sound like a better match with the OC) and the other replacement show, (which just happens to be another sci-fi series), Point Pleasant.  Note, those two series, the ratings were lower than Tru‘s (even if slightly lower, they were lower).

FOX itself has a more obvious reputation of being the one to cancel a series, even only after 3-4 airings, as they did with Drive (starring other Whedon actors Nathan Fillion (Firefly) and Amy Acker (Angel).  I think I’m seeing a pattern though, seems like FOX definitely not fond of the Whedonesque series, whether it be former actors from his previous shows, or even those he has worked with on those shows (exec producer of Wonderfalls was Tim Minear (who previously worked on Angel and Firefly.

Most of my examples, I realize, are more recent.  So let’s go back to say, Sliders, which manage to have three years on FOX before moving to SCI-FI Channel for its 4th and 5th seasons.  Sliders was actually canned in the 1st season, but there was enough protest at that time to reverse the decision, I guess.  The show was aired out of order, another thing FOX loves to do, as they did with Firefly, ‘causing errors to the timeline (called continuity, which, with a sci-fi drama, can be very confusing if things are aired in order, very confusing).  Millenium saw 3 seasons (’96-’99), Harsh Realm lasted only 9 episodes in 1999, and the Lone Gunmen had just 1 season (only 13 eps) in 2001, and may I add that these two shows were from Chris Carter, you know, creator of The X-Files which is the only sci-fi series I can think of to last over 5 years on FOX (it had 9 seasons, and is 2nd longest running sci-fi series of all time in the US, after Stargate SG-1‘s 10 seasons).

Also worth noting, the longest lasting live-action scripted series on FOX ever was 11 seasons of Married…with Children, a comedy (That 70s Show‘s 8 seasons make it 2nd behind Children for FOX sitcoms (live-action), and of course, the current longest running series on FOX, 20 seasons (currently airing, BTW), of The Simpsons (an animated comedy).  Compare those to other networks (NBC’s Law and Order I think is 19, NBC’s ER is in its 15th, and NBC also had 10 seasons of Friends, 11 seasons of Cheers and 11 seasons for Frasier (its spinoff) as well).  I think it’s safe to say, sci-fi series don’t fair well on any network, since the longest running series we have, tend to be animations, sitcoms, or dramas (but not of the supernatural variety).

It’s sad really, since sci-fi series are also the ones that tend to be most creative and also have impressive writing and character development, much better than what ER could ever have (I just lost interest in the show).

Amazing how I go from initially being pissed at FOX putting two quality shows in the “Friday-Night” death slots to just generally being pissed at networks being mean to sci-fi (let’s not forget the Emmys being extremely cruel towards sci-fi shows, as they only get technical categories, and nothing major (with exception to Lost (which one for a Drama series) and Heroes (which has been nominated, but never won).

WHY????

I say, to the Emmy people… Smallville and Supernatural make clean sweep, hehe, yeah, even with Smallville dwindling and somewhat repetitive storylines, and annoyances, it’s still better than a lot of shows out there, and Supernatural, well, that show is simply a work of art.

Sure, it’s an opinion, but I love watching TV, so I think I know what is good when I see it.  After just coming back from thefutoncritic.com and seeing Monday’s ratings, I have to say, though I’m glad that CBS’s How I Met Your Mother is getting the ratings it deserves (it was #3 for the night in Adults 18-49!!!), I’m sadden by the fact that NBC’s Chuck is not.  Actually, the 8PM timeslot is a tough spot now.  FOX’s Sarah Connor Chronicles airs at that time as well, and it is a pretty darn good show as well (rumors out there say it’s on the brink of cancellation, not surprising, since FOX can’t keep a sci-fi show).

Anyway, back to Chuck.  With it’s outstanding mixture of action/adventure and comedy, Chuck currently stands out.  There really isn’t a show out there, right now, like it.  It follows a guy named Chuck, who works a retail store called Buy More (think Best Buy), part of the Nerd Herd (again, think Best Buy’s Geek Squad).  His friend is Morgan, short little bearded guy who has a crush on Chuck’s sister, who’s currently engaged to whom they refer to as Captain Awesome (his name is Devon, but seriously, the dude is awesome).  What makes Chuck different, well, he has government secrets stashed in his head after an old buddy (now nemesis), Bryce, sent him an email.  Now, he’s an asset, being protected by CIA agent Sarah and NSA agent John Casey.  He’s just a dude who works for an electronics store that finds himself on secret spy missions (usually in the needing to be saved part of it).   Chuck airs Monday nights on NBC at 8PM ET.  Watch episodes online now from NBC.com.

And of course, the best show on TV continues to be the CW’s Supernatural on Thursday nights at 9PM, against the competition of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and CBS’s CSI (which comes back this week!!, yeah, oh wait, sorry, I like CSI too, but that’s why we have DVRs).  Oh, maybe that’s what I’ll talk about next, DVRs….LATER