sotto voce USA

The Fall TV Schedule

Some great television last night. Lost is winding down toward a two-hour season finale next week with the primary story of Michael leading a group of four into a trap in order to get his son back from The Others. But Sayeed is onto him. And in the final scene last night, the castaways spotted a boat approaching the beach. Invasion ended with a bang that normally would be a great cliffhanger to get you tuned into the next season, but that bang might turn out to be bittersweet. Invasion has been cancelled by ABC; if the show is not picked up by some other network (Anybody? The CW? SciFi? Please!) last night's finale is going to be very unsatisfying. There's still a long way to go to get to a conclusion to the story. Hopefully, if no one picks up the series, ABC might be persuaded to air a two-hour movie that wraps the whole thing up.

By the way, did anyone notice the commercial for the Hanso Corporation toward the end of Lost? This is a part of the Lost Experience, the elaborate alternative-reality game that has been set up to explore the show's backstory during its summer hiatus.

Well, since Invasion is not going to be back on ABC, I decided to take a look around and see what is and isn't going to be on next fall.

ABC is also cancelling Commander in Chief, The Evidence, Hope and Faith, Freddie, In Justice, Less Than Perfect, Miracle Workers, Sons and Daughters and Rodney. Good riddance to most of these. Commander in Chief was a good show, sort of a poor man's West Wing. Less Than Perfect was a pretty harmless little diversion. Sons and Daughters was amusing and quirky, but not really my cup of tea.

CBS has cancelled Courting Alex, Out of Practice, Love Monkey, Threshold, Still Standing and Yes, Dear. Threshold was an alien invasion show similar to Invasion, but was easier to get into and understand. It was more episodic. There are some amusing sitcoms on the list here, but nothing that will be really missed.

NBC is doing away with The E-Ring, Conviction, Four Kings, Heist, Joey, Surface, Teachers, West Wing, and Will and Grace. There's nothing here I'll really miss except West Wing. Surface seemed like an interesting show from the previews, but I never sat down and watched it to see what it was all about. Will and Grace had a big following for a long time, but I never cared for it much.

Fox has cancelled Arrested Development (again), Bernie Mac, Stacked, and That 70's Show. The critics loved Arrested Development; I never understood the appeal. Of these, I'll miss That 70's Show the most, but it's outlasted its premise. It's time to let it go.

The new network on the block is CW. It's a merger of the old UPN and WB networks. Merging two networks into one means a lot of cancellations. Gone are The Bedford Diaries, Charmed, Blue Collar TV, Everwood, Eve, Get This Party Started, Half and Half, Living with Fran, Modern Men, One on One, Pepper Dennis, Related, Survival of the Richest, Twins, and What I Like About You. I've never even heard of most of these shows. Blue Collar TV is fairly amusing, but it's an acquired taste.
It was rumored that CW was going to pick up Invasion, but it's nowhere to be found on the fall schedule.

TV Guide has descriptions of all the new shows. It's really hard to judge how good a show is going to be by reading a brief synopsis, but some sound really interesting. The Nine will be taking over Invasion's post-Lost time slot. "Nine people are caught in a bank robbery gone wrong and endure a 52-hour hostage standoff that will leave more than one person dead. When all is said and done, these people will never be the same. They will share the common bond of what happens inside the bank and will be forever affected and intertwined because of it. Starring: Chi McBride, Tim Daly, Kim Raver, Scott Wolf." Hmmm. Doesn't really sound all that interesting, but I'll watch it a time or two to see what it's like. I'm most interesting in seeing if Jericho, Heroes, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip are worth watching. The latter show is Aaron Sorkin's (West Wing) return to television.

What cancelled television shows will you miss the most? Which new shows are you looking forward to?

posted by fdtate @ 3:28 PM