TV Renewal Scorecard!

I posted this last year and thought I would do it again. Here's your guide to which "bubble" shows are getting canned and which ones are getting renewed, courtesy of the Entertainment Weekly website:

ABC
The Bachelor: A sure thing.
Better Off Ted: A long shot.
Brothers & Sisters: A sure thing.
Castle: A sure thing.
Cougar Town: Already renewed.
Dancing with the Stars: A sure thing.
The Deep End: A long shot.
Desperate Housewives: A sure thing.
FlashForward: Could go either way.
The Forgotten: A long shot.
Grey’s Anatomy: A sure thing.
Hank: Already canceled.
Lost: Series finale airs May 23.
The Middle: Already renewed
Modern Family: Already renewed
Private Practice: A sure thing.
Scrubs: A long shot.
Ugly Betty: Already canceled. Series finale airs April 14.
V: Could go either way.

CBS
Accidentally on Purpose: Could go either way.
The Amazing Race: Already renewed.
The Big Bang Theory: Already renewed.
Cold Case: A long shot.
Criminal Minds: A sure thing.
CSI: A sure thing.
CSI: Miami: A sure thing.
CSI: NY: A safe bet.
Gary Unmarried: A safe bet.
Ghost Whisperer: A safe bet.
The Good Wife: Already renewed.
How I Met Your Mother: Already renewed
Medium: Could go either way
The Mentalist: A sure thing.
NCIS: A sure thing
NCIS: Los Angeles: Already renewed.
New Adventures of Old Christine: Could go either way.
Numb3rs: A long shot.
Rules of Engagement: Could go either way.
Survivor: Already renewed.
Three Rivers: Already canceled.
Two and a Half Men: Already renewed.

FOX
24: Could go either way.
Brothers: A long shot.
American Dad: Already renewed.
American Idol: A sure thing.
Bones: Already renewed.
The Cleveland Show: Already renewed.
Dollhouse: Already canceled.
Family Guy: Already renewed.
Fringe: A safe bet.
Glee: Already renewed.
House: A sure thing.
Human Target: Could go either way.
Lie to Me: A safe bet.
Past Life: A long shot.
The Simpsons: A sure thing.
‘Til Death: Could go either way.

NBC
30 Rock: A sure thing. (UPDATE: Renewed!)
The Biggest Loser: A sure thing.
Celebrity Apprentice: A safe bet.
Chuck: A safe bet.
Community: A sure thing. (UPDATE: Renewed!)
Friday Night Lights: Already renewed for fifth and final season.
Heroes: Could go either way.
Law & Order: Already renewed.
Law & Order: CI: Could go either way.
Law & Order: SVU: A sure thing.
Mercy: Could go either way.
The Office: A sure thing. (UPDATE: Renewed!)
Parks and Recreation: Already renewed
Trauma: A long shot.

THE CW
90210: A sure thing. (UPDATE: Renewed!)
America’s Next Top Model: A sure thing. (UPDATE: Renewed!)
Gossip Girl: A sure thing. (UPDATE: Renewed!)
Life Unexpected: Could go either way.
Melrose Place: A long shot.
One Tree Hill: Could go either way.
Smallville: A sure thing. (UPDATE: Renewed!)
Supernatural: A sure thing. (UPDATE: Renewed!)
The Vampire Diaries: A sure thing. (UPDATE: Renewed!)


My perspective: Not surprisingly, popular new shows like Vampire Diaries, Modern Family, and the NCIS spinoff have either already been renewed or will likely be. Likewise, struggling shows like Melrose Place probably won't, which is disappointing because the original series didn't pick up steam until its second season. And it ended up having a long and successful run. I'm not surprised to see that Heroes could go either way. I'm hopeful that ABC will give V and FlashForward another shot, though. A bit surprised that 24 is so questionable, but they might want to consider going out before the show becomes a parody of itself.

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2009 TV Year-End Awards

So the TV Awards didn't have quite as many participants as the wrestling one -- which is expected, since I only opened it up last week. But I did find that the "Other" option appeared quite prominently in this survey, so I do implore anybody who participated that voted for the "Other" choice to sound off their suggestion in the Comments section.

Most enjoyable new show of 2009: The Vampire Diaries

Sure, this show had the momentum of True Blood's incredible second season working for it (as well as that whole Twilight phenomena), but The Vampire Diaries really was the stand out new show of the year. Not too shabby considering it resides on TV's red headed stepchild, the CW. The characters are compelling (not to mention disturbingly good looking), the heroes are flawed but easy to root for, and the antagonist is a really fun, entertaining asshole. Honestly, I didn't know Boone had this in him!

The one criticism is eerily similar to that of the first season of Heroes. When you give so much early on, is there enough material to sustain the story for several years? Lets hope that this vampire tale does a better job than our extraordinary friends.

What you said: Glee

FlashForward and Community also received votes. I'm not surprised to see Glee win, as many people I know see it. In fact, my Facebook newsfeed is usually clogged up with Glee quotes and references. The episode I've seen was pretty good, as well.

Show canceled in 2009 with the most potential: Harper's Island

To be perfectly honest, I actually didn't watch any of the shows that I offered as options. I became aware of Harper's Island after the fact, and even though it was basically just I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (almost to a tee), it seems like the type of show I would have enjoyed. Plus Katie Cassidy was on it, who I love as Ella on Melrose Place.

What you said: Other

Dollhouse also received a vote. I am curious what particular shows people referred to when they voted "Other" -- comment below!

Biggest disappointment of 2009: Heroes

I am going to vote for Heroes here, but I do want to also point out that shows like Grey's Anatomy I used to be able to watch. Now merely seeing a 30 second commercial for the show makes me cringe. And I'm not even exaggerating. Seeing a commercial honestly is borderline painful. However, I never really cared enough about the show to have an emotional attachment to it. So, in my eyes, it's merely an atrocity. It's not particularly "disappointing."

With Heroes, I see a show that has so much potential to be great. There are some good characters, some talented actors, and an interesting premise. It seems, to me, that the writers and decision makers simply aren't very good. In fact, if you go back to my reviews of the show back in its glory year, you'll notice that I pointed out a few times that the writing wasn't all that great. At the time, though, the characters were easy to care about. Now that poor writing is catching up on them. That is to say, three years of poor writing is making it difficult to care about the characters, and that was the essence and strength of the series.

Everybody -- including myself -- has talked about killing off unnecessary characters in order to "save" the show. While that would no doubt help, perhaps a better solution would be to clean house of the powers that be and pick up writers and producers with a better track record. I don't know anything about Tim Kring, but I can't help but assume that he's a big part of the problem.

What you said: Heroes

This was unanimous. Kinda telling, no?

Best series finale of 2009: Prison Break

For me, it was between ER and Prison Break. I thought ER had a fantastic, somewhat understated (and I mean that in a good way) finale. It brought us up to speed on some old favorites, while not totally ignoring the characters that have helmed the ship for the past few years. It also showed us that life will go on with these characters, and that they're going to be okay. But I ultimately had to give the nod to Prison Break because, inherently, there was more on the line for their series wrap up. They had questions to answer, issues to resolve, all while concluding their game of cat and mouse. And I have to say, they did a pretty good job.

What you said: Other

Prison Break and ER also received votes. Again, sound off below to let me know what you had in mind when you voted "Other."

Series least likely to be picked up for another season: Melrose Place

As you'll see below, the obvious choices all got votes. Out of those "obvis," I think I'm leaning towards Melrose Place. I think ABC will risk another year with FlashForward and V, hoping that all those dejected Lost viewers will hitch onto them. And Heroes, well, that show could honestly go either way. My thought process is that it's still a relatively popular show on a struggling network that doesn't have many hits. At the moment, though, Melrose Place is sticking out like a sore thumb. Other new shows like Vampire Diaries have really struck, and it's being paired with a show that is garnering much more positive reviews (90210).

What you said: Four way tie - Heroes, Melrose Place, V, FlashForward

Most enjoyable cable series of 2009: True Blood

This wasn't an easy decision for me, as it ultimately came down to True Blood and Curb Your Enthusiasm. So I was basically voting for a genre more than anything else. It's comparing apples and oranges, so I wouldn't necessarily say that I enjoyed True Blood more than Curb, but I just felt that True Blood was so superbly written and acted this past season. There was some great character development and some exciting stories. Having said that, I do believe that Curb had the stronger finale.

What you said: Four way tie - True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Other


I hope everybody has a safe and happy new year!!

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FlashForward (sorta) Midseason Report

As originally reported in my preview video, I will be reviewing a different show every day this week....

Well, I have a slight confession to make: I'm actually not completely caught up on my FlashForward episodes. And since I don't think I really know enough to even spoil anybody who has any desire to watch the show, I'm going to forgo the page cut. Much like V, this show has a premise I tend to enjoy, and features actors (most of whom are from Lost) that I'm a fan of. So FlashForward pretty much had a guaranteed viewer in me, even if it's online weeks after the fact. And while I am a few episodes behind, I'm pretty shocked that people speculate that this series is on the bubble since production was halted. Could things have gone so drastically downhill? I find that hard to believe.

In fact, I've really, really enjoyed FlashForward. My only concern is one that applies to any series with such a confined premise -- does the story lend itself to multiple years of enjoyment? This particular story, to an extent, is guaranteed to be resolved within the season (due to the established timeline that has been laid out already). Where does the story go next season? Or the one after that? Then again, 24 is about to kick off its eighth season, and people said the same thing about that show.

One of my favorite aspects of this series is the contrasting actions and the purposefully inconsistent behavior. Take, for example, the reckless behavior. You have these "ghosts" who are willingly and knowingly putting themselves in deadly situations because they didn't experience a flash forward. As far as they're concerned, they're already going to be dead in a matter of months, so why delay the inevitable? Then you have somebody like Bryce, who makes borderline irresponsible medical diagnoses based purely on the faith that this person is alive in six months -- so they can't possibly die now. While they're on opposite sides of the spectrum, in both instances people are making life or death decisions based on this blind belief that no matter what happens, these visions of the future will come to fruition.

Along those same lines, there's this fun tug of war going on. Some characters are clearly committing self fulfilling prophecies (as it's been noted on the show, the entire motivation of the Mosaic project is that, in the future, Mark is working on said project), while other struggle endlessly to avoid their fate (such as Olivia and her behavior with Lloyd).

And throughout the entire first portion of the season we've asked ourselves, "Is the future set in stone? Can it be changed? Or are we powerless?" I asked that question a few times, especially after Janis was shot. I anxiously waited for the following week to see if she survived. Because if she didn't, that meant things could be changed. And then came Al's ultimate sacrifice. And since the, the show has been turned upside down. We now know (unless something changed) that things CAN change. And quite drastically, at that. And, to me, that adds a little more complexity to an already complicate series.

Of course, the show ultimately works because it's not just sizzle. One of the things that pulled me in was the show's ability to mellow out and laugh. Sure, it's literally toilet humor, but I couldn't stop laughing at the fact that everybody had this significant, once in a lifetime opportunity to see what their lives are like in the future, and poor Wedeck simply sees himself taking a dump. How incredibly unfortunate. Talk about missing out!

There's been a fair amount of drama as well, of course. I think my favorite scene yet was the Halloween episode, when Mark, Olivia, and Lloyd are in the Benford living room when, silently (initially, anyway) all three come to realize their unusual connection. And when it's finally brought out in the open, it was fun seeing each character contain their heated emotions, all while trying to remain civil due to the fact that, technically, nobody has actually done anything wrong yet.

It is my hope that this substance will help carry the show into subsequent seasons. As I've said, it simply won't work if it's a mere one trick pony. Of course, I'm sure the episodes I've missed may shed a bit more light on where the show plans on going once the April flash forward point passes. Once I'm all caught up, perhaps I'll discuss the show even further.







Also: Please take a moment to fill out this WWE Year-End Survey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2LXGLNW

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[a case of the blog] - Preview for next week

Also: Please take a moment to fill out this WWE Year-End Survey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2LXGLNW

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TV reviews

For those of you waiting for my next Smallville review, I apologize but there is going to be a slight delay. My CW affiliate decided to air the baseball game on Friday, so I wasn't able to watch or tape the show during its normal airing. And the CW is THE WORST about putting their episodes online -- and they're, like, the only network that doesn't also utilize Hulu and IMDb.com either. Tell me again why this network is constantly struggling? But anyway, I'll review it once it's posted online.

Speaking of CW, I was finally able to catch the past two episodes of The Vampire Diaries (for what it's worth, I eventually had to submit and turn to YouTube for the first episode I missed. The episode wasn't even posted before the next episode aired!) I'm really glad that they finally "dumbed it down" and outwardly explained why Damon and Stefan are able to walk around during daylight, it's their rings (as I suspected, I just didn't know Damon had one as well). I also got a real kick out of their shots at the Twilight series (the one vampire-centric production I have not gotten into). There's a lot I like about this series, particularly the subtle and sneaky ways that the vampires receive their invitation into households. I do have to wonder, though: Was the ball being held at the same home as the original one centuries ago? Because if so, Damon and Stefan wouldn't have needed an invite, since they were at the original. I also enjoy how openly Damon talks about being a vampire, but it's always to somebody in a trance, so it won't bite him in the ass. It reminds me of the short-lived New Amsterdam in that sense.

Oh, and I can't help but smirk each time the "you didn't tell me you had a brother" scene plays in the "Previously" clip. It's like, who randomly just tells a person they just met, "by the way, I have a brother." Without knowing anything of their history, it's not he was keeping some deep, dark secret.

I did finally catch the first two episodes of Flash Forward. The easy critique would be that it's a bit TOO much like Lost -- same network, similar premise, many of the same actors. That's an obvious observation, hell, the series even kicked off practically the same way. The lead character wakes up in the midst of chaos, and the audience is shown what happened before that moment throughout the rest of the episode.

But why criticize a series because it's just like another show you really like? That's part of the reason why I decided to give it a shot. And, much like Lost, I think this show "works" because you can relate to, or at least get attached to, the characters. It's also not afraid to dip into a bit of humor, like with one character spending his entire flash forward taking a dump.

I also enjoy the mix between self fulfilling prophecy and trying to avoid "fate." Case in point: The entire Mossaic investigation is an outward attempt to replicate the future. Yet certain actions like avoiding the man you're supposed to get involved with and burning the friendship bracelet your daughter gave to you are efforts to prevent what is "supposed to" happen.

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