The 2008/09 TV Season Thread

[Chris the Human]

I'm just glad they didn't cancel HIMYM...that would've been a travesty.

Here's hoping the almighty pile of suck that has been the post strike episodes is out of their system by then

[ONO]

Will the spin-off of The Office be completely new characters?

[St. Dubb]

Will the spin-off of The Office be completely new characters?

I don't think anything's been officially announced about the spinoff in terms of who it will be or what it will be - mostly just assumptions at this point.

But...and just to be safe, I'll put this in spoiler tags.

Spoiler: Click here to view

There's a chance the finale could give us some idea of what COULD possibly be the spin off

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

I'd love to see the spin-off let us see the other branches week-to-week.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I'm not geriatric and I love CBS Well, mainly HIMYM, the CSIs, Criminal Minds, blah blah blah etc.

Edited May 15, 2008 by Cloudy

[TGC]

I agree Cloudy. Big Bang, HIMYM, Jericho, Criminal Minds, CSI, Survivor, Big Brother, Amazing Race, and Moonlight are all CBS shows I watched this past season. With the exception of Jericho and Moonlight, I'll watch them all next season too.

[Ananas]

Last but first in the ratings, FOX's 2008/09 Schedule:

FOX PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: FALL 2008

(All Times ET/PT)

MONDAY

8:00-9:00 PM TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES

9:00-10:00 PM PRISON BREAK

TUESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE

9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM BONES

9:00-9:30 PM 'TIL DEATH

9:30-10:00 PM DO NOT DISTURB (wt)

THURSDAY

8:00-9:00 PM THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

9:00-10:00 PM KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

FRIDAY

8:00-9:00 PM ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?

9:00-10:00 PM DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS!

SATURDAY

8:00-8:30 PM COPS

8:30-9:00 PM COPS

9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK

11:00 PM-Midnight MADtv

Midnight-12:30 AM TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

SUNDAY

7:00-8:00 PM THE OT (NFL post-game)

8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS

8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL

9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY

9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD

FOX PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: BEGINNING JANUARY 2009

(All Times ET/PT)

MONDAY

8:00-9:00 PM DOLLHOUSE

9:00-10:00 PM 24

TUESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL

9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE

9:00-9:30 PM AMERICAN IDOL Results Show

9:30-10:00 PM TBA Comedy

THURSDAY

8:00-9:00 PM HELL'S KITCHEN

9:00-10:00 PM SECRET MILLIONAIRE

FRIDAY

8:00-9:00 PM BONES

9:00-9:30 PM 'TIL DEATH

9:30-10:00 PM DO NOT DISTURB (wt)

SATURDAY

8:00-8:30 PM COPS

8:30-9:00 PM COPS

9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK

11:00 PM-Midnight MADtv

Midnight-12:30 AM TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

SUNDAY

7:00-7:30 PM COMEDY ENCORES

7:30-8:00 PM COMEDY ENCORES

8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS

8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL (January) / SIT DOWN, SHUT UP (wt) (spring)

9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY

9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD (January) / THE CLEVELAND SHOW (wt) (spring)

Pilot descriptions available at The Futon Critic.

So this looks like one of the strongest schedules FOX has had in a while. We all know "Fringe" is a marquee pilot, and so is every JJ Abrams pilot even if they've been met with mixed results post-"Lost". "Cloverfield's" shit-hot, "Lost" is the most watched show in the world, so I can't think of many smarter investments for a network than attaching themselves to him. This fall the schedule will actually be bolstered by *gasp* several successful scripted returning programs not named "House". Although "Prison Break" may have lost some (read: a lot) momentum last year, Monday will be anchored my last year's most successful freshman scripted program, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles". In addition to pulling in decent numbers, the show also improved greatly in the second half of its debut season. "House" and "Fringe" is just the smart pairing of a massive hit with a high potential new series. Wednesday sees the pairing of of a couple of silently successful returning programs, "Bones" and "'Til Death". And meanwhile, "Back to You" bit the bullet after just one season. Everybody may love Raymond, but in the battle of Robert vs. Deb, there is a clear winner. "Do Not Disturb" sounds awful, but so does "'Til Death". And it is. But sometimes a TV viewer just wants crap, apparently. Thursday and Friday are full of reality TV. My DVR says thank you for the break.

In the midseason, the "American Idol" juggernaut returns to dislodge much of the schedule, but the programming decisions here are still pretty good. Whedon fans should not despair in "Dollhouse's" January launch, its pairing with "24" clearly indicates the network has good intentions. Wednesday's Fall line-up moves to the Friday of doom, but a brief glance at everyone else's schedule seems to indicate that people are looking to take chances with legitimate Sunday-Friday programming. As for "The Cleveland Show" on Sundays, I thought "American Dad" was the defacto "Family Guy" spin-off? 3 kindred themed shows based in one central universe, isn't that an overextension? Anyway, "Sit Down, Shut Up" has a great pedigree for success, so they've got plenty of potential to at very least continue to put up very competitive numbers on Saturday.

Less reality trash, two highly buzzworthy drama pilots. What a difference a year makes for FOX.

[TGC]

Clips from various of the networks new shows.

[MalaCloudy Black]

The Cleveland Show seems kinda retarded, but more power to Seth MacFarlane if he can create a success by following the same formula the third time in a row.

[zero]

Dollhouse looks pretty intriguing... but I still have no faith in FOX to keep it around. I know they've changed a lot and them bringing back Terminator is a good sign of them sticking with shows, but I'm still not convinced. Hopefully people watch the show and there won't be much to worry about, pairing it up with 24 is good news.

Fringe I'm kinda iffy about. I saw a couple clips and it looks like the X-Files with Joshua Jackson... yikes.

[Ananas]

A couple of notes that weren't in any of the press releases directly:

- A 24 two hour event occurring between Days 6 and 7 will air November 23rd.

- Video previews for a ton of the new series can be found here.

- Scrubs cast three new recurring characters to be played by Aziz Ansari, Betsy Beutler and Eliza Coupe. Many will recognize Aziz Ansari as one of the stars of the MTV comedy series "Human Giant". Also, as a result of necessary budget cuts in bringing "Scrubs" to ABC, each cast member (including Braff) will take two episodes off during the course of the season. Not sure how that's going to work with the voice-overs. And according to Bill Lawrence, the series will return to its more grounded dramedy roots of the first few seasons. This is good news.

- Dollhouse and Fringe will be the first subjects of FOX's experimental "Remote Free TV" strategy. Essentially, this means that FOX will limit ad sales to 5 minutes per hour, those making each episode 55 minutes long.

[zero]

- Dollhouse and Fringe will be the first subjects of FOX's experimental "Remote Free TV" strategy. Essentially, this means that FOX will limit ad sales to 5 minutes per hour, those making each episode 55 minutes long.

Well that's just brilliant. It's time to get rid of the archaic way of advertising, especially when everyone has DVR now.

[tristy]

did i miss something? Scrubs is moving to ABC?

[zero]

Yeah, ABC produces the show.

Edited May 17, 2008 by Zero

[tristy]

ABC produces the show, but it used to air on NBC?

Granted I haven't watched an episode of Scrubs in years, but still..

[zero]

It's more common than you think - NBC Universal produces House and it's on FOX. 20th Century FOX produced Buffy and it was on the WB/UPN. Beatnik can probably explain it a lot better than I can.

Edited May 17, 2008 by Zero

[Ananas]

Basically production and distribution are divided into two different sister companies. NBC Television is not the same company as NBC Universal Television Studio. The studio develops the projects and pitches them to the networks. If NBC Studios develops "House" for NBC but the network passes (re: Jeff Zucker is a fucking moron), they'll shop the project around and hence it ended up on FOX. Ditto for "Scrubs" on NBC. More specifically though, "Scrubs" was developed by ABC Studios (which I believe was called "Touchstone Television" at the time) when Steve McPherson was in charge of the studio, but ABC passed on it and the show ended up running on NBC for seven years. Fast forward to 2008, NBC no longer wants "Scrubs" and who's running ABC Television? Steve McPherson, and he's been a big fan of the show since it started. So ABC ends up with a veteran comedy to bolster it's winter schedule, McPherson gets to try and beat rival NBC with their old programming and we get another season of "Scrubs". Everybody wins.

[TGC]

A new 3.5 minute trailer for JJ Abrams Fringe. And man oh man does that look good.

A new 2.5 minute trailer for Dollhouse. Looks pretty good, but not as great as I was expecting.

Both are courtesy of AICN.

[GA!]

Another plane crash? Oh, JJ...

I might watch the first couple of episodes of Fringe to see if it's any good. I'm definitely watching Dollhouse.

[ROC]

I look forward to Dollhouse better than Fringe, but JJ Abrams's stuff is something that I've never really gotten into. That and it's Eliza and she's always been at least nice to look at while also having moments of charm and personality.