2010 Fall TV Preview, Part II

THE 5 NEW SHOWS I WILL BE WATCHING

First, "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" on HBO. I am very excited about this show. I'm talking "The Town" level excited. I saw a preview for it like 6 months ago and thought it was about to come out, but then just stupid "Treme" came on. So it's been a long wait.

I like Steve Buscemi, but this some strange casting. He's a prime example of my "Costanza Theory", so it will be interesting if he can hold up as a lead. But from everything I've heard, this show starts slow and then comes on strong. High hopes.

"LONE STAR" on Fox. I heard nothing about this show during pilot season, and then a few months later I read a random article about it. It sounded awesome but since I hadn't heard anything I assumed that it must suck or be done by people who suck.

But no. The guy who wrote it also wrote one of the best unproduced screenplays of the year - which, unfortunately for him, finally did get produced and stars...Mel Gibson. Whoops.

Off of the strength of that script, Fox brought him in and he pitched them this show, about a Texas con man with two wives. And then they got Marc Webb, the guy who is directing the next "Spider Man" to direct it.

I got an advanced copy of the pilot and it's great. I'm in, and already in love with one of his wives (the one that isn't Tyra from Friday Night Lights).

"HAWAII 5-O"??? on NBC. I have no desire to watch this show, but everyone keeps saying it's one of the best shows. So I guess I have to. I don't know if I can handle Jin speaking perfect english. But I do like Scott Caan playing a prick, because he is a prick. I will be giving this a test run, we'll see...

"THE EVENT" NBC. I read the pilot script, it is good. Plus, Blair Underwood is a go to black guy. This is my "Flash Forward" of this season, let's hope it doesn't turn out as awful.

"BETTER WITH YOU" ABC. There is only one reason to watch this show: my friend Jamathew is writing for it. Also, it has JoAnna Garcia, who is cute and good. It's being run by a lot of the people who did "Friends", so there's that too. Watch it.


3 NEW SHOWS I WILL NOT BE WATCHING

"RUNNING WILDE" on Fox. This is a comedy starring Wil Arnett and Keri Russell. Seems tailor made for me. BUT, I read the pilot script and it is a piece of crap. It was written by Mitch Hurwitz, who I've written about before. This is the guy who did "Arrested Development", gotten a million pilots since, and not a single one has been good. I hope I'm wrong.

"UNDERCOVERS" on NBC. This is the big, JJ Abrams/married couple who are also spies show that everyone was hyping a couple months ago. Funny thing though, every clip I've seen has been terrible.

I want to like it. I like black people. I like spies. But hasn't this premise been done a thousand times? How do you have the nerve to pitch this idea at this point? "Oh you know Mr. and Mrs Smith?" "Yeah". "Well, it's exactly like that and 'True Lies'". Love it!

Plus, I don't think you can do a show like this every week. That's why every time they do this idea it's as a movie.

"THE DEFENDERS" on CBS. Jerry O'Connell and Jim Belushi. Let me say that again, Jerry O'Connell and Jim Belushi.

"SARAH PALIN'S ALASKA" TLC. Would be better if it starred Jerry O'Connell and Jim Belushi.


I'M ON THE FENCE

"MY GENERATION" on ABC. It's always bad to do shows that can/have been done better as reality shows. Very risky. But the preview for it looked kinda good.

"CHASE" on NBC. As a network, how do you roll out 2 different 1 hour dramas, that are both vague, and one is named "The Event" and the other is named "Chase"? Very confusing. I can do one, but two?