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SO MUCH SCI-FI, SO LITTLE TIME
September 2, 2005
The new TV season is here, and normally I'd pick three or four shows that I think are the most promising. This year, such an undertaking has proved not just challenging, but nearly impossible. There could be several reasons for this - for example, several hopeful series, especially CBS' "The Unit, aren't due until midseason - but let's take a look at what is probably the biggest.
We all have our favorite kinds of shows - certain genres that we're more predisposed to enjoying. Take me, for example. (Well, it is my column, right?) I like complex, multi-layered serials, usually with a fantasy or sci-fi bent, that demand weekly viewing and are often braced with some convoluted central mystery. Think "Twin Peaks," "The X-Files," or last season's great addition to the genre - "Lost." Yep, I'm a sucker for those shows, and, starting this month, no fewer than six of them are going to launch on the major networks, all trying to ride the coattails of ABC's deserted-island smash.
CBS has "Threshold," which features an aliens-in-the-ocean plotline. Something else creepy is stirring in deep waters on NBC's "Surface." Meanwhile, ABC offers up some extraterrestrials of its own with "Invasion," which has other-worldly beings already living among us. (What's with all the one-word titles? Blame "Lost" for that, too, I suppose.) The alphabet net also gives us a remake of the short-lived but seminal 1970s sci-fi series, "Night Stalker," with Stuart Townsend taking over for Darren McGavin. And the WB has "Supernatural," the tale of two road-tripping brothers who battle demons while searching for their MIA father (heavy shades of Mulder and his long-lost sister there).
After those five, there are still more new shows that nearly meet the criteria for my favorite genre. Jennifer Love Hewitt talks to dead people on CBS' "Ghost Whisperer," but that show is expected to focus more on individual stories than one season-spanning mystery. Meanwhile, Fox's "Reunion" is ALL about the mystery, featuring a fatal whodunit that follows its characters over 20 years. (No sci-fi or fantasy in this one, but plenty of red herrings and guessing games are promised.)
Chances are, I'm going to end up loving one of these shows. Which one is anybody's guess until a few months have passed, and, honestly, by that time, who knows if any of them will still be on the air. Hollywood never seems to understand that the public doesn't like warmed-up leftovers. We always want something new, something original, something fresh. When a new kind of show (or an old kind that went away for a while) find a big audience, the studios are always eager to flood the market with copycats. Yet, inevitably, the copycats fail. Just think of all the reality shows that crashed and burned in the wake of "Survivor," "American Idol," etc., or the plethora of prime-time game shows that debuted after "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" and were soon never heard from again.
Even if one or more of these new "Lost" clones is actually a good show in it's own right, it may be doomed to fail if the audience adopts a "been there, done that, still happy with 'Lost,' thank you" attitude. So what's a TV columnist and avid lover of the sci-fi/fantasy serial mystery to do?
How about something wacky like instead picking a sitcom as the fall's most-promising new show?
Yep, that's exactly what I'm going to do. NBC has a new half-hour comedy coming Tuesday, Sept. 20 called "My Name is Earl." It stars Jason Lee, unknown to most people, but the guy's been bringing the funny on the big screen ever since squeezing every drop of hilarity (maybe more than should rightfully be there) out of director Kevin Smith's "Mallrats." In "Earl," Lee is cast to perfection as a low-life crook who wins the lottery, only to get hit by a car and lose the ticket. Convinced that bad karma had done him in, Lee embarks on a mythic quest to better his existence by trying to make peace with every person he's wronged and fix each mistake he's made throughout his whole life.
The buzz on "My Name is Earl" is encouraging, and with Lee at its center, this series could easily find its place alongside "Arrested Development" and "Scrubs" as a comedy that actually proves the TV sitcom isn't entirely dead.
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