Then there were the awful shows that, for some reason I ended up watching complete seasons of. Dirt and Californication spring immediately to mind.

And of course there was the WGA Strike which took a toll on the Fall Season and threatens the next fall’s too.

But there were some high points too. And thus I give you my Top Ten TV Shows of 2007.

Mad Men

This was the crown jewel of 2007. There was no finer program broadcast on television last year. Hands down.

Mad Men is both a look at the past and a mirror for the present. It illustrates how far we’ve come in terms of childcare (both pre and post-natal) but it also offers up a myriad of examples of how little how gender politics have changed in the past 40-odd years despite the dressing of political correctness.

It’s expertly written and superbly acted. Even the least likable of characters earn their moments of sympathy. It’s a show that revolves around white males yet addresses anti-Semitism, race, homosexuality, sexual politics and issues of identity without missing a beat.

Mad Men is a testament to the notion that commercials and censors needn’t be a hindrance to making great televison.

30 Rock

As a general rule I loathe sitcoms. They’re formulaic, poorly acted and worst of all, insulting. But 30 Rock is one sitcom that I refuse to miss.

It’s probably because it’s fearless. The scene with Jack (Alec Baldwin) and Tracy (Tracy Morgan) at the therapist that’s been talked about ad nauseam had all of the ingredients for public outcry. A white guy doing vulgar caricatures various minorities. But it worked because it was so over the top funny and right within the tone of the show.

The writers are the really the stars of the show. The comedy is simultaneously smart, subversive and self-deprecating. Every episode has moments that caused me to marvel at boundaries being pushed and laugh out loud. The actors sell the words perfectly, but anyone who enjoys the show is really a fan of the writing.

Still, how in the hell did Fox Mulder beat out Alec Baldwin at the Golden Globes?

Brotherhood

Showtime’s Brotherhood is a tersely written tense hour of televison. The debut season introduced us to characters of The Hill and ended on a hell of a cliffhanger. Season two magnificently followed up on everything and actually upped the ante.

Much like HBO’s The Wire, Brotherhood tells the tale of a city, in this case Providence, R.I., though various angles; criminal, police and political. It revolves around the Caffee family and how they are at intersection of all that occurs in Providence.

There’s really not a weak link in Brotherhood. Whether it’s Deco’s descent into the underbelly being a dirty cop or Tommy’s dalliance with adultery every storyline drew you into complete investment. Michael’s attempt to overcome the injury he sustained in the first season finale was probably my favorite, especially when his dreams fell apart.

But the Thanksgiving episode was probably my favorite holiday themed episode in recent memory. It was hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. Brotherhood is one of television’s finest crime dramas out.

Pushing Daisies

Sometimes television is for escaping. And while is usually look for the adjectives “harsh”, “stark” or “realistic” when it comes to my hour long dramas, Pushing Daisies won me over based purely on it’s whimsical tone.

I loved doomed romance so the very notion of longing for someone you can’t touch because that touch would mean instant death is right up my alley. Hell it’s a story set in a town where everything is vibrantly colored, women still wear dresses and making pies is a viable vocation. What’s not to like?

And as if having a character who has a Lazarus touch and a character who’s formerly dead weren’t enough, there’s also a surly P.I. who’s hobby is knitting and a former jockey who pines her boss. Quirky barely does this cast justice.

It’s also a fun show that I looked forward to week in and out. I couldn’t wait for it to come on, so I could sit on the couch with my roommate and take a trip to some place away from the real world.

Life

I’m leery of cop dramas. Far too often they’re procedurals with happy endings. But Life offered something different; and interesting character and a mystery that, while intriguing, wasn’t all encompassing.

The pilot for Life raised plenty of questions; why was Charlie in jail? Why did he return to the police force? How did he return to the police force? Was there an actual conspiracy? The mystery wasn’t a lingering one like say, Lost is was usually relegated to the B story. The answers to those questions were doled out over the episodes that aired, never requiring the view to take anything on faith.

Damian Lewis plays Charlie Crews as a peculiar guy who is inquisitive yet wise. He’s an interesting character who’s quirks never overwhelm the character. He’s much more a character with quirks, rather than a collection of quirks in the form a character. He’s the star and he makes watching mesmerizing.

Weeds

I really wanted to love this season of Weeds, but I couldn’t; it had flaws. U-Turn was written off too soon (though it was a well written exit.) There didn’t seem to be nearly enough Doug. And the lack of the brilliant Heylia/Nancy chemistry really didn’t help things.

But there were good moments too. Anything involving Andy was sure to was sure to inspire laughs. Nancy and U-Turn moments, as brief as they were, never disappointed. Sanjay’s blooming sexuality was never ignored. And then there were the sex scenes.

I wish the season had a stronger ending and that more of the interesting threads had been developed (biker rivals, Shane in summer school.) Still, Weeds began the season with a boom.

Burn Notice

Summer fare is notoriously unreliable. That’s probably why Burn Notice was so refreshing. Using a Miami as a backdrop for a noir tale about a former spy seemed like a sure miss. But Jeffery Donovan really sells it.

Donovan can shift from boyish innocence to brutal menace with no warning and that’s where the charm in the show lies. Much like Life there’s a mystery, but it’s not an overwhelming one. I’m curious why Michael got :”burned” but I’m equally interested in seeing him establish himself in his new surroundings.

Burn Notice has plenty of lighthearted moments. It’s also got some great action scenes. But my favorite part (after Donovan) would have to be the tips that Michael shares with the viewer, like how to win a bar fight or how to secure a domicile. Learning has never been so entertaining.

Greek

I wasn’t supposed to watch this show, much less like it. I just so happened to have an hour to kill on the Sunday after it debuted, when that debut replayed. I caught it and enjoyed it. Actually I more than enjoyed it, I was hooked.

I think I was just impressed at how a show on ABC Family managed to do a decent job of capturing college life. There’s underage drinking and premarital sex and of course the combination drunken hook ups.

What’s more is that I cared about the characters. I grew fond of Cappie and Rusty. I really felt for Calvin and even Dale grew on me. Sure the show took some short cuts (the “two-fer” of having the Black male also be gay) but Greek was probably my biggest surprise in 2007.

Damages

Damages was flawed, but featured flawless acting. The pacing was off at times and the ending was a bit anticlimactic, but the acting always delivered. Glenn Close and Ted Danon got all of the acclaim, but for me I was most struck by David Costabile as “Bearded Man.” He was a foreboding presence that just exuded menace. Whenever he was on the screen I was riveted. But my second favorite was Zeljko Ivanek, who’s always underrated.

I didn’t really care for the whole mystery of the season. I was more interested in the ride and all of the numerous twists and turns. I liked trying to figure out if Patty Hewes or Arthur Frobisher was the “bad guy” of the story. It was a guessing game every week and for me that was a selling point.

And since the show got picked up for a second and third season it looks like I’ll be getting more ambiguity in the years to come. I just hope that the writers keep the writing on par with the acting.

The Shield

The show definitely faltered this season. The inclusion of the political angle felt forced and Kevin Hiatt always felt temporary. But Shane’s descent into the darkness fueled by his guilt is really what pulled this season through for me.

I was a fan of Kavanaugh’s character so to see him have such a diminished role this season was a letdown. But having Vic and Shane as adversaries pretty much picked up the slack. Seeing Shane struggle to keep one step ahead of his crumbing life was intense and actually made the character sympathetic, to a degree.

The season didn’t quite end on a note that left he craving the show’s final season, but I am interested in seeing how things wrap up. And while 2007 wasn’t The Shield’s best season, even a sub par off The Shield is better than 90% of what’s on other channels.

And thus you’ve got the TV shows that I really loved in 2007. But I’m curious what not only what you think about my list, but what shows you thought were the best 2007 had to offer.

Here is how I have broke down these shows. You have shows that you have to watch LIVE right as they air on television. These are “must-watch”. We then have shows that you have to TiVo for later. Those are shows that are very good, but ones you don’t have to watch right away. You want to watch them soon, though. Then, there are shows that you could either skip or watch. Basically the ones I’m undecided on as of now. Finally, you have the ones that either I don’t plan on watching or shows that I watched once and will never watch again. So without any more delay, lets get to my first thoughts on the new shows this Fall…

Must-Watch Shows

Chuck – Right now, this show is fighting hard to gain an audience in an extremely competitive time slot. Dancing with the Stars is no doubt the overall winner here, but Chuck is pretty much been in a photo finish race with CBS’ How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, and FOX’s Prison Break for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place. That being said the writing is smart on this show. It comes from Josh Schwartz, creator of The O.C.. It’s a comedy more than a drama, but there are definite elements of both here. In fact, I would compare this show to Psych on the USA Network. Or maybe even a lighter version of 24, if that makes any sense. What really makes this show work is the actors involved. They are all pretty much unknown, but the chemistry between them all is great.

Gossip Girl – One of two great new shows on The CW, of all places. Again, this show is from the creators of The O.C.. It basically takes the place of One Tree Hill or The O.C. with one big exception. This is a teen drama located on the East Coast. This show has a gritty, New York City feel to it. It’s also a “new-age” show. So it feels old and new at the same time. Also, if you love “love triangles”, then say hello to your newest guilty pleasure.

Reaper – The new genre of TV is the “dramedy”, which means a show is a combination of a comedy and a drama. See Chuck for an example above. Reapers is just that with an extra dimension added to it. This show is for science-fiction fans who don’t like things to be complicated. It’s no more scary than an episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, but it’s no less funny than an episode of Scrubs. It’s another “light” show, which we should see more of in the next few years. Bottom line, it’s entertaining and most everyone can find something to like about this show. If only it weren’t on The CW.

TiVo Shows

Private Practice – It’s the spin-off of Grey’s Anatomy and it pretty much feels like it so far. It could have the potential to be as good as Grey’s Anatomy, but it also could have the potential to not live up to the hype. Still I will be sticking with this show for however long it lasts, because the cast are all pretty likable. They just need time to develop the strong relationships between each other, which made Grey’s Anatomy a great show. If you were an Addison fan, this is the show for you.

Dirty Sexy Money – I wasn’t sure about this show to begin with, but it seems entertaining enough. The writing is pretty sharp so far and the characters are fairly interesting. Sure, they are all walking cliches, but somehow everything seems to flow together rather nicely. I don’t know where this show will go, but I will be probably be around to watch it anyways.

Life – It’s another crime procedural show with a twist. The twist is that I’m actually interested in this one. Mainly because the main character is such an odd one, but a great one. The overall mystery of how Charlie Crews got wrongly accused is also intriguing. But mainly it’s about the characters on this show.

Watch or Skip Shows

Journeyman – The first show I am undecided on. It’s in the “death slot” of 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Last year, two great shows, Studio 60 and The Black Donnellys were cut short in that timeslot. I don’t think Journeyman is as good as those shows, but it is pretty solid. The lead actor is a fantastic one. But you do have a lot of questions with this show. A man travels through time and that means you could get lost very quickly here. Still if you stick with the show from the beginning, you’ll probably enjoy it. I’m just not sure yet if I will enjoy it or not, which is why it falls under this category.

Kid Nation – Basically, this is Kid Survivor. It’s a harmless reality show. It actually can be compelling yet annoying at the same time. If you don’t like kids, this may not be the show for you. It also is a cheap rip-off of Survivor. If you can get past that, though, it is actually cool to watch kids interact with each other and form bonds in this type of environment. It’s unique, so that means you should at least check it out a few times. It might lose steam over time, but it should “survive” to see another day. Of course, CBS did pull Pirate Master without prior warning.

Cane – If you like Jimmy Smits, then welcome to his new show. “Sugar is the new oil” apparently. There is nothing really wrong with this show, but it’s not that unique either. The best thing about this show is that it really has a Latin Miami feel to it. It’s pretty slick, but nothing about the show really interests me enough to stick with it. But others may really enjoy this show. It’s really a flip of the coin here.

Pushing Daisies – This could easily slide up into the “TiVo Show” category. The reason why it’s not is because I only have seen one episode so far. You really need to watch a couple of episodes before making judgment on a show. Most critics seem to love this show. It definitely has an unique premise. My only concern is if that premise can hold up over an entire season. Right now, I’m leaning towards sticking with this show, but it’s just too early to be sure.

Big Shots – This is the male version of Sex in the City. Once again, what really makes me want to watch a show over all other reasons is the actors involved and the characters they play. The four main male leading actors are decent enough, but I’m not huge fans of any of them. Right now the storylines involving these four are pretty cliche and unoriginal. It is interesting to see these four men in different stages of love, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. On the plus side, guys do talk like this for the most part. Still if this show gets cancelled before the year is up, I wouldn’t be that surprised.

Won’t Be Sad If I Missed These Shows

The Big Bang Theory – I honestly liked The Class better than this show. The main comedy comes from the guys being smart and saying smart things that dumb and beautiful Penny doesn’t understand. I’m afraid that a lot of people won’t get the jokes. It’s not really laugh-out-loud funny either.

K-Ville – It’s good that this show has a New Orleans feel to it. However, it’s really nothing you haven’t seen before as far as the content of the show.

Cavemen – It’s a show based on some funny commercials. But that doesn’t mean you should drag out the commercials for 23 minutes. You either are going to love or hate this show. Actually, these guys are more like hairy humans than cavemen. If you can look past the cavemen image, you may actually find this show funny. But that’s a big IF and the novelty should wear off fairly quickly.

Carpoolers – I honestly loved the opening scenes of the first two episodes. Ironically enough, they both took place in the car. But there is not a lot of riding in a car for a show with that title. That could get old, but those times have been the funniest for me so far. Should really just be another short-lived sitcom.

Back To You – I’m not a fan of Kelsey Grammer or Patricia Heaton. That’s mainly why I won’t be sad if I miss this show. It’s funny in a “FOX way”, but I would rather watch ‘Til Death after it than this show. If you are a fan of the two aforementioned actors, you might find this show funny.

The No Interest Shows

Bionic Woman – It actually has a lot of buzz around it being a “remake” of a popular show from earlier years. But I have no interest in seeing it at all. I guess this show could be for comic book fans and fans of the original show. I just won’t be watching it.

Aliens in America – It’s a pure comedy on Monday nights on The CW. That spells death. Too much competition and no time to watch this show for me.

Moonlight – Some say this is a rip-off of Angel. I never watched that show or Buffy for that matter. So this show is not interesting to me.

Life Is Wild – I barely know what this show is about. It’s on Sunday night on The CW, so I could catch it but from what I do know it doesn’t interesting me. Seems like a typical “teen drama” that is not risque at all. No thanks.

Kitchen Nightmares – I might actually like this show, but it’s in a bad timeslot as I will watch Private Practice and Gossip Girl over this show. If you like Hell’s Kitchen, you should like this show. Too bad there are too many other options here.

So that is my early take on all the new shows that have debuted so far. My opinions could change over time, so I will be sure to check in with you at the end of the year. There is a good chance that more than half of these shows may not even make it a full year, but only time will tell. So stay tuned…

You heard what I had to say, now head on over to the forum and voice your opinion. What do you think of the new shows so far?

Sir Linksalot: Television News
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Monday

The Big Bang Theory: Not the worst sitcom on the air, but nothing to write home about. If you absolutely have nothing else to watch (Which is pretty much impossible on Monday night) you can give it a shot, but it shouldn’t have a constant spot on your viewing schedule.

Aliens in America: The best new sitcom this year, but it’s not such a big achievement when you look at the field. But it’s a good show, touching and easy to relate to. Don’t plan your night around it, but make a note to catch it, either live or taped.

K-Ville: I wouldn’t bother with this show. New Orleans deserves a better show. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fox pull it from the schedule before the season ends.

Chuck: One of the two best shows of the year. Funny, good characters and good actors. NBC has the best new shows line-up and Chuck leads its roster.

Journeyman: Another good and intriguing show. With Chuck, Heroes and Journeyman you might as well just spend the entire night with NBC and TIVO Prison Break.

Tuesday

Cavemen: Who the hell thought that a commercial can become a series? While the Geico “cavemen” commercial may be okay, they can’t hold an entire show. Plus, it’s not funny. Don’t bother with it.

Cane: A throwback to the eighties. Not a bad show, but not must see either. It’s competition at the time slot isn’t that stiff, so you might as well watch it.

Reaper: The other best new show, together with Chuck. Again it’s a dramedy, funny, witty and cool. Don’t miss it!

Wednesday

Pushing Daisies: Forgive me for not joining the hype machine for that show. Yes, it’s nice and has a cool concept, but it’s not as good as many critics will have you believe. You can TIVO it, but don’t plan your night around it.

Private Practice: I think I’ll make the same deal with this show as I have with Grey’s Anatomy – I won’t watch it live, but tape and wait until I have time to watch. It may take months before I actually watch it, but I’ll catch up.

Dirty Sexy Money: This show is one of the biggest surprises for me this year. I didn’t think I’d like it when I read the premise, but lo and behold it’s actually good. The best new show on ABC this year, and you should give it a try.

Kid Nation: Ooooooooohhhhh, the controversy. So far it’s nothing more than Survivor: Little League, but it can become more interesting. I’d stick with for at least a couple more weeks, if only to see how the Greg/Mike dynamics goes.

Gossip Girl: The other major surprise for me, as it’s the other show I like even though I didn’t think I would. But is it really a surprise that I like a Josh Schwartz show? It’s a mixture of The OC and Melrose Place and it’s already found its spot as the best guilty pleasure show of the year.

Back To You: This show could have been made twenty years ago and no-one would have noticed the difference. Your standard classic sitcom that seems so outdated in this day and age. Pass.

Kitchen Nightmares: I love Chef Ramsey and I loved the original British Kitchen Nightmares. Even though Fox seems to add too many gimmicks to the show and the way Ramsey interacts with the restaurants’ staff and owners, I still like it.

Bionic Woman: This is the biggest disappointment for me. I went it expecting to like this show but I just hate it. I know I’m in the minority here, but I already dumped this show from my schedule.

Life: But here’s another reason why NBC has the best roster this year. Life is well written, well acted and tells an interesting story. I’d watch Life and TIVO Dirty Sexy Money.

Thursday

Big Shots: I didn’t watch Sex and the City when it starred four women, and I don’t plan on watching it with four guys. The first episode did nothing to draw me in and keep me hooked, and Thursday is already a busy night as it is. Pass.

Friday

Moonlight: It’s like a mixture of Buffy and Angel that went wrong. Vampires were cool six years ago and Moonlight does nothing to bring it back. It’s not that bad, but it’s not that good either. If you have nothing better to do, you can watch it, but don’t plan your viewing schedule around it.

That’s the new crop for you. What do you think of the new fall season so far? Head on over to the forum and voice your opinion.

Sir Linksalot: Television News
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For Fans Of – Any of USA’s detective shows (Monk, Psych etc) as well as conspiracy themed shows such as Prison Break.

What I Didn’t Like

The show has a jarring opening. We get a truncated version of Charlie’s last 12 years via documentary-style interviews and brief flashbacks to his prison life. While the opening doesn’t last long, it threw me off a bit.

As the episode progressed the interviews continued. I really, really hope that the interviews aren’t permanent, but I can completely see how the producers will keep them around. As a device, I don’t dig them.

I was also kind of annoyed at how long it took for some explanation as to how he became a cop again. It was one of the first questions that I had and I had to wait a full act before I got an answer. It might just be me, but I was completely distracted by the lingering question of how a disgraced, if exonerated, cop would be back on the force again.

What I Did Like

I like every character, particularly Charlie. Damian Lewis does a fine job of balancing between “perceptive” and “aloof” usually in the same scene. Charlie is not only a likable character, but he’s also an interesting one. His relationship with his financial advisor was a nice touch.

I loved how the writers didn’t prolong his first trip back to prison. It was dealt with a believable manner, as where his interactions with the prison guards.

I dug Charlie’s disconnect from technology. Again, it’s completely believable that a guy who’s been out of society for over a decade would find the level of technology available bewildering.

While it may have taken a long time for it to be revealed, I bought the explanation for his presence on the force. It makes sense and works within the context of the show.

On the same note I appreciated the reluctance some of his fellow officers had to him being there.

I also appreciate that he’s not the perfect Zen Buddhist as he’s given to acts of spite. It’s a nice realistic touch.

One aspect of the pilot that I really enjoyed was how questions were answer suitably enough to satisfy, without going into details. Example; why didn’t Charlie’s partner have his back? Answered but not delved into, thus leaving tons of potential for the future.

Closing Thoughts

This was one of the shows that I was really looking forward to this season and I’m glad to say that I wasn’t disappointed. Life had a well-rounded premiere. Charlie is quirky without being annoyingly so. He’s manages to be a detective with quirks as opposed to a bunch of quirks in the shape of a character. I’ll be watching this show.

Sir Linksalot: Life

The other day a conference call was held by NBC for one of their new shows premiering next week, Life. Press from around the world got the chance to talk to the creator of the show, Rand Ravich, and the star of the show, Damian Lewis. Last year, NBC had tremendous success promoting Heroes in this manner. They weren’t so lucky with The Black Donnellys, but hopefully Life will be given more time to breathe and be given a legitimate chance.

Life is a new drama about a detective who is given a second chance. Damian Lewis stars as complex, offbeat Detective Charlie Crews, who, thanks to close friend and attorney Constance Griffiths (Brooke Langton), returns to the force after serving time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The cast also includes Sarah Shahi (Rush Hour 3) as Charlie’s skeptical but demanding partner, Robin Weigert (HBO’s Deadwood) as their hard-hitting lieutenant, and Adam Arkin (Chicago Hope) as Crews’ former cellmate Ted Earley.

Here is some more background information on Rand Ravich and Damian Lewis:

Rand Ravich (Creator/Executive Producer) -

Rand Ravich serves as executive producer and writer of Life. Ravich’s versatile career has spanned all facets of the entertainment industry. He wrote the feature film The Maker, and wrote and directed the 1999 SCI FI thriller The Astronaut’s Wife starring Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron. With producing partner Far Shariat, Ravich executive produced the George Clooney-directed feature film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind as well as a number of pilots, including The French Connection based NY-70 for NBC.

Rand grew up in New Jersey and moved to Los Angeles after attending Haverford College. After grad school at UCLA, he moved to New York City for a brief happy time only to return to LA to work in television.

Damian Lewis (Detective Charlie Crews) -

Damian Lewis stars as complex and offbeat Detective Charlie Crews in Life. British actor Damian Lewis is best known for his Golden Globe-nominated performance as an American WWII hero in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers and for his portrayal of Soames Forsyte in the acclaimed ITV/Granada production of The Forsyte Saga: Series I and II.

Born in London, Lewis was educated at Ashdown House and Eton College before attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After leaving the Guildhall, Lewis joined the British theatre community and appeared in a number of plays between 1993 and 1998, primarily as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. During that time he was in Ralph Fiennes’ Hamlet on Broadway, and played Hamlet in London. He returned to the London stage for the 2003/04 season opposite Helen McCrory in Five Gold Rings at the Almeida Theatre and starred in the 2005/06 National Theatre’s production of Ibsen’s Pillars of the Community.

Other television appearances include the BAFTA winning BBC mini-series Warriors in 1999, BBC’s Hearts and Bones series in 2000, and portraying the title character in Jeffrey Archer The Truth for the BBC. In 2005 he starred with Sophia Myles, Thomas Hardy, and Jason Priestley in the ITV/Granada/Power World War II mini-series Colditz and portrayed Benedick in the BBC’s updated Shakespeare Retold version of Much Ado About Nothing. Damian has starred in three films that were at the Cannes Film Festival, Brides, Chromophobia, and the critical hit Keane, directed by Lodge Kerrigan. He has also starred in The Situation directed by Philip Haas, Stormbreaker, Dreamcatcher, The Escapist with Brian Cox and Joseph Fiennes, and The Baker, which he also produced.

And now here are the highlights of what was said in this conference call for Life with Damian Lewis and Rand Ravich…

What is the genesis of this show and Damian being cast in it?

Rand Ravich: The genesis of the show is I’ve always been wildly interested in police shows and I’ve done a police pilot for NBC a couple years ago, a period piece. So I’ve done a lot of police research. And this season, when I was thinking about a pilot, I really wanted to start with the character. And I found this character of Charlie Crews, a man who is getting a second chance in life, a man who had been falsely accused and who has spent 12 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit but instead of it breaking him and instead of it being dark and dour and depressing, it made him very aware of how precious life is, and it is a chance to have a show that exists in some light instead of darkness given the back story.

I’ve just always been a huge fan of Damian. And when I was finished writing it I thought of him for the part, and I was lucky enough to get him in the time when he was willing to come over here and do American television.

Damian Lewis: The genesis of it for me, as it always is for the actor, is a phone call from some people who have been working on a project for a year, two years, three years, maybe half their life. I don’t know. But it was very tempting from the outset because of the strength of the script and that’s the only place you can ever start from as an actor. It’s a big commitment signing up for American network TV show, but I felt very comfortable doing it because I enjoyed the script so much.

The character is a wonderful character. There’s a little bit of wish fulfillment, a little bit of fantasy in there. We join the character, as Rand says, after a horrible, horrible central incident in his life, and we join the character at a time when he is reborn, liberated, and freed from his previous life; and that gives you tremendous scope. And as Rand says, the chance of tremendous joy and optimism; and I thought that was a new take on a cop show. So I was all too happy to jump on.

RR: Damian has the unique ability, which I’d wanted in this character, to ultimately be a tough guy because of his time in prison – you know, having really seen serious things, but also not being afraid to be warm and open; and I really want those two sides in the character and in the stories he embraces. It was very difficult to find. It’s very difficult to find an actor like Damian, who has that ability to embrace both those parts of his personality.

A lot of actors who play cops do research by shadowing their real-life counterparts, but given how unconventional Charlie is and his tactics are, would it even be useful for you to learn the proper way that police do work?

DL: It’s all there. You can never do enough research. It’s a question of time often and access to the LAPD and to divisions in the LAPD. For example, getting ride-alongs with cops as they’re out on patrol has been, I think, quite hard to do because the LAPD’s stopped offering that quite so much for various political reasons. But, you know, in terms of other research, there was research into the Zen Buddhism philosophy that was very helpful for this, and research into what it’s like to be in a maximum security prison. And I go about that the same way I always go about researching a role, which is through literature, through videotape, documentaries, footage, and interviews with people who might have had some experience there. Research is always important. I enjoy that aspect of it so I always do it.

RR: With our Technical Advisor, both with the Writers and in production, we always ask what would the cops really do? And whether we stick true to that or we twist it for emotional reasons, we always want to know how it really happens; but then if we can get more emotional satisfaction by bending it slightly, we usually go that way.

Damian, talk about what you bring to this role and talk about your relationship with the writers.

DL: I’ve have a very confused and complex psyche as a result of some strange and extraordinarily profound events in my early childhood, which I can’t go into now. But I hope I bring some craft, which I’ve learned along the way; and a little bit of instinct to the role. It’s fantastic. It’s actually a really great privilege to have the creator of the show and the producer of the show be the writer as well. Often you find as an actor you want to get access to the writers. With no disrespect to directors and/or producers, it’s often the quickest and most direct way to get information about the script. So having Rand around daily or at the end of the phone has made the whole job a lot easier and has enabled me to access Charlie Crews that much quicker.

I think we have a really good relationship, and it’s in both of our interests to maintain that. We were talking the other day about the symbiotic relationship of writer and actor over the course of a TV series because I think you both find the character and each one of you informs the other person. It goes hand and glove. You can’t work without the other. So I suppose if the relationship is not functioning well, that could be a hindrance; but if it does work well, then hopefully it broadens your bases with which to work from and it enriches the process. I think Rand and I have that and that’s actually what’s tremendously exciting about going forward into episode 10, 11, 12, where we are heading now, and hopefully into episode 17, 18, 20, 22 is just where we can go with it. Neither of us fully know the full potential of that. Rand, I hope, is at least steps ahead of me at this point.

How do you expect the relationship between Charlie and Dani, and between Charlie and Constance to play out this season?

DL: Well, you know, just referencing what I just said, you should talk to Rand after I’ve just spoken briefly. But it’s at the outset at least, Dani Reese is a by-the-book cop. She has her own particular story, her own secret. She’s recovering from an addiction or two that she suffers from, and she’s been put down the bottom of the ladder, and she has to go by the book.

She has to be seen to be doing everything perfectly. She has to be whiter than white, and then she’s thrown together with this guy who’s a bit of a maverick; he’s an eccentric. He’s had an experience that no one certainly in her life she’s come across before has had that experience; and he throws her curveball after curveball. So they have a combative relationship to start with, but they find a mutual respect for another.

They find a mutual respect in the way that they both do their police work; and through that, I think a friendship is burgeoning. And whether that goes beyond that with amount of time you spend with somebody at work, that can take you into interesting places. We’ll have to see what happens there. His relationship with Constance Griffiths is really one which is far more idealized. She is in some way a saving angel to him and I think he loves her very deeply, but they honor their relationship in a rather old-fashioned and rather noble way. The friendship is too precious to ruin. So both of those characters, I think, are scared to act for now.

RR: Just going with the last thing Damian said. The most interesting part to me about the Constance-Charlie relationship is that she had him all to herself during those years in prison when she was his conduit to the real world. She was the only part of life that he saw. And now that he’s out and learning to walk, where we find him in the pilot, the relationship will be changing. He’s not all hers anymore. He belongs to the world and he’s rediscovering himself. And so it is a relationship that was forged in prison as very intimate with just the two of them, but now it is changing. Every day Charlie spends in the world; their relationship will change because of it.
And the most interesting part about writing that relationship is that it is in motion. It’s not stagnant.

What are your expectations for this season in terms of the competition between the two shows in your timeslot?

RR: We’re just writing our show. I mean I saw the pilot for Dirty Sexy Money. I thought it was good. I mean it was a beautiful-looking show, but we’re doing a show of a different order. You know? That show is a sprawling canvas. Our show is very about one man’s rebirth, one man’s re-entry into the world; and it is taking up so much of my time to explore that that I honestly haven’t given much thought to the timeslot. So I guess I’m just saying that we’re just making our show and I think it will find an audience. The writers and myself, we’re writing the shows that we like to watch and I like their taste; and I like the shows they like and they like the shows I like. And so hopefully we’re making a show that we like to watch and other people will want to watch as well.

Damian, do you get some real freedom to play with this character and really make him as eccentric as you want him to be?

DL: Yes, although there are pretty rigid parameters in there as well. He’s not an anarchist. He’s one of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress, when people come back from war zones, they have this sort of sense of ownership that they can behave however they want. No one has seen what they’ve seen; and therefore, they can behave as anarchically, as violently as they want at times, and they cause a lot of distress. Crews, he’s a remarkable character because he’s managing although he is seeking a revenge of sorts. We don’t know how that will exact itself, but he at least wants to know what happened. But his life view is so optimistic. He’s so generous and so giving. He’s so full of joy; he’s so quick to see the joy in each moment. He so wants to intensely live his life moment-to-moment and get the most from it. He’s desperately trying to claw back those 12 years.

If this was another type of show, he could be destructive; but he isn’t. He loves being a cop as well. I think it’s important to remember, yes he came back on the force to get himself closer to the conspiracy and be close to his enemies; but he also loves being a cop. It’s what he always wanted to do. And before he went to prison I think he was an Average Joe who just would’ve been there for 25-30 years and got his pension, and he’s just someone who’s been radically altered by his experience. So he comes back on the force to be a cop because he enjoys the working day. He enjoys the structure that it gives him. So in playing him, those choices have to be made. It’s a fine line. He can’t just be wild and crazy for the sake of being wild and crazy because that would be uninteresting over a period of time.

RR: The one thing that Charlie Crews character has, as far as being unrestricted, is that he’s been through enough that he realizes that if it’s going to defy his social conventions to say something that will make you feel better, or to say something to get to the truth. So often we go through the day and we’re not honest with the people right next to us because of social convention. What he’s been through, the experiences he’s had has ripped that filter away so what he desperately needs is to get close to other human beings. So he will say the honest thing if it’s going to help or if it’s going to get to the truth. As far as being unhindered, just as far as the LAPD is concerned about him is that he does not have a get-out-of-jail-free card. It’s that they are watching him more carefully because what they would like nothing more is to get him back off the force because he knows he’s back to make trouble. So even though he is somewhat unbridled and unhinged by his experience and looking for the joy, he does have to walk the line very carefully because the LAPD wants him out.

Damian, how did you became an actor? What made you fall in love with it?

DL: Wow. How long do you got? No, it’s pretty conventional actually, I’m afraid. I was acting at school. I loved doing it at school. I went to what you would consider a slightly antiquated and quaint little English boarding school, slightly Dickensian in its outlook. It was about 1980 and they used to put on a Gilbert & Sullivan musical every year; and I that’s really what I was doing. I was singing in Gilbert & Sullivan musicals slightly eccentrically for four or five years and I loved it. And then when I was about 16 at my secondary school, I got to go with some friends and we set up a little theater company and put on a show. And I went to drama school.

We have a more comprehensive system of drama schools, three-year diploma schools at home. They’re now full-degree courses, but they weren’t back then. I did three years at Roder and came out, and was lucky enough just to get going rightaway. I did all that horrible stuff, getting an agent, and then I was doing classical theater, a lot of classical theater; Royal Shakespeare Company and I worked on Broadway; and I was doing that.

And then I suppose in terms of you guys having any kind of idea of who I am, it really happened with Band of Brothers in 2001. So the last six, seven years. And I’ve been doing TV and film and theater and radio and mixing it up ever since then. That’s what I do.

Damian, did you actually do some research on police jargon or anything like that just so that you could sound like a police officer?

DL: Yes, but of course you can only sound as much like a police officer as the script will allow you. I mean this is not a documentary piece. I mean, this is a drama with great chunks of comedy in it and it should be entertaining. As Rand was explaining earlier, when there is an option to go to the heart of the emotion of a story that week, then that option is taken, and anything that is procedural and documentary in style I think will be just to put to one side at that point. But yes, you just put yourself around people that’s like me doing the show in an American accent. When I’m on set I speak in an American accent all day. I just stay there. It’s easier for me. It keeps me closer to the character. So one of our props guys, in fact, was a Sheriff in LA County, Kern County, and he flew helicopters for a long time. I speak a lot with him daily.

We have a technical advisor. I speak with him daily. When the SWAT team guys come on for scenes when we need SWAT team and they’re all retired officers, I speak to them. It’s just putting yourself next to those people who have had the experience and you just rub up against them and you hope some of it rubs off on you. That is often the best way of doing it. You can read as much as you want; you can watch as much documentary footage, but just standing in front of a guy who’s done it is always the most helpful.

Rand, if you look at the general trends on television right now, there’s only one show in the top 20 that revolves around one central actor. How do you feel about putting on a show that is really absolutely dependent on Damian? Does that limit you storyline-wise?

RR: It’s easier for the writing, it’s harder for the actor. I mean because this character came to me so clearly in one moment. I had been doing all this research about all these things, about witness protection, about prison, about cops; and the character of Charlie Crews, he just came fully formed to me. Very easy for me to write him exclusively and because he is my point of view, he is my entry point into the world. So as far as telling stories, I find those pretty interesting and easy to get into. As far as the workload on Damian, I think it’s a lot to be a single lead in an American television show. It’s a tremendous amount of work. And so I think it’s a blessing and a curse.

Damian, obviously there’s pressure for starring in a prime-time television show, but do you feel like your performance is going to make or break this show?

DL: Pretty much. It keeps my enormous and very fragile ego in check for a period of time, which is nice. It’s every actor’s dream to be offered a role of this magnitude, of this size; and the responsibility that comes with it. So I love it. The more complex answer is, yes it’s exhausting; yes, the hours are long; and it can create problems within production. Just how the hell do you keep your lead actor going? You want him on screen, but you don’t want to kill him or her in the process. In terms of what I think is what you’re angling at a little bit as well, in terms of maintaining an audiences’ interest in one person. There are many, many examples over he course of time where there’s been a single lead that people who fall in love with from Rockford to Kojak to Magnum to House, as you said.

RR: I think the secret to those shows, which I hope is our show, is that each week we need to tell and are telling a close-ended story. I love those ensemble shows, but those are much more sprawling. But I think the beauty of a show with a single-entry point character is that you find a story each week and you tell a little play. You tell the whole story with the beginning, middle and end. And that becomes the world for your 42 minutes and 24 seconds.

DL: Often with what you might consider to be a conventional procedural, there’s not much of an other story going on often and it’s a little cursory. It’s not particularly compelling. I think the reason is because it’s very satisfying to have a crime solved each week and seeing it done well, and it’s fun. I know I enjoy that as a viewer trying to work out who did it and why they did it. But the bigger and further-reaching story is the more personal story that centers around Crews, which is this conspiracy story. And I think that’s the grown-up section of this show. I would come back each week to find out how his investigation into the biggest crime of his life, which is him. That’s the biggest case he has going. It’s his own case, what the hell happened?

Rand, where did the idea for Charlie’s obsession to fruit come from?

RR: Well mostly it came from a lot of research about prison, about what you don’t get in prison. I think some of the things we all know what you don’t get in prison. But reading a lot of biographies, a lot of the prisoners miss fresh fruit because what you end up getting is a lot of army surplus fish heads and Spam, and what you really miss is fruit. And I thought that was such a beautiful symbol for the juice and vitality of the natural world that he was deprived from unjustly for all those years. And so he was hungry for it all those years and his appetite for that sweet, juicy fruit of life is still in evidence as the series begins. And so he cannot get enough. I like fruit.

DL: Luckily, so do I, otherwise you would’ve had a problem.

RR: He eats a lot of fruit, this kid.

Damian, you have played a lot of intense roles. Are you that intense in real life?

DL: Well 10 years of boarding school in the English countryside, it’s like being institutionalized, a lot of repressed emotion in there; and really it’s just therapy. You might take that seriously and maybe it is true. Maybe I haven’t really fully examined that. I do answer this question quite a lot. I’ve done a lot of comedy. But I’m assuming you’re referring to Dick Winters in Band of Brothers, or possibly Soames Forsyte, in The Forsyte Saga, of which I know is played well out here on PBS. I think my view on that is that if you capture the essence of someone really conflicted at the heart of a serious drama with elements of tragedy in it possibly, I think they register with an audience just that much more strongly than lighter comic roles. I think you have to do sort of 10 comic roles for every sort of strategy role that you play. But I think if I am attracted to those sorts of characters, intense characters or serious characters, I think it’s not so much that they’re intense and serious. I think I’m interested in people who are conflicted.

That’s the most interesting character to play. It allows you to explore subtext. It means there is a subtext and those things that are in Rand’s writing are plenty. There’s all of that, but there’s also a wonderful comic touch in this and in Charlie Crews, and there really is the potential with Charlie Crews to play everything, to play the whole range of human behavior, which after all is all acting is. At its best it’s just behavioral. So I’m really just drawn to good writing, what’s concealed and not revealed. Perhaps that’s a particularly English thing, as the English don’t let their emotions out that much. But it’s those things, which are concealed, and I think it’s always far more interesting to watch an actor try not to reveal something than that moment of revelation. So I think also there’s that in Charlie Crews and in Rand’s writing too.

Damian, what made you choose coming to the American market in a television series? Was it this script, or would you have been making this move anyway?

DL: Wow, the American market. You just came right out and said it. I believe this is a creative and an artistic endeavor. Would I have come out? No. I touched on it briefly earlier. It’s a big commitment to say yes to a potentially long-running TV series. It’s a big commitment, seven months of the year, possibly nine, possibly even five or six years. You don’t know. Ever since I did Band of Brothers, I guess I’ve been on certain lists. I’ve never said yes to one of these things before because timing wasn’t right; but also, I never read a script that grabbed me enough. This script is really, really good, and the role is really, really good. I intuited as much as I could for over a few conversations with Rand and Far, his partner, what kind of guys they were. I’m sure they would tell you the same thing; and as best you can, you make an instinctive decision based on a few conversations, a few meetings.

I just thought Rand and Far were my kind of people and that they were truly artistic and truly creative, and we’re going to continue to be as creative and artistic as they’re allowed to be in, as you call it, the American market. I’ve been dipping in and out of the American market in films and TV for the last five or six years. It’s just nothing has landed in quite the same way that Band of Brothers landed. Let’s hope this does the same thing.

Rand, as far as the conspiracy theory goes, are we going to get a lot of answers this year, or is it going to be one of those things that’s dragged out like Lost is?

RR: No, you’ll get some answers. The show that we really like is on another network, but it’s 24. It’s a long-running show, but it gives you emotional closure. Every few episodes you get a piece of information that’s very helpful. And the shows that the writers and I are not particularly fond of are shows where you feel like you’re kind of wandering in the desert. And while this is not a serialized show, this is a close-ended episodic television show, which will tell a complete story every week. The conspiracy, it is Charlie’s biggest case, what happened to him and we will get definite answers on a timely basis because those are the kind of shows I would rather watch.

– Life premieres on NBC in the U.S. on Wednesday, September 26 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

– Life premieres on the Global network in Canada on Wednesday, September 26 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Sir Linksalot: Life

So let’s jump right into it.

TUESDAY

Tuesday is going to be a busy day. It’s got four new shows that I’m hopeful about, plus some returning favorites. But I’m probably going to be boycotting Boston Legal because of all of the attention it received in terms of the Emmys.

Cavemen – I’ll admit it; I’m intrigued by this program. Sure it’s gotten plenty of bad press, but the concept seems like it’s got potential. I’m going to give it a shot. But clearly the show is going to be suffering tons of backlash.

Carpoolers – I usually don’t try out new sitcoms because they usually fail (R.I.P. Knights of Prosperity), but I’m rooting for this one, if only because it comes from the mind of Bruce McCulloch, arguably my favorite of the Kids in the Hall. Oh, and I dig Tim Peper.

The Unit – The cliffhanger last season has me very interested in checking out the premiere. But this is one of those shows that I don’t feel the need to watch week in and week out. That said, it’s always something reliable to fall back on in terms of viewing.

Cane – I’m so down for seeing some Latinos on the small screen. This might be one of the shows that I’m looking forward to the most. It’s got a pretty stellar cast, so I’m expecting big things. I hope this show is good and can find an audience.

Reaper – I’ll admit it; I jumped onto this show because I’m a huge fan of someone involved in the pilot; Bret Harrison. Actually he’ll be in every episode and I’m glad. I loved The Loop. Ray Wise is no slouch either, but it’s Harrison who has me looking forward to this show.

Nip/Tuck – Once upon a time there was a show that I watched just so that I could critique it. That show was Reunion. This show has picked up that mantle. I used to dig Nip/Tuck in the early years. But last season it went off the rails. I still think that if this season was Christian and Sean on a road trip from Miami to L.A. performing surgeries in every town they stopped in, it would be the bestest season ever! I mean could you imagine Christian doing the whole lipstick mark up, in Mississippi? That would be priceless!

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday is surprisingly packed with content. And it’s all new content, none of my Wednesday faves are returning, yet.

Pushing Daisies – My interest in this show is waning. It looked interesting, but the closer it gets to premiering the more it looks like it’ll be the first show that I’ll be dropping. I’ll try out the debut and take it from there.

Private Practice – My love for Kate Walsh is well known, but did my love for Addison bloom because of where she was? More to the point, am I going to care about Addison now that she’s not part of a love triangle (square?) in Seattle Grace? We’ll find out.

Dirty Sexy Money – I dig Peter Krause, I loved him on Six Feet Under. Since Michael C. Hall scored big with Dexter, figured I owed it to “Nate” to give his new series a shot. And that’s where we are.

Life – I find the concept of a wrongly convicted cop, who returns to the force after being exonerated interesting. Especially since his storylines appear to be the B story of the episode. I’ll certainly try this show out.

And there we have my Tuesday/Wednesday. Given all of the shows that I’ll be trying out, I really don’t know how I’ll have the time to watch them all. And we still haven’t gotten to Thursday/Friday.

Sir Linksalot: Television News

Craig Russell

What a long, strange season it’s been. Fox is giving long-standing CBS a legitimate run for its money as the #1 overall network. Thanks to the juggernaut that is American Idol, they’ve already taken over the 18-49 demo. NBC had, by far, the best new programming yet you wouldn’t know it by the ratings. And ABC had a very up-and-down season, much like its franchise show Lost. And in the “if a tree fell in the forest and didn’t make a sound” category, we have The CW

So which network has the most to sing about as the 2006-07 campaign comes to a close. And who is positioning themselves to move up the charts in 2007-08? Here are my thoughts

ABC: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
It must be hard for ABC execs to decide what kind of mood they should be in. Every success the network enjoys seems to coincide with failure. Sure, they scored a pair of freshmen hits with Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters. Yet that was offset by a very long list of misses: The Nine, Day Break, Six Degrees, Big Day, Notes From the Underbelly, Knights of Prosperity, In Case of Emergency, October Road, and Help Me Help You. Dancing With the Stars became a bona-fide (albeit strange) ratings-winner, but how do you explain The Bachelor and Boston Legal still hanging around? ABC will head into the fall in dire need of a few more breakout hits, yet I’m not sure Cavemen (yes, those cavemen from the Geico commercials – seriously) or Carpoolers (looks like a blatant Office rip-off) fit the bill. As for how ABC rates on a night-by-night basis, they remain strongest on Sunday (Desperate Housewives) and Thursday (Grey’s Anatomy) which should come as no surprise. Their bizarre, un-even split of Lost’s third season certainly didn’t pay off so our favorite castaways don’t return ‘til January ‘08. This turns Wednesday into a question mark, as ABC will take a risk by debuting three new shows. I guess you’d have to say Grey’s spin-off Private Practice is the safest bet for ratings. Overall, ABC can’t be entirely satisfied. They must improve the beginning of the week: finding a solid partner for Dancing With the Stars on Monday, and suring up Tuesday would be a good place to start

CBS: Still Solid, But..
Well, they knew it wouldn’t last forever. While the Tiffany network still boasts the most stable programming lineup, they don’t have American Idol. And no one has to tell them about the importance of a beyond-huge non-scripted show: it wasn’t too long ago that Survivor was the hottest thing going. Those days are gone, and CBS is smart enough to know they’re going to have to start taking some risks. The trick is to continue playing to their strengths (procedural dramas and comedy), yet being open to change. Some will argue that CBS has played it a little safe the last few years, and that’s why Fox is catching up. True, some of their signature shows are starting to look tired: Without a Trace was a slight disappointment on Sundays, seemingly chased off the block by the new kid (Brothers & Sisters). It returns to Thursday, its old stomping grounds, in the fall. They also didn’t have a significant breakthrough newcomer this past season (sorry, Shark doesn’t qualify), and that has to be a cause for concern. Going forward, CBS knows it can count on at least two of its CSIs to anchor Monday and Thursday. And Two and a Half Men still delivers, just not like Raymond used to. Plus, it doesn’t have as strong a supporting cast: How I Met Your Mother is really funny, but simply doesn’t pull in the numbers. The two envelope pushers they are banking to succeed are Cane, an ambitious project revolving around a wealthy Latino family; and Viva Laughlin a British spin-off (all the rage these days) starring Hugh Jackman and leading out of 60 Minutes.

The CW: Starting Over…
However many worse-case scenarios CW execs prepared themselves for heading into last fall, surely they didn’t plan on pretty much every one coming true. Outside of America’s Next Top Model, which is suddenly their only trademark show the CW’s 2006-07 was basically one to forget. They were beyond excited about the prospect of teaming two of the coolest shows of the decade, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. The result? Gilmore ratings declined nearly 20%, V. Mars failed to hold even half of that audience and both just aired their series finales. Ouch. The CW is also saying goodbye to 7th Heaven, and Everybody Hates Chris numbers are in free-fall as well. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise, though. As I stated in my Fall 2006 preview, the new network’s success or failure simply wasn’t going to depend on vets like Gilmore Girls and 7th Heaven, or critic-cult fave V. Mars. As strange as it sounds, The CW might be better off. And there’s really nowhere to go but up. But starting from scratch is a scary proposition. The question is, how’s the new product? At first glance: a mixed bag. The Reaper (think Clerks meets Buffy) and Gossip Girl (based on the popular book focusing on prep-school rich kids) show promise, and could say a lot about the future of the network. On the flip-side, their Sunday lineup is more frightening than any episode of Supernatural

Fox: The A.I. Network…
Let’s just come right out and say it: as long as America continues its love affair with Idol (and no one in their right mind would expect anything different), Fox will remain a major player. All you have to do is look at the pile of junk they offered up last fall: Vanished, Standoff, Justice, Happy Hour, and ‘Til Death (the only returning show, for reasons beyond the unknown). Just think of fall as Fox’s opening band, and American Idol as their headline act. They do have House as well, which might be their only show combining ratings and a sense of dignity. Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? certainly supplies the former: we’ll see how it fares on its own next fall. Fox’s two weekly cliffhangers, 24 and Prison Break both delivered less than stellar seasons creatively, yet (for now) can still be counted on for numbers. And it must be nice to have a license to be lazy, and keep that older than dirt animated Sunday lineup intact. Do American Dad and King of the Hill really have any right being on anyone’s schedule? But I digress. Fox rolls out So You Think You Can Dance? in the summer, which did extremely well for them last year. Looking ahead, they’re spinning off Idol with The Next Great American Band (title still subject to change) but will it be too rock n’ roll for the masses? And they might actually be trying with Back to You, bringing together comedic vets Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton as bickering news anchors. Whether it’s any good remains to be seen, but if Fox can actually deliver a freshmen hit in the fall they could realistically catch CBS for total household ratings

NBC: When Improved Programming Doesn’t Equal Improved Ratings
It has to be frustrating. NBC had three of last season’s five best new shows in Heroes, 30 Rock, and Friday Night Lights. Yet here we are in May, only Heroes delivered big ratings and NBC is still running a distant fourth behind Fox, CBS and ABC. So what now? And, more importantly – what went wrong? Well, for starters: Studio 60. I think NBC was counting on that show for a lot of things, and it failed across the board. The Apprentice’s alarming decline didn’t help, either. You just had a feeling the move to L.A. was too little, too late. When your network’s strongest vehicle stars Howie Mandel, you know you’re in trouble. Deal or No Deal is brainless, harmless fun I suppose. But that doesn’t make it okay to be your signature show. So does NBC have anything else going for it? The Thursday lineup remains intact, with a solid group of comedies led by The Office – plus the ancient ER. They just wish the ratings were better. Sunday Night Football in the fall is certainly something to look forward to. But come January, they had better hope Lipstick Jungle (pulled from the pages of Sex and the City’s Candace Bushnell) is something special especially going up against Brothers & Sisters. They will also have a lot riding on their reboot of Bionic Woman. I hate to be a pessimist, but I don’t see NBC’s fortunes changing anytime soon.

Writer’s Note: Rumor has it that NBC just dumped Kevin Reilly

Raffi Shamir

The Good
When it came to returning shows, Lost was the kingpin this season. After a second season that didn’t go very well with the viewers, Lost knew they had to deliver big time in the third season, and they did just that. Granted, they didn’t start very strong but once the show came back from the winter break everything just clicked. New twists, new characters, new directions, new ways to tell the story, together with the favorite elements from the past meshed together and paved the way to the spectacular and brilliant season finale, that had to live up to very high expectations caused by all the hype, and managed to surpass them. The show took the promised 180 turn and now I’m more excited about the season 4 premiere than I was about the premieres of the last two seasons. The Office should also be mentioned as the best comedy on network TV.
As for new shows, I think we can sum it up with just three letters NBC. Almost every new show presented by the peacock was good to great. Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock, Kidnapped not a bad show in the bunch (Let’s just ignore 20 Good Years). Not all of those shows had the best start, not all of them connected with the audience (I’ll touch on that later) but NBC delivered the best new shows line-up this season, and added to that in the mid-season with The Black Donnellys. They had something for everyone for comic book lovers (not geeks), for the families watching together, for the high-end audience, and for those just looking to sit in front of the tube and forget about their lives.

The Bad
Rather than go with just one show (or a bunch of them) that were bad, I’d like to focus on the bad trend that started a couple of years ago no patience. Shows are being pulled from the schedule very quickly, sometimes after just two weeks. This puts a lot of pressure on the creators of new shows but also hurts viewers’ involvement with new show. I believe one of the reasons there are no break away hits this season (Heroes is the most successful new show this year but it didn’t come close to making the impact Lost made in 2004) is that the audience is afraid to start watching a new show that might be cancelled in a week or two. It’s an even bigger concern with the increasing number of serialized dramas that demand more attention and devotion from the viewers at home. NBC, for example pulled a show that could have been its new flagship, Smith two weeks after it premiered and left the audience in the air. Same can be said for The Nine, Vanished, Kidnapped, Six Degrees etc. In a few cases the networks put the remaining episodes on their websites, but it’s doesn’t necessarily help, as not always those episodes wrap the story up (coughvanishedcough) and the viewers are still left in the air not knowing how everything ends.

The Shark Jumpers
Two shows come to mind when it comes to jumping the shark. The first one is ER. That show has jumped the shark so long ago, that the shark has been hunted and served in Japanese restaurants years ago. I understand that NBC is desperate and needs to hold on to any show that makes decent ratings, but please, close down County General.
The second show is 24 but this one still sees the shark in its rear view mirror and may still return to its glory days. Sometimes it seems like the Bauer gang has exhausted everything they had (This year they detonated the nuke very early) and it’s getting harder and harder to suspend the disbelief. They can still turn back and rebound, but they need to change the show in a major way. Perhaps a change of scenery, perhaps less of the same old formula in any case the seventh season is critical for 24.

Most Frustrating
Again, just three letters NBC. I already mentioned how that network had the best lineup of new shows this past season. But only about half of them live to see a see a second season. Kidnapped was pulled very early and finished its days on nbc.com (Same goes for The Black Donnellys) and Studio 60 took a very long hiatus and returned only to finish off the remaining episodes after the official word came that it’s cancelled. The cancelling of this show is particularly depressing for me it was the new show I expected most this season and it’s also the best new show not to get renewed, in my eyes. But none of it helped, as NBC is still stuck in fourth place and is now going to invest more in cheap reality and game shows and less in high-end dramas.

Most Promising Trend
It took the networks long enough but they finally recognized the power of the internet. Full episodes are available on their websites (Sometimes as previews before the season starts and sometimes as replays), cancelled shows get to finish their lives on the web and special web content is produced to supplement the regular TV episodes. To fully understand Lost or Heroes it’s not enough to watch TV you need to visit their websites. Once the internet started playing such a major role there’s no turning back and it’s going to continue in the coming years.

January
January belongs to FOX. It’s amazing how a network can lag in third or fourth place between September and December and then ride just two shows all the way to the top. Can you imagine FOX without American Idol and 24? Would any of the network execs have a job without these two shows? It’s not like FOX doesn’t have other good shows they have Prison Break, House and the Sunday cartoon/comedy block, but until January nobody seems to care about FOX and from January nobody can follow them.

End of an Era
We’ve been focusing so much on the major networks that the biggest story of the year was almost neglected – The Sopranos had its final episode this year. What can I say about this show that hasn’t be said? Hell, what can I say about its finale (Especially the final five seconds) that hasn’t been said? I’ll keep it short. The best show on all of TV (Lost, The Office, FNL etc. are the best of network TV) signed off and this medium will never be the same. Until The Sopranos, the film industry (And fans) always looked down on TV. They can no longer do that and the entire TV industry has improved thanks to the existence of The Sopranos. Thank you David Chase, thank you despite the last five seconds.

Looking Ahead
I can’t really make any predictions. In previous years there were always certain show that I wax excited about just by reading the premise and description before they premiered. Lost, The Office, My Name is Earl, Studio 60, How I Met Your Mother (Thanks to the cast) and several others. This year I have no such show. There are shows that seem good, shows that I know I’m gonna watch at least once – Chuck, Journeyman, The IT Crowd, Cavemen, Big Shots, Dirty Sexy Money, Viva Laughlin, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Reaper (Not counting some reality shows I look forward to). The problem is I’m not excited about any of these shows like I was about Studio 60 and 30 Rock last year. It’s even harder to predict which show will even survive its first month. After this past year I won’t surprised if many viewers will just record the new shows, wait to see whether they survive, and then watch it from their Tivo or PC. But still, we’re all here because we love TV, so we might as well hope for a good season.

Trevor MacKay

When it comes to new TV shows, I’m pretty fussy. I don’t really have any interest in the standard crime/legal/medical/suburban life shows. On top of that, I’m really picky about what sitcoms I will watch. So, right off the bat, the vast majority of new series’ fail to pique my interest. In the fall 2006 season, there were only two new shows with a premise that motivated me enough to actually watch them (Jericho and Heroes).

While there are exceptions, in general there are only a couple of types of shows that I’m likely to get interested in before their debut. I’ve always been a sci-fi/fantasy fan so if a show falls into one of those two categories I’m likely to at least give it a couple episodes to impress me. I’m also a fan of quirky shows, so if your show is quirky, even without any sci-fi or fantasy, I’m probably interested in it.

Obviously, when one looks at the ratings, it’s apparent that not everyone shares my lack of interest in regards to legal, police, and medical dramas. But I bet some of you out there are like me, drawn to things that are a bit different. So with that in mind, here’s my look at the upcoming season’s new entries.

ABC

At the moment there’s not a single TV series I watch on ABC. The 2007 season does have a couple possibly promising shows though.

High Hopes
Not a thing for this category, ABC.

Potentially Promising
Pushing Daisies – The quality of this show will be entirely dependent on whether or not the writers can keep the touch of life/death thing interesting. It’s a neat idea, in and of itself, especially with the added ability to save a life at the cost of another, but it seems like an idea that might be better suited for an episode of a show like The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Still, if the writers can keep the touch of life fresh, this could be a good show.

Samantha Who? – The idea behind this show, an amnesia victim slowly recovering their memories and not liking who they were, has actually been done at least once before (with Viper, a not so great action show from the mid 90s), but it’s still a fun idea. The show could easily get too sappy though, plus it’s not really a premise that lends itself well to a long running series (after a couple seasons, the main character will either have her memory back, or have built up enough new memories that the amnesia wouldn’t be that big a deal anymore).

The Rest
Big Shots – Top executives having crappy lives does not compelling TV make.
Carpoolers – If they went all out and had the show set exclusively in a single car, then I’d say promising. Otherwise, pass.
Cashmere Mafia – I like a lot of the people involved in this, but it still holds no interest for me.
Cavemen – Even if they somehow made a good show out of this, people have already concluded it’s a failure.
Dirty Sexy Money – I do kind of like the premise for this one, but not enough to check the show out.
Eli Stone – Oh boy! More legal drama!
Miss/Guided – It was created by Ashton Kutcher. And has a really lame pun for a title. Enough said.
Private Practice – I haven’t seen a single episode of Grey’s Anatomy and I’m not about to start with the spin-off.
Women’s Murder Club – The premise isn’t bad, but I still have no interest in crime procedurals.

NBC

At present there are two shows on NBC I watch regularly (Heroes and The Office). 2007 looks to expand on that.

High Hopes
Heroes: Origins – This has the potential to be a neat addition to the Heroes franchise. The fact that one of the heroes featured will end up becoming a regular member of the main series is cool, but at the same time it places some limitations on the anthology format (for example, you can’t have the hero die at the end of the episode if fans are going to be voting to decide on them becoming a regular). I expect some interesting stories to come of this.

Journeyman – I’ve always been a fan of shows dealing with changing history (particularly Quantum Leap, and Early Edition but those shows didn’t really spend much time dealing with the domino effect changing history can have (Early Edition was changing the present with a paper from the future and so that wasn’t really an option for them, and Quantum Leap just never focused on that aspect very much). So the premise of Journeyman, with a man dealing with the consequences of meddling in time, appeals to me. I have a feeling the show will be short-lived, but I’ll be all over it while it lasts.

Potentially Promising
The IT Crowd – I’ve never seen the British version of this show, but apparently it’s quite funny. That is, of course, no guarantee the American version will be any good, but given NBC’s most recent adaption of a British series (The Office) turned out so well, I’m hopeful they can do the same here.

Chuck – This series, with its premise of an average guy suddenly winding up with a head full of spy secrets and having wacky adventures could be amusing. It could also be incredibly stupid. It’s been deemed ‘Family Friendly’ but the Family Friendly Programming Foum which certainly doesn’t do much to bolster the chances of the show being amusing. Still, I’ll probably give it a shot.

The Rest
The Bionic Woman – I’ve never really had any interest in the Bionic franchise.
Life – The premise is kind of neat, but I still have no interest in crime shows.
Lipstick Jungle – Much like Cashmere Mafia this one is way
outside my interest area.

CBS

I only had one show I watched on CBS this year, and it was canceled. Fortunately, the show was Jericho and its revival means that there will be one returning show on CBS for me to go along with the new crop.

High Hopes
Moonlight – It amuses me greatly to see ‘vampire detective show’ well on its way to becoming its on genre. Not only have there been two previous vampire detective shows (Angel and Forever Knight) but there’s even a second vampire detective show premiering this fall (a Canadian series called Blood Ties). The earlier examples of the ‘genre’ have been pretty good and this one has David Greenwalt (co-creator of Angel) as the show runner so I expect good things.

Potentially Promising
The Big Bang Theory – This one sounds like it could be amusing. ‘Could’ is the operative word in that sentence as, if the writers get lazy, the show could devolve into little more than “Look at those two guys, they’re doing something geeky! Haha! And now look at this hot chick, she’s being hot! Hilarious!”

The Rest
Viva Laughlin – I give it props for being quirky, but the actual premise just doesn’t do anything for me.
Swingtown – I’ve never really been a fan of shows set in the recent past. This also sounds like a type of show which would work better on a channel like HBO.
Cane – Do you find the sugar and rum businesses fascinating? Then this is the show for you!
Kid Nation – The only way to make this show interesting would be to leave the kids completely to their own devices, with no structure or support. But then it would be uncomfortable and cruel.

Fox

It seems like each year I have less and less shows I watch on Fox. I gave up on Family Guy this year leaving on The Simpsons, American Dad and 24 to entertain me (in 24’s case, that didn’t go so well). The new season brings potential but no sure bets.

High Hopes
Sorry Fox, no high hopes for you.

Potentially Promising
The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Fox seems to have high hopes for this one, but I think it could really go either way. I think as long as the show doesn’t take itself too seriously, it has the potential to be a fun, action-adventure style show. In the show’s favour, it’s got Summer Glau kicking all kinds of ass; that’s always a good thing.

Back to You – Kelsey Grammar’s a funny guy. His presence on the project alone is enough to move the show into ‘Potentially Promising’ category. The premise, with a Grammar being forced back to his old job, now beneath him, has the potential for comedy.

New Amsterdam – The premise of the show, with a cop who will remain immortal until he finds his true love, could possibly be good. The show could easily get too sappy and/or melodramatic over the true love aspect though. If the writers are careful with how they handle the true love clause, this could be an interesting show.

The Rest
K-Ville – This is one of those shows that sounds like it could be good, but is outside of my interest area.
The Return of Jezebel James – 2(Estranged sisters) + baby != comedy
The Rules for Starting Over – Sounds like another generic sitcom to me.
Kitchen Nightmares – I don’t think I’ve ever liked a show with ‘Kitchen’ in the title.
Canterbury’s Law – Wow, a rebellious lawyer who plays by her own rules?
Nashville – I’ll pass.

The CW

The only show I watched regularly on CW this year was Veronica Mars. Sadly, that show is gone. So if CW wants to keep me around, hopefully one of these new shows will impress. There aren’t a lot of likely candidates for that though.

High Hopes
Reaper – Kevin Smith directed the pilot for this one, so automatically that makes me optimistic about the show. The premise of a guy being assigned the task of retrieving souls that escape Hell has actually been done before, but not in a comical fashion. I have a lot of hope for this one.

Potentially Promising
Which is good because there’s nothing else that’s even promising on the CW this season.

The Rest
Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants – I have about as much interest in seeing a mother/daughter beauty pageant as I have in stamp collecting.
Aliens in America – I envision
Gossip Girl – Kristen Bell is the narrator, but otherwise, this show has nothing to interest me.
Life is Wild – Once again, I’m struck with a vision of lame humour and overly-sweet, end of episode scenes.

So it looks like we’ve got four shows I’ve got high hopes for, six that are potentially promising and a whole bunch I have no interest in. That doesn’t mean all of the shows counted among The Rest are going to be bad, or even that I’ll never see any of them, I just will have no interest in checking them out unless someone else starts raving about how awesome the show is (the premise for Veronica Mars, for example, held no appeal to me. It wasn’t until my sister bought the first season and forced me to watch it that I realized how great the show was).

Josh Clinton

After reading the thoughts of Craig, Raffi, and Trevor, I thought I would just sum up things. I will tell you what I agreed with from them and what I didn’t agree with, and just throw in my general comments on everything.

I kept track of the ratings the entire season and there is no doubt that CBS is the #1 network on TV. They dominated from beginning to end. Actually, that’s a little bit of a lie. In the beginning, ABC and CBS dueled it out for #1. But once reruns started coming into play, CBS was king. I don’t know what it means exactly, but it’s definitely interesting when the majority of CBS’ reruns are kicking the pants off of every other network’s reruns. Maybe people decided to watch new episodes of shows from other networks first, but then don’t want to watch them again so they head to CBS. I think one word can sum up CBS, though. Consistent.

Make no mistake about, FOX dominates the second half of the TV season. However, it really doesn’t help them in the overall scheme of things. They suck so much in the first half, that they dig themselves in a GIANT hole that even the great Ryan Seacrest can’t pull them out of. Really, it’s just American Idol and House as far as ratings go. Nothing else comes close. They may get the demographic that advertisers love, but they are still battling it out for 4th place with NBC in the overall ratings.

ABC is an interesting beast. Its top 5 shows are VERY popular. Most weeks you can find at least 3 ABC shows in the top 10. But guess what? After those top shows, there is nothing. Somehow ABC is able to survive on these shows and at least contend for the #1 prize with CBS. FOX can’t say that, because their top shows only air in the second half of the season, with the exception of House. Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and Lost can still deliver when it wants to, and ABC was smart to put Dancing with the Stars on twice a year. Too bad that American Idol is still able to CREAM DWTS when it counts, though.

NBC definitely had some of the best new shows on TV, but I agree with everyone else when they said “but you wouldn’t know it.” That’s pretty much all you can say on that network. It is still stuck in 4th place, eventhough it has some quality shows.

The CW is not worth talking about really for a few reasons. My new cable company doesn’t even carry that channel! Yeah, you heard right. It has the freakin’ MY NETWORK channel on the old UPN channel and that’s it. They continue to say that it’s coming, but it never does. It doesn’t matter, though, as nothing on that network interests me. There is one exception actually and that’s the underrated Everybody Hates Chris. That show is funny and should be CBS or something.

Now then I agree mostly with Craig on the new shows that became surprise hits with two exceptions. Shark and October Road actually did great in the ratings and are coming back next season. October Road can have Grey’s Anatomy to thank for that, but that’s the kind of show that should follow GA. These two shows aren’t the best, but people are watching them so that is what counts most to ABC right now.

I also agree with Raffi on the bad trend of pulling shows too early, but really Smith, Kidnapped, Six Degrees, and The Nine weren’t setting the world on fire either. They just weren’t as engaging. Now then I do think a few new shows got pulled too soon and pretty much agree with Raffi on Studio 60 and The Black Donnellys. Studio 60 was good, but it was stuck in a bad timeslot. The same one The Black Donnellys was in. Although, some would argue that being after Heroes would help but Heroes is still new as well. It’s fan base it not fully built yet. Those two shows are the only ones I will miss, but I won’t cry about it.

My top shows haven’t changed much. I still dig The Office and it’s the best comedy on TV. How I Met Your Mother is a close second and luckily it got renewed for another season. I actually soured on Grey’s Anatomy a little bit this year as it was pretty boring during the middle of the season, but it did end strongly once again. 24 was good at the start, but it got hard to watch and I agree with Raffi. They need to change something next year. It’s completely predictable. My favorite drama is and always will be The O.C.. Yeah, I said it. It was sad to see it go, but it went out with a bang. Lost was probably as good as the first season, but poor scheduling hurt it. But it was probably my favorite drama overall ahead of Grey’s Anatomy, The O.C., and Heroes.

Let me talk about the success of Heroes for a second, which took home our prize as the “Best Show of 2006″, eventhough it was only on the air for half of that year. What really helped Heroes, though, was the fact that people thought it was a “comic book” show, but NBC said time after time that it wasn’t. In fact NBC pretty much hated Heroes being called that. So that just pushed the comic book fans further into the show and drew in casual, non-comic book fans as well. Heroes was without a doubt, the best marketed show on TV this past season. I was in probably 7 conference calls for that show. The cast list just kept getting bigger, but you hardly noticed. It just felt like a natural progression. New shows this coming Fall should talk to the marketing people behind Heroes.

Speaking of new shows, let me tell you what I want to see this Fall. First with ABC. The Grey’s spin-off, Private Practice is not half bad. It has a different vibe than Grey’s Anatomy and that’s a good thing. It will need to anchor down the Wednesday night lineup for ABC to contend with CBS next year. It will also need another breakout drama to do well as well. Dirty Sexy Money looked like the top prospect, but they should talk to Six Degrees and The Nine about being overhyped. The new comedies on ABC really don’t look that appealing. Carpoolers could be okay and I’m sure everyone is looking forward to Cavemen for “off-beat” factor.

On NBC I only really like Chuck thanks to Josh Schwartz, creator of The O.C., being behind it. The It Crowd could be a decent comedy. That’s about all right now, though.

For CBS, I’m looking forward to The Big Bang Theory with Kaley Cuoco from 8 Simple Rules. Of course, it replaces The Class so who knows if people will catch on to this show or not. Cane may very well be the breakout drama of the bunch, though, thanks to Jimmy Smits.

On FOX, K-Ville and Back To You look interesting, but FOX doesn’t have a good track record with new comedies OR new dramas. It needs something new to succeed, though, and hopefully before the month of January.

Not like I have The CW, but if I did, I would check out Gossip Girl. That’s another new Josh Schwartz show. I still say that Beauty and the Geek is the most underrated reality show on television, though.

And that’s about all we can say about this past season. We will have more coverage on the new shows airing this Fall as we get closer to September. Also, look for a more complete rundown on the upcoming season as well. But for now, say goodbye to all of your new old favorites and the ones that didn’t get a chance to breathe. Celebrate as your favorite shows get renewed and cry when they get canned one week later! TV is one crazy busines. You just have to learn how to hang on tight and enjoy the ride. My suggestion is to learn this phrase in as many languages as you can. “TiVo is My Best Friend!”

Sir Linksalot: Television News
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That’s what the E! network has stood for since its inception in 1987, when it initially launched as Movie Time (a low-budget station that simply aired old movie trailers). In 1990, the network was renamed to E! Entertainment Television and since that time, the station has revolutionized celebrity coverage, emphasizing the latest gossip, news and trends of Hollywood. E! is currently accessed by 88 million subscribers in the U.S. and now is ready to come north of the border.

At Wednesday’s annual Upfront presentation in Toronto, CanWest MediaWorks announced the launch of E! in Canada as well as the E! primetime schedule. In addition, CanWest also announced the Fall primetime line-ups for its Global and TVtropolis networks.

I want to begin by saying that the launch of E! in Canada is something that I have been anticipating for many years. The station is critically-acclaimed for everything it has accomplished in the reality television genre and up to this point, I have only had the capacity to watch the E! brand of programming online. While my cohorts and colleagues raved about Kill Reality and The Soup, I was left to my own devices to figure out how to stay in the loop on ‘everything entertainment.’ Now that Canadians will finally have access to the station, I can say with certainty that the announcement was groundbreaking in its national scope.

The festivities began at 10:30 AM at Massey Hall in Toronto. For our American friends, Global is a Canadian broadcasting network that generally secures the Canadian rights to some of the top American programs in addition to providing its own original programming as well. The E! network is actually a rebrand of another CanWest channel called CH.

The presentation began with a short video spoof from Family Guy, which will air new episodes on the Global network and reruns on TVtropolis, six days a week. The spoof saw Stewie on his deathbed, poking fun of Entertainment Tonight Canada reporter Rick Campanelli. It was a fun way to start the presentation and led nicely to the introduction of my former Entertainment Tonight Canada co-worker and host Cheryl Hickey welcoming the advertisers in attendance. Hickey then threw to the first video package of the morning called The Heroes Of CanWest.

While the video primarily highlighted the network’s top show, it also featured quick spots on 24, Prison Break, The Simpsons, Boston Legal, and Family Guy.

It was then time for the celebrities to start making their appearances and while I thought that it would be difficult for Global to top last year’s appearance by Wentworth Miller, they certainly managed to do it by ushering out Heroes stars Masi Oka and Adrian Pasdar.

“We’ve been asked not to say anything.”

When Hickey asked Pasdar if his character was coming back next season, (after Nathan was seen flying away with his brother who was destined to explode), the actor remained predictably coy and that they have been “asked not to say anything.” Hickey also asked Oka if they are ever pressured to do heroic things in real life and he said that he was happy that they have inspired others to do heroic things.

It was particularly interesting when Cheryl asked Oka about how he worked for Star Wars creator George Lucas as a special-effects wizard before he got his big break. Oka said that Lucas loved Heroes and joked that Lucas told him that he wanted to guest star on the show but “only if he could be a villain and say KILL THEM ALL!”

“We’re more determined than ever to be number one.”

After Oka and Pasdar left, Cheryl introduced the President of CanWest Television, Kathy Dore.

Dore talked a little bit about how ET Canada has become one of the network’s proudest achievements as it is “the number one entertainment news show in the country.”

She also talked about the success Global had with the new shows that it bought last year, highlighting the fact that out of the 12 freshman series returning to primetime this Fall, 8 of them belonged to CanWest. She talked about how the network had 4 out of the Top 10 shows in all of the metered markets and briefly discussed the new shows that would be debuting in the Fall. Dore proudly discussed the biggest financial investment that CanWest has ever made into Canadian content with The Best Years already having debuted and upcoming new Canadian shows including a television take on the popular stage production of ‘Da Kink In My Hair and the upcoming Search and Rescue.

“Huge leap in our evolution.”

Dore then introduced Global National and Global News Hour anchors Kevin Newman and Leslie Roberts. The major announcement coming from the duo was the fact that Global National was taking a “huge leap” in its evolution by moving its base of operations to Ottawa. The change will happen in early 2008.

After another video package (this time focusing on news), it was time to get back to the entertainment portion of the presentation. Clearly, CanWest wanted to focus on the fact that so many of its programs were returning and Cheryl Hickey came back to introduce a video package on all of the returns. The package featured Heroes, The Office, Survivor and Brothers & Sisters.

Cheryl then welcomed Balthazar Getty from Brothers & Sisters to the stage and he answered a couple of questions about the show’s second season.

“The Global schedule has something worth coming back for, hour after hour, day after day.”

Cheryl then introduced Global’s Senior Vice President of Programming & Production, Barb Williams. Williams went through a day-by-day break down of each day in the new Global line-up and said that the schedule had something that was worth coming back for, “hour after hour, day after day.”

She highlighted the network’s dominance on Monday nights as being the anchor for the entire week and basically said that the strategy was to have consistent rating winners supplement one of the new shows that they had picked up. On Thursdays, Canterbury’s Law won’t start until mid-season . The new shows for each day of the week include:

Mondays – Journeyman
Tuesdays – Cane
Wednesdays – Back To You & Life
Thursdays – Canterbury’s Law

Before Barb introduced the Canterbury’s Law video pack, she made way for Cheryl to introduce Sarah Carter from Shark. Nothing much to say.

After some plugs and quick interviews for the new Canadian series that are debuting (‘Da Kink In My Hair) and returning (From The Ground Up), Barb Williams, joined by Global’s Senior Vice-President of Research & Corporate Promotions, Kathy Gardner, began discussing the success of TVtropolis and how the network has been able to expand its weekend audience significantly.

After a TVtropolis video pack, the stage was set for the major E! announcement.

E!

Cheryl kicked things off by introducing a video package that basically introduced the network and what the rebrand of CH would mean.

She then introduced the anchor of E! News and the “face of E!” Ryan Seacrest to offer a proper introduction to the channel.

Seacrest said that when E! launches, it will “combine the best qualities of a conventional network and a specialty channel.” He highlighted the network’s emphasis on specialty unscripted programming and talked about Kid Nation, a show that will debut on the channel and features 40 kids living in an abandoned ghost town for 40 days with no adult supervision!

After a Kid Nation video package, Barb Williams and Kathy Gardner returned to introduce the nuts and bolts of the E! programming strategy.

In lay terms, the plan is to start the 8 PM hour on E! with an unscripted show. This will be followed by new dramas in the 9 PM hour including K-Ville, Bionic Woman, Women’s Murder Club, and Cashmere Mafia.

At 10 PM, E! will have a combination of established hits like Boston Legal and 20/20 interspersed with new programs like Rich Kids: Cattle Drive, Simple Life, Sunset Tan and E! True Hollywood Story.

After the E! programs, Ryan Seacrest came back to talk about the E! Online. This was a subject that I was very interested in as E!’s online entertainment coverage is the best on the internet. Seacrest said that they will be launching a Canadian version of the site that will feature news feeds, mobile offerings including podcasts and an innovative new video service.

After some great banter between Seacrest and ET Canada reporter Rick Campanelli, the Canadian interviewed the members of rock group Shaye who were in the audience. The trio of Kim Stockwood, Damhnait Doyle and Tara MacLean will have their lives taped in a four-part documentary about the moms during the day and rockstars at night called Shaye that will also be part of the E! line-up.

Seacrest then returned to outline E’s daytime line-up and the other programs that will round up the new schedule including E! News, Daily Top 10, Live From The Red Carpet, Style Her Famous and Clean House>

The presentation concluded with Williams and Gardner reviewing the E! schedule again with particular attention being paid to the daytime and weekend line-ups along with a plug for the highly-anticipated musical Viva Laughlin (produced by Hugh Jackman) and Seacrest giving away some free TV’s to advertisers in the audience.

Phew. It was a long day to say the least and this was a particularly exhausting Upfront because it wasn’t just one network introducing their new line-up of shows. It wasn’t just a new network announcing their entire scheduling grid. It was both, with a side of TVtropolis!

If the presentation details seem a little fuzzy, it’s because the Q & A was happening during the presentation so I had to run between the Upfront and making sure I heard what Masi Oka and Ryan Seacrest said to reporters at the same time. Ha, that almost makes it seem like I used my superhero abilities (to be in two places at once) to get you the inside pulse… and I did! I will tell you about how I really used my superhero powers tomorrow when I break down all of the new Global and E! programs. There are tons so be prepared. I am also going to try and get the audio from the Q & A sessions on Monday so that you can hear how Ryan Seacrest responded to my question.

CanWest scored points for their entertaining post-party and definitely for their gift bags. It was a nice touch that was thoughtful while still pushing their programming (with a Bones Season 1 DVD being included) along with press information.

Murtz out.
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