There seem to be a glut of new shows on this Fall. Several of these caught my eye as promising. Let me start by saying that I appreciated the “limited interruptions” for several of the pilots. Unfortunately, this seemed to be offset by unusually frequent and long commercial breaks for all of the other pilots. Also, I love how NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox are all streaming many of their shows online. That means when multiple shows occupy the same time slot, I don’t have to worry about choosing which one to Tivo.

Here are my thumbs up and down so far (in alphabetical order):

Bionic Woman

I was really hoping for more from this series. I’m a bit young to remember the original Jamie Summers, but the remake combines a predictable script with two-dimensional characters. What’s cool is that the type of nanotechnology used in the new BW is close to reality. I’ll take the tech and pass on the tele.

Chuck

Geek-chic that falls a bit flat. I really thought I was going to like this new series, but after the first few episodes, I found it just didn’t measure up. Take one social misfit that’s great with computers, mix in an attractive and mysterious CIA agent, one cocky-but-likable NSA agent and you’ve got a pretty decent show. But it has stiff competition and it just won’t make the cut.

Journeyman

Now this one I really like. Time travel premises are always tricky, and I was afraid that similarities to the old Quantum Leap show would make it a bore. But the characters are deep and complex. And the pilot wisely concluded with the main character’s wife believing her husband’s strange circumstance. Which gives him his best ally – this actually sold Rebecca on the series as well.

Life

Almost too much to handle, this show stars a cop who was wrongly imprisoned for 13 years, exonerated, and rewarded a massive settlement. He subsequently returns to the force, but has over a decade of technology and culture to catch up on, a crime to solve, more money (and evidently women) than he knows what to do with, and a personal vendetta to resolve why he was originally thrown in the slammer. But somehow it works. The main character is quirky and fun to watch. Everyone else is a canned cop-show character, but that’s okay. If you like Monk, you’ll probably like this one.

Pushing Daisies

Finally, a new original comedy. From the British narrator (which sounds so much like the one from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach) to the imaginative premise, definitely get a Season Pass on your Tivo. The main character discovers, at a young age, that he can reanimate the dead. But there are two catches: if he touches that person again, he/she will die (permanently this time); and should a reanimated person live longer than two minutes, another person has to die. Bummer. So he becomes a master baker and sells his wares out of his establishment the “Pie Hole.” I mean, this is funny stuff. The stories are great and the characters are whacky, so it makes for a lot of fun.

Returning favorites include CSI (the original, not Miami or NY), Heroes, House, Law & Order (all three), My Name is Earl, NCIS, Numb3rs, The Office, Prison Break, Scrubs, and Without a Trace. How do we watch all of these? Considering most start reruns half-way through the season, others are preempted for sports or politics, that leaves a solid few that I play during my morning workouts.

And we’re anxiously awaiting the return of 24 and Lost in January!

Tags: 2007, fall, reviews, shows, television, tv