Fall promises exciting new TV series
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By MELISSA OLSON
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 5:05 PM CDT
For the Herald
This is my favorite week of every year. It’s not because I love fall (though I do), and it has nothing to do with the kids going back to school. No, this week happens to be Premiere Week, and that’s kind of like my own entertainment business-version of Christmas.
This week the major networks — ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and the CW, are debuting most of their new fall season at the same time. As my TiVo goes into overdrive and cell phone goes unanswered, here are a few of the series I’m most looking forward to.
If you’ve already missed the premiere episodes, check out the network Web site (abc.com, nbc.com, etc) to watch catch-up episodes for free.
Reaper
Tuesdays at 8 p.m., the CW
This season is full of slackers and geeks — but only “Reaper” is also about selling one’s soul to the devil. On his 21st birthday, Sam (Bret Harrison) finds out that there is a reason his parents have been so lenient with him: they kind of sold his soul to the devil when he was a baby.
Now Sam, with the help of his slacker/geek friends, is stuck collecting bad guys for Satan himself (the delicious Ray Wise), who drops by for a lot of progress reports.
“Reaper” could easily have been melodramatic and ridiculously far-fetched — “Ghost Rider” certainly was — but the CW has pulled together a great little cast of scene-stealers, and the pilot was directed by slacker king Kevin Smith.
And “Reaper” also boasts my absolute favorite tagline of the new season: “Meet Satan’s Biggest Tools.”
Aliens in America
Mondays at 7:30 p.m., the CW
The struggling CW network had only one comedy hit in its inaugural year — the Chris Rock-produced “Everybody Hates Chris.” In an effort to give poor “Chris” some company, this year the network is adding “Aliens,” a clever and sweet story about a Midwestern family who take in a pretty surprising foreign exchange student.
When their son turns out to be the biggest geek in school, two Wisconsin parents (yes, that’s right — Wisconsin) decide to literally get him a cool friend, by bringing over a studly, sure-to-be-popular Nordic Adonis.
Except the kid who actually turns up at the door is the Pakistani, Muslim equivalent of… a really big geek. Based on the previews, what could be a poor one-note joke is supposed to be a pretty excellent little show that finds a balance between sweetness and social commentary. And that, I have to see.
Torchwood
Saturdays at 8 p.m., BBC America
The thing about British television is that they can’t really invest the same amount of money in their shows as we do here. As a result, lots of British TV shows end up looking… well, cheap and cheesy.
But if you can get past the production-value downgrade, the Brits tend to make up in quality what they lack in spectacle, and “Torchwood” is a perfect example.
A fresh-start spinoff of the BBC’s iconic “Doctor Who” series, “Torchwood” follows Captain Jack Harkness, former con man and time traveler who’s now in charge of a top-secret alien containment agency. (It’s kind of like “Men in Black,” but with better writing and less Will Smith.)
Harkness and his agents have to welcome a new recruit, Gwen, who brings a sense of humanity to the wised-up team of agents. The season is already a few episodes in, but the BBC is pretty good about running re-airs, so you still have a chance to get onboard.
Pushing Daisies
Wednesdays at 7 p.m., ABC
I’ve kept an eye on Bryan Fuller for awhile now. The writer/producer started his TV career working on Star Trek, and then went on to create two of the best series’ in the last decade: “Dead Like Me,” and “Wonderfalls.”
They were both great shows, with an offbeat, dreamy sense of sarcasm laced with great performances and seen-it-all wisecracks. The only problem was, not that many people watched them.
But then last year Fuller produced a little show you might have heard of — “Heroes.” Now, the networks are willing to let him try pretty much whatever he wants. So Fuller has created “Pushing Daisies,” this season’s critical darling and overall buzz-magnet.
“Daisies” is the whimsical story of a young man (Lee Pace, previously from Fuller’s “Wonderfalls”) who can bring the dead back to life by touching them, a skill that really comes in handy when his childhood sweetheart is found murdered. Unfortunately for both of them, a second touch will… well, re-kill her.
Melissa Olson was born and raised in Chippewa Falls. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in film and television, and works in Madison for the television program Discover Wisconsin. E-mail comments and questions to Melissa at mfo.usc@gmail.com.
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