It's that time of year again!
Continuing the tradition started by Doctor Hmmm? back in 2010, and followed inconsistently since (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018), here's a catchall thread about any and all shows debuting or returning this fall, with an emphasis on the shows that don't generate their own threads.
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I'm back for more of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Chicago Fire, Grey's Anatomy, Greenleaf, Superstore, The Rookie, Mom and Empire.
Recently said bye-bye to The Big Bang Theory and Suits.
I'm also in for The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and Brooklyn Nine-Nine when they start up again.
And I gave a try to Bluff City Law, All Rise and Stumptown.
With MacGyver not returning until 2020 (unless CBS cancels something before then), all I have are the NCIS franchise (but it's hard to catch Los Angeles on Sunday nights during football season when games push everything back to who knows when), the DC/CW superhero shows (Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, Black Lightning, and Batwoman, with Legends returning in 2020 after the Crisis On Infinite Earths), America's Funniest Home Videos, and SVU but I'm worried that with Karisey (spelling?) now on "the other side" with no replacement for him in the detective squad yet, this may be the series last season.
I have tried watching some of the new shows available, but just haven't gotten into any of them enough to watch more than an episode or two at the most.
Why? Probably because I'm just tired of the "same old, same old."
What happened to the past when you had a lot more variety than you do today?
Besides missing the old variety shows (Carol Burnett, Glen Campbell, the Smothers Brothers, etc), where's the westerns? With Doctor Who not scheduled to return until sometime in 2020 as well, where's the Sci-fi?
You get the idea. We need more genres again!
I forgot to mention I also gave a try to Carol's Second Act. It stars Patricia Heaton as a divorcée who took the opted to chase a long-forgotten dream: Going to medical school. Now she's a newly minted intern who is just positively giddy about becoming a doctor ... and hilarity ensues. I found it aggressively mediocre.
Lee Houston, Junior said:
I haven't heard anybody connected with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit say anything along the lines of wanting to wrap it up (unlike the folks at Grey's Anatomy, who have made noises that they might not do it forever).
Any given show can stay on the air indefinitely if the ratings are good (or good enough), the costs can be kept under control, and everybody's willing. With SVU, everybody seems to be willing, and they've kept the costs under control clearly by paring back the cast. (I miss Medical Examiner Warner.)
As you noted, the current squad is thin on detectives, what with moving Det. Dominic Carisi over to the District Attorney's Office and promoting Olivia Benson to captain. But they are still writing Benson like she's a wide-eyed rookie, and she's still going into the field investigating cases. One of the first things she should have done, being in charge and all, was to get some more bodies on the squad.
Lee Houston, Junior said:
I hear you on the "same old, same old." I tried the pilots of Bluff City Law and All Rise, and came away thinking there were parts of them I liked, but felt each hour was a half-hour too long. I often say most movies I watch could stand to be a half-hour shorter, but TV shows?
Then again, another missing genre of TV show is the half-hour drama. As noted elsewhere, they used to be standard, like The Twilight Zone, Dragnet and Adam-12, but disappeared. (As noted here, Law & Order was structured as it was to be able to air the reruns in half-hour chunks.)
I'd say in the case of variety shows -- The Carol Burnett Show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, etc. -- that all of those were on before we had MTV and other music video channels, let alone YouTube and other online entertainments, so it was more rare to see your favorite singers and musicians on TV.
I think Westerns just ran their course.
Sci-fi? These days, it seems like it has to be big-budget theatrical movies, or not at all.