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« Roush Dispatch
The Wednesday Battle Begins
Blake Lively and Penn Badgley in Gossip Girl by Andrew Eccles/The CW
Is it possible that this season, Wednesdays are the new Thursdays? An incredible amount of high-profile new programming — nine freshman series in all — will be introduced to the Wednesday prime-time schedule over the next few weeks, and when the dust settles, I can only hope a few of my new favorites will survive.
First up are CBS, the CW and Fox, launching their newbies a week before the official season begins. The biggest headlines so far have been generated by CBS' unseen-by-critics and instantly controversial Kid Nation, a reality show in which 40 kids are set loose in a desert ghost town (actually an unused film set) and tasked to create a Utopian adult-free society. Sounded kind of prosocial and heartwarming until all those red flags began to surface about possible abuse of child-labor laws, penurious confidentiality agreements that made boilerplate mention of such possible reality-show liabilities as STDs, and allegations of injuries on the set. Something tells me that when we actually see the show, what’s on camera won’t be as objectionable as the very idea of putting children into the cauldron of exploitive reality programming. Even if this turns out to be a hit, it may ultimately be seen as a failure if CBS is unable to produce a follow-up because of the legal and ethical firestorms generated by the very premise.
Kid Nation faces steep reality competition from the latest season of CW's most popular reality series, America’s Next Top Model, which is followed by the very compatible Gossip Girl. From The O.C.'s whiz kid Josh Schwartz, this is a glossy wish-fulfillment fantasy based on a series of popular books about privileged Upper East Side prep-school brats whose extracurricular intrigues are obsessively tracked by an unseen narrator (Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell), who keeps everyone plugged in on their Sidekicks. Well-cast and well- (if inevitably over-) written, aping the classic WB/Dawson’s Creek format of having adolescents seem more worldly wise than their permissive parents, Gossip Girl is poised to be the next hot young thing on TV.
Fox gets a jump on the more mainstream competition by launching its entire new lineup: most notably Back to You, a classically old-school workplace sitcom starring sitcom pros Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as squabbling Pittsburgh anchors. Their chemistry is instant and awesome, the ensemble has several bright spots (Fred Willard as the hardy sports guy and newcomer Josh Gad as the bumbling blob of a too-young news director), and the jokes come fast and frequent, if sometimes on the crude and smarmy side. The premise finds Grammer returning to Pittsburgh after a career rise and fall, not exactly humbled, because Grammer’s specialty is comic pomposity, which he displays to great effect. Heaton is the unimpressed thorn in his side, and it soon becomes obvious that their past is going to haunt them as the show goes forward. A twist toward the end left me hoping the show will keep most of its focus on the workplace shenanigans, not on the personal stuff... at least not for now. If it can stick to the funny, Back to You should be worth coming back to.
It’s pretty much on its own here, because the rest of Fox’s night is downhill all the way. You may not be surprised to learn that the second-season opener of the relentlessly mediocre 'Til Death recycles several of the same cleavage jokes that Brad Garrett made at Joely Fisher’s expense during their lamentable presenting gig at the Emmys earlier this week. And this is just a warmup for Gordon Ramsay shrieking and bleeping his way through America, finding new hell’s kitchens wherever he goes in the reality show Kitchen Nightmares, which is kind of a culinary version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Ramsey shows up at eateries in peril and bullies the bosses, or whoever’s getting in the way of serving palatable food, until things turn around. In the first episode, he installs new kitchen equipment into a shoddy Italian joint, which makes him more lifesaver than consultant. Personally, his profane TV shtick nauseates me. Imagine, something falling behind even Criminal Minds in this time period on my list of things I’d consider watching.
The real test for all of these new shows will come in a week, when NBC launches the high-octane Bionic Woman (intriguing) and the cop drama Life (annoying); CBS returns its powerful crime duo of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY; and ABC revs up its new schedule with the much-anticipated (but needs much work) Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Private Practice and the deluxe and decadent Dirty Sexy Money.
And my favorite new show of the night, ABC’s weirdly whimsical and flat-out delightful Pushing Daisies, won’t even arrive until Oct. 3. Will there be room for it to grow? Here’s hoping.
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Sep 19, 2007 9:29 AM
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Thanks for the warning, Matt. I can't stand Gordon Ramsey, so will stay for, far away from Kitchen Nightmares.
Since your taste and mine frequently coincide, I'll take a look at Back to You and Pushing Daisies. The others don't seem to be my cup of tea.
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Sep 19, 2007 10:32 AM
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I'll try Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money. But the Bionic Woman looks like it takes itself waaayyy too seriously. And Back to You, from the previews, looks lame. Kid Nation? No thanks.
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Sep 19, 2007 10:50 AM
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The BBC version of Kitchen Nightmares is awesome. A great show. You get to see that Gordon really cares about helping these restaurants, and especially the junior chefs, along. I can't wait!
I knew Roush wouldn't like it. It's not sanitized like Dancing with the Stars or boring like Invasion. Boo hoo hoo, Gordon said a bad word and it got bleeped. Waaaah.
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Sep 19, 2007 12:04 PM
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I'm 28 years old and I'm ashamed to admit that my friends and I are having a viewing party for the premiere of Gossip Girl. It's going to be the guilty pleasure of the season!
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Sep 19, 2007 12:20 PM
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Wednesday's do look like a log-jam! Fortunately it appears that the Sci-Fi channel will be repeating all episodes of Bionic Woman and so far, the CW is repeating Gossip Girl on Sunday evenings. I counted 5 shows that I would be interesed in watching all appearing in the 9PM time-slot! I can handle 3 shows but 5 shows are impossible!
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Sep 19, 2007 2:29 PM
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In Canada, gossip girls came on tuesday...n I have to say I will definitely keep watching. It is definitely a guilty pleasure...and the casting is done VERY WELL (especially Blaire n Chuck). BUt the most excited show for Wednesday is DEFINITELY BIONIC WOMAN!!!! It's time for another show to have a kickass girl...and that show has katee sackhoff...what else do u need?
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Sep 19, 2007 3:26 PM
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First, I dunno who achy faky is but you were unfairly obnoxious towards one of the best TV critics in America, Matt Roush. Back off, dude.
Matt - most of us really appreciate your work even if we don't always agree. (though most of the time).
I find Gordon Ramsey and his lunacy annoying, then again, I loathe ALL reality TV so I am not the best judge. But the guy needs to be on mute.
As for Wednesdays, I am on board 'Bionic' just not sure the rest of America is. I will also be tuning into "Back to You" since I was a huge "Frasier" fan.
But let's face it - Wednesdays don't really matter until February when "Lost" returns.
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Sep 19, 2007 3:54 PM
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Well, I have to say that I'm looking forward to "Pushing Daisies". I had been looking forward to "Bionic Woman" but then I checked out the pilot through Amazon Unbox (via my Tivo). And I was completely underwhelmed. It was very disappointing because these are people who made "BSG" such a fantastic TV show. And "Bionic Woman" is just a re-hash of shows like "Alias" and "BVS" -- both two shows that did this type of show MUCH better. The pilot was much too dark and, as a poster above me noted, took itself way too seriously. Everyone involved seemed like they were working very hard and it made watching it seem like hard work, too. So, for me, the night has become a little less crowded.
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Sep 19, 2007 3:54 PM
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bulldawg4life:
I don't take orders from you. Matt ain't perfect. When he deserves praise, he gets it from me. So, since you like orders, get off your knees and stop the sycophantic slobbering.
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Sep 19, 2007 5:10 PM
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So, since you like orders, get off your knees and stop the sycophantic slobbering.-- achyfakey
Gordon is that you?? 
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Sep 19, 2007 6:05 PM
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F%&*-in hell! 
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Sep 19, 2007 7:24 PM
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We know that Criminal Minds isn't of the same calibre as most of the high brow shows that you love Mr. Roush, but it does seem to have millions of loyal viewers who do enjoy it. More so than many of the other "great" shows that you seem to push much harder than others on us, and of which, many have quickly come and gone (The Nine and Studio 60 are the freshest in my mind). I sure hope Pushing Daisies doesn't suffer the same fate after being highly praised by your poisoned keyboard as well. Last year we were lucky that Heroes somehow managed to escape your accolades.
Please, we know what you think of Criminal Minds and According to Jim. It's time to move on and let those who enjoy them do so. There's more than one channel on my satellite's programming guide, as I'm sure there is on yours. I'm pretty sure you can find something else not to watch and harp on about. When shows like these, and others I don't care much for, come on, I watch some of my favorites again (like Farscape, Slings & Arrows, Wonderfalls, Firefly, Veronica Mars, Star Trek, or Magnum p.i.). Please do likewise.
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Sep 20, 2007 9:02 AM
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Loved Back To You and Gossip Girl last night!! Also, I'm really looking foward to all of ABC's Wednesday night line-up (especially Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money)! Not only does it look like Wednesday will become one of my favorite nights for TV, but also my busiest!
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Sep 20, 2007 9:29 AM
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To my complete shock, I really liked Kitchen Nightmares. I totally loathed Gordon Ramsey in Hell's Kitchen, but his abusive personality was the perfect foil for the equally abusive Peter. I think Gordon met someone he totally understood and was able to reach him the way Peter's family couldn't. No idea if the next episode will be as fun. I thought the bleeping was hysterical. When there are more bleeps than actual words in a sentence, I just have to laugh.
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Sep 20, 2007 9:30 AM
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