Summer programs are slowly but surely coming back. A comprehensive list with times and premiere dates will come to you shortly, but keep your eyes and ears open for new episodes of Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Closer, Mad Men, Burn Notice, Weeds, True Blood, and of course, Project Runway (after what seems like decades of being kept from us while Lifetime and Bravo had their problems). Basically all of the "main year" shows over and May sweeps have come to a close.
24 concluded its first season back since the writers strike with a cliffhanger, concluding a season that many said felt a bit more like 24 used to. After an atrocious 5th and 6th season, 24 gave itself a facelift and moved to Washington, DC for its 7th season. By all reports, the season ended strongly and is worth a rental (for those of you who may have given up hope after the clusterfrak that was the last taste the show left in your mouth).
DC: Short for Dammit Chloe.
Television upfronts were held in the past week and there were some surprises (the amazing renewal by Fox of Dollhouse) and some non-surprises (Heroes lives on NBC limp through another season). For these reasons (as well as the lull between May sweeps and summer shows beginning), most of these snippets will be about upfronts.
The critical darling Medium was canceled from NBC (just to be picked up over on CBS), a somewhat surprising decision for a network that has been lacking in dramas with a steady fanbase. While they have their reliable Law & Order: SVU, Heroes and Chuck, they canceled the funny and well written My Name is Earl.
All of this said, NBC has expressed a desire to increase and diversify programming in such a way that they have new shows (rather, new episodes of certain shows) throughout the year instead of merely during the September–November/January–May months. If you ask me, this has the potential to be a much stronger programming idea than their last "great idea": Summer Repeats. Because if you haven't seen it, its new to you! NBC is desperate to fill its schedule with as much comedy as possible (Jay Leno 5 nights a week + Amy Poehler's weak Parks and Recreation + the only real success NBC has had in a while with 30 Rock and The Office)
CBS has picked up 5 new shows but is still basically a network of procedural dramas while ABC continues to be the most diversely programmed network channel in the Fall, picking up some animation while continuing to maintain a balance of comedic and dramatic programming. Same stuff, new season.
FOX has picked up Glee, a comedy about high school glee club that already seems to have the potential to be a fantastic show. The first episode was, to say the very least, extremely entertaining, so hopefully the show will be a pleasant addition to the FOX fall schedule.
FOX has increased the animated shows it will be showing (with The Cleveland Show completing their Sunday Animation Domination) and has also picked up some dramas, comedies, and Human Target, which FOX wants us all to believe will be an action show that television has been missing for a long time.
My favorite reality competition and a ratings giant of the summer, So You Think You Can Dance, will also be airing its next season beginning in the Fall, instead of being held until Summer 2010. Perhaps FOX has decided to seriously change its game by diversifying programming and trying to give viewers a variety of options on one network. Good for them.
Happy viewing!
