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Op-Ed: DigitalJournal.com’s Fall TV Preview, from the best to the rest (Includes first-hand account)

What new shows are worth your time? Check out our fall TV preview to find out why Community and Glee are hits of the new season and why Cougar Town should have never left its cage.

Every fall, the major networks release an array of new shows on the masses, hoping at least a few will stick with viewers, critics and advertisers. Network execs could hold all the focus groups and test screenings they want, but September is the month to determine what shows make waves with the viewing public. Most new shows debut in mid-September or early October.

DigitalJournal.com wants to make your job easier: below are reviews of shows we recommend (A-List), shows you should check out if nothing else is on (B-List) and series you should avoid like swine flu (C-List). Note the reviews are based on pilots and not on any follow-up shows in the series. We list the U.S. and Canadian networks where these show will air.

The A-List

Community (NBC, CityTV, starts Sept 17, 930 pm) has all the ingredients for a TV winner: smart writing, alluring leads (Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs) and Chevy Chase. The show focuses on a community college and its quirky students, ranging from the turning-over-a-new-leaf lawyer to the determined jock quarterback to the middle-aged creepy dude. The pilot introduces the romantic intrigue between Britta and Jeff, and the flirting is wonderfully realistic and awkward. There’s the typical sophomoric humour — making fun of Asperger’s to sounds like “ass burgers” — but Community never takes itself too seriously. It wins because it clearly defines the characters, and throws in some sly jokes that don’t fly over any heads. This could be the season’s best new show.

Cast of TV show Glee

Glee is a TV show focusing on a glee club in an American high school
Courtesy GlobalTV

Glee (Fox, Global, Wednesdays, 8pm) takes the humour found in Community and cranks it up a notch. It goes for weird instead of routine, as the story revolves around a glee club in an American high school. The series opens strong, introducing us to a conflicted teacher who must choose between his job and a better-paying position as an accountant. The show bends around several sub-plots involving the students, which sometimes feel ho-hum (do we really need another football player who discovers his passion for music?). The funniest lines come from the phys-ed teacher, who doesn’t say much but her quirkiness is reminiscent of the writing on Strangers With Candy. What really shines in Glee is the music, and viewers will be quite surprised to hear some modern takes on the old-fashioned glee club. The question is, can Glee keep our interest past the top-notch pilot?

The B-List

Scene from The Cleveland Show

The Cleveland Show is a spinoff from the popular animated series Family Guy
Courtesy GlobalTV

The Cleveland Show (FOX, Global, Sept 27, 8:30 p.m.) is the first spinoff from the popular Family Guy animated series, created by Seth MacFarlane. The main character Cleveland Brown is soft-spoken, giggly and an odd choice to be the star of a new show. But since MacFarlane is at the helm, the jokes come quick and raunchy, keeping your attention riveted to more than just Cleveland’s journey from Rhode Island to the fictional town of Stoolbend, Virginia. With his young son in tow, the divorced Cleveland hopes to romance a high-school flame, even though she’s obsessed with a moronic misogynist. It’s all light-hearted fun, but something feels off. It could be Cleveland’s son, whose jokes fail to garner laughs. It could be the oddness of watching Family Guy animation without Brian, Stewie, Quagmire, the whole gang. The Cleveland Show will need some inventive storytelling and bold new characters to make it a hit, but for now it’s just trying to repeat the wild success of its predecessor.

Cast of TV show Eastwick

Cast of TV show Eastwick
Courtesy A-TV

Eastwick (ABC, Sept 23, 10pm, CTV Sept 24) tries to repeat the thrill and dark humour found in the classic movie The Witches of Eastwick. It only partially succeeds.

Rebecca Romijn overacts her role as an artist trying to get by in a low-key town, and Lindsey Price does a marginally better job as a shy journalist crushing on the photographer.

The other leading lady Jaime Ray Newman (of General Hospital fame) is the best actress of the bunch, and when she and the other ladies are awarded magical powers, her scenes are the most memorable.

Canadian actor Paul Gross surprises with a suave calculating role that only Jack Nicholson can truly pull off, but Gross is a close second. The action comes in fits and starts, and that’s where Eastwick gets going, but the dialogue between the characters feels clunky.

A tweak in casting and writing would’ve made this so-so show a real A-lister.

The C-List

TV show The Vampire Diaries

TV show The Vampire Diaries
Courtesy CTV

The Vampire Diaries (CW, CTV, Thursdays, 8 p.m.) tries to capitalize on the teenage frenzy over the Twilight books/movies but it fails miserably.

Nina Dobrev plays a young girl mourning the loss of her parents who falls for the new guy in school. Of course, the new guy is a vampire, and when he arrives in this sleepy town people start dying. Where have we heard this before? (Oh yeah, every bad vampire movie).

Lots of sexual innuendo pepper this pilot, as if we needed to be reminded what teenage hormones do to a school full of pretty guys and girls. Too bad the writing isn’t sharp enough to be more subtle and less groan-worthy.

The tension feels so forced you’d be more frightened by a Carrot Top comeback special. There’s the requisite party scene where things go wrong; there’s the obligatory ex-boyfriend who wants his girl back, no matter the cost. And yes, there’s vampire action but this is no Lost Boys. Instead, CW is offering a tepid Twilight wannabe, as if the entertainment industry needs more copycats.

Courtney Cox  actress

Cox stars in the new fall TV show Cougar Town
Courtesy CityTV

Cougar Town (ABC, CityTV, Sept 23, 9:30 p.m) would’ve been worth our time if it were around 20 minutes shorter. Yes, it only deserves a two-minute treatment because that’s how much time anyone should devote to this lame show.

Courtney Cox (from Friends) plays a divorced mom who decides to become a cougar, aka an older lady hunting down younger prey. Humour is lacking in this pathetic show, and Cox should’ve just rested on the laurels of Friends and retired early.

Cougar Town might have an interesting premise to some female watchers (“hey, I like young guys too!”) but the show never fails to keep the pacing tight or the dialogue snappy. Also, for some reason this show really pushes boob jokes (like two other pilots this season), so you can’t help wondering if showing cleavage is a sign of sad desperation, for both the actors and the show’s chances of success.

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