I had done all my homework and researched all the “hot†new shows that were supposedly can’t miss winners. I also was privy to clips from the studios before shows came on the air and thought that I had a good handle on what was going to be big and what wasn’t going to be big for all the new shows starting this Fall. Granted, not all the new television programs have premiered yet, but let me share with you my surprises so far.
The biggest negative surprise has to be a tie between
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip by NBC and
Smith on CBS. After checking them out at the
2006 Fall Television Anticipation Rankings, where they were ranked number 1 and number 2, respectively, I was quite jazzed to see how they would do. I’ll have to admit, I like both of the shows and the critics and reviewers also seemed to like more than not after reading the reviews from across the country for
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and
Smith. So I was absolutely stunned when CBS axed
Smith so early in the season (
read article). And
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was a huge investment by NBC, and it seems that they are going to ride the ratings out and double down on this bet as Oscar Dahl writes
here. So I think anyone would be hard pressed to find two such ballyhooed new shows stumble so dramatically out of the gates.
Moving on to the two most positive surprises for new television shows this Fall season. I also have two selections in this category, yet they are dramatically different. The biggest surprises are
Ugly Betty by ABC and
Heroes by NBC.
Ugly Betty received an astounding amount of positive
reviews; however, it didn’t seem to get the push from ABC like
Brothers & Sisters and
The Nine. So maybe I should have paid more attention to the overwhelmingly positive reviews for
Ugly Betty, but I think that it’s great that a TV show with such a unique angle is performing so well. Tied with
Ugly Betty, is
Heroes. In the 2006 Fall Television Anticipation Rankings, it was placed very highly at number 3. However,
Heroes didn’t seem to take off right away and hit with the fans as I monitored message boards and the blogosphere. The
reviews for
Heroes was mostly positive, and the story line has recently begun to develop as has the fan base. In fact, it has already entrenched itself solidly in the Top 10 in
BuddyTV’s Fan Popularity Rankings. So like Oscar Dahl states,
Heroes has finally fulfilled its early promise and is only gaining steam.
We all know that reviews only go so far to capture the fancy and whims of TV watchers. I cannot wait to find out which television shows will get renewed and which will be cruelly put out of their misery quickly.