So as you might have guessed from my not recapping all of the broadcast network upfronts this year, there was nothing really standing out in any offerings, either good or bad. For every interesting show (like the return of the Muppets), there were three shows were the only reasonable response was "meh."
Which also carried over to this year's running of the Ted Marshall Open, the Internet's greatest TV dead pool. Last year's slew of planned final seasons led to this year's dearth of them, and with few of the new shows really standing out for suckitude, this was one of the harder years to come up with 10 shows comfortably in the cancellation zone. Still, I made my picks, which are (from 10 to 1, most likely to get cancelled to least):
10 - American Idol. This was the no-brainer pick, given all of the press when it was announced this would be the show's final season.
9 - Truth Be Told. It's this year's generic multi-relationship comedy, with the added burden of being on NBC's Friday night lineup, needing to fend off The Amazing Race and ABC's TGIF lineup. It does not help that the show already has had a name change.
8 - Blood and Oil. It's Dallas for a new generation, starring Don Johnson and Chace Crawford! But it's up against football and The Good Wife. And has Once Upon a Time as a lead in. I couldn't see that wizards and fairy tale set naturally flowing into something so soapy and unmagical.
7 - Of Kings and Prophets. I took a bit of a flyer here, ignoring my usual rule about avoiding midseason shows that aren't a lock to air, as a prime time soap set in Biblical times seems ripe for being absolutely awful.
6 - The Mysteries of Laura. Still not sure how NBC brought this back - it seemed like it was on the cancellation side of the bubble - but as dead pool practice suggests, once a show is on your list you don't take it off.
5 - The Odd Couple. Also not sure why CBS brought this back.
4 - The Player. People betting on crime in Las Vegas is a little too high concept this season.
3 - The Guide to Surviving Life. Now Cooper Barret's Guide to Surviving Life, it features its title millenial giving advice to Gen Z on how to survive your early 20s. How this wound up on Fox rather than the CW I'll never know. Also a midseason show, so I've violated my rule twice.
2 - Heroes Reborn. I'm hopeful that it will recapture some of the magic of the first season or two, but am worried that it will just take up where things limped to the end and try to make us care about a bunch of new characters without improving the overall story.
1 - Undateable. The other generic (to my eyes, anyway) dating sitcom NBC is throwing at us on Friday nights. But one that managed to get renewed, so it gets put lower on the list. I'm still not sure how a show called Undateable works on Friday, when the people who are home are those who couldn't find a date.
And, as usual, the top ten choices among all participants include a few shows I did not pick.
Dr. Ken - Ken Jeong's TGIF sitcom, where he plays a doctor trying to balance work and family. The setup isn't particularly inventive (though does it have to be for TGIF?), and Jeong can be a lot to take (I wish I'd developed Changnesia for some of the Community episodes where his character figured prominently). The premiere won its time slot (not a particularly noteworthy accomplishment), and was the second most watched show of the night for broadcast (behind Shark Tank). Interested to see how much viewership falls off by this week.
Blindspot - One of the more high concept new shows, but I left it off because I thought (a) it's coming from the people behind The Blacklist, who have proven that they can do this kind of show, and (b) NBC did a nice job promoting the show over the summer. The promos were a good mix of exposition and mystery, and made me want to watch.
Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris - I passed on this because (a) I'm loathe to bet against the NPH, and (b) it's different enough (and likely cheap enough to produce relative to scripted shows) that even if ratings are middling it could stick around. I also thought the format of the show would allow for easier changes towards bits that appeal to viewers. NBC's been pushing it heavily on Today, which I expect will help.
Uncle Buck - This was apparently the one show where I stuck to my rule about midseason shows. I will say that I'm intrigued that the show is going to feature an African-American cast. Don't know if that will matter in the end.
So I think I feel pretty good about my choices, and in dodging some of the shows chosen by conventional wisdom (Blindspot was the highest-rated new show last week, while Best Time Ever was tied for 24th). Here's hoping for title number two!
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