#3. “Ringer”
The words “CBS” and “drama” together are about as appetizing as a three-hour marathon of the same episode of “Osbournes Reloaded” over and over again, but when you also include “Sarah Michelle Gellar,” “Nestor Carbonell” (Richard Alpert from “Lost”), and “boating accident,” my interest perks up. Gellar, who hasn’t starred in a TV show since “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” went off the air in 2003, stars in “Ringer” as a woman on the run who, according to Entertainment Weekly, “hides out by living the life of her wealthy twin sister, until she learns her sibling’s life has a bounty on it as well.” And in a twist that hasn’t been admirably accomplished since Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap, Gellar plays both sisters.
#2. “More As the Story Develops”
An incomplete list of boring things Aaron Sorkin has made interesting in his career: coders, students from Harvard, Matthew Perry, Mormon farmers, TV politics, lobbyists, and Martin Sheen. With HBO’s “More As the Story Develops” (potentially starring Jeff “Not Bridges” Daniels), he’s starting with a fascinating topic (what goes on behind the scenes at networks like Fox News and CNN), so the sky’s the limit on how good this show could be. Plus, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” isn’t nearly as bad as you remember it being.
#1. “The River”
Broadcast TV could really use a thriller that keeps people tuning in on a week-to-week basis like “Lost” did—and I don’t mean that we need another “Lost” clone, either, like “FlashForward” or “The Event”. So I’m really pulling for “The River,” which, according to Deadline, “centers on a small group that goes deep into the Amazon in search for [sic] a missing TV explorer.” It’s created by the team who made Paranormal Activity, so expect lots of handheld cameras, and set to star Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek’s Pike) and Eloise Mumford, who sounds like an uptight British nanny but is actually a very talented actress most recently from “Lone Star”.
UNWATCHABLE BONUS!
I can convince myself to give almost every new show a shot. Hey, “Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apt 23″ has the girl from “Breaking Bad” in it! How bad can “Grimm” be when it’s made by David Greenwalt? I should at least give “Once Upon a Time” a chance because of “Big Love”‘s Margie.
But not NBC’s “Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea,” based on the literary travesty by Chelsea Handler. The way most people feel about Tucker Max is the way I feel about Handler, except I think she’s done even more to harm to her gender than Max has. Amazing to think that this show will be on the same channel as “Community.”
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Chelsea Handler could wear a flashing neon “AMIRITE LADIES” sign as a necklace and it would make her more subtle.
PITT THE ELDER
Ugh.
Other than “House of Lies” (because of Cheadle and Bell)and the “Wonder Woman/Charlie’s Angels” block (because, well, tits!) I can’t see watching any of these.
Also, this post just serves as a cruel reminder that my pilot, “Sticky Finger Esquire” (about a slick, fancy art thief whose cover is a bumbling defense attorney) wasn’t picked up. Thanks a lot, Josh.
I might have to give “How to Be a Gentleman” a chance because of Dave Foley, Murray from FotC (“present”) and Rickety Cricket.
Also, Chelsea Handler is the worst.
I predict the Dave Foley/Rhys Darby/Rickety Cricket comedy is hilarious and is cancelled within two months.
“Murray? Present.”
Nothing on your menu appears appetizing sir. I demand to speak with your manager! (though I may be the only other person here who though lone star was good.)
Most of these look like duds to me, but maybe something will surprise. I thought Bob’s Burgers was going to be a colossal flop, but I agree that it has been a very pleasant surprise. Only new show this year I make a point to watch.
If these are the most promising… yikes…
Bob’s Burgers is fantastic, by the way.
Agreed, Bob’s Burgers is very funny and probably the only show worth watching on Fox’s Sunday night line-up.
I’ve been told by the lady that Vodka is going into our DVR schedule. Yeah, because I won’t erase it.
Big Raising Hope fan.
I also like Mr. Sunshine
/ducks chair
//gets hit by second chair
///still misses My Name is Earl
Is this real or one of those parody lists?
You have Lone Star and a cartoon as the best of the new shows but no Justified?
Your argument is invalid.
Damn you Buffy…. damn you
@Smegga, “Justified” is in its second season.
Sorkin could write about 18th century chess players and I’d season pass it sight unseen.
@Upstate – Yeah, but it started in the 2010 season which was explained up top. Lone Star premiered on 20th of September 2010. Justified on 16th March of 2010.
Unless seasons are different over there?
I know this is going to sound all ultra-liberalish, but why can’t there be a good show with black/hispanic people in it? They do a whole bunch of crazy shit and yet we can’t find a decent show to out them in?
@smegga now would be a good time to let it go.
Smegga, the TV season starts in the fall. Think of it like the fiscal year.
Also, any show in its second season is no longer new.
@GiantCrab They have Cops.
@Matt – Okay, in the fall. That’s autumn right? Kidding.
Studio 60 is great. It’s a show for smart people, which is why it didn’t last.
Aaron Sorkin could make my job seem interesting so I’m already looking forward to his HBO show… and I don’t have to worry about HBO fucking around with the time slot and going weeks without showing a new episode because America’s Fattest Dance Model Idol Voice Losers is showing in prime time for a month straight.
also I hope it has people walking and talking.
@JC: it thought it was a smart show for smart people, big difference. It incorporated all of Sorkin’s most annoying quirks.
“The Wrap says “How to Be a Gentleman” is about “an oddball friendship between a straitlaced columnist and his less cultured pal/trainer” (ugh),” –
Isn’t that “The Odd Couple?”
So Sarah “Polly Zobelle” Jones…I was convinced that she was in an episode of “Undeclared” as a shallow girl with whom Lloyd tries to be monogamous to prove he can. Since Charlie Hunnam was Lloyd and is Jax Teller, I was all, “WORLD’S COLLIDE!” Turns out, the broad in “Undeclared” was Katherine Towne, Hunnam’s then wife. Oddly, in some pictures, Towne looks a whole lot like Jones, but in others nothing whatsoever.
True story. Pointless and boring. But totally true.
Sweet Christ…please forgive the apostrophe in “WORLDS”.
i have to say the walking dead is FAR from the source material,and its not even that good its really boring.
I have the desire to watch exactly ZERO of these shows.
Lone Star lasted two episodes.
Chelsea Handler is a talentless cunt.
Don’t hold NBC in such high esteem, this is the same network that gave Emeril Lagasse his own sitcom.
Chelsea Handler must be a dynamo in the rack. I can see sleeping your way to a cable tv talk show that shows at midnight. But NBC ?
She must have MAD bedroom skillz.
“The Simpsons” is the greatest show of all time? Seriously? It had many great, epic, wonderful, all-time list worthy episodes, but they not only killed the show a long, painfully long time ago but have paraded its mutulated, horribly unfunny corpse ever since. It has now had more crappy seasons than it had good. Thus it is automatically precluded from best show of all time consideration. If it ended back when it was awesome or at least average, then sure, but now with as bad as it has been for many seasons now, not a chance. I’d rather watch the entire run of Joey than most Simpsons episodes that have come out in the last several years.
Did you read the pilots for any of these or are you just wasting everyone’s time with a completely uninformed opinion?
So how do I keep reading this article? An ad just keeps popping up.
I’ve missed Kristen Bell, Milo Ventamiglia, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Aaron Sorkin’s writing on my tv. I hope at least one of House of Lies, Rest, Ringer and More as the Story Develops are worthwhile.
Another reason Locke & Key has potential – the creator/writer of the graphic novel is Stephen King’s eldest son Joe.
@Zan
Wait…Stephen King really named his son Joe? Joe King?…you know, being a writer, he should have noticed that…
Out of all the pilots “Ringer” sounds the most exciting and promising. I can’t wait for Sarah M Gellar’s return to tv land!
Is anyone else even a little bit excited for Wilfred on FX?
this blog is pathetic
Steven King’s son’s nom de plume is Joe Hill. His book “Horns” is the shit.
Also, screw all these shows except Sorkin’s. I’m queer for West Wing.
Wow, aside from a possibly funny show with the Dave Foley and one of the main writers(and the guy who plays Rickety Cricket on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)what looks remotely interesting? Plenty of lulz will be had when Rest drops, just because it’s almost exactly like a film that’s in theaters right as I type. It has that guy who played the douche/designated drunk driver from the Hangover and short lived brilliant “Kitchen Confidential.”
I can’t wait for Ringer and Wonder Woman. I think House of Lies sounded good.
I know a few people who worked on the Chelsea Handler pilot and a few that worked on Wonder Woman and everybody has said good things about Chelsea’s sitcom and terrible things about Wonderwoman