21 Hours of TV 2013 Fall TV Preview (The Weekend)

5 hours left to fill in my 21 and with the usual wasteland that is Friday and Saturday TV, this just... might... work!

Let it Begin... LET IT BEGIN.... LET IT BEGIIIIIIIN!!!!

The Rest of the Week:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
The Weekend (BELOW)

Friday

Friday this year appears to be a night of shows I've given up on.  Undercover Boss, Hawaii Five-O, Shark Tank, and Grimm are all shows I kinda enjoyed that were victims of previous cuts.  The only one I really miss is Shark Tank, and so...

It's back baby!!

In a first ever move on the 21 Hours we are bringing back a previously cut show! Of course to be fair, it was one of my final cuts in an absolutely brutal year last year, but still, it's HISTORY IN THE MAKING!!

Other than that, the only thing on Friday Night that I will be taking in is "Home Improvement 2: Last Man Standing".  The only show on TV worth putting up with a laugh track for, mostly because I'm already conditioned to enjoy Tim Allen that way.

MUST:  Nope.

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - Last Man Standing

CBS - Undercover Boss

CW - The Carrie Diaries
Fox - Masterchef Junior

NBC - Dateline NBC

8:30PM

ABC - The Neighbors

9PM

ABC - Shark Tank

CBS - Hawaii Five-O

CW - America's Next Top Model

Fox - Sleepy Hollow (Encores)

NBC - Grimm

10PM

ABC - 20/20

CBS - Blue Bloods

NBC - Dracula

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Saturday

OOOOOOH, CBS is mixing it up on Saturday's! Now they've added Comedytime Saturday to the already existing Crimetime Saturday!

They probably should have just called the whole thing wasteoftime Saturday.

MUST:  Seriously?

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - College Football

CBS - Comedytime Saturday

Fox - Fox Sports Saturday

NBC - Repeats

9PM

CBS - Crimetime Saturday

10PM

CBS - 48 Hrs. Mystery

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Sunday

Anyone else feeling a little bit of Deja vu?

Usually with each new season there are shifts, additions, and deletions that shake up the lineup, but this year, with one solitary exception, Sunday is the same as last year.  I don't mean the same for one network, I mean every network, the whole night.  No need to adjust your DVR schedule things will remain the same.

Speaking of remaining the same...

A quarter of a century. That's how long "The Simpsons" has been on the air.  It's mind boggling.  I've already seen the season premiere for this year (That's right, living the high life of a TV critic, seeing FOX animated comedies 3 weeks in advance.) and the most amazing thing is that the quality doesn't seem to be letting up. Yes, there is something about the magic of seasons 3-7, but I have to say, I dare you to watch any episode since season 8 and ID a drop in quality anywhere.  The perfect 10s are fewer and farther between but almost every episode is an 8 or 9.  Hilarious satire 25 years in a row, bravo.

Elsewhere, I'll also be watching the "not quite as Amazing as it used to be" Race, The Mentalist, and checking in with Once Upon A Time to see how they will continue to make that concept work.

MUST: The Simpsons

The color coded breakdown:

7PM

ABC - America's Funniest Home Videos
CBS - 60 Minutes
Fox - NFL OT
NBC - Football Night in America

8PM

ABC - Once Upon A Time

CBS - Amazing Race
Fox - The Simpsons
NBC - Sunday Night Football

8:30PM

Fox - Bob's Burgers

9PM

ABC - Revenge

CBS - The Good Wife
Fox - Family Guy

9:30PM

Fox - American Dad

10PM

ABC - Betrayal

CBS - The Mentalist

Weekend's Total:  Two 1 hour dramas, Two half hour comedies, Two 1 hour reality,  5 Hours
Final Total: 8 hours drama, 4 hours comedy, 10 hours Reality = 22 hours

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WOO-HOO!! We're close!!

In fact losing that last hour is easy! At least two of my hours are reality results shows, so I'll just fast forward to the results and cut out that final hour!

Enjoy the season!

21 Hours of TV 2013 Fall TV Preview (Thursday)

Last year there were 7 hours of television I had on my list from Thursday night, this year.... 4.

To be honest it's a nice reprieve, the past couple years it's been painful to cut down to 21 and this year I may just come in about right on target thanks to the absolute quality dive NBC Thursday night is taking this year.  Of the four comedies they only kept Parks and Rec (which has quietly earned itself upper echelon comedy status) and then traded the other three (30 Rock, Office, and Up all Night... Yes.. I loved Up All Night) for an ok near miss (Welcome to the Family), a well meaning unfortunate miss (Michael J. Fox Show), and possibly the worst pilot I saw of the whole season, Sean Saves the World.  All in all it's a huge disappointment for the peacock but a major coup for my free time!

Elsewhere on the schedule is some of the most popular stuff that I just don't get.  I won't begrudge you your Big Bang Theory even though I find it unwatchable, but I'm sorry, we have to give up the ghost on Grey's and Two and a Half Men by now, right?  No? OK, go on, do what you're going to do, but I don't want to know about it.

There's also actually a few things worth watching.  I think I'm going to love having Robin Williams back on TV with The Crazy Ones, and I'm as surprised as you that I've turned into an Elementary fan.  Also, at the risk of being insensitive, I'm supremely curious as to how Glee will handle this past year's tragic events on the show.

I was also this close to giving a slot to the new Once Upon a Time spin-off OUAT: Wonderland but I couldn't give into the contradiction of the title.  If your show is called ONCE Upon A Time, you only get one show.  If we can't keep our promises as a society, really what are we?

The Rest of the Week:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday (BELOW)
The Weekend

MUST:  Parks and Recreation

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

CBS - Big Bang Theory

CW - Vampire Diaries
Fox - X Factor (Results)

NBC - Parks and Recreation

8:30PM

CBS - The Millers

NBC - Welcome to the Family

9PM

ABC - Grey's Anatomy

CBS - The Crazy Ones

CW - Reign
Fox - Glee

NBC - Sean Saves the World

9:30PM

CBS - Two and a Half Men

NBC - The Michael J. Fox Show

10PM

ABC - Scandal

CBS - Elementary

NBC - Parenthood

Thursday's Total: Two 1 hour dramas, Two half hour comedies, one 1 hour reality, 4 hours

Overall Total: 6 hours drama, 3 hours comedy, 8 hours Reality  = 17 hours

21 Hours of TV 2013 Fall TV Preview (Wednesday)

Who knew the hottest moment of the TV week would be Wednesday at 8PM?  Really, its how they should sell DVRS. "Think you don't need a DVR? Well, Wednesday's coming."  OK maybe it's just me, but look at that lineup. "The Middle" is easily the most underrated comedy on TV, Survivor continues to stay great as other reality shows (I'm looking at you Amazing Race) get boring and stale, The X-Factor is the best singing show this side of "The Sing Off", and Revolution is one of the few concept shows that I stuck with last year.  Even CW's "The Arrow" is a fun show that I just don't have time to invest in.  I challenge you to find an hour anywhere else in the week with that much combined quality.

And the rest of the night isn't a slouch either. I'm one who felt "Modern Family" started slipping last season a bit, but it's still the second funniest show on TV and there's no way I'd miss it (I love you Phil, lets stay friends forever, K?) Even the shows I'm not watching show promise.  I enjoyed the pilots of "Super Fun Night" and "Ironside", but I'm not sure how they will fare long term.  And Nashville was a really good show that for whatever reason I found myself bored with after the first 8 episodes or so.  And with only 21 hours to work with boring just ain't going to make the cut.

The Rest of the Week:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday (BELOW)
Thursday
The Weekend

MUST:  Modern Family

On to the color coded breakdown of the rest of Wednesday.

8PM

ABC - The Middle

CBS - Survivor

CW - Arrow

Fox - The X Factor

NBC - Revolution

8:30PM

ABC - Back in the Game

9PM

ABC - Modern Family

CBS - Criminal Minds

CW - The Tomorrow People

NBC - Law & Order: SVU

9:30PM

ABC - Super Fun Night

10PM

ABC - Nashville

CBS - CSI

NBC - Ironside

Wednesday's Total:  One 1 hour Drama, Two half-hour comedies, Three hours reality, 5 hours

Overall Total: 4 hours drama, 2 hours comedy, 7 hours Reality = 13 hours

21 Hours of TV 2013 Fall TV Preview (Tuesday)

Tuesday this season holds my favorite comedy, New Girl, my favorite new comedy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, AND my favorite new show on all of television, Marvel's S.H.E.I.L.D.  In addition it has two shows I had mixed feelings about in their debut seasons last year.  "The Mindy Project" had moments of humor but overall felt a bit forced to me so I've given up on it, whereas "Person of Interest" was intellectually engaging but was completely void of any comic relief for most of the season.  However, with the addition of a couple characters and an interesting finale, I'll give it another season to see if it finds it legs.  I'll also be watching the most emotional reality show on television (and the one with the best record of relationship successes) "The Biggest Loser" while consuming Andy's Custard through an I.V. just to balance out all that weight loss so the earth doesn't skew its rotation.

The Rest of the Week:

Monday
Tuesday (BELOW)
Wednesday
Thursday
The Weekend

MUST:  New Girl

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

CBS - NCIS

CW - The Originals

Fox - Dads

NBC - The Biggest Loser

8:30PM

Fox - Brooklyn Nine-Nine

9PM

ABC - The Goldbergs

CBS - NCIS: Los Angeles

CW - Supernatural

Fox - New Girl
NBC - The Voice

9:30PM

ABC - Trophy Wife

Fox - The Mindy Project

10PM

ABC - Lucky 7

CBS - Person of Interest

NBC - Chicago Fire

Tuesday's Total: Two 1 hour dramas, Two half hour Comedies, Two 1 hour Realities, 5 hours

Overall Total:  3 hours drama, 1 hours Comedy, 4 hours Reality, 8 hours

21 Hours of TV 2013 Fall TV Preview (Monday)

Welcome to the 7th annual 21 hours of TV Fall preview. Everyday this week we will look at the current day of the week and what will be on that night (Friday, we will look at the weekend). It's my self imposed task every year to limit my TV viewing each week to 21 hours (14 without commercials, just so you understand I'm not as addicted as you think.). In going through the daily schedules I will rate each show red, blue, or green. Green means I will be watching (at least initially), blue that I won't but I won't hold it against you if you do, and red that I refuse to believe anyone of sound mind could be interested. At the end of the week I will add my total hours up and cut what I need in order to get down to the required 21, which won't include the 3 hours every week I peek through my fingers to see if the Detroit Lions have learned what this thing called "Football" is supposed to look like.

Oh one more thing.  Each day I will pick one or two "MUST" shows that in my humble opinion should be an automatic DVR add for all members of the human race. 

Monday

Wow, Monday has gone dry.  I've lost interest in Castle, and other than a couple exceptions the night is full of run of the mill, boring network fare.  There's nothing wrong with most of this stuff, Bones can be fun, I'm sure How I Met Your Mother is funny, and I know many who enjoy "Attempted Dancing with the People Someone You Know May Have Heard Of".  Even the new take on "Sleepy Hollow" is somewhat decent, but none of it is worth a slot in my precious 21.   I'll stick with "The Voice" at least through the interesting part and I'm excited about Spader's new drama, but other than that, blah.

The Rest of the week:

Monday (BELOW)
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
The Weekend

MUST:  The Voice

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - Dancing with the Stars

CBS - How I Met Your Mother

CW - Hart of Dixie

Fox - Bones

NBC - The Voice

8:30PM

CBS - We are Men

9PM

CBS - 2 Broke Girls

CW - Beauty and the Beast

Fox - Sleepy Hollow

9:30PM

CBS - Mom

10PM

ABC - Castle

CBS - Hostages

NBC - The Blacklist

Monday's total: One 1 hour drama, zero comedies, One 2 hour reality = 3 hours today, 3 hours total.

21 Hours of TV 2012 Fall TV Preview (Weekend)

Wow, this is going to be tough.  I've already got 19 and a half hours accounted for and only 1 and a half hours left to spare to stay under my 21 hour limit.  Now I know that the weekend is generally slow, but it ain't that slow.  Which means one thing;  once I go through these final three days of programming and cull my favorites I'm going to be in for some major work in pruning it down.  But that's what it's all about, right? Discipline. Commitment. False Assurances.

Let's whoop this thing... Gangnam style if need be.

Bring on the pain.

The Rest of the Week:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
The Weekend (BELOW)

Friday

There is something mystical about Friday nights.  I think networks try and use it as some sort of television magic potion when a show just isn't quite working.

"Shark Tank is floundering?"

"Pour some Friday on it and see what happens!"

"It's alive!! IT'S ALIVE!! IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!"

(floundering.... hehe... it's like a pun.)

Anyhow, sometimes it works, (so glad "Fringe" is still kicking) and sometimes it doesn't (RIP Firefly).  This year we will see if Touch, Whitney,and Community can be revived by the move.

Well, you can see about "Whitney", I won't be anywhere near that monstrosity.

MUST:  Community, Fringe

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - Shark Tank

CBS - CSI: NY

CW - America's Next Top Model
Fox - Touch

NBC - Whitney

8:30PM

NBC - Community

9PM

ABC - Primetime: What Would You Do?

CBS - Made in Jersey

CW - Nikita

Fox - Fringe

NBC - Grimm

10PM

ABC - 20/20

CBS - Blue Bloods

NBC - Dateline NBC

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Saturday

To be honest, I'm not sure why I even continue to list Saturday in these things.  Apparently those network execs really take that whole Sabbath thing seriously, cause they all basically take the day off. Therefore, so am I.

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - College Football

CBS - Crimetime Saturday

Fox - Fox Sports Saturday

NBC - Repeats

10PM

CBS - 48 Hrs. Mystery

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Sunday

Sunday finds one of my favorite new shows of last year, a reality show that is losing its spark, a show I love spending it's first year at a new slot, and a show I love spending its 24th year on the air. In case you are playing the home version of the game that's "Once Upon A Time", "The Amazing Race", "The Mentalist", and "The Simpsons" respectively.

MUST: Once Upon A Time, The Simpsons

The color coded breakdown:

7PM

ABC - America's Funniest Home Videos
CBS - 60 Minutes
Fox - NFL OT
NBC - Football Night in America

8PM

ABC - Once Upon A Time

CBS - Amazing Race
Fox - The Simpsons
NBC - Sunday Night Football

8:30PM

Fox - Bob's Burgers

9PM

ABC - Revenge

CBS - The Good Wife
Fox - Family Guy

9:30PM

Fox - American Dad

10PM

ABC - 666 Park Avenue

CBS - The Mentalist

Weekend's Total:  Four 1 hour dramas, Two half hour comedies, Two 1 hour reality,  7 Hours
Final Total: 12 hours drama, 5.5 hours comedy, 9 hours Reality = 26.5 hours

-------------------------------------

:Face palm:

5.5 hours over.

:sigh:

OK, let's do this thing.

First, I'm not dumping any comedy.  I need to laugh and I only have 5 and a half hours of it anyway.  Reality is probably the genre easiest to cut, so let's start there.  Both "The Voice" and "The X Factor" will have one hour results shows that I can ax, and I can live without Shark Tank (even though I'm really digging what Mark Cuban is doing on that show).  I'm also going to go ahead and say I can fast forward through enough of the other reality filler to make up another 30 minutes. Which brings me down to just 2 hours over.

Now the hard part, I'm really going to have to eliminate shows I'm interested in watching.

Lets cut the drama then.  First, lets dump "Touch", I dig the concept but there seems to be a lack of forward momentum that makes the show difficult to get excited about.

One hour left and nowhere to go.

How about this?

Of the four new hour long dramas I'm watching (Revolution, Vegas, Nashville, and Last Resort) I will commit to dumping my least favorite after the 3 ep test and that will bring me down to 21!

Happy watching and come back to yourmoviefriend.com for more commentary and reviews during this TV season!

21 Hours of TV 2012 Fall TV Preview (Thursday)

Ahhhhh, Thursday night. The old faithful of network TV.  No night is as guaranteed to give my DVR the workout it needs to stay in shape. Actually, now that I think about it, the fall TV season makes my DVR work harder, but the result is that it gets MORE bloated.  Is there anyway I can be on the DVR weight loss plan where the less I work out the less I gain?  "Hey, I need to lose a few pounds, guess I'll have to quit that 5K training I've been doing."  Works for me.

The largest chunk of Thursday's ability to put heft on my DVR queue comes from NBC's comedy line-up.  Yes, "The Office" is becoming harder to watch, but it's completely made up for by how great "Parks and Rec" is becoming.  Which is good news, because it may be the only one of these shows that will even be around next season.  "30 Rock" has officially said it's going away and it would take a big year from "Up All Night" ratings to keep it around as well (a wonderfully underrated show by the way).

Elsewhere "Glee" makes a move to Thursday nights, "Person of Interest" tries to hold viewers' interest for a second season, and new shows "Elementary" and "Last Resort" try to break in to the Thursday crowd.  And that's not even mentioning "Big Bang Theory" or "50 Shades of Grey's Anatomy", two shows that have loyal, invested followers, even though I am not one.

Finally, and possibly most importantly, Thursday gives us "Rock Center with Brian Williams", which sounds completely amazing even though I have no idea exactly what it is.  Now, I know I could just Google it but instead I'd like to figure it out myself. Here are my top three uneducated guesses at what this show is about, based solely on it's title.

1) "Rock Center with Brian Williams" follows newsman Brian Williams and scientist Bill Nye as they travel the world learning about the geology of various climates through the pebbles, stones, and boulders they encounter.  Join Brian in his emotional reaction to the pervasive igneous formations of the ancient mayans and what it might mean for your future.

2) Don't miss "Rock Center with Brian Williams" a new reality show set in Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Contestants compete head to head with newsman Brian Williams in competitions involving KISS makeup, smashing guitars, and having "moves like Jagger".  The winner will ultimately be the one who can definitively settle the Elvis vs. The Beatles debate.

3) "Rock Center with Brian Williams" is a fast paced work out show where newsman Brian Williams teaches you the tricks he's used to form his legendary 6 pack.  Simply follow Williams through a variety of abdominal exercises as he continues to deliver important news and information.  The only place you can both learn about your political party's planks and do planks at the same time.

Actually, that last one is a killer show, you know you'd watch.  Plus, it would be nice fall back when that DVR diet plan fails to pan out.

The Rest of the Week:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday (BELOW)
The Weekend

MUST:  Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - Last Resort

CBS - Big Bang Theory

CW - Vampire Diaries
Fox - X Factor

NBC - 30 Rock

8:30PM

CBS - Two and a Half Men

NBC - Up All Night

9PM

ABC - Grey's Anatomy

CBS - Person of Interest

CW - Beauty and the Beast
Fox - Glee

NBC - The Office

9:30PM

NBC - Parks and Recreation

10PM

ABC - Scandal

CBS - Elementary

NBC - Rock Center with Brian Williams

Thursday's Total: Four 1 hour dramas, Four half hour comedies, one 1 hour reality, 7 hours

Overall Total: 8 hours drama, 4.5 hours comedy, 7 hours Reality  = 19.5 hours

21 Hours of TV 2012 Fall TV Preview (Wednesday)

Yes, Survivor continues to be amazing.  Yes, Modern Family is the funniest thing on TV.  And yes, I too did a double take when I realized CSI is somehow still on the air.  But make no mistake, this is about settling once and for all that X-Factor, in it's second year, is the best singing competition this side of "The Sing Off".  Since we can all agree that American Idol is on a respirator with it's power of attorney in the hands of a public that has given up hope, the only competition is "The Voice".  And with the ratings basically a tie ball-game, it lands on me to break it down. So here, without further ado, are 5 reasons I think "The X Factor" is a better show than "The Voice".

1.) Simon Cowell - Say what you will about the man in the white T-Shirt and jeans, he has defined what it means to be a reality judge.  His presence offers a legitimacy to the panel that AI has floundered for since he departed.  He also has this incredible knack for being honest and harsh to those that may need to hear it which makes his praise seem all that more weighty when he gives it.  Adam Levine is the closest thing "The Voice" has to someone like him, but the "coaches" don't really have any incentive to be honest when their team messes up, because they are invested in them winning.  It adds up to a show without any teeth or critique and therefore no satisfaction in performance comparison.

2.) The Singers - Maybe it's just me, but I've yet to really fall in love with a performer on "The Voice".  Certainly there have been some good ones, but no one has stopped me in my tracks like Melanie Amaro did  last season on X.  Already this season there have been at least 3 drop-jaw performances on X, and I can't think of a single one yet this season on Voice.

3.) The Prize - $5 Million vs. $100 Thousand.  Literally 50 times larger. Now you may not think this matters to your enjoyment of the show, but if you were a talented singer, which show would you try-out for?  Perhaps reason 2 has something to do with reason 3.

4.) The Stadium - I love the gigantic stadiums for these auditions. "The Voice" feels more like a large karaoke bar while "X Factor" feels like a sold out show.  It adds a sense of grandeur to the proceedings that creates atmosphere and added emotion.

5.) The Variety - While the only difference in eligibility appears to be the lower age limit (The Voice limits contestants to over 15, X Factor has no limit) the way X-Factor uses young singers and groups adds an interesting flavor to the overall competition.  Arguably the two best performances on the two episodes of X Factor this season would not have even been considered for inclusion on Voice. Carly, the 13 year old who brought down the building with her composure, tone, and strength of voice would have been too young, and the guys from Emblem 3, would have never gotten away with doing their original song. Both shows do well at bringing a variety of styles, but only X-Factor ends up feeling like a true variety of people.

I'll be watching both, but I think "The X-Factor" may be one of the most underrated shows on TV.

The Rest of the Week:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday (BELOW)
Thursday
The Weekend

On to the color coded breakdown of the rest of Wednesday.

8PM

ABC - The Middle

CBS - Survivor

CW - Arrow

Fox - The X Factor

NBC - Animal Practice

8:30PM

ABC - The Neighbors
NBC - Guys with Kids

9PM

ABC - Modern Family

CBS - Criminal Minds

CW - Supernatural

NBC - Law & Order: SVU

9:30PM

ABC - Suburgatory

10PM

ABC - Nashville

CBS - CSI

NBC - Chicago Fire

Wednesday's Total:  One 1 hour Drama, Two half-hour comedies, Three hours reality, 5 hours

Overall Total: 4 hours drama, 2.5 hours comedy, 6 hours Reality = 12.5 hours

21 Hours of TV 2012 Fall TV Preview (Tuesday)

Tuesday may be the most confusing night of TV for me. Most of the new shows I've decided to watch might end up being duds (Go On, The Mindy Project, Vegas), and many of those I'm not watching (Ben and Kate, Happy Endings, The New Normal, Parenthood) could be very, very good.

What's not confusing?  That "New Girl" was easily my favorite new show of last year, and one of the only shows to deliver both "laughing so hard I had to pause the show so I don't miss anything" moments as well as "that was so good I'm going to immediately watch that scene three more times" moments.  I was so impressed by how quickly that cast came together and how the show got better throughout the year.

Oh and one other thing; Is there any chance we could combine the Dancing with the Stars results show with the NCISes and have the very first Reality Crime Procedural? No? Really? Sigh... Reminds me of the look on my wife's face when I suggested we do a murder mystery wedding. And that's fine, but when somebodies making millions off of CSI: Survivor don't come crying to me, I laid it right out there for you.

The Rest of the Week:

Monday
Tuesday (BELOW)
Wednesday
Thursday
The Weekend

MUST:  New Girl

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - Dancing with the Stars

CBS - NCIS

CW - Hart of Dixie

Fox - Raising Hope

NBC - The Voice

8:30PM

Fox - Ben and Kate

9PM

ABC - Happy Endings

CBS - NCIS: Los Angeles

CW - Emily Owens, M.D.

Fox - New Girl
NBC - Go On

9:30PM

ABC - Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23

Fox - The Mindy Project
NBC - The New Normal

10PM

ABC - Private Practice

CBS - Vegas

NBC - Parenthood

Tuesday's Total: One 1 hour drama, Three half hour Comedies, One 1 hour Reality, 3.5 hours

Overall Total: 3 hours drama, 1.5 hours Comedy, 3 hours Reality, 7.5 hours

21 Hours of TV 2012 Fall TV Preview (Monday)

Welcome to the 6th annual 21 hours of TV Fall preview. Everyday this week we will look at the current day of the week and what will be on that night (Friday, we will look at the weekend). It's my self imposed task every year to limit my TV viewing each week to 21 hours (14 without commercials, just so you understand I'm not as addicted as you think.). In going through the daily schedules I will rate each show red, blue, or green. Green means I will be watching (at least initially), blue that I won't but I won't hold it against you if you do, and red that I refuse to believe anyone of sound mind could be interested. At the end of the week I will add my total hours up and cut what I need in order to get down to the required 21, which won't include the 3 hours every week I peek through my fingers to see if the Detroit Lions have learned what this thing called "Football" is supposed to look like.

Oh one more thing.  Each day I will pick one or two "MUST" shows that in my humble opinion should be an automatic DVR add for all members of the human race. 

Monday

Monday night for me will start off with "The Voice" or as I like to call it "The show that starts off with an amazing premise and then quickly turns into every other singing show out there." I know I say it every single time I mention this show, but can you imagine if it had the conviction to stick with it's premise of only picking talent based on singing ability?  Imagine a singing show where neither the judges or the audience EVER see the singer until they are either A) voted out, or B) win the whole thing.  Every week would be an incredible reveal and the suspense would be intense! :sigh: I guess I'll settle for enjoying Adam Levine's insightful commentary and the occasional good performance while waiting til later in the week for the much better X-Factor (Yes, I am aware I am in the minority on this, I'll back it up later this week).

I will also be seeing on Monday if J.J. Abrams has some more magic left with the intriguing "Revolution" and what happens with my man Nathan Fillion on "Castle" (RIP Firefly).  Though I must admit Castle is quickly falling into that zone of a show I can kind of half watch while catching up on other stuff. You know, important stuff, like Angry Birds: Space.

The Rest of the week:


Monday (BELOW)
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
The Weekend


MUST:  REVOLUTION, CASTLE

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - Dancing with the Stars

CBS - How I Met Your Mother

CW - 90210

Fox - Bones

NBC - The Voice

8:30PM

CBS - Partners

9PM

CBS - 2 Broke Girls

CW - Gossip Girl

Fox - The Mob Doctor

9:30PM

CBS - Mike & Molly

10PM

ABC - Castle

CBS - Hawaii Five-O

NBC - Revolution

Monday's total: Two 1 hour dramas, zero comedies, One 2 hour reality = 4 hours today, 4 hours total.

21 Hours of TV 2011 Fall Preview (Weekend)

Uh oh, somebody changed my Friday.


In years past the weekend was the easiest because aside from Sunday networks considered Friday and Saturday a waste land.  Friday was the town dump where they would send shows to die a quick death and Saturday they all basically alternate between showing grass growing and paint drying. Sure, Sunday usually had a couple hours of stuff I enjoyed but as long as I kept the other days around 19 hours I could rest assured that I'd be able to keep it under 21 pretty easily (which is the point of this whole exercise after all, check Monday's post if you don't remember)

But then all of the sudden I look at the schedule and WHAT?! Friday has new shows AND shows I already love? When did this happen?  Keeping my list to 21 hours just got a lot tougher.

Let's go day by day and then get into the hard work.

Friday

I have to say I'll be sad to see Charles Bartowski and gang ride into the sunset this year, but it's really pretty cool that they got to do as many seasons as they did with mediocre ratings.  Plus, Zach Levi is quickly becoming a legitimate super star and I'd love to see him do some more movies.

Fringe is the riskiest show on TV now that LOST is gone.  It's no surprise that they both spawned from JJ Abrams brain with their willingness to take huge leaps into new territory in mere episodes.  Fringe's finale last season was possible the best finale on TV and I CAN NOT WAIT to see where that show goes next.

Add to those a couple new hours, I want to see and the return of one of the most underrated reality shows, "Shark Tank", and I have 5 hours of TV on Friday that I want to watch.  Considering I came into the weekend at 17, we are already over budget and as Carman once said, Sunday's on the way. (obligatory obscure reference free of charge.)

MUST:  Chuck, Fringe

The color coded breakdown:

Green = Will be programmed on my DVR

Blue = Not for me, but feel free. 
Red = Move along, nothing to see here.

8PM

ABC - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

CBS - A Gifted Man

CW - Nikita
Fox - Kitchen Nightmares

NBC - Chuck

9PM

ABC - Shark Tank

CBS - CSI: NY

CW - Supernatural

Fox - Fringe

NBC - Grimm

10PM

ABC - 20/20

CBS - Blue Bloods

NBC - Dateline NBC

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Saturday

Bad shows, bad shows, whatcha gonna do?  Watcha gonna do when noone watches you?

TWO HOURS OF MUST:  extra hour of sleep?

The color coded breakdown:

8PM

ABC - College Football

CBS - Rules of Engagement

Fox - COPS

NBC - Repeats

9PM

CBS - Crimetime Saturday

Fox - America's Most Wanted

NBC - Repeats

10PM

CBS - 48 Hrs. Mystery

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Sunday

I bought the first 7 seasons of "The Simpsons" on DVD, not at once mind you, but as they came out.  I stopped after season 7 because I had a realization, they are NEVER ending this show.  I will never have a complete collection because by the time this show ends DVD players will be about as relevant as papyrus scrolls are today.  So I might as well save my money and spend it on something more important, you know, like Krispy Kreme doughnuts (Homer would want it that way).  The reason I stopped was NOT, however, because of quality.  The Simpsons has been herculean in the way it has continued to bring strong scripts and great satire year after year after year.  The emotional aspect of the show continues to impact me as well.  I'm of the opinion that the reason people truly believe the early seasons are better is a case of nostalgia more than truth. Thought I have to admit that season 4-8 run has some pretty incredible shows.

A couple of former Survivor contestants are running the Amazing Race. Worlds collide as they collide with the world,or something.  I always find those kind of things fun, and I love the race anyway, so I'm in.

I must say I do kind of miss watching America's Funniest Home Videos, simple, but so great.  I think maybe it's because Wipeout has taken over as my go-to people-fall-down-go-boom show, so my quota of human spills remains satisfied.

The color coded breakdown:

7PM

ABC - America's Funniest Home Videos
CBS - 60 Minutes
Fox - The OT
NBC - Football Night in America

8PM

ABC - Once Upon A Time

CBS - Amazing Race
Fox - The Simpsons

8:30PM

Fox - Allen Gregory

NBC - Sunday Night Football

9PM

ABC - Desperate Housewives

CBS - The Good Wife
Fox - Family Guy

9:30PM

Fox - American Dad

10PM

ABC - Pan Am

CBS - CSI: Miami

Weekend's Total:  Five 1 hour dramas, Two half hour comedies, Two 1 hour reality,  8 Hours
Final Total: 10 hours drama, 6 hours comedy, 9 hours Reality = 25 hours

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Wow. 4 hours over.

Usually I would just say that I will give up on a few new shows to get the total down (which likely will happen) but that feels like a bit of a cheat.  I think I can cut out an hour right off the bat by eliminate the X-Factor results show (just tell us the result in the next performance show, we don't need an hour for you to tell us what should take 5 seconds.) I will also fast forward through most of The Biggest Loser since it's so bloated (ironic, right?) So that's a second hour right there.  That leave 2 more hours to cut and nothing left to cheat on.   I tell you what, I'll drop Shark Tank and A Gifted Man from the list (the two shows I'm least excited for and I have quite a bit of reality and drama already on) but not from my DVR, then if any of the new shows bomb I will go back and watch them.  If everything else succeeds, then I guess I'm just out of luck.

Gentlemen (and gentlewomen, gentlepeople?) START YOUR DVRS!!