BlackPerspective.net

Reviewing Fall TV Lineups Pt 3, NBC and ABC

September 2nd, 2008

NBC PRIMETIME SCHEDULE FOR FALL 2008-09

*New programs in UPPER CASE (with the exception of “ER”)

MONDAY
8-9 p.m. “Chuck”
9-10 p.m. “Heroes”
10-11 p.m. “MY OWN WORST ENEMY”

TUESDAY
8- 9:30 p.m. “The Biggest Loser: Families”
9:30-10 p.m. “KATH & KIM”
10-11 p.m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. “KNIGHT RIDER”
9-10 p.m. “Deal or No Deal”
10-11 p.m. “Lipstick Jungle”

THURSDAY
8- 8:30 p.m. “My Name Is Earl”
8:30-9 p.m. “30 Rock”
9- 9:30 p.m. “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. “The Office”/ “SNL THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE”
10-11 p.m. “ER”

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. “CRUSOE”
9-10 p.m. “Deal or No Deal”
10-11 p.m. “Life”

SATURDAY
8-9 p.m. “Dateline NBC”
9-10 p.m. “KNIGHT RIDER” (Encores)
10-11 p.m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (Encores)

SUNDAY
7- 8:20 p.m. “Football Night in America”
8:20-11 p.m. “NBC Sunday Night Football”

You can read all of NBC’s drek about the 52-week schedule, and why they’re doing what when and where blah, blah blah…

Deal or No Deal is getting pretty tired at this point. It’s just like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Once you’ve seen close to a dozen episodes, from then on, it’s pretty much all the same.

They’ve got a slate of new shows coming over the next year, leading off with: America’s Toughest Jobs (which sounds like pure reality t.v. garbage), Crusoe (which going by the tag line is clearly chick flick television; think Lonesome Dove), Kathy and Kim, Knight Rider, and My Own Worst Enemy

Kathy and Kim sounds horrible. Check out this tag line: “A mother/daughter team, Kath and Kim are two brassy women who prefer the finer things in life, like acrylic nails and big hair.”…pfffh! Are they serious? Talk about idiots t.v. Then if you click on the shows direct link; the webpage looks like something designed for pee-wee’s playhouse. This is how dumb NBC thinks you are, and, well, some of you clearly are.

While I have nostalgic excitement to see the car; I’m betting Knight Rider is going to be tragically terrible; as almost all modern remakes are, especially when it has to do with science fiction where way more focus is normally put on the new age hi-tech graphic abilities, and little attention is paid to a substantive story line, character development; or anything that makes it remotely worth watching after the wowing of the first 5 minutes of seeing the computer graphics.

NBC is pitifully just jumbling some crap together to fill their 9:30 spot on Thursdays. Which considering its their strongest night otherwise, I guess they figured they can afford not to bother with original programming for half an hour.

But to say it’s their strongest night is not saying much; it’s basically saying it’s the night 30 Rock comes on, assisted by the office and old stalwart grisly ER.

The Office was great, now it’s gone stale. It’s worth a couple of laughs if you’re board; but it doesn’t excite me anymore. They need to shake that show up – I have an ideal for that, that maybe I’ll proffer at another time.

ER Season 14

ER, certainly not what it used to be; but still one of the better programs on television. Watching ER is like going home every Thursday night, and this is the final season with Angela Basset joining the cast, so it should be interesting.

The two Law and Order programs are chugging along (the original, won’t be back until January), and for fans of those programs they should continue to satisfy, though not likely to draw any new audience at this point. And “Life” looks like something half decent to watch if you’re alone on a Friday night.

The rest isn’t worth mentioning. I think the fact that they have so much repeat programming throughout the week during prime time tells you plenty about their product development.

ABC

I guess the only thing I’ll be watching on ABC is college football.

The current incarnation of ABC is simply an embarrassment to it’s legacy. Out of the 19 programs that they have scheduled, I’m not even remotely interested in 14 of them. And “remotely” is the word; because the other 5 I’m barely interested in.

I’m really surprised that soap opera Grey’s Anatomy’s spinoff, “Private Practice” survived to a second season. I’m pegging this one as a prime candidate for a mid-season replacement.

Ugly Betty is the only scripted show that I enjoy of their returning shows; but that’s on occasion, as I’m just not drawn into the show. Yes, I know many of you love Grey’s Anatomy; but I think General Hospital is better if I want to watch that type of thing. But, okay, it’s good for what it is. At least thought and effort is put into the writing. The only other scripted show worth even mention is Life On Mars, which seems slightly promising; but I’m not holding my breath.

There’s really nothing else to say about ABC, it’s really that bad. I will give it credit for having cast some Black folk in the majority of its scripted shows, though on “Samantha Who”, the brotha is the door man. At least the Black actors have substantive roles on Grey’s and Betty; but speaking of Betty that’s the only place I know of any Hispanic presence.

NBC does pretty well on the Black inclusion front, anchored by Heroes with a solid 3 of it’s 13 regular cast members being Black; and there are 3 or 4 other shows with at least one substantial Black character.

posted in Cultural | | | View blog reactions |

2 Responses to “Reviewing Fall TV Lineups Pt 3, NBC and ABC”

Sarah on September 2nd, 2008 7:39 pm | link

How could you say that about Private Practice? I think it’s much better than a lot of the other crap that’s on TV nowadays in this “Big Brother” era we’re in. I think you should go and see the episodes, or at least watch the preview to the next season and not mmislead readers to dislike Private Practice. It’s a good show with a good premise and I would say it’s directed towards women with the storylines based around Addison’s love life. Go and watch the show again and hopefully you’ll have a different opinion: http://abc.go.com/player/?channel=125571
D. Yobachi Boswell on September 2nd, 2008 8:19 pm | link

He he - Sarah, you’re free to enjoy the show. If another sappy love story revs your engine, than so be it.

I don’t think I’m misleading anyone as my opinions are just that; as long as I’m not misstating any facts.

But thanks for the comment; strong opinions are welcomed here, and others reading can consider you’re view on it as well as mine.

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Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.

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