New Fall TV Shows

It happens every year around this time. The television networks trot out their parade of new programs, promising that there will be lots of great new entertainment. Of course, a lot of this new material is less than great. A lot of it completely tanks and vanishes before Christmas. Of course, every year there are a few new shows that turn out to be good, and a few new shows that turn out to be popular. Sometimes there are shows which are both good and popular.
In case you haven't figured it out yet, it's time for one of our fall traditions here at Dontmindme — the Good/Bad/Ugly rating of new fall TV shows. As always, the rule is that we don't rate a show without watching at least two episodes. And as tempting as it is to break this rule, we're sticking with it.

E-Ring (Fox/Global Wednesday Evening): Fox and ABC have had the most successful and consistent spy/action type shows on television for the last four years with 24 and Alias, respectively. Both have featured strong writing, myriad plot twists, and strong casts, (although 24 wins out in the category of most intense counter terrorism agent ever to pistol whip a bad guy), a large part of the appeal of both shows are the tight linear storylines. Every episode leads to the next, and if you miss an episode, you've missed a lot. Well, I guess someone at NBC decided they were missing out on this market, but wanted to go for the other end of the spectrum. E-Ring is in the same genre as Alias and 24, but there's generally not a lot of action. It takes place in the Pentagon, and it's all about the people who plan military special ops, rather than the people who carry out the operations. So if you like 24 but really wish it was a lot more like The West Wing, this might be worth checking out.
Another reason you might be drawn to E-Ring is because of the cast. It stars Benjamin Bratt (formerly of Law and Order) and Dennis Hopper (who, incidently was on five episodes of 24). The thing is, Hopper isn't playing a crazy bad guy. He's not playing a nice guy, mind you, but he's playing a good guy. That's just wrong. Dennis Hopper always plays a character that's either crazy or Bad, preferably both.

Invasion (ABC/CTV Wednesday Evening): Some things come in bunches. For example, the movies Armageddon and Deep Impact — both about people going up in space to prevent asteroids from destroying the Earth — came out less than two months apart. In the autumn of 2001, three US networks each launched a spy thriller type show (24, Alias, and the ill-fated The Agency). Maybe it's all coincidence, or maybe the people who decide these things all go to the same parties. In any case, it's happened again. This fall there are three aliens-taking-over-the-world-by-taking-over-our-minds-and/or-bodies type shows, and Invasion has the most obvious title. It's also really dull. The show is filled with good looking people who have some sort of idea that something bad might be going on. In fact, from watching you can pretty much guess what is going on, and knowing a lot more than the characters do is really frustrating. It's one thing to reveal a mystery a little at a time, but it's another to reveal most of it to the audience while leaving the characters in the dark. And why are all these people so ridiculously good looking? It's hard to believe a show with so many attractive people could be so Ugly.

Threshold (CBS/Global Friday Evening): Threshold is the second (and final, for now, since I haven't gotten around to watching Surface) of this fall's alien invader shows. And where Invasion stumbles, Threshold shines. The characters know that something very bad is happening, and we don't know anything more than they do. It's very exciting and intense, but still with touches of humour. It's quite possibly the best show of this genre since X-Files went off the air.
Now, Threshold does have it's own set of issues, such as the fact that Brent Spiner is on the cast, and millions of people will forever see him as an android from the 24th century. As well, it follows the cliche that the world's foremost expert on the threat du jour is photogenic and under 35. However, it does get some counter-cliche points by casting a Peter Dinklage, a little person (he's 4'7") as a cast member, and not calling undue attention to his size. It's like a polar opposite of Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye. And also unlike Sue Thomas, this show is Good.

Commander in Chief (ABC Tuesday/CTV TBA): This keeps happening. Every year there is a show that I expect to hate. Well, okay, usually there are a few, but every year there's one that I have fully prepared myself to hate, and I turn out to like it, or most often, love it. Thus was the case with Scrubs, The O.C. and Undeclared. Well, I'm not 100 percent sold on Commander in Chief, not yet, but it's certainly a lot better than I had imagined. The writing is clever, many of the secondary characters, in particular the "first family" are complex and interesting, and so far the show is reasonably entertaining. Sure, there is the usual over-the-top American patriotism/arrogance that one would expect from this sort of show, but once you get past that, and the fact that Geena Davis isn't exactly the most presidential actress, the show is watchable. Well, mostly. The fly in the ointment is Donald Sutherland. While he is talented and entertaining actor, he is playing the Republican speaker of the house as a total caricature of everything people don't like about conservatives. If they don't tone this down or give the character some depth, they will be completely wasting Sutherland's abilities, and that would be Bad.

Canada's Worst Driver (Discovery Canada): And now for something completely different. The other shows reviewed in this article are all big network dramas, this is a low budget Canadian reality show. Don't let that scare you off, though — this show is highly entertaining. The producers have gathered eight terrible drivers, all fully licenced, but with their own varying amounts of skill and confidence, and all nominated by their own friends and family, and sent them to an impromptu driving "re-education centre" in rural Ontario where they must complete a series of driving challenges. Their keys have been confiscated, and each week the most improved student gets them back and gets to go home. The last person left will be named Canada's Worst Driver.
How bad are these drivers? Well, on the first episode, while the candidates are driving themselves to the driving school, one of them put her car in the ditch. Two others decided to race, which resulted in one of them stradling two lanes while driving 140 kilometers per hour on a country road, and another passing her on the soft shoulder at almost 150. And that's just in the first half of the first episode. It's a little bit like watching a train wreck, only a lot more entertaining. Who would think a show about bad drivers could be this Good?