CBS announced its new fall shows today. Here are mini-reviews of four of ‘em. Warning: they’re based solely on short clips provided by the network, so I (and you) reserve the right to adjust the grades of them, up or down, once full-length episodes are available. But that will be… in the fall. Who wants to wait to have an opinion until then?
• The Good Wife Julianna Margulies stars as a lawyer whose politician husband (Chris Noth) is convicted in a sex and corruption scandal. It looks a bit more sentimental than her previous lawyer show, Canterbury’s Law, and it plays to CBS’ older demo by surrounding her with a lot of snotty, twentysomething, know-it-all lawyers you just know she’ll prove wrong. But it’s also got a strong supporting cast including Gilmore Girls‘ Matt Czuchry and Sports Night’s Josh Charles. And Noth is always a welcome TV face, even in the possibly-thankless role of a creep. (Or maybe he’ll make faithless creepiness… appealing?)
B
• Accidentally On Purpose Dharma & Greg’s Jenna Elfman in a sitcom as a film critic who gets pregnant by a younger slacker during a one-night stand. The jokes are in the generation-gap, but again, the supporting cast looks as though it’ll help, with Ashley Jensen (Ugly Betty, Extras) as one of Elfman’s pals and The Daily Show’s Larry Wilmore as her doctor.
B
• Three Rivers Alex O’Loughlin (Moonlight) looks stranded in this busy-busy-busy medical series about a team of organ-transplant surgeons. Lots of rushing around to harvest organs, lots of weepy moments of gratitude. But hey, if it moves viewers to become donors, I’ll cut it some slack for the moment and give it a
B-
• NCIS: Los Angeles Chris O’Donnell inherits the buzz-cut Scott Foley wore in the cancelled The Unit and co-stars with LL Cool J in this spin-off. This one is critic-proof: If you like NCIS, you’ll probably like this. As LL said during the CBS presentation, "Teamwork makes the dream work." Which for a series like this means, lasting for 100 episodes to go into syndication.
C
Comments (1-15) of 18 Add your comment
All sitcoms should be eliminated. They are lame written by lazy, unfunny writers. All they can think of are sex jokes or sex references.
Thanks for the B, but IMO, Three Rivers deserves an A. Congrats to Alex!
NCIS grew on me. I thought it was annoying, but I like teh actors and they are very funny and fun to watch. http://www.niceguyswanted.com/
There is NO ONE more deserving of this than Alex.
I wish for him all the sweetness of success in the coming year!!!
Alex O’Loughlin is back on TV and looking extra yum with short hair. I’m in.
I believe Three Rivers deserve an A!
You give the new NCIS only a C while giving Three Rivers (what looks to be a total snooze — zzzzzz) a B? Are you crazy?
cancelled.
cancelled.
cancelled.
probably cancelled.
I will most likely watch the Good Wife. but I will not watch Accidentally On Purpose Jenna Elfman I didn’t like her in Dharma & Greg nor that other short lived Courting Alex. I will give the NCIS show a chance. I don’t even like the looks of Three Rivers
Usually, I don’t watch medical shows, but ALEX O’LOUGHLIN only chooses to be part of interesting projects, so I’ll be tuning in THREE RIVERS this Fall. Congratulations to Alex, can’t wait to see him again on TV in a new show!
Alex O’Loughlin is a brilliant actor, smoldering with sensuality and good looks. He’ll give 110% to this series – mind, body and soul. He believes in this series, therefore I do too. I do believe a lot of good will stem from this show. There probably will be more donors in real life and there will probably be more recipients with incredible stories that will melt your heart. I give this series an “A” for all the good that will come from it. Sometimes tv should change and influence the world in a positive way. Alex makes the show watchable and worth watching.
Three Rivers looks like the best of the lot! The cast (headlined by Alex O’Loughlin) will will make this drama a “must see” (sorry NBC) show. How many Americans are affected by transplants? Perhaps this show will increase the positive view of this medical procedure and will save lives. The Good Wife is another show to keep an eye on.
My sincere congratulations to Alex O’Loughlin, because he deserves to be the protagonist, finally, of a great series.
I am very excited about the return of Alex, the series looks very good and a great cast, I believe, which Three Rivers deserves a qualification A.
I will not miss any episode, I am keen to see him every week on my TV.
CBS cancels “The Unit” & replaces it with a show starring Julianna Margulies as a defense attorney, yet she had a show on Fox in 2008 that only lasted six shows where she played a defense attorney. Sounds like CBS knows how to pick real winners!
Today CBS is replacing Julia Ormond. CBS casting call out. As a side note, I’ve heard that X-Men spinoff, I think Alex would be perfect for the role as a supernatural character in the X-Men/Wolverine movie sequel. Pass it on.