Fall Walkup Poll: Pick the Hits!

Great topic, this is one of my favorite things to do. I'd like to think I'm good at this and I am to a extent except for that time I picked Friday Night Lights to be a big hit. Oops! In my defense the early FNL promos were very misleading.

I agree Private Practice will be a dissapointment. It'll get a second season but there will be none of the energy or enthusiasm of a hit. The problem with spinoffs is that they're so contrived. I believe most hits shows are from a eureka! type of original idea that are born out of innovative original thoughts. Spinoffs on the other hand are born out of a certain network greed so this is where shows like Joey comes from.

My prediction for the upcoming season is that it's a total bust, not big hits, nothing. I mean last year there was at least a interesting crop of shows; Ugly Betty, Studio 60, FNL, Heroes. They might not all have succeded but you could at least tell them apart. This season's crop is horrible. You've got the lame Vampire cop show, Pushing Dasies (which has critically loved, ratings challenged, Save our Show mail-in campaigns written all over it), Chuck (I admit looks decent but the premise is doable for 1-2 seasons tops), blah blah Kids Nation.

Also I think last years pattern of tv shows bleeding viewers at about midseason was not a isolated incident but a real trend and this years loser rookie tv shows won't help.

One last thing: I don't think there will be any blockbuster hits but I do think Friday Night Lights will set some records low ratings (I'm talking historically low) because;

1. NBC is not airing any promos that I've seen

2. The football aspect is being phased out (WTF?!) and even more gut-wrenching real-life angst is being put in. As if they didn't have enough last season.

3. It's been moved to a bad timeslot.

Go Panthers!

The crystal ball says that the Reaper will definitely be a big hit.

Aliens in America will probably be a decent enough show, but I don't know if people will tune in. Same with Gossip Girl - it looks like it would be decent, but even taking Kristin Bell's involvement into account I am still not psyched to watch what looks to be another stupid teen melodrama. I just don't see either show really attracting a wide variety of viewers. But who knows.

Chuck will be a novelty show that will bring in initial viewers but will be lucky to last the season (notwithstanding Adam Baldwin's surely excellent involvement, that dude's awesome).

Agree with James #2 that Pushing Daisies will have a small and devoted fan following but probably won't pick up an abundance of mainstream viewers.

Private Practice, hard to say. I agree with what has already been said, that there was a lot of backlash against Grey's A. this last season - many folks seemed disappointed with the show, so its hard to expect all those viewers to devote an extra hour of their weeks to a mediocre show - but I think that a lot of people will give it at least a chance for an episode or two, so it had better be Very Good coming out of the gate.

I am just thinking that there are so many returning shows that are already so good, and that already have lots of fan loyalty. New shows are going to have to be more than just gimmiky rip-offs of current popular shows if they want to attract a solid base of viewers. And since networks have been busily lining the Graveyards of the Cancelled in recent seasons, if they can't get a following quickly they will be dumped before even having a chance to settle into a groove.

Good luck to all the new shows! And maybe Nathan Fillion can breathe some life back into Desperate Housewives!

Hits: Dirty Sexy Money, Gossip Girl. How could you improve on a show about New York's scandalous, beautiful, filthy rich people? Make one about New York's scandalous, beautiful, flthy rich teenagers.

Misses: Cavemen, Viva Laughlin. I can't wait to hear CBS football announcers read promos for a show about singing and dancing.

"CANE" is freakin' DOA.

I still stand by my thoughts that all the sci-fi/fantasy shows will end up cannibalizing each others' viewers and that few are likely to survive into 2008, much less get a second season. As a result, here's how I think it will play out (I don't do reality shows):

Still on the 2008 Schedule:
Dirty Sexy Money (arguably the hit of the season)
Samantha Who? (Is there anything else in that time slot for women?)
Private Practice (although it will probably return as just a mid-season replacement in 2008)
Back to You (You literally have to have no viewers for Fox to cancel a comedy)

On the bubble for a 2008 renew:
Chuck
Journeyman (ratings for both won't be great, but get by with Heroes anchor)
Reaper (ratings won't be great either, but it's not like CW has anything else to keep running for 2008)

One Full Season (20+ episodes) and Done:
Aliens in America (ratings not great, but CW keeps touting the critics opinions on it for the whole season before they pull the plug)
Life (never really finds any traction)
Bionic Woman (ratings drop after a month or so, but NBC has spent too much money on it not to let it run the season - see Studio 60)
Big Bang Theory (see The Class)
Gossip Girl (not a big hit, too much competition in slot, can teenage girls singlehandedly keep a show afloat?)

Probably Dead by 2008:
Moonlight
Women's Murder Club
Big Shots
Pushing Daisies (ratings drop off drastically after first month)
Cavemen
Carpoolers
Cane
K-Ville
Viva Laughlin
Life is Wild (is this still on schedule?)

Here are a couple of my totally random predictions. I am just basing them off scheduling for the most part. "Cane" will be this year's "Smith." Even if it's good I don't think America wants to watch a Latino version of the Sopranos/The Godfather. America has a love affair with La Cosa Nostra. Irish and other mafia movies or shows(Brotherhood) just aren't as interesting to the American public. When The Departed won Best Picture all I heard was people saying that it wasn't as good as Goodfellas (I actually disagree with them).

The sleeper semi-hit will be Journeyman. I have heard a few good things about this show. If it can bring over the Heroes audience in its first couple of weeks than it could go a long way this season. On the other end, I think Chuck will suffer in it pre-Heroes timeslot but might be able to last a full season with critical acclaim and devoted fan base.

I think Private Practice will fail completely. It will probably get a full season but after that don't think season 2 will happen. I feel Bionic woman has a decent shot. Pushing Daisies definitely looks interesting but I am not sure if the mass audience will get into that show. Big Bang Theory will probably be canceled pretty quickly. I don't fill Chuck will really do anything for NBC. Cavemen are another show that will be pulled pretty quickly. Cane is another one that I don't think will make it past mid season. For a break out hit, NBC might have that one with Journeyman. It will have the awesome lead in of Heroes. It's competition will be CSI Miami which pulls in decent numbers but it's got a good chance of getting an audience.

I think Private Practice will fail completely. It will probably get a full season but after that don't think season 2 will happen. I feel Bionic woman has a decent shot. Pushing Daisies definitely looks interesting but I am not sure if the mass audience will get into that show. Big Bang Theory will probably be canceled pretty quickly. I don't feel Chuck will really do anything for NBC. Cavemen is another show that will be pulled pretty quickly. Cane is another one that I don't think will make it past mid season. For a break out hit, NBC might have that one with Journeyman. It will have the awesome lead in of Heroes. It's competition will be CSI Miami which pulls in decent numbers but it's got a good chance of getting an audience.