Remember way, way back in Fall 2013, when we were so excited for all the new TV shows and the return of old favorites?
Sadly, as is becoming the norm, once the dust settles, many new shows end up underwhelming (I want to love you, The Michael J. Fox Show), underperforming (almost no show seems completely safe yet, not even Brooklyn Nine-Nine), or flat out being canceled (Back In The Game, we hardly knew ye (although to be fair we did get a pretty good sense of what the show was going to be and while it was reasonably enjoyable to me it didn’t do well enough ratings-wise to justify a back order)).
But the one upside to televisual chaos is that it means January is essentially another September, another launching pad for new shows, another chance at finding that increasingly unlikely (given the way we watch television now) breakout hit.
Just look at some of the new shows launching in the next few weeks: Intelligence (a.k.a. Chuck for CBS) premieres tonight topped by Lost’s Josh Holloway. Enlisted (created by Cougar Town’s Kevin Biegel) opens up on Friday for Fox. Helix for Syfy premieres the same night. HBO’s True Detective starts on Sunday. Chozen for FX comes down next week.
And that’s just counting a few new shows. NBC held Community for midseason this year. ABC did the same for Suburgatory. And cable has long established January as a premiere beachhead, which means my DVR will quickly begin filling up again, thanks to Justified, Cougar Town, Psych, Archer, Sherlock, and other shows that I’m forgetting at the moment but that my DVR, luckily, will remember to record for me.
The start of the calendar year brings new hope, new resolutions, an opportunity (albeit a constructed one based solely on our designation that this be the “start” of another trip around the sun) for fresh starts and a better tomorrow in our lives, as well as in television.
Of course, by March we’ll probably all be frustrated and angry and disappointed and ready for the next great pilots to be picked up so we can anticipate September all over again, but for now, I’m just going to sit back, relax, and gain ten pounds enjoy the new seasons.
