Some things in life are difficult: Brain surgery. Computer repair. Mining. And some things aren't, like picking out the promising-looking TV shows from the same old junk repackaged for another year. With that in mind, The A.V. Club presents our second annual Fall TV preview, a badly researched report on shows we haven't seen. Put it away. Pull it out at the end of the season. You'll see, we were right all along.
SUNDAY
Brothers & Sisters
When: 10 p.m., FOX (premières Sept. 24)
Concept: After their father dies, Calista Flockhart, Balthazar Getty, Rachel Griffiths, and a couple of lesser-known adult siblings return home to deal with the family business and dark family secrets.
Will it be any good? Though the premise seems a little Six-Feet-Under-lite, the pedigree of the actors involved (including Sally Field as the widowed matriarch) should be enough to carry the show for a while.
Last episode before cancellation: The dead father starts speaking to Griffiths in odd, persistent flashbacks, while Flockhart has visions of an aggressive dancing baby.
The Game
When: 8:30 p.m., CW (premières Oct. 1)
Concept: For its inaugural season, CW will only unveil two new shows to go with its best-of-The-WB-and-UPN format. The Game is one of them, but only kind of. It's a spin-off of the venerable Girlfriends, set in the world of professional sports. And it airs right after Girlfriends, too. How convenient.Will it be any good? There's no reason to believe it won't be every bit as good as Girlfriends.
Last episode before cancellation: We find out the horrifying truth behind the stage name of cast member Pooch Hall.
MONDAY
The Class
When: 8 p.m., CBS (premières Sept. 18)
Concept: Third-grade classmates reunite after 20 years and find that they have a lot in common. Will they be friends forever, or just Friends?
Will it be any good? CBS' teaser commercials have been pretty lame, introducing each main character and making them look like what they really are: attractive young actors playing down to casting types. But Friends—which was produced by The Class head man David Crane—looked the same way at first, and it quickly deepened. Also, this show could pair well with How I Met Your Mother, which already feels like the Friends of the mid-'00s.
Last episode before cancellation: "The One With The Stolen Milk Money."
Heroes
When: 9 p.m., NBC (premières Sept. 25)
Concept: A group of ordinary joes from all walks of life wake up one day with superpowers. Why did this happen? What do they do now? And how many episodes will viewers sit through before demanding some concrete answers?
Will it be any good? The premise recalls any number of respectable alternative-superhero tales, from the movie Unbreakable to J. Michael Straczynski's comics series Rising Stars, but odds are that Heroes wants most to ape the slow-developing science-fiction mystery of Lost. Its success will depend on whether the creators can avoid the serial-itis that plagued last season's Invasion and Surface (among others), and whether TV vets Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia can anchor the nerdiness with some manly charisma.
Last episode before cancellation: The mysterious benefactor that brought these heroes together is revealed as… [To be continued.]
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
When: 10 p.m., NBC (premières Sept. 18)
Concept: After the producer of a legendary late-night comedy show goes nuts, untested network president Amanda Peet hires the show's irreverent former head writers Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford to bring back the edge.
Will it be any good? Writer-producer Aaron Sorkin is notoriously distractable and unreliable, but his two earlier series—SportsNight and The West Wing—both got in a couple of remarkably strong years before being cancelled (in the first case) or running aground (in the second). Given how good the early reviews for Studio 60 have been, and given how much potential the premise has for Sorkin-style rapid-fire dialogue and hot-button-pushing, we suggest riding this rocket as it takes off… and before it burns out.
Last episode before cancellation: In the main plot, the love triangle between Peet, Perry, and Whitford comes to a head. Meanwhile, in one subplot, two of the show's staff writers argue over whether a sketch is racist, and in six other subplots, the dozen new characters that Sorkin has introduced over the past three episodes scramble to cover for all the subplots that Sorkin has forgotten to wrap up.
Runaway
When: 9 p.m., CW (premières Sept. 25)
Concept: Wrongly accused of murder, Donnie Wahlberg hits the road with his wife and their three children, and they settle in under new identities in small-town Iowa. As he tries to exonerate himself, Wahlberg also has to protect his family from the real killer.
Will it be any good? Prison Break meets The Fugitive meets the little-seen but affecting River Phoenix movie Running On Empty. If it's half as well-executed as its influences, the show stands a chance, and early word seems solid. As one of only two premières unveiled by the new CW network, it will have some support; if the CW is anything like the WB and UPN, any show can survive so long as it doesn't outright embarrass the network.
Last episode before cancellation: In a dramatic return to network television, O.J. Simpson takes a break from the links to help the family track down the real killer.
Vanished
When: 9 p.m., Fox (premièred Aug. 21)
Concept: From the producers of CSI comes this serial about the disappearance of a prominent U.S. senator's wife and its possible links to a vast political conspiracy. A team of FBI agents and intrepid reporter Rebecca Gayheart pursue the case of their careers.
Will it be any good? Shaping an entire show around a single case or situation can be compelling in the short term, but problematic over the long haul, as fans of Lost and Prison Break know all too well. When cliffhangers lead to other cliffhangers and the new evidence muddies the plot rather than clarifying it, frustration sets in, but reaction to the initial entries of this particular show has been solid.
Last episode before cancellation: As the unprecedented search for the senator's wife becomes a national obsession, law-enforcement officers are shocked when she turns up at the Panda Express at the Tyson's Corner mall. The show is then retooled as the political soap opera No Longer Vanished—and quickly cancelled again.
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