The Premiere of Fall — Redux

Two months ago, I posted a blog about the most anticipated new Fall television series, and tonight’s post will revisit those shows to see if they stood up to all the hype. A few shows soared, but many flopped — some being cancelled after only 2-3 episodes. Read on to find out how your shows fared.

10. The Mentalist, a drama about a physic who uses his gifts to help solve crimes. While I haven’t seen it (this show was on my “pass” list), the Mentalist is pulling in good ratings. It averaged 14.9 million viewers and recently bested a Dancing With the Stars results show.

9. Opportunity Knocks, a new game show produced by Ashton Kutcher. It failed miserably. The show was pulled after just three episodes. I never saw a commercial for this show and have no idea when it aired. Maybe the show would have fared better if it had been promoted differently. Oh well, we’ll never know!

8. Life on Mars, an ABC remake of a popular British drama with the same name. The show got off to a good start with the premiere, but ratings were down 25% for the second episode. Some reviewers blame it on the Thursday night line-up in which it isn’t a good fit. Personally, I hope the ratings improve. I don’t think the ABC version is quite as good as the original, but it’s still a quality show that deserves a chance.

7. Easy Money, is a dramedy about a family that runs the modern legitimate version of a loan sharking operation. This show stopped production after a few episodes to “give the writers a chance to catch up.” I’m not sure what that means, but it doesn’t sound good. No worries for me, though, because I wasn’t watching it anyway.

6. True Blood, a new vampire show appearing on HBO. After a massive, multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, the premiere drew just 1.44 million viewers. That’s a disappointing number for HBO, but the cable network airs the show repeatedly and viewership increased for subsequent episodes. HBO is so confident in the numbers that they’ve already ordered a second season. I don’t subscribe to HBO and this show was on my “pass” list, so there’s no additional commentary from me on this one.

5. Sanctuary, a Sci-Fi show starring Amanda Tapping (of Stargate fame). The premiere brought the SciFi channel its highest ratings for original programming since Eureka premiered back in 2006, and subsequent episodes have continued to hold onto the audiences. For me, I’m lukewarm about this show. It hasn’t captured my attention yet.

4. Fringe, a JJ Abrams creation that pairs a female FBI agent with a nutcase scientist and his estranged son. The show premiered with decent ratings and jumped 59% with its second episode. Those numbers were good enough for Fox to pick it up for the full season. Fringe was listed as a “must see” on my first post. I have been watching it, and the show is growing on me, but I’m not hooked like I was with Lost.

3. Sons of Anarchy, a chrome hog drama about a motorcycle-riding, gun-running family syndicate. The series is the most successful new series on FX among 18-49 viewers since Rescue Me debuted in 2005. It has already secured a second season renewal. This show was on my “pass” list, but I gave it a “check out” rating for the guys. That means Gary checked it out. While he watched the show, I would distract myself by playing on the computer. It eventually caught my attention, and now it’s beginning to grow on me too.

2. Knight Rider, a remake of the popular 80s detective show that starred David Hasselhoff. This terrible remake had a sluggish start to its season, but NBC recently ordered four additional scripts. It hasn’t committed to a full season yet so the show may not make a full run. If it doesn’t, I won’t shed any tears. It’s a complete waste of an hour of your life.

1. 90210, is another remake that shouldn’t have been brought back from the dead in my opinion. I couldn’t watch it after the first couple of episodes. However, I guess the younger viewers don’t detest the bad acting and writing as much as I do because it’s gotten decent ratings (for CW), and the network has picked it up for a full season. In fact, 90210’s success has even got them considering a remake of Melrose Place. It’s too bad they can’t come up with an original show.