Sure, I admittedly become addicted to Big Brother every summer. And I'm not immune to the lure of the occasional episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares or Cake Boss. But the slew of dating shows and cheesy-fake game shows where actors posing as "real people" are thrown down a chute if they get questions wrong blend together...and there are only so many singing competitions a person who's not all that interested in watching people sing can take.
Yet scripted shows have bored me, too, lately. Even my old standby, The Office, has become dependably disappointing since Steve Carrell's exit last season. I miss sitcoms, yet when I try to watch shows like Hot in Cleveland, stocked with actresses I LOVE, I find the premises recycled. It's all WAY too familiar. There's not a single original sitcom premise left.
That's why it surprised me that the previews for the new fall shows piqued my interest. A show about parents dealing with a newborn baby? AND it stars Christina Applegate? I'm there. And Whitney looks hilarious. Plus there's a new show from the creators of Lost and a show called Suburgatory that has the most interesting title I've heard in a while. Plus the previews for both shows look very intriguing.
A real puzzler for me is a new drama about PanAm flight attendants back in the 70s. I'm not sure what the intended audience for that one is, but it definitely looks interesting. However, a remake of Charlie's Angels in the style of the movie? No thanks. I loved it when it was simple and cheesy, back in the 70s. It's way too female Ninja for my taste.
Could original, imaginative, SCRIPTED programming be returning to TV lineups? Or is the reality-show mill simply taking a break between bouts of churning out yet another version of the dating/singing shows that we've been bombarded with for so long?
