I
t’s that time of year again. Football has kicked off,
classes have started, the homework is beginning to
pile up and the broadcast networks are starting to
wake up from summer hibernation with new and return-
ing series making their fall debuts in the next few weeks.
For a long time, the new fall season was like opening a
new pack of presents on Christmas morning. Yet it seems
the pile of presents has gone from everything I could ever
hope for to one filled with socks and lumps of coal. Maybe
it’s because my tastes have gotten stricter or the world of
#PeakTV gives me more shows to watch, but I don’t feel
that same sense of wonder toward the new network sea-
son like I have in the past. There appear to be some gems,
but this year’s programming mostly seems to be rehashes
of old concepts or just plain unnecessary.
I want to be hopeful about the new network season
each year. Each set of new shows brings a huge set of
potential. No networks, except for maybe HBO, spend
the amount of money to make and market television that
the broadcast networks do. They have plentiful resources
(such as money and talent) to make television that’s new
and exciting. So, when the new network season comes
around, I want to have hope that the new crop of shows
will bring something exhilarating to the table.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case this year.
The biggest offender of creating generic series is CBS,
which will put out a new set of fall shows that feature
stars, premises and genres that will be familiar to their
viewers. There’s a good reason for this as the network
has built its brand on bringing in a relatively older audi-
ence to shows with known formats. Its big new drama is
Michael Weatherly’s (coming off a long run on “NCIS”)
“Bull,” in which he plays a psychiatrist who’s a trial con-
sultant. It looks like a basic law drama with a twist, but
not enough of a twist to create separation from the other,
better legal dramas on TV.
A part of this is the way I watch TV has completely
changed over the past several years. When I was a young
teenager in middle school, my parents didn’t necessarily
let me watch all of the dramas on basic or premium cable
with a few exceptions. (They weren’t exactly going to
let a 13-year-old watch “Nip/Tuck” or “The Sopranos”).
This meant I was largely left to the broadcast networks
to find entertainment. So, each new fall brought me a new
group of potential shows to join my regular rotation, and
I sometimes spent many weeks waiting for series like the
short-lived “V” or “Back to You” to reach their full poten-
tial. I would spend hours on Hulu sampling each one in
the group, eventually finding some I would stick with for
the long haul. The 2007-2008 season was particularly
memorable because it brought “Pushing Daisies” and
“Chuck” into my life, both of which remain some of my
favorites today.
Now, I don’t necessarily have the time to go and sample
each show like I used to. I miss the spirit of innovation
that brought shows such as “Daisies” and “Chuck” to the
air. Only The CW seems to be carrying on that torch,
with recent dramas like “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Jane
the Virgin” that push the mantle of what it means to be
a broadcast drama. I understand why the broadcast net-
works remain risk-averse. Their goal is to reach as many
people as possible and shows like “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
might not be the best way to do that. Still, there’s so much
amazing television out there right now that it’s hard for
me to even try shows like “Kevin Can Wait” or “Bull.”
They have so many resources to be creative that I can’t
help but feel disappointed when I see such overdone and
well-trodden premises yet another time.
2B
Magazine Editor:
Karl Williams
Deputy Editors:
Nabeel Chollampat
Lara Moehlman
Design Editor:
Shane Achenbach
Photo Editor:
Zoey Holmstrom
Creative Director:
Emilie Farrugia
Editor in Chief:
Shoham Geva
Managing Editor:
Laura Schinagle
Copy Editors:
Emily Campbell
Alexis Nowicki
Taylor Grandinetti
the statement
Wednesday, September 14, 2016 / The Statement
TV and Me: The Fall Lineup
B Y A L E X I N T N E R
the
tangent
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/DAILY
T H O U G H T B U B B L E : R E ADJ US TIN G
I’m a sophomore, so it’s not like everything’s
new. My job for the summer had a super good
community, so I’m still adjusting to not having that.
– LSA sophomore Hannah Nelson
COVER PHOTO BY
CAROLYN GEARIG,
DESIGN BY SHANE
ACHENBACH
ILLUSTRATION BY EMILIE FARRUGIA