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

