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Written by Chuck Barney, MCT
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Monday, 21 May 2007 |
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The nation's television programmers are apparently fed up with life in the humdrum everyday world and they're gambling that you are, too. So they're injecting a big blast of escapist fantasy into prime time next season in the form of vampires, time travelers, modern cavemen, a bionic woman and bounty hunter for Satan.
Yes, I said a bounty hunter for Satan. Oh, this should be fun — or really, really ridiculous.
All this farfetched fare marks a significant philosophical shift for the broadcast networks, which only last fall had a major jones for moody and complex serial dramas, most of which quickly crashed and burned.
"Nobody showed up for these shows," ABC entertainment chief Steve McPherson admitted last week when the networks unveiled their new lineups for advertisers during an annual industry ritual known as the "upfronts." "This is a little bit of a hindsight adjustment."
McPherson pointed out that failed series such as "The Nine," "Day Break" and "Kidnapped" were compelling, but also "very dense and demanding." In contrast, the rare freshman hits such as "Heroes" and "Ugly Betty" offered "escapism in different forms."
And so it's off to fantasyland we go with a prodigious batch of shows that lean more on surrealism than realism. Of course, this is the way television usually works. The pendulum swings in one direction and then way back in the other, middle ground be damned.
But will we buy it? Sure, all those serials about kidnappings, conspiracies and killings pretty much bummed us out. On the other hand, will we want to watch a show about an "undead" detective who was bitten by his vampire wife 60 years ago and now prefers to help people rather than suck their blood (CBS's "Moonlight")?
Or will we set aside one hour every week and weld ourselves to a drama about a newspaper reporter who has the power to whisk himself back in time and change lives (NBC's "Journeyman")?
And will we really be able to take seriously a show about a man who can resurrect the dead with the touch of his hand — and then make them die all over with another touch (ABC's "Pushing Daisies")?
Sci-fi and fantasy is awfully tough to pull off, especially on a week-to-week basis. Just make one little misstep in tone here or there and you leave viewers giggling instead of engaged.
That's if you even convince them to watch in the first place. No doubt many of us will only get as far as the brief log-line descriptions of these shows before we throw up our hands and roll our eyes.
Listen, for example, to how The CW describes its upcoming drama, "Reaper": This "humor-filled adventure" is "the story of a slacker named Sam who learns that his parents accidentally sold his soul to the devil before he was born, forcing him into a new life as the devil's bounty hunter."
I'll pause briefly here to allow you time to chortle uproariously ...
Then again, it at least sounds more interesting than the 900th doctor or lawyer show. And besides, I've learned that what a TV series sounds like on paper doesn't always have a bearing on how it will come off on the screen. For example, I remember reading ABC's initial synopsis for "Lost" and — thinking it sounded like "Gilligan's Island" on crack — quickly gave it no chance to survive.
Three years later, those plane-crash castaways continue to mesmerize me.
Still, it's difficult to imagine getting all excited over NBC's remake of "Bionic Woman," which has Michelle Ryan taking over as the technologically enhanced Jaime Sommers. After all, I paid scant attention to the original, which lasted only two seasons.
And it's really difficult to imagine finding the thrills in "Caveman," an ABC sitcom inspired by a series of Geico commercials about a bunch of Neanderthals making their way through contemporary society.
But come to think of it, I am pretty fond of "The Sopranos."
___
Chuck Barney:
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