Deception Archives - TV Breakroom

Broadcast Freshmen Grading – How Did I Do With 2012-2013′s New Shows?

Aside from Hannibal, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and the CW have made their decisions about which shows are returning next season. How did I do this year on picking which new shows to watch?

ABC

Canceled: 666 Park Avenue, The Family Tools, How to Live with Your Parents, Last Resort, Malibu Country, Red Widow, Zero Hour

Renewed: The Neighbors

I watched more of ABC’s pilots than I typically would for a network since their media site allowed me to preview several shows weeks or even months before they aired. I didn’t like 666 Park Avenue. I thought The Family Tools and How to Live with Your Parents were decent, but by the time they finally started airing I didn’t have time to watch. I loved the pilot of Last Resort, but subsequent episodes lacked the same polish, so I bailed after episode 3, always saying I’d get back to the show, but never actually doing so. The Neighbors was far better than I was expecting, and I watched through the mid-season break, and plan to catch up this summer.

Grade: A+

CBS

Canceled: Golden Boy, Made in Jersey, Partners, Vegas

Renewed: Elementary

I watched not a single full episode of any of the canceled shows, and I loved Elementary right from the start, and it remains one of my favorite new shows.

Grade: A+

Fox

Canceled: Ben & Kate, The Mob Doctor

Renewed: The Following, The Mindy Project

I watched the two new comedies on Fox with a nervous eye toward the ratings. While Ben & Kate was cute, The Mindy Project was far more funny. The drama premises interested me not at all.

Grade: C+

NBC

Canceled: 1600 Penn, Animal Practice, Deception, Do No Harm, Go On, Guys With Kids, The New Normal

Renewed: Chicago Fire, Revolution

I passed on all of NBC’s new dramas, though I did give Revolution two episodes to convince me it was must-see-TV (it failed to), but I was far more willing to try out comedies. The New Normal proved its awfulness in one episode, and I moderately enjoyed Animal Practice while it lasted. I enjoyed 1600 Penn, Go On, and Guys With Kids, but fell multiple episodes behind with each of them quite frequently.

Grade: D

The CW

Canceled: Cult, Emily Owens, MD

Renewed: Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, The Carrie Diaries

I was going to give Cult a chance because of Matt Davis, but the previews turned me off, and I never planned to watch Emily Owens. Arrow is tied with Elementary for my favorite new drama of the year, and I enjoyed Beauty and the Beast but fell behind because of my new job. Initially I didn’t like the idea of The Carrie Diaries at all, but cute promos and a Doctor Who alum has pushed the show into “maybe I’ll check it out someday” territory.

Grade: A

In all, I give myself a B+ for show selection this year – beating my score for last year.

How did you do on picking new shows to watch?

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Community News: October 19th is February 7th, Show to Return to its Old 8PM Thursday Slot

NBC has finally revealed when Community will return – February 7! What I hate about this announcement is that the show will be going back to competing directly with ratings juggernaut The Big Bang Theory in the Thursdays at 8 time slot, as well as American Idol and the CW’s highest-rated drama, The Vampire Diaries.

The Thursday night comedy lineup for NBC will then be: Community, Parks and Rec, The Office, and new show 1600 Penn (30 Rock will have ended and Up All Night will be on hiatus). No word on when midseason comedy Save Me will make an appearance.

Other midseason NBC news:

New drama Deception (formerly Infamous) will take Revolution’s plum Mondays at 10 slot in January while the futuristic drama goes on hiatus. It will air after The Biggest Loser (Revolution and The Voice will return in late March).

Smash will start its second season on Tuesday, February 5th at 10 after Parenthood wraps up its season in January. This move actually makes me more likely to watch the show, as I usually don’t have any broadcast shows to watch in that time slot. I liked some things about the show during its first season, but hated others. The music, however, kept me watching.

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Renew/Cancel News: More Neighbors and Scandal, No Farm, Up All Night Goes Multi, Hurricane Sandy Interrupts Originals

Lots of TV news today!

ABC has ordered 9 more episodes of The Neighbors and Scandal, bringing them both to 22-episode full seasons. No word on the fate of new dramas Last Resort, 666 Park Avenue, and Nashville yet.

NBC has decided not to pick up The Farm, a Dwight-focused spin-off of The Office. The planted pilot episode will still air as a standalone episode of The Office. And the midseason drama Infamous now has a new name – Deception.

The network did order 3 more episodes of struggling sophomore comedy Up All Night – but there’s a twist. After an extended winter hiatus, the show will return in the spring for its final 5 episodes as a multi-camera show, complete with a live audience. NBC seems to be favoring multi-camera shows this year – canceling Animal Practice while still airing (so far) Guys With Kids, putting Whitney on Wednesdays while keeping Community in limbo, and canceling single-camera Next Caller. Also, while they still have two new single-camera comedies lined up for midseason, they’re losing two single-camera shows with 30 Rock and The Office ending.

Many networks altered their schedules thanks to Hurricane Sandy. CBS aired repeats of its Monday comedies and a special weather update at 10. The CW aired repeats of 90210 and Gossip Girl instead of the planned originals. And NBC is preempting Go On and The New Normal on Tuesday.

And while there’s been a ton of pilot news lately, most of it is pretty nebulous. One pilot order that caught my eye was sci-fi thriller Mila 2.0. Deadline shared that the potential show is about “a young woman who discovers that she is a Mobile Intel Life-like Android, Mila, an experiment in artificial intelligence created by the U.S. government and her scientist mother, who kidnapped her when she was found to have human emotions.” The pilot will be based on the upcoming book Mila 2.0 (pre-order here!) by debut author Debra Driza.

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