Last Day of Upfronts

Today's the last day of the network upfronts, and it belongs to last-place finisher The CW. You can check out the full schedule here. As a guy over the age of 14, I don't watch a lot of CW, but still somehow more than CBS. So here's my thoughts.

Only two new shows, Hellcats and Nikita. Hellcats is a cheerleading show starring a girl from High School Musical. While the show may be set in college, I'm skeptical anyone college-age or above will be watching. Which leaves Nikita as the CW's most promising new show by default. The original was supposed to be cool, so may be worth a shot (even if it is another remake).

In the returning shows front, Life Unexpected was renewed, fortunately. It may have had an uneven first season, but it was likable enough that it deserves another year to figure things out. One Tree Hill continues to be the show that won't die. But you do have to give it credit as one of the few shows that cares so little about quality they'll do whatever they think seems crazy. And Melrose Place is, unsurprisingly, history.

So now that we've filled in the network grid, how's the fall looking? Compared to this past year, I'm seeing surprisingly few conflicts a DVR can't solve. Nothing near the difficulty of Glee vs. Lost. On Tuesdays at 8 Glee's going against the promising-sounding No Ordinary Heroes, but let's wait to see how that is before worrying about time-delaying it. Thursdays at 8 is Community vs. Big Bang Theory, which will piss off a lot of people but I don't currently watch either. And Sundays continue to be cable-only for me.

We won't know if any of these new shows are any good until pilot reviews start popping up and we get a chance to check them out ourselves. But I'm skeptical this fall will be a repeat of the previous one, when Glee and Modern Family broke onto the scene. Maybe I'll find one or two shows to add, but the networks aren't going to find appointment TV if they keep relying on the same cop shows, lawyer shows, and remakes they've depended on for years.