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66 TV Critics (Including Herc) Were Polled On Autumn's Shows!! Learn Which Series Crushed The Others!!
I am – Hercules!!
It looks like a big year for Aaron Sorkin, at least if the critics have something to say about it.
Broadcasting and Cable, a periodical owned by the same folks who put out Daily Variety, conducts a poll each summer asking critics to choose the best new TV series.
The winner by a landslide for “best overall new program” was Sorkin’s “Studio 60 Live On The Sunset Strip,” which was the top pick of 49 percent of the 66 critics polled.
The runners-up for “best overall” were two ABC shows, the hourlong fashion-world comedy “Ugly Betty” (from “Jake 2.0” creator Silvio Horta) and the highly serialized ensemble drama “The Nine” (from “Without a Trace” writer Hank Steinberg and “Judging Amy” writer K.J. Steinberg). They garnered a comparatively piddling 12 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
Curiously, “The Nine” edged out “Studio 60” in the “best new drama” category; the two series were chosen as “best drama” by 27 and 24 percent of the critics, respectively. (I’m guessing because not every critic perceives the genre-bending “Studio 60” as a drama.)
“Ugly Betty” was named “best new comedy” by a winning 29 percent of the critics. Runners-up in this category were SNL vet Tiny Fey’s backstage-at-NBC sitcom “30 Rock” (20 percent) and CBS’ bizarro reunion sitcom “The Class” (16 percent), which was co-created by writer David Crane (who earlier created “Dream On” and “Friends”).
Learn which other shows the TV critics liked here.
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first!
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From the article: "But Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan warns that the network's admiration for the single-camera comedy is a reason only eight new half-hours will launch at the beginning of the fall.
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The fact that a new Aaron Sorkin show is gonna be the best new show of the year isn't exactly brain surgery you know. Loved the version of the pilot I saw, not least for a great performance from Matthew Perry. Never thought I'd be writing those words. Also got round to seeing the first "The Nine" yesterday. Brilliant set-up for a show. The first 20 mins or so were amazing (not that the rest were bad) and the jump forward by 52 hours with all the hints and questions as to what happened in that time was one of the best executed devices I've seen on a TV show this year.
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people liked it that much, huh?
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The last few hourlongs to get as much buzz prior to airing were Housewives and Lost and they did gangbusters, I just want as much Sorkin as possible. I really thought the Nine lost its way halfway through the pilot, and I lost interest, although the ending did make me want to see the next episode, but I think it will get bland quickly. The Class really sucked, ifthat is the best "traditional" sitcom then we are in trouble. All the CBS pilots sucked bar Smith, which was great, that is a must watch.
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Did anyone else get "Studio 60" and "Kidnapped" from Netflix? Excellent marketing strategy - I'll probably give both shows a chance. "60" in particular does look very good!
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Any love for AC?
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I will be interested to see if Sorkin and the writing staff is actually able to make the sketch show parts actually funny. So far they avoided that altogether in the pilot which I thought would be a good approach for the series until Herc broke the story about Lauren Graham "hosting" the show within a show. And I guess they hired Mark McKinney to help with that portion of the writing. But the "pimp my trike" segment that I saw with D.L. Hughley on a commercial looked awful. Maybe it was supposed to be. But a show about comedy that is not funny could be interesting or very problematic.
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So very glad that it looks like Sorkin won't be going anywhere for a while.
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When the show "Two Guys, A Girl, and A Pizza Place" had to shorten its name to "Two Guys and a Girl" because execs thought the title was too long? Can anyone else seeing this happen to Studio 60 reeeeaaall soon and end up simply being called studio 60
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If the critics liked them, say goodbye to STUDIO 60, THE NINE and UGLY BETTY after 6-8 weeks. TV critics are usually out of touch with mainstream audiences, so if they're "Meh" about HEROES, that means you can bet on a full season pickup.
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He is just a terrible, terrible writer and all of his Who's-On-First? banter makes me want to slam my head against a wall.
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That a remake of a telenovela would be this years most favored new comedy. But it's on ABC so most likely it will get cancelled. ABC does not know what to do with a comedy.
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Intentional insult, or just clever typo?
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I really don't get what the critics are seeing in this show. I thought the pilot was completely boring. It was like that awful show Windfall, but with everyone joined together by a hostage crisis instead of a lotto win. Sure, a 52 hour hostage crisis is interesting, but watching people deal with the aftermath of one is not. Plus, the whole "mystery" aspect of what really happened doesn't work. It's like if Lost took place after everyone was home and then flashed back to the island once in a while. How stupid would that be?
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gee thanks Herc. Your gigantic ads just made me buy everything on this goddamn page, ya troglodyte.
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the season 2 premiere of "Sports Night" and, fuck, is that a great episode. Jeremy's whole speech about why he was really upset and how women don't have intuition. Casey's confrontation with Dana and the whole "What took you so long, McCall?" "I was waiting the proper 90 days like I was taught." and then just his whole leaving, coming back, and his outburst of enthusiasm when he finally does it. Goddamn was that a realistic show. I really could care less about sports, but those incredibly real characters is why I watched. Also, didn't "Two Guys and a Girl..." drop the pizza place in their title, as they no longer had the set for it? Or did they get rid of the set because they were shortening the title?
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They're not in your beloved HD format AND don't have the new whiz-bang effects! Are they not a waste of all of our money because of the new HD revolution you so lovingly embrace???
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to allude to "positive buzz" around a Sorkin show. That could send that dude back to Burbank airport with a bag full of bongs, crack pipes and vibrators. If you don't think that's funny, trying saying twice as fast. It seems to work for Sorkin's writing. (It Must Be Brilliant, it was mumbled quickly and barely intelligible. It must be genius.) I just want to know where he's getting all his soapboxes from. The ones I get at the store collapse instantly. If something great and original emerges this TV season, it will be stuffed in a rock filled burlap sack and drowned in a river by season 2. Wait for the DVDs.
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Y'know, after watching the West Wing on and off over its run, I could just never get into that show. I just never saw it as good as some people seem to say. Even close friends whose opinions I usually put a lot of stock in. I always found it leaning to the melodramatic, and all its "clever and witty" dialogue was just quick and pretentious. Does anyone understand what I mean when I say I think the West Wing pretended to be a good show, and people fell for it?
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Where the hell is Josh Molina???
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I know what you mean ("Does anyone understand what I mean when I say I think the West Wing pretended to be a good show, and people fell for it?")... but I gotta say I don't really agree with it. There is so much crap on TV that panders to the lowest common denominator that it's refreshing to occasionally have programming -- and I think both THE WEST WING and SPORTS NIGHT fell into this category -- that targets a smarter viewership.
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Was re-airing season one of "Sports Night" with a laugh track (and having the DVDs ONLY have this version). The dialogue is so quic kthat the laughs are squeezed in, and because the show is just as serious as it is comedic, you'd go 19 minutes with a laugh, and then one would just come in, and you'd completely forget that it was there. It was just awkward as hell, and a terrible idea to draw in new viewers.
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...Traveller. While I'll always love Sports Night and West Wing, the thought of another Sorkin show is making me feel really tired right now. Traveller, meanwhile, has really gotten my curiosity piqued. The last two times I've been this interested in a new show were for 24 and Lost, and a 1 out of 2 success rate ain't bad.
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Now, I did not really like the show (but it's probably the best of all of Sorkin's efforts to date). But from the way the show was shot, it is VERY obvious it was NOT filmed in front of a studio audience and the canned laughter threw me off so much that I probably ended up hating the show much more than I would have otherwise.
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That's the gamble with Studio 60; TV critics and Hollywood insiders eat that insider shit alive, but Joe Riveter in Montana doesn't give a shit about the inner workings of a TV network. Media satires ALWAYS get raves (The Player, Wag the Dog, Thank You for Smoking) because media people love to chortle smugly and feel important, but unless it's something more relatable like "Entourage," it's rarely a crowd pleaser.
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Sure, it's not for everybody. But there's a shitload of substance there. Some people hate the fast talking thing, but it's definitely not to cover up bad writing. Totally agree on the laugh track for Sports Night, it was just disracting. Also agree that the mainstream may not be interested in an "insider" show...although I have to say that The Player was fucking genius, that was an absolutely amazing movie.
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Says so in the article you linked to, Herc. That makes the other numbers that seemed weird to you also fit in better (27% for The Nine vs 24% for Studio 60).
Anyhow, the ones I'm gonna give at least a few episodes of look-see are: Studio 60, Kidnapped, Heroes, Daybreak (when it finally starts), Jericho, and Smith.
The thing I'm worried about is alot of them have cool 'high concepts' that sound great for say 13 episodes, or stretched maybe a full season. But they'll either pad themselves out too much right from the start to try and save their twists for later (ala Invasion), or they'll do a pretty great first season and blow their load, and be shooting nothing but blanks the second season (Prison Break). -
Sorry.
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Come on now.... A TV show about a socialpathic serial killer who fakes emotions and is known by friends as a great guy and works right under the nose of the police department so he can identify other serial killers and kill them in horrible messy grizzly ways.
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It's a typo, but I'm leaving it because she is kinda tiny! And for the record? I find Fey both supertalented and supercute! If you decide now to seek your TV news elsewhere from now on, I will understand!
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Best TV critic on the planet. I would execute any plan he suggested.
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I hope Sorkin stays on the wagon, because this was the best written thing since -- well, since shows on HBO. The language is great, he hasn't dumbed down the insanity and inpenetrability of showbiz life, Whitford and Perry have spectacular chemistry (I'm just waiting for the slash fanfic to surface), Peet is charming, and it is a real treat to see the normally-goofy Steven Weber tackle the role of such a cold-as-ice bastard. I don't even mind Sarah Paulson, whom I normally loathe (I don't care if she is Cherry Jones' girlfriend -- she usually BUGS). I have been champing at the bit to see the second episode, but I also live in great fear of an early cancellation, mainly because this is such an intelligent "insider" show. It needs a much bigger audience than "Entourage" pulls and "Action" attempted to pull, and I'm afraid that the yabbos in the flyover states won't understand it at all.
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....WTF?!?!?!???? Is John Stewart having a prostate exam or something? I thought he had that gig locked up with his perfomance this year. And was Conan not available? What the hell? What is this the daytime Oscars now? I predict a bomb of collosal proportions? Chris Rock barely escaped with his reputaion intact and most of Stewart's jokes flew right over the Hollywood's elite's heads; even though he kept it fresh for the viewers at home with material like the whole " 3 six Mafias : 1 Oscar, Martin Scorsese: Nil. Oh well, the Academy Awards' have been on a steady downhill since Billy Crystal's heydays in his prime, and which was a hell of a while ago. I'm surprised AICN isn't on top of this.......
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...I guess rare people who loved Sportsnight and didn't care for the West Wing. Studio 60 has much more of a Sportsnight feel. Therefore my guess, based on the pilot, is that I will like it, and that it will flop.
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I live in a flyover state. You need to get out a little more.
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Watched the pilot via torrent. Sorkin shoots his shows better than most movies, and I love to see Matthew Perry bouncing off walls again.
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Where's the big list of when the different shows start up again for the fall? Usually there's a big list of them on here somewhere, but I haven't seen it this year.
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http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=24318
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Thanks!! Just what I wanted!
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