Article posted to r.a.tv : May 28, 2002. Article posted to this site: October 27, 2002.
I'm not going to go into the details of the entire schedule; for that checkout:
http://lifeisunfair.net/2002_fall_schedule.html
or, http://tv.zap2it.com/
First, my projected network breakdown for Fall 2002:
ABC : 2-4 hours (About the same as last season...)
CBS : 5-10 hours (This is way up from 1-2 years ago! And
approaches my late 80s-early 90s CBS heyday.)
FOX : 3-6 hours (This is down 1-2 hours from last season.)
NBC : 1/2-1 1/2 hour (Ooo-hoo! Well done, NBC! Still not watching you!!)
UPN : 0! hours (Down from 2 hours last season! Yeah, UPN!
Really smart cancelling all your good stuff!)
WBN : 2-3 hours (Down from about 4 hours this past season,
continuing the trend of the last 2-3 years.)
Other: 1-3+ hours
CONCLUSION: The winner for Fall 2002 is clearly CBS. The losers are FOX, The WB, and especially UPN. ABC, despite heavy press bashing, only loses "Once & Again" (their best show, which they have no chance of replacing with this Fall's crop!), and so actually breaks about even...
Anyways, let's do analysis of the 2002 Fall Season night-by-night:
| Sundays | Mondays | Tuesdays | Wednesdays | Thursdays | Fridays | Saturdays |
Analysis: FOX's comedy line-up has never done it for me, and I'm not really interested in NBC's shows, nor in CBS and its 60 Minutes/sitcoms/movie line-up. That really only leaves WBN's newly constructed Sunday fantasy/drama line-up, with a definite pencil-in for me with "Charmed" at 8pm, and ABC's fare, which means I'll be watching "Alias" again next season at 9pm, despite my Jennifer Garner reservations. At 10pm (if I'm up), looks like "The Practice" will have me back.
Analysis: Surprising, for several seasons now, Monday nights have been my pick for the weakest night of the week (excepting Saturdays). And next Fall looks to be no exception. In short, if you're not an NFL fan, you're pretty much stuck with CBS's sitcoms - but what if you don't like sitcoms either?! It's a measure of this night's weakness that I'll likely be forced to watch two David E. Kelley shows, or be forced to turn off the boob tube entirely. Maybe it's time to go scouting in cable TV-land?... At 10pm, there's no choice: "Crossing Jordan" is a mess, and "C.S.I.: Miami" is formulaic - but formulas are preferable to messes.
Analysis: This night's easiest call is at 9pm - while I'm
strongly intrigued by CBS's "The Guardian" (which I
will watch, when "24" isn't on), nothing is going to tear me
away from Jack Bauer and his CTU team on "24".
Meanwhile, 8pm is much more problematic - I'm either stuck
with two declining sitcoms, or with swallowing my pride and returning to either
the "Gilmore Girls'" or "Buffy's" fold. Pride
may be a deadly sin, but I ain't giving up on mine - the aging sitcoms win.
At 10pm, there's the shrill "Judging Amy"
or the surprisingly venerable "NYPD Blue" (which was reinvigorated
yet again least season with new cast) - it's a no-brainer.
Analysis: My long standard choice of "Dawson's
Creek" at 8pm is actually jeopardized by potential plot developments
- as a longtime Dawson/Joey anti-shipper (I hate them together!), any
move to pair these two up will drive me to other shows, probably either UPN's
"Enterprise" or FOX's comedy block.
Meanwhile, at 9pm, ABC and FOX are at least making stabs
at taking on "The West Wing", with smarmy (but highly watchable)
reality show "The Bachelor (II)" and actioner "Fastlane",
respectively. My first choice is "The Bachelor II", but reality
shows often suffer 'sophomore slump', so if B2 tanks, I'll move over to Tiffani
Thiessen and "Fastlane" (I never mind schlock like this...).
At 10pm, I doubt I'm alone in having been exhausted by NBC's
L&O, which leaves two new medical dramas. Of the two, CBS's "Presido
Med" appears to have the stronger cast and premise. But who knows if
either new medical show is any good?!
Analysis: "Must-See" on Thursday nights is now
all CBS!
There's no credible alternative, for me, to "Survivor"
at 8pm (remember, I don't like sitcoms).
With "Charmed" cleared out of the 9pm timeslot,
I'm freed up to return to "C.S.I." (which I haven't
gotten to watch regularly since it moved from Fridays to Thursdays back in season
#1).
And, after the success of "The Agency",
I'll definitely be checking out CBS's new 10pm drama, "Without a
Trace". The real draw to this new show is Anthony LaPaglia, whom
I've really liked ever since "Murder One". I'm in!
Analysis: Well, clearly, Friday nights are in flux next
season, with every timeslot in play. With FOX's "Dark Angel",
CBS's "Nash Bridges", and The WB's most promising sitcoms all
gone from this night, it's time for a rebuild.
Only those who've been boycotting this group don't know that
I'm really down on show-runner Joss Whedon right now, so I am loath to sign
up for his new show "Firefly" at 8pm. But with a dearth of
alternatives on this night, I'll probably sample it - if I don't like, it'll
be back to WB's sitcoms, despite the fact that the new Jennie Garth vehicle
looks very iffy, and "Sabrina" without Carolyn Rhea is like
hot dogs without mustard.
At 9pm, however, is a real dilemma, with the two new shows
I'm most anticipating next season - FOX's 'Nowhere Man-meets-The Pretender-esque'
drama "John Doe", and CBS's "Hack", starring
the very promising team of David Morse and Andre Braugher. Looks like it's VCR
time.
Things only get a little easier at 10pm - L&O:SVU
is the only L&O show that I really like currently, so it probably
has an edge here. However, that won't prevent me from sampling CBS's new cop
drama from Michael Mann, "Robbery Homicide Division" - if this
turns out to be as good as Michael Mann's "Heat", count me
in!
Analysis: The dearth of network programming on Saturdays makes this the easiest choice of the entire week - you either watch CBS, or you go do something else. As it happens, I really came to like CBS's "The Agency" this past season, so I'm hoping it does well on its new night. Regardless, I'll be watching...
Analysis: With "Beastmaster" gone, "The Lost World" bungled beyond repair (and highly uncertain to return), and "Andromeda" about the get the "Earth: Final Conflict"-treatment from Tribune's studio goons, it looks like I'm down to "Mutant X", and "V.I.P." - at least, I was, until the latter show's late cancellation removed even it from the mix.
Surprisingly, there is very little new syndicated drama fare in the pipeline. About the only ones I've heard about is some actioner from Tribune (Adventure, Inc.), and NBC Studio's "V.I.P."-derivative "She Spies", but the former sounds pretty uninteresting to me and I'm not even sure I'll check it out, and the latter seems unoriginal.
It looks like syndication is in its worst straits since before the premieres of ST:TNG and "Hercules". Will it ever recover? I'm not real hopeful...
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