Fall TV Shows 2012 - In just a few weeks, your favorite TV shows plus several new series will be back on the new primetime lineup starting just after Labor Day.
The five major broadcast networks tend to add their new programming in the middle of the week on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, more than other nights of the week. What’s the reason?
First, they aren’t willing to risk the bigger audiences watching on Sunday and Monday nights changing the channel. But later in the week, advertisers look for solid audience ratings for commercials about new movies, restaurants, and big weekend sales. They need to have assurances the networks can deliver those Thursday night audiences, especially in predictable demographics. So networks won’t try out new shows on Thursday, although they will move favorite shows from other nights over. More on that in our column tomorrow.
So TV Den runs down your Fall 2012 schedule, and provides our brief preview of the new shows airing on what we call the “Tuesday Tryouts.” The only network not adding a new show tonight is ABC. The debut date for new episodes of both new and returning series are provided after each show.
New shows marked with an asterisk [*]
TUESDAY
ABC
8 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (Results Show)
9 p.m. Happy Endings (October 23)
9:30 p.m. Don’t Trust the B—- (October 23)
10 p.m. Private Practice (September 25)
CBS
8 p.m. NCIS
9 p.m. NCIS: Los Angeles
10 p.m. Vegas* (all September 25)
CW
8 p.m. Hart of Dixie (October 2)
9 p.m. Emily Owens, M.D.* (October 16)
FOX
8 p.m. Raising Hope (October 2)
8:30 p.m. Ben and Kate*
9 p.m. New Girl
9:30 p.m. The Mindy Project* (all September 25)
NBC
8 p.m. The Voice
9 p.m. Go On* (September 11)
9:30 p.m.The New Normal* (September 11)
10 p.m. Parenthood (September 11)
Notice the resemblance to Meryl Streep? New CW series Emily Owens, M.D. stars Mamie Gummer, Streep’s eldest daughter. Photo: CW.
Tuesday’s new shows are:
Ben and Kate – FOX, 8:30 p.m.
Premieres: Tuesday, September 25
Goofy doofy Ben (played by Oscar winner Nat Faxon moves in with his sister, single mom Kate (Dakota Johnson), to take care of her daughter. Hilarity ensues. The Ben character is supposedly based on the brother of the series creator, Dana Fox, who says he is a “Ferris Bueller” type (her brother, not Ben).
The Mindy Project – Fox, 9:30 p.m.
Premieres: Tuesday, September 25
With “New Girl” as the bridge that FOX hopes will keep viewers all night, this second new series is being described as an Americanized Bridget Jones’ Diary. Creator Mindy Kaling also stars as Mindy, a single woman finding career success but suffering relationship woes. Mindy is a gynecologist, which starts us with the eye rolling, except that Kaling’s own mother is a gynecologist. Kaling has to keep a lot of balls (ahem) in the air, and if she can do it this show could be a winner.
Emily Owens, M.D. – CW, 9 p.m.
Premieres: Tuesday, October 16
Medical school graduate Owens finds out that life in a hospital isn’t so different from high school. just loves playing doctor. If you think acress Mamie Gummer looks a lot like Meryl Streep, you’ve got a good eye. She is Meryl Streep’s eldest daughter. Think we will see a guest star appearance by Mom? She better make it soon.
Go On – NBC, 9 p.m.
Premieres: Tuesday, September 11
If you watched the London Olympics on NBC, you saw the promos featuring Matthew Perry as a sportscaster who joins a grief support group when his wife dies (although the commercials didn’t really explain that part). A grab bag of character types are thrown together. Hilarity ensues. If the producers put the best parts of the series into the promos, this show’s future is far from assured.
NBC hopes the new comedy The New Normal will produce better than normal ratings. Photo: NBC.
The New Normal – NBC, 9:30 p.m.
Premieres: Tuesday, September 11
A gay couple hire a single mom struggling to make ends meet for herself and her daughter to be a surrogate mom, much to the dismay of Grandma and several other people involved. Complications and hilarity ensure. The group One Million Moms made the series the first of fall 2012 to be boycotted. Reason enought to watch right there.
Vegas – CBS, 10 p.m.
Premieres: Tuesday, September 25
A Western period drama set in the sixties – that’s the 1960s, not the 1860s. Actor Dennis Quad stars as Las Vegas Sheriff Ralph Lamb, a real life character who went up against the mob. Joining the powerful cast is Michael Chiklis as the gangster in question, along with Carrie-Anne Moss and Sarah Jones. Chiklis and Quaid make this series worth a look.
NEXT: In Part 3, TV Den runs down the Wednesday night lineup including six more new shows including several promising dramas.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Fall TV Shows 2012
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