Every year, countless writers work sleepless nights, most likely putting themselves virtually under house arrest for several months, just for the outside chance of getting their pilot produced for television.  Even six shows greenlit for NBC seems like a lot for the upcoming fall season.  As discussed in Part 1, considering the network’s limited success producing long-running shows in recent years, the very deliberate effort to introduce new shows concerns me a bit. New shows do tend to interest me, though. I’m relatively young, and there have not been many chances for me to say I was a regular viewer of a really quality, long running television series from start to finish. This year could be my shot.

Animal Practice

Animal Practice revolves around Dr. George Coleman, a veterinarian at Crane Animal Hospital in New York City. The premise is relatively simple: he’s a prestigious veterinarian because of his kindness and care toward animals, but just doesn’t have the same kindness toward people.  With that brief description, one might  be inclined to chuckle in somewhat of a forced way. “He would be so likable if he cared about people that much, but he doesn’t! How amusing!” Upon watching the trailer, however, it becomes clear that this sentiment is nothing more than a misguided hope in the minds of the show’s creators. Dr. Coleman’s lack of sympathy and utter disinterest for anything human dominates the trailer. From the get-go, after Coleman, with no emotion, explains to a customer that he thinks her cat tried to commit suicide. At that moment, I knew the rest was not going to be promising. As it progresses, his boss calls him a lousy director so he says, “My system may not be perfect, but I help a lot of animals and I meet a lot of girls.” After a beat, he says excitedly, “My system is perfect!” The unsympathetic comedy protagonist has proven successful in past shows, but those kind of characters should be at least somewhat enjoyable. Most importantly, the characters and their surrounding situations should be funny and the attempt at humor seems very forced. Basically, I really don’t see Animal Practice lasting.

Revolution

Revolution is a drama that takes place 15 years after all electricity suddenly and inexplicably turns off.  It’s an interesting idea, given that we now take technology for granted and it is thought-provoking to wonder what would happen if it stopped working. In this show, modern society is forced to go back to the days of the industrial revolution. Things are revealed to be complicated when a militia kills a young woman’s father, who it is later discovered that he may know why the lights went out. The trailer is full of dramatic music, passionate arguments, and some action shots that grabbed my attention. It seems to have very high production value, and very good acting. I just don’t think it’s for me. Apocalypse shows aren’t my thing and this premise seems especially  dark (pun intended) and depressing.  I won’t doubt this series’ potential, but the typical “well done” television drama does not always impress me. This show will probably do very well in the ratings and with the critics, especially since JJ Abrams is involved, but it’s not my type of show.

Chicago Fire

At Chicago Firehouse 51 stress is likely always high. When one of their colleagues dies in a fire, the rescue squad finds it difficult to simply go about their business. This is a unique perspective to show the personal struggles of the people at a job with already enormous responsibility. The rescue squad is likely to argue and have their differences. Chicago Fire seems to portray their attempts to put it aside when they have a mission as well as show the difficulties of going home and having to forget about a tragedy. One of the things that makes this show look promising is the apparent mix of both physical and emotional drama.. The scenes in the trailer in which the squad navigates through the fires were captivating. I’m not sure if I’ll like this show, but I’ll probably check it out. The unconventional workplace drama that this presents may prove to be very successful and the characters seem likable enough for me to give this a chance.

Reflection on the NBC’s New Fall Season

Overall, NBC seems to be making an effort to promote their new shows. This could either prove to be genius or incredibly costly, since much of their fall primetime schedule is untested. Some of these shows may last, and some, I sincerely hope don’t. Nevertheless, it’s a risky move. I have never seen an entire promo dedicated to the new shows of a fall season and, frankly, it seemed a bit strange. The ad claims “The show’s the thing,” but is it? Was the network right to green-light this many shows? As I said, a stable, long running series is hard to come by and I’m not sure that putting this much faith in the unknown is the right thing to do. Considering how difficult it is to make a show last, I would not be surprised if a couple midseason replacements are hastily put on the schedule by January.

For more on the upcoming Fall season, check out this article on Fox or Part 1 of Previewing NBC’s Fall 2012 Season.