Now that the 2009-2010 network upfronts are a matter of record, it’s worth taking a look at the state of genre television and the direction it is taking in the next year or so.
This past season saw the end for some highly-regarded and popular shows: “Battlestar Galactica”, “Stargate Atlantis”, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Pushing Daisies”, and “Prison Break”. While JJ Abrams’ “Fringe” managed to find its footing and gain a substantial following, the more heralded return of Joss Whedon to the small screen, “Dollhouse”, struggled and only barely managed to gain renewal.
Many returning favorites had seasons of stellar improvement or sustained excellence: “Lost” had its best season yet, “Supernatural” actually gained in the ratings (rare for a fourth season), “24” benefited from a year off and a new writing approach. Even “Smallville” managed to find new focus, despite its inherent weaknesses. Only “Heroes” seemed to falter, plunging in the ratings as the writing staff disintegrated under its own incompetence.
Even in terms of shows I don’t review, there were plenty of casualties (“Reaper”, “Kyle XY”, for example), and some shows barely survived the culling (“Chuck”). For all the talk about the strength of new genre programming in the 2009-2010, it sounds awfully familiar. There’s not a lot of innovation. Most of it is coming out of ABC these days, which makes sense. Most of their schedule is filled with solid performers, and they have huge genre clout for their treatment of “Lost”.
But even ABC knows that it must seek a replacement for “Lost”, because it ends in 2010. In fact, if one were to play odds, based on this season and the historical record, a lot of shows are likely to end at the end of the 2009-2010 campaign: “Lost”, “24”, “Heroes”, “Smallville”, “Supernatural”, and “Dollhouse”. In other words, the vast majority of the shows currently reviewed on Critical Myth.
Even the cable networks aren’t particularly promising. While there are tons of excellent shows to watch, most of them are aired off-season or come in small batches. The “Ghost Hunters” franchise is still a guilty pleasure (though who can say for how much longer), and as a paranormal investigator myself, it provides a useful outlet to discuss issues within the field. “Stargate Universe” is on the horizon, as well as “Caprica”. Beyond that, I’m not sure that there’s much worth considering.
Taking all of that into account, this is the tentative reviewing schedule for 2009:
Monday: Dollhouse
Tuesday: Smallville
Wednesday: Heroes
Thursday: Ghost Hunters
Friday: Supernatural, Fringe
It would have been a lot easier if “Fringe” hadn’t moved, but it is what it is. Assuming everything stays put (and remains on the schedule) by Spring 2010, this will be the tentative schedule:
Monday: Dollhouse, Smallville
Tuesday: 24
Wednesday: Heroes
Thursday: Lost, Ghost Hunters
Friday: Supernatural, Fringe
With that more or less straightened out, I’ll be closing out the season with the 2008-2009 Post-Mortems throughout the month of June!
