The last few issues of Television Week have been chock full of info on upcoming shows. Some sound great, some so bad they just might be good (see CBS).
PBS
Monty Python specials
New Monty Python material! Except they’re not working together, so it’ll be something completely different (to coin a phrase). Each of the five remaining Pythons will produce and write his own episode featuring old sketches mixed with new work. A sixth episode will pay tribute to the still very dead Graham Chapman.
NerdTV
Broadcast television’s first (?) fully downloadable series will be available at PBS.org starting September 6. Each hour long episode features interviews with technology industry insiders. Sounds like the rebirth of TechTV to me. Or some of those old CNET shows I liked so much. (PBS has offered Nova episodes online in Quicktime before, but I guess they’ll be pushing the download aspect of this show even more.)
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking
Rupert Everett and Helen Mirren star in a new Sherlock incarnation. There’ve been rumors in the past about Everett playing James Bond – I guess Holmes is the next best thing. Airs on Masterpiece Theatre October 23.
Court TV
The Takedown
A reality series in which a reformed con artist tries to crack security systems. More entertaining that watching a reformed hacker trying to crack firewalls, I suppose.
Haunting Evidence
A paranormal reality show in which a team ivestigates “haunted” crime scenes. Sounds like a copycat of Sci Fi’s Ghost Hunters. I really dig that show, though, so I’ll be checking this out.
TBS
The Replacement
Tom Arnold travels the country filling in on specific jobs like camp counselor, or best man at a wedding. This reality show sounds like the Simple Life, but with an actual talent at the center of it. I’m not a huge fan of Arnold, but I always enjoy his appearances on Letterman. Currently in production on pilot episode.
A&E
Hitchcock and the Making of “Psycho”
Dramatizing the famous director’s effort to make the classic horror film. I’m a huge Hitchcock fan, plus I’ve read the book on Psycho, so I’ll tune in to see if they get it right. What intrigues me is the word “dramatize,” which means people playing Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins and (gasp) Hitch himself. This could be either fascinating or awful.
God or the Girl
A reality show about men on the verge of entering the priesthood. Hopefully this will approach its religious subject matter with as much intelligence as 30 Days did on FX.
NBC
The Book of Daniel
Also jumping on the God bandwagon, Aidan Quinn sees visions of Jesus that may or may not be the result of his painkiller addiction. They’re doing this plot already on Rescue Me, and it’s hilarious. Somehow I think NBC’s version will be a little more sanitized to appeal to the Joan of Arcadia crowd.
CBS
The network that brought us Spring Break Shark Attack and Locusts is really going for the sensational this season.
Martha Behind Bars
A miniseries depicting (what else?) the queen of homemaking dressed in bright orange. Fall 2005.
Time Bomb
A terrorist-plot-in-a-football-stadium thriller. Classy. I guess we can do terrorist stories again, and why not go exploitation all the way with “Die Hard” at the football game? Will it be more like Van Damme’s Sudden Death (Die Hard at the hockey game) or the 70s classic Black Sunday?
Category 7: The End of the World
If you thought last season’s Category 6: Day of Destruction was the end, think again! The end of the world will spread itself over two nights: November 6 and 13. Read Scott Foy’s hilarious plot breakdown.
Untitled Pope Miniseries
Pope John Paul II gets his own TV biopic. Described as a “papal page-turner,” despite the fact that it’s TV, not a book.
Struggling ingenue update
What happened to those promising young actresses from Party of Five? While Neve Campbell has hit it big critically with her last few indie films, we have to look to TV movies for Jennifer Love Hewitt and Lacy Chabert. Both have movies in production with ABC Family.
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