V I D E O • A G E OC T O B E R 2 0 1 1 28 BY KIERSTEN MORSANUTTO Will bad be good for the U.S. TV networks? This is what the Los Angeles Times wondered in a recent article titled, “Longing For a Time When Bad Was Good.” According to the newspaper, “the future of television lies squarely in the past.” Well, this is nothing new to VideoAge readers who, last January, were warned, “the future [of television] is retro.” This trend is also migrating into fashion, where designers have incorporated the 1960s into their fall 2011 collections. Jean Paul Gaultier, Prada, Alberta Ferretti and Burberry, for example, have shown off some seriously retro designs in clothing and outerwear. For the new season, the U.S. TV networks are offering 1960s-based dramas The Playboy Club (Fox for NBC) and Pan Am (Sony Pictures for ABC). There’s also the modern remake of iconic 1976 series Charlie’s Angels (Sony Pictures for ABC), set to hit the small screen in the fall. Perhaps it’s all a result of the incredible success of Mad Men since both sleek, sexy series The Playboy Club and Pan Am “feel like a Mad Men spinoff,” according to the Times. The retro trend also extends to returning series, like the remake of Hawaii Five-O (on CBS), which originally ran from 1968-1980, and to the midseason J.J. Abrams-created drama Alcatraz (Warner Bros. for FOX midseason), whose plot takes viewers back to the ’60s. To a certain extent, the roots of NBC’s musical drama, Smash by NBC Universal can be traced back to 1982 series Fame (or, at least, Glee). This new TV season has plenty of other trends, too. In addition to retro series and remakes, we have: Foreign TV adaptations, such as Prime Suspect (ITV Global for NBC), based on a 1992 British miniseries, and Free Agents (NBC Universal for NBC) based on a 2007 British series. There are also movie adaptations, like The Firm (eOne for NBC), based on a 1993 movie of the same name andNapoleon Dynamite (Fox for FOX midseason), a cartoon comedy based on a 2004 live action movie. And there are spin-offs, such as Major Crimes (Warner Bros. for TNT), a spin-off of The Closer, andThe Finder (Fox for FOX midseason), a spin-off of Bones. Let’s not forget that, this season, a great number of well-known movie stars —including Christina Ricci in Pan Am, Kiefer Sutherland in Touch (Fox for FOX midseason) and Andie MacDowell in Jane By Design (Disney for ABC Family) — will migrate from the silver screen to the “tube.” Finally, the ever-popular cop and hospital shows have been outnumbered by supernatural series, with a record total of 10. One of the most buzzed-about of those is Terra Nova (Fox for FOX), a Steven Spielberg-produced series about a family embarking on an epic adventure back to the prehistoric age. And there are plenty more shows garnering attention from critics and regular TV fans alike. There’s thriller Ringer (CBS for CW), which marks the return of Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar, and has the makings of a cult following. In terms of the most buzzed-about comedies, there’s the small screen return of Tim Allen (formerly of Home Improvement) on Last Man Standing (Fox for ABC), an edgy NYC-based sitcom from Michael Patrick King (of Sex and the City fame) called 2 Broke Girls (Warner Bros. for CBS), Suburgatory (Warner Bros. for ABC), starring Cheryl Hines and Jeremy Sisto, and Up All Night (NBC Universal for NBC), starring Will Arnett, Christina Applegate and Maya Rudolph. In the world of non-scripted programming, nothing is quite drawing as much attention as The X Factor (FME for Fox). The Simon Cowellproduced talent show is a phenomenon in the U.K., and has gotten a lot of celebrity weekly attention thanks to the “is she or isn’t she judging?” drama of U.K. judge Cheryl Cole (turns out, she isn’t). The confirmed judges are Paula Abdul, producer L.A. Ried and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. With Simon Cowell’s Midas touch, could it be anything but a hit? But you don’t have to just take our word for it. TV Guide’s Adam Bryant, a member of the Television Critics Association, had this to say about the series: “For better or worse, people like Simon Cowell. They kind of like the guy who is a little mean — speaking his mind, being honest. I think people will want to see the show that he’s been talking about for so long and see if it will live up to Idol,” he said. Bryant predicted that The X Factor will dominate the schedule and return for multiple seasons. Bryant pointed to CW dramaRinger as a series with “a very interesting premise; it’s a big show that the CW will harness this year with their schedule.” In the sci-fi/fantasy genre, Terra Nova with Jason O’Mara, Once Upon a Time (Disney for ABC) and Grimm (NBC Universal for NBC) are also making waves. Fairy tale dramas such as Once Upon a Time and Grimm are a popular trend because, “People are looking for an escape,” said Bryant. “The economy is in a bad place. People are … really turning to TV as a means to get away from their daily world,” he said. Bryant thinks the success of all of the fall shows will depend on the audience and the networks’ branding. “Like it or not, branding is a part of what network television is. So, the networks that have bought shows that are on brand, yet still new and interesting enough to sort of take TV in a new direction, but still familiar enough to what they’ve done in the past, will be the shows that stick around.” Lucy Cohen Blatter and Sara Alessi contributed to this story. Retro Trend Is Forward Thinking For U.S. TV F a l l 2 0 1 1 S e a s o n Pan Am from Sony Pictures for ABC The Playboy Club from Fox for NBC A Gifted Man from CBS Studios for CBS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI4OTA5