The fall always brings a slate of wide-eyed new programs that made it through the rough pilot process and are eager to impress.
Some might succeed and become the next \Friends,"" while others bomb to be scoffed at as this year's ""Coupling"" or ""Push, Nevada.""
The Daily Cardinal takes a look at some of this fall's offerings that have a chance at becoming the next big hits.
FOX could never find a suitable pairing for its critical hit ""Arrested Development."" In its first season, the show's subtlety did not mesh with lead-in ""Malcolm in the Middle's"" off-the-wall wackiness. Similarly, ""Arrested"" could not hold perennial FOX favorite ""The Simpsons'"" audience in its sophomore season.
Now, ""Arrested"" might have a partner in crime in ""Kitchen Confidential."" With a comparable approach employing snarky, refined humor and a single-camera, laugh track-less setup, ""Confidential"" should complement ""Arrested"" rather well.
Based upon Anthony Bourdain's book of the same name, ""Confidential"" follows ""Alias'"" Bradley Cooper's Jack Bourdain as he tries returning to grace in the dining world after burning out as a ""rock star chef.""
Coming from ""Sex and the City"" producer Darren Star, FOX might have found the perfect mate for its beleaguered Emmy winner.
Mondays 7:30 p.m., FOX
Premieres Sept. 19
Not wanting to be left out of the alien-lifeforms-invading-the-earth disaster drama loop, NBC offers up its own-""Surface,""-but this one is different. This one has sea monsters.
A series of weird events bring together three seemingly different characters from across the country to Florida's coast. There is the single mother marine biologist who had a strange encounter when exploring a rift in the ocean floor, a preteen boy who spotted something while water skiing at night, and a Gulf Coast fisherman who saw something big and nasty when he went spear fishing.
It's an interesting concept, and it works fairly well. The first episode has plenty of large, shadowy objects darting in and out of the background to leave the viewer a little on edge, and enough character development, albeit somewhat contrived, to make the show interesting. Time will tell if NBC, which is looking for a ratings hit after a lean few years, will let this be more of a thriller than a shocker.
Mondays, 7 p.m., NBC
Premieres Sept. 19
""Do good things, and good things happen to you,"" Jason Lee states in the preview for ""My Name is Earl."" After winning $100,000 on a scratch-off lottery card, Earl is almost instantly hit by a car and loses the ticket.
Of course, Earl concludes, the most logical cause of this is karma and not the fact that he ran into the middle of the street during his celebration. While lying in his hospital bed, Earl makes a list of all the people he has wronged in his life and plans to make things right with them all, in hopes of turning his karma around.
Either they will never say how many people comprise this list, or NBC has very little faith in ""Earl,"" and are artificially limiting its run.
Tuesdays, 8 p.m., NBC
Premieres Sept. 20
It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so NBC must love tooting its own horn. Not only does NBC have several dozen ""Law and Orders,"" but they are also expanding their ""The Apprentice"" line with ""The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.""
The peppy advertisements promoting the Martha Stewart edition claim the real change from the Donald Trump version will be that people cannot make fun of Martha's hair, since it is styled quite well, and does not compare to Trump's insane locks. However, the easy jokes will come from Martha's prison sentence. At least three times an episode when Stewart chides someone, the automatic retort will most likely be ""Well, at least I've never committed a felony!"" Of course, humor will always follow this statement.
""The Apprentice: Martha Stewart"" will really open some doors for other enterprising businesspeople. Could ""The Apprentice: Ron Jeremy"" be far away?
Wednesdays, 8 p.m., NBC
Premieres Sept. 21
UPN placed a lot of faith behind its newest comedy, Chris Rock's ""Everybody Hates Chris."" It even went as far as launching the largest advertising campaign in its 10-year history. While the size of this campaign might pale in comparison to the big four's campaigns, (rumors peg the campaign to be roughly the size of CBS's promotion for Bronson Pinchot's ""Meego"") it still represents an impressive undertaking.
While this show could have been just a stupid play on ""Everybody Loves Raymond,"" it actually has quite a bit of meat to it. ""Chris"" is a semi-autobiographical look at Rock's life growing up in early '80s Brooklyn.
Rock takes on the narration role with ""Wonder Years""-esque voiceovers. Oddly enough, in the pilot, these voiceovers actually become overbearing, and they do not allow the actors to act. Maybe later episodes will allow for less narration, resulting in the feel of a show, not a 22-minute Rock stand-up routine.
Thursdays, 7 p.m., UPN
Premieres Sept. 22
