Midseason Outline New Shows Are Coming Up To Replace Ones That, For A Number Of Reasons, Didn’t Quite Make It
It’s beginning to look a lot like midseason at the networks - all of them. With few exceptions, the new shows have flopped. Some have gone back into the shop for repairs. Others are gone, period, poised to be replaced by newcomers that are - if not necessarily promising - at least untried.
The decks are being reshuffled. It’s nearly time to deal the cards. Let the bets be placed.
And make no mistake: There will be plenty of bets. On the heels of the record 42 new shows that premiered last fall, at least 21 new ones have been announced for midseason. And that doesn’t include shows that have been retooled and moved to new nights, such as ABC’s “Murder One” (reappearing at 10 p.m. Mondays beginning Jan. 8) and CBS’ “American Gothic” (10 p.m. Wednesdays).
As for the replacement troops, they include the following:
NBC
“3rd Rock From the Sun” (8:30 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Jan. 9): In this comedy, John Lithgow (working in his first sitcom) heads a group of four aliens visiting Earth and develops an instant taste for lame breast humor. Jane Curtin stars as the object of Lithgow’s naive alien lust.
“Raising Caines” (Unscheduled): Mel Harris and Judge Reinhold are the parents of four kids and Barry Corbin is their grandpa in this single-camera comedy from “Wonder Years” executive producer Bob Brush about the pitfalls of child-rearing.
“Malibu Shores” (Unscheduled): The ever-prolific Aaron Spelling stable foists more beautiful young people loaded with angst onto audiences, here in an hour soap that pits rival high school students in a battle of wills. One school is in Malibu. The other is in the Valley. Guess which one the cool kids attend?
ABC
“Champs” (9:30 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Jan. 9): This comedy from “Family Ties” creator Gary David Goldberg revels in the joys of male bonding, with Timothy Busfield (“thirtysomething”), Ed Marinaro (“Hill Street Blues”) and Kevin Nealon (“Saturday Night Live”) among the regulars.
“World’s Funniest Home Videos” (8 p.m. Thursdays beginning Feb. 1): That’s right. It isn’t enough to show Americans abusing their pets and injuring themselves on videotape. Now we have to see people doing it in Hungary, too.
“Before They Were Stars” (8:30 p.m. Thursdays beginning Feb. 1): A weekly salute to the humble beginnings and embarrassing moments in the careers of stars who obviously will never live them down.
“Second Noah” (8 p.m. Mondays beginning Feb. 5): A new drama starring Daniel Hugh Kelly and Betsy Brantley as the parents of eight (count ‘em, eight) adopted children and countless animals. Call it “Eight Is More Than Enough.”
CBS
“Matt Waters” (9 p.m. Wednesdays): Originally slated for fall but knocked off the schedule by Mary Tyler Moore’s stillborn “New York News,” this drama stars sleaze-show host Montel Williams as an unorthodox New Jersey high school science teacher.
“The Cube” (Unscheduled): A comedy set in a wacky midtown Manhattan advertising agency that houses the usual suspects: a spaced-out junior copywriter, a cutthroat account executive, a conniving creative director and so many, many others.
“Bridges” (March): Don Johnson stars in this drama as a hotshot San Francisco cop with a lousy personal life that includes a pair of ex-wives. Talk about art imitating life. Johnson also executive produces.
“My Guys” (March or April): A kid-driven comedy starring Mike Damus (“Lost in Yonkers”) and Francis Capra (“A Bronx Tale”) as brothers (one age 15, the other 11) who are growing up in a single-parent family in New York.
“The Louie Show” (March or April): Comedian Louie Anderson finally gets his own sitcom, which finds him portraying a Minnesota therapist who welcomes an endless procession of dysfunctional humans into his office. Here’s the joke: His friends are even loonier than his patients. From the production team that brings you “Murphy Brown.”
Fox
“Local Heroes” (Unscheduled): This is a Generation X comedy about a group of former high school pals who are struggling to make a go of it as adults and longing for a return to the glory days of their past. Kind of like CBS.
“The Last Frontier” (Unscheduled): In this comedy, a trio of macho single guys living the manly life in Anchorage, Alaska, begin slobbering all over themselves after persuading a gorgeous single woman from Los Angeles (Jessica Tuck) to move into the guest cottage behind their house. Call it “Three Men and a Babe.”
“Profit” (Unscheduled): Don’t you hate it in TV shows when a person’s name is just a tad too convenient? In this drama, the overzealous junior exec in the big corporation is named Jim Profit. It’s like calling a football hero “Joe Cleat.” Anyway, this show stars newcomer Adrian Pasdar in a story about greed, 1990s style.
“Kindred: The Embraced” (Unscheduled): Having exhausted the topic of blood feuds, Aaron Spelling moves on to a series centered by a blood sucker. C. Thomas Howell portrays a San Francisco detective who infiltrates the dark and disturbing world of an underground vampire cult. “Interview With the Vampire” meets “Dirty Harry.”