Hellcats: Â Frontin’ hard before our $#*! gets cancelled…
So check it out, lovely TV nerdlets: Â I actually had a really thoughtful blog about Rubicon that I was planning to write (and still am!), but it occured to me that Vampire Diaries just kicked off the fall season – official, like! – on Thursday. Which meant that if I still wanted to do this post, now is the time to do it before one of the networks beats me to the punch. (Sometimes they are like Wild Bill Hickok with those trigger-fingers. And yes, of course I mean the Keith Carradine version of Wild Bill from Deadwood. Who else would I mean?!)
Now, bear in mind, I really don’t take any sort of true pleasure in hypothesizing which new series of the fall season will be the first to be cancelled – a lot of work on the part of many people goes into a television series and in our current economy especially, it sucks balls for anyone to rapidly be out of a job. But like celebrity deaths, there is a bit of a time-honored tradition in attempting to play the guessing game simply for curiosity’s sake. Â How quickly, and for what apparent reasons, will the first casualty of Fall 2010 on the tube occur?
I’m placing a poll widget below, so all of you can submit your answers accordingly. Based on discussions I’ve had with friends and colleagues and stuff I’ve read online, I’m placing five “default” candidates in the mix, but you are more than free to submit your own answer using the “Other” option. (Just be sure to let us know your vote in the comments!) Â Here are our unlucky five “for your consideration” options:
– Outsourced: Probably the series most often cited by folks I’ve spoken to. Maybe because NBC’s comedy slate, so sparse just a couple of seasons ago, is now suddenly becoming crowded again, or because of the blatant gaffes on the site’s official page. Ouch…really?
– Hellcats: Simple mathematics – nearly every early review has been appalling. Presence of High School Musical darling Ashley Tisdale (not to mention a BSG cast member – dude!) aside, it doesn’t look good for the CW’s Bring It On-lite.
– The Event: Yes, I know, I had it on  my Fall 2010 TV preview and yes, I’m still hoping to be surprised by it. But because of its epic aspirations, its no doubt significant cost, and the de-facto “It’s the new LOST!” reputation, it’s a popular candidate at this stage in the game.
– Shit My Dad Says: No, I’m not going to use the punctuation-bleep spelling. Why should I, when at this point everyone seems to be more or less cheering for this show to go down? Honestly, what I’ve seen wasn’t as bad as I was expecting – maybe it’s just my Shatner gene, the man makes me laugh for reasons I cannae explain, Captain – yet, admittedly, it does appear to be a case of concept defeating execution.
– Running Wilde: Oh, it hurts. It hurts to put this here, for the same reasons it hurt to keep it off my Fall TV preview. Reunion of Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz with the mighty Will Arnett, co-starring the lovely and profusely talented Keri Russell, not to mention Peter “I am easily one of the funniest people alive, BELIEVE!” Serafinowicz, among others… why?!? Well, the tales of complete pilot re-vamps and the like haven’t been encouraging. Plenty of people who really, really want to love Running Wilde… so far, haven’t. I’m still going to be tuning in for sure because good lord, I hope this show can pull it together. For now, though… I know, it’s tough. Courage. Commence nerd prayer circle!
Alright, as Marty DiBergi would say… hey, enough of my yakkin’! Â Time to VOTE:
Image: The CW
I have vote for lonestar Ive seen the first episode and the ratings although i enjoyed the pilot the ratings were so bad i give it two weeks before it goes the way of firefly.
Chase. One of the Top 5, take it to the bank.
I think Hellcats looks horrendous, and should go first, but because it is on the shit-heavy CW, it will maintain because even an ugly person looks good next a bunch of even unglier folks.
Outsourced is the most offensive thing since the Big Bang Theory, so I’m guessing that it will be the most watched comedy in America this season.
Mike and Molly is nearly as distasteful, so it should be safe.
Running Wilde has the highest potential of any new comedy this year, so there is little chance it will see 4 episodes.
Although at the time I voted Hellcats was the pick to be the first to get canceled, I have to disagree. Whether we like it or not, the readers of this blog are by no metric the target audience of this show. “Tween” and teen girls are, and they so happen to be the largest consumers of crap media, and this show seems to be right on for their already established interests. Sadly I voted for Shit My Dad Says, based on just a gut feeling (I really do want to like it).
No ordinary family appears to be an incredibly bordinary snooze-fest; it is my vote, and has inspired this rant. Not even white ‘Commissioner’ Carl Winslow can save this 5 years too late premise. It is the titanic with the iceberg 5 feet from the drydock. Magic doesn’t mix with reality. Either the whole universe is magic ie. Lord of the Rings, or not ie. the news (excluding Fox News, which is fear based market manipulation). If you cross the streams you get Luke Skywalker being held by a claymation Rancor and it just looks fake.
So what we have here is rip off of every super hero + every bland over laughtracked sitcom from the 90s.
Warning crappy metaphor tangent: There’s this shop in my neighbourhood that keeps going out of business every 3-4 months. It’s either an ice cream shop, independent video rental place or something equally ubiquitous. It’s not bad, but out of the way, and a little rough around the edges but given time might work out great. None the less, it fails, just like the previous bad ideas who occupied the same space. That is this show, an idea so bad that anyone with a shred of objectivity would recognize as a dead horse. As an outsider to the business, how does expensive shit like this get made?
Mike and Molly has a built in audience of whatever percentage of the US is overweight. The same retirees or whomever that love the mediocrity of Two and a Half Men, will also watch Shit My Dad Says and Mike and Molly. Fatsploitation aside, it will be easier to write zany plot lines with mild pathos beneath, than it will be to write any sort of plots into Shit My Dad Says, so it will have more potential–I shudder to say that. As for Shit My Dad Says, a one-note joke/gimmick does not make a sitcom.
Hellcats is on CW, a channel which is loathe to cancel anything, no matter how awful.
Running Wilde won’t last long because live action comedies on Fox, however few there are that pop up each year, have a terrible track record.
No Ordinary Family AKA Aren’t We Done With the Ordinary People Who Become Superheroes Genre Yet Nope I Guess We’re Not? AKA The Incredibles, Live, looks like it should be on ABC Family.
My bet is Outsourced, another one-note joke, won’t last long. How many jokes can be made about the language barrier? Okay, and we’re done.
Also that J.J. Abrams Mr. and Mrs. Smith Whatever Show. Does anyone want another Alias type show? Been there.
The Event–that much hype just can’t equal something that good. People who miss Lost will tune in but we’ve already had at least four Lost imitators that I can think of and none of them lasted.
So my bet is Outsourced, then Running Wilde, then the J.J. Abrams Mr. and Mrs. Smith Whatever Show, then some cop/detective/lawyer show we’ve forgotten about already before it’s even aired because there are so many new ones this season.
wait, do i need to remind you guys of “The Cape”?
i’m sorry, but the plot is too damm hillarious to let it pass:
“The series, set in the fictional metropolis of Palm City, follows an innocent cop who has been framed for a crime he did not commit and then left for dead after he is caught. He is eventually saved by a circus ringleader who prepares him with special abilities to defend himself against his foes. Separated from his wife and son, he tries to clear his name while protecting them from being killed if he was ever reported alive. He takes the law into his own hands by taking the guise of his son’s favorite comic book hero, The Cape, after he is given a special suit that has unique capabilities. Vowing to get rid of the corruption that has taken over both the city and the police force, he goes after the person responsible for setting him up and causing his “demise”.”
seriously? yes, seriously
I’m surprised more haven’t chosen Running Wilde. While I’m a big fan of nearly everyone involved, I’ve heard it’s very bland. I’m afraid it will just get forgotten about.
I don’t think Outsourced will last, because of the recession and misinterpreted racism. It will probably get tossed out in a similar fashion to Kath & Kim.
Hellcats will probably be fine. Seems similar in quality to their other shows.
And the rest, they are on networks where crappy shows go to be successful. Not that they can’t have some good shows. They do. But, you know.
The one clip of Running Wilde that I saw was so unfunny it was painful to watch. Fox isn’t gonna tolerate that.
Easily the show being yanked off the major networks first will be Undercovers. NBC has been over-hyping this crap to the hills, but it’s only selling point is that it’s produced by J.J. Abrahms. Other than that, it has nothing original… OOOH, two romantically-involved spies? I’ve never heard of such a concept! Wait, let’s put the female in lingerie, that’ll work!
No, it won’t.
I see this being dumped fairly quickly.
the even is a fip off of flashforward and i really liked that show
My money is on either No Ordinary Family or the Mr. and Mrs. Smith ripoff about the spy husband and wife combo.
i appear to be in the minority on this one, but i think that show where the husband and wife team are spies or fight crime or whatever it is they are doing looks awful. I just forsee too many cute jokes.
Every couple of years some “new” version of a bring it on wannabe pops up and bombs, nouff said. I actually think I would watch hellcats as some summer season place holder between the good stuff, but as a fall primetime show, no thanks. I liked Julie’s take on Shit my dad says. Kinda hopping it does well though, I enjoy Shatner’s antics. Jmartin, you’re dead on, I don’t see Hawaii five-o lasting either.
Outsourced, if it hasn’t already, is going to be pummeled by people who are offended because the main source of comedic material is based on Hindu/Indian stereotypes and accents. It’s also trying to piggyback on the Office when it is far past it’s prime. All that with the lack of any recognizable faces makes me think this is hardly going to be aired before it gets pulled.
‘Mike & Molly’ will not last long. 30 minutes of fat jokes with the occasional “awww” moment? Yeah, that’s gonna be a hit. SAID THE LIAR. (I’m with Shawn Spencer [of ‘Psych’], let’s bring that saying back!)
I actually went for the one that looks the best to me which is Running Wilde, because that’s just how the networks roll. Hellcats looks awful but that only strengthens my belief that it will make it.
I can’t think of a worse concept than Outsourced. U.S. audiences have enough trouble with the office comedies on NBC already (They get good but not great ratings.) Do they really want to watch a show about where American jobs go so companies can make larger profits? I’m all for capitalism, but some folks don’t like the idea of jobs that pay pennies a day in another country replacing jobs in the U.S. I think some of some latent U.S. xenophobia and general anger about the economy are going to keep audiences from giving a crap. I wish the show luck, and I truly hope it will be smarter than they’ve been advertising it. If any network was going to greenlight this concept, though, it would be NBC.
While I don’t think Shit My Dad Says will be any good, it’s following Big Bang Theory (also a show I don’t care for–damn you chuck lorre) so it should maintain at LEAST half BBT’s ratings, which ANY NBC comedy would kill to have.
Which brings me to Outsourced. From what I’ve seen, this show looks like it’s trying to capitalize on the office-situated comedy, but honestly, how many Indian (dots not feathers…though feathers would be a funny change of pace) jokes can they make before it gets overused or crosses the line of racist?
“Hellcats” is on the CW. It’s going to be around for a very long time.
A friend of mine found a DVD of the Shit My Dad Says pilot in her elevator and told me it was absolutely awful… so I’m guessing that one won’t last too long. But if it does… Zod help us.
Can we vote on which we’d most like to see get canceled? I like Hellcats actually and I’m pulling for it, but I do see it getting axed.
My money is on that Incredibles rip-off, No Ordinary Family.
Hawaii Five-O looks totally awful. The one commercial had “Book ’em, Danno!”, and another was all the guys ogling Grace Park. Dead in 3 eps.
Leverage and Rubicon are good shows for recent the recent invention of “fast-forwarding.” Skip, skip, skip, good part.
I’m looking forward to Outsourced. I thought the movie was amazing.
i think all of these shows will out last “no ordinary family” on ABC i just have a strong feeling of complete and total suckiness is in store for those who plan to watch it.
Dear The Event,
Good luck.
Sincerely,
FlashForward
As a Canadian looking down upon you (geographically speaking) I can’t imagine an audience that has lost their jobs will warm to a bunch of ‘foreigners’ incompetently executing their former job to alleged comedic effect.
Shit My Dad Says reminds me of a certain Caveman geico commcercial that even Nick Kroll could not save.
Hellcats? If Glee is any indicicator it will probably be another show that makes my blood boil but continues to get good ratings.
Fingers crossed on The Event as I like to see Jason Ritter employed.
I’d almost bet Shit My Dad Says won’t get canceled no matter how awful it may be. After all, it’s on the same network that not only carries Two and a Half Men, but in which said show is highly rated.
I’m actually guessing it will be “Human Target”. So fun; so doomed.
Unlike Shatner’s show, I think the commercials for Outsourced actually make the show look amusing.