‘Bred Crumbs

How about a fall TV preview? Everybody’s doin’ em. But not everybody’s doin’ ‘em more than three weeks after the fall TV season has started. Laziness? Yes. No, strategy. Because by waiting, I’ve actually seen some of the fall shows. Others I haven’t, and won’t. Because I’m not really looking to watch more TV. If a show wants my viewership, it has be more than slightly diverting, and has to keep the annoyance factor — or even the potential annoyance factor — low. (As it happens, thanks to demographics, no show does want my viewership.)

On with it.

New Shows

Chuck (NBC) and Reaper (CW): By federal law, these shows must be reviewed together, and compared. And after four Chucks and three Reapers, Chuck retains the edge, in sense of humor, sidekick tolerability, and acceptability of outrageous premise. Reaper has glossed over its setup too much; shouldn’t all these characters be having a much harder time with the notion that the hero’s parents sold his soul to the devil? But at least sidekick Sock has become less of an a-hole since the pilot, and the show cooks every time Ray Wise, as the devil, is on screen. (He’s one of the two best devils on TV, the other being the easily distracted Satan of Adult Swim’s wonderfully loopy Lucy, Daughter of the Devil.)

Even so, Chuck, the lighter and nimbler offering, remains all-around funnier and more likeable. Its tone reminds me a little of Burn Notice, the spry and engaging McGyver/Miami Vice spy hybrid USA gave us this summer. Plus, Chuck has more action than Reaper, and hasn’t done an episode about bugs. Both shows face the challenge of keeping their concepts from wearing thin, but both are the highlights of the new prime-time crop.

Journeyman (NBC): One episode and out. Too muddled, serious, and pointless. Also, note to the producers: Golden Gate Park does not actually sit atop the Golden Gate Bridge.

Bionic Woman (NBC): If you asked me what I least wanted to see this season, other than reality shows, I might have answered, another cheesy ’70s sci-fi show remade into an unwatchably grim drama, with Katee Sackhoff playing a crazy chick. So yeah, no interest here in Bionic Woman, and the few minutes of it we bothered with confirmed my suspicions. (Adding professional victim Isaiah Washington to the cast doesn’t help.)

Cavemen (ABC): So there was a spare hour between dinner and Reaper, and curiosity got the better of us, and we checked out some of this. Surprisingly, it’s not offensively horrible, but it’s completely sitcom-lame and useless — like its time-slot companion, Carpoolers. I’m sorry, the Bruce McCulloch who supposed createdly Carpoolers cannot possibly be the same Bruce McCulloch who was in The Kids and the Hall and made such deeply, wonderfully weird comedy songs as "Lift Me Up" and "Eraserhead." It just can’t be.

Pushing Daisies (ABC): Haven’t seen it, but it looks to be 800 kinds of precious. Pass.

Kid Nation (CBS): I hope no grups come to cause any trouble. Bonk bonk!

Flash Gordon (SciFi): This may be the dullest program ever televised. Considering that it leads into Stargate: Atlantis, that’s saying something.

Torchwood (BBC America): So I think we’ve hit the part of the Doctor Who spinoff’s first season — pardon me, series — that makes people we know who’ve already seen the whole thing go, meh. And we’re so not buying the romantic twist introduced in last week’s episode, "Countrycide." But, the episode overall was a step back up, so we’re still watching and crossing our fingers that the show gets back to the quality of its first two episodes, because we need all the Captain Jack Harkness we can get. (BTW, it’s great that BBC America encourages viewers to turn on subtitles. Those aren’t as vital for Torchwood as they are for Who, but they do help.)

Returning Shows

Heroes (NBC): As I enjoyed the premiere of Chuck, I realized that not only was I not particularly looking forward to the season debut of Heroes afterward, but that I was actively dreading it. A summer of hype piled on top of a weeeeeak season finale made me think this show may have blown a Lost-sized gasket. So I’ve tried to adjust my expectations. I know now that any overall story arc on Heroes won’t pay off, but if the episodes can themselves are entertaining, I’ll stay with it. So far, we’re 1-for-4 on that score. Sadly, the series seems focused on setting up nothing all over again.

30 Rock (NBC): The last couple of years, I’ve gone back and forth about what I think the most overrated current series is, between Lost and Galactica. Now, the answer is clear: it’s 30 Rock. Yes, the show did progress last season from utterly missable to somewhat amusing, but "Best Comedy"? Please. Every other show on the same network on the same night is funnier. (Including ER.)

Rock’s setting is unrelatable, half the cast of characters are deadwood, and the show is often staged and edited against the jokes (like the also mysteriously beloved Arrested Development). Let’s be honest, this show is just coasting on a thousand guy-crushes on Tina Fey, isn’t it?

My Name Is Earl (NBC): Trouble’s brewing in the half-hour before 30 Rock, too. I think prison is Earl’s shark.

24 (Fox, returning in ’08) — semi-spoiler alert for this paragraph: Any hopes I had that this coming season would escape the pit of last season were dashed by three words: Tony’s not dead. Looks like Jack Bauer’s archenemy now is desperation.

The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central): I never expected to be a Sarah Silverman fan, but here we are. Sure, the show pushes buttons, but it’s got the funny to back up the brashness. And stereotype-smashers Brian and Steve, a pair of big, sloppy geeks, may be my favorite gay TV characters ever.

Property Ladder (TLC): The one existing reality show that, despite its excessive episode length and exaggerated drama, we are suckers for, and it’s all about the schadenfreude. Flipping houses seems borderline morally suspect at best, and this show lets you watch greedy, stupid people fail (unlike its peppier neighbor, Flip That House, which features subjects with working brains). Whenever the flipper-of-the-week does make a tidy profit, we feel severely let down. But even then, host Kristen Kemp is a dream, a reality host who clearly knows her subject and is stern with the idiots who refuse her guidance, but not obnoxious. She wins our love, not our death wishes, unlike certain TV chefs and motorcycle builders we can think of.

Supernatural (CW): A funny thing happened during summer reruns; we became Supernatural fans. It started when we stumbled on the start of an episode and the name of the great Ben Edlund appeared as the writer’s credit. So we watched, and laughed, and enjoyed. Then we started keeping an eye out for other Edlund eps. Next thing we knew, we were watching the non-Edlund outings, and staying interested. It’s not by any means classic television, but it knows that drama doesn’t have to mean a lack of comedy, and it is deliberate but not confounding, clever without being pretentious, engaging and never annoying. TV, that is all we ask of you.