You knew it couldn't last, this mature and wholly unnatural calm around the networks. And on Wednesday, whatever tranquilizer was being slipped into Hollywood's water supply abrupt ran out. Three, count 'em, three shows were canceled: the remarkably unfunny Kelsey Grammer sitcom Hankand the witchy drama Eastwick at ABC, and Fox's jiggly but inscrutable Joss Whedon sci-fi vehicle Dollhouse. Cause of death in each case was severe Nielsen anemia.
How much do we love hungry lizards? LOTS.
ABC's Tuesday debut of V pulled in 13.9 million viewers. That's not just the highest-rated series premiere of this season, but of the past five seasons. Last show to grab that big an audience for its first episode: ABC's Lost, in 2004. The chances for a two-episode crossover in which the V lizards visit the island and one or more of them have sex with Sawyer, I suspect, just doubled.
'Southland' coming to TNT
Southland, the cop show NBC renewed last spring and then canceled before a single new episode could air, has found if not exactly a new home, a place to stay out of the rain for a while. TNT has purchased the 13 episodes already made -- the seven that aired last season and the six NBC buried without a viewing this fall -- and will air them beginning January 12. After that, it's up to you Southland fans: If the ratings are good, TNT will order up more episodes. If not -- well, you already know the answer to that one.
ABC's 'V' is a barbed commentary on Obamamania
Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.
The news media swoons in admiration -- one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: ``Why don't you show some respect?!!'' The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader's origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: ``Embracing change is never easy.''
So, does that sound like anyone you know? Oh, wait -- did I mention the leader is secretly a totalitarian space lizard who's come here to eat us?
Welcome to ABC's V, the final, the most fascinating and bound to be the most controversial new show of the fall television season. Nominally a rousing sci-fi space opera about alien invaders bent on the conquest (and digestion) of all humanity, it's also a barbed commentary on Obamamania that will infuriate the president's supporters and delight his detractors. Read my full review in Sunday's Miami Herald.
Screen Gems: TV the week of November 1
V (8 p.m. Tuesday, ABC) -- Space aliens arrive. But don't worry -- they want to be friends! Their telegenic leader even offers mankind new technology that will provide universal health care. Alas, underneath the good looks and charisma is a reptile waiting to eat us. If that seems to you to have certain implied parallels with current American politics, you'll understand why this remake of a 1980s sci-fi series is bound to spawn sharp controversy. But even if you don't care for its analogies, V is gripping television. (Stop by later Sunday for a full review.) Weird Florida: Roads Less Traveled (9 p.m. Monday, WLRN-PBS 17) -- Skunk apes! The world's smallest police station! A rooster graveyard! A castle built from junk! The biggest problem in making this documentary (based on folk historian Charlie Carlson's book Weird Florida) was probably figuring out what to leave out.
High Noon (10 p.m. Thurday, Turner Classic Movies) -- His gutless town leaves sheriff Gary Cooper alone to face a band of vicious outlaws on the day he's scheduled to retire and marry Grace Kelly. This 1952 examination of conscience and courage might be the best Western ever made, even though it doesn't have a single space alien.
Note: Days and times for PBS shows are for the Miami area, and may differ elsewhere.
Let meprogram your TiVo! Just click on my best bets for the week at www.tivo.com/guruguide.
NBC pulls the plug on 'Trauma'
Trauma, NBC's loud and incomprehensible new medical drama, has been give the last rites. The network will air keep airing the show into December, but the 13 episodes already ordered will be all, period. Console yourself with the knowledge that Scrubs, which is moving from NBC to ABC this season, will debut on Dec. 1.
NBC renews 'Parks & Rec,' 'Mercy' and 'Community'
NBC has picked up full seasons of sitcoms Parks & Recreation and Community, as well as drama Mercy, says the Hollywood Reporter. Notably absent from the list: the loud and incomprehensible medical drama Trauma. So maybe there's still hope NBC will sell its time slot to K-tel Records for an informercial.
'Southland': It ain't over 'til it's over
Southland, the NBC cop drama canceled before a single episode of its second season could air, isn't quite dead yet. Executive Producer John Wells called the cast late last week to report two other networks have shown interest in picking the show up, says the Hollywood Reporter. One of them is almost certainly TNT, which shares a corporate umbrella with Warner Bros. Television, the studio that produces the show. Before cheering too wildly, Southland fans need to recognize that if the show moves to cable, costs will almost certainly have to come down. If you hear an announcement that Southland has been picked up by TNT, watch out for a wave of cop-killings.
How much does South Florida hate the new TV season?
A ton. In the Nielsen ratings for the week of Oct. 5, only two of the new shows from broadcast television made the top 30, both from CBS. NCIS: Los Angeles, with 151,000 viewers, came in at No. 12. And The Good Wife, with 121,000 viewers, was No. 25. At the top of the ratings, not surprisingly, was ESPN's coverage of the Dolphins-Jets game, which pulled in 241,000 viewers.
