We're in the thick of it, now. We've already seen some high-profile new shows premiere (the abysmal Work It, the heavily-promoted The Firm), but there's plenty more television to come in the next few months. While many of us will be looking forward to new episodes of Justified, The Walking Dead, Mad Men, and Community (oh, wait...), that doesn't mean that there aren't a few brand-new shows that are still coming down the pipe that might be worth a look-see.
Below, we've selected five of the most promising new shows of the spring season; shows that we're certainly going to give a chance, at any rate. They could be terrible, but for now they all at least have potential. We'll see how they shake out in the next few months.
Awake
NBC, ???
You don't really get much higher-concept than "police detective with a wife and son gets into a car accident, then starts waking up in alternate realities where either his son is alive or his wife is, and he's investigating different cases with different partners and different therapists in each reality." That sounds ridiculous when I type it, and I'd probably be pretty skeptical still if NBC hadn't been pretty free with the footage of the show, which has always looked somber and kind of compelling, with Jason Isaacs turning in what looks to be a great performance in the lead role.
Still, there've been plenty of rumors of production difficulties on the series (it shut down production for four weeks in October to try to find its creative footing), which should give anyone who's been following it a bit of pause. On the other hand, a difficult birth doesn't mean anything; all that matters is the final product, and we'll get a chance to check it out...sometime. The fact that NBC still hasn't set a premiere date for the show might also be worrisome. Still, the show looks unlike anything that's been tried on television in the past few years, excepting perhaps the short-lived Life On Mars.
The River
ABC, Feb. 7, 9 PM
You don't really need to tell me much more than "a found-footage horror show from the creators of Paranormal Activity 2" to get me on board with The River. The show follows the travails of young Lincoln Cole, son of famous television explorer Dr. Emmet Cole, who's tasked with finding out what happened to his father six months after he disappeared, when his emergency transponder suddenly starts chiming deep in the Amazon.
I'm a huge fan of found footage horror, and Paranormal Activity 2 is one of the high points of the genre (and The River is created by Oren Peli and Michael Perry, co-writer of PA2). Still, part of the appeal is in the quick hit-and-run nature of the genre; you know that you're going to get your storyline wrapped up within 100 minutes or so. (Unless, you know, you're watching The Devil Inside.) Whether or not the shaky faux-documentary-style filmmaking conceit can survive when we're watching hourlong episode after hourlong episode (there are eight episodes planned for the first mini-season) is another matter. Still, this is something you can bet I'll be watching in a dark room for the first few episodes.
Luck
HBO Jan 29, 10 PM
David Milch. Michael Mann. Nick Nolte. Dustin Hoffman. HBO's bringing the heat with the newest show from Milch, creator of Deadwood, which follows the lives of a number of gambling addicts who take up residence at the same racing track. On strength of pedigree alone, Luck would be something to look out for; all you really need to say is "from the creator of Deadwood" and you'll see ears perking up amongst many HBO fans. I'm no particular fan of horse-racing, but the vagaries of fate (or luck, as the show's title would have it) should make for an interesting examination of the seedy underbelly of...
Oh, hell, who am I kidding, all I can think about is Deadwood now. HBO's proven willing to throw a lot of money at long-shot ideas before, but Luck looks like it'll be straight-up entertaining when it hits later this month.
Alcatraz
FOX Jan 16, 8PM
Is JJ Abrams spreading himself a bit too thin lately? This feels like it's the millionth project that he's been attached to lately, and they haven't all been going so well, with the mostly unnecessary Undercovers getting swiftly cancelled. FOX is still high on the guy, though, and is betting heavily on Alcatraz being the next LOST. It's got a neat premise: hundreds of prisoners disappear from the titular prison, only to reappear decades later, having not aged a day. Mysterious government agencies and streetwise cops start tracking down the escapees (?) in present-day San Francisco, and try to unravel a host of other mysteries that arise.
As a San Franciscan, part of me wonders just how much of this is actually going to be shot in SF. (I'm betting that SF starts looking a lot like Los Angeles after the premiere episode.) Part of me wonders just how much scenery Sam Neill can chew before it gets annoying. But part of me hopes that this lives up to the promise of its premise. This is another show that's undergone some production difficulties, with Abrams' partner Elizabeth Sarnoff (whom he worked with on LOST), getting replaced as showrunner in November, causing scenes from each of the already-completed episodes to be reshot afterward. That's...troubling. We'll see if it strengthens the series or makes those episodes feel disjointed; and we won't have to wait too much longer, as the show premieres next Monday.
Touch
FOX March 10, 9 PM
This is the stretchiest case of any of the shows on this list, but it still looks mildly intriguing. Created by the same guy who created Heroes (sure, why not), starring Keifer Sutherland (not bad!) and produced by the executive producers of Terra Nova (uh...), it tells the story of a widower with a severely autistic son who's never spoken a word. Said son can apparently "see the patterns that connect everything in the world," or somesuch.
The trailer doesn't really spill much in the way of how the show will actually work, and Sutherland has made a lot of references to spirituality when talking about his role, so it's possible this'll just be another hippy-dippy new-agey thing where Sutherland has to travel the world to help people in need after his son identifies them thanks to his super-autism. A more family-friendly Person Of Interest, in other words. That would be the worst-case scenario. In my dreams, this show is about a man who realizes that his son will one day become the world's most powerful supervillain, and is torn between his love for family and his need to destroy a future despot.
I suspect that's not going to happen, though.
Are there any other new shows that are on your radar that we missed? Are you hopeful about any of the above?
