2008 TV Preview: NBC

I've a TV fanatic so I'll be doing previews of the major networks lineups as well as additional comments on my favorite shows. If you missed my preview for FOX it's right below this post, but today I'll be focusing on NBC.

For a while the only thing NBC had that people would actually watch was Law & Order and ER. This left them with the worst ratings amongst the big four, but recently they've retaliated. In the past few years they became home to probably the best comedy night on TV, and a few other shows directed at audiences like ourselves with programs like Heroes, Friday Night Lights, and just this past year with Chuck. Their lineup for the Fall is fairly strong, and I'm looking forward to it.

MONDAY
8:00: Chuck / Sep 29
Another show entering its sophomore year after a shortened first season. This show picked up a ton of buzz this season. When it was at Comic-Con two years ago no one really had any expectations for it, but after a year there was a huge line just to see a Q&A with the cast. I didn't watch the show when it aired, but after watching it this summer I have to say that it caught me. With a very likable cast including Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Adam Baldwin, Sarah Lancaster, and Captain Awesome, watch Chuck, a nerd turned spy in one night, deal with the realization of his new life in this fun, enjoyable show.

9:00: America's Toughest Jobs (NEW)
"Average" people join a competitive show in which they undergo "incredibly dangers and physically demanding" jobs. The winner is apparently awarded with the salary of each completed job. Sounds interesting and I guess it could be fun to watch, but you probably won't hear me talking about it. This will air until Heroes returns.

9:00: Heroes / Sep 22
This show is really on the fence for many. Taking on a sort of Prison Break effect in which people fall in love with the characters and develop a fanboy style attachment, but after it all one must admit that the overall wasn't very good. It started with an awesome first season, and then an incredibly disappointing second, we'll see if the third can once again pull us into the world of super heroes. The trailer looks pretty interesting, but I've heard bad things about the pilot, but we'll have to see for ourselves.

10:00: My Own Worst Enemy (NEW) / Oct 13
The commercials for this show are hilarious. "Watch Christian Slater as Henry, watch Christian Slater as Edward!" What the hell? Henry Spivey lives an ordinary suburban lifestyle while Edward Albright is a high profile individual who is a killer, speaks multiple languages, and so on, but they share the same body!!! Somehow the internal wall in the mind breaks down and the personalities begin to blur. "Who can you trust when you can't trust yourself?" I guess we'll find out.

TUESDAY
8:00: The Biggest Loser: Families / Sep 16
Probably the most American show on television, the Biggest Loser is a competition in which overweight people compete to loser pounds. At the end of the show the contestants go to a weigh in, and the team with the least pounds lost is cut. We've all seen this before, but this time it's with families!!! This show is okay, it can be inspiring at times, especially when they put a shit load of fried chicken on a plate and then they're like "this is what you used to eat," and the contestants cringe. If you're a reality fan go for it.

10:00: Law & Order: SVU / Sep 23
It's Law & Order, but with sex crimes. I don't really follow this show, but whenever I do watch it it's always pretty interesting.

WEDNESDAY
8:00: Knight Rider (NEW) / Sep 24
I really wasn't expecting to like this show, but I was pleasantly surprised after watching the pilot. It should appeal to the same audience of Chuck fans, with comedic elements paired with intense action and a story line that's borderline cheesy but still manages to stay interesting. The show takes place 25 years after the original David Hasselhoff Knight Rider and takes a modern twist on the original idea. They make some cool tie-ins to the original, and in my opinion it's worth checking out.

9:00: Deal or No Deal / It's on already
I hate this show. Watch Bobby's World talk on the phone with Dr. Claw while people watch models hold cases with numbers inside of them. For whatever reason this pulls in so many viewers making a majority of NBCs ratings.

10:00: Lipstick Jungle / Sep 24
I've never seen an episode of this. A Sex and the City rip-off, but apparently not as good. Watch Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price navigate the New York business world as three powerful woman. Hooray.

THURSDAY
8:00: My Name Is Earl / Sep 25
I've never really caught on to this show, but it's been going on for a few seasons and whenever I do watch it its been funny.

8:30: Kath & Kim (NEW) / Oct 9
Described as "a contentious relationship of a dysfunctional mother-daughter duo in middle-class suburbia" this is a remake of an Australian comedy. It has Molly Shannon as Kath Day and Selma Blair as Kim Day, so I might watch a couple episodes because I think Molly Shannon is hilarious.

9:00: The Office / Sep 25
If you're a fan this doesn't need explaining. This show is really hit and miss for me. Everyone once in a while they have a truly hilarious episode (last years Dinner episode), but more often than not they have Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson driving their cars into lakes because of their GPS system, retarded. Believe me, I want to like this show, but sometimes it's just too ridiculous.

9:30: SNL: Weekend Update (NEW)
A place holder until 30 Rock returns, the familiar comedy sketch takes on the 2008 presidential election.

9:30: 30 Rock / Oct 30
I fricken love this show. Watch coolkids favorite Tina Fey play the role of a female TV writers who tries to control the madness behind the scenes of TGS. If you're looking for a solid 30 minutes of comedy this comes highly recommended, and in my opinion the best comedy on TV right now.

10:00: ER / Sep 25
Entering it's 15th and FINAL SEASON. I've never really followed ER (no shit I'd have to have started watching when I was six years old) but it's always been entertaining, and since it's entering it's last season look forward to guest stars from previous seasons to return and give this show a worthwhile goodbye.

FRIDAY
No one watches TV on Friday, but of course NBC has faith in its shows so they're airing a new show entitled Crusoe (Oct 17), more Deal or No Deal, and then sophomore show Life (Sep 29).

SATURDAY
NBC airs Dateline, Knight Rider repeats and Law & Order repeats. And then SNL (Sep 13).

SUNDAY
7:00: Football Night In America

8:30: NBC Sunday Night Football
The only time I get to watch the Chargers

MIDSEASON
They have a new show called Kings, and then Medium returns (who watches this show?) and then if you don't catch Friday Night Lights on DirectTV it should air on NBC in the winter.

And that concludes NBCs TV lineup. The shows I'll follow are Chuck, Heroes, possibly My Own Worst Enemy, Knight Rider, Lipstick Jungle (just kidding), The Office, 30 Rock, and then Friday Night Lights, but I'll probably just download that instead of waiting till January.

OMG The Office Was Actually Funny

Okay, last night's Office episode was funny as hell to me. I'm known for showing a certain amount of hate towards this show, but last nights episode dodged everything I dislike about it. They brought the team to a new setting, centered the episode around a few characters instead of the whole building, and to me they really achieved what The Office (at least in my opinion) was originally supposed to do, leave you hanging on the brink of awkwardness with your mind boggled and stomach uneasy.

This episode reminded me a lot of the earlier Office episodes because they laid out a ton of subtle jokes. I was cracking up throughout the whole episode because of Michael and Jan's little quirks. This episode brought out the best of all the characters, from Angela denying hugs, to Jim aggravating Michael till he screams, all the things that made us love this show in the first place. I mean when the argument started with Michael and Jan at dinner, and then the song was playing during the whole sequence, comedy gold right there, so hilarious.

The reason my love for this show has slowly depleted was because it got repetitive and too off the wall. I mean I know Dwight is weird, but you could imagine someone like that in our world. But when Michael and Dwight drive a car into a lake because their GPS system told them to, what the fuck? No one would do that, and lately The Office has been going for so many out of this world jokes, cheap laughter if you will.

To sum it up the episode brought together all of the best things about the Office, the way it brings you into uncomfortable situations, the discrete humor, and nothing too over the top. If the rest of the Spring season episodes are like this, maybe I'll start to praise this show again.

30 Rock was good too, Thursday nights belong to NBC, at least for now.