Jonathan Storm: From ABC, shows are new but faces look very familiar
ABC announced the Television Actors Employment Act on Tuesday, a fall schedule with six new series and more than a dozen well-known TV names.
ABC announced the Television Actors Employment Act on Tuesday, a fall schedule with six new series and more than a dozen well-known TV names.
Dana Delany (late of Desperate Housewives) and Jeri Ryan (Star Trek's good old Seven of Nine) star in the crime drama Body of Proof. The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli and NYPD Blue's James McDaniel are featured in a cop show set in Detroit. Michael Chiklis (The Shield), Julie Benz (Dexter), and Tate Donovan (Damages) lead a fantasy entry called No Ordinary Family. That's because they have super powers.
Rob Morrow (Numb3rs), Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck), and Eamonn Walker (Oz) bring star power to the courts in the legal drama The Whole Truth. Jennifer Finnigan (Close to Home) and JoAnna Garcia (Reba) play sitcom sisters, with Debra Jo Rupp (That '70s Show) and Kurt Fuller, who has appeared in more than 100 TV series, as their parents.
Sci-fi fans can flash forward to a season without Flash Forward, though V will move from the dreaded series bubble into its B season. On the sitcom side, Better Off Ted, Romantically Challenged, and Scrubs get scrubbed.
The new shows all sound pretty much mainstream, though Family may be a small attempt to replace Lost. Mom, dad, and the kids all discover their super-iority after their plane crashes in the Amazon. The Alphabet also will revive the 2008 Fox reality show Secret Millionaire, and it announced three new mid-season series, including a highly anticipated sitcom starring Friends' Matthew Perry.
ABC's new fall series:
No Ordinary Family. After the crash, the family must learn to deal with each other, as they battle to do good and get things rolling for ABC on Tuesday nights.
Detroit 1-8-7. Taking the old NYPD Blue slot, with one of the old NYPD Blue lieutenants (McDaniel's been demoted to sergeant, but promoted to one of the lead characters), this fake-u-mentary mixes the work and home life of the usual eclectic mix of big-city homicide police.
Body of Proof. Sounds like House meets CSI. The ever-glorious Delany plays a genius former neurosurgeon who now slices and dices the dead, interferes with the cops, and seems to cause trouble wherever she goes.
The Whole Truth. Win some, lose some, winsome. Pulchritudinous prosecutor and chiseled defense attorney, old friends since Yale Law, battle in the New York courtrooms. We see the case from both sides. Then, the jury decides.
My Generation. The net leads off Thursday night with nary a familiar face in this soapy drama. High school classmates return to Austin, Texas, 10 years later, not to admire how good-looking they are, but to try to manage their faded dreams.
Better Together. Three couples. One family. Does that sound familiar, Modern Family fans? The only new sitcom on the schedule pairs an older sister who's been dating the same guy for nine years with a younger one who's in the throes of seven-week love. Can you guess who suddenly announces a wedding and an impending baby? And what will Mom and Dad do?
Jonathan Storm: Fall Lineups: ABC
New shows in bold
Sunday
7, America's Funniest Home Videos; 8, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition; 9, Desperate Housewives; 10, Brothers & Sisters
Monday
8, Dancing With the Stars; 10, Castle
Tuesday
8, No Ordinary Family; 9, Dancing With the Stars Results Show; 10, Detroit 1-8-7
Wednesday
8, The Middle; 8:30, Better Together; 9, Modern Family; 9:30, Cougar Town; 10, The Whole Truth
Thursday
8, My Generation; 9, Grey's Anatomy; 10, Private Practice
Friday
8, Secret Millionaire; 9, Body of Proof; 10, 20/20
Saturday
8, Saturday Night College Football
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