| The name of the show is Inconceivable. The title is appropriate because it seems inconceivable that this awful new TV offering, set in an upscale American fertility clinic, could land a spot in the lineup of, not one, but two major North American networks (NBC and CTV).
The initial episode of this drama, premièring September 30, introduces us to Dr. Malcolm Bowers (Jonathan Cake), an insult-hurling narcissist who lacks any sense of compassion for his co-workers or patients at the clinic. He is the most paper-thin of all the crudely rendered characters featured on Inconceivable. This program is a "worst new series" frontrunner in a fall TV freshman class chock full of quality-challenged shows.
Other new dramas that miss the mark are the so-dull-it’s-scary Ghost Whisperer (CTV/CBS), with Jennifer Love Hewitt as a young woman who sees dead people and helps restless spirits find closure, and Close to Home (CTV/CBS), with Jennifer Finnegan as a new mom and legal prosecutor so undeniably virtuous that I soon expect to see doves perched on her shoulders.
On the comedy side of things, Hot Properties (Citytv/ABC), a Designing Women knock-off set in a real estate office and featuring former Mad TV star Nicole Sullivan, and Twins (CTV/WB), a show about a pair of mismatched sisters working in their parents’ chaotic lingerie business, are painful reminders of why I almost never watch sitcoms.
And while Everybody Hates Chris (Citvtv/UPN,) based on the childhood experiences of comedian Chris Rock, deviates from the usual sitcom format, it’s still not a show I can recommend. It delivers the occasional amusing line, but it’s not nearly as fresh or innovative as Rock’s standup material. This is standard coming-of-age stuff where kids moan at the demands of their parents and a bully is always ready to take their lunch money. Think Wonder Years slightly reinvented.
So now that I’ve got you totally bummed about the new fall season, it’s time to throw you a lifeline and mention those rare new shows worth seeking out. The best new series I have seen so far is Wanted, airing Tuesday nights on Citytv. Gary Cole, the vastly underrated actor who stole the show in films like Office Space and The Brady Bunch Movie, now brings his "A" game to this fast-paced, riveting crime drama. Cole plays the tightly wound leader of a real-life Justice League of L.A. crime fighters whose job is to apprehend the felons on the city’s "100 most wanted" list. The initial episode delivered a sudden, surprising death and a radical shakeup in the team dynamic that demonstrate this is a show not tied to archaic TV formulas.
Also recommended is Invasion (CTV/ABC), a Body Snatchers-like sci-fi series that shows every indication of revealing its creepy secrets carefully and gradually, and Supernatural (Citytv/WB), an addictive guilty pleasure about two brothers who hunt the kind of SFX-laden spooks we’ve seen in hit horror films like The Ring and The Grudge.
The oddest new show on my recommended list is Stella, now showing on The Comedy Network. Not a sketch series or a sitcom, this whacked-out, Marx Brothers-for-a-new-millennium thing defies traditional categories. Three suit-clad nut jobs live and play in a logic-free world where open-heart surgery can be performed with a butter knife and a straw, and deliberately slamming your car into a telephone pole is the most efficient way to win an argument. Any show this bizarre is going to turn off some viewers, but for being something truly unique in a wilderness full of CSI, Lost and Medium knock-offs, Stella deserves a gold star. |
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