The TV Critic in me

First of all, let me say that there was a false alarm to this blog post. When I first decided to blog about Fox's Sunday Lineup of season premiers, I did a search for "fox fall lineup", and this is what the first result was... I looked at the Sunday schedule and was almost ready to jump for JOY, Futurama, coming back to Fox? Why had I not heard of this? Then, I looked at the date...Fall Schedule 2001 Doh, why is this still up there on the web to tantilize and tease us Futurama Fans?

OK, so I watched the 2005 version of the Sunday lineup of shows on Fox, and here's my first glance reactions to the evening programming.

6:30 - the 'OT' show. My first reaction to this was very good, not because of the content (wrapup of the games around the NFL for the day), but because finally Fox has come to understand that Football is unpredictable as far as the length of a game. Fox use to just start their regular programming immediately following football, which would shift the programming schedule at odd intervals (not on the half hour)...making trying to TIVO or videotape a show pretty much impossible. Kudos to providing this buffer "show", and also for taking King of the Hill's spot.

7:00 - The Simpsons. I watch this show with hope that it will return as being fresh and funny like I remember it before it became uber popular. The problem with this show is due to it's own success...they have trouble with fresh ideas that don't cross plotlines on a previous show. In this particular episode, Homer betting on football games and Lisa being oblivious to the fact that she helped "daddy" bet on games in an earlier episode. Also, the return of Alec Baldwin AGAIN for another voice acting cameo, this time sans Kim Bassinger. (It would have been funny for them to reference the 'museum of Hollywood Jerks' in this episode.) Overall, not very funny, but still sort of promising.

7:30 - The War at Home. I watched this new offering hoping that it may be funny, unfortunately it wasn't. Michael Rappaport was miscast as the dad in this series in my opinion, although Whackly reminded me that maybe it's just the movies that I've seen him in that makes it hard for me to see him as a dad-type. The jokes in this pilot were uninspiring, and so was the plot. Overall, not funny at all. Don't think this will make it to mid-season replacements.

8:00 - Family Guy. This show made a return from the dead last season in May as it came back from cancellation land over the summer. Overall, this show was about what is to be expected from Family Guy, lots of flashback humor, some Peter Griffin being dumb humor. Overall, the funniest show of the night. Keeping this one fresh will be the challenge to the creators.

8:30 - American Dad. From the pilot episode last spring of this show my reaction was "Family Guy Part Deux", only way less funny. The humor was the same flavor as Family Guy, but the characters were not nearly entertaining. Personally, I find the Dad to be a real jerk-wad, and the talking fish is the only mildly entertaining character. Overall, I feel I just saw a better incarnation of this show at 8:00...I don't need a replay.

Overall, I would Rate the 2005 Version of Fox Sunday a solid C-. There are some promising shows, but nothing that is drop dead funny. They should bring Futurama back from cancelation to help fill out the lineup...of course the chances of me getting hit by lightning twice simultaneously while holdling the winning lottery ticket in my Ferrari while filling up my gas tank for 35 cents a gallon are better. Oh well, one can dream can't they???