The Fall Of Television

We're seeing ads for this fall's new TV shows. That seems so quaint; it hearkens back to a simpler time when all the shows started at the same time, then half of them were canceled in the first month, like some sort of media Hunger Games. These days it's more complicated, with shows coming out at different times of the year, having breaks mid-year, coming back from the dead, etc.

But we still have some new shows debuting in September the way God intended. It's weird watching them publicized now, because these ads aren't the usual commercials for shows; they have to spell out the premise/catch/novelty of the show. And we watch them knowing that it might be an idea that becomes iconic and gets copied for years to come, or it might be quickly forgotten like some unprepared tribute from district eleven.

The Good Doctor

The ads stress this is the autistic doctor. That's potentially an interesting idea, but it's also derivative of the smart but socially difficult person trend. It was hardly surprising that it was from the makers of House. It could still work, though the ads make it out to be a heavy-handed feel good story, complete with the usual Hollywood intelligence clichés.

Wisdom of the Crowd

Crime dramas are hot; crowdsourcing is hot; let's put them together! Here you have a crowdsourced crime-solving app, and that's the premise. It begs the question: if you have that idea, why would you write a show about it? I'm sure you're there in Los Angeles thinking that it could be a popular show and make you a millionaire, but if you had taken the idea a little ways up the California coast you could have created the thing in real life and become a billionaire.

I'm thinking that the fact that it's only a TV show is kind of an admission that WikiSherlock wouldn't really work. Can you imagine if everyone on the Internet who considers themselves an expert were to try to solve crimes? You'd get false accusations all over the place. If the creators of this show are clever, they'll make that problem part of the show: Rather than your average whodunnit, you also have to wonder if the investigators can be trusted. That could be interesting, though I suspect that this is going to be like watching a CSI episode written by Malcolm Gladwell.

Me, Myself and I

This is a sitcom taking place at three different eras in one man's life. I'm sure I had the same reaction as a lot of people:

• That could be an interesting concept depending on how they execute it, and
• Isn't John Larroquette about a foot taller than Bobby Moynihan? How can they be playing the same person?

Okay, according to IMDB, it's only 9.5 inches. Since that portion of the show is in the future, maybe they'll have cosmetic growth surgery. Really, the whole show comes down to that one question. If they have a wacky/creative explanation, it will probably be an entertaining show, but if they just hope we won't notice, then it's likely just a half-assed hack job.

Young Sheldon

Speaking of time shifting, there's this show about the childhood of Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper. I don't know that there is anything like that before. There could probably be a lot of characters in TV history that could have had the prequel treatment. Speaking of John Larroquette, I would have loved to have seen Night Court's Dan Fielding as a teenager coming of age in the sixties. It just writes itself.

But seriously, I don't seen how Young Sheldon can possibly work. Watching a grown up intellectual misfit trying to navigate the world is funny, but watching a child do that is tragic. I know, they probably won't show Sheldon actually getting bullied - except during Very Special Episodes - but that will just be unrealistic even by sitcom standards.