The 2012 Fall New TV Season: Hits, Mostly Misses

Boy, oh boy, I remember the launch of last fall's new TV season, which appeared chock full of potential. New Girl, Revenge and 2 Broke Girls were all quick favorites, bursting with charm. By mid-season, however, I was already bored with the cartoon-like evolution of both "Girl" shows.

And as much as I dug Revenge, I lost patience with its sloooow ever-so-deliberate movement... even though movement I could never get enough of dreamboat Joshua Bowman (though I'm still Tivo'ing it, in case a winter blizzard gives me cause for an all-day marathon).

In the end, it was more or less back to HGTV & HBO, for meese and another TV season of same ole.

This season, there's precious little that I can muster so much as a "Yee-haw" for. I've watched both episodes of ABC's creepy crawly 666 Park Avenue, which is deliciously sinister, with Terry O'Quinn and Vanessa Williams in the leads, alongside yummy hotties Dave Annable and Robert Buckley. Set at The Drake Hotel in NYC, it's the kind of joint where all dreams can come true—at a price. Come on in, although you can never leave... as young Jane and Henry are about the find out..

Or not... Ratings plummeted in the second week of 666, down 2 million viewers. Here we go again: It's always risky to invest in a new show that is axed after three weeks. Meanwhile, its competing shows, the dreadful The Good Wife and The Mentalist walloped Park Avenue. Oops.

My second contender for Most Watchable show of the 2012 season is Arrow, a fast-paced action adventure series on the CW based on DC comics character The Green Arrow. (See separate post here.) Two words: Stephem Amel.

Meanwhile... Nashville has gotten the best reviews of the new season, and looks to be good and bitchy, as the country music business rears its nastier side. And for once, the south isn't protesting about a show personifying its roots (See fatality Good Christian Bitches). This could be the season's breakout hit.

The New Normal had a hysterical pilot... but I remain convinced the conservative South will aim to kill it before it flourishes... Ratings are bobbing up and down. Last week" it garnered a respectable 5 million viewers. I've got Tivo set, but it's just a little too... progressive for the Mitt Romney crowd. I have little faith that it will last the year.

NBC's Chicago Fire looks like my kind of fun: fire, explosions! All the things that boys like. It competes with Avenger, so I'll catch the pilot when it re-airs this weekend... although reviews were hateful, bringing in a somewhat tepid 6.4 million viewers for the pilot Wednesday. Another early 2012 season casualty? I better catch it while I can.

No go: Elementary. The concept looks neato, while lead actor Jonny Lee Miller is certainly a stud as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. But anything parading Lucy Liu in it nauseates me faster than ice melts. I've never seen an iota of compassion in her "acting." She's just too damn macho for my tastes. Sorry, nope.

Maybe one day: The Mindy Project smells like a hit and looks pretty adorable. Perhaps after my fill of HGTV's Property Virgins and House Hunters, along with CNN's nightly Anderson Cooper's 360 and Piers Morgan, I'll make some time for it.

And finally... never ever: Guys With Kids. Men playing hapless, bumbling pussies... Are we ever going to move past this stereotype? Pass, thanks. *