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Ahead of the curve

Several TV shows debut before the season's official start. But which are worth watching?

By Eric Deggans, Times TV/Media Critic
Published September 16, 2007

By Eric Deggans

Times TV/Media Critic

On a day most TV fans reserve for consideration of tonight's Emmy results, let me bend your ear a moment on a different subject: early risers.

Every year, as the tsunami of new fall TV shows begins, a few networks try to jump-start the season by kicking off new shows before it officially begins.

This tactic's track record is mixed, at best. Last year, ABC's lukewarm Anne Heche showcase, Men in Trees, did well early, but 2005 classics such as The War At Home, Head Cases and Threshhold just gave viewers more time to decide they might rather catch Law & Order reruns.

This year, the CW, Fox and CBS are debuting new series before the official start of the season, which is next week.

The St. Petersburg Times' megafall TV preview is coming next Sunday, but to make sure you're as well-informed as possible, we've got early reviews of the new shows dropping this week, so you can decide now whether to get in on the fall stuff early or catch up on who Briscoe and Logan are hassling in rerun land.

K-Ville

Debuts 9 p.m. Monday, WTVT-Ch. 13

Since scoring key roles in gritty dramas such as Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Anthony Anderson has almost made us forget his career began as hip-hop-flavored comic relief in Kangaroo Jack. Too bad his fine work in this series playing devoted New Orleans cop Martin Boulet is overshadowed by a too-complex plot that turns the struggle to rebuild the city post-Katrina (hence, the name K-Ville) into a Starsky and Hutch-style cop-show cartoon. Just crack open a newspaper and find better stories, guys. Grade: C

Kid Nation

8 p.m. Wednesday, WTSP-Ch. 10

CBS won't release a review DVD of this reality show, which sparked investigations internally and by New Mexico authorities once officials realized the network herded 40 kids onto an old movie set in Bonanza City, N.M., and made them fend for themselves for more than a month. Kids will probably love the setup, but will it be entertaining enough to make grown-up viewers forget the sleazy stuff CBS pulled to film it?

Back to You

8 p.m. Wednesday, WTVT

There's little doubt this show has fall's best comedy pedigree.Frasier's Kelsey Grammer, Everybody Loves Raymond's Patricia Heaton and Best in Show's Fred Willard are razor-sharp as clueless local news anchors in Pittsburgh, where Grammer's character has returned after fumbling a shot at the big time. The question: Can this professional, old-school sitcom save the steadily declining network-comedy genre? Grade: B+

Gossip Girl

9 p.m. Wednesday, WTTA-Ch. 32

Yeah, I'm sick of Paris Hilton and all her party-hearty nonsense, too. But the CW has pulled together a compelling, slightly soapy drama about prep school nightclubbers, based on the teen-centric book series of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar, that feels like TMZ meets The O.C. When one of the most popular party girls comes back to Manhattan after a year gone - with a new, buckled-down attitude - the sparks fly, all documented on a blog maintained by the anonymous title character. Grade: A-

Kitchen Nightmares

9 p.m. Wednesday, WTVT

Profanity-spouting chef Gordon Ramsay offers restaurants appearing on his new show a bargain with the reality TV devil: Accept a face full of insults as he mercilessly criticizes your place in exchange for free equipment and exposure on national television. Think I'd rather watch Law& Order. Grade: C-

.On TV

The Primetime Emmy Awards

The preshow is at 7 p.m., and the awards start getting handed out at 8 on WTVT-Ch. 13. Ryan Seacrest is the host.

[Last modified September 16, 2007, 13:24:05]