Fall TV Tuesday

The fall television schedule has got some winners. And some real losers. Sort out the ones to see - and the ones to flee.

By Eric Deggans, Times TV / Media Critic
Published September 23, 2007

Cavemen

8 p.m., ABC, debuts Oct. 2.

Showbiz shorthand: Imagine the yuppie Cro-Magnons from the GEICO insurance TV ads after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

My take: Filled with clumsy racial analogies and bereft of the ads' charm, the original pilot episode felt like the Sitcom About Black People ABC Was Too Scared to Make. So ABC added experienced TV producers, changed a cast member, pushed the retooled pilot back to the fifth or sixth episode (my money says it never airs) and promised the show would get better. We'll see.

TiVo or Ti-No? ABC should remember what made the original ads; modernized cavemen, upset that the world ignored their metrosexualized glory. TiVo. Just to see how bad this one-note joke gets.

Carpoolers

8:30 p.m., ABC, debuts Oct. 2.

Showbiz shorthand: Four guys bonding in the diamond-labeled, HOV lane of life.

My take: When your biggest stars are the cute guy from Crossing Jordan and an under-used Faith Ford, you've got serious problems. Still, there's a lopsided charm about this sitcom, focused on four guys in suburbia whose greatest enjoyment comes when they pile in the Tercel to head for work.

TiVo or Ti-No? If only to see whether live wire Jerry O'Connell finally bursts a blood vessel onscreen, I say TiVo.

Reaper

9 p.m., The CW, debuts Tuesday (9/25).

Showbiz shorthand: Superbad meets Constantine.

My take: Yet another promising buddy comedy pairing an underachieving geek hero with a party-hearty slacker pal (Tyler Labine channeling Jack Black). The twist: The hero's parents promised his soul to the Devil (an appropriately greasy Ray Wise), who wants the kid to hunt down wayward demons. Relax. It's kind of a comedy.

TiVo or Ti-No? Labine is awkwardly hip enough to make the most absurd stuff seem funny and Wise is magnetic as an Armani-clad Old Scratch. If they can get past the lame-o setup - would anybody trust their parents after they cut a deal like that? - this show might be fun. TiVo.

Cane

10 p.m., CBS, debuts Tuesday (9/25).

Showbiz shorthand: Dallas meets The Mambo Kings with a dash of Sopranos, Florida-style .

My take: It's the epic story of a wealthy, Cuban-American family at a crossroads; does sharp stepson Jimmy Smits keep the family in the sugar cane business or does sleazy son Nestor Carbonell pull them into making rum? Since Smits is also an executive producer, you can guess the answer.

TiVo or Ti-No? Cane's biggest problem is that it doesn't quite know what it is: A slightly soapy, Latino-tinged family drama? A high-flying corporate thriller? An entertaining treatise on the future of ethanol? Stars Smits, Carbonell, Hector Elizondo and Rita Moreno provide the biggest reason for a TiVo.

[Last modified September 21, 2007, 11:03:32]