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FALL TV - CREEP SHOWS - The Fall TV Lineup Has a Spooky Feel

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Be afraid, TV watchers. Be very afraid.

As the new fall shows slither and ooze onto your TV screen this month, prepare to be confronted by aliens. Ghosts. Monsters. And more aliens.

It feels like Halloween has come a little early this year.

And, of course, you can add the usual succession of fiendish serial killers who can only be stopped by a dedicated law enforcement team that must include at least one beautiful woman.

Last year's two breakout hits, both on ABC, were Lost and Desperate Housewives.

The latter created such a huge buzz that I expected to be confronted with a host of Desperate clones this fall -- lots of quirky shows about women confronting the dark side of suburbia.

Instead, it's the spooky vibe of Lost that appears to be dominating the minds of network programmers.

There are no fewer than three shows about alien invasions: Invasion on ABC, Surface on NBC and Threshold on CBS.

ABC may have a problem with Invasion, which has gotten some strong early reviews. Unfortunately for the network, the aliens arrive via a hurricane in Florida.

ABC said the show will still air as scheduled on Sept. 21, but is currently undergoing some editing to allow for national sensitivities in the wake of the all-too-real Hurricane Katrina.

As if aliens aren't enough, the WB offers Supernatural, about two brothers confronting ghosts and ghouls while they search for their missing father. The pilot is pretty darn scary.

Meanwhile, ABC is reviving the '70s cult fave Kolchak: The Night Stalker about a reporter whose beat appears to be the Twilight Zone, and CBS has a pallid ripoff of Medium called Ghost Whisperer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt as a woman who can talk to you-know- what.

Crime still pays, at least on TV, and this fall the networks add a few more shows to the zillion forensic thrillers already on the air.

Fox has the gruesome Killer Instinct and Bones, starring Emily Deschanel as a comely forensic anthropologist who can look at a two- inch shard of crumbly bone and tell you how the victim liked her eggs. (Well, almost).

CBS gives us Mandy Patinkin as a grim agent in the FBI's Behavorial Analysis Unit in Criminal Minds.

New trend this year: The crime fighters are damaged by

some trauma in their past.

Between the aliens, the ghosts and the serial killers, it's a bit surprising that there's some good news on the comedy front, namely several sitcoms that are actually funny.

The big buzz has been for lowly UPN's Everybody Hates Chris, a show based on Chris Rock's childhood in Brooklyn. With Rock supplying the narration we follow young Chris, played by the appealing Tyler James Williams, while he endures life as the only black kid bused to an all-white school.

From NBC, there's My Name is Earl, with a wacky, Raising Arizona feel, about a low-life who discovers karma and tries to right all the wrongs he's ever done. And there are plenty of them.

Also worth checking out is How I Met Your Mother, a smart romantic comedy with a neat twist in the first episode.

Of course, it wouldn't be fall without a few comedic stinkers coming our way. Do your best to avoid The War At Home on Fox and Twins on The WB.

There are a couple of shows, both on Fox, that are worth a look just to see where the writers can take them. One of them is Prison Break, about a guy who deliberately goes to jail in order to free his brother, who has been falsely accused of a high-profile murder. If you can swallow some whopping improbabilities, this one could be a fun ride in the tradition of 24.

Then there's Reunion, which has an intriguing concept. One of six friends is dead, and a detective (Mathew St. Patrick of the late Six Feet Under) is investigating the crime. One of the six old pals has killed the other, but we don't know either the victim or the killer.

Here's the twist - each episode will represent one year in the lives of the friends, starting when they graduated from high school in 1986.

Cool idea, although the plot of the first episode was a conventional teen soap opera. Here's hoping it gets better as they get older.

At least the aliens haven't invaded. Yet.

* * *

* Lake Bell, left, stars as Daugherty in NBC's Surface; the cast of ABC's new drama, Night Stalker, center; Jennifer Love Hewitt stars in Ghost Whisperer on CBS, right.

NBC UNIVERSAL / PAUL DRINKWATER, LEFT; ABC / BOB D'AMICO, CENTER; TOUCHSTONE TELEVISION / VIVIAN ZINK, RIGHT

* Jason Lee is Earl in My Name is Earl, an NBC entry about a man who tries to right all his wrongs.

NBC

* Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller, right) is a desperate man with a plan to save his brother's life in Prison Break.

FOX

* Molly (Carla Gugino) investigates the bizarre murder of a man in a fast-food restaurant in CBS' Threshold.

CBS / JAIMIE TRUEBLOOD

Source: Providence Journal

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