2009 Mid-Season TV Preview: ‘Lost,’ ‘Damages,’ ‘Nip/Tuck,’ ‘24,’ More

CHICAGO – Be honest, TV fans. Fall 2008 was lackluster at best. The TV season really starts now.

With the strike delaying production on established series and the development of new ones, many more programs are returning or premiering in Jan. 2009 than the average mid-season. It couldn’t have come at a more important time for the medium, too.

To be blunt, the first 31 days of 2009 could be one of the most important months in the history of television. It comes down to this - If established hits like “24,” “Damages,” “Nip/Tuck,” “Monk,” “American Idol,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Lost,” and “The Closer” don’t meet expectations and if a new show like “United States of Tara,” “The Beast,” “Lie To Me,” or “Trust Me” can’t take off and become an established hit, television is likely to change forever.

Sound like an exaggeration? Consider this - NBC gave up on an hour of original, scripted programming every single night. They’re so disappointed in their slate of 10 pm dramas, including failures like “My Own Worst Enemy,” that they’re handing over an hour of TV every night to talk show host Jay Leno. It’s one of the most amazing programming decisions of the last few years and proof that original television on the big networks is changing for good. Does anyone think we’re that far off from all reality and talk on the major networks with original programming relegated to pay cable, basic cable, and the internet? I don’t.

And the Leno story is only one of the biggest headlines of a season that has seen far more failures than successes. Shows that took off the post-strike period, including “Pushing Daisies” and “Dirty Sexy Money,” saw ratings decline every week before their cancellations. It feels like people left during the strike and simply never came back.

New hits? There aren’t any outside of CBS, the only network that has anything to be happy about this year with the massive success of “The Mentalist” and the continued growth of “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother”. More than ever, the buzz in 2008 went from the big networks to the cable box with HBO launching new hits, Showtime developing their own, and even AMC developing a reputation for quality.

We’ll get into what worked and what didn’t in our TV year in review next week at HollywoodChicago.com, but let’s look ahead before we look back. Is it too late for the broadcast networks to save this sinking ship? Are NBC, Fox, and ABC done? Will there be another “Mad Men” in the bunch of shows premiering this month? Can a series actually improve on last year’s ratings for once? Let’s hope so.

Stay tuned to HollywoodChicago.com for reviews and coverage of all the upcoming series and mark your calendar with the highlights of the coming month on the following page, in chronological order.

The first full week of January sees a remarkable slate of returning shows on both cable and the broadcast networks, starting with the return of ABC’s reality stalwart “The Bachelor” on January 5th. The runner-up on the last season of “The Bachelorette,” single father Jason Mesnick, has the potential to bring high ratings to a show that always delivers in that department but is not the break-out hit it once was. Female fans fell in love with Mesnick, a great choice for the 13th edition of this popular romance series.

Tuesday, January 6th is one of the biggest days of the 2008-2009 season for returning shows with “Scrubs” making its anticipated eighth season debut on ABC after making the rare network hop from the peacock network. I realize that NBC never treated “Scrubs” right but did anyone there actually think “Kath and Kim” would do better? I’ve seen the first two episodes and “Scrubs” returns better than it has been in the last few seasons and it would be TV karma if it became a huge hit on ABC. Watch for a full review next week.

That same day sees the return of the fifth season of “Nip/Tuck” on FX, a show pulling one of those weird two-part seasons a la “The Sopranos” and “Entourage” in recent years. Why isn’t the fifteenth episode of season five of Ryan Murphy’s hit show just episode one of season six? I have no idea, but Drs. Christian Troy and Sean McNamara return to over-the-top glory next week. We’ll talk more about those bad boys then.

Comedy fans will be excited about the return of the improvisational “10 Items or Less” on TBS and “Monk” and “Psych” on the USA Network the same night, January 6th. “10 Items or Less” enters its third season while “Monk” returns for its seventh season and “Psych” comes back for number three. All have loyal audiences that should be satisfied with shows unlikely to change their comic formulas too drastically.

Wednesday, January 7th provides two of the more distinctly different options for TV fans of the new season - FX Networks’ “Damages” and The CW’s “13: Fear is Real”.

The former Emmy winner and nominee for Best Drama for its first season would have been back last summer but the strike pushed it to 2009. If any series is going to improve on its ratings, it is likely to be “Damages,” as the buzz and awards it’s earned while audiences have been able to catch up with it on DVD has been deafening. The latter? There are very few words as scary as “a CW reality series” but this one, where contestants have to battle their greatest fears to survive, has the potential to be a breakout hit for the fledgling network. It’s certainly unlike anything else on this month.

Last summer, as fans were desperate for a new show to watch, many of them turned to CBS and made “Flashpoint” into a surprise action hit. The Enrico Colantoni series will return on Friday, January 9th. Low expectations for ratings on Friday nights combined with the continued massive success of CBS should make the return of “Flashpoint” a relative success.

One of the more interesting ratings stories in the first half of January 2009 is going to be the new bad day for Jack Bauer on the seventh season of “24”. With a four-hour premiere spread out over two nights starting Sunday, January 11th, the question of whether or not fans still remember or care about a show they haven’t seen in nearly two years will be finally be answered. Come back to HollywoodChicago.com for full coverage next week and check out our review of the “prequel” movie from last November, “24: Redemption” [22].

Even “American Idol” was damaged by the declining state of TV in 2008, looking like it may have finally jumped the shark for many fans. Of course, that means changes were in order. The seventh season of “AI” will see a new judge, less brutal auditions, and more contestants. Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest, and Randy Jackson will be back on Tuesday, January 13th with a two-night premiere. Face it. You can’t avoid “American Idol” even if you want to.

Patrick Swayze brings his new show, “The Beast” to A&E TV on Thursday, January 15th, hoping to continue the trend of audiences going to basic cable stations like AMC, FX, and USA for original programming.

The third full weekend in January features a stunning amount of new and returning programming. Clear some space in your DVR for the return of both “Battlestar Galactica” on The Sci-Fi Channel on Friday, January 16th and the jump from DirectTV to NBC for “Friday Night Lights” on the same night. New episodes of the third season of “FNL” have already aired on the satellite service but they’ll make their debut for everyone else in a few weeks. “BSG” enters its final season on a wave of publicity. We’ll cover both in the upcoming weeks.

Sunday, January 18th is one of the biggest days in pay cable history for new programming. Showtime and HBO have gone head-to-head with major programs before, but rarely have so many debuted on the same night. HBO brings back “Big Love” and “Flight of the Conchords” for new seasons, while Showtime starts the final season of “The L Word,” returns “The Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” and tries to turn Toni Collette into TV star with the promising “United States of Tara,” all on the same night. Watch for extensive coverage of the new and returning pay cable shows in mid-January on HollywoodChicago.com.

If you’re not overwhelmed by the first half of January, the last week provides some interesting new programs and the return of one of the best series of 2008, “Lost” on January 21st. The crew from “Lost” returns for their fifth season on ABC after their most critically acclaimed chapter since the first season. We’ve been lucky enough to see the first two of season five. Watch for a review soon. It’s the highlight of the year for a lot of TV fans.

That same night, January 21st, Fox tries for another hit with Tim Roth’s “Lie To Me,” a series about people trained enough to know if you’re telling the truth. Another new show, “Trust Me” with “Will & Grace“‘s Eric McCormack and “Ed“‘s Tom Cavanagh starts on TNT on January 26th, the same night that “The Closer” returns for more ratings gold. “The Closer” has been one of the more consistently successful shows on not just TNT but all of basic cable. It should be interesting to see if the Kyura Sedgwick vehicle, which typically airs in the summer, can find the same success in colder months.

January starts with a reality hit, so why not end it the same way? Gordon Ramsay brings his “Hell’s Kitchen” back to Fox on Thursday, January 29th. Woohoo.

Most of the interesting returning and new shows start in January, but there are a few highlights in February and March, including Joss Whedon’s HIGHLY anticipated “Dollhouse” in February on Fox and a slate of new shows for the other networks including “Castle,” “Cupid,” and “The Unusuals” on ABC, “Kings” on NBC, and “Harper’s Island” on CBS. “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race” return to CBS in February and “Celebrity Apprentice” and “Dancing With the Stars” come back to NBC and ABC, respectively, in March. Finally, the long-delayed return of “Reaper” hits The CW in March. Yeah, because that delay worked out so well for “Pushing Daisies”.

Will any of the shows in February or March be the hits that television needs to turn around this sinking ship or will everything finally be back to business as usual by the end of January? It’s the question on the mind of everyone in the television industry or the people who follow it. We’ll keep you informed with news, reviews, and interviews during the entirety of what could easily be called the most important television mid-season in the history of the medium.

[23]	By BRIAN TALLERICO [24] Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com [23]