I just had a ball watching the fall pilots.
Usually, this annual summer chore is about as appealing as an appendectomy, but so many of the new shows are so good this year that watching them was actually fun for a change.
There are exceptions, of course, particularly among the new comedies, but you’ll be too busy talking about the dramas anyway – like “Friday Night Lights,” for example.
NBC’s drama about a Texas high school football team was my favorite pilot of all the new shows and I even wrote in my notes that it might be the best pilot I have ever seen.
NBC’s new shows are particularly striking, including “Heroes,” a drama about ordinary people with extraordinary abilities, and “Kidnapped,” a serial about the snatching of a Park Avenue rich kid.
Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany play the parents.
NBC also has the best new comedy – “30 Rock,” Tina Fey’s show about a fictional “SNL.” I liked this comedic take on the subject far more than producer Aaron Sorkin’s pompous NBC drama about the same thing, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” CBS also had a comedy I grew to like against my better judgment – “The Class,” from “Friends” co-creator David Crane. It’s about a group of young adults from the same third-grade class who reunite.
Much less enjoyable was “Shark,” CBS’s new lawyer drama starring James Woods. I suggest producers tone down his character’s penchant for long-winded speech-making.
(Maybe I’ve grown tired of swaggering lawyers, but I also found little to like in Fox’s “Justice,” about an L.A. law firm headed by Victor Garber.) The CBS crime-caper drama “Smith,” starring Ray Liotta, has potential, although so much happens in the pilot that it got confusing. Great cast though, including Virginia Madsen and Simon Baker (“The Guardian”).
I also enjoyed CBS’ “Jericho,” starring Gerald McRaney and Skeet Ulrich, about a small town that survives a nuclear conflagration. When the pilot ended, I was anxious to see more.
I was also eager to see more of “Ugly Betty,” an hourlong comedy on ABC about a homely girl from Queens who gets her chance to work at a glitzy publishing company where she is scorned by the beautiful people who work there.
Betty (America Ferrara) will absolutely win your heart, but she is tortured so mercilessly by everyone else that it can be excruciating to witness.
Also on ABC, two shows – “The Nine” and “Six Degrees” – both deal with what happens when strangers meet under unusual circumstances. I liked “The Nine” better, especially the character of Egan Foote, played by John Billingsley. Keep an eye on him.
Also keep an eye on Anne Heche in ABC’s “Men in Trees,” in which she plays a relationship counselor whose own love life is a shambles. A bit too much happens in the pilot, but she’s great in it.
I remain undecided about the value of “Help Me Help You,” the ABC comedy with Ted Danson as a psychotherapist.
And speaking of comedies, the ABC show formerly known as “Let’s Rob Mick Jagger” – and now tentatively titled “The Knights of Prosperity” – takes the prize as this season’s most ridiculous comedy as a group of working stiffs plot to rob Jagger’s (fictional) apartment on Central Park West.
The pilot was hilarious, but the premise is so outlandish that I wonder how the producers will sustain it over the course of an entire season. For their sake, I hope they get a chance to do so.
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Catch a fall star
Best pilot: “Friday Night Lights” (NBC)
Nicest sitcom surprise: “The Class” (CBS)
Best new comedy: “30 Rock” (NBC)
Best heroine: “Ugly Betty” (ABC)
Most ridiculous comedy: “The Knights of Prosperity” (ABC)
Best cast: “Smith” (CBS)