R: Hi!
This is Rachel (and this is Kendra) and you're watching This Week in TV.
This week we are back in full force with midseason premieres and returns.
We'll run down the scheduling and then discuss which new shows are worth watching.
Kendra, what's on?
K: Well Rachel, on Monday, Castle returns to ABC at 10pm, then at 10 on MTV, new series
Caged premieres which follows young adults growing up in a small Louisiana town.
On Tuesday, The Game premieres on B.E.T.
at 10pm and on Bravo, catch the Tabatha Takes Over premiere.
On Wednesday, Are You There Chelsea?
has its series premiere on NBC at 8:30pm, and the most exciting premiere of the week
for lots of SideReelers - One Tree Hill finally has its season premiere on The CW at 8pm!
Also, on Syfy, catch the Face Off premiere at 10pm.
So, that's the beginning of the week, what else is on, Rachel?
R: On Thursday it's an NBC premiere and return night with 30 Rock finally back on the schedule,
as well as the midseason returns of The Office, Parks & Recreation and Up All Night on a new
Night.
Then at 10 The Firm has its timeslot premiere.
It's also a busy night on CBS with the midseason returns of The Big Bang Theory, Person of
Interest and THe Mentalist as well as squeezing in the series premiere of Rob.
Also on FOX it's Bones' final episode before going on hiatus, leading into the premiere
of its spinoff, The Finder.
On Friday Fringe and Kitchen Nightmares return to FOX; it's also the final episode of Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition on ABC.
On Sunday it's the GOlden Globe Awards on NBC.
If that doesn't keep you busy enough, Undercover Boss has its season premiere on CBS and the
animated Napoleon Dynamite has its debut on FOX.
R: In recent years, the television Midseason, beginning in January, has become nearly as
big of a deal as the Fall, with a bevy of new shows debuting on every network - often
to replace the flops of Fall - may The Playboy Club, Free Agents, H8R, Charlie's Angels and
Prime Suspect, to name a few, rest in peace.
So, now there's a new crop to consider and Kendra and I are here to tell you the details
so you can decide whether to watch or pass.
Kendra, what's premiering on NBC this week?
K: From NBC the new series premieres are The Firm and Are You There Chelsea, I'm going
with watch The Firm and pass on Are You There, Chelsea.
Really all I remember about The Firm's Pilot is Josh Lucas' amazing blue eyes which many
of us ladies know and love from Sweet Home Alabama, but overall, it has a great cast
including Josh Lucas, Molly Parker and Juliette Lewis, plus of course its based on the John
Grisham best-selling novel and blockbuster film, so we know it has a lot of great, intense
drama to work with that will surely be done well with John Grisham as one of the Executive
Producers.
[CLIP]
As for Are You There Chelsea, both before and after watching the Pilot episode, I feel
this one is going the way of Whitney.
It has great comedy potential with female comedian power behind it, for this one, Chelsea
Handler, but their humor just doesn't translate into 30-minute-comedy form.
Also, it absolutely ruins the show that Chelsea Handler does not play Chelsea, but instead
Laura Prepon plays screw-up Chelsea while Chelsea Handler plays her do-gooder sister.
Very distracting and annoying.
[CLIP]
So Rachel what are you thinking about the other winter premieres this week?
R: Well Kendra, first up we have the debut of Rob on CBS.
This one, based on the previews, is looking like an easy Pass.
Rob Schneider stars Rob, a bachelor who marries into a tight knit Mexican American family
and seems to be heavy on the cultural stereotypes and light on the humor.
Then over on FOX, we have the official launch of Bones spinoff, The Finder.
The series stars Geoff Stults and Michael Clarke Duncan as an offbeat duo who are hired
to locate missing items, people or whatever needs to be found.
Unfortunately, the early word is that this show is a bit all over the place and that
though handsome, Stults may not be a dynamic enough leading man.
That being said, this is still probably a Watch for all Bones fans.
For me though, a procedural has to be awfully special to keep my interest, so it will likely
be a Pass.