TV’s season of change
Will there be another Glee or Mad Men?
PASADENA, CALIF. — TV’s picture, like winter weather, is ever-changing, but some constants remain.
All TV shows, even good shows, go away eventually, and the coming weeks and months will see audiences bid farewell to two of the small screen’s biggest shows. Mad Men, the AMC period drama about a fictional advertising agency on New York City’s Madison Avenue in the 1960s, will air its final seven episodes starting in May. Mad Men has been an enigma off-screen as well as on: Early in its run, it won a record-tying four Emmy Awards for outstanding drama series. On the flip side, in 2012, Mad Men set an Emmy record with 17 nominations, without winning a single one. For all the accolades and tributes paid to its acting, including back-to-back Screen Actors Guild awards in 2008 and ’09 for its cast ensemble, no Mad Men actor or actress — neither Jon Hamm nor Elisabeth Moss — has won an Emmy.
Still, like the other once fondly remembered show that will bid farewell in 2015, the high-school musical drama Glee, Mad Men left an indelible mark on the culture.
Over the next two weeks in Pasadena, Calif., the major TV networks and cable specialty channels will present their new programs at the winter meeting of the Television Critics Association, in a bid to show off the new Mad Men or Glee before audiences have a chance to decide for themselves whether the new offerings are must-see TV or must flee.
Anticipated returns include a fifth season of Game of Thrones — said to be the most illegally downloaded series in TV history — and new seasons of True Detective and Fargo, this time with new characters in new stories. True Detective, from HBO, will feature Vince Vaughn and Colin Farrell in roles similar to, but not the same as, those played by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the popular original.
The Walking Dead comes back to life Feb. 8,
Streaming-only services further complicate TV’s midseason picture, with a new season of the acclaimed Kevin Spacey political drama House of Cards on the agenda.
The major broadcast networks are hoping for the breakout hit that eluded them this past fall, when few of the new sitcoms or dramas made an impact the way populist dramas and comedies like Lost and Desperate Housewives did a decade ago. That may be because the new shows themselves were lacking. Or, it may be because viewer habits have changed and the idea of a mass hit with broad audience appeal may no longer be possible in a new media world where viewers can pick and choose what appeals to them individually.
Viewer habits have changed and the idea of a mass hit ... may no longer be possible.
Some aspects of TV remain resistant to change, of course. Broadcast network TV has often been called the most conservative and slow-to-evolve of the entertainment mediums, which in part is why traditional broadcast TV appeals to an older audience. A new CSI spinoff, the self-explanatory CSI: Cyber, is about to join NCIS: New Orleans on the growing list of sequels, spinoffs and remakes, along with a modernized, updated version of The Odd Couple, this time starring Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon.
One of midseason’s more anticipated spinoffs is AMC’s Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul, which will focus on the supporting characters played by Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks. Better Call Saul bows Feb. 8.
And while the late-night talk show picture is about to change with the retirement of David Letterman, following the departure of late-night stalwarts Jay Leno and Craig Ferguson, the format remains the same. U.K. cult comedian James Corden will take over Ferguson’s Late, Late Show in March, and Stephen Colbert will take over from Letterman at an as-yet-tobe-announced date in the coming year. The 67-year-old Letterman will host his final Late Show on May 20.
Take-no-prisoners comedian and Daily Show regular Larry Wilmore takes over the spot vacated by Colbert on Jan. 19.
On the home front, the CBC sitcom Schitt’s Creek, featuring a reunion of SCTV castmates Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, will bow Jan. 13, with a U.S. airdate planned for the rebranded TV Guide Network, now rebranded as POP. Schitt’s Creek’s cast and producers will appear before the U.S. media Jan. 9.
Clement Virgo’s powerful miniseries The Book of Negroes, based on Canadian author Lawrence Hill’s 2007 critically acclaimed book, will air on the U.S. cable channel BET. Clement, Hill and cast members Aunjanue Ellis, Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Louis Gossett, Jr. will also appear at the critics’ meeting, on Jan. 10. Other winter debuts of note:
Marvel’s Agent Carter, with Haley Atwell’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s character taking centre stage, and the musicindustry saga Empire, starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson and featuring original music by Timbaland.
Back strom, a comedic drama featuring The Office’s Rainn Wilson as a selfdestructive, unapologetically uncouth police detective, bows Jan. 22.
The already controversial Asian American sitcom Fresh Off the Boat launches Feb. 4 on ABC. Historically, the phrase “fresh off the boat” is considered a slur toward Asian Americans. The show is based on the same titled memoir of celebrity chef Eddie Huang.
The Odd Couple returns in its new guise on Feb. 19. Admit it: You can’t wait. If only out of curiosity. Potential car crashes are like that.