TAKING THE FALL
Reboots, live musicals pepper primetime’s fall slate
F EW things excite TV executives more than nostalgia.
That’s already apparent this week, as the networks start unveiling their fall programming slates during their annual “Upfront” presentations to advertisers.
Every year, these execs comb through old lineups, looking for a year when select shows drew big audiences. And so the remakes are ordered. Remember the disaster that was “Charlie’s
Angels”? Or “The Bionic Woman”? Or “Ironside,” starring Blair Underwood”? Such cringeworthy artifacts are always offset by ho-hummers like “Hawaii Five-0,” but the message is clear: a spruced-up old show will do twice as well as a new one.
This fall is no different. NBC will give us a 12-episode “Will & Grace” revival, starring the original quartet of actors. ABC will devote two nights to “American Idol,” which was only off the air for 13 months following a historic run on Fox. The network is also planning another go-round of “Roseanne” and “The Gong Show,” hosted by Tommy Maitland (Mike Myers in disguise).
Raise your hand if you were lying awake at night dreaming of a “Roseanne” reboot.
Each of the four networks have ordered series in the usual genres — legal, cop and medical shows, family comedies — but several are not debuting until mid- season, another sign of caution. Ryan Murphy has “911,” a Fox cop drama starring “American Horror Story” alum Angela Bassett, The network also has “The Resident,” a medical drama with Emily VanCamp (“Revenge”) and Matt Czuchry (“The Good Wife”), On NBC, Josh Radnor (“How I Met Your Mother”) stars in “Rise,” playing a belea- guered teacher who takes over a school’s theater department and reinvigorates a working-class town.
Meanwhile, several shows that seemed to be breathing their last were resuscitated like a patient on “Grey’s Anatomy.” “Elementary” and “Code Black” will be back on CBS for a sixth and third season, respectively. “New Girl” will see a seventh season on Fox — while “Timeless,” after initially being cancelled by NBC, was saved from the hangman’s cancellation noose.
Next up on the fall trends list: live musicals. The success of live telecasts of “The Sound of Music” and “Grease” has spawned a fresh batch of announced apparitions. Scheduled for December are “Bye, Bye Birdie,” starring Jennifer Lopez, on NBC and “A Christmas Story” on Fox. The network will mount a production of the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Easter 2018 as well as the hipster musical “Rent.” As always, the fall will bring a round of familiar faces who continue to find challenging roles. Alan Cumming (“The Good Wife”) plays a former CIA operative on “Instinct” on CBS. Zach Braff (“Scrubs”) plays a radio journalist who quits his job and tries to create his own business in ABC sitcom. Freddie Highmore (“Bates Motel”) plays a gifted physician with zero interpersonal skills on ABC’s “The Good Doctor.” A couple of casting choice have us chortling already. The lucratively one-dimensional Shemar Moore (“Criminal Minds”) flexes and grimaces his way through “S.W.A.T.” on CBS. And Hollywood airhead Anne Heche (“Men in Trees”) heads up a Defense Intelligence and Special Ops squads team tasked with saving lives on “The Brave.” That makes Katherine Heigl, lately cast as a CIA officer on NBC’s defunct “State of Affairs,” look like Henry Kissinger.