The killer B's

The new season of Survivor, which will divide tribes this time by Brains, Beauty, and Brawn is set to premiere next month. Today the cast for this upcoming season was announced. Here are some more details on the season and this newest set of castaway from EW.com

After a successful season of having former players compete with/against their loved ones on Blood vs. Water, Survivor will try another brand new concept when Survivor: Cagayan premieres with a two-hour episode on Feb. 26 at 8pm on CBS. This time, 18 contestants will be separated into three tribes: brawn, brains, and beauty. And while all of those contestants will be new players — marking only the third such all-newbie season in the past nine installments — one of the names may be familiar: former NBA All-Star (and recent visitor to North Korea as part of Dennis Rodman’s basketball troupe) Cliff Robinson.

Robinson played 18 seasons in the NBA for the Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets — averaging over 14 points a game and making the playoffs every season but one (sorry, 2004). So how did he end up on Survivor? “He’s a fan of the show,” says host Jeff Probst, who in the past has also welcomed other professional athletes or coaches like Gary Hogeboom, Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Kent to compete on the reality hit. “There’s a common thread through all the former athletes and people that have been involved in sports like Jimmy Johnson, and it’s the competition. Jeff Kent talked about it a lot. He said, ‘This won’t define me, but it is something I want to try.’ Cliff was the same way. He made a lot of references during casting to the high he got from having to win in order to eat. He’d say, ‘Because if I don’t win, I might not be asked back, and if I’m not asked back I don’t make my money, and if I don’t make my money I don’t eat. So I have to win to eat.’ And that’s the essence of Survivor: You have to win to stick around.’”

Robinson — who, naturally, will be on the brawn tribe — is not the only figure from professional sports to appear on Survivor’s 28th season. Miami Marlins president David Samson will also be competing, even though that meant leaving his team in the middle of the season last summer to play (Survivor: Cagayan was filmed in July and August). “I was surprised that David could get away from his job while his team was still playing,” says Probst. “But he was definitive in his answer and very to the point: ‘I have it worked out. Next question.’ And that’s how he plays this game.” (Samson will be on the brains tribe).

The rest of the cast includes a pro poker player (brains tribe), a former Miss Kentucky Teen USA (we’ll let you guess what tribe she is on), a nuclear engineer (again, pretty obvious), two former NFL cheerleaders (one on brains, one on beauty), and two police officers (both on brawn). For a full cast list, see below.

The whole concept of brains, brawn, and beauty was something producers stumbled into late in the process of planning out season 28. “We didn’t really know until late in casting,” Probst tells EW. “We were deep into casting and loving everybody. It was very exciting. It’s the first time we’ve had all new players in a while. We were feeling really good. And it was actually [casting director] Lynne Spillman who came over as we were having something to eat and said, ‘I got an idea: What if we separate them into brains, brawn, and beauty?’ It was a pretty exciting moment because after 27 seasons, finding a new fresh way to continue the social experiment is not easy.”

Probst says part of the fun of the season comes from seeing how the players will react to the labels they are given. “The brawn tribe does get bumps and bruises, and if they need wood they just pull a tree down,” says Probst. “And the beauty tribe does sit around and bowl with coconuts and walk around in their underwear and talk about their haircuts or their latest modeling job, And the brains tribe, just as you would have expected, sits around talking about the greatest way to structure a shelter and where they should put it. And the funny part is watching each tribe have success or failure in their perceived expertise. The brains tribe does not necessarily have the best camp, but in talking to them, you would be certain that they did by the way they talk. And it’s interesting watching that play out and how much of that is because they really are the smart tribe and how much is that they believe they are the smart tribe because they’ve been told they are the smart tribe, so they start behaving as the smart tribe.”

Probst told EW back in December in his first comments about the season that going back to the all-new players concept was a nod to fans that asked for an installment with no returning players: “We listened to our fans. That was really it. They’ve been saying over and over, ‘We love the returning players, but we’d like to see a cast of new players.’ And that’s why we did it.” In another nod to old-school Survivor, there will be no Redemption Island this time around, so when players are voted out of the tribe, they are out of the game for good.

Right time of the year

The Price is Right celebrated their "Best of 2013" show today by offering some of their favorite prizes and recalling some of their favorite moments of the past year. Well perhaps their biggest moment came on the show today as a woman became the biggest winner in daytime TV history with her victory today. Check out this amazing moment below:

Come back on down!

From TVGuide.com:

One lucky (and unsuspecting) audience attending an upcoming taping of The Price is Right will be treated to an appearance by the game show's longtime host Bob Barker, as the Emmy Award-winning legend returns to his old CBS Television City studio to celebrate his 90th birthday.

"We've had Bob on just one other time since Drew Carey took over the show," says executive producer Mike Richards. "It was when Bob's book, Priceless Memories, came out and it was a priceless moment for fans. I was looking for the perfect reason to bring Bob back again and this TV legend turning 90 is the perfect reason."

Barker's pre-taped, one-day appearance will air on his birthday, Dec. 12, during a weeklong tribute (Dec. 9-13) to the animal rights crusader. "Monday through Friday we're going to be doing pet adoptions, which is something Bob did on the show for years," explains Richards.

During his appearance, Barker will help place a pup for adoption and take part in a special Showcase presentation featuring prizes that honor the benefits of reaching 90. Such as? "Being treated well," Richards says. "'And you'll be treated incredibly well on this trip to wherever... It's intended to show off just how hilarious Bob is and let him have a little fun. We couldn't be more excited!"

With both Barker and The Price is Right — daytime's No. 1 show — still going strong, Richards feels confident making one more announcement: "I'm officially extending an invitation to Bob to come back for his 100th birthday!"

Bob Barker, come on down!

Number cruncher

Today marked the season premiere for the The Price is Right's 42nd year on TV. To mark the big day, the show debuted its newest pricing game called Do the Math. Check out its first playing right here:

Family feud

With the new fall TV season quickly approaching comes the announcement of a new Survivor. The big twist for this next installment, dubbed 'Blood vs. Water', is that returning players will be squaring off against a tribe of their family members. For more on what you can expect this season and who will be a part of the cast, here's the story from EW.com:

Jeff Probst already announced on Entertainment Weekly Radio that the next season of Survivor — subtitled Blood vs. Water — would feature returning Survivor contestants playing with (or, rather, against) their loved ones. Then, yesterday we revealed that one of those pairs would be Survivor: One World’s Kat Edorsson and her boyfriend, Big Brother season 12 winner Hayden Moss. Now the rest of the cast can be officially unveiled. And that cast will be playing in the most twist-heavy Survivor season ever.

Among the cast of Survivor: Blood vs. Water —which filmed this past May and June in the Philippines — will be a contestant from the group that started it all, as season 1 player Gervase Peterson returns to compete along with his niece Marissa. He will be joined by three million dollar winners — Tina Wesson from The Australian Outback (who will be playing with daughter Katie), Aras Baskauskas from Panama (with brother Vytas), and Rupert Boneham, who has never won in his three previous outings but did collect a million dollars as the winner of a special fan voted prize given away during the All-Stars season. He will be joined by his wife Laura.

In a surprise, the new cast also features three players from One World — which is generally considered one of the weakest Survivor seasons ever. Joining Kat will be Monica Culpepper (and husband Brad) and the controversial Colton Cumbie (and fiancé Caleb). Rounding out the cast are threepeaters Tyson Apostol (with girlfriend Rachel) and the former Candice Woodcock (now Candice Cody, with husband John), as well as Laura Morett from Samoa (with daughter Ciera).

Survivor host Jeff Probst gives credit for the loved ones concept to Survivor casting director Lynne Spillman. “It’s something she brought up for years,” Probst told EW.com. “But this year she pitched it and she said, ‘I think I can pull it off. I think I’ve found the right amount of couples.’ And once we started talking about it and talking about who would play, it went from something we thought about doing next year to something we were going to do this season. It was one of those moments were I left and went ‘Oh, everything’s different.’” As if having returning players playing against their loved ones was not a big enough twist, there are several other smaller changes, some of which could dramatically alter the way the game is played. Here they are:

* For the first time ever, the game will not be 39 days long, but rather 39-and-a-half days, as the couples will begin the game the night prior to day one with a new twist titled “Day Zero.” The 10 pairs will be sent out at sunset to 10 different locations to live by themselves for the night. They will then all meet up to be officially welcomed by host Jeff Probst and start the game the next morning. “The whole idea was to try and get them thinking and maybe believing that they would play as a pair,” says Probst.

* Just minutes after congregating, the returning players and their loved ones will be split into two different tribes, with the returning players making up the yellow Galang tribe and the newbies comprising the red Tadhana tribe. “Suddenly your partner becomes your adversary, your competition,” says Probst. “And that was the whole premise of Blood Vs. Water. How is that going to play out in a game where only one person can win?”

* First impressions can be key in the game like Survivor, and that will prove true here as just moments after meeting each other, each team will vote one member off their tribe. They will later be informed that these people have not been voted out of the game, but rather will be sent to Redemption Island, which makes its return after having been absent for the past three seasons. There they will battle to stay alive and reenter the game at a later point.

* Confused yet? Well, it gets even more confusing! Jeff Probst will then immediately offer each of the loved ones of the two people voted off the opportunity to trade places with them, meaning that if, say, returning player Tina is voted out of her tribe at the start, her daughter Katie can opt to take her place at Redemption Island instead, and Tina would then join the tribe of newbies.

* As mentioned, Redemption Island is back. Anyone voted out will be sent there and will then compete in a three person duel. The last place finisher in each contest is out of the game for good, while the top two remain. However, if someone’s loved one is still in the game they can take their loved one’s place before a duel. (So if, say, Monica is at Redemption Island but her husband Brad thinks he would do better at a duel involving strength, he can swap places with her, electing to do the duel while she takes his place on his tribe. They could then swap again at the next duel if it is a contest better suited to her strengths.) “That puts blood and water to the test,” says Probst. “And we’re gonna do it at every duel. So the first time early in the game, somebody may say ‘It’s just too early.” But as those duels increase and they get closer to what they think might be a merge, their strategy is going to start to change.”

* That’s not all when it comes to Redemption Island. The person who finishes first in each duel will also get to give a clue to the location of a hidden immunity idol to any person from either tribe that they choose. “There’s all these things you can do,” says Probst. “Because for a moment, even though you’re on the outest, furthest part of the game, you have a little bit of power.”

Check this out

A big moment occurred this past week on The Price is Right. A game that many thought had been long retired made a glorious return. After a 4 year absence, Check Game came back all refurbished and looking good. Even if people hardly use checks anymore, it's still great to see this classic return to the price game rotation. You can watch it's first playing below.

Fall harvest

This past week I've been posting the announcements for the fall schedules of television's networks. From a scheduling perspective, there was not a lot of shakeup, particularly regarding shows that affect me so there's not much to discuss. Along with the schedule announcements, the networks have posted trailers promoting their brand new shows. I've watched them all and I can't say that I'm overly optimistic. Most of the shows fell into one of two common traps: 1)the show has an interesting premise that feels extremely limited; you wonder how the show can sustain 22 episodes, let alone multiple seasons or 2) the show feels like a complete retread of tired setups and tropes that just make you yearn for older shows that have done the same thing much better in the past. With that said, there are a few shows that do show some promise so I'll be posting the trailer for each of them below along with links to a few others that might be decent as well.

CBS
They probably had the weakest crop of previews, but they also have the strongest crop of existing shows, so they probably don't have to worry if none of these pan out. The one that interested me the most was Hostages about a female doctor who is set to operate of the President of the United States when her family is taken hostage. She's told that she must let the President die during the operation or else her family will die. Again, I don't see how they can stretch this out into a full series, but the cast is strong and the preview suggests that there's more to the story than they're letting on here, so perhaps this could work.



Honorable mention: A new comedy called The Crazy Ones starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The premise here seems solid enough. The big question is how well the show can keep Robin reined in. If it's just his grating schtick constantly, it won't keep me as a viewer. If the focus is on the storytelling with his humor peppered throughout, then you might have a winner. Here's the trailer.


ABC
There's a clear winner here and it's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Even better is that they've scheduled it for Tuesdays, where there is not a lot of quality TV competition, so hopefully it has a chance of succeeding. I posted a quick trailer earlier this week, but here's a nearly 3 minute trailer that will give you a much better idea of what to expect from the show.



Honorable mention: While not everything worked in the preview for The Goldbergs, there's enough to make me think it could have a chance if it finds the right tone and voice. There's no denying it has a strong comedic cast (the older brother sticks out as a weak link). If it can tap into that Freaks and Geeks or Wonder Years vein, then this might work. Here's the trailer.


FOX
Of the previews they released, FOX probably had the best average. More than a few of their shows seemed to have promise, but on the other hand none really stood out as a sure thing. It was tough for me to pick just one as their best bet. I went with Sleepy Hollow - a new twist on the story of Ichibod Crane. From a writer/producer perspective, the show has a good pedigree. I also liked how it blended a lot of genres. The show seems to be part cop drama, part horror, part historical mystery, and part science fiction. It's tough to say right now whether this will work or not, but I'm hopeful it will.



Honorable Mention: I probably would have given it to Us & Them, a remake of the critically acclaimed British show Gavin and Stacey, but since it's not scheduled to air until "midseason", which could whenever, I decided to give the nod to Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I can't say that I always liked Andy Samberg during his tenure on SNL, but the preview for this new cop comedy made me laugh more than any other trailer. That's due largely to a seemingly solid supporting cast. If it's not surrounded by other decent shows, this may struggle to find an audience, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Here's the trailer.


NBC
Of the new dramas, The Blacklist, had the premise that intrigued me the most. James Spader is a criminal mastermind on the FBI's Top Ten list who turns himself in with the promise of helping them capture other highly sought criminals that he's worked with. No matter the role, Spader is always compelling, so it's likely most will get sucked in to the first episode based on his presence alone. Whether the show can sustain an audience, as well as a compelling narrative remains to be seen.



Honorable mention: I gotta say, there was a huge drop-off in terms of interesting previews after The Blacklist. It's so bad, that I almost don't want to mention anything else. The comedies, especially, looked rather uninteresting, which is a shame that Parks and Recreation is left to pick up their slack. If I had to point one out that might have a chance, it's The Michael J. Fox Show. The setup doesn't really hook me, but Fox is such a likable presence, that it's hard not to root for him. Here's the trailer.

2013 Fall Television Schedule Announcement (CBS)

CBS announced its 2013 - 2014 primetime schedule today! You can check out the full announcement below:

CBS unveiled today its new 2013-2014 schedule, featuring eight new series - five comedies and three dramas - to build on the strength of America's top-rated network. Five of the new series will premiere in the fall and three at mid-season.

CBS will finish the current season as the top-rated network in viewers for the 10th time in 11 seasons, #1 in the adults 25-54 demographic and #1 in adults 18-49 for the first time since the 1991-1992 season.

For next fall, the Network is increasing its comedy lineup with four new comedies, expanding its comedy block on Thursdays from 8:00-10:00 PM and creating an encore hour for comedy broadcasts on Saturdays.

The new comedies are THE CRAZY ONES, a single-camera comedy from executive producer David E. Kelley starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar; THE MILLERS, a multi-generational family comedy from executive producer Greg Garcia starring Will Arnett, Margo Martindale, Beau Bridges and JB Smoove; MOM, an edgy family comedy from executive producer Chuck Lorre starring Anna Faris and Allison Janney; and WE ARE MEN, an ensemble single-camera comedy starring Tony Shalhoub, Kal Penn, Chris Smith and Jerry O'Connell.

Two new dramas have been scheduled for Mondays at 10:00 PM. HOSTAGES, the serialized suspense thriller from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer starring Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott, premieres in the fall, building to a season finale in January. Soon after, INTELLIGENCE, a high-octane action drama starring Josh Holloway, Marg Helgenberger and Meghan Ory, moves into the time period for the remainder of the season.

The freshman series will be joined by 20 returning shows including NCIS, the season's most watched show; THE BIG BANG THEORY, the season's #1 comedy in viewers and demos; 60 MINUTES, the season's #1 news magazine; and ELEMENTARY, the season's #1 new drama.

The other returning series include: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, 2 BROKE GIRLS, NCIS: LOS ANGELES, PERSON OF INTEREST, SURVIVOR, CRIMINAL MINDS, CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, TWO AND A HALF MEN, UNDERCOVER BOSS, HAWAII FIVE-0, BLUE BLOODS, 48 HOURS, THE AMAZING RACE, THE GOOD WIFE and THE MENTALIST.

In addition, the proven hit returning comedy MIKE & MOLLY, starring Academy Award nominee Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell; the new steamy legal drama RECKLESS; and the new romantic comedy FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES are set for mid-season.

CBS TELEVISION NETWORK
2013-2014 PRIME TIME SCHEDULE
(N=New, NT=New Time, all times ET/PT)

MONDAY
8:00-8:30 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
8:30-9:00 PM WE ARE MEN (N)
9:00-9:30 PM 2 BROKE GIRLS
9:30-10:00 PM MOM (N)
10:00-11:00 PM HOSTAGES (N) / INTELLIGENCE (Mid-Season) (N)

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM NCIS
9:00-10:00 PM NCIS: LOS ANGELES
10:00-11:00 PM PERSON OF INTEREST (NT)

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMINAL MINDS
10:00-11:00 PM CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

THURSDAY
8:00-8:30 PM THE BIG BANG THEORY
8:30-9:00 PM THE MILLERS (N)
9:00-9:30 PM THE CRAZY ONES (N)
9:30-10:00 PM TWO AND A HALF MEN (NT)
10:00-11:00 PM ELEMENTARY

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM UNDERCOVER BOSS
9:00-10:00 PM HAWAII FIVE-0 (NT)
10:00-11:00 PM BLUE BLOODS

SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COMEDYTIME SATURDAY (N)
8:30-9:00 PM COMEDYTIME SATURDAY (N)
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY
10:00-11:00 PM 48 HOURS

SUNDAY
7:00-8:00 PM 60 MINUTES
8:00-9:00 PM THE AMAZING RACE
9:00-10:00 PM THE GOOD WIFE
10:00-11:00 PM THE MENTALIST

Fan-ning the Faves

Yes, it's already time to talk about Survivor, the cast for the latest season was just announced today and once again includes some familiar faces. They are re-doing the fans vs. favorites season, so half of the players are returning for their second try at the million. I have to say that the list of so-called "favorites" is pretty underwhelming. However host Jeff Probst is very enthusiastic about this season and he's typically not phony about his feelings, so maybe there's something there that I'm missing right now. Regardless, I'll be sure to tune in Feb. 13 when the new season debuts on CBS. Below is the cast photo and some more intel on the cast and season overall courtesy of EW.com

Survivor will try to follow up its best season in years by reviving a concept from one of its best seasons ever when Survivor: Caramoan — Fans vs Favorites premieres Feb. 13 on CBS. And the names of both the new fans and returning favorites can now be officially revealed. This marks the show’s second Fans vs Faves venture after Survivor: Micronesia, widely considered one of the program’s strongest offerings. And one of the Fans from that season, Erik Reichenbach (who was most famous for giving up his immunity necklace and then being voted off), will now be making the jump to the Favorites. He will be joined by another person who gave away immunity only to be voted out, Brandon Hantz (Survivor: South Pacific).

Also on the Favorites tribe will be John Cochran (South Pacific), Dawn Meehan (South Pacific), Phillip Sheppard (Redemption Island), Andrea Boehlke (Redemption Island), Francesca Hogi (Redemption Island), Corinne Kaplan (Gabon), Brenda Lowe (Nicaragua), and Malcolm Freberg, who began filming on the new season only two-and-a-half weeks after he came in fourth place on Survivor: Philippines. (The seasons were shot back-to-back in the Philippines in the spring of 2012.)

All of the returning players come from relatively recent seasons and will be playing for the second time. None come from the first 15 seasons of the show, and only Erik and Corinne did not appear in one of the previous five installments. (Survivor: Caramoan — Fans vs Favorites marks the show’s 26th season.) According to host Jeff Probst, the emphasis on more recent returnees is no accident. “We realized that we had to make a decision,” Probst told EW.com. “Do we only bring back our oldest iconic stars, or do we begin to birth new stars. And when we sat down with the list and said, okay let’s look at the people that we haven’t brought back yet, we felt like we had a really good group. And it was a bit of a turning point for us to say, we’re now going to look at the next generation of Survivor all-stars.”

Of course, many of these all-stars are known more for their big gaffes in the game. In addition to Erik and Brandon handing away immunity, Cochran made a hotly-debated flip that led to his demise, and Francesca was the very first person voted off her season after she openly took on Boston Rob. In fact, after seeing whom he was playing against this time around, Cochran fretted about the company he was keeping. “I was looking around all the CBS stuff to see if I could find a logo for the season somewhere because I’m dying to know what this season is subtitled because it sure isn’t being called Greatest Survivor Players of All-Time,” Cochran told EW.com right before filming began in May 2012. “I’m afraid it’s going to be some sort of unflattering thing like Dunce Island where we have to wear dunce caps instead of buffs or something. Because there are a lot of people that made weird moves or poor moves like me.”

As for the 10 new players who will comprise the “Gota” tribe taking on the “Bikal” tribe of Favorites, they include Miss Missouri 2011, a firefighter/EMT, a female racecar driver, and former United States Marine Corps Sgt. Shamar Thomas, who gained a measure of Internet fame after a video posted of him berating New York City police officers for excessive force during an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. (The full list of 20 new and returning players is below.)

And while Survivor: Caramoan will not feature the 21 straight days of rain that fell on the contestants last season, Probst promises that “The weather is a problem. This is a difficult season. The Survivors get pummeled. And there are evacuations. There are things out of the norm that happen this season that will be very memorable. I was on the boat a lot, going back and forth between camps.”

Probst also teases that love will be in air this season. “There’s also some romance early on which continues to blow my mind! It knocks me over that people want the jungle love! As much as you can’t believe we still do a final three, I can’t believe romance happens in front of other people in a game like Survivor.” (He’s right — I do hate the final three format.)

Fall TV Report: Freshman shows

I am WAY behind on a lot of my blogging. There's several things I could post, but I'll begin with a discussion of the few new shows that have caught my eye.

Elementary - I'm a big mystery fan and there's no greater sleuth than Sherlock. He's very hot right now with the Robert Downey Jr. film franchise and a successful BBC series as well. This latest entry, starring Johnny Lee Miller as Holmes and Lucy Liu as a female Watson has not been the slam dunk that I had hoped for and I think part of the problem is the network its on. CBS has a slew of succesful shows, but they are all very familiar and routine. In the first few episodes, the stories told haven't been anything that couldn't have been used on CSI, or NCIS, or The Mentalist, or... shall I go on? I want more brain-testing mysteries and more idiosyncrasies on display by Holmes. I do have some hope that things can improve as this past week's episode was the first one that felt like Holmes and Watson were an actual team instead of making Liu completely superfluous to the story. True Holmes fans will likely be disappointed, but for everyone looking for another solid crime series, this will do just fine. It's been picked up for a full season so look for this to stick around for a while.

Go On - It's the lone new sitcom that has appealed to me in the least and had any success (moderate though it may be) in the ratings. The premise for the show (Matthew Perry attends weekly group therapy sessions to deal with the death of his wife) is relatively fresh and unique. It's also has an amazingly talented cast of comedic actors including Julie White, Brett Gelman, John Cho, Bill Cobbs, and a few others who you'd likely recognize if you saw them. But for all that this show has going for it, I feel like it really hasn't maximized its potential. Some shows struggle initially until it finally finds its voice. I'm hoping that's the case here. I enjoy seeing these characters, I just don't laugh as much as with some of my other favorite sitcoms. Given the lack of other options, I'll stick with this one for now.

Revolution - I had some serious reservations about this one. I've been burned by one too many Lost clones in recent years and feared I would do the same with this one. Shows like this have great setups and no follow through. Then the audience erodes and the series gets cancelled before the viewers who stuck around can get any answers. Well I'm happy to report that thus far this show has bucked that trend. From a viewer standpoint, it's been a huge hit for NBC and has already received a full season order. From my perspective, the show is far from perfect, but solid enough to have captured my interest. Instead of having everything hinge on one singular mystery, the writers have created a lot of different stories that are each intriguing. I'm also pleased that I don't really hate any of the characters to the degree that I want them killed off each episode. The show has so far also done a decent job of keeping the story moving so that you feel like you learn or accomplish something new each episode. I think the success this show has seen will allow the people behind this show to have the confidence to continue to move forward at an appropriate pace and deliver quality entertainment that can last beyond just one season.

Those are the only new shows that I'm regularly watching. Last Resort is one that I still hope to catch, but I'll have to do so through On Demand because I have too many other things airing at the same time that it does. I watched the premiere of Animal Practice and it is disappointingly awful. Everyone else seemed to agree because NBC has already cancelled it. I've seen parts of The Mindy Project and Ben and Kate, but neither of those seemed to be targeted for me. If you've seen any other new show, feel free to chime in and offer your thoughts.

2012 Fall Television Schedule Announcement (CBS)

This will wrap up the fall TV posts. I won't bother with the CW's lineup since I don't watch anything on that network and hardly anyone else does either. But if you're dying to see what they have in store, you can check it out at this link.

2012 CBS Fall Lineup

CBS has sat atop the ratings throne for several years now and the moves they made for the fall suggest they don't plan on losing that crown anytime soon. They cancelled the few deadweight shows that they had (adios CSI: Miami) and kept most of their hits in their same timeslots. The biggest change was moving Two and Half Men to Thursday nights and pairing it with The Big Bang Theory. Given that Men is getting a bit long in the tooth, it's a shrew decision to not rely it as the Monday anchor and instead have it along side the very popular Bang. That will no doubt further solidify CBS's hold on Thursday night programming. While I gave up on 2 Broke Girls, it's clear the CBS has enough confidence in it to make it the new anchor on Monday nights. Given how successful CBS has been, they really don't have too many new shows coming out. Of the ones that did make the fall lineup, the most intriguing one for me is Elementary - a modern day take on Sherlock Holmes with a female (Lucy Liu) in the Watson role. It'll take some time for me to wrap my head around the gender switch, but otherwise it looks like it could be another solid procedural for CBS.

Fall TV Report Card (Returning favorites part 1)

Survivor: South Pacific - The show had an admittedly down year last year with a weak cast in the fall and then Boston Rob's dominance leading to predictable episodes in the spring.  Thankfully the show seems to show promise once again in their latest effort.  This seems thus far like a strong, likeable cast.  There were very few people that I was wishing would get eliminated quickly.  The returns of Ozzy and Coach should be interesting as well as they aren't the same players as Russell or Rob, so how they'll fare is still a bit unclear.  Speaking of Russell, his nephew is part of this cast and he's one of the few that I'm not crazy about.  He seems creepy, especially around women.  He claims he wants to keep his relationship to Russell a secret, but I highly doubt he'll be able to do that.  Lastly, the redemption island twist is back once again.  I wasn't overly crazy about it for a number of reasons, but I'm willing to see it play out again before completely condemming it.  If it can reward someone worthy while also providing some good gameplay, I'll be happy.  For now, this new season has restored my faith in this stalwart series.  Grade: A-

How I Met Your Mother: The show seems to be taking a renewed interest in Ted's lovelife, even if we aren't really anywhere closer to learning who the titular mother is.  If true, I would say that it's a positive step since I am more interested and invested in that than I am in their fruitless efforts to neuter the Barney character by saddling him with this relationship storyline involving him Robin and Nora.  That is a total snoozefest which unfortunately took up way too much time in the first two episodes that premiered this past Monday.  As for Lily and Marshall, they remain enjoyable and it should be fun seeing them approach parenthood.  The show offers enough laughs to keep me around, but they better make some wise choices with regards to their storylines.  Bringing back Ted's old girlfriend, Victoria the cupcake girl, at the end of the second episode was certainly a move in the right direction.  Grade: B

Pac Men

It's that time of year again to unveil a whole new cast of Survivor as the show prepares for its 23rd installment, Survivor: South Pacific. This time, there will be 16 new contestants (pictured below) along with two returning castaways. The returning members won't officially be announced until Wednesday, but it has long been leaked online that they are Ozzy and Coach. One notable new contestant is 19 year old Brandon Hantz, who is the nephew of Russell Hantz, who had competed in three out of the last four seasons. Will he be just as evil and scheming as his uncle or will he play against type? From the rest of the group we have a lingerie football player, a mortician, a medical marijuana dispenser, and a former Miss Washington. For full information on the cast, as well as some news to changes being made with both the immunity idol and redemption island, you can check out Entertainment Weekly's coverage here. Survivor: South Pacific begins Sept. 14th.