A Fall TV Primer: Wednesday

Wednesday Comedy

New This Fall: Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton team up in Back to You, a new sitcom about a reunion between a TV host and his old cohost - or is that nemesis? Hopes are high that this show will combine the punch of Frasier and Everyone Loves Raymond in the ratings game - at least in the mind of Fox execs. [Ed: Even the previews for this nugget are killing me. And not in the good way.]
Wednesday, September 19 at 8pm on Fox and Global.

Little Mosque on the Prairie: CanCon sometimes comes up with a winner.Little Mosque On The Prairie charmed viewers and critics alike with its depiction of a small western town where the church space is shared between Christians and Muslims. If you're a 24 fan, it's a real treat to see Carlo Rota pulling double duty between his role as a bemused husband and father on Mosque and his role as a high maintenance computer technician on 24. Always a delightful romp, this show is cute, quirky, self deprecating and smart - quintessentially Canadian.
Wednesday, October 3 at 8:30pm on CBC.

Wednesday is apparently Everyone Loves Raymond reunion night, with Brad Garrett starring for a second season in Til Death Do Us Part, a sitcom about being married. We live it every day, not sure why we need to watch TV about it.
Wednesday, September 19 at 8:30pm on Fox.

Wednesday Reality

No Opportunity Wasted: Phil Keoghan says do it NOW!New This Fall: You've heard me say it twice: Reality TV is the scourge of Western Civilization. Even worse than Paris Hilton. Wait, those are the same thing. Anyway, the one exception to the Reality TV ban in our household has routinely been The Amazing Race, which actually depends on adventure and intelligence for its success rather than conniving and attention whoring. So it is not a complete surprise that I look forward with real excitement to No Opportunity Wasted, the new series with TAR's Phil Keoghan. Every episode grabs two unsuspecting applicants out of the blue and throws them in to 72 hours of adventure, insight, and blowing what you thought were your own limits out of the water. Bonus: It's Canadian! Watch this show.
Wednesday, October 3 at 9pm on CBC.

New This Fall: Ah, Kid Nation. I have a great idea, CBS. Why don't we take 40 kids, ages 8-15, and let them build their own town for a month? Make sure you have releases signed by all these kids' parents, absolving CBS from any liability in the event of death, injury, psychological damage, assault, pregnancy - no word of a lie - or any other nasty things that might happen if kids are left without adult supervision. Let's leave them to their own devices, with the only adults on the site (the camera crew) told to have a hands off approach (because it makes better TV to have kids do what kids will do naturally, right?). And let's leave them with cooking facilities that burn, and cleaning chemicals like bleach that they can drink, and let's make sure we line up lots of sponsors, 'cause this one's gonna make a mint! Ugh. Reality TV producers have a special place reserved for them in hell.
Wednesday, September 19 at 8pm on CBS.

New This Fall: Kitchen Nightmares brings nasty assed Celebrity Chef bastard Gordon Ramsay into failing restaurants, to see if he can berate the management into turning the place around. I have to wonder, with all the media this guy's doing, who's doing the cooking at his own restaurants?
Wednesday, September 19 at 9pm on Fox.

Wednesday Other

Deal or No Deal - if you like game shows, apparently this is a good one. They're just above reality TV on my radar, so you'll have to take someone else's word for it. Will anybody win the million? Does anybody care?
Wednesday, September 26 at 8pm on NBC.

With so much selection on Wednesday nights, your PVR will be bulging if you want to see it all and figure out for yourself what will stick for the rest of the season. It's a good problem to have.

Tomorrow: The networks stick with what works.