Can You Really Judge the New Fall Shows Without Even Watching Them?

By Diane Holloway

As promised a few weeks ago, when I pre-judged most of the fall series based on press releases rather than actual previews, I am now ready to announce my track record. I have seen the available major network pilots, and I'm ready to confess.

My biggest surprise? Two sitcoms were my favorite new shows! Nobody is more surprised about this than I am. For several years now I have hated network sitcoms (OK, I liked Emmy-winner Modern Family.) But out of all of the fall shows I've seen so far, Fox's Raising Hope and Running Wilde rank right at the top. I laughed so hard I scared Gus the Wonder Dog right off the couch. And paired with Glee on Tuesday nights, there's a reasonable chance for success.

Raising Hope continues Emmy-winning creator/producer Greg Garcia's genius for comedy in a white trash setting. With the karma of My Name Is Earl now a distant memory, his newcomer focuses on the Chance family and the unexpected baby that doofus Jimmy (Lucas Neff) brings home after his pregnant girlfriend gives birth in jail. Jimmy's dirt-poor parents (Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt) have little parental knowledge to share, and a seriously demented grandmother (Cloris Leachman) wanders through the chaos in her underwear. Definitely cartoonish characters and lots of slapstick situations, but good for a few bellylaughs.

Running Wilde doesn't come close to the fabulous lunacy of Arrested Development (from the same creative team), but it's a thigh-slapper, too. Will Arnett, who can do no wrong in my book, co-stars with Keri Russell in an odd-couple romance that pairs two people of ridiculous extremes. Will Arnett plays filthy-rich playboy Steven Wilde, who sets his sights on winning over his childhood sweetheart, Emmy (Russell), a bleeding-heart do-gooder who is the daughter of one of the Wilde family's housekeepers.

The unlikely couple is brought together when Wilde's oil company trashes the rainforest habitat in the Amazon where Emmy has been helping the tribe. Wilde finds an ally in his romantic pursuit in Emmy's 12-year-old daughter, Puddle (Stefania Owen), who prefers rich civilization to her life of roughing-it in the jungle. Trust me, it's funnier than it sounds, and Arnett can spin anything mildly amusing into hilarity.

As for Fox's other newcomer, the Texas-based sudser Lone Star, I was unimpressed. Although I'm happy to see that Adrienne Palicki (Friday Night Lights) is getting more work, the show about a man leading a double life just falls flat. It's possible the pilot just did a lousy job of introducing the cast and the concept, but I doubt it. Serialized melodramas have to whinny right out of the gate, and this one doesn't even snort.

Watching CBS's Hawaii Five-O and The Defenders did not change my prediction that both shows would be awful. They were, especially the ridiculous Vegas-set Defenders with Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell as a couple of sleazy casino-loving lawyers. Skin-crawlingly bad. And the network's two new comedies,$#*! My Dad Says and the fat-joke laden Mike & Molly, were both major groaners.

But CBS' Blue Bloods, a multi-generational cop drama starring Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg, smells like a winner. The police stories are nicely crafted, the cinematography has the look and feel of a gritty film, and the family scenes are wonderfully organic. This rarely happens to me, but I didn't want the pilot to end.

The NBC pilots are more style than substance. (Note to readers: I still haven't seen Law & Order: Los Angeles, which I hope is good.) J.J. Abrams' Undercovers stars the most beautiful duo on TV -- Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. I mean, they are drop-dead gorgeous and super-sexy as globe-trotting spies. But after the sparkle wears off (in about 15 minutes), there's not much plot to chew on. Jerry Bruckheimer's umpteenth action-crime saga, Chase, left me empty, too. Kelli Giddish spends too much time trying to convince us she's a hard-charging U.S. marshal and not just another beautiful blonde.

Long before I watched the preview of NBC's The Event, I was sick of it, thanks to all of those annoying promos. Yes, it's being hawked as a Lost wannabe, but how many people want to get burned on another convoluted sci-fi/ conspiracy saga? Not me. Life is too short, and time is of the essence. And as much as I love Jimmy Smits (don't ask how much, because I'll start drooling), Outlaw did not impress. Seriously, who would quit the Supreme Court to become a criminal defense attorney? The set-up is so ridiculous that the rest of the story seems just as far-fetched. Too bad.

(ABC declined to share its pilots. And life is certainly too short to watch The CW.)

Bottom line: My pre-viewing assessments were pretty darn good, except for those two surprisingly good Fox sitcoms. I've still got it, folks!