Summer TV 2011

[Lumenskir]

Also, none of the shows that are coming on to replace the bad shows going off seem any better, might as well continue the established plot lines of the current bad shows.

Because all shows usually lose some percentage of viewers with successive seasons. If a show has shitty ratings and no critical support in its first season odds aren't good that it'll turn into a smash success for its second season, but everyone loves the unknown tripe (at least for a little bit) so you get more of your monies worth with season 1 of something new and only potentially shitty than with season 2 of something guaranteed shitty.

Really, the best such a show can hope for is something like Fringe or Chuck where it has shitty ratings but a dedicated audience that will watch it whenever you air it. Then the network can just give it a shitty timeslot and all thirteen viewers will stay at home to watch it on Friday or whenever (it's Friday). Of course, your show needs to actually be good enough to have dedicated fans and not just narrative rubberneckers.

EDIT: I don't know what I'm looking forward to this summer...is Terra Nova coming out this summer? Or is that a fall one? Looked like the only interesting new thing...isn't there an Alien TV show coming out on TNT by Steven Spielberg? That also sounded interesting, what's the name of that show?

Going to be honest, I was about to call you out because I thought Terra Nova and the TNT show were the same thing, but they're actually two completely distinct and probably shitty sci-fi shows, so I was fooled. Falling Skies (AKA "TNT Presents: Noah Wylie Fightin' Aliens"*) will be airing as a miniseries or something this summer, Terra Nova keeps getting put on the schedule and then delayed, and will potentially never be aired (apparently they keep trying to 'fix' the special effects, but everyone who's read the script or watched the rough cut says that the more fundamental problem is the show's stupid plot and characters, not that the dinosaurs might not looks as realistic as possible).

*From the people who brought you "Noah Wylie Fightin' Chinese Epics" and "Noah Wylie Fightin' Books" and "Noah Wylie Fightin' Books 2: It's Personal"