Between Seasons

Summer isn't the long TV layoff it once was. There is now just one week between the end of the broadcast network season and the beginning of the summer cable season.  As I write this column  during that week between, I thought it a good time to reflect on the season just past and look ahead to the fall's new crime shows.

FOX canceled the most shows this season, among them Lie to Me, Human Target, and half-hour caper comedy Breaking In, which I can best describe as a geekier version of TNT's Leverage. Starring the likable Bret Harrison (Reaper), Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), and Christian Slater, Breaking In scored okay ratings in seven airings after American Idol, but okay wasn't good enough.

Meanwhile, The CW's staple superhero series Smallville ended its long run. Coupled with Human Target's cancellation and NBC's passing up a widely-panned Wonder Woman pilot from David E. Kelley, Fall 2011 will be the first season in more than a decade to feature no comic book-based series. NBC and ABC are instead taking chance on fairy tale-based series Grimm and Once Upon a Time respectively. Read on to my night-by-night Fall preview for more on these shows.

I have to say none of the cancellations particularly stung. Human Target, for example, had shifted focus so markedly as to lose me. Trying to attract more female viewers, the show added two female supporting characters who weren't very strong in their own right and often had to be saved by the men. I enjoyed CBS's early Friday night hit, The Defenders, which was moved to Wednesdays and forgotten; however, similar legal series Franklin & Bash begins June 1 on TNT.

Finally, two high-profile spinoffs flopped this season: NBC's Law& Order: Los Angeles and CBS's Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior. Further, CBS is facing an April 28 lawsuit by NCIS creator Don Bellisario over successful spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles. Bellisario left NCIS in 2007 after a dispute with star Mark Harmon, but he feels he should be compensated for the later-commissioned spinoff because it faithfully follows his formula and would not exist without without the original. Both Bellisario and CBS claim to be supported by contract language. The outcome of the case could impact the future of spinoffs in general.

And now, on to the night-by-night Fall preview of new crime shows:

CW Tuesdays, 9:00 PM ET Ringer - A thriller originally pitched to CBS, Ringer marks Sarah Michelle Gellar's return to series television, playing twin sisters Bridget and Siobhan. When Siobhan dies in a boating accident, Bridget takes over her life, seeking a fresh start. Little does she know, there's a price on Siobhan's head as well. I'm confident Gellar can bring nuance to each sister as she brought depth to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

CBS Tuesdays, 10:00 PM Unforgettable - Poppy Montgomery (Without A Trace) stars as Carrie Wells, an ex-cop who can remember/not forget every detail of every day of her life. Carrie's ex-partner/ex-lover Al Burns (Dylan Walsh) draws her back into police work. The series promises to highlight the diversity of its Queens, New York setting.

CBS Thursdays, 9:00 PM ET Person of Interest - Having created a computer program that can predict crimes, mysterious billionaire Mr. Finch (Michael Emerson, Lost) hires presumed-dead CIA operative Reese (Jim Caviezel, The Passion of the Christ) to actively prevent these crimes.  The premise sounds dubious, but I'll stay interested if the actors are able to bring humanity to their roles.

ABC Thursdays, 8:00 PM ET Charlie's Angels - This update of the classic 1970s series, developed by Smallville writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and produced by Drew Barrymore, gives the Angels (Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor, Annie Ilonzeh) shadier pasts. Gough has expressed his desire to avoid camp. I hope the series format will allow the characters to be fleshed out further than in Barrymore's two movies.

NBC Thursdays, 10:00 PM ET Prime Suspect - The U.S. version of the popular British series was adapted by a producer of Desperate Housewives and stars Maria Bello as Jane Timoney, newly transferred to a male-dominated New York precinct. While such adaptations seldom succeed in their own right, they are always worth a look for comparison's sake.

NBC Fridays, 9:00 PM ET Grimm - This fairy tale-based crime series comes from David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, veterans of Joss Whedon's vampire P.I. series Angel.  Protagonist Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) learns he is a descendant of the Brothers Grimm, whose tales were based on actual monsters only Burkhardt can now see. Of the fall's two fairy tale series, Grimm sounds more my speed.

ABC Sundays, 8:00 PM ET Once Upon a Time - In this drama/fantasy from two writers of Lost, bail bonds collector Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison, House M.D.) is reunited with her son, Henry, and drawn to Storybrooke, Maine, where the townspeople have no memory of their pasts as fairy tale characters.