Even for the most talented DVR programmer, trying to add ANY new series to your television schedule can prove difficult. And with over 40 new start ups coming this fall, How exactly do you choose? Sixty five percent of new series will be cancelled in their first year. ‘Alcatraz’, ‘The River’ and ‘Awake’ ALL bit the bullet in their respected inaugural seasons this past year. With the exception of ‘Awake’, I tried desperately to love the other two but for some reason they fell flat to me. As with ‘Awake’, I can predict which show will be KILLED by how much I like it. We all have different tastes for what we want out of this over saturated television landscape. As for myself, I’m not at all into the five hundred and two versions of CSI, Reality bouillabaisse or comedies that try to hard to be…comedies. What I like: Ambitious ideas, mysterious premises, imagination TNT, nightmare fuel and characters that I care about.

Scanning over the fall 2012 schedule…I see promise, regret and absolute disaster. The paint by numbers young adult aimed, ‘Revolution’ looks intriguing even with the ‘Terra Nova’-ish dialog. ‘Arrow’ might last around eight episodes. I hope the Terry O’Quinn ‘666 Park Avenue’ can grab an audience. ‘Vegas’ and ‘The Following’ have the best chance of lasting a full season and the over/under of EP’s for ‘Elementary’ is six.

We are in the black hole of TV doldrums and there is no better time to play catch up on some goodness that you might have missed. Here are three series that I think you should give a shot…

Fringe (Fox, Fridays. Season five premier September 28th):
We are promised a ‘huge payoff’ In the fifth and final mini-season of ‘Fringe’ (only 13 episodes left!). Executive producers, J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinker have stated as much. The limited season gives the cult sci-fi drama a direct line to the finish. This is/was no where near a mundane ‘X Files’ knock off.

Why you should check it: If you dig…star-crossed lovers, wacky mad scientists, doppelgangers from parallel universes, mysterious time-travelers, and Leonard Nimoy. John Nobel’s scene stealing acting and the fact the entire cast truly cares about this show. They bid a tearful goodbye at Comic Con in San Diego just this last month.

Merlin (SyFy, new episodes return January 2013):
I can’t say enough good things about this one. I proclaimed it my absolute number one guilty pleasure earlier this year

https://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/35915

‘Merlin’ is like a better done ‘Smallville’ about the Arthurian legend we grew up on. It is at turns familiar and new. After NBC cancelled it here in the states, SYFY picked it up and it’s performed well enough that season four will air in early 2013.

Why you should check it: The brilliant cast. Colin Morgan OWNS ‘Merlin’. He is not only interesting, he is endearing. Bradley James is much at the helm as Arthur. The chemistry between them both is so organic and natural that it never feels forced. The show gets the most out of it’s production value by shooting on location in Wales (among other locales). The best part, this is something that I can watch with my daughter and not be put off by anything at all inappropriate. She’s eleven and I think I enjoy it more than her. Maybe. ‘Merlin’ is a fun series that puts an interesting spin on a classic story.

Person Of Interest (CBS, Season two premier September 27th):
Think Batman without the cape or cowl. Throw in post 9/11 mass surveillance tactics and solid acting by ‘LOST’s Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel AND add a machine that spies on everybody and sifts through spy cameras, emails, phone calls, and so on. The machines functionality is supposed to look for ‘terroists’ but it also spots ‘Minority Report’ like potential crimes and spits out a social security number of either the perp or victim of said crime.

Sounds kind of like the ‘Utah Data Center’ being built here in Bluffdale:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter

Why you should check it: P.O.I. got off to a clunky start in season one. It felt like a generic ‘Crime Procedural’. After it found it’s footing, it kind of morphed into a vigilante narrative and it kept getting better. In 2012, privacy and the right to one’s own data is a hot-button issue. As we are ‘Datamined’ through our various digital devices with a methodological approach of ‘forecasting’ rather than ‘predicting’. ‘Person of Interest’ is, if nothing else, timely entertainment(?).

-Dagobot
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*I have been tasked with watching ‘American Horror Story’ & ‘The IT Crowd’ … what else would you suggest?