Drama TV Series: Midseason 2011-2012

Upcoming Summer 2012 Series:

- Drama, Comedy, Reality

New Spring 2012 Series:

- Comedy, Sci-Fi and Drama

Other Midseason 2011-2012 Series:

- Sci-Fi, Comedy, Reality

As before, I have been looking for upcoming TV Series. In this Hub, I discuss the upcoming drama series that will premiere in Midseason 2011-2012. I have included a preview for each of them, plus my thoughts on the shows. As always, you'll find a list of Do's and Don'ts at the bottom.

Now that these shows have premiered, you can find out here how they are doing in the ratings and if they'll get cancelled or renewed:

ABC’s ‘Missing’, written, created and directed by Gregory Poirier, revolves around a mother, Becca Winstone (Ashley Judd), trying to find her son, Michael (Nick Eversman). While on a summer internship in Italy, Michael suddenly disappeared. Becca travels there to find him, using all of the skills she has learned during her time with the CIA, only to discover that her son has been kidnapped. But what the kidnappers don’t know is that they are about to be scolded by a mother who knows a few dangerous tricks. ‘Missing’ premieres on Thursday March 15th, in the 8/7c timeslot.

The trailer seems to promise not only drama, but also a lot of action, explosions and high speed chasings. It seems Becca will stop at nothing to get her son back. While this is not uncommon for a mother, her CIA background obviously adds to the story. This seems to be quite a promising show, although it could potentially become dull after a few episodes.

‘Luck’ is a new drama series on HBO, starring Dustin Hoffman (‘Rain Man’). The show is set to premiere on January 29th in the 9/8c timeslot, after which it will be repeated twice. The pilot was aired as a preview on December 11, 2011, and a total of 1.14 million people tuned in.

The show centers around regular visitors to a horse-racing track, with as main character Chester ‘Ace’ Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman). Ace has just been released from prison and is deeply involved in the gambling around the race track. ‘Luck’ follows Ace and the gambling that goes on around the race track, from the clubhouse to the training grounds.

Apart from this short preview, the only trailer for ‘Luck’ I could find is this one. The premise of this show seems not that appealing to me. However, Dustin Hoffman is a very skilled actor, and I have a weak spot for Michael Gambon (‘Harry Potter’), who co-stars. Because of the short trailer, it is still a little vague what the series is going to be like. Whether I will become a fan of the show depends on the direction in which the story will develop and the ability of the actors to carry the show. Although ‘Luck’ is probably not a show for the mainstream public, it might just be right in it’s place on HBO.

As a sequel to John Grisham’s 1991 novel, this series is set ten years after the novel and it’s 1992 movie adaptation. After the Chicago mob boss dies in prison, the McDeere family emerges from witness protection. Mitch McDeere starts a new law firm with his brother, and quickly, a shady firm called Kinross & Clarck, tries to acquire the new McDeere firm.

‘The Firm’ stars Josh Lucas and Molly Parker as Mitch and Abby McDeere, respectively, and Callum Keith Rennie as Mitch’s brother Ray. The show will premiere on NBC on Sunday, January 8th at 9/8c, with a double episode, before assuming its regular timeslot on January 12.

From the trailer, ‘The Firm’ promises to become just as suspenseful as John Grisham’s novels. Apart from the fact that it might be a little unbelievable that the McDeere family once again lands in this much trouble, this show might keep us on the edges of our seats.

‘GCB’ is a comedy/drama series formerly known as ‘Good Christian Bitches’ and later as ‘Good Christian Belles’. It is produced by Darren Star (‘90210’ and ‘Sex And The City’) and premieres on Sunday March 4th, at 10/9c.
The show follows Amanda Vaughn (Leslie Bibb, ‘Popular’), who used to be ‘Queen Bitch’ in high school. Recently divorced and now a single mother, she returns to Dallas, where she grew up. She meets her former ‘friends’, portrayed by Kristin Chenoweth (‘The West Wing’), Jennifer Aspen (‘Glee’), Marisol Nichols (‘24’) and Miriam Shor. Although Amanda has become a lot milder, they have certainly not forgotten what she was like in high school.

‘GCB’ looks like a prime time soap with humor. However, it seems to me that the humor is quite vulgar at some points. To be honest, I’m not sure what to think of the show. On the one hand, it seems funny, on the other hand, it is clearly a soap opera, and it seems to be vulgar. I can see this show’s ratings become a disaster, but it could just as easily gather a group of devoted (female) viewers who’ll keep the show on the air for quite a while. Oh well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

‘The Finder’ is a ‘Bones’ spin-off that is set to premiere on January 12 at 9/8c on FOX (‘Bones’ timeslot). The show centers around Walter Sherman (Geoff Stults, ‘October Road’), who was introduced in the 19th episode of the 6th ‘Bones’ season. While in Iraq, Walter suffered brain damage, which explains his paranoia. He is sceptical of everything and asks offensive, seemingly irrelevant questions to get to the bottom of things. Despite his eccentric character, he is known as ‘The Finder’ because he is able to find anything.

Clearly, if you like ‘Bones’, or any other police procedural for that matter, you’ll probably like ‘The Finder’. The only thing bothering me is that Walter’s ability to find things seems almost a little too easy. I know it is possible to have a major change in character after brain injury, which can explain his paranoia, but I’m not sure it can also give someone this kind of brilliance. Of course, I could be wrong. It could be that he is just very good at analyzing the situations, but what I understood from the premises and the preview is that Walter has some sort of ‘gift’, and that just seems a little incredible since the show is not advertised as having a supernatural twist.

Produced by Robert Greenblatt (NBC Entertainment chairman) and Steven Spielberg, ‘Smash’ is a new musical drama series that is set to premiere on Monday, February 6 on NBC in the 10/9c timeslot. In June 2011, Smash was one of eight honorees in the "Most Exciting New Series" category at the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards.

Julia (Debra Messing, ‘Will & Grace’) and Tom (Christian Borle) are writing a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. The musical is to be produced by Eileen (Anjelica Huston, ‘Medium’), directed by Derek (Jack Davenport, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’), who’ll do anything to achieve a breakout, and favored over veteran actress Ivy (Megan Hilty) for the lead role is Karen (Katharine McPhee, runner-up on ‘American Idol’ in 2006), a newcomer. On top of all that, Julia has just started the procedure to adopt, together with her husband (Brian d‘Arcy James), and the others involved have their personal troubles as well.

On the first glance, everyone would agree that there is an obvious parallel with FOX’s ‘Glee’. However, ‘Smash’ seems to be a lot more mature than ‘Glee’ is, and by the looks of it, it is more focused on the personal problems of everyone involved and the problems that arise during the development of the musical, whereas ‘Glee’ is much more about the songs and the puppy love between the members of the glee club. Overall, ‘Smash’ appears to be a grown-up version of ‘Glee’, with more serious problems and an increased emphasis on the overall story line. A challenge for the writers is that once someone gets the role of Marilyn, there has to be a new story for a potential second season. Also, we’ll have to wait and see if Katharine McPhee can act as well as she can sing.

With as much as seven drama series premiering in Midseason 2011-2012, I can imagine that you feel a little lost right now (I do!). Here's my list of Do's and Don'ts, so you know what shows you should keep an eye out for and what shows you should avoid at all costs.

Do:

• Smash (NBC, February 6th, 10/9c)
• The Firm (NBC, January 8th, 9/8c)
• Missing (ABC, March 15, 8/7c)

Maybe:

• Luck (HBO, January 29th, 9/8c)
• The Finder (FOX, January 12, 9/8c)
• GCB (ABC, March 4th)