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CNN Live At Daybreak
What Does Fall TV Hold For Us
Aired September 10, 2001 - 08:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
VINCE CELLINI, CNN ANCHOR: The new television season is fast approaching, so get your remote control and VCR ready. "TV Guide"'s cover story previews the 2001 season.
Ari Karpel of "TV Guide" is here for some tube talk with us this morning. Good morning, Ari?
ARI KARPEL, "TV GUIDE": Good morning, Vince.
CELLINI: Let's talk about the fall season. What shows grab you in terms of the drama category?
KARPEL: Drama? The show to watch is "24." It doesn't begin until October 30th. It is on FOX, and you may have heard about it because it's a high concept.
The whole season will run the course of 24 hours. It will be 24 episodes, one hour of realtime for each episode. And it's -- Kiefer Sutherland stars as a CIA anti-terrorist operative who, at least at first, is trying to thwart an attempted assassination of a presidential candidate. But, this is a really suspenseful show. It's very unique.
CELLINI: And it's one of, I guess a few shows, that use that use that CIA-type theme, yes?
KARPEL: Certainly. There's "The Agency," which is a little more generic, on CBS. And then there's "Alias" which is another "TV Guide" fall preview favorite. That's on ABC Sunday nights, opposite the "X- Files." And since the "X-Files" isn't as good as it used to be, I would say "X-Files" fans should try "Alias." It's sort of Felicity, if she were a CIA agent, while she's in school. It is really great, it's very juicy.
CELLINI: On the comedy side? Your choices?
KARPEL: On the comedy side I really like "Scrubs," on NBC. It's sort of an endearingly frazzled medical intern, played by Zack Braff. And it's got a somewhat twisted sense of humor, and that's very fun. It's really promising, Tuesday nights after "Frasier" on NBC.
CELLINI: Great time slot. OK. You know what, prequels are very big I guess this fall. What, "Superman," also "Star Trek," and even PAX had a bonanza prequel. KARPEL: Yes.
CELLINI: So, what's with that?
KARPEL: Well, it's just a new way to go at an old franchise, certainly "Star Trek." They really haven't run out of steam yet, so "Enterprise" is going to be launched on UPN. It's a great pilot, so it really has -- it really could please Trek fans.
Certainly "Smallville" on the WB is superman as a high school student today. So you have to throw away sort of some of the preconceived notions of Superman, since it's the WB, everyone is gorgeous, naturally.
CELLINI: Well, a young Clark Kent. OK, very good. Now, on the reality TV front we saw "Lost" and "Amazing Race." How did those reality TV shows do?
KARPEL: "Amazing Race" didn't do as well as "Lost" last week, and I hope it picks up viewers because it's an excellent show. It's sort of the next level of that genre. Instead of placing strangers in stressful situations together, they're placing people who really know each other: Mother and daughter, husband and wife together in stressful situations. What you see is that they're meaner to each other than people who don't know each other are, and it makes for great TV. Plus, it's suspenseful and exciting to watch people bungee jumping in South Africa, and literally racing around the world.
CELLINI: So, I guess you are a fan of the reality TV? And they're just going to milk this thing until they can't anymore, right?
KARPEL: They are milking it. I'm a fan of it if it's done well, as it is on "The Amazing Race." Then there's, you know there's "Elimidate," there's "Love Cruise," there's -- I can't really keep track of the dating reality shows, and as far as I'm concerned, watch those at your own risk.
CELLINI: Before we let you go, how about a surprise for the fall, a surprise show?
KARPEL: Surprise for the fall. Well, the surprise disappointment, honestly, is Jason Alexander. We've seen him as George Costanza in "Seinfeld," and he was terrific. Now he's got "Bob Patterson." I hesitate to condemn a show based on a pilot, but when the pilot is this bad, as bad as "Bob Patterson" is, I'm going to condemn the show. It's really not very funny.
CELLINI: Hey, he's just being honest.
KARPEL: It goes for cheap laughs.
CELLINI: You're just being honest, your opinion. Thank you very much. Ari Karpel from "TV Guide".
KARPEL: Thank you.
CELLINI: We appreciate the insight for the fall season.
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