As the networks tell us how wonderful their new fall pickups are going to be, Lee Goldberg looks at what happened to the last crop of fall dramas:
The only new dramas that have survived the primetime bloodbath are THE GOOD WIFE, THE HUMAN TARGET, NCIS: LOS ANGELES, LIFE UNEXPECTED, GLEE, VAMPIRE DIARIES and V.
There’s at least midseason replacement show that also survived (Parenthood), but the point is just that, as always the flops outnumber the shows that survive, and far outnumber the big hits. The same is likely to happen this year, because it happens every year. And there will be plenty of high-concept shows with much-hyped pilots that crash two weeks after that pilot airs.
Of the dramas that survived, two are on the CW where the standards for survival are somewhat less (though Melrose Place and others couldn’t even meet those standards), so that leaves the big four networks with about half-a-dozen new dramas that didn’t flop.
On the bright side, of the surviving dramas, only two are outright dull — NCIS: LA and V. Considering how hard it is to produce a decent show, six or seven watchable new hour-long dramas isn’t that bad a crop.
