Fall TV season summary: ‘Vampire Diaries’ a pleasant surprise, ‘Jay Leno’ a flop

One month into the fall TV season, “The Vampire Diaries” has been the most pleasant surprise. Meanwhile, NBC’s experiment with “The Jay Leno Show” has gone awry.

‘The Vampire Diaries’

The series premiere of “The Vampire Diaries” on the CW was a little shaky. Early episodes dragged. Pacing was slow. The writing and directing were on the level of your average teen drama.
Since then, the makers of the show have amped up the action, added depth to the characters and thrown in some neat plot twists. “The Vampire Diaries” has become an epic, southern gothic “Dark Shadows.”
The show is about two vampire brothers who compete for the affections of the same young woman and cause turmoil in a small town.
The show is by no means perfect. It lacks realism (a town with that many strange deaths is going to attract outside attention) and its writing can be pretty bad (please, let’s lose the diary motif and narration). But “The Vampire Diaries” is still a compelling show.

‘FlashForward’

ABC’s “FlashForward” is not as good as I’d hoped it would be, but its central mystery is so fascinating that I’m hooked for now.
The sci-fi drama suffers from occasionally cheesy dialog and hammy acting. But the big plot turns, such as tonight’s ambush of the Mosaic team members by unknown assailants, are thrilling.
“FlashForward” is about the aftermath of a worldwide disaster in which the human race loses consciousness for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. While unconscious, people see a vision of their lives six months into the future. What or who caused the blackout? Was there a reason why it occurred? Can people change the future in their visions? All intriguing questions.

Returning favorites: ‘Supernatural’ and ‘Dollhouse’

“Supernatural” is my favorite show on network TV right now. The CW show about two brothers who hunt down demons, ghosts and ghouls is now in its fifth and last season. And it’s a doozy.
Lucifer has been released from hell and Armageddon has broken out. And it’s up to Sam and Dean Winchester, played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, to try to stop the end of the world.
Joss Whedon’s trippy “Dollhouse” on Fox continues to deliver the goods. But unfortunately it looks like a candidate for cancelation with ratings dipping in its second season. (See article at EW.com.)

‘The Jay Leno Show’ a missed opportunity

A lot of people hate Jay Leno. They find his jokes lame and his shows pedestrian. NBC’s five-nights-a-week primetime experiment just gives them more fodder.
I happen to like Jay Leno. He’s an affable guy and can be a sharp interviewer. But his new show is a stinker.
To turn things around, he’s going to have to play up the variety aspects of the show. It shouldn’t all be about Jay. He should be introducing talented new comedians and musicians to a nationwide audience. Leno should quickly dump the bits that aren’t working, such as “10 at 10.” His show should strive to have one good bit a night that can go viral online to promote the show.
There’s still time to retool the show to make it work. But Jay’s going to have to rely on others to help carry the show.
On the horizon, I’m still looking forward to watching “V” on ABC and “Day One” on NBC.

‘Jay Leno Show’ premiere a decent first outing

The premiere of “The Jay Leno Show” was pretty much what you’d expect if you ever watched Leno’s “Tonight Show.”
He played it safe, sticking to familiar features like the opening monologue and funny headlines.
Leno’s debut outing was boosted immeasurably by the appearance of Kanye West, a day after his much-talked-about rude behavior at MTV’s Video Music Awards. I wanted to see how West acted and said to counter the criticism he’s receiving. I’m sure I wasn’t alone.
Leno pulled a Barbara Walters interview move by almost getting Kanye to tear up by asking what his late mother would have thought of his behavior at the VMAs. Good question, Jay.
Jerry Seinfeld was a good first guest, at one point questioning what Leno’s show was all about. Jay Z and Rhianna provided star power as the show’s first musical guests.
Overall, I’d give the premiere a B- grade. Except for the Kanye West interview, it was overly scripted to avoid mistakes and run smoothly. The comedy was hit and miss, as expected.
As the NBC show settles in, I hope Leno becomes more spontaneous and takes more chances.
Edgy humor is always welcome, such as the dark promo video where Jay and comic Fred Armisen cover up a car accident where they think someone died.

Slim pickings this fall TV premiere season

Thank God for Netflix.
This year’s fall network TV season offers a skimpier selection of interesting new shows than prior years.
I’ve made notes to check out four new shows and only one of them I’m dying to see.
Of the four, one has aired – “Vampire Diaries.” It premiered Thursday on the CW and it was just OK. A little too much “been there, done that” in terms of story. Still it had enough interesting elements to get me to tune in for a couple more episodes. But it will have to improve to keep my interest.
I’ll be checking out “The Jay Leno Show” on Monday, but I don’t think it will be appointment television unless he gets a standout guest. The show runs 10-11 p.m. Eastern Monday through Friday on NBC. I’ll probably just watch it every now and then to wind down from the day before going to bed.
Another show I’ll be checking out with low expectations is the remake of sci-fi television show “V.” It’s bound to have better special effects than the campy 1980s original. It premieres Nov. 3 on ABC.
The only new show on my must-see list is ABC’s science-fiction series “FlashForward” from David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga. It premieres Sept. 24. (See preview above.)
As for returning primetime shows, I expect to continue watching “30 Rock,” “Dollhouse,” “House,” and “Supernatural.” Another favorite, “Lost,” won’t return until January.
Now in its final season, “Supernatural” looks to be one of those rare shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Battlestar Galactica” that goes out on top in terms of quality. The fifth season premiere on Thursday was terrific.

Jay Leno’s primetime show might just work

Some television critics have already written off Jay Leno’s five-nights-a-week primetime show set to debut this fall. They don’t think the American viewing public will be interested.
But I think it has a good shot at succeeding.
First, NBC has set low expectations for "The Jay Leno Show." The network is already in fourth place and sees the show as a cheap (and profitable) way of filling the one-hour time slot Monday through Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific (9 p.m. Central.)
It costs NBC about $15 million a week to fill that time slot with dramas. Leno’s show will cost less than $2 million a week, according to the New York Times.
NBC has said it would be happy just to retain the audience from Leno’s current hour-long show, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” which airs at 11:35 p.m. Eastern and Pacific (10:35 p.m. Central), according to Time. Last year, Leno averaged 4.8 million viewers for his show, with 1.7 million people in the category of viewers ages 18 to 49, which most advertisers favor, the New York Times said.
Second, Leno’s primetime show is counterprogramming to all the bleak crime dramas on other networks. NBC plays up this fact in its promo video for Leno’s new show. (See above.)
Leno’s primetime program will feature a format similar to his “Tonight Show,” including his monologue and comedy bits like “Headlines” and “Jay Walking.”
NBC also will get more weeks of original programming. Leno will perform 46 weeks a year. Network dramas typically air 22 to 24 new episodes a year.
Third, times have changed. With the Internet, cable TV and video games, viewers have more options for entertainment. And attention spans seem to have gotten shorter. Hour-long dramas just aren’t drawing the viewers like they used to.
Leno’s new show won’t require a season-long commitment to long-form story telling. Viewers can tune in, check out the comedy bits and see some interesting guests. No commitments.
It could offer a coveted primetime platform for rock bands, musical groups, comedians, etc., if it decides to go more the variety show route. Since it will be taped daily, it will give Leno and guests the opportunity to comment or joke about the day’s events. Since it will be fresh, taped daily, it will get a larger percentage of live viewers rather than DVR watchers. As such, viewers will be less likely to fast forward through advertisements. Advertisers will like that.
Leno’s new show is likely to draw a larger audience than his “Tonight Show” because many people don’t stay up late enough to watch it. Particularly on the coasts, the “Tonight Show” is on too late for many workers.
So don’t write off Leno. He could surprise a lot of people.