by Gloria Diaz
Arts & Entertainment Editor
It’s that time of year again; its fall TV premiere season. The time when school work is put off ’til the show’s over. All the returning favorites are back for another season, with the networks premiering a slew of new shows.
On Sept. 29, ABC will bring back “Alias,” staring Jennifer Garner, but the long awaited season premiere of “The Sopranos” was Sunday, which could hurt “Alias” ratings. “Malcolm in the Middle” comes back for another season of cooky parents taking on sibling rivalry and pranks.
“7th Heaven” returns in its regular Monday night time slot. Barry Watson (Matt) was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in the spring; he is unlikely to appear in any episodes this season, but he will be writing for the show as he undergoes chemotherapy, according to TV Guide.
Keeping its hold on the ratings race against the WB, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” returns for its second season on UPN. TV Guide’s “Best Show You’re Not Watching” for 2002, “Gilmore Girls” comes back on Sept. 24. This year, Rory will be forced (Alexis Bledel) to make some tough decisions about her future – Yale or Harvard.
“Dawson’s Creek” starts its sixth season later than other shows, premiering Oct. 2. Access Hollywood reports that this might be the last season for the show. It actually might be a good thing seeing as how the only mind blowing event last season was Dawson’s dad dying in a car accident.
Finally, “Must See TV Thursday” and the show everyone has been waiting for, “Friends” is back for its last season. We left off with Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) giving birth to her daughter and accepting a proposal she thought was from Joey (Matt LeBlanc), while Ross (David Schwimmer) was on his way to her room to propose to her. This show had its biggest year last season, with Emmy nominations for LeBlanc, Aniston and Mathew Perry (Chandler) to show for it. The show premiers at 8 p.m. on Sept. 26.
“Scrubs” moves from Tuesday night to Thursday night at 8:30 p.m., which will give “Scrubs” viewers a hard decision to make if they want to tune into the last half hour of “Survivor.”
Friday sees the return of “Reba” and “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” on the WB, both premiering Sept. 20. The weekend doesn’t look like it will have any new and exciting shows, so it’s OK to go out and catch up at the movie theater.
For those of you still on a reality show addiction, “The Amazing Race 3” premieres Oct. 2. Although “Friends” has received the most buzz, “Survivor” returns for its fifth season, this time in Thailand.
The show will certainly give “Friends” a run for the top ratings spot. “Survivor” premieres Sept. 19, one week before “Friends.”
This season the networks are premiering a variety of new shows this fall, something for everyone.
For those of you looking for a new “cops and robbers” show, “Boomtown” takes the normal “who done it” plot of cop shows and gives it a twist.
Set in Los Angeles, it shows the crime from the points of view of the district attorney, reporters, police, politicians and paramedics. “Boomtown” premieres Sept. 29 at 10 p.m. on NBC.
Set in the 1960s, “American Dreams” focuses on the changing lifestyles of one American family, the Pryor family, while trying to stick to the principles that Kennedy instilled in the nation during his presidency. The show also features original footage from “American Bandstand.” Look for this blast to the past starting Sept. 29 at 8p.m. on NBC. “Girls Club” a new lawyer drama from producer David E. Kelley. the show stars three attractive women fresh out of law school who are now working in a San Francisco law firm run by men. This show premieres late in the season, Oct. 21 at 9 p.m. on Fox, but lets just hope it will be worth the wait.
One of only two shows the WB is premiering this fall is “Everwood.” The show places a newly widowed, his teenage son and 9 year-old daughter to the quaint town of Everwood, Colo. The other show debuting on the WB is “Birds of Prey,” adapted from a DC comic book of the same name. “Fastlane,” the show with the hilarious promos of Bill Bellamy line dancing in a bar looks like a television version of “The Fast and the Furious.”
Producers seem to have eves-dropped on each others planning sessions for the upcoming season. A couple shows on different networks have similar plots, which will cause some battles over viewers.
“MDs” on ABC and “Presidio Med” on CBS are the two new doctor shows on the block looking to have the same success as “ER.” Both shows are set in San Francisco hospitals. One stars two bad boy doctors, the other stars five women and two men.
Showing that you can go back in time to fix what you did wrong are “Do Over” on the WB and “That Was Then” on ABC. Both show plots consist of a 30 something year old salesman transported back to the 1980s. Both go back to change the outcome of a pivotal moment in their high school careers, an important speech.
Although the fall season seems promising for its viewers, mainly because of the old time favorites that have become part of our weekly lives, the new shows don’t seem to ignite that spark that will make us tune into them once shows like “Friends” leave the primetime line up. But just like everything else that’s new, you got to give it a chance.
