“The Practice” is in recess for four months, “Law & Order” is on suspension, and the shadow of reruns has befallen “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
It’s summertime and while that means no school for most, the grind of summer jobs and day trips to the beach, it can be a pitiful time for hardcore couch potatoes. But to combat the pain of reruns, networks are letting loose with a slew of new programs to entice viewers.
“The biggest genre in TV this summer is reality shows,” Entertainment Weekly television critic Bruce Fretts said. “Everyone’s hoping to duplicate the success of ‘Fear Factor,’ ‘Survivor,’ and ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ over the past three summers.
“Viewers seem less interested in watching scripted comedies and dramas during the warm-weather months.”
Evidence of this is the load of new reality shows being released this summer. NBC’s “Dog Eat Dog” and “Meet My Folks,” CBS’s “Big Brother 3,” ABC’s “Houston Medical” and “The Mole 2” and Fox’s “American Idol” are all new shows featuring everyday people as the camera rolls.
Although reality might be big in the hot months, other shows also are entertaining viewers.
“I recently got into ‘(The) Dead Zone,’” East Lansing resident Trish Hayes said. “It’s fun to see Anthony Michael Hall as an adult.”
While some summer shows had through-the-roof ratings, most are not returning to the airwaves right away in the fall, when shows return to their weekly schedules.
“The networks see summer shows as experiments that could be brought back to the prime-time schedule later if they work,” Fretts said.
“Usually, they can’t be added to the fall lineup right away because that schedule is set in May, and new episodes can’t be produced quickly enough.
“But hit summer shows will sometimes return later in the fall (like ‘Millionaire’ did) or in January (like ‘Survivor’ did).”
Summer shows that are the biggest hits are often ones critics might initially see as duds waiting to be canceled.
“The summer shows that grab the biggest ratings are offbeat fare that benefit from the lack of original competition during rerun season,” Fretts said. “This holds true for ‘Millionaire’ - who would’ve thought a game show hosted by Regis Philbin could captivate the country? But it captured people’s interest at a time when there wasn’t much else to watch on TV.”
Even though the summer is just underway, already shows are showing some promise and breaking expectations.
“Several summer series have already gotten off to promising starts in the ratings,” Fretts said. “‘American Idol’ on Fox looks like it has the biggest breakout potential. Like ‘Survivor’ and ‘Fear Factor,’ it’s an import from Europe that’s already succeeded in the ratings there.
“NBC’s gross-out game show ‘Dog Eat Dog’ and real-life ‘Law & Order’ spin-off ‘Crime & Punishment’ are also doing well, probably because they flow so well out of their established lead-ins, ‘Fear Factor’ and ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent.’”
New shows might be the trend this summer, but another trend involves tuning in to some old favorites.
“I try to catch up on some shows during the summer,” Hayes said. “I try to watch ‘NYPD Blue’ and ‘ER’ in the mornings.”
