(Here's the update reviewing the 2010-11 network television season!)
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ABC:
ABC remained somewhat in the middle of the pack, thanks to the continued success of Dancing With The Stars and strong performances from several of its holdovers. Its most notable new show was Invasion, about a massive alien invasion fleet that attacks Earth and the survivors dealing with the aftermath. It, along with a show on NBC and several debuting on cable, would kick off a major "alien invasion" trend of shows that would see varying degrees of success over the next few years, and it would also help pave the way for a series of serialized dramas that would be highly successful for ABC, including a fairytale-based show during the 2011-12 season. As for the venerable and groundbreaking Lane, it remains in the top 25 in its ninth season, but the show's future has become somewhat clouded due to slowly declining ratings and increasing salary demands from its stars, particularly Kristen Stewart who now commands one of television's top salaries. Eventually, Stewart and the network would agree to two more seasons, keeping Lane on the air until the spring of 2013 and allowing its showrunners to craft a well-deserved ending that will see the titular character graduate from college and start her new life.
CBS:
CBS continued to dominate the ratings with its own version of NBC's legendary 90s "Must See TV" block, consisting of four hit comedies: Northwest, The Big Bang Theory, Hating Places, and Class Warfare, all of which would finish in the top 15, and in the top 10 amongst coveted young viewers. While not quite as dominant as NBC's block, the four comedies would anchor a formidable Wednesday lineup for CBS for at least two more seasons to come. CBS also continued to air a number of shows that were popular amongst older audiences, including Blue Bloods, Standard Of Care, and 60 Minutes, while Escrow remained a popular and timely drama hit. It would round out its success by debuting the hit reality competition show The Triathlon, featuring twelve contestants submitted to a battery of physical, mental, and emotional tasks. Combining the physical endurance of Survivor and The Amazing Race, the mental fortitude of Jeopardy, and the emotional pathos of Moment Of Truth (without the personal humiliation, the "emotional" tasks were more like tests of character), The Triathlon would become a major hit, surpassing longtime hit Survivor and critical darling The Amazing Race in the ratings.
NBC:
NBC saw a major rookie hit with The Event, which aired immediately after Powers and helped propel both shows to top ten ratings success. IOTL, The Event flopped after one season, but thanks to a better lead-in, better public reception for alien-related material, and better writing, the show remains a chart-topper throughout its first season ITTL, and would form a potent one-two sci-fi punch with Powers for several more seasons. The Showdown continued to be a decent rival to American Idol, becoming in some ways what The Voice was IOTL (with slightly less starpower and more direct competition), while Sunday Night Football remained a hit because the NFL is still king. While NBC doesn't have a lot of hits, the hits it does have are doing well, and the network is ready to usher in a new generation of hit shows.
FOX:
FOX needed a hit, and got a couple of decent ones: Eyes, a crime procedural/mystery show following the work of a blind detective (played by Kerry Washington) who has an uncanny ability to catch particularly dangerous criminals, and Indefensible, about a team of public defenders appointed to defend particularly dastardly defendants (though as it turns out, a few of those defendants really are innocent). The two shows would both crack the top 25 for the season, and FOX's animation block continued to be a success as well, with Savage City earning another new season renewal. FOX still has a rocky road ahead of it, but it could only take one big hit for the network to start climbing back up the ranks.
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Top 25 Rated Network Television Programs Of 2010-11:
1. American Idol (Wednesday) (FOX)
2. American Idol (Tuesday) (FOX)
3. Sunday Night Football (NBC)
4. Northwest (CBS)
5. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
6. Dancing With The Stars (Monday) (ABC)
7. Dancing With The Stars (Thursday) (ABC)
8. Escrow (CBS)
9. Powers (NBC)
10. The Event (NBC)
11. Blue Bloods (CBS)
12. Hating Places (CBS)
13. Class Warfare (CBS)
14. The Showdown (NBC)
15. Undercover Boss (CBS)
16. Eyes (FOX)
17. Standard Of Care (CBS)
18. Lane (ABC)
19. The Triathlon (CBS)
20. Invasion (ABC)
21. The Mentalist (CBS)
22. The Alchemist (ABC)
23. 60 Minutes (CBS)
24. Heart Of Darkness (CBS)
25. Indefensible (FOX)
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The idea of alien space invaders coming down from the skies and battling with humanity has been a well-known trope ever since the days of War Of The Worlds more than a century ago, and the visual mediums of movies and television have given space invaders their day in the sun since the first person sat down in front of a screen. However, these days have seen a glut of such shows debuting on the airwaves, and surprisingly, many have found success. Two alien invader shows, The Event and Invasion, have achieved big ratings on network television for NBC and ABC respectively, but it's on cable that alien shows have really shined, with ten new shows debuting in the past 18 months (and that's not counting animated shows!) From premium cable to basic, the aliens have landed, and if the ratings continue as they have, they're not going away any time soon. We'll rank all ten shows in terms of overall quality, and then you can decide if you'll let the aliens invade your living room.
10. They Came To Texas (Sci-Fi)
Let's get this turd out of the way first: it's awful. This show, in which flying saucers drop thousands of belligerent intergalactic invaders in a Texas prairie, is full of tired cliches and stereotypical redneck characters, and though it bills itself as an action drama, its over the top acting and unbelievable storyline would have audiences laughing if the funny moments actually came with any frequency. Fortunately, ratings for this show have been awful, and it's likely to air its final episodes sometime before the end of the summer.
9. Pathogenesis (HBO)
Whereas it's fun to make fun of They Came To Texas, this show's failure is just sad: alien germs infecting humanity, a talented cast of actors, this show should have been excellent, but its dry and confusing script and far too slow pace made us wish they'd just get to the good parts already. It was expected to be one of the best of the new cable alien invasion shows, but poor quality and ratings make this show unlikely to get more than two seasons on the air.
8. Intergalactic Challenge (G4)
This wacky comedy starring talented Canadian newcomer Mena Massoud and All That alum Lisa Foiles as a pair of FPS-addicted college students leading a team of gamers to battle space aliens in a fight for Earth's survival does have occasional moments of comedic brilliance, but those are generally overshadowed by poor acting from the rest of the cast and some really cringey humor. We really want to like this show, and maybe we eventually will: it's just been renewed for a second season thanks to getting some of the best ratings on the network.
7. Contact (USA)
They actually went and did it: they adapted 1997's excellent and poignant sci-fi film about a scientist who makes first contact with a benevolent alien species. The beautiful special effects and strong acting make this a decent show, but the pacing is agonizingly slow and it just doesn't have the emotional pathos of the original. This was another of the more hyped shows on this list, and isn't as big a disappointment as Pathogenesis, but it's got a long way to go before it can match the greatness of the movie.
6. Human Resistance (AMC)
The highest-rated show on the currently stagnating AMC (which should probably just go back to showing old movies and stop trying to push original drama), this show centers around a small-town widower (played by Patrick Wilson) who forms a one-man army against dangerous alien invaders. Wilson is electrifying in the role, especially as he rallies his fellow townspeople to fight the technologically superior alien force. The show has shades of the Encounter series of video games, which features a fairly similar protagonist in its first installment. However, there aren't a lot of strong side characters on the show, and it also makes its protagonist somewhat unreasonably "perfect", able to win against the aliens pretty much every time he fights them and not giving him much to struggle with except his angst over the death of his wife several years before. We'll have to see where this show goes, and we have some high hopes.
5. Star Soldier (Starz)
Who could have imagined that one of the best new premium cable shows in recent years could come from Starz? While Star Soldier definitely has its flaws, its anime inspired plot (about a futuristic alien soldier who dons special armor to battle stronger members of her own race) and excellent fight scenes and special effects makes this one of the most compelling new cable shows on TV. Sometimes the show writes checks that the special effects budget can't quite cash, making for some rather jarring scenes, and the plot can get really silly at times, but this show does get somewhat of an A for effort. However, with fairly low ratings, it may not get a season two, and season one ended on a hell of a cliffhanger...
4. Aliens Stole My Couch (TBS)
The best straight-up comedy on the list (though in certain ways, #3 could possibly count), Aliens Stole My Couch borrows somewhat heavily from the quirky NBC classic Third Rock From The Sun, with a group of intergalactic visitors who end up crashing with a down on his luck loser and the wacky hijinx that ensue. From the protagonist constantly hitting on the alien family's daughter, to the aliens themselves and their increasingly insane efforts to conquer the Earth, this show delights in absurdity. It lacks the emotional payoffs of the top three shows on this list, but it's still a delight to watch.
3. Just Visiting (Lifetime)
This Lifetime dramedy is the show I most unexpectedly found myself loving this past year. Currently airing its second season, it stars Megan Boone as an extraterrestrial disguised as a twenty-something human woman named Lila who has no idea how she got to Earth but keeps getting strange missions from her superiors that seem to be directed toward someone else. At the end of season one, we learn Lila is actually an alien tourist, and that the directives are intended for her boyfriend, who is apparently trapped on another planet. The show combines lighthearted quirky humor with genuine emotional drama, and features a strong supporting cast including Lila's best friend Maryse (played incredibly by Sarah Gadon) and a bespectacled man named Shaff who seems to have a connection with Lila's extraterrestrial "bosses" but almost always acts in Lila's interest. The show is heartwarming and addictive, and though it lacks the grandiose "invasion" narrative of the top two shows, it's definitely worth your time.
2. Finalwar (HBO)
They called HBO "crazy" for debuting two alien invasion shows at almost the same time, but it really wasn't that bad of a gambit even if Pathogenesis had failed. While that show was about an alien sickness, Finalwar depicts a full-on alien war against Earth from a variety of viewpoints, with the biggest budget in television history, a host of well-known actors, and dazzling special effects. It's a miracle they pulled it off, and largely they did, with humanity somehow holding its own against the alien invaders amidst the destruction of cities and the aliens' superior tech. While not an original concept (it's based off a comic book series that started in 2005 and is still ongoing), Finalwar is one of the best shows on television right now, but it's topped by another highly anticipated alien show with a similar but also radically different premise, conceived by one of the greatest minds in modern entertainment...
1. Falling Skies (TNT)
Steven Spielberg's alien spectacle began airing in April and in just two months, it's one of the top rated and most acclaimed shows on cable. Depicting the aftermath of a successful alien invasion and humanity's struggle to survive, it serves as an incredible parallel to Finalwar, and while not as violent and gritty, makes up for its lack of spectacle (mostly) with emotional payoffs and haunting visuals. While Spielberg (who was busy directing Star Wars: The Fated Crisis at the time Falling Skies was shooting its first season) isn't quite as involved with the series as he was with most of his other projects, he did help write the concept for the series and gave it its name, and so far, it's living up to the lofty expectations attached to Spielberg's reputation, largely thanks to the writing and direction of occasional Spielberg collaborator Frank Darabont and the performance of Andrew Lincoln as protagonist Tom Mason.
-from an article on Tubehound, posted on June 30, 2011