Midseason TV: What to Watch

With the holidays upon us, it’s time to say goodbye to new TV for a while. Oh sweet, sweet television, how we will miss you. Whatever will we do? Spend time with our families? How will we nerds get our fix? At least we have midseason to look forward to. Though Community isn’t on NBC’s midseason schedule, there is some potential coming in 2012. Here are a few shows I’m excited to see.

Promotional photo courtesy of NBC.

Awake, NBC. Among the more interesting dramas of the new year is Awake. Awake is part police procedural and part psychological drama. Jason Isaacs (of Harry Potter fame) stars as Detective Michael Britten. Britten wakes up from a devastating car accident to find out that his son perished in the crash. However, when he goes to sleep, he wakes up in another reality—one in which his wife died rather than his son. Britten struggles to hold onto each reality, unable to let go of either family member, and finds mysterious links between the two realities. Awake does not have a set premiere date yet, but it should show up in early 2012.

Smash, NBC. Smash has unfortunately already gotten a rep as NBC’s Glee knockoff. Though it is true that Smash is a musical series, it seems to be going for a much more realistic tone. Katharine McPhee stars as an ambitious Broadway hopeful vying for a role in a new Marilyn Monroe musical. It should be interesting to see where the show takes us and how it will differentiate itself from the mammoth iTunes-driven machine that is Glee. And honestly, any show that can tell a coherent story with any semblance of consistent characterization will have a leg up on Glee.  Look for Smash the Monday following the Super Bowl.

Cougar Town, ABC (returning). Yeah, I said it. I like Cougar Town. I really like Cougar Town. Sure, the name is enough to make you actively hate the show before you even watch it, but give it a try. This effort from Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence really hit its stride during its second season. Cougar Town maintains the goofy appeal of Scrubs without the cloying characters. Though Cougar Town’s third-season episode order has been shortened, Lawrence is confident the show will continue to run, and I’m happy to go along for the ride.  The season is slated to premiere in March.

Alcatraz, FOX. The JJ Abrams-produced Alcatraz has garnered a lot of buzz over the past few months. The story follows the island prison of the same name; the twist is that prisoners who died years and years ago are showing up in modern-day San Fransisco. Like most Abrams projects, this show is shrouded in mystery. Though the Abrams-produced Person of Interest has largely turned into the quintessential dull CBS procedural, there is hope yet for wayward LOST nerds looking for a new fix. Alcatraz debuts Monday, January 16th.

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