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They’re not standing around the watercooler, but Cheryl Sadler, Mark Meszoros, Mark Podolski and Nicole Franz are talking about what they’ve been watching, listening to and playing during their free time.

Monday, September 27, 2010

(Almost maybe kind of ) close to turning off the tube

“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
-          -- Howard Beale in the 1976 film “Network”

Well, I’ve got my own message for the broadcast networks: I’m as bored as hell, and I might not take it much longer!

OK, it doesn’t have quite the same punch as Beale’s rallying cry, I admit, but it’s honest.

Hey, I’m a guy who likes TV, and, as such, I look forward to the start of a new fall season. (And “likes” may not be strong enough. After all, TV doesn’t talk back, leave a mess or burden you with its troubles. As the great Homer Simpson once said, TV “gives so much and asks for so little.”) But this fall season has been, in a word, really, really, really not that great. 

OK, really in one word: BORING.

“Hawaii 5-O”? OK, I guess. “The Event”? Mildly intriguing, but no “Lost.” “Outsourced”? Not as bad as I’d been led to believe, but not what you’d call good. And the show I’d looked forward to the most, “Running Wild”? Wildly disappointing.

 Do you think you'll get attached to the characters of "The Event" the way you did to those of "Lost"? I don't.

Now, all these shows I’ve mentioned, as well as others, have aired but one episode, so it really is too soon to judge any of them. Then again, TV shows are sold based on their pilot episodes, so you’d expect the producers of those shows to have put their best feet forward.

(Thank heavens for cable. As this slew of new Broadcast shows hits with a thud, I’m continuing to get my good-TV fix from AMC’s “Rubicon” and “Mad Men.” And HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” seems hugely promising.)

I’m not bailing on any of these network shows just yet, but they won’t have long to change my mind.

I’ve got better things to do. I assume. 

Have a new show you really like? Tell me about it on Twitter -- @NHFeatures.

-- Mark Meszoros

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