Arts & Life

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Written by: Tim Riley

Published: 27 August 2011

This might have something to do with the ongoing popularity of “Glee,” the return of Simon Cowell, and the epic family adventure from executive producer Steven Spielberg.

At the TV press tour conference, it also appeared like the half questions involved “Glee” and the comings and goings of its cast members and potential guest stars.

To tell the truth, I don’t know what the fuss is all about. I figure “Glee” is a show for teen girls, but I could be way off the mark.

FOX has let me down with its cancellation of shows that I started to watch regularly. The wacky buddy cop team on “The Good Guys” is no more.

My fascination with the Windy City pulled me into the police procedural that was “The Chicago Code.” So much for that!

Even Christian Slater was intriguing in his comedy role of running an offbeat security team in “Breaking In.”

On this one, at least, Kevin Reilly gave the faintest glimmer of hope the network would “look at” the series when they revisit their “comedy block” next year. Those are his words in quote marks; I may hold him to them at the next press tour.

Meanwhile, I will content myself with the knowledge that FOX has plenty of playoff baseball on its fall schedule, proudly taking on the ALCS series in hopes of a Yankees-Red Sox showdown that would be a sure-fire ratings winner.

I could tell you I am looking forward to the reteaming of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul on the musical competition series “The X Factor,” but that looks like a match made in hell.

Of course, the friction between these two judges carries over from “American Idol,” and that alone may be the reason “The X Factor” will be a hit.

The other two judges are unknown to me, but the quartet of talent arbiters will get personally involved in the singing contests as each one individually will be mentoring contestants along the way.

Though Simon Cowell has an ego the size of an entire studio, the big player, in budget and scope, on the schedule is a family adventure 85 million years in the making.

“Terra Nova” follows an ordinary family on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as participants in a daring experiment to save the human race.

Our time travelers start off in the year 2149, when the world is dying after being overdeveloped and overcrowded. But where they are headed may not be utopia.

The series centers on the Shannon family as they join a pilgrimage to resettle humanity in the past and to snare a second chance to rebuild civilization.

On first impression, it appears that “Terra Nova” may have a lot in common with “Lost.” For one thing, the beautiful tropical environment will be teeming with danger.

The menace in “Terra Nova” extends beyond man-eating dinosaurs; a splinter colony of renegades is vehemently opposed to the leader in charge of the settlers that include the Shannon family.

I don’t think I am going out on limb to say that “Terra Nova,” with its Spielberg pedigree and huge budget, will draw a big following.

The rest of the new shows on the schedule are sitcoms, one of them an animated series that will join the Sunday night lineup of “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.”

“Allen Gregory” is the story of one of the most pretentious 7-year-olds of our time. When he looks in the mirror, Allen Gregory De Longpre (voiced by Jonah Hill) doesn’t see a child.

The precocious kid claims to have composed operas and written novels while homeschooled, but his biggest challenge will be to attend elementary school with children his own age.

His journey will be a struggle, not only with the other kids, but with the faculty as well. It’s an all-out rivalry with his rigid second grade teacher (Leslie Mann).

Zooey Deschanel has already established herself in the movies as the adorable, offbeat young woman du jour. She brings the same sensibility to the comedy “New Girl.”

After a bad breakup, Zooey’s Jess Day moves into a loft with three single guys. Of her three new male roommates, Nick (Jake Johnson) is the most grounded.

Max Greenfield’s Nick is a hustling young professional who fancies himself a modern-day Casanova. The third roommate, Winston (Lamorne Morris) is an intensely competitive athlete who knows he’ll never go pro.

The roomies are a dysfunctional family, and even more so when Jess’ childhood friend, Cece (Hannah Simone), a deadpan, cynical model, joins the group.

The series least likely to win the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,” if such an award is even given for TV shows, is “I Hate My Teenage Daughter.”

This series is about two best friends who are single moms struggling to raise their difficult and over-privileged teenage daughters.

Annie (Jaime Pressley) and Nikki (Katie Finneran) are former high school outcasts whose pasts inform their current parenting styles.

Raised in a strict household, Annie allows her daughter Sophie (Kristi Lauren) to do whatever she wants.

Once an unpopular, overweight social pariah, Nikki has reinvented herself as a pretty Southern belle whose top priority is providing her daughter MacKenzie (Aisha Dee) with the childhood she never had.

For all its pretension to unconventionality, “I Hate My Teenage Daughter” looks like another standard, predictable sitcom.

The most intriguing show on FOX’s schedule is a midseason series from “Lost” creator J.J. Abrams. Shrouded in the mystery of its penal colony history, “Alcatraz” will be the show to watch.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.