TV SCOOP! FOX Renews Family Guy & The Cleveland Show Through 2013

We just got word that FOX has renewed both Family Guy and The Cleveland Show for a tenth and fourth season, respectively, entrenching them long-term into FOX’s Sunday Animation Domination block.  FOX had already renewed both of these MacFarlane shows for a ninth and third season, respectively,  along with American Dad, for a seventh season (as well as Bob’s Burgers) for Fall 2011.  Recently, we speculated  that FOX has ZERO faith in the success of their two new mid-season 2011 -2012 animated shows, Napoleon Dynamite and Allen Gregory and this move by the network only goes to reinforce that opinion.  We don’t blame them because we don’t either.

Press release forthcoming.

Bob’s Burgers Renewed For A Second Season? House & Bones May Be Leaving FOX? Where’s Terra Nova? What’s Going On Over There? (Part Two)

FOX: Where We Dont Suck As Much As We Used To

Hi, folks. Thanks for coming back for part two of this very special feature on FOX where Blossom ponders losing her virginity, yet again. No, no, no, obviously we’re going to talk about FOX’s recent surprising schedule moves and what we think is going on over there. Yesterday, of course, we reported on the renewal of Bob’s Burgers for a second season and left our readers with a cliffhanger as to the significance of this renewal for the network as a whole and why we are actually pleased about the renewal despite that we don’t like the show.  So now it’s time to explain why and we’ll bring you back to when we fist heard about FOX moving Fringe to Friday nights.

It Took Five Years For "The Show About Nothing" to Become a Hit.

As noted by our two pieces on Fringe‘s move to Friday (here and here) we’ve been very critical of FOX’s history of jumping ship on shows (especially new shows) that have had a run of, not even horrible, but average to mediocre ratings.  Seriously, c’mon, FOX… Seinfeld wasn’t immediately a hit.  It wasn’t even in the top 30 for its first three seasons and in its fourth season it was #25.

Fringe... Cooler Than You and Back in Fall 2011 For Season 4.

Anyway, in these pieces, we also expressed our skepticism with FOX’s stated commitment in the past to fan-favorite shows and of course this directly related to their campaign in January expressing the same commitment to Fringe.  But, then, a few weeks ago, Virginia found out that there is indeed a Santa Claus and the announcement was made that Fringe not only had been renewed for a fourth season, but it was given a full season order… in March. We speculated as to why this occurred as EVERYONE, including us, assumed that after the ratings decline, the move to Friday and of course, FOX’s history, this show was destined for Cancellationville.

And of course, there is American Dad, a show that FOX execs have not historically supported and have been trying to replace for years and it got renewed for a seventh season… in February, again with a full season order of 22 episodes, no less.

Yes, Indeed... NBC May Be Very Happy, Very Soon.

When we heard the announcement about Fringe, we speculated as to the many reasons it may have been spared cancellation but came to the conclusion that we really didn’t care, we were just happy that the show was saved.  But now, we’re hearing that FOX is on the verge of losing House, as well.

The network remains in last-minute negotiations with Universal Media Studios, which owns the series, in hopes of signing a new deal for an eighth season. The two sides are far apart in determining the percentage each will pay for the show’s costs.

UMS, owned by NBCUniversal, has given Fox an extension on the window of negotiation exclusivity. That ends Friday. If the two sides can’t come to an agreement, UMS will offer the show to competing networks including, of course, the Peacock, which would likely be more than happy to take the series away from Fox.

So thanks to all of these developments, we’ve been dragged into the speculation game and we’re guessing that there are several issues at play here:

This Never Happened

First, FOX has some serious issues with original scripted program scheduling coming this Fall and this is just based on what we know.  Four new shows from 2010 – 2011 have already been canceled (Running Wilde, The Good Guys, Sons of Tuscon and Lone Star) and Traffic Light is certain to be canceled by May 16th.  So, that’s five down right there (and chances for The Chicago Code being renewed for a second season seem to be getting slimmer by the day) and Human Target and Lie To Me are more likely to be cancelled than not.  Add to that the fact that as of this posting  FOX hasn’t been able to come to a deal to keep the perennial hits Bones and (as earlier noted) House (the deadline for a deal for House was last Friday), the network faces potentially being down nine scripted programs from 2010 – 2011 (Even though we are still trying to forget about Sons of Tuscon as if it never existed, and of course we aren’t counting 24 which was at the end of its run).

"Holy sh*t! How the f**k are we still on the air???"

And here’s the thing about House: Universal may not come to a deal intentionally and may just turn House over to NBC who is desperate for a strong scripted drama, or strong scripted anything at this point.  Whereas FOX axed four of their new shows (with a fifth coming for sure), NBC has axed five of their new shows with at least a sixth certain to be on the way out the door (Sorry, but as much as The Event has improved by following what we suggested it needed to do, it was too little, too late…so, adiós!). Let’s also not forget Chuck, which is on its way out the door as well.  It’s so bad at NBC that less-than-positive performers such as Law & Order: Los Angeles and Harry’s Law are almost guaranteed to be renewed because, well, frankly, theyz gots nothin’ else and they certainly don’t have American Idol or Simon Cowell’s new series, The X-Factor, that is destined to be a ratings juggernaut, so at the end of the day, NBC is in way worse shape than FOX. So, here’s our bold prediction: House will be on NBC come Fall 2011 and a deal with Bones (in desperation) will be made and it will return to FOX.

"Oh look. We're still on FOX."

But the effects of losing House on FOX will be devastating and even if they keep Bones, that show has seen a sharp decline in ratings over the past two season which means there will be only one truly strong live-action veteran scripted show and that would be Glee. Can FOX really be comfortable going into the new Fall season with the The Animation Domination Block, Glee, The X-Factor and American Idol being the only programming that is guaranteed to be stable?  We don’t think they possibly could be satisfied with that situation.

So taking this a step further, based on what we know for sure about the Fall schedule and the three shows that were renewed – not only unexpectedly but early, as well – (Fringe, American Dad and now Bob’s Burgers), here’s what we think is going on and it crossed our minds when we first heard about Fringe‘s renewal:  FOX is not just uncomfortable with the new scripted programing they have ordered for Fall 2011, they’re downright nervous and they expected to have had more success with their new shows from 2010 – 2011.  They also certainly didn’t expect the possibility of looking at Fall 2011 with no House and to a lesser extent no Bones.

Terra Nova: Allegedly to debut in Fall 2011... Hmmmm.

This brings us to the Stephen Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment produced, epic Sci-Fi series, Terra Nova, which as we noted when we reported Fringe‘s renewal, has been delayed yet again and is set to debut in Fall 2011.  There are some serious issues with Terra Nova that we think FOX is starting to get as concerned about as we are. First, the delays are insane and we are not confident at all that it will debut in the Fall as promised.  Second, Terra Nova may be the most expensive show in history with the first two episodes alone costing $16 million and whereas the average episode of scripted drama costs $2.5 million, Terra Nova per episode cost will come in at $4 million and the show is rife with rumors of cost overruns although the producers deny this.

Terra Nova: This Is NOT a Sci-Fi Show And That Is Not A Time Portal!

Third, this is the biggest risk that FOX has ever taken on any series, nevertheless a Sci-Fi series, in an era where epic Sci-Fi is DEAD on network television. And we’re sure that it doesn’t help when veteran television Sci-Fi  writer and producer Brannon Braga (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise) who is exec. producing/writing Terra Nova is doing the “pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain” Great and Powerful Oz routine denying the fact that it is indeed a Sci-Fi series when you’d have to be blind not to see it:

Terra Nova, according to Brannon Braga.

But it’s not a sci-fi show.

“It’s really about this frontier family trying to survive,”

From iMDB:

Centers on the Shannons, an ordinary family from 2149 when the planet is dying who are transported back 85 million years to prehistoric Earth where they join Terra Nova, a colony of humans with a second chance to build a civilization.

Still Not a Sci-Fi Show.

No, there’s absolutely nothing Sci-Fi about that premise at all.  It’s just like Little House on the Prairie… but with time travel… and dinosaurs… and automatic weapons… with lasers.

So, if we go with the premise that FOX isn’t really sure whether or not Terra Nova is going to actually debut on the Fall 2011 schedule as planned and it finally occurred to them that this kind of Sci-Fi is highly questionable for network television and of course there’s the issue of the costs involved, we can come to only one conclusion: FOX is worried that they aren’t going to have much going on this Fall, Monday through Friday, other than Glee and The X-Factor and they’ve decided that keeping some of these shows that have established, stabilized audiences even though they’ve seen ratings drops, may be their only option.  For goodness’ sake, and we cannot stress this enough, they saved three shows that everyone expected to be canceled, and again, this is FOX we’re talking about.

We alluded to this theory yesterday, in part one, our commentary on the Bob’s Burgers renewal:

We think FOX is starting to realize that it may be better for them to deal with the devil that they know as opposed to the one they don’t…

FOXs Money Printing Presses That May Keep Your Favorite Shows On The Air

So, that’s where we think all of this is going and in our opinion, this is nothing but a positive turn of events.  FOX has lived very well over the past decade with their scripted programming, reality program and sports.  If new show, “A” didn’t work out as well or as quickly as they had hoped, they’d just dump it and replace it with new show “B” and if that didn’t work out they’d replace it with  show “C” and so on and they’d usually find gold eventually.  But let’s be honest about this; the crop of decent scripted shows out there over the past couple of years on ALL of the networks has been thin to say the least. So considering the lack of quality, sustainable shows, all the losses in shows that they’ve had in the past year,  the possible losses of their perennial hits to other networks, and a questionable Fall 2011 lineup, it appears that FOX execs have been forced to put on the big boy pants and change their strategy so that they have something that’s at least slightly stable in their lineup, and will actually work to build up those shows by subsidizing them with their juggernauts, particularly American Idol and The X-Factor.

If Only It Had Debuted In Fall 2009!

Now, although FOX may not be particularly happy about taking this approach (because of course, everyone likes the quick and easy buck), all of these developments and this new approach is nothing but positive for viewers and fans of the many quality scripted programs that FOX does have to offer, but probably wouldn’t have been given an opportunity like this if this was, oh, say, two or three years ago.   Heck, we suspect that if Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles were in its second season in 2011 instead of in 2009, it already would have been renewed for a third season by now.

This...

And this is EXACTLY why we are so happy about Bob’s Burgers being picked up for a second season (as much as we dislike it) because it’s show number four that was not only renewed by FOX but picked up early when no one expected it to be. This in turn gives up hope for the remaining three likely to be canceled shows, Lie to Me, Human Target and The Chicago Code.  We can almost guarantee that FOX will not cancel all three of these shows, in fact, they may only cancel one of them but we are going to go with the premise, based on everything we’ve laid out over the past two days that they will keep at least one of them and we think it will be a toss-up between Lie to Me and Human Target.

... Or This?

Don’t get us wrong, we love The Chicago Code and we don’t particularly like the clichéd and predictable Lie to Me but we have to be objective about this.  If FOX or any other network is going to pick up an underperforming show to keep for another season, they are going to pick one that has an established audience for at least a couple of seasons over a mid-season replacement that hasn’t been able to find any stability with their audience.  The fact that The Chicago Code is a serial doesn’t help its chances of gaining a stable audience a season later, either.  Now, obviously, Bob’s Burgers doesn’t have a multiple-season established audience BUT it did have the highest ratings of any new show premiere of the season and its audience numbers, though not great, have stabilized and it does have very strong lead-ins and lead-outs with The Simpsons and Family Guy, respectively, whereas The Chicago Code dos not.

So there you have it.  Our wild speculation on why the big change in strategy at FOX.  You can take it for what it’s worth, and call us crazy but do the research for yourself and see if you come to any other conclusions because we’d love to hear your take.   Remember folks, May 16th is the big day for FOX.  That’s when we find out who’s going and who’s staying.

Bob’s Burgers Renewed For A Second Season? House & Bones May Be Leaving FOX? Where’s Terra Nova? What’s Going On Over There? (Part One)

In news that came as an absolute shock to us, the poorly-received (we gave it a 3 out of 10 and that was generous) and lackluster-rated Bob’s Burgers has been picked up for a second season by FOX as announced on April 7th.

Via Press Release:

FOX ORDERS UP A SECOND SERVING OF “BOB’S BURGERS”

Animated Series Renewed for a Second Season

All-New Episode Airs Sunday, April 10, on FOX

Animation Domination newcomer BOB’S BURGERS has been renewed for a second season, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.

“BOB’S BURGERS has proved to be a perfect neighbor to our slate of fan-favorite animated families this year,” said Reilly. “The series has found its own really unique, irreverent voice and is doing consistent business for us on Sundays, so we’re excited to serve up another season to the fans.”

The premiere of BOB’S BURGERS this year was the highest-rated new series debut on any network so far this season. The series currently ranks among the Top 10 programs this season among young men.

In the all-new “Burger War” episode, airing Sunday, April 10 (8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT), BOB’s (H. Jon Benjamin) eccentric landlord, MR. FISCHOEDER (guest voice Kevin Kline), pays the family a visit to deliver some bad news. Bob’s rival across the street, JIMMY PESTO (guest voice Jay Johnston) of Jimmy Pesto’s Pizzeria, wants to take over Bob’s lease so that he can expand his gift shop. With little time and not enough money, the Belcher family must cook up some business or luck to save the restaurant.

BOB’S BURGERS follows a third-generation restaurateur as he runs his own burger joint with the help of his wife and their three kids. Bob has big ideas about burgers, condiments and sides, but only a few thoughts on customer service and business management. Despite his greasy counters, lousy location and occasionally spotty service, Bob is convinced his burgers speak for themselves. The animated series features the voice talents of H. Jon Benjamin, John Roberts, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman and Kristen Schaal.

BOB’S BURGERS is a 20^th Century Fox Television production. The series was created by Loren Bouchard. Bouchard and Jim Dauterive serve as executive producers and writers. Become a fan of the series on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bobsburgers and follow the series on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bobsburgersfox.

Now, you’re probably figuring that our response to this news would be outrage due to the fact of how much we dislike the show but surprisingly, it’s not.  We not only aren’t bothered but we’re actually a little relieved because of all of the other news surrounding FOX programming over the last few weeks, particularly the renewals of American Dad and Fringe, both early and both with full season orders.

Seriously???

But first, there are two things about the renewal of Bob’s Burgers that need to be noted: Number one on the list is the fact FOX ordered two more animated shows last year for the 2011 – 2012 schedule; an animated version of Napoleon Dynamite (no, we’re not kidding) and a show by Jonah Hill called Allen Gregory, “which will have Hill voicing the title role of a freakishly smart, internationally acclaimed 7-year-old kid who’s about to take on the task of attending elementary school with kids his own age.” On the upside, at least it’s animated so we won’t have to see Hill’s absolute grotesqueness on the beautiful 65″ HDTV. But waitaminute… since they’ve ordered these two shows, how will there be room for the recently renewed American Dad and Bob’s Burgers on the Sunday night schedule?

That of course brings us to the second item of note: unlike American Dad, there has been absolutely no indication that FOX ordered a full season of 22 episodes for Bob’s Burgers whereas they made a point to brag about it in the press release announcing American Dad’s renewal.  So, even though FOX renewed Bob’s Burgers, the show’s status would appear to be more precarious than this renewal would seem to indicate and FOX is hedging its bets by keeping Napoleon Dynamite and Allen Gregory in the hopper for 2011, despite the fact that there is ZERO room on the Sunday night schedule for them.

Now, this being said, does anyone in their right mind think that a cartoon based on an overrated film that came out seven years ago and a series with an absolutely uninteresting premise has as snowball’s chance in hell of surviving past the six and seven episodes, respectively, that were ordered?  We don’t and we think that after a year of sitting on these projects and taking an inventory of the state of the network as far as scripted programming is concerned come Fall 2011, FOX execs are reconsidering their commitment to these two new shows and leaning toward full support of Bob’s Burgers, should, as we expect, Napoleon Dynamite and Allen Gregory fail quickly.  We think FOX is starting to realize that it may be better for them to deal with the devil that they know as opposed to the one they don’t, but because they are still FOX, after all, they’re taking a “wait and see” approach with Bob’s Burgers.

And what exactly is the state of FOX come Fall 2011?  And why aren’t we bothered by the renewal of Bob’s Burger’s, a show we really don’t like?  What’s this about House and Bones possibly not being on FOX and Terra Nova that you dopes alluded to in the headline yet never mentioned in this piece? Tune in to the ‘Tastic tomorrow and we’ll give you some insights based on what we know for sure, and what we think all of this information means based on us piecing it all together and wildly speculating… including the news about House, Bones and Terra Nova.

ALERT! FOX Renews American Dad For Seventh Season!!!

Via Press Release From FOX:

GOOD MORNING, U.S.A.! IT’S GONNA BE A WONDERFUL DAY!

“American Dad” RENEWED FOR SEVENTH TERM

Emmy-nominated Animation Domination staple American Dad has been renewed for a seventh season, bringing the series through the 2012-2013 season, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.

“This is fantastic news,” said Roger the Alien. “But you do realize I’m not real, right?”

American Dad follows the lives of ultra-conservative, staunch GOP supporter and CIA agent STAN SMITH (Seth MacFarlane) and his eccentric family that includes FRANCINE (Wendy Schaal), his ditzy-but-lovable wife; HAYLEY (Rachael MacFarlane), his 18-year-old left-wing hippie daughter; STEVE (Scott Grimes), his geeky, 14-year-old son; ROGER (Seth MacFarlane), the selfish and sarcastic cross-dressing space alien; and KLAUS (Dee Bradley Baker), an attention-starved goldfish. The fan-favorite series airs Sundays (7:30-8:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

Expect lots of hijinks from the Smiths this spring! Roger attempts to make Steve a “cool kid” by letting him drive other kids around in a tractor, but the plan quickly backfires. Meanwhile, Francine gets a job at Stan’s office, but she cramps his style; and Roger starts dressing like a teenage girl and quickly seduces Steve’s best friend, SNOT (guest voice Curtis Armstrong). Upcoming guest voices for this season include Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Anjelica Huston, Elisabeth Shue, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Burt Reynolds and Grammy Award winner Cee-Lo Green.

American Dad is a 20^th Century Fox Television production. Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman serve as co-creators and executive producers, while Kenny Schwartz, Rick Wiener and Nahnatchka Khan serve as executive producers. Become a fan of American Dad on Facebook at www.facebook.com/americandad and follow the series on Twitter at www.twitter.com/americandadfox.

We are officially not hating FOX today (ONE day, FOX… you get ONE DAY!) but we would like to point out that after we saw the pilot of Bob’s Burgers we knew that the renewal of American Dad was inevitable and noted it in our review.  So tell your friends about how brilliant our insight is (again) and that they have to read this blog.  That being said, with this announcement today, we find it highly unlikely that Bob’s Burgers will be renewed and we are thankful for that as it’s just awful.

There is a discrepancy here, though, that we would like to point out:  American Dad is currently in its sixth season (2010 – 2011).  The press release indicates that the American Dad renewal will bring the series through the 2012 – 2013 season.  The numbers don’t work on that (it should be 2011 – 2012)  unless FOX intends to split up season seven over the course of 2 years (there are reports that the order was for 22 episodes) premiering each half in January 2012 and January 2013.  We don’t find this scenario likely but it’s not out of the realm of possibility either.

Consider this:  FOX has ordered pilots for at least two new animated shows for 2011 – 2012 and they are continuing to look for more because they want to expand their “Animation Domination” schedule, according to our sources.  There is no change in time-slot according to the press release which means that American Dad will still be airing at 7:30 p.m.   The problem is that FOX stops airing programming at 10:00 p.m. so they are limited on time slots to keep plugging cartoons into.  The only solution would be half-season programming, i.e., air “Cartoon-X” in the Fall of 2011 and American Dad for 11 episodes in Spring 2012, rinse and repeat for the following season.  Although we find this scenario unlikely, it is possible and we don’t think it would necessarily be a bad thing.

The more likely of the scenarios, however, is that they either just made a mistake and meant 2011 – 2012 or they actually renewed it for two seasons.  As much as we’d like the latter, we’re leaning towards the former for obvious reasons.

Of course, we’ll keep you updated as we find out more.

Fall 2010 Post-Game Wrap-Up (Sunday)

It’s that time of year again, folks.  The time where we come together to say good-bye to an old year and we usher a in a new one.  At TV-Tastic, it’s also the time of year where we review the Fall 2010 television lineup, tell you what was good, what sucked and everything in between and why as well as where all of these shows are going to be in the new year (if they haven’t gotten canceled already).  Keep in mind that it’s only the stuff we watched for the most part so not every piece of schlock is in here.  So let the games begin.

Sunday

8:00 p.m.

FOX – The Simpsons

We gave up on The Simpsons around 2000 because frankly, it had gotten to the point where they were abusing the social commentary satire that they were famous for and basically began preaching and not being funny.  The biggest problem really was that strayed away from the old format of filling every obscure situation with a good joke.  That being said, we’ve been dipping our toes back into the Simpsons water for the last couple of years and we have to say that this season is one of the funniest in a very long time.  It is as brilliant and original in this its 22nd season as it was during its first ten.  They’ve brought back everything that made The Simpsons great and we love it.

8:30 p.m.

FOX – The Cleveland Show

We have to be honest: we don’t like The Cleveland Show.  We think it’s incredibly poorly written, a poor rip-off of Family Guy and ridiculously exploits racial stereotypes with little-to-no comedic value.  We’re still trying to figure out why Cleveland Brown was given his own show to begin with.  The random Cleveland appearance on Family Guy was always funny but the character was never written to be a major presence even on that show so why would the producers think setting him or any secondary character up with their own series is a good idea?  The only positive statement we can make about Cleveland this season is that it is slightly funnier than it was last season, but we seriously don’t know if you can call going from a 1 to a 3 on a scale of 10 an accomplishment.   Anyway, apparently we’re the idiots because FOX has already renewed it for another season.  Waitaminute… this is FOX we’re talking about, after all.  Maybe we’re not the idiots after all.

9:00 p.m.

FOX – Family Guy

We’ve been devoted fans of Family Guy since its pilot episode on Fox in 1999.  Needless to say, we were heartbroken when it was canceled by the idiots at FOX in 2002, and subsequently rejoiced when it was resurrected again in 2005 (thank you, Cartoon Network).  When it first came back after the hiatus, we were kind of disappointed as it just didn’t feel like the same show.  The jokes weren’t as funny, weren’t as fast and more importantly, the musical numbers had all but disappeared and any true fan will tell you, the musical numbers were what made old-school Family Guy so damned good.

After a couple of seasons of kind of boring us to death (with the exception of a few standout episodes) there was something else that we picked up that was really starting to bug us:  Family Guy was becoming very mean-spirited with their jokes.  Now, Family Guy has never shied away from controversy and we’ve never had a problem with the shock-value material, but some of this stuff was just downright awful, alienating and again, very mean-spirited.  Old-school Family Guy, as controversial as it was, was NEVER mean and it didn’t have to be because the material stood on its own.  It was becoming very clear to long-time fans and objective viewers that Family Guy was resorting to these tactics because the writing frankly wasn’t that good and they knew it.

Near the end of the 2007 – 2008 season, we had decided that as much as we didn’t want to do it,  we were going to remove Family Guy from DVR schedule in the Fall of 2008 if we didn’t see marked improvement.

We can honestly say now that we’re certainly glad we gave Family Guy a chance because like The Simpsons, Family Guy began to go back to what made the show great and left the mean-spiritedness behind.  The show has gotten progressively better over the past two seasons (with more musical numbers to boot) and this season is one of the funniest in history.

We normally just erase shows immediately after watching them off the DVR but Family Guy has become so good again that you literally have to watch an episode at least twice to catch the jokes you missed the first time around because you were laughing so hard and so long at one joke that the next one blew right by you.  THAT is what Family Guy was all about.  This season’s episode, Excellence in Broadcasting guest-starring (of all people) Rush Limbaugh may be the funniest episode in the history of the series… I’m not kidding.   It’s definitely up there with the greats such as Wasted Talent, Petarded and PTV.  We don’t care if you love Limbaugh or hate him, if you can’t appreciate how brilliant that episode is, you should not be watching Family Guy.

Watch that full episode here.

Here is one of the funniest scenes ever done on Family Guy from the episode Baby, You Knock Me Out, again, from this season and available in its entirety here.

HBO – Boardwalk Empire

We did a review the night after the series premiere of Boardwalk Empire where we proclaimed that it was the best show on television (the review can be read here.).  After watching the entire first  season there is absolutely nothing I would change about my analysis of this series, it is the best show on television… period.  That being said, as ana aside, there is something that I have noticed on the series for some time now that viewers really should be aware of.  The show isn’t completely historically accurate.  In the aggregate, yes, the overall story is true, but many of the nitty-gritty details have been dramatized… A LOT.  For example: there’s a whole storyline about Warren G. Harding’s mistress who had his baby.  In reality, this story of the mistress and the baby was a rumor that was never historically confirmed yet Boardwalk Empire puts it into the storyline as if it were fact.  We have no problem with creative license, but there should be full disclosure especially from a fictional show that revolves around actual historical figures.  Just sayin’, is all.

Showtime – Dexter

Well, Dexter has officially gone 24 on us.  Allow us to explain:  After four seasons of improving storylines, 24 had its masterpiece season in season 4.  The problem is that there was absolutely no way the producers could ever top that season so the next three seasons seemed disappointing by comparison.  This is exactly what happened with Dexter in season 5.  Season 4 of Dexter with John Lithgow as “The Trinity Killer” was one of the best seasons in television history and had one the best shock-finale of any series in recent memory and that hurt season 5.  The anticipation was so built-up because of season 4 that this season, although very good, was a bit of a let-down and nowhere near as satisfying as season 4.  We still love the series and we can’t wait until season 6 airs but the fans need to understand that season 4 was the defining season and its never going to get any better than that.

9:30 p.m.

FOX – American Dad

American Dad has been the one consistent bright spot in the FOX ‘Animation Domination’ lineup on Sunday night. The show is absolutely hilarious and every now and then they throw in an episode that completely breaks from the sitcom fare and goes into the column of “epic event.” If you’ve seen the Christmas episode from season five Rapture’s Delight, you know what we’re talking about.

Unfortunately, it seems as if American Dad is always on the list of shows to be canceled each year and this season is no different. I blame the time-slot and usually I would just say “don’t worry, it will be picked up next year,” but this year we were a little concerned because of the mid-season replacement, Bob’s Burgers looked VERY funny based on the sneak-preview we saw on the Family Guy: It’s a Trap! Blu-Ray. That being said, FOX has had a history of trying to upset the apple cart in recent years on Sunday night and it hasn’t worked. Besides the fact that none of the shows they’ve tried to knock off American Dad with have been very good, I think audiences have gotten very comfortable with American Dad and though its audience numbers haven’t been as huge as Family Guy, they’ve been consistent.

Also, now that we’ve had a chance to see Bob’s Burgers, we think it’s safe to say that it won’t be around long.  Read the full review of Bob’s Burgers, here.

Next, we take a look at Mondays.

Bob’s Burgers (FOX – Sunday, 8:30 p.m.)

BOB’S BURGERS is a new animated series about a man, his family and a burger joint.

A second-generation restaurateur, BOB (H. Jon Benjamin) is a dreamer with big ideas about burgers. Despite his greasy counters, his lousy location next to a crematorium and the occasionally spotty service, Bob is convinced his burgers speak for themselves.

Bob’s wife, LINDA (John Roberts), supports Bob’s dream through thick and thin, but has some dreams of her own. Their oldest daughter, TINA (Dan Mintz), is a 13-year-old hopeless romantic with minimal social skills. Middle child GENE (Eugene Mirman) is a self-described musician, class clown and all-around entertainer. Their youngest, LOUISE (Kristen Schaal), is the most enthusiastic about her dad’s business, but her imagination and scheming make her somewhat of a liability in the kitchen.

The restaurant is situated in an eastern seaboard town, complete with an oceanside amusement pier called Wonder Wharf. Next door to BOB’S BURGERS is the It’s Your Funeral Home and Crematorium – owned and operated by Mort the Mortician, one of Bob’s most faithful regulars. And across the street is Jimmy Pesto’s, Bob’s main competition and one of the many thorns in Bob’s side. – FOX

3 out of 10

We had very mixed emotions going into the series premiere of Bob’s Burgers.  On the one hand, we’re always excited about a new animated series on FOX (yes, it’s the one thing we like about FOX at this time) and this one genuinely looked VERY funny based on the sneak-preview we saw on the It’s A Trap! Blu-Ray but on the other hand, it’s been a poorly kept secret that FOX has been trying to replace American Dad since about the second season and Bob’s Burgers would be in all likelihood, the heir-apparent.  We really are not sure why FOX treats American Dad like the proverbial red-headed step-child, either, but they always have. The audiences numbers haven’t been as big as Family Guy, however, they have been good enough and consistent over the last six seasons to keep FOX from just arbitrarily dumping it like the do with so many other of their shows.

That being said, it’s with a heavy heart and overwhelming joy at the same time that we declare this:

BOB’S BURGERS SUCKS.

There… we said it… and we want our readers to realize this before they start investing a whole bunch of time into this dopey show expecting the show to become enjoyable.  It’s not going to happen.   The jokes are lame and incredibly dated and it’s really just a whole bunch of recycled crap from other prime-time cartoons with a smattering of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim comedy thrown in for good measure.  The truth is that if they couldn’t pull off more than three good jokes in the premiere, it’s never going to happen.

Another thing about this is that there’s really nobody likable or relatable on this show except for maybe Bob himself.  His wife, Linda, reminds of Pickles Oblong from the short-lived WB series, The Oblongs, without being funny or endearing. All three of the kids are just a bunch of gross weirdos and the writers just keep jumping back to these gross/weird kids in an attempt to exploit their grossness/weirdness into a joke.  It’s not working at all as it’s all very predictable and you just wind up a little more grossed-out.  To give you an idea about how predictable and unoriginal this show is, they actually did a “Whatever-you-do-don’t-touch-that-red-button” joke.  Pure, puke-in-your-mouth, suckitude©.

Believe us when we say that we really wanted to like Bob’s Burgers, despite what the ramifications of a high-quality animated show on FOX means to the fate of American Dad.  We really tried. We’re firm believers in letting the best show win at the end of the day and its self-defeating to root for a show to suck, even if it means losing another beloved show.

We even brought Mrs. ‘Tastic in to watch this who normally stares through the television like she’s trying to see the hidden image of the sailboat like in one of those ‘Magic Eye’ pictures whenever one of our shows is on.  She confirmed our worst fears when she said at the end, “Was that supposed to be funny?”  Then we contemplated turning on MTV’s Teen Mom to make us feel better about our lives after having to sit through Bob’s Burgers.

So, in the end, the downside is that Bob’s Burgers is really not very good at all but the upside is that it looks like American Dad may have dodged the FOX bullet for yet another season and for that… we rejoice.

And before anyone starts talking about how Bob’s had the highest rated season premiere of any new show this season, keep in mind that the show was heavily promoted by FOX and oh, yeah… it had the benefit of having an NFL wild-card game as a lead in. We would not expect similar numbers next week because we simply find it impossible for anyone who watched that mess to think it was good enough to tune in to a second time.