In spite of being heartbroken over being denied weekly presence of Hayden Panettiere for the foreseeable future, duty calls... meaning it's time to have a look at the new season's shows, wonder which ones'll be shown here and gauge their Alttiere factor. (Meaning their looker status... Alttiere is in honour of Miss Panettiere and Jessica Alba.) As ever, we're not counting unscripted shows, those moving to another network, or cable series (although a moment of silence, please, to mark the passing of 10 Things I Hate About You, Nip/Tuck, Ruby And The Rockits, The Sarah Silverman Program, Rita Rocks, The Tudors, Monk, The Cleaner, Brotherhood, Lincoln Heights, Reno 911!, Raising The Bar, 10 Items Or Less, Ben 10: Alien Force and Saving Grace).
In order of their announcement:
NBC
The Event
From The Good Folks At: Steve Stark Productions and Universal Media Studios (they'll come up a lot in this section).
What's It About?: Jason Ritter looking into the disappearance of his fiancee and unearths a massive international conspiracy.
Will I Check It Out? I may well do so.
Alttiere Factor: So far, only Sarah Roemer (Laura Innes? Er, no).
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Reasonable.
Chase
From The Good Folks At: Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Warner Bros. Television.
What's It About? "(A) team of U.S. marshals" going after "America's most dangerous fugitives."
Will I Check It Out? Probably not. The presence of Jesse Metcalfe doesn't help.
Alttiere Factor: I'm not familiar enough with Kelli Giddish and Rose Rollins to judge.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Pretty good.
Undercovers
From The Good Folks At: Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
What's It About? Husband-and-wife ex-spies are called back into the field.
Will I Check It Out? I seem to give anything from J.J. Abrams a go (Six Degrees notwithstanding).
Alttiere Factor: With the exception of Fringe, Bad Robot has a good track record in this department. Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Jessica Parker Kennedy, come on down!
Chances Of Coming To The UK:
Law & Order: Los Angeles
From The Good Folks At: Wolf Films and Universal Network Television/Universal Media Studios.
What's It About? What do you think it's about?
Will I Check It Out? Depends on who's on board.
Alttiere Factor: No idea as yet.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Considering Hallmark, Five and Sky, it's not if but when.
Outsourced
From The Good Folks At: In Cahoots and Universal Media Studios.
What's It About? The manager of an American company who's sent to India to run its call center (where it's been... well, see the title).
Will I Check It Out? Unlikely. I didn't watch the similar-sounding ITV sitcom Mumbai Calling (though the two shows have pretty different basic premises).
Alttiere Factor: I have to do some research on Rebecca Hazlewood and Jessica Gower.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Not that high, I'd say.
Love Bites
From The Good Folks At: Working Title Television and Universal Media Studios.
What's It About: It's "an hour-long romantic comedy anthology series featuring three loosely connected, modern stories of love, sex, marriage and dating." Basically it's Love, American Style for the 21st century, with two regular characters.
Will I Check It Out?: I don't seem to be part of the target audience for Working Title comedies, but maybe.
Alttiere Factor: Becki Newton and Jordana Spiro are our stars. Sexy Amanda from Ugly Betty? I'm sold.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Very good.
Outlaw
From The Good Folks At: Conaco Productions and Universal Media Studios.
What's It About? A Supreme Court justice (Jimmy Smits) who quits and starts to fight for the little man. Because there aren't enough lawyer shows out there.
Will I Check It Out? Created by John Eisendrath (WIOU, Alias) and exec produced by Conan O'Brien. So yeah.
Alttiere Factor: Not bad; Carly Pope from Popular is one of the lawyers.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Could happen.
The Cape
From The Good Folks At: BermanBraun and Universal Media Studios.
What's It About? A cop who's framed for murder and becomes a superhero to battle crime. Hmmmm...
Will I Check It Out? I may, or may not.
Alttiere Factor: Two words - Summer. Glau.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Good.
Friends With Benefits
From The Good Folks At: Imagine Television and Twentieth Century Fox Television.
What's It About? Twentysomething singles in the dating game. But as Bruce Geller said, nothing is original except in how it's done...
Will I Check It Out? You never know.
Alttiere Factor: Danneel Harris and Jessica Lucas do you? They do? Good.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Do not count it out.
Harry's Law
From The Good Folks At: David E. Kelley Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
What's It About? Kathy Bates (the Harry of the title), Ben Chaplin and Aml Ameen opening a law practice in a shoe store (well, this is a David E. Kelley show).
Will I Check It Out? Not out of the question.
Alttiere Factor: Brittany Snow, ladies and gentlemen.
Chances Of Coming To The UK? All of his previous shows about the bar (with the exception of girls club) did...
Next
From The Good Folks At: Nuance Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
What's It About? The day-to-day life of an ex-television star and family man, played by ex-television star and family man Paul Reiser.
Will I Check It Out? Having avoided Mad About You, I may do the same for this. Especially if he does the theme song again (he's no Greg Evigan).
Alttiere Factor: Not immediately apparent.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Not great, Omid Djalili notwithstanding.
Perfect Couples
From The Good Folks At: Universal Media Studios.
What's It About? Three couples seeking the perfect relationship.
Will I Check It Out? My viewing history does not have such shows high on my list of must views.
Alttiere Factor: Olivia Munn is one-half of one of the couples, so for some she'll make it a must.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Not out of the question - I mean, Rules of Engagement and 'Til Death did...
FOX
Raising Hope
From The Good Folks At: Amigos de Garcia Productions and Twentieth Century Fox Television.
What's It About? The "Hope" of the title is a baby, who the white-trash main character fathered with a convicted felon and who he now has to bring up with the "help" of his less than perfect family.
Will I Check It Out? After yes, dear and My Name Is Earl, Greg Garcia knows his way around comedy that stays around for a bit.
Alttiere Factor: With Cloris Leachman and Martha Plimpton in the cast, Shannon Woodward may be your best bet.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: As Possible Possum always put it, "It's possible - it's possible..."
Running Wilde
From The Good Folks At: Tantamount Studios, Five Hole Pictures, Principato-Young Management and Lionsgate Television (a rare non-cable production for the last named).
What's It About? A playboy named Steve Wilde determined to win over the temperamentally opposite woman of his dreams.
Will I Check It Out? It stars Will Arnett and comes from Mitchell "Arrested Development" Hurwitz, so that's a yes.
Alttiere Factor: Keri Russell plays the lady he loves.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Considering the pedigree, very good.
Lonestar
From The Good Folks At: Depth of Field Productions, Keyser/Lippman Productions and Twentieth Century Fox Television.
What's It About? A man who lives two lives - he's not a spy or anything, he's got a wife in one part of Texas, a girlfriend in another, and is a lying, cheating scoundrel in both. Until things start getting hot...
Will I Check It Out? I don't know.
Alttiere Factor: Executive producers Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman previously did Party Of Five (with Neve Campbell, Lacey Chabert and Jennifer Love Hewitt) and spinoff Time Of Your Life (with JLH and Jennifer Garner). Adrianne Palicki and Eloise Mumford have much to live up to.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: It just might.
Bob's Burgers
From The Good Folks At: Twentieth Century Fox Television.
What's It About? An animated series about a man who runs a burger joint with his family.
Will I Check It Out? Not out of the question.
Alttiere Factor: It's a cartoon, idiot.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Not out of the question.
Terra Nova
From The Good Folks At: Kapital Entertainment, Chernin Entertainment, DreamWorks Television and Twentieth Century Fox Television.
What's It About? A family going back in time to prehistoric Earth as part of a bid to save the planet in the year 2149.
Will I Check It Out? Brannon Braga is one of the executive producers, but fortunately his colleague this time isn't David S. Goyer - he's working with two much more trustworthy people, David Fury and Steven Spielberg (not that Spielberg's track record in producing television is flawless - for every Animaniacs or Band of Brothers there's a High Incident or Taken - but it's Steven freaking Spielberg!).
Alttiere Factor: No cast yet, but fingers crossed.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Other than Invasion America, there are very few Spielberg TV productions that haven't come to the UK.
Ride-Along
From The Good Folks At: MiddKid Productions and Twentieth Century Fox Television.
What's It About? A cop show set in Chicago (the title refers to a civilian passenger being along with a cop on his or her shift in the squad car). From Shawn Ryan of The Shield and The Unit.
Will I Check It Out? Despite bailing on The Shield very, very early on, yes.
Alttiere Factor: Jennifer "hotter now than in her Flashdance days" Beals for the win!
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Three words - Ex. Cell. Ent.
Mixed Signals
From The Good Folks At: Keshet Broadcasting Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Television.
What's It About? Three friends trying to "balance their relationships with their need for freedom."
Will I Check It Out? Very unlikely...
Alttiere Factor: It's all up to you, Alexandra Breckenridge and Liza Lapira.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: One of the three friends is Kris Marshall from the long-running BBC sitcom My Family, so I'd say pretty good.
ABC
Body Of Proof
From The Good Folks At: ABC Studios.
What's It About? A neurosurgeon turned medical examiner-cum-detective. Essentially, a female Quincy, M.E. (hang on, wasn't that Crossing Jordan?).
Will I Check It Out? I did so with Dr. Quincy and Dr. Cavanaugh, so I'll likely be here as well...
Alttiere Factor: ...especially as the good doctor is played, in this case, by Dana Delany.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: In its favour. Sounds right up Hallmark's or Alibi's alley.
Detroit 1-8-7
From The Good Folks At: Mandeville Films and ABC Studios.
What's It About? We've had documentary crews in sitcoms (The Office, Modern Family) and now they invade the cop show, going with a Homicide Unit in Detroit.
Will I Check It Out? I don't seem to watch many cop shows nowadays, but not out of the question.
Alttiere Factor: I'll assume that's Natalie Martinez's job.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Given that it stars Michael Imperioli from The Sopranos, I'd say so.
My Generation
From The Good Folks At: Stockholm-Copenhagen Productions, The Littlefield Company and ABC Studios.
What's It About? Ten years ago, a group of high schoolers graduated; the series follows them today.
Will I Check It Out? I don't know...
Alttiere Factor: Kelli Garner, perhaps?
Chances Of Coming To The UK: E4 or Fiver, maybe...
No Ordinary Family
From The Good Folks At: Oh That Gus! Inc., Berlanti Television and ABC Studios.
What's It About? A family who suddenly gets superpowers. Expect this to be compared to The Incredibles. A lot.
Will I Check It Out? Maybe; Jon Harmon Feldman didn't do badly with Roswell and Tru Calling.
Alttiere Factor: Julie Benz and Autumn Reeser. Result! (Unfortunately Kay Panabaker, getting a chance to play a superpowered person at last after her sister Danielle did in Sky High and whose appeal has always eluded me, is here as well.)
Chances Of Coming To The UK: I'd bet on it.
Off The Map
From The Good Folks At: ShondaLand Productions and (you guessed it) ABC Studios.
What's It About? Young doctors stationed in a clinic in the South American jungle. Not thought up by Shonda Rhimes, so unconnected to Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice.
Will I Check It Out? Undecided at press time.
Alttiere Factor: Caroline Dhavernas is one of the doctors, making her ABC's second fanciable medico of the new crop.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Living, anyone?
The Whole Truth
From The Good Folks At: Bonanza Productions Inc., Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Warner Bros. Television.
What's It About? Unlike most law series, which focus on either the defense or prosecution (but usually on the defense - Equal Justice and Shark are among the few exceptions), this looks at both sides.
Will I Check It Out? It's not out of the question.
Alttiere Factor: The main female role is Joely Richardson, so it's down to newcomer Christine Adams.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Most lawyer shows do. As long as the programme buyers don't remember Justice...
Better Together
From The Good Folks At: Bonanza Productions Inc., Silver and Gold Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
What's It About? Two sisters, both in a relationship but one rather more free-spirited than the other.
Will I Check It Out? Yes...
Alttiere Factor: ...because the sisters are played by JoAnna Garcia and Jennifer Finnigan.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: It might.
Happy Endings
From The Good Folks At: FanFare Productions, Sony Pictures Television and ABC Studios.
What's It About: When a couple breaks up (amicably), what happens to the friends they made as a couple?
Will I Check It Out? That's actually a good question.
Alttiere Factor: One of the friends - and the toplined star - is none other than Kim Bauer herself, Elisha Cuthbert!
Chances Of Coming To The UK: I think it might, you know.
Mr. Sunshine
From The Good Folks At: Shoe Money Productions, Barnow and Firek Productions, FanFare Productions and Sony Pictures Television.
What's It About? Matthew Perry is a sports arena manager whose 40th birthday is the cue for self-examination...
Will I Check It Out? Not likely.
Alttiere Factor: Andrea Anders and Portia Doubleday, maybe? Not really Allison Janney, however.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Chandler Bing and CJ Gregg? Count on it.
CBS
$#*! My Dad Says
From The Good Folks At: KoMut Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television
What's It About? The first television show to be based on a Twitter feed, Justin Halpern's Bleep My Dad Says (to use the CBS working title) comes to TV with William Shatner as the remarkably unrestrained Jeremy Clarkson-esque dad.
Will I Check It Out? The Shat can be value for money, but David Kohan and Max Mutchnick have been slipping since Will & Grace (and arguably during).
Alttiere Factor: Nicole Sullivan (also good for numerous laughs) and Stephanie Lemelin.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: I'd say pretty good.
Mike & Molly
From The Good Folks At: Chuck Lorre Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
What's It About? Two somewhat ample people meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting and fall in love.
Will I Check It Out? Well, Chuck Lorre does have a good track record in making sitcoms that just want to make you laugh and often succeed. Plus The Big Bang Theory doesn't exactly traffic in thin characters. So to speak.
Alttiere Factor: Well, Melissa McCarthy is cute and her character, it says here, has a hot older sister (Katy Mixon).
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Living or Comedy Central, I bet.
Hawaii Five-O
From The Good Folks At: CBS Television Studios.
What's It About? Thirty years after the classic original series ended - and 13 years after a previous pilot was made, which turned out to be so bad that it has never been shown to this day - Steve McGarrett returns, looking less like Jack Lord and more like the guy from Moonlight and The Back-up Plan (and last season's Three Rivers). Shepherded by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
Will I Check It Out? I fear I might, although I suspect I'll be retreating to the original show's DVDs. It is, after all, shepherded by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
Alttiere Factor: Unlike the original show, which avoided having major female characters until the final season, the revival casts Kono as Chin Ho's beautiful and notably slimmer cousin. And she's played by Grace Park.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: It'll be here. Aloha.
The Defenders
From The Good Folks At: CBS Television Studios.
What's It About? Nothing at all to do with the old TV show starring E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed - it's Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell as Vegas defense attorneys.
Will I Check It Out? Maybe; it's a comedy-drama, and O'Connell's likeable.
Alttiere Factor: I'm unfamiliar with Jurnee Smollett and Tanya Fischer, but...
Chances Of Coming To The UK: It might have to be a hit first.
Blue Bloods
From The Good Folks At: Mandy Films and CBS Television Studios.
What's It About? A family of cops in New York City, with Tom Selleck as the head of the family and the chief of police - that's right, the big boss is Magnum! And one of his sons is Donnie from New Kids On The Block! (I know Donnie Wahlberg played a cop before in Boomtown, but let me have my fun.)
Will I Check It Out? Possibly. Even if the family's name is Reagan.
Alttiere Factor: Bridget Moynahan do you?
Chances Of Coming To The UK? A cop show starring freakin' Magnum and Donnie Wahlberg, from graduates of The Sopranos (Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess) and Leonard Goldberg, who used to make some of the most famous TV shows ever in partnership with Aaron Spelling? I'll be surprised if this doesn't come over.
Criminal Minds Spinoff
From The Good Folks At: The Mark Gordon Company, CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios.
What's It About? It's a spinoff of Criminal Minds, focusing on another team of agents - Forest Whitaker is the man in charge.
Will I Check It Out? No, because I never watch the original show.
Alttiere Factor: Beau Garrett would seem to be your lot.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Unless Living and sister channel Virgin1 lose their minds, good.
The CW
Hellcats
From The Good Folks At: Bonanza Productions Inc., Tom Welling Productions, CBS Television Studios. and Warner Bros. Television.
What's It About? A student who loses her pre-law scholarship and has to (and does) become a cheerleader to stay in school. You heard me. Executive produced by Clark Kent (see From The Good Folks At) and by the pilot's director Allan Arkush, who has prior experience with cheerleaders from his years on Heroes. Traitor.
Will I Check It Out? I'm not sure. It's appealingly cast, and I do like my cheerleaders, but so soon after losing Claire-bear? Quinn, Santana and Brittany from Glee aren't in the same league, and neither are... well, see below.
Alttiere Factor: Aly Michalka is the main character, Gail O'Grady is her mother, and Ashley Tisdale is her roommate. So pretty good, but...
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Gimme an E! Gimme a 4!
Nikita
From The Good Folks At: Wonderland Sound & Vision and Warner Bros. Television.
What's It About? You know La Femme Nikita? And its Hong Kong remake Black Cat? And its American remake Point Of No Return? And the US/Canadian La Femme Nikita TV series? Well, this sort of follows on with Nikita wanting to expose them and the people who turned her into an assassin/spy working on new recruits.
Will I Check It Out? Having experienced all but the HK version, I probably will.
Alttiere Factor: Maggie Q is Nikita. Lyndsy Fonseca is the new recruit who may want out. Melinda Clarke is also in this. I am sold.
Chances Of Coming To The UK: Sky One? Syfy? Virgin1? Five?
In Memory Of (series in italics have aired in the UK at the time of posting):
Accidentally On Purpose
The Beautiful Life
Better Off Ted
Brothers
Cold Case
Day One (which never even seems to have aired!)
The Deep End
Dollhouse
Eastwick
FlashForward
The Forgotten
Gary Unmarried
Ghost Whisperer
The Goode Family
Hank
Happy Town
Heroes
Law & Order
Legend Of The Seeker
Lost
Melrose Place
Mercy
Miami Medical
The New Adventures Of Old Christine
Numb3rs
Past Life
The Philanthropist
Romantically Challenged
Scrubs
Sit Down, Shut Up
Sons Of Tucson
Three Rivers
'Til Death
Trauma
24
Ugly Betty
And the CW pilot HMS. So close to seeing the credit "Co-Executive Producer: Hayden Panettiere"...
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