Fall '07: Measuring the Cliche-o-Meter
Every year, as we’ve introduced you to the fall shows (and in most years indulged in the pastime of figuring out which ones of them will be the first to die), we’ve also provided an invaluable service: identifying the fall season’s most noticeable cliches. We manage to do this by engaging a piece of high-tech gadgetry that we call the Cliche-O-Meter. (Do not stand too close to the Cliche-O-Meter, or you could suffer fatal burns… on the last day before you retire from the police force!)
Not to give away all the details of our forthcoming Dead Pool handicapping — and yes, we are doing it — but here are a few of the cliches we think you’ll notice this fall. To see which shows have which cliches, just visit our Fall 2007 Premieres pages.
Sci-Fi. There’s a lot of sci-fi on the docket this fall. We count nine new series that are touched by the sci-fi, many of them on NBC. Shame about cancelling out on that iTunes deal, eh? Oh well, NBC, not to worry — I’m sure sci-fi geeks don’t watch any videos on their iPods.
Geeks. Speaking of geeks, they’ve got their own cliche! This fall sees the invasion of the geeks throughout prime time, both on hourlong series (Chuck, Reaper) and sitcoms (Aliens in America, Big Bang Theory).
Fish Out of Water. A classic cliche, this season we count 13 shows with some aspect of a Fish-Out-of-Water plot. That’s almost half! But what would television be if there weren’t water, and a fish that wasn’t in it?
San Francisco. It’s the in-vogue city to set a new series in. Close to L.A. for location shooting, but with more character than L.A. Also, if you’re a cheapskate show that shoots in Vancouver, you can fake it — although we snooty San Franciscans can tell the difference.
Rich Folks. This fall season is populated with more shows about the trials and tribulations of the super-rich than any season since the heyday of Dynasty. It’s true — you could look it up. (And if you do, let us know — we just made that fact up on the spot.) Rich kids, rich CEOs, spoiled rich families… boy, there are a lot of rich people out there. And it turns out that most of these rich folks are actually pretty unlikeable. I know, it’s hard to believe, but there it is.
Tranny Hooker. Two fall premieres feature an ongoing plot complication involving a transgendered woman of questionable repute. There’s also one in a returning series, just to make it interesting. If the television zeitgeist is a beautiful woman, you may want to check under her skirt.
Guys Named Chuck. No less than six series feature characters (or in one case, a creator) named Chuck. Okay, they’re not all guys: Pushing Daisies features a girl named Chuck. But Chuck creator Josh Schwartz must really have a Chuck fetish: not only is there, uh, Chuck, there’s a guy named Chuck in his other show, Gossip Girl. To make matters worse, “Good Luck Chuck” premieres this week in theatres.
Men’s Room. Going into a bathroom used to be taboo. Now it’s de rigueur. Nearly a half dozen series feature key scenes in the men’s room.
I’m Not Wearing Pants. You’d think that pantslessnss and the men’s room would go hand in hand. But this fall, people are going pantsless in and out of the bathroom. At this rate, next fall the entire Fox fall schedule will be populated with people in boxer shorts.
Annoying Narrator. A half-dozen series this year feature narration. Too much narration, in most cases. The biggest offender is Pushing Daisies, but it’s hardly alone in the overreliance on the all-powerful voiceover.
Gwen Stefani. Not showing up on the Cliche-O-Meter — it doesn’t do music — is perhaps the biggest cliche of the entire crop of fall pilots. Almost every series used Gwen Stefani’s “The Sweet Escape” as foreground music at some point — although since music often changes before the pilots air, you may not notice this cliche at home. But trust those of us who watched most of these shows this summer: no musical artist was more beloved by television producers this year than Gwen Stefani.
Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape? Or did she also write a song about Steve McQueen?
Curses, Mike Mariano, you've exposed my lack of knowledge of popular culture.
Sheryl Crow did a song about Steve McQueen. And I think another one about Lighting McQueen.
Fixed.