Forget the filler and Sundays flying high - Winnipeg Free Press
By: Brad Oswald
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Back when the skies really were friendly: Christina Ricci stars in Pan Am. (BOB D'AMICO / ABC)
SATURDAY: DUSSAULT INC.
Citytv/Sept 24/8:30 p.m.
Starring: Jason Dussault, Mashiah Vaughn
Premise: A Canadian-made "docucomedy" that follows streetwear designer Jason Dussault as he tries to rebuild his career and re-establish his brand after the economic downturn sent his high-flying clothing line crashing to the ground.
Lowdown: Dussault seemed headed for clothing-industry stardom, with a booming company, a flagship store in L.A., and a celebrity customer list that included the likes of Criss Angel, Kid Rock and Nicole Richie. He lost it all when the economy went south, so he headed back north to regroup.
Bottom line: No preview available, but it feels like low-cost CanCon filler.
RETURNING SHOWS:
Hockey Night in Canada (CBC, Sept. 24)
W5 (CTV, tonight)
Project Runway Canada (Global, TBA)
Murdoch Mysteries Rules of Engagement (CBS/Citytv, Sept. 24)
48 Hours Mystery (CBS, Sept. 24)
SUNDAY: LAST MAN STANDING
Citytv/Oct. 16/7 p.m. (premires Oct. 11 on ABC) (Also appeared in Tuesdays preview)
Starring: Tim Allen, Nancy Travis
Premise: Sporting-goods store marketing director Mike Baxter (Allen) is the alpha male at work, but cant make any sense of a home life that includes a wife and three daughters.
Lowdown: Allen successfully adapted his grunting-guy standup persona into the hit ABC sitcom Home Improvement, and this amounts to little more than rehashing the same premise, substituting three daughters for HIs three sons. If that sounds lazy and uninspired, well, it also describes exactly how this new show feels. It could not possibly be more unfunny.
Bottom line: First man cancelled?
THE QUON DYNASTY
Citytv/Oct. 23/8 p.m. & 8:30 p.m.
Starring: The Quon family Miles, Mandy, Marty, Amy, Kinman
Premise: A reality-TV effort that follows members of the Quon family as they deal with the day-to-day pressures of running their popular Edmonton restaurant, The Lingnan.
Lowdown: This is the second TV effort by the colourful clan they were also seen in the Food Network Canada series Family Restaurant.
Bottom line: No preview available safe to expect more CanCon filler.
ONCE UPON A TIME
ABC/Sept. 25/7 p.m.
Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Robert Carlyle
Premise: A lonely bail-bonds collector gets a surprise visit on her 28th birthday from the son she gave up for adoption 10 years earlier, who tells her a wild tale about how shes actually the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and its time for her to end her earthly exile and save the fairytale realm from the evil queen.
Lowdown: A stylish and immediately captivating tale, this complex but accessible story takes place in two separate worlds the long-ago-andfar- away place inhabited by fairy godmothers, and the modern-day town of Storybrooke, Mass., which is actually the "horrible" place in which the fairytale folks are stuck until Emma Swan accepts her destiny and begins lifting the evil queens curse.
Quotable: "For us, the show, at its core, is a character show. We are much more interested in the characters than the mythology why does the Evil Queen hate Snow White? Why does Geppetto want a boy so badly that he made one out of wood?" Executive producer Edward Kitsis.
Bottom line: Hopefully, theres a happily-ever-after in the offing.
ALLEN GREGORY
Fox/Global/Oct. 30/7:30 p.m.
Starring: Jonah Hill, Nat Faxon, French Stewart, Will Forte
Premise: An animated comedy about a precocious and very pretentious seven-year-old boy whos about to leave the sheltered world of home schooling and attend elementary school.
Lowdown: The shows arrival later in the fall means The Cleveland Show will be bumped back to 6:30 p.m. to make room for this newcomer between The Simpsons and Family Guy. Theres nothing particularly brilliant about this series, but it will fit nicely with the other toon fare.
Quotable: "It was important, because our show is going to be on between The Simpsons and Family Guy, that it really be differentiated visually from the other Fox shows and have its own visual style. We really wanted it to look like ... a page out of The New Yorker."
Executive producer/voice actor Jonah Hill
Bottom line: Hammocked between two hit shows, should probably enjoy quite a comfortable ride.
COVER ME CANADA
CBC/Sunday/9 p.m.
Starring: Nicole Appleton, Deborah Cox, Jordan Knight, Ron Fair
Premise: A singing competition that invites aspiring stars to perform cover versions of songs from the great Canadian songbook.
Lowdown: Would-be contestants submitted their versions of one of four Canuck classics Life Is a Highway (Tom Cochrane), Sundown (Gordon Lightfoot), Run To You (Bryan Adams) or Black Velvet (Alannah Myles). Eight finalists will be selected in the series premire. The winner gets $100,000 and a recording contract.
Bottom line: No preview available, but we wont have to wait long to see how this sounds.
PAN AM
ABC/CTV/Sept. 25/9 p.m.
Starring: Christina Ricci, Kelli Garner, Karine Vanasse, Margot Robbie
Premise: A retro-themed drama that follows the adventurous and dizzily romantic lives of the stewardesses and pilots of Pan American Airlines in the early 1960s.
Lowdown: One of the best of the fall crops pilot episodes, filled with romance, espionage and nostalgic nods to a simpler time when air travel was a glamorous adventure and not a soul-crushing ordeal. The attention to period detail is meticulous, the cast seems to be having tons of fun in the jetsetting storyline, and it all just feels like great big prime-time fun.
Quotable: "It was a time when we were treated as if we were hostesses of a dinner party, and it was a moveable feast. The atmosphere on the plane was that we would become friends with our passengers we would get to know their names, we would help them plan their trips." Executive producer Nancy Hult Ganis, a former Pan Am flight stewardess.
Bottom line: This one should fly.
RETURNING SHOWS:
Battle of the Blades (CBC, Sunday)
60 Minutes (CBS, Sept. 25)
The Amazing Race (ABC/CTV, Sept. 25)
Americas Funniest Home Videos (ABC, Oct. 2)
The Simpsons (Fox/Global, Sept. 25)
Cleveland Show (Fox/Global, Sept. 25)
Desperate Housewives (ABC/CTV, Sept. 25)
The Good Wife (CBS/Global, Sept. 25)
Family Guy (Fox/Global, Sept. 25)
American Dad (Fox/Global, Sept. 25)
CSI: Miami (CBS, Sept. 25)
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