For years, there's been talk that the broadcast TV networks would eventually abandon the traditional fall launch of the season. So far, it's really just talk.
This week, I'll be going down the list of the broadcast networks and their premiere schedules. To keep things simple, let's do it in alphabetical order, starting with ABC, available here, of course, on Channel 12.
ABC's strongest suit is returning shows, like "Castle," and the best new show of last year, "Modern Family." It's other sophomore sitcoms, "The Middle" and "Cougar Town," showed improvement over the year.
Here is ABC's fall premiere schedule (be aware that schedules can change at the last minute):
- Monday, Sept. 20: 7 p.m, "Dancing with the Stars," 9 p.m., "Castle."
- Tuesday, Sept. 21: 7 p.m., "Dancing with the Stars (special performance night and time), 9 p.m., "Detroit 1-8-7."
- Wednesday, Sept. 22: 7 p.m, "The Middle;" 7:30 p.m., "Better With You;" 8 p.m., "Modern Family;" 8:30 p.m., "Cougar Town;" 9 p.m., "The Whole Truth."
- Thursday, Sept. 23: 7 p.m., "My Generation;" 8 p.m., "Grey's Anatomy;" 9 p.m., "Private Practice."
- Friday, Sept. 24: 9 p.m., "20/20."
- Sunday, Sept. 26: 6 p.m., "America's Funniest Home Videos;" 7 p.m., "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition;" 8 p.m., "Desperate Housewives;" 9 p.m., "Brothers & Sisters.
- Tuesday, Sept. 28: 7 p.m., "No Ordinary Family;" 8 p.m., "Dancing with the Stars results"
Here's an advance look at "No Ordinary Family:"
A few more things: Milwaukee Public Radio launched its autumn Membership Fund Drive today, with a goal of $62,000 by Sept. 27 to fund operations of WUWM-FM (89.7). You can make your pledge online or by calling 414-227-3210.
- "At Issue" host Ben Merens and state government reporter Shawn Johnson are anchoring Tuesday night election coverage on the Ideas Network of Wisconsin Public Radio, heard in Milwaukee on WHAD-FM (90.7).
- A.J. Bombers tweets that its burger battle with Sobelman's on Travel Channel's "Food Wars" has been scheduled to air Oct. 13.
- NBC's "America's Got Talent" plans its first live tour this fall, with the 10 finalists scheduled for a Milwaukee stop at the Riverside Theater on Oct. 17. Ticket information is available at the website.
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
