TV Tango Search

Search

|              FREE: Ask a TV Expert
   TelevisionCakeAd

Summer TV Preview (Part 1): ABC: Let the Games Begin

Mike Vicic - April 21, 2009

Bachelorette_400x400

It's the good ol' summertime, and ABC is jumping into the pool with six new and returning competition reality shows. Not all is lost as they are finally getting animated with Mike Judge ("King of the Hill"), and fans of short-lived shows should put on sunblock because ABC is burning off unaired episodes of four of their recently canceled series.

 

Starting off the Summer, "The Bachelorette" returns for a fifth season (May 18) when steamy hot-tubber Jillian Harris -- fan favorite from "The Bachelor" -- returns to TV looking for someone better than Jason Mesnick. ABC will fill the rest of its scorecard with these reality/game shows:

  • "Here Come the Newlyweds" (Season premiere on May 25): Nine just-married couples vie for a cash prize by surviving mental and physical challenges.
  • "Wipeout" (Season premiere on May 27): Another season where contestants compete in an over-the-top obstacle course and usually end up muddy and wet.
  • "Superstars" (Series premiere on June 23): Watch your favorite athletes and celebrities compete side-by-side in this updated version of the '70s classic.
  • "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" (Season premiere on July 8): This reality/game show returns for a second season as 12 more Americans travel to Japan to be on the wackiest Japanese game show.
  • "Dating in the Dark" (Series premiere on July 20): This series tests whether love is truly blind. Contestants go on dates in total darkness and then select one of those dates to see in the light of day.
  • "Opportunity Knocks" (May 26): ABC is burning off the last few episodes of this low-rated show.

 

Contestant on "Wipeout." Photo Credit: ABC

 

Venturing into toonland, ABC's only new scripted series is Mike Judge's "The Goode Family" (May 27). The press release says "With standards always changing, no matter how hard you try to be good, it's virtually impossible these days . . . especially for the Goode family. Meet Gerald and Helen Goode, a couple who live by the motto WWAGD ('What Would Al Gore Do?'). Gerald, a college administrator, and Helen, a community activist, are determined to obliterate their carbon footprint on the planet: They're zealous vegans, they drive a hybrid, and they recycle everything possible. Even the family dog, Che, is vegan. In the words of Helen, all the Goodes want to do is buy organic apples and call minorities by their right names. But despite their best efforts, something always goes haywire with their politically correct plans.."

Ubuntu Goode of "The Goode Family."

Image Credit: Goode Family Productions, LLC

 

On Saturday nights, cool off the long hot summer with the final episodes of these cold dead series: "Pushing Daisies" (starting May 30), "Eli Stone" (starting June 20) and "Dirty Sexy Money" (starting July 18).

 

The cast of "Pushing Daisies." Photo Credit: Kate Turning/ABC


Stay tuned for our FOX preview!

 

Valuable contributions by: Maj Canton.