Pilots: 90210, Raising the Bar

The Fall TV season is upon us, and several new shows will be looking to find their audience. Two heavily promoted shows made their debuts this week.

A new generation of 90120 has hit the silver screen after months of hype. The two hour season premiere actually didn't air in the Chicagoland area at its normal time because of the Cubs-Astros game. It instead was on from midnight to 2am, so many in the Chicago area probably have not yet seen it. Nationally the show did quite well, earning the CW their first ever win in the 18-45 demographic. So, did the show live up to the hype?

The new 90210 is the story of Harry Wilson moving his family from Kansas to his hometown of Beverly Hills, CA after taking the job as principal at his old stomping grounds, West Beverly Hills High. Of course, Harry isn't the center of attention. It is his daughter, Annie, and adopted son Dixon that are the main characters. In the two-hour season premiere, Annie and Dixon adapt to their new surroundings, make friends, and get a taste of the Beverly Hills life. The dialogue writing was at times poor and the acting in some spots may have suffered a bit because of it, but the overall story I thought was all you could ask for in a guilty pleasure show such as this. I never watched the original, so I can't really give any insight into what old fans might think of this new version. However, I feel that 90210 will be able to find its niche TV audience and have a good run.

TNT debuted the new courtroom drama, Raising the Bar, on Monday. Mark-Paul Gosselaar stars as Jerry Kellerman, a public defender in Manhattan. Know you've seen that guy before and you can't figure it out? It's Zack from Saved By the Bell. The pilot was a very compelling story about Kellerman trying to prove the inocence of a man who has been wrongfully identified in a rape case by a racist cop. Jane Kaczmarek (the mom from Malcolm in the Middle) plays the strict Judge Kessler, who is giving Kellerman very little leeway in her courtroom. When Kellerman realizes there is a good chace his defendant is going to be sent away for a crime he didn't commit, he blasts Kessler for not standing up for justice, and finds himself in a jail cell on contempt of court. Eventually, a friend of Kellerman's who works for the D.A.'s office smooth talks the Judge, and cooler heads prevail. Kellerman is let out of court, and his defendant is pled to a lesser charge and given time served. The main characters of Raising the Bar include people on both sides of the bench, making it decidedly different from most courtroom dramas. Usually, you are given one side to root for. Here, you get to see both public defenders and assistant district attourneys in their daily battle in the justice system. The acting of Gosselaar was very powerful, and the writing really pulled at your heartstrings. I am very impressed by this pilot, and am interested to see what else they have in store. Raising the Bar finds itself in a tough timeslot, as it will eventually be put up against CSI: Miami. However, it is a basic cable show, so it will not have to live up to the ratings standards of a big network. New episodes of Raising the Bar air every Monday at 10/9c on TNT.

What's On?
If you missed the premiere of the new 90210, they are reairing it tonight at 8/7c on the CW network.