The new fall season Luckily, with the Dish Network DVR, you don’t have to make those hard choices. The DVR is a dual-tuner, meaning you can record one show while watching another, or record two shows at the same time. With all the new shows on the slate, you might as well pick a few that you think sound interesting and program them in your DVR. The CW Network on Dish Network is one of the many networks debuting a rash of new programming, hoping it will ignite a spark with viewers. Here’s a rundown of three of the CW’s newest, high-profile dramas: First up is the reboot of â€Melrose Place.†The reboot idea proved successful last year with the revival of â€90210â€, so the CW is trying it again and bringing back another former Fox hit from beyond the grave. The original â€Melrose Place†ran on Fox from 1992-1999. The reboot will take place at the same West Hollywood apartment complex as the first series, with original cast member Laura Leighton playing landlady to the hot new tenants. Leighton’s character Sydney Andrews was killed off at the end of the fifth season, so it should be interesting to see how producers have resurrected her (though SPOILER ALERT: Sydney will be killed off AGAIN at the end of the premiere episode.) Thomas Calabro, the only cast member to have been with the series throughout its entire seven year run, will also be back as father to the show’s newest bad boy David (Shaun Sipos). Other actors, such as Josie Bissett and Daphne Zuniga, will also appear in several episodes. The new cast includes Katie Cassidy, last seen in â€Harper’s Islandâ€, as publicist Ella; Jessica Lucas as first grade teacher Riley; and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz as Violet, a new transplant to the city. The new â€Melrose†will premiere on the CW on Dish Network on Tuesday September 8 at 9 p.m ET/PT. In my opinion, this show will probably do pretty good. It’s a nice companion piece to â€90210â€, which performed solidly in the ratings during its freshman season, and its previews offer plenty of scandal and drama, two things that the viewers just love. Another new series is â€The Beautiful Lifeâ€, starring the tabloid-troubled Mischa Barton. Barton has spent the last few weeks in the spotlight after being admitted to the hospital for several days. People have speculated everything from drug use to a suicide attempt, but in the end, the distraction did not keep Barton from fulfilling her commitments to her new show. On â€The Beautiful Life,†Barton plays model Sonja, an aging supermodel who is looking to reclaim her place in the spotlight. Her attempts are sidelined by her friend Raina (Sara Paxton), an up and coming teenage beauty with a secret past (don’t they all have secret pasts?) Also on board for some photo shoots is newly discovered Iowa farm boy Chris Andrews (Benjamin Hollingsworth), who is having trouble adjusting to the cutthroat-modeling world, and High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu as a former child model who is trying to launch his music career. â€The Beautiful Life†debuts its runway strut on Wednesday September 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Finally, hoping to cash in on the Twilight/â€True Blood†craze is the new Kevin Williamson-penned series â€The Vampire Diaries.†Nina Dobrev (â€Degrassi: The Next Generationâ€) stars as 17-year-old Elena Gilbert. She and her 15-year-old brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen, who just finished filming Piranha 3D) are still trying to cope with their grief and move on with their lives after the death of their parents. Elena, who has always been the star student, finds herself struggling to hide her sadness from the world. When the school year begins, Elena and her friends are fascinated by a handsome and mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). Stefan and Elena are immediately drawn to one another, and Elena has no way of knowing that Stefan is a centuries-old vampire (of course), struggling to live peacefully among humans. On the other side of the spectrum is his brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder who played the ill-fated Boone on "Lost"), who believes vampires should be all about violence and blood instead of poems and cuddling. Williamson formerly wrote and created â€Dawson’s Creek,†and also penned both Scream and Scream 2. Early buzz around the sappy vamps-in-love drama is not great †time will tell if it will survive the season. Despite the popularity of vampire literature right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if this show tanked and was cancelled after 6 episodes. If you’re still interested, and want to take a bite out of these lovebirds, â€The Vampire Diaries†premieres Thursday September 10th at 8 p.m. ET/PT 9 (though if vamps are what you crave, I highly recommend is always a veritable shark tank of new shows. In reality, very few of them make it out alive, but as part of the viewing audience it’s up to us to decide what we think sounds good and what we will skip.you check out HBO's "True Blood" instead.) In the Boston area the CW can be found on channel 56. By: Frank Bilotta
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
