TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

'Big Shots' Bond Over Messy Love Lives; 'Earl,' 'Office,' 'Smallville,' 'Betty' Return

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 27, 2007

'Men - we're the new women,' laments a character on the debut of 'Big Shots' at 10 tonight on ABC.

Translated: Even rich white guys who are captains of commerce feel emasculated on this series about male bonding.

Apparently, having it all - even sexy wives, ex-wives, girlfriends and hookers - isn't enough for these CEOs.

Following female-friendly series 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Ugly Betty,' this new drama appears to be aimed at women viewers.

It has been called a 'testosterone-driven Sex and the City' as well as 'Desperate Housemen,' 'Big Jerks' and some titles that can't be repeated here.

Dylan McDermott, Joshua Malina, Christopher Titus and Michael Vartan are the big four.

McDermott plays a burned-out, divorced skirt chaser. Malina's character is a nerd who got lucky in the software industry and is now juggling a wife and a mistress.

Titus supposedly has the perfect wife, but she's demanding and we never really see her. Vartan's character is a straight arrow until he finds that his wife has been cheating on him.

In the real world, these four diverse types probably wouldn't hang together. And viewers might have trouble hanging with them.

OFFICE CONVENTION: Elsewhere tonight, 'My Name Is Earl' and 'The Office' return to NBC with hour-long episodes. Emmy winner '30 Rock' comes back next week. A new 'ER' season kicks off at 10 tonight.

Serious fans of 'The Office' might want to make a trek to Scranton, Pa., from Oct. 26 to 28 for The Office Convention.

Scranton is the setting for Dunder Mifflin, the fictional paper-supply company run by clueless regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell).

The city plans continuous screenings of episodes in the downtown theaters. There will be an exhibit of wardrobe items from the show; tours of places mentioned on the show, such as Cooper's Seafood House and the Steamtown Mall; and a street festival, where 'The Office' T-shirts and memorabilia will be on sale. At least seven cast members are expected to make guest appearances..

Scranton is expecting 100,000 people to attend. For information, go to www.theofficeconvention.com.

SHE CAN FLY: 'Smallville' returns for a seventh season at 8 tonight on The CW. The first episode finds Clark Kent (Tom Welling) battling Bizzaro Clark. Also, a mysterious young woman flies into town.

New cast member Laura Vandervoort is introduced as Clark's long-lost relative, Kara. This could be the last season for most of the long-running cast members, and there has been much fan speculation that a Supergirl spinoff is a possibility.

Check out Vandervoort at my blog on TBO.com, keyword: Walt TV.

RATINGS NOTE: 'Dancing With the Stars' on ABC and 'Heroes' on NBC were the big winners in the Nielsen ratings Monday, the first night of the new season.

Not so healthy are Fox's 'K-ville' and NBC newcomers 'Journeyman' and 'Chuck.'

ABC's 'The Bachelor' was just so-so in the numbers. Over on CBS, the 8 to 10 p.m. comedy block was anemic with 'How I Met Your Mother' continuing to lose viewers. 'CSI: Miami' won its time slot at 10 p.m., but the numbers were down from last season.

RETURNING HITS: ABC's Cinderella story, 'Ugly Betty,' returns tonight after recently winning three Emmys, including a best comedy actress award for star America Ferrera.

Also back tonight is the original 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' on CBS. In last season's cliffhanger ending, CSI head sleuth Gil Grissom (William Petersen) had caught his nemesis, the Miniature Killer, but his lover and co-worker Sara (Jorja Fox) was missing and apparently near death.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT