Family Guy spinoff likely to be a sure thing

Day Two of our annual Fall TV Preview, and it's a fairly quiet evening on the new-show front. Sunday has always tended to be one of the week's most stable schedules, thanks to long-running TV staples such as 60 Minutes, America's Funniest Home Videos, The Simpsons, The Amazing Race and Desperate Housewives.

WHAT'S NEW:

The Cleveland Show (7:30 p.m., Fox/Global, premiering Sept. 27) -- This long-delayed spinoff of Family Guy will fill the spot in Fox's cartoon-comedy block vacated by just-ended King of the Hill. Expect more of the Seth-MacFarlane-inspired same, which means rapid-fire jokes and on-(and-sometimes-over)-the-edge humour. The concept is simple: Peter Griffin's neighbour/pal Cleveland Brown has relocated to Virginia to be with his long-time love, Donna, who's suddenly single again after her husband ran off, leaving her alone with two smart-alecky kids. With son Cleveland Jr. in tow, the former Quahogian is hoping this new life will bring newly renewed love and unlimited animated happiness.

Joining MacFarlane in the voice cast are Mike Henry, Sanaa Lathan, Reagan Gomez-Preston, Kevin Michael Richardson and blogosphere commentator Arianna Huffington. Kanye West and Fergie are already booked to provide guest voice-overs.

Will it work? Well, probably -- MacFarlane and company are reliably funny to those who find his brand of humour amusing, and it's almost impossible for a cartoon to fail when it's nestled between Fox's Sunday-night stalwarts, The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Three Rivers (8 p.m., CBS, premiering Oct. 4) -- Alex O'Loughlin (the sexy vampire in the short-lived 2007 drama Moonlight) gets another chance to carry a series, this time playing a Pittsburgh-based surgeon who heads up one of the U.S.'s most elite organ-transplant teams. The series, which also stars Katherine Moenning, Daniel Henney and Alfre Woodard, delves into the lives of the doctors, the patients awaiting transplant surgery, and the families grappling with difficult but very-immediate decisions about donating their loved ones' organs.

Will it work? Not much more than a "maybe" on this one -- as medical dramas go, it's reasonably compelling but also pretty average for the genre. O'Loughlin is a strong presence; the betting here is that he's destined to become a big U.S.-TV star, if he can find the right prime-time vehicle. Three Rivers might not be it.

Battle of the Blades (8 p.m., CBC, premiering Oct. 4) -- An intriguing premise, to be sure -- eight former NHLers take on a very different kind of rink-bound challenge, pairing up with top-class female figure skaters to take part in a spin-for-spin, lutz-for-lutz, salchow-for-salchow figure-skating challenge.

The retired-puckster roster includes Glenn Anderson, Claude Lemieux, Bob Probert, Ron Duguay, Craig Simpson, Stephane Richer, Tie Domi and Ken Daneyko; among the featured female spinners are Jamie Salé, Shae-Lynn Bourne, Isabelle Brasseur and Barbara Underhill.

Will it work? No preview was available, but it basically comes down to this: who's this show going to appeal to? Will hockey-mad dudes tune in to watch erstwhile NHLers do the sequins-and-toe-picks thing? And will true figure-skating fanatics be satisfied with watching less-than-artsy puck chasers take an awkward spin at an unfamiliar discipline? Hmmm...

My RONA Home (9 p.m., Citytv, premiering Oct. 4) -- This new homegrown reality/competition series, sponsored by (obviously) a major home-reno supplier, follows two families as they design, construct and decorate new homes, from the ground up, over a 10-week period. Each episode focuses on one room; viewers' votes decide which family does the best job each week. At the series' end, the clan receiving the most votes overall wins the new home and all its contents.

Will it work? The DIY crowd really does love its home-handyfolks kinds of shows, but this series (which was not available for preview) feels a bit like a specialty-network idea in a main-network timeslot. Clearly, ratings expectations won't be high in this time period opposite Cold Case, Brothers & Sisters and Sunday Night Football, so MRH will be likely be allowed to complete its short-season run regardless of how many viewers tune in.

Conviction Kitchen (10 p.m., Citytv, premiering Sept. 13) -- Cooks and crooks -- could there be a more natural combination? Citytv is hoping it's a winning recipe, combining the two in a reality show that follows executive chef Marc Thuet as he tries to train a crew of recently released ex-cons to become the staff of his about-to-open new restaurant. They have three weeks to prepare, and then just three months to turn the enterprise into a profit-making business, or Thuet and his partner will pull the plug.

Will it work? Again, no preview available, but this show seems inclined to stake a claim to prime-time territory that Gordon Ramsay already owns. He's got a higher profile and more impressive kitchen credentials than Thuet, and also probably possesses a saltier vocabulary and shorter fuse than anyone in the behind-bars bunch. The betting here is that this one will be slightly undercooked.

WHAT'S BACK:

60 Minutes (6 p.m., CBS, Sept. 27)

America's Funniest Home Videos (6 p.m., ABC, Oct. 4)

Heartland (7 p.m., CBC, Oct. 4)

The Amazing Race (7 p.m., CBS/CTV, Sept. 27)

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (7 p.m., ABC/Citytv, Sept. 27)

The Simpsons (7 p.m., Fox/Global, Sept. 27)

Desperate Housewives (8 p.m., ABC/CTV, Sept. 27)

Family Guy (8 p.m., Fox/Global, Sept. 27)

American Dad (8:30 p.m., Fox/Global, Sept. 27)

Brothers & Sisters (9 p.m., ABC/Global, Sept. 27)

Cold Case (9 p.m., CBS/CTV, Sept. 27)

WHAT'S MOVED:

CBC's The Nature of Things has relocated from Thursday to Sunday (9 p.m., Oct. 11).

WHAT'S GONE:

Fox's animated King of the Hill, which signs off tonight after 13 successful seasons; CBS's The Unit, which was given the axe last spring despite having attracted a very loyal medium-sized following.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 13, 2009 B6