Surprises from The Paley Center’s Fall Preview Parties

Now that The Paley Center’s Fall Preview Parties have ended here in Los Angeles, I can finally think through the four nights’ worth of information. Unlike the last two years, I found myself unwilling to sit through shows that hadn’t yet captured my attention (sorry CBS!), but I also found myself really impressed by a series of shows I wouldn’t have looked at otherwise.

As one of the many people who wasn’t in the Flash Forward panel at Comic Con in July, it was more than worth the way to see the full pilot and understand what the hype was all about. It is well worth the hype, I will say, if only I could get over some odd moments that don’t fit into the geographic landscape of the show (unless someone can accurately tell me where Mark and Olivia are supposed to live because it wasn’t Echo Park and it wasn’t MacArthur Park.) The other surprises came in the form of Modern Family and Cougar Town, which both won me over.

Modern Family focuses on three very different families and the ways in which they can be connected (yes, I am being vague for those who don’t want the ending of the pilot spoiled.) It brings about a very different sort of dynamics within new and ever changing families.

The other show that caught my attention was Cougar Town, which I had originally dismissed as not being in my wheelhouse (being the youngest at this site and no where near the Cougar age), but after the pilot I found myself liking the concept and the way it played out in one episode.

The question now becomes how well each of the shows will do with everyone else.