A scene from Terra Nova. / FOX
I was away from my desk on personal business yesterday, which means that not only was I absent from the TCA press tour, I was absent from not being at TCA press tour. Herewith, a selection of headlines from the last two days, as the broadcast networks began presenting to assembled TV reporters:
* Fox’s Kevin Reilly does not believe the best TV shows are on cable. (They are on broadcast TV, and then Fox cancels them.)
* Also, in an effort to persuade critics that Terra Nova is not Latin for “Ishtar,” Fox screened a (reportedly schmancy-looking) three-minute trailer.
* Fox addressed the changes coming on this season’s American Idol and applied spin to the changes on the judging panel. You know that Simon Cowell guy who brought Fox the show and was its principal face for nine seasons. Now it turns out you never really liked him anyway!
* ABC, without a ton of new programming to introduce, announced it will bring back five shows you expected it to bring back next season, plus Cougar Town.
* Among what new-show news ABC had, the network introduced Off the Map (debuting tonight), Shonda Rhimes’ jungle-medicine drama which at least one writer analogized to Grey’s Anatomy meets Lost. I’ll preview it a bit later on the blog, but about all that would redeem the show for me would be if it turned out it did in fact take place on The Island, and then a smoke monster ate most of the characters.