Welcome to the final week of the broadcast networks' fall premieres. How are you holding up? I'm exhausted.
The last programs to show up in recent years have been those from The CW. It's the mini-network's way of letting the dust settle from the Big 4 before putting its fare on the buffet.
Wait. You know about The CW, right? The corporate little sister of CBS is a genuine, bona fide, legit broadcast network just like ABC, Fox and NBC. I thought that was common knowledge, but I got a couple of emails from older readers not long ago wanting to know what the heck The CW was.
The CW has been around since 2006, when it was formed from the leftovers of the defunct United Paramount Network (UPN) and The WB. The letters CW come from the first letters of the two parent corporations, CBS and Warner Bros.
Initially aiming to appeal to young women, the network has expanded its lineup the last five or six years to include a fantasy-heavy schedule with such shows as Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl.
Three network series will be returning today and Monday (see below), but let's begin with a look at the new offering coming Monday to The CW.
• Valor, 8 p.m. Monday. This is one of several military series to debut on the networks this fall. Valor promises to be a bit juicier than, say, SEAL Team on CBS or NBC's Brave.
Juicier? Valor's two main characters are hunky (and mysteriously hirsute) Matt Barr as Capt. Leland Gallo, and fetching Christina Ochoa as Warrant Officer Nora Madani. According to The CW, as the action heats up, "Nora and Gallo grow closer, and soon find themselves torn between duty, honor and desire."
Yep, desire. These are dedicated, but hormonal young-ish soldiers. Don't be put off by the profusion of scenery-chewing soapy elements, or surprised by the steamy sex scenes. You've been warned.
Here's the back story.
It all begins with an elite unit of U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter pilots called the Shadow Raiders who are sent on a top secret mission to Somalia. Unfortunately, the mission "goes terribly awry" and only two members of the team return -- Nora and Gallo, her commanding officer. They are the only ones who know what happened over there and they aren't talking.
Unknown are the whereabouts of their comrade, Jimmy Kam (W. Tre Davis, Shades of Blue).
The mission, for which Nora and Gallo earned Distinguished Flying Crosses, will unfold in flashbacks.
Nora's boyfriend, 1st Lt. Ian Porter (Charlie Barnett, Chicago Fire), suspects there's more to the story, and Kam's wife, Jess (Corbin Reid, How to Get Away With Murder), is angry about being kept in the dark.
Melissa Roxburgh (Supernatural) plays the enigmatic (and way too young and pretty) Thea, the CIA officer embedded with the Shadow Raiders.
The outfit's commander, Col. Robert Haskins (Nigel Thatch, Selma), grounds Nora at first, but then we find out Kam and one other team member are alive and being held hostage by terrorists. Their rescue will take the entire season, during which plenty of secrets will be revealed.
Ochoa, who has a couple of slinky glam photos on Valor's press site alongside her shots in uniform, said at the TV critics summer press tour, "I think that bringing strong, empowered females to the forefront in telling these stories, and their plight and showing them as nuanced and filled with subtleties and kind of the challenges and everything that they go through, is incredibly important. Especially these days."
RETURNING SHOWS
• America's Funniest Home Videos, 7 p.m. today on ABC. It's Season 28 (!) for the clip show with Alfonso Ribeiro as host. Prediction: More guys will get bashed in the family jewels by pinata swingers, and even more folks will fall off trampolines.
• Madam Secretary, 9 p.m. today on CBS. It's Season 4 and now that Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Tea Leoni) has saved NATO and hubby Henry (Tim Daly) has a new intelligence job at the CIA, we can expect more stuff involving the CIA.
Suggestion: Have fun this season comparing Elizabeth with real-life counterpart Rex Tillerson.
• Supergirl, 7 p.m. Monday on The CW. Season 3 will introduce a new villain, Reign (Odette Annable), to challenge Kara/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist). Rumor has it Reign is a more layered character than the typical TV villain.
Meanwhile, don't forget that Alex (Chyler Leigh) has proposed to her sweetie Maggie (Floriana Lima).
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 10/08/2017