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What to watch on Wednesday, October 10...

Random thought, but yesterday I was thinking to myself that it's been a while since a TV show has made me go, "Awwwwwwww." Is that weird? God, I hope I'm not becoming the insensitive type. Let's think about something else... like your TV lineup for tonight:

SERIES PREMIERE, 8pm, The CW
Arrow
Hey, it's Batman minus the bat-traits! Based on the the DC Comics superhero Green Arrow, this new CW series stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen—the heir to the Queen family fortune who returns to his beloved Starling City five years after a shipwreck left him stranded on a remote island and everyone he knew assumed he was dead. In the pilot, Queen decides to tackle corruption in Starling City by creating an alter ego who ventures out at night and shoots arrows at bad people. Gasp!

9pm & 9:30pm, ABC
Modern Family
To make up for last week's presidential debate, tonight we get a full hour's worth of Modern Family. In "Schooled," Claire and Phil embarrass Haley on her first day of school, and Lily gets into a scuffle at kindergarten with a little boy whose parents happen to be "confrontational lesbians" (can't we all just get along?). In "Snip," Phil goes under the knife, specifically for a vasectomy. Ouch... do you think he'll really go through with it?

SERIES PREMIERE, 10pm, ABC
Nashville
Starring Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights, American Horror Story) and Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), this show has the potential to be great. The premise revolves around an aging country music legend, Rayna James (Britton), who finds herself feeling frustrated and concerned over a young and sexy starlet, Juliette Barnes (Panettiere), when the latter starts getting all the attention—and financial support—from their shared music label. In tonight's pilot, we get a taste of the women's bittersweet relationship when the label asks Rayna to tour Juliette's opening act.

SEASON 6 PREMIERE 10pm, PBS
Nova ScienceNow
Nova's more contemporary cousin returns tonight with a new host, New York Times tech columnist David Pogue. In the season opener, the show will explore the question, "What Makes Us Human?" It's a question so fundamental that even partially answering it will change the meaning of life in ways we can't even begin to imagine. Or at least I can't. DEEP.

SERIES PREMIERE, 10pm, NBC
Chicago Fire
Created by Dick Wolf, lord of the Law & Order franchise, Chicago Fire centers on the firemen and paramedics of the Windy City's Firehouse 51. Tonight's pilot will see everyone trying to cope after the death of one of their own.

LATE-NITE HIGHLIGHTS:
Sam Rockwell, Moshe Kasher on Chelsea Lately, 11 p.m., E!
Salma Hayek Pinault, Nick Offerman, and KISS on Late Show With David Letterman, 11:35 p.m., CBS
Chelsea Handler on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, 11:35 p.m., NBC
Will Arnett and Chris Elliot on Jimmy Kimmel Live, 12 a.m., ABC
Tina Fey and Terry O'Quinn on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, 12:37 a.m., NBC
Nikki Reed on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, 12:37 a.m., CBS

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Chicago Fire S01E01: "Pilot"

"Don't be a crow."

It all started with an emergency, like you'd expect. The truck pulled out, the tell-tale voice of an emergency operator instructed the firefighters and us as to what the fire was, and we were off and running. With a premise like Chicago Fire's, you'd expect a kinetic run through the city with brave souls preparing for battle. After all, lives hung in the balance!

But, no. Clowning around, guys goofing on each other, and people looking downright bored. It completely sapped the urgency. Once they got to the house fire, there was more walking around "with purpose," but it was still just walking around. The operation looked like it was moving at snail's pace, yet it was also filled with activity, like someone with bad breath talking to you in a slow and unending monotone.

And before we even learned everyone's names, someone died.

The teaser encapsulated what was wrong with the whole episode: There were a lot of action sequences that somehow lacked tension, piles of storylines that felt like a wreck, and a lack of connection to most of the characters even though they were enduring some tough situations.

The unofficial leader of Chicago Fire's ensemble cast is Jesse Spencer, who used to play Dr. Chase on House. Here he's Casey, the leader of the Truck Squad. Casey is the least quirky of the group and appears in 90 percent of the scenes. In the battle of Truck Squad versus Rescue Squad (two divisions of the firehouse that seem to have an arbitrary rivalry that far surpasses the month-long dispute between their two leaders), the premiere leaned heavy toward Truck Squad. Casey's only complaint in life is that his girlfriend doesn't want to have kids right away and he does. Well, and his friend died.

But Darden's death—while a major sticking point between Casey and the leader of the Rescue Squad, Kelly (Taylor Kinney, who's seemingly forever doomed to play emergency heroes)—didn't really have a chance to breathe and let the audience connect. With so many characters to introduce and arcs to represent, nothing got any time to shine.

Oh, and Gabriela was maybe going to get taken to court for accidentally piercing a girl's heart, but by the time the doctor at the hospital confirmed everything was good, there was no range of emotion. You never felt like Gabriela was in any real danger or that she was even frustrated by the accusation that she'd done something wrong. The same goes for the chief's boxing match, Herrmann's foreclosure, and a most unnecessary HGH storyline for Kelly. This show lacks any pathos.

So if you don't connect to any of the characters or their myriad situations, you would hope for good action. It's an emergency show after all. But, at some point, Casey told the new guy Pete, "Walk with a purpose. Don't run." Which seems like sage advice where running in a burning building might bring the place down or get you into unnecessary danger. But emergency responders walking around in a fire doesn't exactly have the same high-stakes feel.

Near the end, Casey and Herrmann fell through the floor and had to be rescued by Kelly and, somehow, despite the flames all around, I just didn't get the feeling there was any risk involved. The fire stayed put. They seemed pretty invulnerable to smoke inhalation. There was a part where Casey had to pull Kelly out of the hole he'd made. The table Kelly stood on to get the height he needed collapsed, and Casey was holding on to him—but he was sliding across the floor! Except Kelly was hovering three feet above the ground. And there was no impending danger (other than, you know, the fire). And the Rescue Team was probably coming back. We didn't seem to have anything to worry about.

So what are we watching for? Storylines between pretty people who we hope to develop a kinship for? The opportunity to cringe as the show begs for our love? There was a scene at the end, when the whole crew came down in solidarity for Herrmann and they sat together in the waiting room. The score and the images demanded that we try to understand the brotherhood between these people. But I didn't. And I had a hard time getting myself to really care.

But there are probably a lot of opportunities for people to take their shirts off. So there's that.

– How long until Shay is making out with a woman every week for ratings?

– Is the gender imbalance on this show (where there are no women on the Truck Squad) disconcerting for anyone?

– Aren't you so glad they told you about that alarm thing early so we got that payoff when Casey fell through the floor?

– What would keep you watching this show?

Chicago Fire "Pilot" Photos

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Are you skeptical about a firefighter procedural? Do you love Dick Wolf but find yourself wary of his adventures outside of New York? Are you here to check out a soccer score? After watching the pilot for NBC's Chicago Fire, we're prepared to help you decide whether you want to dedicate your time to the boys (and few gals) of Firehouse 51. Read on and decide.

When you think of your typical procedurals based on things six-year-olds want to be when they grow up, firefighters are woefully left out of the mix. Enter Chicago Fire, where we follow the men and women of Firehouse 51 in Chicago as they laugh, love, bicker, and walk into burning buildings. Professionally.

Chicago Fire premieres Wednesday, October 10 at 10pm on NBC.

The man, the myth, the legend Dick Wolf has his name all over the show. For those of you who haven't taken a course in lupine urology, Wolf is also responsible for Law & Order and all of its incarnations. The credited creators of Chicago Fire are Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, better known for writing movies like Wanted and 3:10 to Yuma. And 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Jesse Spencer trades in his lab coat, accent, and House Duckling status for something more fireproof as the head of the Truck Squad. Beyond him there are some people who have popped up for stints in other programs, like Taylor Kinney (Trauma—a similar-feeling NBC series about paramedics from a while back), Monica Raymund (The Good Wife), Eamonn Walker (Oz), and David Eigenberg (Sex and the City). Steve! I know!

This is a really broad show, so probably NBC is angling it for that 18-49 demo. But who will like it? Men who don't want to watch Nashville, women who are bored with CSI, anyone who likes pretty people. Also people who like fire, people who miss Dr. Chase, people who are curious about what firefighters do in the truck before going to risk their lives in a burning building (sometimes it's reading the paper), people who get tricked into thinking NBC picked up The Chicago Code (poor bastards).

There are a lot of pretty people. So, it has that going for it. Fire is interesting.

There are a few more of these. The cast is pretty much a sausage party except for the two paramedics, Shay and Gabriela. If you're looking for a firefighter procedural, you'll quickly discover that fire emergencies don't lend themselves very well to a "case of the week" formula (which isn't so much a bad thing about the series as it is something different than what you might be expecting). There are a few more storylines than the show actually needs. The action feels really slow (there's a lot more walking around than you'd think). And, probably the worst part, it doesn't get any better (at least in the first three episodes).

Only if you're bored and/or looking for eye candy. Otherwise, watch Nashville instead.

You can watch the entire pilot on NBC.com or Hulu right now. But if you're not willing to surrender an hour until you can see the show in HD, here's a trailer:

Something on fire. A Flaming Moe?

Chicago Fire premieres Wednesday, October 10 at 10pm on NBC.

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