Fall 2010 TV Scorecard: The Best & Worst New Shows

Not as bad as it seems

Best Reviewed Fall Shows by Year

2010	Boardwalk Empire HBO	88
2009	Modern Family ABC	86
2008	Life on Mars ABC	74
2007	Pushing Daisies ABC	86
2006	The Nine ABC	81

It only seems like the fall television season has been worse than in recent years. Certainly, by some measures -- namely, ratings -- the new season has been a dud. Out of all 22 new network shows debuting this fall, not one has cracked the list of 10 highest-rated programs. Only two, Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods, even appear in the season-to-date top 20 (through October 24th). Read more about the ratings for fall's new shows.

But this year's crop of new shows has not been inferior to last year in terms of critical success; in fact, if you average out the Metascores for all of fall's new shows, it equals the average (57) for the fall of 2009. And there have actually been many more new network shows receiving positive reviews this fall than last fall, by a margin of 13-7. So why does the general consensus seem to be that the 2010 fall season is so unimpressive?

Blame cable. Most of those new broadcast network shows with positive reviews were just barely positive (eight of them had Metascores between 62-65), meaning they were closer to "mildly entertaining" than "exceptional." For the first time since Metacritic's television section launched in 2005, the highest-scoring show of the fall season was not on one of the broadcast networks, but on cable. In fact, the four highest-scoring shows of the fall were all cable shows, including the only three shows to score above 80. These new series, combined with the continuing runs of acclaimed cable series like Mad Men, only served to make the broadcast networks' programming seem lackluster in comparison.

More on those shows in a moment. First, let's go back to the broadcast networks and see how they rank now that all of the new fall series have debuted.

Broadcast Network Comparison, Fall 2010 vs. Fall 2009 (New Shows Only)

Network		Fall 2010 New Shows	Average Metascore		Fall 2009 New Shows	Average Metascore		Change
		3:	65		3:	62		↑3
		2:	59		3:	49		↑10
		5:	58		4:	58		--
		5:	58		8:	60		↓2
		7:	52		4:	53		↓1
		All Fall 2010 New Shows:	57		All Fall 2009 New Shows:	57

As you can see, as was the case in 2009, Fox once again has the highest average score for its new fall shows. The crown would have been taken by ratings champion CBS, however, were it not for its poorly-reviewed Twit-com $#*! My Dad Says; the network's average score for its four other new shows is 66.

The fall season's best and worst new shows

As we indicated earlier, only one broadcast network series managed to crack the top five: Fox's sitcom Raising Hope, which placed fifth. Critics and users both seemed to respond more positively to a varied lineup of cable offerings. The broadcast networks did, however, manage to lock up most of the spots on our list of worst-reviewed shows.

Best Reviews from Top TV Critics

Boardwalk Empire HBO		The Walking Dead AMC		Luther BBC America		Terriers FX		Raising Hope Fox
Critics:	88	Critics:	85	Critics:	82	Critics:	75	Critics:	75

Best Reviews from Metacritic.com Users

The Walking Dead AMC		Terriers FX		Boardwalk Empire HBO		Detroit 1-8-7 ABC		Raising Hope Fox
Users:	9.2	Users:	8.6	Users:	8.3	Users:	7.9	Users:	7.4

Worst Reviews from Top TV Critics

$#*! My Dad Says CBS		Outlaw NBC		Big Lake Comedy Central		My Generation ABC		School Pride NBC
Critics:	28	Critics:	36	Critics:	42	Critics:	43	Critics:	45

Worst Reviews from Metacritic.com Users

Outlaw NBC		$#*! My Dad Says CBS		Mike and Molly CBS		Melissa & Joey ABC Family		Better with You ABC
Users:	3.2	Users:	4.3	Users:	5.0	Users:	5.3	Users:	5.3

New television series with seven or more reviews and debuting on U.S. television between August 15, 2010 and October 31, 2010 were eligible for the above lists. Shows are scored and ranked based on reviews published at the time of the original first season debut; returning series are excluded from these lists. The Metascore is a weighted average of scores from top professional critics, on a scale from 0 (bad) to 100 (good). Although scores have been rounded to the nearest whole number, shows are ranked prior to rounding. User scores represent an average of scores assigned by Metacritic.com site visitors on a scale from 0 (bad) to 10 (good). All scores as of November 1, 2010.

All new fall shows

Finally, here are the scores for all of the season's new shows with at least seven reviews from professional television critics, ranked from best- to worst-reviewed.

* Show has been canceled.
** Show is effectively (but unofficially) canceled.

What are your favorites?

What are your favorite and least favorite new shows of the fall season? What did the critics get right and wrong when first assessing these new programs? Let us know in the comments section below.