Show Substitutions
The USA Today has an interesting little article up called "Send in the Subs". The author chose a list of current hit shows (all of which are either out of episodes, or are darn close to being out of episodes) and matched them to an older show that you could substitute for the current hit. The idea is to find something thematically similar that a current viewer may not have seen.
I would have liked to see what the author thought about shows like "Battlestar Galactica" and "Eureka" and "Supernatural", but the Sci-Fi part of the list was pretty thin.
The author recommended something called "Hamish MacBeth" (1995-1997) as a sub for "Chuck". Whatever - it has Robert Carlyle, so it might be OK...but a Scottish cop is no substitute for our favorite Nerd Herd/Super Spy. I think the underrated "Jake 2.0" would be a much better match. If you never heard of Jake, he was a low-level government employee who was infected with nanites that gave him extraordinary abilities. He was, of course, made into an operative. See - a better match!
The article does have some better suggestions. For instance, they recommend "Wonderfalls" as a sub for "Pushing Daisies" - and that is spot on. "Wonderfalls" had a very similar feel of whimsy and wonder. It's not surprising, as "Pushing Daisies" driver Brian Fuller was involved in both shows.
Finally, the article mentions the most true thing ever written in the USA Today (yeah...I'm exaggerating, but still - its a very true statement!). To substitute for "Heroes", they recommend "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". However, they leave this caveat: "There is one risk in substituting Joss Whedon's super Slayer for NBC's less super "Heroes". Buffy is so much better, you may never want to go back". Amen, brother!
Of course, "The 4400" is a better thematic match for "Heroes" than my beloved "Buffy". Still, I'll take any excuse to go re-watch a few seasons of "Buffy".
