US Fall TV lineup includes Korean actors

The U.S. fall TV season officially kicks off during the second week of September. The first to open the season is “Melrose Place”, premiering on Tuesday, which is a remake of same FOX series from the 90s. “Melrose” will partner with another 90s remake “90210”, which debuted last season to air Tuesday evenings on The CW Channel. Ashley Simpson and Katie Cassidy will star in the series, and unlike the original series, murder and mystery will be added onto the show’s melodrama disposition.

Following the success of the movie “Twilight” and HBO series “True Blood”, a new vampire series for teen viewers is also out. “The Vampire Diaries”, starring Ian Somerhalder (of “Lost”), Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev, is a story about two vampire brothers fighting over a high-school girl. The series will start airing on Thursday along with CW’s popular cult series “Supernatural”.

Paired with CW’s “America’s Next Top Model”, “Beautiful Life”, a new series about model life will start airing on September 16. Produced by Ashton Kutcher, many beautiful actresses will appear on the show, including Mischa Barton of “The O.C.” and Sara Paxton from film “The Last House on the Left”. Former supermodel Elle Macpherson will appear as the president of a modeling agency.

For comedy series, keep an eye out for the following shows: from NBC, “Community” starring Joel McHale and Chevy Chase, “Saturday Night Live (SNL)” spin-off “SNL: Weekend Update Thursday”; from HBO, “Bored to Death”, about a heart-broken Brooklyn writer, starring Jason Schwartzman (of “Rushmore”) and Zach Galifianakis (“Hangover”) ; from ABC, “Modern Family” starring Ed O’Neill (“Married with Children”) about a man re-married to a sexy, young wife and “Cougar Town” starring Courtney Cox. In particular, Amy Fuller, who left “SNL” last year will be joining “SNL: Weekend Update Thursday”.

For series starring actors of Korean descent: Lindsay Price and Rebecca Romijn will star in ABC’s “Eastwick”, based on a 1980s movie; John Cho and Joseph Fiennes in “Flash Forward”(ABC); and Daniel Henney will star as a doctor alongside Alex O’Loughlin and Katherine Moennig in CBS’s “Three Rivers”. Henney appears on the poster for the show and is one of the key figures in the promotion for the series, which airs on October 4.

In addition, heartthrob Matt Bomer, who has appeared in “Chuck” and “Traveller” makes a comeback on USA Channel’s “White Collar” as high-class criminal Neal Caffrey who helps with FBI investigations. FOX’s sitcom “Glee” will officially show after seeing huge success with its preview episode last spring. The series, about a high-school choir, stars many unknown but vocally talented actors as well as strong supporting actors such as Christine Chenoweth (“Pushing Daisies”), Jane Lynch, singer Eve, and Victor Garber. “V”, a remake of an 80s series, was supposed to start airing on November 3 but with the news of a two-week production halt in early September, there is increasing concern regarding an early departure of the show. Elizabeth Mitchell (“Lost”) and Morena Baccarin (“Firefly”) appear in the series. On the other hand, Jay Leno’s 5-day-a-week prime time talk show “The Jay Leno Show” will start fresh on September 14. It airs at 10 p.m., up against a number of TV series (“Castle”, “CSI: Miami”, “Forgotten”, “Good Wife”, “Eastwick”, “CSI: New York”, “Private Practice”, “Mentalist”, “Numbers”) and news magazines (“20/20”) in the same time slot.

Reporter : Yang Ji-hyun (New York correspondent)
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr, Lee Ji-hye