A long time ago in a land far away (ok, just the Bay Area) I'd decided if major publications can do a fall preview, so can I. Now it's my 12th Annual Fall TV Preview and after 11 years, it's kind of challenging to write something new about the upcoming season. Each season seems to be getting more and more depressing since Hollywood is seriously afraid of something new...and keeps repackaging things we've all seen before.

My mea culpas from last year: I blew it big time on CBS' Partners and Vegas. ABC's Nashville was a hit, but not as big as I expected. Same for Fox's The Mindy Project. Let's see what I'll hit on this year.

There's 26 newbies getting ready to entertain you. Five more than last year. The table below shows the breakdown, including the stats based on last fall's debuts.

Scoreboard, Fall 2013
net	returning from '12	new for '13				financial interest
		total	drama	sitcom	reality
ABC	2 of 5	8	4	4	0	5 of 8
CBS	1 of 4	5	4	1	0	2 of 5
CW	2 of 3	3	3	0	0	3 of 3
Fox	1 of 3	4	1	2	1	2 of 4
NBC	2 of 6	6	3	3	0	3 of 6

Like last season, this season is once again underwhelming. Just as in years past, I didn't view any pilots. I'm still making my calls based on concept, stars, producers, timeslot and short clips. The broadcast networks are facing competition from everywhere, including all the amazing programming on HBO, SHO, FX, AMC and other cable nets (as well as Netflix, Amazon and more) which should mean that we're going to start getting cable-quality programming there soon. Not quite this year.

First to Die? ABC's Lucky 7. Winner? CBS' Mom.

Enjoy the preview and let me know your thoughts on this Fall's new slate.