Some strange goings-on

THIS is shaping up to be network television’s year of magical thinking. ¶ As the parade of fall premieres bangs by in the coming weeks, viewers can’t help but notice how many prime-time lead characters have acquired supernatural powers. ¶ A single touch from the hero of ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” can raise the dead, but another tap, and it’s a one-way ticket back to the undiscovered country. The protagonist of NBC’s “Journeyman” inexplicably and unexpectedly time-travels; a teen in the CW’s “Reaper” becomes a bounty hunter for the devil; and a gumshoe in CBS’ “Moonlight” is a human-friendly vampire.

And so it goes this fall when a half-dozen new shows -- up to nine if you include a trio of midseason programs -- are built around sci-fi, fantasy and magical elements.

No doubt opening many network eyes to superpowers’ allure was the breakout success of last year’s “Heroes,” a comic book-like tale of mostly younger folks who discover they have extraordinary abilities -- flying, instant healing and walking through walls, to name a few. Just as ABC’s “Lost” encouraged a spate of imitators and an industrywide move toward serialized storytelling three years ago, “Heroes” has let loose the pixie dust over this fall’s schedule.

The NBC hit also demonstrated the Web’s potent capacity to drive an audience to a show. The heat generated by bloggers and Internet chatter last year is credited with lifting “Heroes” toward the ratings heavens. This year, networks mean to exploit the Web’s marketing potential once again by giving the tech-savvy crowd -- already predisposed toward sci-fi and fantasy -- what it wants.

“It’s a genre that’s driven in many ways by a very rabid fan base on the Internet,” said Josh Friedman, executive producer of Fox’s “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” a sci-fi show based on “The Terminator” movie trilogy that was originally slated to air this fall but now will debut in January. “As the Internet becomes a more powerful voice, I think there may be more enthusiasm for these types of shows.”

There’s another factor driving the trend as well. “Viewers are getting fed up with chalk-line shows and all the gritty realism,” said Tim Brooks, a television historian and an executive vice president of research at Lifetime television. “What you’re seeing is a push back against dramas like ‘Law & Order’ and ‘CSI,’ where the world is a very threatening place. Instead, viewers want to lighten up.”

That impulse, he noted, reflects a tension between escapist and real themes that’s as old as vacuum tubes. In the mid- to late ‘60s, for instance, television was dominated by whimsical shows like “Green Acres” and “My Favorite Martian.” But by the early ‘70s, programs that tackled hot social and political issues, as in “All in the Family” and “Maude,” rose to prominence. The pendulum swung back and forth through the following decades, said Brooks, with the lighter fare usually winning out during grim historical periods.

“Shows like ‘Heroes’ don’t remind you of the Iraq war or corrupt politicians,” said Brooks. “People just think, ‘I want to get away from the heavy stuff because the world is too heavy.’ ”

Under magic’s spell

This season, the networks’ fantasies extend to more than just story lines. History says that three in four of the new shows probably will be pushing up daisies by next season, and programmers know the competition is stiff in a crowded and ever-expanding entertainment universe. But they seem to think that fantasy will work a miracle.

Nobody this fall is under magic’s spell more than NBC, no surprise since it won the ratings lotto with “Heroes.” The fourth-place network has staked an entire night -- and then some -- on its fanciful tales.

On Mondays, “Heroes” returns, sandwiched between “Chuck,” a comedy about a computer geek who somehow downloads the contents of a top-secret government computer into his brain, and “Journeyman,” an hourlong drama about a time-traveling newspaper reporter who changes the course of people’s lives. Ben Silverman, NBC’s co-chairman of entertainment, confidently predicted that the night is going to be “one of the strongest nights of television on any network.”

NBC doesn’t quit there. “Bionic Woman,” a “creative reimagining” of the original series from the 1970s, kicked its way onto the network’s fall schedule. (One of the show’s most recent magic tricks was to resurrect the career of Isaiah Washington, the actor who was written off ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” after making anti-gay slurs.)

The show’s stylish contrast with its almost campy predecessor points up another reason sci-fi and fantasy series are finding it easier to land a spot on network lineup -- vastly improved special effects. Thanks to computers and camera techniques that continue to get cheaper to use, the sophisticated effects of shows like “Bionic Woman” make them all the more credible in selling their fantastic narratives to viewers.

“There are a lot of tools that you can use now to create the illusion of a super-human being that, in those days, you didn’t have,” said executive producer David Eick, comparing the old and new versions of the show. “We’re really playing it pretty straight. And her unique abilities are intended to accentuate who she is and what she’s going through emotionally, not just to give viewers a candy.”

No need to fear

Of all the new shows, even those without magic sprinkles, ABC’s visually stunning and imaginative “Pushing Daisies” seems to have the most cheerleaders among bloggers and television critics. Like other fantasy stories, the show has a hook. And because in this case the magical twist involves defying death, it allows for a fascinating exploration of a subject that might otherwise be unpalatable to a mass audience.

“I think there’s something very magical and mystical about death,” said the show’s creator and executive producer Bryan Fuller. “And I would say I’m much more of a magical and mystical person than a morbid person, because I love that sense of awe and spirituality, of there’s something greater out there that we don’t know and we’re not qualified to know and we won’t know on this plane of existence, so let’s hypothesize about what it could be.”

ABC also has “Eli Stone” lined up for the midseason. That series centers on a shark-like attorney who starts regaining his soul after having hallucinatory encounters with pop stars and dead relatives.

With fewer schedule slots to fill, CBS and the CW didn’t need to drink as deeply from this season’s batch of fantasy-spiked punch. CBS’ romantic drama “Moonlight” chronicles the private-investigating adventures of a vampire who is on guard against the undead and also in love with a mortal he obviously can’t fully love.

CW, the smallest of networks and most in need of a hit, came up with the clever comedy “Reaper.” The series has an appealing twist that should resonate with teens: The hero’s parents sold his soul to the devil and now the kid has to pay up.

Fox’s sci-fi and fantasy-themed shows “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and “New Amsterdam,” which were originally slated for the fall, have been pushed to midseason. The first is based on the movie trilogy “The Terminator”; the latter focuses on a 400-year-old homicide detective cursed with wandering the centuries until he finds true love.

“New Amsterdam” was delayed in part because its story lines were being refined -- something fairly common for new shows. That’s certainly the right idea. Fantasy hooks are good ways to grab attention, but as any Hollywood scribe knows, if the story isn’t there, the audience won’t be either.

The looming question is whether there’s an appetite for fantasy out there voracious enough to support a full slate.

At ABC, Stephen McPherson, president of entertainment, isn’t so sure. “High-concept shows are a little bit in vogue right now,” he said. “We’ve got to be a little careful [about thinking] that just because ‘Heroes’ works in Season 1 that 10 shows like that can work.”

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martin.miller@latimes.com