Reviewing the TV reviewers: How’d we do?

Predicting the success of new fall shows is a crapshoot at best, even for TV writers. Last year, we watched the slate of fall pilots and made our best guesses at which shows would lock up viewers (“Prison Break”) and which ones wouldn't celebrate even a month on the air (ahem, “Emily's Reasons Why Not”).

Here's a quick lookback at what we said last fall, and how accurate we were with our predictions.

Shows we got right:

DRAMAS
Geena Davis played the first female president in “Commander in Chief,” but ABC chose not to elect her to a second term. We said “whether viewers will embrace another White House drama remains to be seen, but ... ‘Commander In Chief’ is surprisingly engaging.” And viewers did seem to agree, for a while. The show was #1 in its timeslot until the juggernaut known as “American Idol” opened its mouth in January. However, “Chief” went through three different show-runners, a hiatus, and being moved up against behemoth “ER” on Thursdays. The show was indeed engaging, but few presidents could stand up to such machinations.

Of NBC's Pentagon drama, “E-Ring,” we said: “[T]he series may go AWOL early,” noting that the show's concept “seems better suited to a slower-paced HBO production.” Our prediction might have seemed easy to make considering the show was originally up against “Lost,” but a time slot move removed that issue. Still, the show was yanked early in 2006 and was eventually cancelled. AWOL indeed.

We loved “Prison Break” from its heart-pounding premiere on, and so did viewers. Our writer compared the show to a fellow serial drama, noting that “if the writers are as good as those on ‘Lost,’ prison could almost be fun,” Fun it was: Even though the eight cons broke out of prison on the show's season finale, they're back roaming the countryside, trying to stay free — and trying to keep their devoted audience interested.

“Pepper Dennis,” the WB drama starring Rebecca Romijn as a Mary Tyler Moore-wannabe, could have used more spice, and we saw this one coming. Our reviewer peppered it with criticism, noting the poor writing and a cast that “can't hack it.” We said: “‘Pepper Dennis’ seems destined for the dramedy trash heap.” The show debuted in April, and was canceled by mid-May, though episodes did continue to air after the cancellation was announced.

COMEDIES
Our writer found plenty of reasons why not to watch ABC's “Emily's Reasons Why Not,” which featured Heather Graham as a flighty book editor. It was just one in a long string of supposed comedies about supposedly funny single women. “If you think you’ve seen this plot in one, two, or a hundred comedies in the last 10 years, you’re not wrong,” we wrote. But we had no idea how many reasons there actually were to not tune in to this piece of garbage. “Emily” joined a club no show wants to become a part of: The short list of TV series that were canceled after airing only one episode. According to Wikipedia, it can take its not-so-proud place among other one-episoders such as “Co-Ed Fever,” “Dot Comedy,” and a stunningly hideous-sounding British show in which Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun live next to a Jewish couple — “Heil Honey I'm Home.”

We loved “Everybody Hates Chris,” calling the comedy about Chris Rock's childhood “smartly written” with an “excellent cast.” The show's UPN premiere beat out NBC's "Joey," and the show continued to do well, winning raves from viewers and critics alike, and easily making the leap to the new CW network when UPN and the WB combined forces. Nobody hates this “Chris,” including us.

We enjoyed “How I Met Your Mother,” especially Allyson Hannigan's engaging performance. We noted “If the rest of the season is as promising as the pilot, audiences would be smart to let this one ‘Mother’ them all year long.” And so they did: Critics and regular viewers alike enjoyed the comedy, which keeps them guessing as to the identity of the “mother” of the title, and it'll return to CBS for a new season.