The Listener is a new summer series on NBC that combines the crime genre, the medical genre and the paranormal genre all in one show. In the pilot episode, which airs on June 4, Toby and his partner “Oz” Bey (Ennis Esmer) are on their way to work when Toby receives a telepathic hit and envisions a fiery car crash. Seconds later, they arrive at the accident that he has just envisioned.  While tending to the traumatized woman, Toby has visions of her missing son, but he is unable to get her to share any information. Realizing her missing boy is in serious trouble, Toby struggles to find a way to use his gifts to help the mom and the child.

I’ve only seen a few clips from this series, but I like what I’ve seen. Olejnik, whom I know from the CW series Runaway comes across sincere and I like the small traces of humor that come from hearing what people are thinking.

Want to know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking I’m going to give The Listener a try.

Now here’s a behind the scenes look at The Listener.

THE LISTENER — Pictured: (l-r) Lisa Marcos as Charlie, Craig Olejnik as Toby, Ennis Esmer as Oz, Mylene Dinh-Robic as Olivia — NBC Photo: Steve Wilkie

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NBC will wait two weeks to announce the scheduling for its shows, so we’ll be waiting to see if Heroes remains on Monday nights. And if so, what shows will share that night with it. The Christian Slater spy vehicle My Own Worst Enemy was NBC’s big plan for Monday nights last season but it quickly vanished. Combined with Heroes’ well-documented problems and Mondays haven’t exactly been sunshine and lollipops.

Jay Leno will take care of the 10 p.m. hour on Mondays and the rest of the primetime week. That will leave potential pilots with precious few primetime hours to scrap over.  The drama behind the scenes at NBC is even better than the stuff in front of the camera.

NBC Photo: Chris Haston

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Those episodes are also expected to run closer together to minimize storyline interruptions. That’s probably a good move with shows as plot-twisty as genre shows tend to be.

It’s no coincidence the move comes as Heroes continues to struggle in the ratings. Cable networks pioneered the smaller episode count and it does help with creating buzz. As a fan of The Sopranos, it often seemed they were off the air again as soon as they got back.

But the shows do still have to be good. Tighter plotlines and higher stakes may be a good idea for a show that’s meandered a bit through the last two seasons. What’s your take, readers?

NBC Photo: Trae Patton

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A move to Saturday nights did nothing for the show’s ratings, so after four Saturday airings it’s taking a lengthy break. At this point, you probably do not need me to tell you things don’t look good for this show. But for the record, things don’t look good for this show. NBC’s new Saturday night regular lineup will be reruns of Southland, Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

NBC Photo: Eric Liebowitz

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NBC usually airs repeats anyway on Saturdays so Kings won’t have any high expectations to deal with. The modern-day retelling of the Biblical story of David and Goliath pulled its lowest rating ever Sunday with 3.6 million viewers.

The move will create another block of unscripted television as two-hour editions of Dateline:NBC will replace Kings as the lead-in to Celebrity Apprentice. It’s been a long TV season for NBC as its new lineup failed to produce any hits. The ratings for former breakout hit Heroes have continued to decline as well.

Here’s hoping Kings can turn things around in a new time slot. We really want to see the networks keep trying different things.

NBC Photo: Eric Liebowitz

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Those are the same kind of numbers that got Jericho booted from CBS’ lineup, but NBC brass have continually said they are sticking by the troubled show. In happier times, there was even talk of a Heroes spinoff. That idea, of course, went the way of the dodo after the show’s second season, also subpar ratings wise.

Even a planned Heroes videogame got shelved as the license continues cooling off at an alarming rate. Readers, is Heroes still must see TV for you or have you given up?

NBC Photo: Chris Haston

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About six million people tuned in to see NBC’s sci-fi themed retelling of the story of King David. It’s another depressing debut for NBC, whose 2008-09 TV offerings have failed to produce any breakout shows.

One of NBC’s standbys has been reality shows like Celebrity Apprentice, which didn’t really play well with Kings. As the Reporter’s James Hibberd notes, there would be no reason to expect much audience crossover between the two shows. It’s just as well, as with numbers like this Kings may not be long for the world. That spot can then be opened up for another hour of Trump, Biggest Loser, or Deal or No Deal.

NBC Photo: Eric Liebowitz

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There is also talk that the network could set a firm end date for the show. That strategy is believed to have helped Lost and Battlestar Galactica tremendously.

While Heroes isn’t the powerhouse it used to be, it is still one of a struggling network’s highest rated shows. And it has a strong presence internationally as well. NBC needs anything to hang its hat on these days and a former breakout hit drama is better than no hits at all.

NBC Photo: Trae Patton

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But cute ads aside, Heroes begins its newest story arc tonight at 9 p.m. ET with a tale of Fugitives. The government is hunting down people with superpowers and I will now pause for my comic shop guys and gals to accuse Heroes of stealing more storylines from the X-Men.

If Heroes were on a network that had any other dramas people were watching, this show would already have gotten the heave-ho. The return of Bryan Fuller, who wrote some of the best episodes in the show’s buzz-garnering first season (Man, does anyone remember those days?), is expected to help.

Fans and critics alike have called for less “Gotcha” plot twists and a return to good old-fashioned storytelling. The time travel elements have drawn some groans as well. One need only look at how well shows like Doctor Who and Lost deal with time-travel to see what a mess Heroes is making of it. Readers, do you think these Heroes can still save the day for NBC?

NBC Photo:Adam Taylor

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NBC’s announcement that it will air five hours of Jay Leno in primetime every week is cause for concern among TV viewing faithful. Nothing against Leno, I find some of his stuff very funny. And I know NBC dreaded nothing more than seeing Leno turn up on another network against Conan O’ Brien.

But a major network is effectively waving the white flag on trying to program the 10 p.m. ET hour. Of course, it figures NBC would be the network to do this. Their failure-filled fall lineup has been one of the biggest targets in the industry over the past few months.

– Pictured: (l-r) Jay Leno, Jake Witherspoon — NBC Photo: Paul Drinkwater

It’s still not encouraging for fans of sci-fi, fantasy or good old-fashioned scripted dramas of any kind. Keeping with a playing it safe strategy, NBC has opted to squeeze a few more pints of blood out of ER’s final season. Adding a couple more episodes to ER will delay the start of Kings, a modern-themed take on the story of David and Goliath. The message here seems clear. New shows gathering buzz are great, but we’ll gladly kick them to the curb for an established show (even a fast-fading one like ER.)

That’s now five hours of Leno per week, a healthy dose of numerous versions of Law and Order and reality standbys like Biggest Loser and America’s Got Talent. Basic math dictates there are precious few hours left for scripted programming of any kind. Heroes is on life support, pending whatever fixes Bryan Fuller can come up with. On a network that had a couple of other hit shows to its name, Heroes would already be gone.

I am no huge fan of Knight Rider, and My Own Worst Enemy got the hook before I could learn who any of the characters were. Those shows, however, at least proved NBC was trying. If NBC or any other network had pitched a fall TV season with 20-30 hours a week of Jay Leno and Howie Mandel, they wouldn’t have had two advertisers to rub together.

That’s what NBC is about to ask us to accept. If somehow they get away with this (an admittedly big if), other networks will line up to follow. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, particularly where cheap TV is concerned.

Sci-fi has always asked big leaps of faith from the audience watching and the creative individuals bringing it to us.  In most cases, it costs far more money than an ordinary show. And yes, for every Star Trek that has been worth the leap of faith, there have been 10 Bionic Women that couldn’t nail the landing. But it will be tragic if we turn on network TV one day and find there is not a single program willing to try the jump.

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