With November sweeps halfway done, it seems like a good time to talk about Fall TV so far.
Returning shows:
- Dancing with the Stars: I was skeptical when the stars were announced for the season but the season has turned out to be good. My only complaint thus far is how like Michael stayed in the competition.
- So You Think You Can Dance: Season six has just begun to get down to serious business. Auditions and Vegas took way too long since it was only an hour or two a week. It goes much faster in the summer and they need to find a way to make it that way in the fall. One issue: I don’t much like the new set… seems too dark. (Both dance shows get a lot of ink in each week’s TV Dance-a-poolza entry…click here for the recent one.)
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Supernatural: Who knew the apocalypse could be so much fun! In what is like the final season, at least for Sam and Dean, this show rocks. This past week’s episode where they were trapped in TV land was inspired (especially the Knight Rider homage). Overall this show continues on with it’s goal to have the final show down between good and evil. - Smallville: This season has been mixed. Oliver’s lapse in confidence was pretty horrible and boring. Luckily that seems to be done now. But the main Major Zod story is muddled. I’m not 100% sure I understand everything that’s going on. Next week major opportunity for camp as Zan and Jayna, the Wonder Twins, show up in Metropolis. Can they get this show out of the funk it’s been in? I hope so.
- Ugly Betty: Someone needs to rescue Betty from the horrific Friday timeslot. The show deserves better. It’s fantastic so far this year. Watching Betty fit into her new editor job is just what the show needed to keep moving forward. The subplot with Willie’s daughter is a little weird, but it took an interesting turn this week so I have renewed interest there.
- Project Runway: Sure, Runway is nearly done for the season, but I have to say I’ve enjoyed it’s first Lifetime season. During the final Bravo season, I got bored and hung on, with a lot of fast forwarding, to see who won. Now we’re down to the final Bryant Park episodes and I’ve stayed interested.
New shows I’ve picked up or sampled:
- Glee: People seem to either be head over heels for this show or hate it. I’m completely in love with it. I was sold on the music certainly because this has a lot of High School Musical quality to it. But the writing is crisp and the humor is pretty dark. Some of the characters are a little dim (Why does Finn believe he got Quinn pregnant? Why does Will not realize his wife isn’t pregnant?), but the show makes me crazy happy anyway.
White Collar: This groovy show on USA is cut from the same cloth that Burn Notice is. Cool capers, characters that are witty and cool. Matt Bomer is also very easy to look at. Shot right here in NYC, this show focuses on the FBI’s white collar criminal unit. Bomer’s character is out on work release to help them with some of the most difficult cases, while trying to get his life back.- Flash Forward: I got through about an episode and a half and decided I just didn’t care. I found Joseph Finnes completely dull and the rest of the situation I just didn’t care about.
- V: I was going along pretty well with the pilot episode until it was revealed that the Vs had infiltrated Earth years previously, disguised as humans. Sounds like Battlestar Galactica where the “skinjobs” infiltrated the 12 colonies to destroy it. BSG did it much better. V got bounced from the DVR after the single viewing.
- Trauma: I’m glad this medical drama bored me to the point I didn’t get out of the first episode since it won’t produce more episodes than it’s initial batch. The beginning of the pilot was thrilling with the helicopter crash, but once that was done the characters were just not compelling.
- Eastwick: I’m not sure how I fell into the show. It doesn’t quite fit the profile of something I’d watch, but I keep coming back each week begin entertained by the crazy goings on in this town. I didn’t like the original film, but here I am each Wednesday. I think a lot of the credit goes to the lead actresses–Rebecca Romijn, Lindsay Price and Jaime Ray Newman –who are delightful. I fear the show is failing though since there’s been no pick up announcement.
- Modern Family: I’m late to the party here having just picked this up this past week. The episode I saw was great and I will be back for more. The three families play off each other so well. It’s great to see a traditional family sitcom succeeding again.
- The Vampire Diaries: How delicious is this show? Two hunky vampires–Paul Wesley (Stefan, the good brother) and Ian Somerhalder (Damon, the bad brother) are vampires who can be in the daylight thanks to their spiffy rings. Stefan just wants to be in love with Elena. Damon wants to make life difficult for Stefan. The townspeople end up caught in the middle a lot. Side note: I think Somerhalder tends to look like 80s Rick Springfield occasionally.
- The Jay Leno Show: I sampled this once and was completely bored. Entertainment Weekly says the ratings are not good and that local news, and later shows like Conan are starting to hurt… yet NBC is still saving money having Jay on five nights a week. I’m ready for the experiment to fail and go away. It cost Southland it’s NBC timeslot (thanks TNT for picking it up) and it’s just a matter of time before other shows fall to this programming mistake.
Soon December reruns will be upon us and then come January we’ll dive into mid-season with 24 (which I might watch since former President Logan is coming back) and Burn Notice coming in for sure. I’m not sure what else is coming… but I’m sure I’ll watch far more of it than I should.
