Monday

• The Closer (TNT, 9pm) Season Premiere – I missed Kyra and her snacking, hopefully the team is all back together.
• Raising the Bar (TNT, 10pm) Season Premiere – All I remember about this not great legal drama was that guy from Saved by the Bell had bad hear, which he has reportedly now cut.
• Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (Brav, 10pm) Season Premiere – Her standing on the D-list may sometimes be in question but she’s keeping up the reality show.
• Weeds (Show, 10pm) Season Premiere – And the pot dealing suburban continues.
• Nurse Jackie (Show, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Edie Falco stars as an ER nurse with some issues and some edge.

Tuesday

• Basketball (ABC) – Check your local listings for the continuation of the championship series of the NBA (Tues, Thurs, and Sun if needed).
• Food Party/Wrong Door (IFC, 11:15/11:30pm) Series Premiere – First cooking with puppets and then british sketch comedy with cgi.

Wednesday

• Top Chef Masters (Brav, 10pm) Series Premiere – Actual chefs throw down some skills for charity not drama.

Thursday

• Speeders (Tru, 8/8:30pm) Season Premiere – This looks like the one that’s like Cops but with speeders.
• She’s Got the Look (TVLand, 9pm) Season Premiere – It’s like America’s Next Top Model for the oldsters, I mean for 35 plus.
• Total Drama Action (Cart, 9pm) Season Premiere – I think some cartoon characters compete on a cartoon reality show, spinoff of Total Drama Island.
• 16 & Pregnant (MTV, 10pm) Series Premiere - Every week it focuses on a new teen in this look at
• Raising Sextuplets (WE, 10pm) Series Premiere – How many of these shows about couples with lots of kids do we have now?

Friday

• Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (BBCA, 8pm) Season Premiere – An interview chat show with… Jonathan Ross.
• The MOM show (We, 10am) Series Premiere – It’s a chat show, focusing on moms, coming from Canada.

Saturday

• Primal Grill (PBS, 5pm) Series Premiere – Let the grilling begin.
• Pushing Daisies (ABC, 10pm) Series Finale – Sadly this series wrapping up.

Sunday

• True Blood (HBO, 9pm) Season Premiere – Is there another killer on the loose?
• Hammertime (A&E, 10pm) Series Premiere – Oh yeah, the artist formerly known as MC Hammer has his own reality show.

Monday

• Intervention/Obsessed (A&E, 9pm) Season/Series Premiere – Returning real life interventions are followed by a look at folks with extreme anxiety disorders.
• John & Kate Plus 8/Cake Boss (TLC, 9pm) Season/Series Premiere – Tabloid mags showing possible infidelity are bringing these folks that much more notoriety and then a little more reality as we follow a baker.
• Here Come the Newlyweds (ABC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Real life couples live in a house and compete in challenges as a pair is kicked out each week.
• In Treatment (HBO, 10pm) Season Finale – How’s the therapy going?

Tuesday

• Tv’s Funniest Phrases (NBC, 8pm) – I should use a clever catchphrase here…
• Reaper (CW, 8pm) Season Finale – Well Reaper won’t be back next year so enjoy Sam’s final bout with the devil.
• Hitched or Ditched (CW, 9pm) Series Premiere – Plan a wedding in a week, then decide whether you want to get married.
• I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant (Health, 9pm) Series Premiere – This docuseries looks at a new case each week.
• Mental (Fox, 9pm, repeats Friday) Series Premiere – This latest series about a rebellious guy brings us in with the new psychiatric director of a hospital.
• Science of the Movies (Sci, 9pm) Series Premiere – A look at specific movie scenes.
• The Little Couple (TLC, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere - Follow newlyweds who are under four feet tall.
• Tori & Dean (Oxy, 10pm) Season Premiere – More of the real Donna Martin and her hubby.
• Beautiful People (Logo, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – UK dramedy following a show tunes loving kid.

Wednesday

• George Strait (CBS, 8pm) – Some country folks honor this Artist of the Decade.
• Wipeout (ABC, 8pm) Season Premiere – The game show where the people fall while competing on strange obstacles.
• Dog the Bounty Hunter (A&E, 9pm) Season Premiere – Back to hunting fugitives.
• The Goode Family (ABC, 9pm) Series Premiere – King of the Hill may not be coming back but here’s another animated series from its creator showing a politically correct family.
• Your Worst Animal Nightmares (AnPl, 9pm) Series Premiere – I have a lot of animal nightmares.
• Tattoo Highway (A&E, 10pm) Series Premiere – Take a ride on the tour bus tattoo parlor.
• Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (TBS, 10pm) Season Premiere – Following Tyler Perry’s House of Payne we meet a new family.

Thursday

• Scripps National Spelling Bee (ABC, 8pm) – Let the spelling begin, or continue, or finish…
• Surfing (ESPN2, 10:30pm) – Billabong XXL Big Wave Challenge.

Friday

• Un-Broke: What You Need to Know About Money (ABC, 9pm) – I’m going to say spend less, save more, still contribute to retirement…
• What Not to Wear (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – The season kicks off with Blossom.

Saturday

• French Open (Sat/Sun, NBC, 10:30am/noon) – Men’s and Women’s third and fourth rounds follow a week of ESPN2 coverage.  
• Pushing Daisies (ABC, 10pm) – This delightful show was canceled but there were a couple more unaired eps.

Sunday

• Ice Road Truckers (Hist, 9pm) Season Premiere - New routes, new truckers.
• MTV Movie Awards (MTV, 9pm) – Andy Samberg hosts this year with lots of noms for Twilight and Slumdog.
• Breaking Bad (AMC, 10pm) Season Finale – I’m behind so I don’t know what sort of mess Walt is into now.
• $250,000 Challenge (HGTV, 10pm) Series Premiere – A neighborhood competes in design challenges.
• Jesse James is a Dead Man (Spike, 10pm) Series Premiere – This guy does action stuff that I suppose could kill him.

• Bones (Fox) - My favorite of the procedurals, Bones the forensic anthropologist and Booth the FBI guy are great characters with great chemistry and I like all the supporters and flavor added to each body-of-the-week mystery.
• Breaking Bad (AMC) - Who knew the dad from Malcolm in the Middle could turn out like this, as he gets himself in terrible situations when he starts to manufacture meth with an unpredictable partner in crime, all to support his family when he’s diagnosed with cancer.
• Chuck (NBC) - Action and camp combined and I’m not sure whether I like the geeks put into the spy world or the spies put into the geek world better, with an amusing and compelling supporting cast.
• Dexter (Show) – The first season was still the best to date but I can’t turn away from Dexter and his murders and his code and the scary and comical and idiotic people around him, though I do sometimes yell at the tv.
• Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog – Not exactly television but this web based villain musical story (now available on dvd and through itunes) is a great piece by Joss Whedon (of Buffy, Angel, Firefly fame), all the main characters are fantastic but if I didn’t love Neil Patrick Harris before I do now.
• Flight of the Conchords (HBO) – Hilarious songs tie together the silly stories of these two offbeat New Zealand musicians trying to make it in New York.
• Gossip Girl (CW) - Campy soaps done right are just plain fun, and this one has over the top characters and situations going through plot twists faster than their spectacular outfits, Chuck’s ridiculous bowties and ascots alone would keep me tuned in.
• Pushing Daisies (ABC) - This was good while it lasted with its fanciful production matching story and concept and design and cast to the wonderful mysteries solved by bringing folks back to life for just a minute, when it’s more than a minute let’s just say complications arose.
• Saving Grace (TNT) – That Grace sure is crazy and it’s fun to watch her wrestle with doing the right thing by her police cases and doing the wrong thing in her personal life all while being pushed by her guardian angel, Touched by an Angel this show is not.
• Sons of Anarchy (Fx) - I wince at least once an episode at some act of unbelievable violence as this motorcycle gang survives more trouble than seems possible, but the charismatic protagonist gives the show a little heart to go along with the drama.

A little shout out to some of the comedies that didn’t make the list this year but made me laugh enough just the same, 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and The New Adventures of Old Christine.

And of course you can see what the critics are saying.

TV Guide has a nice recap of what’s in, what’s out, and what’s on the bubble.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Fall-2008-Shows-66966.aspx

Monday 

• 8pm: NBC – Chuck (CBS – The Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother) (CW – Gossip Girl)
• 9pm: NBC – Heroes (CBS – 2 1/2 Men/ABC – Samantha Who?)

Tuesday

• 8pm: Fox – House
• 9pm: CBS – The Mentalist (CW – Privileged)
• 10pm: NBC – Eli Stone (NBC – L&O: SVU)

Wednesday 

• 8pm: Fox - Bones (ABC – Pushing Daisies) (CBS – The New Adventures of Old Christine/Gary Unmarried)
• 9pm: NBC – Life
• 10pm: ABC – Dirty Sexy Money (NBC – L&O)

Thursday

• 8pm: NBC - My Name is Earl
• 9pm: NBC – The Office/30 Rock (ABC - Grey’s Anatomy)
• 10pm: ABC – Life on Mars

Friday 

• 9pm: CBS – The Ex List (CW – ANTM encore)
• 10pm: CBS - Numb3rs

Saturday

• Nothing

Sunday

• 9pm: CW – Easy Money

But wait there’s more… known midseason and cable picks: Breaking Bad (AMC), Burn Notice (USA), Celebrity Rehab (VH1), The Closer (TNT), Dexter (Show), Eureka (SciFi), Flight of the Conchords (HBO), Greek (Fam), Lost (ABC), Project Runway (Bravo), Reaper (CW), Saving Grace (TNT), Scrubs (ABC), Sons of Anarchy (FX).

Monday

• Chuck (NBC, 8pm, repeats Sat) Season Premiere – A fun mix of action and humor as mild mannered tech repair guy starts another season of spy fun with his regular and spy companions.
• Life (NBC, 10pm and Friday) Season Premiere – Eccentric cop returns to the force for another season after being framed and imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit.

Tuesday

• The IT Crowd (IFC, 10pm) Series Premiere – This one is a UK import introduces a couple techies and their less techie boss.   
• Paris Hilton’s New BFF (MTV, 10pm) Series Premiere - Without Nicole Richie I don’t really see what Paris’s draw is.
• Scare Tactics (SciFi, 10pm) Season Premiere – Tracy Morgan hosts what seems to me like super cruel tricks on people.

Wednesday

• Pushing Daisies (ABC, 8pm) Season Premiere – This was perhaps my favorite show of last season, it’s a visual delight as crimes are solved by our pie maker bringing folks back to life for a moment of hopeful insight.
• Private Practice (ABC, 9pm) Season Premiere – I’ll give this imperfect Grey’s spinoff one more shot, but was so not feeling Addison’s new life with the medical group misfits.
• America’s Got Talent (NBC, 9pm) Season Finale – Can they top last year’s ventriloquist?
• Friday Night Lights (DirecTV Channel 101, 9pm) Season Premiere – I wasn’t really following this move but if you’re a fan I guess it’s good it’s still on.
• Dirty Sexy Money (ABC, 10pm) Season Premiere – The Darling family is at it again, all except Samaire Armstrong who is rumored to return for guest visits, this is rich person drama done right.

Thursday

• Vice Presidential Debate (Various, 6pst/9est pm) – I think folks are more interested in this debate than in the presidential ones.
• Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed (MNT, 9pm) Series Premiere – Not sure I’ve yet to turn into a show on this odd non-network network and not sure this show will drive the change.
• Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style (Bravo, 11pm) Season Premiere – Gretta Monahan joins Tim ‘make it work’ Gunn in giving individual makeovers.

Friday

• Wife Swap (ABC, 8pm) Season Premiere – Not a fan of this opposites exhibiting or doling out what seem like extremist behaviors to someone else’s family.
• Ghost Whisperer (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – Jennifer Love Hewitt whispers to ghosts, though I’m not sure she really whispers.
• Everybody Hates Chris (CW, 8pm) Season Premiere – Chris returns to start high school.
• WWE Smackdown (MTN, 8pm) Season Premiere – I think this was on the CW last season.
• The Game (CW, 8:30pm) Season Premiere – Not sure what’s going on with the ladies of the football league.
• Supernanny (ABC, 9pm) Season Premiere – The nanny’s deal with the brats some more.
• The Ex List (CBS, 9pm) Series Premiere – Jane Doe from Grey’s tracks down all her exes after being told she’s already met the one.
• Sanctuary (SciFi, 9pm) Series Premiere – I’m not sure what this show’s about but apparently it includes live action over virtual sets and originally began online.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cartoon, 9/9:30pm) Series Premiere – Animated Star Wars, what more do you need to know?
• Numbers (CBS, 10pm) Season Premiere – Math wiz Charlie’s no longer got FBI clearance, whatever will FBI brother Don do?

Saturday

• My Big Redneck Wedding (CMT, 9pm) Season Premiere – Monster trucks and weddings go together like…
• Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team (CMT, 9:30) Season Premiere – Really there have already been two seasons of this show?

Sunday

• 4real (CW, 5/5:30pm) Series Premiere – Cameron Diaz heads to Peru then folks named K’naan and Sol travel to Kibera in East Africa.
• In Harm’s Way (CW, 6/7pm) Series Premiere – Real people in tough jobs like bull riding and the coast guard.
• America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC, 7pm) Season Premiere – The videos, they are funny.
• Valentine (CW, 8pm) Series Premiere -Greek gods bring a new (or old) technique to bringing folks together.
• Easy Money (CW, 9pm) Series Premiere – Roseanne’s Laurie Metcalf runs a loan-shark business…
• The Girl’s Next Door (E!, 10pm) Season Premiere – Did I hear a rumor that one of Hef’s gals is getting the boot, may not see that in this ep as Hef celebrates year 82 in Vegas.

Sadly as I take a closer gander at scheduling it’s looking a little cramped in a couple of slots. Monday at 8 with Big Bang/HIMYMother, Gossip Girl, Terminator, and Chuck. Then Wednesday at 8 with Pushing Daisies, Old Christine, ANTM, and Bones. I like to limit myself to two shows max per time slot so I’m going to have to make some accommodations. At least CW typically reruns ANTM and GGirl, and of course there’s some stuff online. I mean who could think of dropping a show, for other than enjoyment considerations, but that’s often how it happens for me. And of course I never expect the new shows to all hit so I should be able to drop one of the cramped Tuesday at 9 options of The Mentalist, Privileged, and Fringe (sadly the cute Joanna Garcia may lose to the cuter Simon Baker and of course JJ Abrams newest product).

So poke around and see what’s going to be happening. I will of course continue to note the premieres in the Next Weeks. And as soon as I hear a little more from the critics I’ll let you know what of the new stuff we’re all most excited about.

• Bones (Fox, Wed 9/3) – Currently my favorite procedural because not only do they have fun cases with an anthropological science twist, but the leads Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz are good on their own but their chemistry is great, and the the quirky supporting cast works so well, I’ll forgive them for the weak wrap-up of last year’s serial killer.
• Chuck (NBC, Mon 9/29) – Seeing Geek Squad Best Buy Nerd Herd Buy More employee, and accidental keeper of government secrets, forced into the spy world as well as the spy world stuck into Chuck’s life creates not only plenty of action but plenty of humor as well as a little potential romance with his CIA handler (the pretty one, not the hilariously stiff Adam Baldwin).
• Gossip Girl (CW, Mon 9/1)/Dirty Sexy Money (ABC, Wed 10/1) – Who can pick between the two trashy campy soaps? Good thing you don’t have to as we catch the richest of rich families, and their lawyer who is trying to help out and not get sucked in, to more trouble each week than most folks do in a lifetime, unless that is you’re a bunch of rich private schoolers, being fashionable and popular and deceptive is such hard work.
• Heroes (NBC, Mon 9/22) – Currently my favorite of the involved conspiracy shows, though it’s been uneven, we have followed our cast favorite regular folks who got special powers like time travel, indestructibility, and mind reading, and have to deal with other heroes, secret organizations, and of course saving the world, this season as they struggle with their own right and wrong actions it looks like they take on some real villains, but typically good and evil aren’t so clear cut.
• Pushing Daisies (ABC, Wed 10/1) – Every aspect of this show was magical and captivating as I somehow fell for two characters who are so sweet and in love normally I couldn’t stand them, but I lament every moment they aren’t able to touch because what brought her back to life would take her from him forever, so in the meantime he and his supporting cast run the pie shop and solve crimes, who better to help out than a guy who brings the dead back to life for a minute.
• 30 Rock (NBC, Thurs 10/30)/The Office (NBC, Thurs 9/25) – Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin just made me laugh a lot last season as they found a good rhythm with Fey running a late night sketch comedy show, her mess of a life, and keeping a crazy supporting cast together while the season finale of the Office made me appreciate how far this show has come from one that I saw more as a placeholder in the lineup to one I tune in for, because just when you think they’ve pushed the wackies too far in one direction they remind you to care.

ABC

New:

• Life on Mars – David E Kelley’s version of BBC series where cop transports back to 1970s
• Opportunity Knocks – Game show where they knock on your door, or something

Returning: 20/20, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Boston Legal (final season), Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Dirty Sexy Money, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, Samantha Who?, Supernanny, Ugly Betty, Wife Swap
Midseason returns: According to Jim, The Bachelor, Lost, Scrubs (New from NBC)
Noteworthy not returning: Men in Trees, Miss Guided, October Road, Women’s Murder Club

CBS

New:

• Eleventh Hour – Jerry Bruckheimer’s latest, adapting from the british 4 part sci fi series dealing with mysterious cases
• The Ex List – This one is based on an Israeli show where a psychic tells a woman she has already met her true love and so she revisits the exes
• The Mentalist – Simon Baker uses his powers of observation to solve crimes
• Project Gary – Comedy starring Jay Mohr as a recent divorce, and contractor which might explain the ‘project’ part
• Worst Week – This comedy of newly engaged couple is another BBC show made over american style

Returning: 48 Hours, 60 Minutes, Amazing Race, Big Bang Theory, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Ghost Whisperer, How I Met Your Mother, NCIS, New Adventures of Old Christine, Numb3rs, Survivor, Two and a Half Men, The Unit, Without a Trace
Midseason returns: Rules of Engagement
Noteworthy not returning: Moonlight, Shark

CW

New:

• 90210 – The next generation, as a new brother and sister move and start at West Beverly High, including pop bys by Jennie Garth as Guidance Counselor
• Surviving the Filthy Rich – With Reba’s JoAnna Garcia as nanny to rich kids, based on a book series
• Stylista – New reality from Tyra Banks where folks compete to work at Elle

Noteworthy note: Contracting out Sunday nights to production finance company Media Rights Capital who will be responsible for two dramas and two comedies and selling the ad time.

• FAT City, IM Valentine, Book of Murphy, Surviving Suburbia

Returning: ANTM, Everybody Hates Chris, The Game, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Smallville, Supernatural
Midseason return: Reaper
Noteworthy not returning: Aliens in America, Girlfriends, New Amsterdam

Fox

New:

• Fringe – JJ Abrams latest starring Joshua Jackson teaming up to investigate unexplained phenomena, I wanna say like the x-files
• Do Not Disturb – Comedy starring Jerry O’Connell working at one of NY’s uber hip hotels

Returning: American Dad, America’s Most Wanted, Bones, Cops, Don’t Forget the Lyrics, Family Guy, House, King of the Hill, Kitchen Nightmares, Moment of Truth, Prison Break, Simpsons, Smarter than a 5th Grader, Terminator, Til Death
Midseason return: 24, American Idol, Hell’s Kitchen.
Noteworthy not returning: Back to You

NBC

New:

• Crusoe – As in Robinson…
• Kath & Kim – Molly Shannon and Selma Blair in remake of Australian sitcom about mother and daughter living together again
• Knight Rider – If you caught the ‘hit’ tv movie you’re familiar with this remake
• My Own Worst Enemy – Christian Slater as a gov agent/normal guy whose two lives start to blur
• Thursday Night Live – Special SNL shows leading up to the elections

Returning: The Biggest Loser, Chuck, Dateline, Deal or No Deal, Heroes, E.R. (final season), L&O:SVU, Life, Lipstick Jungle, My Name is Earl, The Office, 30 Rock
Midseason returning: Friday Night Lights, L&O, Medium
Noteworthy not returning: Bionic Woman, Journeyman, Las Vegas

Additional Notes:

Tons of new shows scheduled for after fall, but we’ll chime in later once those become more solid, other than the fact that I should note there’s an Office spinoff scheduled as well as the new Joss Whedon show Dollhouse with Eliza Dushku, scheduled for midseason. I miss the Grr Arg.

And if you want to see the current stab at the schedule you can check it out at TV Guide.

And of course one should recall that I don’t get real cable so my lack of endorsement for certain cable shows, well isn’t really a lack of endorsement.

• Chuck (NBC) – This show isn’t more than it is, a funny action romp, but what it is, it does really well and I find myself looking forward to it each week, it’s not so much about a regular guy being pulled into the spy world as it is the spy world being pulled into the regular guy’s life and the situations with spies and with the regular folks each tend to amuse and entertain.
• Dirty Sexy Money (ABC) – Again, I think folks tend to not give enough credit to a campy drama done well. These characters (and actors) are not only their stereotypes done to excess but also typically a subtle twist, I am entertained by the weekly trouble they get themselves into as well as finding out what who killed Dutch.
• Flight of the Conchords (HBO) – So an HBO show? Yes I was up to date since I was at an HBO watcher’s house when it premiered, and I really can’t do this show justice with a description but the New Zealand comedy satire folk singing duo trying to make it in New York, randomly breaking into music video song stylings is super funny.
• Heroes (NBC) – Well I warmed up to this show over the season last year and though disappointed with the start of this season, found myself yet again drawn into the cast that blurs the line between using their abilities for good or evil and how you can’t tell most of the time which is which as they try to save the world, or not.
• Lost (ABC) – It’s been so long since I’ve seen this that I almost didn’t put it on the list, but it continues to entertain with a formula that seemed impossible telling character stories through past and present, from an island that is as full of mysteries as it is new characters.
• Pushing Daisies (ABC) – The best new show of the year according to many, and I can’t not delight in it myself, I do give special credit for people who try to push things, and their 360 approach to the tone is wonderful, they’ve had some fantastic guest stars and episodic mysteries but managed to keep the right focus on the core cast with the ultimate can’t-be-together couple of Chuck and Ned.
• The Riches (FX) - Another unbelievable premise that just keeps me on the edge of my seat as this Traveler family pretends to be the Riches (folks who were killed in a car accident), and how they continue to keep afloat and keep out of the way of the other Travelers who wish them ill (to say the least) and their internal struggles along the way… it kept me tuned in.
• Samantha Who? (ABC) – This is my favorite new comedy and with the dearth of funny out there I think that’s not only entertaining but important. It’s a combination of Christina Applegate really getting a vehicle that suits her great combination of funny, dorky, attractive, bitchy and sweet in her own special way and of course the writing and the great supporting cast don’t hurt with special shoutouts to Jean Smart and Sookie and surprisingly Barry Watson.
• Saving Grace (TNT) – You know I’m not sure this is actually one of the best shows but Holly Hunter and her screwed up character are like a car wreck you can’t look away from and her struggle with the angel trying to save her and her friends and family… well I just can’t look away.
• 30 Rock (NBC) – This show has edged out my previous vote of funniest show How I Met Your Mother (which I still find quite funny) and it found it’s place as the dysfunctional staff of a late night sketch comedy show spouts hilarity on more levels than I can catch if I’m not paying attention, and has been funny each and every time I sit down to watch.

I also didn’t officially list, but wanted to give a special shout out to two shows that I have adored that ended their run in 2007 Gillmore Girls and Veronica Mars, oh how I do miss these sassy gals.