• 10 Things I Hate About You (ABCFam, 8pm) Season Premiere – Maybe they cover a thing a season.
• Pawn Star$ (Hist, 10pm) Season Premiere – What’s for sale?
• Saving Grace (TNT, 10pm) Season Premiere – We edge into the final season as Grace continues her drama and her chat with her angel.

Tuesday

• My First Home/Little Chocolatiers (TLC, 8/10pm) Season Premieres – Homes and chocolate, who could ask for more?
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (USA, 10pm) Season Premiere – Goran, Eames, and their lieutenant are counting down to their departures.
• V (ABC, 10pm) Season Premiere – The aliens are back.

Wednesday

• In Plain Sight (USA, 10pm) Season Premiere – Mary and Marshall together again.
• The Ultimate Fighter (Spike, 10pm) Season Premiere – Let the competition begin.

Thursday

• Bones/Fringe (Fox, 8/9pm) – They’ve taken a break but now they’re back.
• Mentalist (CBS, 9pm) – Will his powers of perception and persuasion work at an earlier timeslot?
• Fugitive Chronicles (A&E, 10pm) Series Premiere – Real life infamous manhunts brought to life, I love a good reenactment.

Friday

• Wife Swap (ABC, 8pm) Season Premiere – Tv sanctioned family torture is back.
• Stargate Universe/Merlin (Syfy, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Alien and magical worlds return.
• Miami Medical (CBS, 10pm) Series Premiere – Another take on the medical drama, the trauma unit finds expert surgeons and an adrenaline rush.

Saturday

• Maybe I should review my Netflix queue.

Sunday

• Sunday Best (BET, 5pm) Season Premiere – The gospel competition kicks off in Nigeria.
• Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom (AnPl, 7pm) – Bears like food!

So here goes:

• Sons of Anarchy (Fx) – A motorcycle club with layers and layers of drama and plenty of violence, I can’t turn away and I can’t wait to tune in to see what Jax and the others will do next season.
• Chuck (NBC) – A wonderful balance between the spy capers, the geeky humor, and of course the romance, I’m thrilled to see Chuck 2.0 next season.
• Glee (Fox) – My favorite newcomer, although the first season was a bit uneven (we were all so over the wife) the humor, the mix of poignant moments, and yes, the songs, made me keep coming back.
• Bones (Fox) – Still my favorite crime solving pair, will FBI Sealy Booth and Forensic Anthropologist Temperance Brennan ever get together?
• The Good Wife (CBS) – Another new addition to the lineup, so far it’s a great balance between the case-of-the-week and Margulies struggling with her family and potentially corrupt cheater husband, there’s more politics afoot than we know.
• The Mentalist (CBS) /Castle (ABC) – These two guys are worth tuning into no matter where they are but both are set up as great characters with fun casts and of course the case-of-the-week.
• Dexter (Sho) – No season has been as good at the first but it doesn’t stop me from yelling at the tv when Dexter is doing something foolish, juggling job, family, friends, and being a serial killer is a tough balance.
• Dollhouse (Fox) – Another uneven addition to the list but as the season has progressed we see what the show could have been with its corrupt organization and complex issues of identity, too bad there are only three more.
• Modern Family (ABC)/Community (NBC) – So I still laugh at 30 Rock, The Office, HIMYM, Parks & Rec, but the shows I was most excited to watch were the new ones, MF takes us into the new form of funny families and Community just puts together some weirdos, I don’t know, I am amused.

Special shout outs  for some of the cable fluff that I tended to watch first that even I’m not tempted to make the case that they’re ‘the best’: Drop Dead Diva (Life) – the dumbest premise made the cutest show, Leverage (TNT) – I love a good caper show, and this was good enough, Burn Notice (USA) – cheesy but Macgyver of this generation shouldn’t be skipped, and Greek (ABCFam) – fun plots and characters are all you need to keep you tuning in.

For my take on some of the ones I watch and why:

• Bones (FOX) – This one is first in my book because I think the two lead characters Booth (FBI Agent) and Bones (Forensic Anthropologist) are both equally interesting and have great chemistry playing off their complementary approaches, having Booth brought into the world of science and the supporting cast of the ’squints’ is fun with the some dark humor from the quirky cast and some fun science in the lab to solve the cases.
• Castle (ABC) – I adore Nathan Fillion and I think this is a good role for him as charismatic mystery writer who forces his way into a detective unit, he does have good chemistry with his cop partner, and I like his family as supporters, but the cases are pretty standard and the supporting police detectives so far don’t quite distinguish themselves.
• The Good Wife (CBS) – I’m still on the fence as to whether this will continue to fall in the procedural camp or move more toward the political drama but so far I am liking Marguiles character as a wife trying to reenter the working world to support her family after her politico husband leaves job and family in scandal, though he may be in prison for now the drama keeps going.
• House (FOX) – There’s no question that Hugh Laurie is great in this role as personally damaged medical diagnostic genius, and I still like his relationship with his ‘best friend’, but I’m over the general format of getting an unsolvable case and guessing and almost killing the patient repeatedly until House figures it out at the last minute, and the supporting cast has also suffered from the initially intriguing shakeup up of his team leaving original support players underutilized but still standing by.
• Law & Order (NBC) – This is what I sort of think of as the most standard procedural of the shows I watch, there’s very little character development with a very standard case-of-the-week but they’ve landed on a decent version of the rotating cast with two key detectives (law) and two key attorneys (order), though I tend to forget about each episode almost immediately even with the continued ‘ripped from the headlines’ approach.
• Law & Order: SVU (NBC) – This one is a little more focused on the law aspect of things and a little more emphasis is on the relationship between the two lead detectives and I’m not quite as enamored with Benson and Stabler as everyone else is but Munch and Tutuola are good and the ’special victims’ slant with a little more emphasis on the psychology of the victim and perp give the show a little more oomph.
• The Mentalist (CBS) – I like Simon Baker maybe as much as I like Nathan Fillion and his character’s ability to notice what others don’t and stir the pot in a way to get things done is what makes this show interesting, I also have always liked Robin Tunny (Cherish was a delightful flick) but her character’s straight arrow-ness sometimes leaves me a little cold though I like the supporting detective players.
• Numb3rs (CBS) – I tend to treat this show as a good solid backup, always engaging enough as we have spent a few seasons with the brothers who were never close until they realized the math genius and the FBI cases could actually bring them together, along with dear old dad and some supporting academic and FBI folk, they manage to entertain with their unique approach to solving the latest case.

And for a few that I’ve dabbled and just can’t add to the queue: Cold Case (CBS), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSIs (CBS), the forgotten (ABC), Lie to Me (Fox), NCISs (CBS).

Monday

• 8pm – House (Fox) / How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
• 9pm – Gossip Girl (CW) / Big Bang Theory (CBS 9:30)
• 10pm – Castle (ABC)

House is one of those shows I wish I could give up but somehow don’t (Laurie is good but they just almost kill a person until they save them every week), Gossip Girl is a quality guilty pleasure, and Castle has Nathan Fillion who is great enough to pull off this relatively formulaic weekly crime drama; although I do occasionally catch 2 1/2 Men I would love to redo the schedule and put HIMYM and BBTheory in the same hour, both are good fun. I’ve been catching Trauma on Saturday repeats.

Tuesday

• 9pm – Melrose Place (CW)
• 10pm – The Good Wife (CBS)

Melrose has just been so bad I can’t quite turn away, mostly because there is no competition for me on this night (I hope the cheesiness is intended) but I’ll probably tune in until Heather shows, and have found Julianna and supporting cast to be interesting in the mix of personal drama and weekly lawyerness on Wife.

Wednesday

• 8pm – The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) / The Middle (ABC) / Mercy (NBC)
• 9pm – Glee (Fox) / Modern Family (ABC)

Christine is finally paired with something that might be kind of funny, too bad it’s on another network, let’s hope they don’t mess up my time blocks, unless they pair Middle with Modern which so far is good; Glee is my favorite new show of the season, and I don’t know why so far I keep watching Mercy it’s not actually good. Have been getting SVU and ANTM on repeat nights.

Thursday

• 8pm – Bones (Fox) / Community / Parks & Recreation (NBC)
• 9pm – Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) / The Office / 30 Rock (NBC)
• 10pm – The Mentalist (CBS)

I still dig Bones and am happy that Community actually seems to be funny paired with P&R which I still find a little uneven but funny. I am almost over Grey’s (I’m never excited to watch but still seem to enjoy the episodes) and still enjoying Office and looking forward to return of 30Rock; oh yeah and Simon is still good on the Mentalist.

Friday

• 8pm – Law & Order (NBC)
• 9pm – Dollhouse (Fox) / ANTM (CW)
• 10pm  – Numb3rs (CBS)

L&O is always a good staple but I don’t so much care, Dollhouse is still a little uneven but I love the way they explore the themes of identity, and I really want to be over ANTM (the less of Tyra the better); Numb3rs is a show I just keep on the list just because I kind of like the math FBI brothers and their dad.

Saturday

• 9pm – Trauma (NBC)
• 10pm – Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

I don’t know if I’ll stick with Trauma but we’ll see, and if I miss an ep of any of the L&Os I don’t really notice but keep them in the queue.

Sunday

• Day of rest.

But what about cable? Fortunately those shows I’m still getting tend to repeat in the off hours so I can catch at random times, currently I am mostly catching Sons of Anarchy on FX and am going to have to check online for the final eps of Greek and Monk until I decide on a cable commitment (I’ve got some Dexter waiting for me one someone else’s Tivo as well).

Monday

• Heroes (NBC, 8pm) Season Premiere - I just couldn’t take it anymore so I have no idea what they’re up to and I’d like to keep it that way.
• House (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – I am not entirely sure why I still watch this show, every episode they almost kill someone until they save them and House is an ass, but now I just need to see if he’s an insane ass.
• Dancing with the Stars/Castle (ABC, 8/10pm) Season Premiere – I don’t watch the dance but I am taken in by Fillion on Castle.
• How I Met Your Mother/Accidentally on Purpose/Two and a Half Men/The Big Bang Theory/CSI: Miami (CBS, 8-11pm) Season/Series Premiere – Accidentally is supposed to be a stinker but Mother and Big Bang are pretty consistently funny, and I never watch Caruso on CSI.
• Brick City (Sund, 10pm) Series Premiere – First of a five-part series on Newark NJ.
• Misadventures (Trav, 10pm) Series Premiere – First Brazil and then Burma.

Tuesday

• NCIS/NCIS: Los Angeles/The Good Wife (CBS, 8-11pm; GW repeats Sat 9pm) Season/Series Premieres – First the original which I’ve honestly never see, then LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell head up the latest spinoff, does this mean CSI: L&O: NCIS: Boston is next? But wait, Wife is supposed to be a great mix of drama and cases.
• The Forgotten (ABC, 10pm) Series Premiere – Christian Slater heads up volunteers helping to fight crime.
• The Naughty Kitchen with Chef Blythe Beck (Oxy, 10pm) Series Premiere – More reality fare on the menu as they follow a chef and her team.
• Table for 12 (TLC, 10/10:30pm) Season Premiere - I think this is the one with more kids and no tabloid divorce.

Wednesday

• The New Adventures of Old Christine/Gary Unmarried/Criminal Minds/CSI: NY (CBS, 8-11pm) Season Premieres - First some laughs and then some murder, not to give anything away.
• Mercy/L&O: SVU (NBC, 8-10pm; Mercy repeats Sat 9pm) Series/Season Premiere - The lives of three nurses and then back to the special victims.
• Modern Family/Cougar Town/Eastwick (ABC, 9-11pm; MF/CT repeat Fri 9pm) Series Premieres – With this chunk of new shows let’s hope for a winner, rumor has it Family is the best on this block.

Thursday

• CSI/The Mentalist (CBS, 9/10pm) Season Premiere – I’ll pass on CSI but I do like Baker’s charms.
• Flash Forward/Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 8/9pm; FF repeats Fri 8pm) Series/Season Premiere – First the blackout that is the premise for at least one season and then George is out and Izzie is in, except for the break Heigl takes to shoot her movie, would that be at the same time Mer is out maternity leave, damn me for still watching this show.

Friday

• Brothers/Dollhouse (Fox, 8/9pm; Brothers repeats Sun 7pm) Series/Season Premiere – This new show isn’t supposed to be all that but tune in to see what the latest capers Echo and the crew get into.
• Smallville (CW, 8pm) Season Premiere – Clark continues.
• Ghost Whisperer/Medium/Numb3rs (CBS, 8pm) Season Premieres - Don’t tune into the two visions shows but do tend to catch the crime math.
• L&O (NBC, 8pm) Season Premiere - And the longest running drama series is back.

Saturday

• 48 Hours Mystery (CBS, 10pm) Season Premiere – I’m not even sure why it’s 2 days.
• Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30pm) Season Premiere – Megan Fox hosts with U2 in the musical guest spot.

Sunday

• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition/Desperate Housewives/Brothers & Sisters (ABC, 7/9/10pm) Season Premiere – Construction, soapy drama, whiny drama.
• The Simpsons/The Cleveland Show/Family Guy/American Dad (Fox, 8pm) Season/Series Premiere – Animation all night long.
• 60 Minutes/The Amazing Race/Cold Case (CBS, 7/8/10pm) Season Premieres -  News, racing, and an old crime set to old music.
• Dexter/Californication (Show, 9/10pm) Season Premieres - I don’t get this channel but make someone else save Dexter for me, what will the season bring.
• My Fair Wedding (WE, 10pm) Season Premiere – Something about a wedding.

Repeat times noted for new series on traditional network channels, please always consult your current local listings.

• Bones (Fox, 9/17) – Booth and Bones and the rest of the squints have just kept up the good chemistry while doing science on the stiffs.
• Castle (ABC, 9/21) – Nathan Fillion finally found a good role where he could work his charms, and be called out by new partner when they border on smarmy, on admittedly not cutting edge crimes.
• Chuck (NBC, 2010) – Sad to see I have to wait even longer for the great mix of comedy, action, and of course romance on this spy show.
• Dexter (Show, 9/27) – I may get mad at Dexter for letting people into his life and jeopardizing his serial killer secrets but I can’t wait to see what mess he’ll get into next.
• Dollhouse (Fox, 9/25) – I would follow creator Joss anywhere but Dollhouse really started hitting its stride last season as Echo takes on new personalities each week while she and others take on the secrets.
• Gossip Girl (CW, 9/14) – Still my favorite trashy pleasure with the gang that gets into tons of drama and tons of great clothes, what will life post high school have in store?
• The Mentalist (CBS, 9/24) – Simon Baker is another favorite, and his role of overly observant tortured crime fighter suits him, though who knew California had a Bureau of Investigations.
• Sons of Anarchy (Fx, 9/8) – The boys are back, with the women who love them, dealing with crime and family, keeping you on the edge of your seat.
• How I Met Your Mother/Big Bang Theory (CBS, 9/21) – These two gangs made me laugh.
• 30 Rock/The Office (NBC, 9/17) – Work can be funny too.

Monday

• 24 (Fox, 8pm) Season Finale – A couple more hours in the 7th long day Jack’s had.
• Gossip Girl/One Tree Hill (CW, 8/9pm) Season Finales – What will graduation bring to the latest crop of high schoolers on GG, let’s hope they don’t follow the path of fellow soapsters in Tree Hill.
• How I Met Your Mother/2 1/2 Men/Rules of Engagement/CSI: Miami (CBS, 8:30pm) Season Finales - Starting with a special Rules at 8 we rap up the funny and the not so funny.
• Bachelorette (ABC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Jillion is turning Bachelor misfortune into another shot at true love.
• 4th & Long (Spike, 10pm) Series Premiere – Football players compete for a spot on the Dallas Cowboys.

Tuesday

• NCIS/The Mentalist/Without a Trace (CBS, 8/9/10pm) Season Finales – A trip to Israel, a meet up with Red  John, and yet another vanished person.
• 90210 (CW, 9pm) Season Finale – Is this the episode where Donna Martin graduates?
• Dancing With the Stars (ABC, 9pm) Season Finale – I wasn’t sure anyone was surviving the injuries this season but the gymnast, the former cheerleader, or the guy who was hot in a movie will be crowned.
• Glee (Fox, 9pm) Series Premiere – The creator of Nip/Tuck brings a taste of high school glee club misfits.

Wednesday

• American Idol (Fox, 8pm) Season Finale - Who will it be Adam or Kris, and don’t miss the performances on Tuesday.
• New Adventures of Old Christine/Gary Unmarried (CBS, 8/8:30pm) Season Finales  – How will Christine and Gary embarrass themselves this week?
• Criminal Minds (CBS, 9/10pm) Season Finale – I think the gang goes after another psycho killer.

Thursday

• So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – Another crew in their boogie shoes.
• Ugly Betty (ABC, 8pm) Season Finale – They put out another issue with more drama.
• Crime 360 (A&E, 10pm) Season Premiere – Looking at crime from every angle.
• Southern Belles (Soap, 10pm) Series Premiere – I think this is like Real Housewives in the Kentucky.
• Southland (NBC, 10pm) Season Finale – Looks like rookie cop and the rest of the crew will be back for another season of crime solving.

Friday

• Good Morning America (ABC, 7am) – The concert series kicks off with Green Day.
• Head Case/Party Down (Starz, 10/10:30pm) Season Finales – We always knew Seinfeld was a little nuts, and then more catering laughs.

Saturday

• NBA Playoffs (ABC, 5:30) – I don’t even think this is the final two teams but what else do you have to watch.

Sunday

• French Open (ESPN2, 9am) – Things are kicked off, another year for Nadal?
• Diamonds (ABC, 9pm) – Miniseries kicks off a a look at the diamond trade from the Congo to the US.
• The Tudors/State of the Union (Show, 9/9:30pm) Season Finales – King Henry keep slutting around and Tracy keeps mocking.

Monday

• Roommates (ABCFam, 9pm) Series Premiere – A new roomie moves in to the NYC apartment to follow an old crush.
• Sophie (ABCFam, 9:30pm) Series Premiere – Is a ’sucky year’ for this single mom talent manager funny, or not?
• Table for 12 (TLC, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – For those who are a fan of John & Kate plus 8, these folks have upped the game to 2 plus 10.

Tuesday

• Presidential Address (Mult Networks, 8pm) – Obama is back for more.
• College Hill (BET, 7/7:30pm) Season Premiere – We’re back with these real life eight college kids in South Beach.
• NCIS/The Mentalist (CBS, 9/10pm) – Special times for our crime fighters.

Wednesday

• American Idol (Fox, 8pm) – Idol is shifting to a Wed/Thurs presentation to give Obama some space on Tues, this week Motown, go Adam!
• Survivor (CBS, 8pm) – A special night and time to recap the first fifteen days.

Thursday

• In the Motherhood (ABC, 8pm) Series Premiere – Megan Mullally, Jessica St Clair, and Cheryl Hines are mothers making funny in this update of a web series followed by the return of Samantha Who? in a new time slot.

Friday

• NCAA Basketball (CBS, 4pm) – In case you’ve missed it the NCAA playoffs are cooking, tonight you can catch some regional playoffs.

Saturday

• Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards (Nick, 8pm) – Dwayne (no longer the Rock) Johnson hosts, and last I heard at least Chris Brown won’t be there.
• World Figure Skating Championships (NBC, 9pm) – In case you’re getting geared up for next year’s Olympics or just like the spinning.

Sunday

• The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (HBO, 8pm) Series Premiere – Jill Scotts plays the lead in this adaptation of the novel series set in Botswana, which I hear is delightful, the series that is.
• Any Dream Will Do (BBCA, 8pm) Series Premiere – Who will win the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
• G4 Underground (G4, 9pm) Series Premiere - Getting the real dirt on amateur porn and real life costumed superheroes.
• Little Dorrit (PBS, 9pm) – Kicking off the latest Masterpiece Miniseries in this Dickens presentation.

* Times noted are PST, always check your local listings.

Monday

• Kyle XY (ABCFam, 9pm) Season Premiere – Kyle might be in love, trouble must follow as his lady friend gets kidnapped.

Tuesday

• American Idol (Fox, 8pm – also Wed at 8pm) Season Premiere – This season we’ve added a judge as we start with the cattle call of terrible songsters.

Wednesday

• Lost (ABC, 8pm) – Last season’s finale reminds us how confused we were last season.
• Friday Night Lights (DirTV, 9pm) Season Finale – The kids create drama on and off the field.

Thursday

• CSI (CBS, 9pm) – Say goodbye to Grissom.
• Saw for Hire (TLC, 9pm) Series Premiere – A tree removal service is the latest reality focus, yes you read that right, tree removal.
• The Beast (A&E, 10pm) Series Premiere – Patrick Swayze is veteran undercover cop taking his new partner through the paces.
• Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew (MTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – The crews, they are a dancing.
• Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House (VH1, 10pm) Series Debut – If you were addicted to Celebrity Rehab this might be the next step in your addiction.
• Treasure Quest (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Ready to explore ship wrecks?

Friday

• Friday Night Lights (NBC, 9pm) Season Premiere – For those of you who missed the direct tv version, season 3 is kicking off network style.
• Battlestar Galactica (SciFi, 9pm) Season Premiere – The final season continues the cylon battle.

Saturday

• Solitary (Fox Real, 9pm) Season Premiere – They volunteer for torture on television, in solitary.

Sunday

• Australian Open (ESPN2, 4pm) – Day one of the first tennis slam of the season, because today is tomorrow in Australia.
• The Mentalist (CBS, 9pm) - Don’t miss a new episode of Simon Baker on a special night.
• Big Love (HBO, 9pm) Season Premiere – The polygamists are back for another season.
• United States of Tara (Show, 10pm) Series Premiere – Toni Collette stars as a housewife with personality disorder, written by Juno’s Diablo Cody.
• Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Show, 10:30pm) Season Premiere – What happens when you mistake a regular guy for a client?
• Flight of the Conchords (10pm) Season Premiere – The boys are back with songs and general hilarity!

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