Monday

• Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 8pm) Season Premiere – Who goes home first the old person or the awkward athlete?
• La La’s Full Court Life/Styled by June (VH1, 9/9:30pm) Season /Series Premieres – Family drama and celebrity stylists.
• Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory (MTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – Kick flip it.

Tuesday

• Hardcore Pawn (Tru, 9:30pm) Season Premiere – Trade it.
• The Little Couple (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Adoption?

Wednesday

• Bent (NBC, 9pm) Series Premiere – Will Amanda Peet’s type A gal fall for her crazy contractor in this latest sitcom?
• Duck Dynasty (A&E, 10pm) Series Premiere – A look at a family and their duck hunting gear business.
• House of Consignment (VH1, 10pm) Series Premiere – How to pick new staff.
• Real Vice (ID, 10pm) Series Premiere – Reenactments of Miami crimes.

Thursday

• Project Runway All Stars (Life, 9pm) Season Finale – I’m about six behind and am sure I will hear or read who wins.

Friday

• My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Beauty pageants and wedding gowns.

Saturday

• Ball Boys (ABC, 3pm) Series Premiere – Think sports memorabilia.

Sunday

• Long Island Medium/Leave it to Niecy (TLC, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premieres – What happens when your medium mom meets your boyfriend and getting your kids to know your new hubbie.
• Luck (HBO, 9pm) Series Finale – One horse too many went down.
• Mad Men (AMC, 9pm) Season Premiere – It’s back, though I have yet to begin this series.
• Mythbusters (Disc, 9pm) Season Premiere – Duct tape survival gets put to the test.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

Monday

• Basketball Wives (VH1, 8pm) Season Premiere – Blah.
• Bethenny Ever After (Brav, 9pm) Season Premiere – Blah, blah.

Tuesday

• It Gets Better (Logo/MTV, 11pm) – User videos and celebrity messaging targeted to support LGBT youth.

Wednesday

• Ghost Hunters International (Syfy, 9pm) Season Premiere – Ghosty Peru.
• American Weed (NGC, 10pm) Series Premiere – A look at Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry.

Thursday

• Lifeguard! (Weath, 9pm) Series Premiere – Baywatch reality style.
• Project Runway: After the Runway (Life, 10pm) – All-stars kicks off the post show chit chat.
• MMA Junkie Live (Spike, 11pm) Series Premiere – Well it doesn’t look like I get Spike but for those who do…

Friday

• Car Warriors (Speed, 10pm) Season Premiere – And does anyone get this channel?

Saturday

• Being Human (BBCA, 9pm) Season Premiere – I am confused by both the British and US versions being on at the same time.
• The Independent Spirit Awards (IFC, 10pm) – Seth Rogan hosts.

Sunday

• Academy Awards (ABC, 4/5:30pm) – The red carpet gets rolled out early but the real question is who will win my Oscar pool.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

Monday

• Antiques Roadshow (PBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – How much for that thing in your attic?
• The Bachelor/Wife Swap (ABC, 8/10pm) Season Premiere – And the returning bachelor is Ben Flajnik followed by a dose of celebrity swap via Tracey Gold and Carnie Wilson (tomorrow is the Gary Busey episode).
• Pretty Little Liars/The Lying Game  (ABCFam, 8/9pm) Season Premieres – Will liars never learn.
• Hoarders/Intervention (A&E, 9/10pm) Season Premiere – More people need help.
• Alaska Wing Men (NGC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Starting by offering air support to dog racers.
• It’s a Brad, Brad World (Brav, 10pm) Series Premiere – If you’ve been missing a little something from Rachel Zoe’s office.

Tuesday

• The Biggest Loser (NBC, 8pm) Season Premiere – Sweat ’til you cry.
• Switched at Birth/Jane by Design (ABCFam, 8/9pm) Season/Series Premieres  – More family fun.
• Work It (ABC, 8:30pm) Series Premiere – Rumor has it the worst show of the year, er, the tv year.
• Jamie’s American Road Trip (BBCA, 10pm) Series Premiere – Jamie starts in East LA.

Wednesday

• Dog the Bounty Hunter (A&E, 10pm) Season Premieres – More bounties.
• Nova (PBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – First a look at volcanoes and those who study them.
• Toddlers & Tiaras (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Whatever.

Thursday

• Wipeout (ABC, 8pm) Season Premiere – Winter wipeouts.
• Project Runway Allstars/24 hour Catwalk (Life, 9pm) Series Premieres – Does your returning favorite make it past first round and can a collection be put together in a day?
• Jersey Shore (MTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – Must we have another season?

Friday

• Say Yes to the Dress (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Can they find the perfect dress?
• Merlin (Syfy, 10pm) Season Premiere – Get ready for more hocus pocus.
• Portlandia/The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (IFC, 10/10:30pm) Season Premiere – Funny folks return.

Saturday

• Republican Presidential Candidates Debate (ABC, 9pm) – David Gregory moderates.

Sunday

• Ax Men/Cajun Pawn Stars (Hist, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premieres – Bring out the ax and bring in the junk.
• The Firm (NBC, 9pm) Series Premiere – The series picks up some time after the book and movie leave off, we’ll see.
• Gator Boys (AnPl, 9pm) Series Premiere – Animal rescue gator style.
• Downton Abbey (PBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – People seem to dig this series and now season two.
• Shameless/House of Lies/Californication (Show, 9/10/10:30pm) Season/Series Premieres – Showtime dramedies return including a new one with fave Kristin Bell among others.
• Absolutely Fabulous (BBCA, 10pm) Season Premiere – The return of Edina and Patsy for those who miss them.
• Watch What Happens (Brav, 11pm) Season Premiere – Andy Cohen hosts.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

Monday

• Rock Center with Brian Williams (NBC, 10pm) Series Premiere – A new news magazine and Brian Williams actually can be pretty funny.

Tuesday

• Covert Affairs (USA, 10pm) Season Premiere – What case will the rookie agent get next and will she run in heels?

Wednesday

• Top Chef (Brav, 10pm) Season Premiere – Cook it up.

Thursday

• Bones (Fox, 9pm) Season Premiere – What shows get eliminated from my schedule to fit in the expecting Bones?
• Tim Gunn/Project Accessory (Life, 9/10pm) – Behind the seams with Tim Gunn on regular runway, and then somehow I missed the premiere of the accessory version.
• Burn Notice (USA, 10pm) Season Premiere – Can Michael balance working with the CIA and his extracurriculars?
• Cellblock 6 (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Return to prison.

Friday

• Fish Hooks (Dis, 9:30pm) Season Premiere – Animated fish dealing with tween life, this must be Disney.

Saturday

• Color Splash (HGTV, 9pm) Season Premiere – Do we really need a Twilight themed home makeover?

Sunday

• The Real Housewives of Atlanta (Brav, 9pm) Season Premiere – They’re back.
• Swamp Wars/Call of the Wildman (AnPl, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premiere – Animal Venom unit and then animal rescue, like you’ve never seen before?
• John Sanford’s Certain Prey (USA, 9pm) – Might or might not be intrigued to see Mark Harmon as Lucas Davenport.
• Chef Hunter (Food, 10pm) Series Premiere – Out of work chefs compete.
• Hell on Wheels (AMC, 10pm) Series Premiere – This is one of those titles that says nothing, it’s apparently a post civil war drama where among other things a confederate soldier seeking revenge.
• Police POV (Tru, 10pm) Season Premiere - We hit the streets with them again.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

• Alphas (Syfy) Stay Tuned – This is yet another spin on the Heroes theme, certain folks have unique abilities, this time they’re working with the government to stop the evil but good and evil just might not be all that clear, this isn’t as campy as some which may make it more watchable or may make it less engaging.
• Awkward (Mtv) Stay Tuned – The high school awkward phase has been done before but there’s just a dash enough of good writing to make the characters and situations interesting, will she make it work with her crush, or is there another guy out there for her, and how much humiliation in the interim.
• Combat Hospital (ABC) Tune Out – Grey’s Anatomy at war didn’t engage me enough to stick through the first episode which maybe isn’t fair or maybe watching at least part was more time than it was worth.
• Falling Skies (TNT) Tune Out – I was borderline on this, it’s not a bad show, about putting up the good fight after an alien invasion, but I just found I didn’t much care about the battles or the relationships.
• The Glee Project (Oxy) Tune In – This is my favorite new show, it has all the ingredients of a singing competition, but the combination of elements in each episode (initial challenge, music video, and final singing for save) and the reality of competing for a role in a specific show with really talented kids makes it a must see.
• Franklin & Bash (TNT) Stay Tuned – The cases and premise are pretty dumb but Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer are still somehow kind of endearing in their rebellious lawyer style.
• Happily Divorced (TVL) Tune Out – Unless you have really been missing The Nanny, this dated feeling sitcom about Fran living with her gay now ex husband is a pass.
• Love Bites (NBC) Stay Tuned – This show didn’t catch on but it was actually a pretty good take on the romcom, boiling every possible story down to three vignettes an episode.
• Necessary Roughness (USA) Stay Tuned – A newly separated shrink gets what seems like a windfall when she’s asked to help out professional football player, but athletes, the team’s staff, and her family may still all be too crazy, she’s pretty likable in the overarching football story but the weekly cases in other sports seem a little too pat.
• The Nine Lives of Chloe King (ABCFam) Tune Out – Always willing to give the weird a shot, in this version this girl finds she’s descended from some sort of cat people, she’s the hope of the race but unfortunately may kill anyone she gets kissy with, will she survive long enough to… whatever it is she’s supposed to do, just nothing really to grab onto.
• The Protector (Life) Tune Out – Not a terrible show but just nothing noteworthy about this police procedural where the title character is a woman trying to balance family and work.
• State of Georgia (ABCFam) Tune Out – Raven-Symoné and Majandra Delfino attempt to play this generation’s Lucy and Ethel and I just can’t get on board.
• Suits (USA) Stay Tuned – It’s unbelievable that a lawyer would risk it all to hire a non law school grad to his firm that only hires Harvard grads, but this all business ‘closer’ has a dynamic with his protege who reads and learns it all protege that is keeping me engaged.
• Switched at Birth (ABCFam) Tune Out – This show was actually sort of sweet in the look at the families and difficulties of two girls who learn they were the biological daughters of different families but it was a little too sappy too keep up with.
• Teen Wolf (MTV) Tune Out – I was intrigued by the new guy as wolf trying to balance that along with friends and romance but it just got too stupid.
• Web Therapy (Show) Stay Tuned – I wanted to like this Lisa Kudrow as internet shrink as her web series made the leap to broadcast, but couldn’t quite enjoy her terrible advice or uncomfortable relationship with her husband.
• Wilfred (Fx) Tune In – The US update to the wacky Australian concept where a guy sees a dog as a man in a dog suit is super odd but I can’t turn away as I wait for whatever unpredictable hijinks Wilfred will get them into.

What else is sticking around in the TiVo queue: Burn Notice, Celebrity Rehab, Closer, Drop Dead Diva, In Plain Sight, Leverage, Louie, Project Runway, White Collar and on occasion but tenuous Eureka, Glades, Rizzoli & Isles.

I do tend to take a pass on most new reality fare.

Monday

• 8pm – Chuck (NBC)/How I Met Your Mother (CBS) [House (Fox)]
• 10pm – Castle (ABC)/Hawaii Five-O (CBS)

I’m still tempted to drop House but I get into this mental state where I feel like I’ve invested so many seasons into it so I kind of want to see how things play out. Other than that old favorites Chuck, HIMYM, and Castle are joined by fluffy fun enough so far 5-0.

Tuesday

• 8pm – No Ordinary Family (ABC)/Glee (Fox)
• 9pm – Raising Hope/Running Wilde (Fox)
• 10pm – The Good Wife (CBS)/Parenthood (NBC) [Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC)/Sons of Anarchy (Fx)]

So far NOFamily is a nice mix of family drama and super skills [though this isn't a bad show I found I wasn't engaged enough to keep it on the listings] while the uneven Glee still keeps me coming back. Keeping SofA on the schedule is not a problem since FX replays stuff repeatedly, but debating on what to do about wanting to add 1-8-7 to my already booked hour. Since both Hope and Wilde are on my chopping block I wish I could move one of these up an hour.

Wednesday

• 8pm – The Middle/Better With You (ABC)/America’s Next Top Model (CW)
• 9pm – Modern Family/Cougar Town (ABC)/Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
• 10pm – The Defenders (CBS)/Law & Order: Los Angeles (NBC) [Terriers (Fx)]

Am losing interest in ANTM and the Law & Orders but keeping them in the running with the comedies. Better w/You isn’t quite funny but the episode about living in a fire house kept me interested just because I’ve always wanted to live in a fire house (or light house) but it may go soon. Terriers is probably my favorite new show so keeping that on the agenda isn’t a problem while Defenders is so far sort of charming enough to keep me tuned in.

Thursday

• 8pm - The Big Bang Theory (CBS)/Bones (Fox)/Community/30 Rock (NBC)
• 9pm – Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)/The Office (NBC) [Project Runway (Life)]
• 10pm – The Mentalist (CBS)/It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Fx)

Another tough first hour as I’m not willing to give up Bones, Big Bang or Community though the rest of the night seems to fit in fine. Holding out to see if Office picks up or drops off, especially with Michael’s scheduled departure.

• Top Gear (BBCA, 6pm) Season Premiere - A Porsche, a Jaguar, and a Chrysler…
• Bachelorette (ABC, 8pm) – The men tell all… are the men less catty?

Tuesday

• Breakthrough with Tony Robbins (NBC, 8pm) Series Premiere – Tony tries to help out folks making changes in their lives.
• Masterchef (Fox, 9pm) Series Premiere – More wannabe chefs compete to go pro.
• The Colony (Disc, 10pm) Season Premiere – Another season of real folks who agree to live in a place with a fake viral apocalypse.
• Growing Up Twisted (A&E, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – We tag along with Twister Sister front man Dee and his family.

Wednesday

• Plain Jane (CW, 9pm) Series Premiere – Will makeovers and dating tips make these ladies confessions of crushes a success?

Thursday

• Project Runway/On the Road with Austin & Santino (Life, 9/10:30pm) Season/Series Premiere – First another season of competitors and then two former contestants design looks for real life ladies.
• Jersey Shore (MTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – The gang heads to Miami and I still can’t care.

Friday

• Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta (TLC, 9:30pm) Series Premiere – It’s like Say Yes to the Dress, but it’s set in… Atlanta.

Saturday

• X Games (Various) – Let the games begin… ok so it’s actually starting Thursday and running through Sunday… the X Games head to LA, so check in for lots of hours of coverage on all the ESPNs including: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN International, ESPN.com\action, ESPN Classic, ESPN3.com, and SportsCenter.

Sunday

• Rubicon (AMC, 8/9pm) Series Premiere – The latest drama brings some code crackers to our conspiracies.

Monday

• Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives (Food, 10pm) Season Premiere – Pizza, pork, and paprikash, need I say more?
• Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Trav, 10pm) Season Premiere – Tony heads to Panama.
• Fantasia For Real (VH1, 10pm) Series Premiere – If you’ve been wondering, what is Fantasia up to these days this is the show for you.

Tuesday

• American Idol (Fox, 8pm, tues/wed) Season Premiere – We kick off the early rounds of night after night of auditions for those who just can’t get enough, and there will be some guest judges until Ellen takes her regular chair come Hollywood.
• Southland (TNT, 10pm) – Remember that show that was canceled before they started airing the second season, well they’re starting it out from the beginning on cable, and will air at least all the produced episodes though no guarantees they’ll get anymore.
• Blue Mountain State (Spike, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – It’s a new football comedy, maybe for those who get too upset watching Friday Night Lights.
• Little Miss Perfect (WE, 10pm) Season Premiere – Does the girl without an entourage stand a chance in this latest pageant?

Wednesday

• Monsterquest (Hist, 9pm) Season Premiere – Monster Sharks!
• High School Reunion (TVL, 10pm) Season Premiere – This season the class of ’89 brings 11 folks from Las Vegas to Hawaii.
• Leverage (TNT, 10pm) Season Premiere – The team hits the runway to right another wrong, with some sort of con of course.
• Solving History (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Apparently the host of this show’s name is Olly Steeds but I keep reading it as Oily.
• Tosh.0 (Com, 10:30pm) Season Premiere – Daniel Tosh puts ‘his indelible stamp on everything crazy the Web has to offer’.

Thursday

• First 48/Manhunters (A&E, 9/10/10:30pm) Season Premieres – Real life murders and fugitives.
• Ace of Cakes (Food, 10pm) Season Premiere – Apparently there is a DIY show that some guys are visiting from to make a ‘man cave’ out of Duff’s basement, and there will still be some cakes.
• Archer (FX, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – Spy spoof animation.
• Project Runway/Models of the Runway (Life, 10/11pm) Season Premieres – They’re back…
• Watch What Happens (Brav, midnight) Season Premiere – I think if you tune in something will happen.

Friday

• Critic’s Choice Movie Awards (VH1, 8:30/9pm) – First the arrivals and then Kristin Chenoweth hosts as the awards season moves along.
• I Shouldn’t Be Alive (AnPl, 9pm) Season Premiere – Creepy stories where people could have died but didn’t.
• The Singing Bee (CMT, 9pm) Season Premiere – More karaoke singing competition.
• Swamp Loggers (Disc, 10pm) Season Premiere – Swamps, logging…

Saturday

• Alli Winter Dew Tour (NBC, 10am sat, 12pm sun) – Winter action sports hit Snowbasin, Utah.
• Pit Boss (AnPl, 10pm) Series Premiere – I feel like making a little person/pit bull rescue joke would be un-pc…

Sunday

• Golden Globe Awards (NBC, 7/8pm) – Ricky Gervais hosts this one for television and filmmakers from the Hollywood Foreign Press.
• Human Target (Fox, 8pm) Series Premiere – Mark Valley puts himself between his clients and their deaths, based on a comic book, it moves to its regular timeslot on Wednesday.
• Food Network Challenge (Food, 8pm) Season Premiere – 4 barbecue teams need to master 4 kinds of meats.
• 24 (Fox, 9pm) Season Premiere – That guy must be very good at his job to have survived all these days, or the show could be unbelievable, nah…

And then at some point I had a cable problem and my wonderful cable guy didn’t put the blocker back on. A whole new world opened up to me. The world that was normally reserved for visiting my parent’s house and watching cable (minus HBO). I was slowly sucked into show after show, The Closer, Breaking Bad, even Rock of Love… It was a world I always said wasn’t worth the cost but I was getting it for FREE. And even when cable problems arose at a later time I decided to wait it out in fear of inviting the cable guy back over and having him put the dreaded blocker back on.

And then one day, no call to the cable guy, I woke to find that I could no longer get Gillmore Girls reruns on ABC Family. I could no longer get Project Runway on Lifetime. I could no longer get the final season of Monk on USA. What is a person to do? Well, I could pay for more cable, $29.99 a month seems reasonable and when that expires after 12 months I could probably negotiate down from the standing $59.99, which is an amount that seem ridiculous. And then there’s always the reported triple play deal of packaging cable, internet, and phone. Or I could try to take better advantage of the posting of shows online (it’ll get me through at least some current missing episodes) and of course I can wait for the shows that I might really care about to release on dvd.

So what to do? At least for now I’ll leave it on my list of things to do, along with upgrading my tivo.

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).