what’s new?

privileged.jpgWell the majority of the new shows have hit the air and although I’m not sure there are any real stand outs this year there are a few that so far have been added to my repertoire.

  • Easy Money (CW, Sun 9pm) – Nothing is easy as we follow a family that runs one of those high interest loan shops and learn that the favorite son who is keeping the business on track questions the business and whether he is in fact their son.
  • The Ex List (CBS, Fri 9pm) – I don’t know that I won’t get tired of this gal looking up and hooking up with her exes from days gone by but so far the perspective and supporting cast just feel fresh and funny.
  • Life on Mars (ABC, Thurs 10pm) – I’ve never seen the original UK series so I’m not sure how they compare but I am enjoying Jason O’Mara as a present day cop mysteriously finding himself having to solve crimes in the 70s with tough guys Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli.
  • The Mentalist (CBS, Tues 9pm) – I do like Simon Baker, and he strikes a good balance with the smug and injured lead character using his peculiar skills in observation and personal interactions to help solve crimes.
  • Privileged (CW, Tues 9pm) – Joanna Garcia is just darned likable as she tries to help two troublesome girls get their grades up while keeping them out of trouble and figuring out how to deal with her own family and live her own life.
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next week 10/20

New and notable in the week ahead… procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

  • Rita Rocks (Life, 8:30pm) Series Premiere – Single mother starts up a little garage band with some neighbors, and ‘rocks.’
  • Real Chance of Love (VH1, 9pm) Series Premiere – I Love New York rejected some dudes and now they’re back for some love picking of their own.
  • Scream Queens (VH1, 10pm) Series Premiere – The ladies compete for slasher film fame.

Tuesday

  • Living with the Wolfman (AnPlan, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – A couple on a wolf preserve.
  • The Rookies (A&E, 10pm) Series Premiere – Field training officers take a new crop of police academy grads out on the street of Tampa.

Wednesday

  • World Series (Fox, 5pm) – The Phillies vs the Red Sox or the Rays kick off the series tonight.
  • Stylists (CW, 9pm) Series Premiere – Lackeys compete to become lackeys at Elle magazine.

Thursday

  • Hip Hop Awards (BET, 5pm) – Katt Williams hosts this gala with top noms to Lil Wayne.
  • American Gangster (BET, 7pm) Season Premiere – The life and times of some of the most notorious black crime figures.
  • Celebrity Rehab (VH1, 10pm) Season Premiere – Dr Drew is back with another crew of ‘actual celebrites’ trying to get clean, and rumor has it Jeff Conaway is back.

Friday

  • Catch up on the tivo backlog or pop in a netflix, I’ve been catching ANTM repeats.

Saturday

  • World’s Ugliest Dog Competition (AnPlan, 10pm) – I think we all get the idea on this.

Sunday

  • Calzaghe/Jones 24/7 (HBO, 8:30pm) Season Premiere – All about the boxers or something.
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next week 10/13

New and notable in the week ahead… procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

  • Little People, Big World (TLC, 8pm) Season Premiere – I think we’re following a family.
  • Samantha Who? (ABC, 9:30pm) Season Premiere – This Applegate amnesiac show amused me last year.
  • My Own Worst Enemy (NBC, 10pm) Series Premiere – Christian Slater is a spy with an average guy split personality as his alter ego.

Tuesday

  • The Cleaner (A&E, 10pm) Season Finale – I didn’t love this Benjamin Bratt gets druggies clean show.
  • Eli Stone (ABC, 10pm) Season Premiere – I’m assuming Eli survives his brain surgery and still has those wacky visions.
  • Iditarod (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – This reality show follows the ‘toughest race on earth’.
  • The Rachel Zoe Project (Bravo, 10pm) Season Finale – Annoying people at work and some pretty clothes.

Wednesday

  • Presidential Debate (Various, 6pm/pst 9pm/est) – They’re back.
  • Time Warp (Disc, 8/8:30pm) Series Premiere – Looking at things like movement too fast for the human eye and juggling.
  • Project Runway (Brav, 9pm) Season Finale – I am so behind on this I can expect to find out who won before I get caught up.
  • Parking Wars (A&E, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – I think this is like your worst parking moments caught on tape.
  • Prototype This (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Can a car be designed that eliminates road rage?
  • Chocolate News (Com, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – This sketch show has David Alan Grier giving his take on current events.

Thursday

  • International X-Games (ESPN2, 8pm) – Do the boards flip the same way in mexico?

Friday

  • Crusoe (NBC, 8pm) Series Premiere – Crusoe crashes on an island and faces danger… more Gilligan or Lost?
  • Real Simple, Real Life (TLC, 8pm) Series Premiere – A team of experts help simplify a person’s life.
  • Crash (Starz, 10pm) Series Premiere – The film comes to tv with Dennis Hopper as one of the ensemble.

Saturday

  • Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling (CMT, 8pm) Series Premiere – Ten ‘celebrities’ like Danny Bonaduce compete to be the top celebrity wrestler.

Sunday

  • Action Sports (NBC, Sat/Sun 1pm/pst, also on USA and Spike) The Playstation Pro in Orando will give you another chance to catch people doing the near impossible on boards, bikes, and more.
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next week 10/6

New and notable in the week ahead… procrastinator picks are underlined

Monday

  • Bingo America (GSN, 6:30pm) Season Premiere – I don’t actually get the Game Show Network but if I did I don’t know that I would have thought bingo was a gameshow, but why wouldn’t it be.

Tuesday

  • Presidential Debate (Various Channels, 6pm est/9pm est) – Tom Brokaw hosts the second.
  • Dirty Jobs (Disc, 9pm) Season Premiere – This season starts with taking on some of the tasks of a merchant boat.
  • Real Housewives of Atlanta (Brav, 9pm) Series Premiere – If you’re familiar with these shows, I think that’s all you need to know.

Wednesday

  • South Park/Sarah Silverman (Com, 10/10:30pm) Season Premiere – A couple groups of potty mouths.
  • TV Land Myths and Legends (TVL, 10pm) Season Premiere – The stories behind the stories.

Thursday

  • Kath & Kim (NBC, 8:30pm) Series Premiere – Selma Blair and Molly Shannon play a dysfunctional mother and daughter.
  • CSI (CBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – Looks like they’re recovering from Warrick getting shot, and I think Grissom only has a few episodes and then we turn it over to Laurence Fishburne.
  • SNL Weekend Update Thursday (NBC, 9:30pm) – I think this will make Saturday night less funny.
  • Eleventh Hour (CBS, 10pm) Series Premiere – Science crimes may be no match for Rufus Sewell.
  • LA Ink (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Inking in LA.
  • Life on Mars (ABC, 10pm) Series Premiere – Remake of British fan favorite where a cop ends up in the 70s solving crimes the old fashioned way.
  • Testees (FX, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – This new comedy has two guys who test products and wait for the side effects.

Friday

  • The Starter Wife (USA, 9pm) Season Premiere – Debra Messing returns as former Hollywood wife starting yet again.

Saturday

  • Macy’s Celebrity Catwalk Challenge (NBC, 8pm) – I don’t know that this will compare to ANTM.
  • The Graham Norton Show (BBCA, 10pm) Season Premiere – Graham hosts and talks I believe.

Sunday

  • Rock of Love Charm School (VH1, 9pm) Season Premiere – This premise is hilarious, Sharon Osborne tries to turn RoL contestants into ladies.
  • The Pick-Up Artist (VH1, 10pm) Season Premiere – Those less able to get the ladies learn tips that are one of the following a) helpful b) hilarious or c) offensive.
  • Skins (BBCA, 10pm) Season Premiere – These British teens supposedly make Gossip Girl look tame.
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next week 9/29

New and notable in the week ahead, procrastinator picks are underlined

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.
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next week 9/22

And the premieres are really cooking, get your tivos ready…. New and notable for the week ahead, procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

  • Heroes (NBC, 8/9pm) Season Premiere – First we countdown, maybe that means they try to explain what the heck has happened in the first two seasons, then what’s normally an engaging but uneven series has some promising buzz as this year we meet the ‘villains’.
  • Dancing With the Stars (ABC, 8pm, second rounds Wed/Thurs) Season Premiere – Who will delight America this season and how long can we keep Cloris Leachman in the mix?
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – This show grew on me throughout last year, as the geeks and their straight woman/hot girl Penny make fun, super misfit Sheldon steals the show.
  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8:30pm) Season Premiere – This show has a great ensemble and the Barneyisms are almost worth it alone.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – They’re back with more odd couple shenanigans.
  • Worst Week (CBS, 9:30pm) Series Premiere – Folks are saying this could be funny, but again, not sure about one mishap after another for a whole season.
  • Boston Legal (ABC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Is this show still on? Is this show still getting emmy nominations?
  • CSI: Miami (CBS, 10pm) Season Premiere – I think someone shot Horatio, can anyone really stand David Caruso?

Tuesday

  • Opportunity Knocks (ABC, 8pm) Series Premiere – A game show where families win based on knowledge of each other.
  • NCIS (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – I admit I’ve never seen this navy investigation show.
  • Eureka (SciFi, 9pm) Season Finale – Maybe we find out what happened all those years ago and how their new fixer was involved.
  • The Mentalist (CBS, 9pm) Series Premiere – Simon Baker solves crimes after years as a fake celebrity psychic.
  • Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Luke Perry won’t do 90210 so catch him in this ep, will he be creepy?
  • Without a Trace (CBS, 10pm) Season Premiere – I used to watch this show but no longer catch the FBI’s weekly missing person drama.

Wednesday

  • Knight Rider (NBC, 8pm) Series Premiere – Unless there were significant changes from the made for tv movie/pilot this one’s a pass.
  • The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – I actually like this ridiculous show where JLDreyfuss and her gang are obnoxious but funny.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS, 8:30pm) Series Premiere – Jay Mohr deals with his divorced dad lifestyle.
  • David Blaine (ABC, 9pm) – I’m always a little wary of these ‘magicians’ who do something like hang from a wire for days.
  • Criminal Minds (CBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – I think we ended last season with an explosion, is all the team coming back?
  • CSI: NY (CBS, 10pm) Season Premiere – This one isn’t as annoying as Miami and is a decent procedural.
  • Lipstick Jungle (NBC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Of the identical average new chick shows of last season (the other was Cashmere Mafia) this one rolled over to this season, let’s hope they fine tuned things.

Thursday

  • Ugly Betty (ABC, 8pm) Season Premiere – I never quite appreciated this campy soap drama.
  • My Name is Earl (NBC, 8/8:30pm) Season Premiere – Last season’s coma didn’t quite work, let’s hope this season is back to its white trash misfit make amends roots.
  • Survivor: Gabon (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – So they’re in Gabon, wherever that is.
  • The Office (NBC, 9/9:30pm) Season Premiere – What’s in store this year for Michael and Pam and Dwight and that other main guy?
  • Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Now that we’re over most of the Mer/Der drama let’s get back to the rest of the gang.
  • ER (NBC, 10pm) Season Premiere – I recall hearing that this 15th season is the last and they’re trying to get as much of the gang back together as they can, Clooney is a long shot.

Friday

  • Presidential Debate (Various, 6pm/pst) – This election season feels like it has been going on forever but now we could really start to get down to it as Jim Lehrer moderates.

Saturday

  • Dirty Sexy Money (Soap, 9am) – Catch up on delightful season one with this marathon.
  • Chris Rock (HBO, 9pm) – In his Kill the Messenger special we see comedy from a few locations on his tour.
  • 48 Hours Mystery (CBS, 10pm) Season Premiere – I don’t know that I’ve ever watched this true-crime series.

Sunday

  • 60 Minutes (CBS, 7pm) Season Premiere – The stop watch still ticks.
  • Extreme Makeover: Home (ABC, 7/8pm) Season Premiere – I f I read this correctly a single mother of four took in her sister’s 10 children…. I can’t even take care of my plants, she deserves a house.
  • The Amazing Race (CBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – I understand this is one of the ‘good’ reality shows.
  • The Simpsons/King of the Hill/Family Guy/American Dad (Fox, 8-10pm) Season Premieres – The animation evening continues.
  • Desperate Housewives (ABC, 9pm) Season Premiere – As I understand it they’re refreshing things by skipping ahead five years.
  • Cold Case (CBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – Another one of those procedurals I didn’t keep up with.
  • Dexter (Show, 9pm) Season Premiere – Ok I’m still on season 3 on netflix but this one is addictive.
  • Brothers and Sisters (ABC, 10pm) Season Premiere – So if anyone missed it the now making out Rebecca and Justin are not really related, she only thought she was his sister for a while.
  • The Unit (CBS, 10pm) Season Premiere – When the team protects the vice and president elects, they could just paste a current candidates head on the actor’s bodies.
  • Californication (Show, 10pm) Season Premiere – Too easy to make a David Duchovny joke.
  • Little Britain (HBO, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – A fav british sketch show may take a few weeks to get its new american legs.
  • The Life & Times of Tim (HBO, 11pm) Series Premiere – Steve Dildarian former ad guy and fun painter creates this new animated series.
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next week 9/15

New and notable for the week ahead, procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

  • The Closer (TNT, 9pm) Season Finale – I now have this entire season saved on tivo.
  • Weeds (Show, 10pm) Season Finale – This show is still in my queue but some catching up on other shows first.

Tuesday

  • The Biggest Loser (NBC, 8pm) Season Premiere – The families are back, you people who love the joyous transformations get ready.
  • House (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – I dig the curmudgeonly doc and am curious to see if they find a better balance between new and old supporting docs.
  • Lincoln Heights (ABCFam, 8pm) Season Premiere – The preview looks like a young couple suffers a melodramatic robbery turned hostage situation.
  • Big Brother (CBS, 9pm) Season Finale – Someone wins…

Wednesday

  • Ultimate Fighter (Spike, 10pm) Season Premiere – 32 fighters try to win a UFC contract.
  • Manswers (Spike, 11/11:30pm) Season Premiere – I stumbled upon an old episode of this show and learned how to beat a drug test, not that I need that information.

Thursday

  • Smallville (CW, 8pm) Season Premiere – I watched this show for the first season so I am totally out of touch with Clark and his new superfriends.
  • Supernatural (CW, 9pm) Season Premiere – Two generic good looking brothers fight the supernatural, you’d think I’d be interested but I never was.
  • Burn Notice (USA, 10pm) Season Finale – Whatever sort of fix will Michael get forced into this week, I’m actually usually looking forward to seeing him get out of it.
  • It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX, 10/10:30pm) Season Premiere – This super un pc show, this week it’s about cannibalism, actually made me laugh though it didn’t hit the tivo season pass so over time I sort of dropped it.

Friday

  • Davis Cup (Vs, 9am, fri-su) – US vs. Spain, will typically hit singles on Friday/Sunday with doubles on Sat.
  • Dog Whisperer (NatGeo, 9pm) – 100th episode brings back some now well behaved doggies and looks back at the not so well behaved doggies.

Saturday

  • Primeval (BBCA, 9pm) Season Premiere – Anomalies and dinosaurs or something.

Sunday

  • Beach Volleyball (Fox, 11:30am) – The granddaddy of all tournaments in Manhattan Beach, can Misty and Carrie get their mojo back?
  • Emmy Awards (ABC, 8pm) – I admit I don’t really watch this awards show and this year the reality hosts don’t make me want to change my mind.

* Check your local listings, live events typically noted as PST.

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fringe ‘science’

fringe.jpgWell all the buzz made us plan not to expect another Lost launch, so imagine my surprise when it started with a plane nearly crashing, though this one was just full of some freaky diseased people. And of course at least one of our leads needs to have lost a love, or lose a love, or maybe just be betrayed by one in a tragic way that makes them that much more focused on the cause, and a little damaged, so we covered that.

Our FBI gal invested herself in the investigation of the crazy translucent skin caper and pulled out all the stops dragging in our other leads and stumbling on to a bit more than she ever could have imagined. And of course a nice conspiracy and/or questionable corporation can be an overarching theme and give us plenty of fodder for our week to week adventures.

I’ll have to say it just had a slow start with the dry FBI angle, even though the case was unusual, unusual cases don’t surprise all that much anymore. The introduction of Pacey could have been a spirit bringer but his character at least started off as sort of a downer. I have to admit that I think I was rooting for Pacey but so far he’s no Fox Mulder. His cocky calling the little lady ‘sweetheart’ and his ridiculing his father’s sciences all seemed a little stilted. I guess that’s the main problem that I had with the series, I didn’t love the main characters, and with what’s basically a procedural that’s what we tune in for.

About half way through Pacey was committed to the endeavor, about the time they got his dad uncommitted from the looney bin. The dad is a nutjob who was given carte blanche to explore weird (fringe) science back in the day until he got locked up for some lab incident. And of course he couldn’t be let out without the guardianship of his genius screw up son. Now we’re all signing up to get to the bottom of some more irregular incidents. So does this show have potential? Absolutely. But the nutjob, the FBI gal, and the contentious genius son all need a little more work. I’ll trust JJ for now.

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new fall tv

Well this season is a bit of a wild card as this last year’s strike shook up the pilot cycle. Shows didn’t produce in the same way and most didn’t have a traditional critical review. Since most critics are relegated to watching shows live like the rest of us we’re relying a little more on buzz and people associated show than critical reviews.

So what am I looking forward to:

  • 90210 (CW 9/2) – The nostalgia factor alone (Brenda and Kelly return!) makes this a must see, though so far it’s not quite appointment tv.
  • The Ex List (CBS 10/3) – Though I admittedly was annoyed by her Jane Doe character on Grey’s, Elizabeth Reaser’s new role has potential as she looks up her former loves to find the one that could be true.
  • Fringe (Fox 9/9) – With JJ Abrams (Lost and Alias) behind the show who can help but be a little excited though early leakings of the pilot have people noting that it has potential but a little way to go.
  • Life on Mars (ABC 10/9) – This redo of a BBC hit has present day cop stuck in the 70s, there’s potential with casting like Jason O’Mara, Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli, Gretchen Mol, and Lisa Bonet.
  • The Mentalist (CBS 9/23) – Simon Baker (the Guardian) stars as a former ‘fake’ psychic and now uses his skills and charisma for good, I just really like him.
  • My Own Worst Enemy (NBC, 10/13) – I always dig a spy show and I actually like Christian Slater though I can’t quite picture him as two different characters, the spy org apparently plants a brain chip to create a clean cut alter ego and this one is breaking down.

And of course there’s more shows coming:

  • Crusoe (NBC 10/12) – A series based on the old story is pretty hard to take seriously.
  • Do Not Disturb (Fox 9/10) – Jerry O’Connell stars in this Hotel comedy hoping for hilarity, he’s normally likable enough but initial reviews haven’t been good.
  • Easy Money (CW 9/21) – A family of loan sharks walk the line of legality in this ‘dramedy’.
  • Eleventh Hour (CBS, 10/9) – Rufus Sewell stars in this redo of BBC miniseries where a scientist and his by-the-book FBI partner come in at the last minute to solve scientific mysteries, for some reason the promos just look dull.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS 9/24) – Jay Mohr stars as a single dad divorced guy dealing with his kid, his ex, and his new life, though Mohr can be good this show might be average.
  • In Harm’s Way (CW 9/21) – This reality show checks out folks in tough jobs.
  • Kath & Kim (NBC 10/9) – This remake of the Aussie show stars likable Selma Blair and Molly Shannon in roles that made me cringe in the previews.
  • Privileged (CW 9/9) – Cute Joanna Garcia (Reba) is a live-in tutor for some spoiled girls, based on some books, this show might not be great television but it could be entertaining enough.
  • Knight Rider (NBC 9/24) – This show was previewed in a tv movie this last year and neither new lead (Michael Knight’s son), nor Kitt (voiced by Val Kilmer), nor the story had any new or retro pizzazz.
  • Stylista (CW, 10/22) – It’s another reality competition and in this lackeys are hoping for an entry level lackey gig at Elle magazine.
  • Surviving Suburbia (CW 11/2) – Bob Saget returns to the comedic in this darker role of husband and father dealing with life.
  • Valentine (CW 9/21) – Greek Gods play with regular folk’s love lives, Aphrodite in the regular world seems doubtful.
  • Worst Week (CBS 9/22) – Based on another hit British show, I’m skeptical that although the lead is apparently appealing this one problem after another show can keep the laughs coming.
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next week 9/8

New and notable in the week ahead, procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

  • Terminator: SCC (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – Sarah and her son John moving in time to try to stop things before they go awry, and stay alive, though the leads are both a little stiff, as the supporting cast and stories were developed so was the interest (though I might have to lose it in this time slot against GGirl and Chuck).
  • CMA Music Festival (ABC, 9pm) – Fans and country stars are shown from this four day music festival.
  • Dr 90210 (E, 10pm) Season Premiere – This reality follows a doctor in Beverly Hills I assume.

Tuesday

  • Fringe (Fox, 8pm-replays Sun) Series Premiere – 95 minute start of the JJ Abrams series (Lost, Alias, Felicity) brings us what’s being most closely compared to the X-files, as an FBI agent investigates “phenomena” with the help of old science guy and son (Dawson Creek’s Joshua Jackson).
  • Privileged (CW, 9pm-replays Sun) Series Premiere – Cute Joanna Garcia (Reba) is introduced to the world of the spoiled as a live in tutor.
  • Fashion Rocks (CBS, 9pm) – Denis Leary hosts this mix of fashionable rockers and rocking fashions.
  • The Rachel Zoe Project (Bravo, 11pm-repeats) Series Premiere – Follow real life celebrity fashion stylist and her posse as they style the celebrities.

Wednesday

  • Greatest American Dog (CBS, 8pm) Season Finale – The final three dogs compete, and I admit that I’ve dropped off this show but the difference in dog’s (and owners) performance on the different kinds of challenges was fun to see.
  • ‘Til Death (Fox, 9pm) Season Premiere – This Brad Garrett and others show about two couples, one jaded, one not, has never made it to my watched list.
  • Do Not Disturb (Fox, 9:30pm) Series Premiere -Jerry O’Connell plays the general manager of this hip hotel with apparent staff shenanigans.
  • Real World/Road Rules Challenge (MTV, 10pm-repeats) Season Premiere – I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen this show which starts its 16th season of competition.

Thursday

  • MTV’s Top Pop Group (MTV, 10pm-repeats) Series Premiere – Music acts compete as Mario Lopez hosts.
  • Comics Without Borders (Show, 10pm-repeats) Series Premiere – This looks like a standup comedy showcase.

Friday

  • 2008 Alma Awards (ABC, 8pm) – Eva Longoria Parker hosts the Latino Awards with recipients like America Ferrera
  • Don’t Forget the Lyrics (Fox, 9pm) Season Premiere – And the lyric singing continues.

Saturday

  • Action Sports (Sat/Sun NBC, USA) – The Toyota Challenge takes us to Salt Lake City as the guys get closer to winning the Dew Cup my favorite is still the vert skate and though Bucky’s in the lead it’s anyone’s game.
  • Coco Chanel (Life, 8pm) – Shirley MacLaine plays fashion icon Chanel in this tv movie of her life.
  • MADtv (Fox, 11pm) Season Premiere – Jerry O’Connell guests as this skit series returns.
  • SNL (NBC, 11:30) Season Premiere – Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps hosts and hopefully doesn’t embarrass himself with Lil Wayne performing.

Sunday

  • Catch up on tivo or replays of premieres of Fringe and Privileged, I love when they replay starters to give you some time to catch before you settle into a season.
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