Fall 2008 TV Schedule

It seems these past few weeks I've spent an exorbitant amount of time in front of the television -- and given how much one my think I normally watch -- that's really saying something... first it was the Olympics (pretty much on 24/7), then the Democratic Convention, then the Republican Convention, and tennis' US Open thrown in the middle of that mix as well.   

All this extra stuff got to be so much, I actually did the unthinkable -- stopped watching this season of Big Brother!  Shocking, I know!   We were 5+ episodes beyond after getting back from Beijing -- then was too wrapped up in watching the Olympics... that it just seemed like a sacrifice that needed to be made... and potentially dangerous for watching future editions as I seem to be surviving just fine without it.

This week the TV Guide Fall Preview edition arrived in the mail.  I remember being all excited to check out the new shows and figure out which ones to watch... or how I was going to watch them all... but this year, it looks like it won't be all that much (I think I just heard a sigh of relief from a special someone).   Not sure if it was last year's writer's strike that put brakes on new shows for this season, but pretty much not picking up anything new...

Here's the day-by-day run-down of what it looks like we'll be watching (and if you want to check out the fall schedule yourself, here's a link to TVG's grid):

Monday:  Dancing With the Stars, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother
Big Bang was our break-out hit of new shows from last season... and I think it's a crime that Jim Parson (Sheldon) did not get an Emmy nomination.

Tuesday: Dancing With the Stars: The Results
Shockingly enough, that's all folks

Wednesday: New Adventures of Old Christine
Again, a pretty slim night... with CBS moving the Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy to kick off a new hour of comedy on Wed. night.   Much like Big Bang, I think Christine is under-appreciated.

Thursday:  My Name Is Earl, Kath & Kim, The Office
And we arrive at the only new show on tap - Molly Shannon's Kath & Kim... it looks quite odd and I'm not sure how much Molly I can stomach, but will give it a try.  Earl is on really shaky ground, really stopped watching it the latter half of last season... and you may notice, the final part of NBC's comedy quartet - 30 Rock - is missing.  I've given the show a couple of tries and but my eh-ness over Tracy Morgan and (especially) Alec Baldwin seem to trump my love of Tina Fey.  Also MIA is Survivor: Gabon, again tempting since this will be the first Survivor season in HD, but pretty much tired of it (again a case of where you skip a season and don't really miss it).

Saturday:  Nothing
Remember when Saturday night used to be THE night for television - Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family, Bob Newhart, Golden Girls, Love Boat??? 

Sunday:  Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Brother & Sisters
By far our biggest night of TV... ending with what, somewhat arguably, is now our favorite show - Brothers & Sisters.

But before you get too impressed with what I think is our lightest TV schedule of all-time... it will be more than a bit filled in with shows not on the Big 4 networks.  On HBO, we'll be watching the return of Entourage and give Alan Ball's (creator of Six Feet Under) new vampire series, True Blood, a try-out... and likewise I have heard good things about Little Britain.   On Showtime, recently admitted sex-addicted David Duchovny returns for a second season of Californication (where he plays a fairly sex-addicted writer)... and on USA, and even after seeing 3,427 commercials for it during the US Open, somehow I still want to give out Debra Messing's The Starter Wife a shot.

And then... a recent trend is a whole new season of TV starting in January... so it will be the return of such shows as 24 (totally scuddled last season by the writer's strike), American Idol, Lost (embarassingly enough, we still haven't watched the last 4 episodes of last season!), Scrubs ("debuting" on ABC at some point), and likely another cycle of Dancing With the Stars.  So our TiVo, despite a somewhat slow start, will still be pretty darn busy!

Comments

[Aric]

I am a brand new reader, but why no 30 Rock?

[Scot]

I have ignored Big Brother for a couple of seasons thanks to people like mike boogie, creepy dick and creepy dick daughter. However, as sucky as this season started out, the last 4 weeks of this season have been the best this show has been EVER. There's a cute little guy named Dan who plays this game better than anybody I've seen yet. Very sly and, well, just a good game player. Not necessarily a nice player but a good player. Plus, it doesn't hurt that he's pretty easy on the eyes either. I love those little pocket hotties.

What - no Ace of Cakes?!?! You're missing a great show. Every now and then, EVERY NOW AND THEN, the food network pulls off a really entertaining show. Ace of Cakes is one of them.
Hey! I just saw a promo for Brothers and Sisters. New season starts sunday,Sept 28th.!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jeff]

Have you seen the original Australian "Kath & Kim"? It is hilarious (I'm trying to remember which cable channel aired episodes of it way back when, but memory fails me). The promos so far of the NBC version just aren't doing it for me, but I'll give it a chance...