And Show It Begins

Fall is officially here. And you know how I know? Because new seasons of new crappy shows are on every network on every night. And I'm hooked.

I need two TiVos this time of year. Monday night at 8pm, I have one tuner on How I met Your Mother. I have the other tuner on Chuck. And I can't watch Monday Night Football. Luckily the score wasn't close.

The hardest part is figuring out which shows to commit to. I want to find the good ones, last year's Heroes and 30 Rock, and avoid the duds, like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The Nine, both of which got canceled last year before the end of the season. Coincidentally, both starred one of the Hackett brothers from the TV show Wings. Or maybe it wasn't a coincidence. Hmmmmmm.

Here are some quick comments on what I've seen so far (and to be fair I've only seen the early starts and Monday's lineup):

Kid Nation
It needs more "kid," less "nation." I like the premise--strand forty middle school kids in a deserted ghost town. They have to do everything for themselves. I was hoping it would be a little more like Lord of the Flies. More disorder, more arguing, less supplies provided for them. The biggest fights have been about washing dishes. Really? Rinsing dishes? These ghost town arguments sound like the same ones I had with my parents in a non-ghost town. The worst thing the bully of the show did was tag some "blue team" gang signs using chalk. Yeah, chalk. He should have pinched some specs. Verdict: I don't think I'm watching it again. I wanted to see some farming. I wanted to see some arguing. I wanted to see some crying. I wanted to see a nine-year-old fillet an armadillo for supper. This is just like a crappy, kid survivor.

Survivor China
Speaking of Survivor, season twenty three is taking place in China. The show has become repetitive and uninteresting, and that's why they moved it to China. Hopefully the can hook some of the 7 billion Chinese citizens into watching their show. Verdict: Dangit, it's still starving people competing for a stupid necklace and a pack of matches. If nothing else is on... maybe.

Chuck
I think I liked this show. It's hard to tell. This was the "pilot" episode, but I think I'm going to refer to it as the "spider bite" episode. This is a reference to the Spiderman (comic and tv show), or pretty much any superhero character, where they first have to explain how the powers came to be, before the show can get on a regular routine. Chuck's brain got accidentally overloaded with a bunch of government images from a government computer. The computer blew up. Now the government needs Chuck. He works at Best Buy, err... Buy More. Verdict: I want to see one or two more before I turn my thumb up or down. This show comes from the guy who wrote The OC (bitch!). It is produced, and the first episode was directed, by McG, of the Charlie's Angles movies fame and tv show Fastlane. So it will probably suck, but look actiony-good. This show might make it through this season purely based on the HCF (Hot Chick Factor). The blond CIA agent kicks ass and sports a nice one herself. Chuck has a brunette sister, just in case blonds turn some viewers off.

The Big Bang Theory
The cute ditsy girl from The John Ritter Show (that's not the name, but who cares or knows what it was called) moves in next to two uber-dweebs. Their interactions are awkward because they come from different words. Verdict: Nerds wrote this show. Nerds might be the only people watching this show. Nerds don't pull ratings. Their HCF cannot save them past episode six.


I'll blog again after I see a few more new shows. But I'll do some quick hits on returning shows that premiered a new season:

Family Guy Star Wars episode: Classic. Have watched it twice.

How I Met Your Mother: Ted's tramp stamp reminds me of my friend Nate's. Mandy more is a dirty ho-ma, which I like.

Heroes: It'll probably still be good, but I worry that their characters are too spread apart. Last year, each individual story wound together in an urgent way. The pace of the drama and the fighting drove us through the second half of the season to a big finale. Now, at the beginning of season two, everything is slow. Everything is disconnected. It doesn't feel as strong. But then again, it's only been one episode, and to be honest, I don't think they even thought they would make it to the end of season one.