From Kristin at eOnline!:

Reliable sources close to NBC tell me the ratings-challenged (but fan-adored) Studio 60 has received a “back nine” order, meaning the series will complete a full 22 episodes for its freshman season.

 

It’s up to you.  Now, go, and tell your friends to watch.

It seems that taking big breaks or not coming on until mid-season to avoid repeats is becoming increasingly popular.  But is this a positive or a negative?
It does allow television shows to avoid the is it new this week or not game, which is nice.  It also frees up some slots in the schedule to try out new shows…like Prison Break last year.  In fact if no television shows were to run repeats you could almost have two seperate television seasons each year with entirely new shows.  Although I highly doubt the networks would want to pay for that.  Also, running several weeks in a row without repeats allows the excitement to build like 24.
It does mean that you have to go long periods of time without seeing your favorite shows.  I sometimes forget about 24 in the fall, and i don’t know what I’m going to do without Lost for twelve weeks.  Plus, are repeats always a bad thing?  It allows people to catch up on shows that they missed or perhaps rewatch a favorite. 
I think mid season debuting is fine, but debuting in the fall with only a handful of episodes and then taking a long hiatus just doesn’t work.  Why debut at all, if all we get is 6 episodes out of a 23 episode season?  Why not just push the entire thing to January or Feburary?  I think they should play larger blocks of episodes in a row and then take smaller breaks.  Why not divide the season into thirds or fourths?  In those breaks networks could air specials (like game shows or reality tv fair).  But the teasing the fans a little and then taking it away is a bad trend that I dont’ want to see continued.

 

I really just wanted an excuse to use the word ‘penultimate’…makes me feel smart.  It means ‘next to last’, in case you were wondering.

 

I’d be lying if I said that I’ve been thrilled with Lost this season.  The pilot, A Tale of Two Cities, seemed like just more of the same from the low points of last season.  The Glass Ballerina seemed like a return to form, answering and asking some questions in the same breath, in what can only be described as Lost-ish.  Further Instructions…well…it just didn’t resonate with me.  The sweat lodge dream was interesting, and it was nice to see Boone back, but Locke’s flashback just seemed so far out of character.  Now, had he actually pulled the trigger at the end, I would probably be praising that episode.  Last week’s Every Man for Himself was supposed to have a huge shocker, and Kate was supposed to “make her choice” between Jack and Sawyer.  Neither really happened.  The fact that, instead of just one island, there is another little island next to it is not huge.  And Kate’s declaration of her love for Sawyer was sketchy at best.

 

I get the feeling that a lot of people are getting ready to jump ship.  I’m not one of them, but I definitely see their point.  Now, I have no doubt that the powers that be are going to be kicking the show into overdrive…hopefully tonight (rumor: someone dies…do some searching, and you can find out who).  Hopefully it will be in time.

 

I know better than to bail on Lost too early.  I know several people that have told me that they watched it for a while, then lost interest, only to have someone tell them that they have to get back into it, which they do, only to lose interest again.  Lost is a roller coaster ride…but the highs never fail to make up for the lows.

 

 

Here are some of my thoughts on some my returning favorites:

 

LOST-Well overall it hasn’t been bad.  In fact it is still the best drama on television.  However, since they are only offering us 6 episodes before they go off for twelve weeks…I expected something a little more.  And I think come Emmy time next year, the actors on Lost (especially Fox & Lilly) really deserve some attention.

 

 

Prison Break-I just don’t see this show “running” that much longer.  The start of the season was entertaining but now the show has lost its hook.  I’m still an episode behind, but they need a new gimmic like the prison from last year.

 

 

Gilmore Girls-Yes I watch Gilmore Girls, and no I’m not ashamed.  : )  So we waited all those years for Luke & Loreli to hook up for this?  She leaves him for Christopher?!  Me no likey.  And I wish Rory & Logan would get engaged or just end it.   The inclusion of Luke’s “daughter” has been the downfall of this show.

 

 

The Office-Same great, HILARIOUS show.  Nothing more to say.

 

 

My Name Is Earl-IMHO, they should just call it the Joy show and let Jamie Pressley do her thing.  I’ve never seen anyone who was more born to play a role.

 

 

Desperate Housewives-I think the show is getting back on form after last year which was a little up and down.  These four ladies just play their characters so well.  Still must watch Sunday TV.

 

Overall I think my favorites are in good shape and worth my continued viewing.  Oh Alias how I miss you!!! 

 

 

Even though it is one of the best new shows on TV, Studio 60 is struggling.  Its timeslot is being taken over tonight by Friday Night Lights, which is frightening.  Do you feel hopeless to stop such unspeakable carnage?  No more!

 

SaveStudio60.com!  Go!  You can make a difference!!!

 

 

 

The rumor mill’s a-rumbling, saying that NBC has ordered up new episodes for Studio 60 and ABC has done the same for The Nine.  Keep those fingers crossed!

 

I challenge you to find someone watching Heroes who doesn’t hold Hiro Nakamura as the coolest character on TV.  Come to find out, Masi Oka, who portrays Hiro, has plenty of experience in what it takes to be someone of the…geekly persuasion.  In addition to a history in improv and the like, Masi also spent some time, and is still doing so, with ILM, the company responsible for the effects in the Star Wars films, Pirates of the Carribean, and The Perfect Storm.  Many of the water effects that you see in those films were the result of Oka’s work.

 

So he can stop time and work on Star Wars?  I want to be him.

 

Check out the interview here.

 

We are well into the new fall season, and the networks have had their time to “put up or shut up”.  This post was going to be up last week, but there has been a bit of shuffling.  Here are the best , IMHO, thus far.

 

5. Ugly Betty - Thursdays 8/7c

 

This has to qualify as the most surprising new hit of the season.  The promos looked extremely middle-of-the-road, but what could have easily come across as cliché actually turned out to be a cute little family-friendly show.  Watch it with the kiddies…but record Earl and The Office while doing so.

 

4.  Jericho - Wednesdays 8/7c

 

I’ve heard it referred to as the anti-Lost…all the characters know exactly where they are, they just don’t know what’s out there.  This one does suffer from quite a bit of drag, and apparent dead-end storylines (for example, the escaped convicts, a promising subplot, get a whopping one whole episode before they’re killed off).  The show, however, really shines when we get glimpses of the outside world…the answering machine message, the Asian satellite broadcast, the airplane’s black box.  I know the developers said a while back that it would be a slow burn, it’s just a bit too slow.  Pick up the pace a hair, and it’s a winner.

 

3.  The Nine - Wednesdays 10/9c

 

This show’s premiere was the one that left me with the biggest feeling of compulsion that I just had to see what came next.  The first 15 or so minutes, especially when the SWAT team came in to end the standoff gave so many brief glimpses into the characters…the teller lying bleeding on the floor, the robber screaming that he was unarmed, the former hostage yelling not to hurt him, the cop handcuffed, and later laying out the hostage negotiator…that it leaves the viewer salivating for more information.  Maybe it’s because I work in a bank…most of my coworkers and others that I know who work in the same field love the show.

 

The flashbacks show little…very little, actually.  The ones that I’ve seen have just been short bursts of memory from what happened inside.  But it keeps me coming back.

 

2.  Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - Mondays 10/9c

 

First, I do want to address one problem I have with the show.  The lead female, Harriet (Sarah Paulson) is a Christian, and is very vocal about her faith.  The other characters find it unbelievable that someone could even consider Christianity, not to mention the fact that they would admit it in public.  Is it really necessary for that to be the one brush stroke that colors her character?

 

Now that that’s out of the way, Studio 60 is just a great little drama.  Matthew Perry does a fantastic job channeling a writer struggling with cast problems, producer problems and writer’s block (kind of like me right now).  It’s tough to find something tangible that I love about this show…I just do.  I guess I can say the cliche…the writing is top-notch, brilliant performances, yada yada yada.  It’s great TV.  I hate to see it struggling while far more mediocre dramas are thriving.  NBC is putting Friday Night Lights in its timeslot this Monday, which scares me.

 

1.  Heroes - Mondays 9/8c

 

This is the one that delayed this post so that I could shuffle it around.  When I first read about Heroes on the NBC press release, it became my most anticipated new show.  It topped my Tivo Season Pass list.  Then it debuted.  And the first episode toed the sucky line.  So did the second episode.  I was almost done by the third episode, but killing the cheerleader intrigued me enough to come around for the forth episode, Collision.

 

Now…bear with me through this…

 

Back in 2004, Lost came on the scene (man, I just can’t get away from comparing everything to Lost).  It hit hard with a killer two-hour pilot, then followed up with a great second episode, Tabula Rasa, which set the stage for the flashbacks that we’ve come to know and love.  Now at this point, it was still just a show about a plane crash.  Until Walkabout, that is.  Walkabout is held by the large majority of Lost fans as the best episode of the show.  The flashbacks and events on the island led us to a killer ending, where we find that Locke was paralyzed when he got on the plane, but was healed by the island (if you didn’t know that, it’s been two years…there’s a staute of limitations on this stuff).  The show ceased to be a simple survival story and became a deep, mythological tale.

 

Collision is Heroes’ Walkabout.

 

I’m not saying that Heroes has the depth of Lost…I don’t think the show is in a position to acheive the pathos that the ABC drama contains, despite what you may think about this season.  But seeing non-geeky Hiro step out in samurai garb with a sweet little soul-patch made this show grow by leaps and bounds.  Seeing him like that, and alluding to knowing Peter in the future (I almost didn’t recognize you without the scar), lets me know that this show could really become something special.

 

That’s the list.  Be sure to leave thoughts in the comment section below.

 

Kristin over at eOnline is reporting (I realize it may not be showing up on her site yet, but it’s updated in my Bloglines, so it’ll be there shortly) that NBC has just announced their updated Thursday night line-up.  Returning is one of my favorite comedies…

 

My Name is Earl - 8:00/7:00c

The Office - 8:30/7:30c

Scrubs - 9:00/8:00c (w00t!)

30 Rock - 9:30/8:30c

 

What’s that?  No sign of 20 Good Years?  There’s a shocker.