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.

The goods will be over at 24trailer.com this afternoon.  Head on over and watch the countdown!!!

Rumor has it that the new season starts after the nation has been rocked by a terrorist attack that even Jack Bauer and President Palmer couldn’t stop.  What’s that you say?  President Palmer’s dead?  Oh.  That’s inconvenient.

The trailer hits around 2 p.m. Central.

These are super-cool.

Live in NY?  Want to be one of the first to get your hands on the new Lost action figures?  Want to meet Todd McFarlane and a ‘principal Lost cast member (to be announced)’?  Slide on over here and check out the details about getting autographs on the first series of these little gems.

For those that haven’t seen them, these are super-cool.  McFarlane Toys is known for their high-quality reproductions of various licenses, and Lost is their newest undertaking.  Monday, November 6 is apparently the big release date.

Personally, the must-haves are Hurley, Locke, Charlie and the Hatch Boxed Set.  The Jack and Kate figures don’t really ring my bell, resemblance-wise.  And I think displaying the Shannon one on my desk at work would make me look like a perve.

The second wave is due in May, and contains Sawyer, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Desmond and Mr. Eko, with a boxed set described as “Oceanic Flight 815 Crash Site”.

And the breakout hit of the new fall season is…TBD

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From Sci-Fi -

” NBC has given a full-season order for its hit superhero series Heroes, the network announced. Heroes is averaging a 5.7 rating among adults aged 18-49 and 13.5 million viewers overall, making it the number-one new series this fall in adults 18-49, tied with ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, NBC said.

“Heroes has delivered exceptional ratings since its premiere, and we’re even more impressed with the quality of the upcoming episodes,” Kevin Reilly, president, NBC Entertainment, said in a statement. “We have complete confidence in creator-executive producer Tim Kring. The best is yet to come over the course of a full season with this newest drama sensation.” Heroes airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.  ”

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