Fall TV Roundup Part I

Now that we're a couple of weeks into the fall television season, I suppose I should give my take on what's on, both new shows and old. (There will be follow-up posts on this as more groups of shows debut.) Here goes!

Short version (since I didn't realize the other one would get so long!):
Sundays: Jack and Bobby +
Mondays: The Benefactor - ; LAX +
Tuesdays: The Amazing Race + ; Father of the Pride ~
Wednesdays: Lost + ; The Bachelor -
Thursdays: Survivor ~ ; The Apprentice + ; Without a Trace +
Fridays: Nothing yet - Dr. Vegas premieres tonight.
Saturdays: Encore presentations of The Apprentice +

If I could recommend one thing: If you didn't see it on Wednesday, I highly recommend "Lost." It's like a suspense-filled movie.

Extended version:

Sundays last year belonged to "Alias" and "The Practice," occasionally catching "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" before that. Now "Alias" isn't coming on until mid-season, "The Practice" is gone and replaced by a questionable "Boston Legal," and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" isn't premiering until Sunday. So my Sundays were up for grabs.

For the past two weeks, the only show I've watched has been "Jack and Bobby" on the WB. I haven't watched a WB show since the first season of "Dawson's Creek," but this one's pretty good. If you haven't heard the premise, it's about two brothers, one of whom becomes President in the 2040s. It's present-day scenes about their lives intertwined with documentary footage from after the President's terms. Pretty interesting, and I'll keep watching. I recommend it. Jack's pretty cute too.

Mondays last year were a TV wasteland if you don't count "MNF." (Although it didn't stop me from watching.) What was there? "Average Joe"? "Forever Eden"? Fox pulled "Skin." Well, I guess there's "Fear Factor." And there was "Who Wants to Marry My Dad." And that fake marriage show that I can't remember the name of. (Just came to me: "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance.")

So far this year, all I've got is "LAX" on NBC, but better than last year's wasteland. I tried watching "The Benefactor" but I got bored. Not that "The Apprentice" isn't really just about who Trump likes, but this was pretty blatantly Mark Cuban picks someone he likes and gives them money. He also wasn't very charismatic and the show was kind of boring. On the other hand, "LAX" is kind of fun. It follows "Las Vegas" which I sort of watched on and off last year, but I just found the show (LV) more "decorative" than anything else. LAX isn't the greatest drama on TV, but I don't think it's supposed to be. It's just an entertaining show with some interesting airport stories. I really liked the two episodes I've seen so far, so I'm sticking with it. Besides, Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood, and that cute passenger coordinator guy with the accent? It's a pretty cast.

And that brings us to Tuesday... "The Amazing Race" was the hit show of the summer, and now has a second Emmy win. It's a fantastic show, and it's coming back in the fall, although to what day, no one knows yet. Let's just hope it's not Thursday! (It won't be - CBS already has Survivor/CSI/Without a Trace booked solid.) Yay for TAR!

Besides "The Amazing Race," last year's Tuesdays were all about 24. But 24 isn't going to be back until mid-season either, so I had time to check out "Father of the Pride", the highly hyped show on NBC "from the producers of Shrek." It's not bad. It's entertaining. I'll watch it if it's on and I'm not doing anything else. But I'm not going to tape it, nor am I going to kick myself if I miss an episode. (Unlike, say, TAR.)

Wednesdays last year were also kind of slow, except for "The O.C." (Oh and Tues/Wed were also "American Idol"...) Fox has now made a very bright (note the dripping sarcasm) decision to move "The O.C." to Thursdays up against both "Joey" and "Survivor." Whatever. I've got J.J. Abrams's new "Lost" on ABC to keep me busy. And can I say OHMYGOODNESS intense?! It's crazy that this show, which was sufficiently frightening, action-packed, and edge-of-your-seat exciting, is on in the first prime-time hour. There are kids watching! And it's paired on the same night with "The Bachelor" and "Wife Swap." ABC, what are you thinking!? Anyway, the first part of the pilot of "Lost" aired this past Wednesday and it was great. The second part airs next week, and I've heard that both hours of the pilot air together the following Saturday. As for all the new shows, I recommend this one highly (after only one showing) - it probably is the best new show this season. And even though I haven't seen anything but part one of the pilot, I have faith in J.J. At least now we know why season 3 of "Alias" wasn't up to par...

After watching an intense hour of "Lost," watching "The Bachelor" afterwards just made the franchise look bad. Besides the fact that their "historic" two-bachelors was really an old concept (they were beat to it by "For Love or Money" - oh that's right - another Monday summer show!), it was just ridiculousness all around. And who did the girls choose? The one who I thought looked greasy. Haha. No, I did not watch the whole 2 hr crapfest. It was only during the commercials of L&O.

Moving on... Thursdays last year were "Survivor All-Stars" and "The Apprentice" starting last January. (What did I do before then? Not watch TV on Thursdays?) "Survivor" was fun; it was the first season I'd seen since the original and Australia. Got me back into it again. And then there was "The Apprentice." I loved season one - it was fun, it was watercooler talk, and it was always interesting. This season though? So far it hasn't lived up to last season, and I doubt it will. But it's been interesting. And someone from my law school class is on TV - and he's not one of the psychos/weirdos/annoying people. Yay!

"Survivor: Vanuatu" has been pretty slow starting. I find the challenges interesting, but the people are not that remarkable yet. Maybe they'll grow on me. Good news - "Without a Trace" finally beat "ER" last night in the ratings. It was a good episode. Scary though; I thought I might have nightmares - luckily I didn't.

Now on Saturdays, they are airing "Extra! Bonus! Boardroom! Footage!" of "The Apprentice." And my goodness, it's worth it. If you didn't watch the encore ice cream episode, you never would have known that Ivana okayed Stacie J calling up for temps, rationalizing it that she was "getting her out of the way so everyone else could work." Based solely on Thursday's episode, you'd think she was a crazy woman. I'm not saying she's perfect; based on some of her business actions alone, she's a little flaky, but other than the freakout in episode 1, she hasn't really seemed "crazy." However, I guess omitting that with the crazy arc the editors were going for. It's really interesting getting to see the extra footage. After all, the boardroom's the best part!

More to come when there are more shows. Like you wanted me to write more about TV. After all, this post only took how many hours, on and off, to write?