Thursday Talk Week 3

J: Which shows have you given up on watching recently, and why?

Jennifer: I stopped watching Ugly Betty this season. There wasn't really any one thing or moment that made me stop, I just realized one week that I just wasn't enjoying the show very much anymore. The show has a lot of great characters, but somehow I just stopped caring about them, especially Betty, which is problematic since she's the main character. I've also stopped watching Scrubs (I tried a few episodes of the new incarnation but I think I'd really just rather leave it at last season's written-as-a-series-finale) and 24 (I didn't finish last season and I don't think I'll be bothering to start this season). Also this might not count but I also never really got enough into Flashforward and V and won't be watching when they return.

Mira: I gave up American Idol because I realized that I spent more time complaining about it than enjoying it. Except I cheated a little today and watched for 20 minutes to see Kristen Chenoworth (sp?). I've also unofficially given up 90210 and Melrose Place. The fake reason is because the shows are so stupid beyond description and I can spend my time watching better stuff. The real reason is because I fell behind and the episodes I missed aren't available on hulu/cwtv anymore. They're a very, very guilty pleasure but I'm sure with more time away from the shows I'll learn not to miss it anymore. (Kind of like when I gave up The OC.)

New winter TV

There is SO MUCH new TV premiering in the next couple of weeks, and an annoyingly large number of them are on Mondays. WTF? What I'll be watching:

1. Battlestar Galactica. Final season, all will be revealed??

2. 24. It's been quite awhile, and I never finished watching the last season of this show, but I kind of liked the Redemption special so I'm definitely planning on watching. I'm a little upset about Tony coming back from the dead and being evil though because he was one of my favorites. I'm secretly hoping he won't turn out to be truly evil?

3. Damages. Originally I wasn't too keen on a second season of this show, but Glenn Close is so damn good I can't complain.

4. Kyle XY. I can't really explain my love for this show...perhaps it's just the teen sci-fi aspect that isn't found elsewhere on TV anymore. In any case, I'm super excited, especially with reports that it'll be more action-packed.

5. Scrubs. Now on ABC, also possibly the final season? What can I say, it's just kooky and fun and the only medical show I watch.

6. Dollhouse. The new Joss Whedon show with Eliza Dushku. It sounds pretty out there, as one would expect from Joss, and it's been doomed to a Friday night timeslot on FOX, which definitely has no qualms about canceling shows right away, and at the same time I wonder if it's been hyped up too much. I remain optimistic though and I can't wait.

7. Friday Night Lights. The season has already been airing on DirecTV but now it's finally coming to NBC. I think it's likely this is the last season but really I'm just thankful we got to a third one at all.

8. The Bachelor. I know, I'm ridiculous. But I really did like Jason from the last season of the Bachelorette....I thought he was truly decent and it sucked that he got down on one knee to propose and then got rejected. I think it'll be interesting to see how he deals with being the one to have to date multiple people now because he seems very honest and genuine. God knows why I still have hope that he found someone for real when the show's track record basically sucks.

9. America's Best Dance Crew. I don't think I mentioned it but I went to the live tour this past fall and it was really pretty awesome. I wasn't a faithful viewer either the first or second seasons but I might tune in this season. Especially with reports that Dominic and Hok from So You Think You Can Dance season 3 and their crew might be on it.

10. Bromance/The City. Yeah, it just gets worse. But I woke up at 3am last night and couldn't sleep and found Bromance on the air. And it was just really kind of hilarious. (Apparently this show and Momma's Boys were both developed by Ryan Seacrest. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that nugget.) As for The City...I stopped watching The Hills last year because I just couldn't handle Speidi anymore and all of Lauren's self-righteous friendship drama was becoming intolerable, but I always liked Whitney. That said, I'm kind of surprised she agreed to headline her own show because she was always a bit guarded about her personal life. Now she's inviting this weird level of manufactured-ness into her life...I mean, Olivia Palermo is apparently a pretty well-known New York socialite who was basically cast on the show to be Whitney's co-worker, and Whitney met Jay, her Australian musician love interest, on camera and had to kind of ask him if it was ok to have their relationship chronicled on reality TV. Which makes me kind of wonder if he really likes her or if he just wants to be on TV?

11. Big Love. Hm, I haven't finished watching the last season of this show either, and honestly sometimes all the stuff with Roman and Alby and such loses my interest but at this point I'm basically invested in the characters so I will probably keep up.

12. Reaper. Does anyone remember this show? I thought it kind of grew into its own towards the end of its first season and I'm glad it's coming back.

Plus new season of The Amazing Race, Masterpiece Classic, and all the other shows I watched this fall...my DVR is going to be super busy and thank goodness for hulu.com and other online streaming!

Upfronts -- Another take

I think what surprised me most about this year's upfronts were how few returning shows I'm going to be sticking with this fall. There's only Brothers & Sisters, How I Met Your Mother, Heroes, Ugly Betty, the Office, Scrubs, Beauty and the Geek, and Friday Night Lights. There are plenty of new shows, though, and it seems that there are two trends: sci-fi twists, and glamorous rich people...

NBC

• So glad Friday Night Lights is renewed, but are they really putting it on Friday? I know, it's kind of fitting because of the title of the show, but Friday at 10PM? Not sure how that's going to work out.


• Chuck sounds like Jake 2.0, so I might like it.

ABC

• SO EXCITED for Pushing Daisies. I recently watched the full Wonderfalls series on DVD and I'm a huge huge fan of Bryan Fuller and I'm so happy to see Lee Pace back on TV. I'm still kind of worried though, because it really seemed like it could be too quirky for network TV.


• I'll probably check out Big Shots because Michael Vartan is in it, haha.


• Still can't really believe that they're actually doing the Cavemen show.


• Dirty Sexy Money might end up being a guilty pleasure?

CBS

• Really really surprised and pretty upset that Jericho was cancelled. More on that later though.


• Um, Moonlight is Angel. Is it not?

FOX

• New Amsterdam seems to be another version of Angel too. What the heck?


• Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon Ramsay. I am so there!


• The Search for the Next Great American Band. This seems to be an extension of American Idol, but is this for rock bands or just like singing groups? I'd much rather see Rock Star come back...


• The Return of Jezebel James, scheduled for mid-season. Amy Sherman-Palladino, Parker Posey, and Lauren Ambrose? Kind of sounds like the dream team, but early reports say that it was a bit disappointing. Will definitely check it out anyway though.

CW

• Pretty relieved that Veronica Mars was cancelled, because all the talk about the show coming back in all sort of different incarnations was just ridiculous and worrisome. I'm pretty eh about the state of the show right now, considering how much I LOVED the show first season. But more about that later with what's now apparently the series finale.


• Yeah, like Mira, I will not be able to resist Gossip Girl. Yes, I read some of the books. Yes, they're trashy. Yes, I'm too old for it. But yes, I will watch it. I also hear that Kristen Bell will be narrating the show as Gossip Girl. She's one of the few actors that I can take hearing voiceovers from, so that's a good sign.


• Life is Wild sounds like it's going to crash and burn like Runaway.


• Reaper could be good. Is this the return to teen genre TV that I've been waiting for?