KT! Update: DVRs at Maximum Capacity!!

Hello all my tv crazed friends. We are entering fourth week of the tv season. One show has already been canceled (tootles Mischa Barton) and there are only a handful of premieres left. I think this season has a lot of potential. It has been a while since I’ve tried this many new shows, and I’m impressed that sitcoms have upped their game. It is a little stressful depending on the loathsome Direct TV DVR. For some reason Direct TV still hasn’t figured out how to “clip” shows or offer me the option to end a recording a minute later or early so that a one minute conflict doesn’t cause me to miss an episode of Fringe!!! Oh Direct TV HD TIVO where are you? Why have you forsaken me? Can it really take this long to create a Direct TV HD TIVO or are you bastards just teasing me. Ooops, sorry for the tangent. On to my Fall premiere ratings!

Monday

How I Met Your Mother-The season kicked off with Robin & Barney trying to avoid “the talk” and Ted getting over his teaching anxiety. There’s not too much to say as this show is always solid. Premiere Grade: B+

Castle-I adore Nathan Fillion. He is the reason I tune in every week for this show. I could care less about the mystery of the week. Can I even remember what the mystery was for the premiere? Gimme a second. Oh yeah, something about a guy that was in over his head. Wow, it took me a good 3 minutes of racking my brain to come up with that. What I do remember, is Castle posing for a Cosmo cover shoot, going undercover at a poker game in China Town and making amends with his partner who’s name I can’t remember…Beckitt, that’s it!. So yeah, Castle=Fillion and that’s good enough for me. Premiere Grade: B

Tuesday
So You Think You Can Dance -You can’t really rate this show’s premiere because things don’t really get interesting until the Top 20. Hopefully it will get here soon. It was enjoyable to see Cat, Mary & Nigel though.

The Biggest Loser-Wow, talk about an emotional episode. After a ONE MILE hike two contestants needed to be taken to the hospital. One was so bad she had to be helicoptered to the hospital & was off the ranch for over a week! This is the biggest group of contestants the show has ever had (with a handful over the 400 mark) and the heaviest contestant ever (a 475 lb 30 year old woman). On top of that, this is a group of emotional train wrecks. One woman lost her whole family three years ago in a car accident & then Jillian is crying & I’m blubbering into my ice cream. I was a bit concerned that the season was going to be too depressing for me but last week was emotional in a completely different way. The group gave the big F U to the week two curse and everyone got to stay on the ranch another week. Premiere Grade: A-

Wednesday
Modern Family: I’ve learned over the years to take pre-season buzz with a grain of salt. There have been quite a few shows that have gotten rave reviews only to premiere to less than stellar ratings & not make it to February sweeps. And a sitcom? I use to LOVE sitcoms but the last few years they have been wretched. So I was a wee bit apprehensive about all the hype surrounding Modern Family, a show about 3 different “modern families”. The typical family unit, older man/younger woman newlyweds and a gay couple that has just adopted a baby. But wow. I haven’t laughed that hard at a show in a long, long time. Like when the baby was holding the cream puffs. Or the mom was screeching at the soccer game. Or they told Al Bundy that the mall walkers had to stay to the right. Or my favorite was when they brought the baby out “Simba Style”. Oh my goodness, I was laughing, Jay was dying. A great ½ hour of tv. Premiere Grade: A

Cougar Town- I really enjoyed this show which stars Courtney Cox as a newly divorced woman trying to having a normal dating life without totally mortifying her high school son. I laughed out loud a few times & I hope this show (brought to you by Bill Lawrence-creator of Scrubs) will continue at this level. Premiere Grade:B+

Glee -Seriously? Do I even need to write a review? It follows a group of misfits who sing & dance. Duh. Premiere Grade:A

Thursday

Survivor: Samoa-Survivor is a show that depends on the caliber of contestants. The chemistry has to be right or else Probst is just sitting at Tribal making quips that no one cares about. So far, I’m intrigued. CBS has been touting Russell as the biggest Survivor villain ever & I think they may be right (dude is crafty too, he found the immunity idol at camp, with no clues, while everyone was watching). But I hope the season doesn’t revolve all around Russell or things could get old fast. I think we’ve seen about 6 minutes of the other tribe. Premiere Grade:A

Community-The dude from the Soup is forced to go to community college after getting busted for lying about having a degree. He puts together a study group of colorful characters to impress a girl. Chevy Chase plays a creepy old guy. I loved the Breakfast Club references in the premiere. And here’s a fun fact, the girl who plays Annie is Pete Campbell’s wife on Mad Men! Premiere Grade: B+

Mentalist-I can’t believe I watch so many “cop dramas” but what can I say, it is the cast that draws me in! While it was Simon Baker’s Patrick Jane that lured me to this show, I think the supporting players are very strong & I definitely feel an emotional connection to them (not as connected as the Bones crews, but still, I would be sad if one of them got killed). Let’s see if I can remember their mystery of the week. Oh yes, the mom that stole a million dollars and disappeared & then found dead. Ok, I had to rack my brain again, but it didn’t take as long as Castle. I like the addition of Sam Bosco, who takes the Red John case from Lisbon & Jane. I think it is going to be enjoyable for Jane to have an adversary like Bosco, a little mono e mono to hold us over because you know they are not solving the Red John case anytime soon. Premiere Grade-B+

Vampire Diaries-For the record, despite the fact that I watch this show, I still loathe the CW. Despite all my best efforts, I was sucked in & watched the premiere. I don’t know what to say except that the commercials looked good & I wanted to be able to say that I watched it & it stunk. Well, I watched it and it didn’t stink. No. No, no, no. I already have WAY too many shows to watch on Thurs. The lead actress who was in Degrassi, is really likable and is a cross between Liz from Roswell and Emmanuelle Chriqui. Stefan, the new vampire in town (who my Everwood fans will remember as Amy Abbott’s no good druggie boyfriend) isn’t too tortured, just a little mysterious. And unlike the couple on that vampire show on HBO, I totally buy the chemistry between the two leads. The show is created by Kevin Williamson (Dawson’s Creek, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer) so the dialogue isn’t too cheesy or overdramatic. I also really like Boone as Stefan’s evil vampire brother. So we’ll see. I definitely didn’t hate it & at this point I’m willing to check it out.
Premiere Grade A-

Bones-When we last left the crew at the Jeffersonian, Booth had just woken up from a coma dream in which he & Bones were in love. I don’t remember anything too outstanding about the premiere & I can’t think too hard about what the mystery of the week was because all I can see is last week’s incident with all the cats & I’m still traumatized from that. Regardless, I still enjoy watching Bones & Booth running around DC solving murders. Hopefully the love story won’t kill the show. Premiere Grade: B

The Office-If you read this blog you know I’m not really a big fan of this show, it is out of love for my husband that I continue to watch it. That being said, I did let out a few chuckles during the premiere which saw Michael scrambling to start rumors about everyone in the office in order to cover up the fact that Stanley was having an affair. Premiere Grade: B

Grey’s Anatomy-I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews about this episode. I thought that the opening sequence, especially Callie’s reaction, was an accurate depiction of how George’s death might impact the people of Seattle Grace. I did think (once again) that the best part of the show was Christina, Owen & Sloane (“He was kind of a dorky little guy”). I will say though, that when the janitor starting cleaning out George’s locker & Meredith broke down, I let out a tear or two. Despite the fact that this show can still get me, the more I think about it, the more I think that this show is ready to come off the dvr. Maybe next year, if I’m interested, I’ll rent the dvds & see how the season went. Even though I am attached to certain characters on this show, I don’t think anything has lived up to the first two seasons and I just can’t take the constant disappointment. Plus I haven’t forgiven Shonda for Denny or killing off George the way she did. Premiere Grade: B

Fringe-So Olivia returns from “over there” and can’t remember anything. Pacey finally gets a purpose (besides looking delicious) and Charlie bites the dust. I thought it was a little slow, but still good. Truthfully, the finale was so good I can’t imagine anything that could measure up. Premiere Grade: B+

Friday
Dollhouse-This episode gave me hope. I’m finally getting on board with Eliza Dushku as a lead & was very, very happy to see Apollo from BSG and Wesley from Angel make appearances. I thought the premiere did a nice job of taking pieces from the finale and beginning the journey towards Epitaph One (which is the lost episode you were supposed to Netflix over the summer). I really liked the stuff with Whiskey/Dr. Saunders and Topher. Can’t wait for Summer Glau! Premiere Grade: A

Sunday
Desperate Housewives-Nice. I’m glad Mike chose Susan. It will give Catherine that little bit of evil that I liked so much about her when she first showed up. Really liking the addition of Drea de Matteo and wow what an ending! Premiere Grade:A

Brothers & Sisters-New drama awaits the Walkers! The biggest thing about this episode was waiting to find out which Walker was in danger. Oh Kitty!!! There are going to be a lot of tears flowing in the weeks to come! Premiere Grade B+

The Amazing Race-First off, I want to say that I wish CBS would put this show on another night because I hate having to dvr an extra 30 minutes because football never ends on time. Anyhoo, this is an interesting bunch of people. And wow, pulling a play out of the Survivor handbook & getting rid of someone right away! That’s rough Phil! I thought the “EAT THE WASABI” challenge was hysterical even though it was mostly dependent on luck. And I was very happy to see Phil work the arched eyebrow twice in 2 hours. I wasn’t a fun of that jackass who kept yelling at Phil when he hit the mat, ya know, the guy whose wife said he was “wicked smart.” (read that with a Boston accent). My favorites so far: the harlem globetrotters, the kid with the pink hair & his dad; the poker chics (even though they are assholes) and the guy with Aspergers Syndrome & his friend. Premiere Grade:B+

The only premiere I really have left is Flash Forward. I’ll let you know what I think of that next week. Anything new that you’ve been watching that I should know about?

KT Update-Fall TV is Here!!

I’m a very happy KT because the fall season is finally upon us. Since premieres are spread over the next few weeks, I’ll post a new KT Update at the beginning of the week to let you know what is premiering & what I’m going to check out. At the end of the month I’ll send out my fall premiere report card & let you know what show has made it to the all important Tivo Season Pass list & what has gotten the boot. I’m really looking forward to the day when tv scheduling is a thing of the past. In the future I envision myself just scrolling down a list of each network’s shows & recording them, which would allow me to create my own personalized tv schedule. I don’t understand why networks insists on squeezing everything into one night. I have NINE shows on Thursday but only two on Monday (or three if I give in & check out Big Bang Theory). Come on networks, spread out the quality programming!

This week is pretty light, with mostly CW shows premiering. Tonight is 90210 and Melrose Place. Even though my beloved Sidney will return for the first episode, I will not be drawn back to Melrose, um especially since Sid got run over by a car on her wedding day like 13 years ago. I learned my lesson after Brenda & Kelly lured me back to a subpar 90210. Also, I still hate the CW for cancelling Veronica Mars & Everwood (sorry, I hold grudges!). Wednesday the CW premieres America’s Next Top Model and Thursday is The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural. The only new fall tv I’ll be watching this week is Fox with the premieres of Glee and So You Think You Can Dance. I’m beyond excited for Glee, I really loved the pilot episode. SYTYCD will be in auditions for the first few episodes so I’m not as excited for that but it is happy to see Cat, Mary & Nigel so soon after the summer season ended. SYTYCD really needs to kick it up a notch this year, with both the contestants and the choreography. Season 5 was a bit lacking for me.

As for my summer tv schedule, I am happy to report that I am thoroughly enjoying the third season of Mad Men (poor little Sally, that is a child destined for therapy). I will admit that Lifetime hasn’t killed Project Runway (although for the record, Lifetime needs to upgrade to HD stat & LA isn’t as fun as NYC). And, for those of you that are up late (or have a dvr) I fully endorse Chelsea Lately on E! Chelsea is a pop culture sponge like me, but she gets to interview celebrities and has the balls to ask them the questions we wished someone would. I’ve also finally started watching Top Chef and have been sucked in rather quickly. “Take your knives & go.” Wow, that’s a pretty harsh send off! At least Heidi looks a little sad when she tells the designers they are out.

While there has been some new tv on the tube, I’ve spent most of the summer working out my DVD player. I started off the summer with a trip down memory lane with the 80’s miniseries “North & South”. Wow, it is crazy to watch that now & see all the frikkin people in it. Patrick Swayze, Kirstey Alley, Genie Francis, David Carradine, Morgan Fairchild, Robert Guillaume, Forest Whitaker, Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Cash and the dad from That 70’s show. On top of that, there are a whole crapload of people whose faces I recognize. Of course, North & South is really all about the Swayze, and it was lovely to see him right before he hit it big with Dirty Dancing.

“It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”. Wow. The show centers around a group of friends (who are complete and total assholes) that run a pub in Philly. Hijinks ensue. Jay LOVES this show. I think that sometimes it is a little far-fetched which pulls me out of the episode, but it is still quite funny. P.S. Season 5 starts September 17 (a Thursday—what are the odds!!) on FX.

“Sports Night” This show is the West Wing minus politics plus sports. All of the trademark Aaron Sorkin snappy dialogue, quick humor and moral quandaries are there. I think the show made have had a hard time finding an audience because despite 30 min episodes, the show was not a sitcom and not really a comedy. It was more of a dramedy. I would definitely recommend checking it out, it is a quick watch, with only two seasons. The show had a stellar cast including: Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Josh Charles (Threesome) & Robert Guillame (Benson).

Thanks to Netflix right now I have “True Blood” and “The West Wing”. The jury is still out on True Blood. I’m already liking a few of the supporting characters but I haven’t been completely pulled in by the Sookie-Bill relationship. And I’m all over the dog. That has Jacob (from Twilight) written all over it so I know who it is.

The West Wing is a big time investment, so I think I’m going to watch the first season then switch to something else, then come back. It did make me happy to see that crew together again. I really did love that show for a while.

At home, I’m rotating between “Alias” (that show was frikkin phenomenal its first 2 seasons), “Angel” (I’m in season 3) with a dash of “Arrested Development” thrown in. I still miss that show, movie needs to happen ASAP!

Moving on from TV, last month Michael & I went to see Britney at MSG. Wow. Wowie wow wow. And that was just the crowd. I have never seen so many fashion disasters under one roof. Girls trying to rock outfits way out of their league, women trying to wear outfits they were10 years too old for….it was insane. Plus, we had a 30-something woman (who was definitely a New Yorker) behind us who kept expressing her love & admiration for Britney throughout the entire show….at the top of her lungs. Britney herself was better then expected. Through the first half of the show I felt like she was phoning in her performance but about midway through she finally kicked it up a notch. Once or twice I saw a glimpse of the girl from the Oops VMA performance (my FAVORITE VMA PERFORMANCE EVER) but there was A LOT of walking around & half dancing. Michael & I have decided that Britney needs to ditch the bubblegum persona she still slips into & just fully commit to the dark sexiness. That’s when she was at her best (like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-6Xe1gGdQo) Anyhoo, I really liked the set design, the costumes, the dancers, and the transitions. I thought it was a great show.

That about wraps things up. Next week 6 of the 9 Thursday night shows premiere!