What’s On My TV This Fall

Ho boy. Big confession time.

I am a total junk TV watcher. By that I mean that when I do watch TV, it’s crappy.

The way I see it, TV is for turning off your mind. I have to use my brain all day (and sometimes all night) long at work and with the family business, so watching TV is for watching TV. You know? Vegging out, doing nothing…yeah, I know, I sound as though I’m trying to justify something here. Well, I am.

The thing is, I don’t have enough time to watch all of the shows that interest me this fall, so I need help! I have to choose, from the list below, the two or three shows I can probably manage to keep on top of this fall/winter.

The list below will reveal my secret obsession with The CW. And that is embarrassing enough. Then we get into shows the loyalty shows – you know, the shows I’ve watched since they started and now, even though they’re not nearly as good anymore (*cough* Grey’s Anatomy *cough*) I can’t stop watching them because I feel like I need to be loyal.

Then we have the new shows. That’s right, those newbies that everyone’s been buzzing about all summer. Some of them really sound good. So this is a long list, but half of them are new shows, of which I’m going to check out the pilots and then decide if I’m going to stick around to watch the rest. Sound fair?

That’s what this list is for. 🙂

RETURNING SHOWS:

These are the shows I watched last season and will be watching again this fall.

GLEE (FOX, Tuesday nights)

I know people weren’t too enamoured with this show after last season. It definitely did get worse from such a strong first season. And Sue Sylvester is definitely overblown. But I still find her witty one-liners funny and I still want to see Finn and Rachel end up together, and their musical arrangements still totally get me singing along, so I’m rooting for it through one more season to see if it can redeem itself.

View season preview here.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (CW, Thursday nights)

Okay, so I love Stefan and how much he cares about Elena. I think Damon is hilarious (but I don’t get the Elena/Damon thing at all like most people do). I love how many twists and turns it has. I love that it is so much better in capturing the vampire world than Twilight is (shock! horror!). I also love that it is based on young adult novels. I have justified watching many a teenage show because of the fact that they were based on young adult novels, and therefore I could call it “research”.

View a preview for the premiere episode, complete with commentary from the producers, here.

GOSSIP GIRL (CW, Monday nights)

Okay, I might not make it through this season. I watched the first season of this show and then skipped all the others. Then I started watching some episodes last season just because of Duana‘s hilarious recaps on LaineyGossip. But it really is terrible and every episode just seems to be written in order to get them all dressed up and at a party by episode end. Blair has some good lines though and I think Leighton Meester shows them all up in line delivery. Though that’s not really hard. Plus this was based on a series of novels for teens (see Vampire Diaries justification, above).

View a preview for the season opener here.

LOYALTY SHOWS:

These are shows that I have watched since they began, and therefore feel as though I must continue to watch them even though I am completely over them. I may not make it through the whole season with these.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC, Sunday nights)

Okay, I haven’t watched every season of this. I came in maybe in Seasons 2 or 3 and picked it up again last season. But this year’s will be the final season ever so I do feel as though I need to watch it. And I do find Gabby pretty hysterical, and Felicity Huffman is a great actress. The end.

View season preview here.

GREY’S ANATOMY (ABC, Thursday nights)

This one I really have watched since the beginning. My college roommate and I got really into it and watched the whole first season in about three nights. I’ve watched ever since. It is no longer good. But I still watch. I’m not as bad as my mom – she watches the spinoff too (Private Practice). Seeing as Addison always drove me nuts, there was no temptation there.

View 2-hour season premiere preview here.

NEW SHOWS:

I am giving these all one episode to prove themselves. The pilot only! I will have to ditch most of them; this list is way too long…

RINGER (CW, Tuesday nights)

This has received so much buzz because it marks Sarah Michelle Gellar’s return to TV, and she was so good at it with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I watched the pilot already as it aired last week. It had a hilarious green screen disaster during a boat scene that has to be seen to be believed. YouTube it, honestly. Couldn’t the CW have put a little more money into that boat scene seeing as they clearly spent a lot of money having two Sarah Michelle Gellars appear onscreen at the same time (she plays twins)? It looks a little contrived but I’m going to stick this one out if only because I want to find out what the heck is going on. Which I guess means the writers achieved what they set out to do.

View a series preview here.

PAN AM (ABC, Sunday nights)

This is pure nostalgia on my part. I was born in ’85 and one of the first flights I remember was on Pan Am. I loved the stewardesses, I found them so friendly. When Pan Am closed down I never had a flying experience quite the same. Obviously nowadays it is totally different, as well. So I am interested to see how it’s portrayed on screen, and Christina Ricci usually impresses.

View series preview here.

REVENGE (ABC, Wednesday nights)

Starring Emily VanCamp of Brothers and Sisters fame (maybe fame is too strong a word), this is supposedly very gripping television and has received tons of buzz. I thought I’d check it out but probably will end up sticking with it only because it will suck me in like Ringer did, and make me want to find out what’s going on.

View season promo here.

THE X FACTOR (FOX, Wednesday nights)

Okay, I don’t think I will stick with this one because reality contests take up so much time to watch, with 2-hour audition shows and then results shows – I can only manage So You Think You Can Dance and that’s only because it’s in the summer when the only other thing I’m watching is the Bachelorette, and only because I love dancing. You can guarantee that any amazing performance on the X Factor will be on YouTube within minutes and circulated through social media, so I’ll catch all the highlights that way. I’m just going to watch one episode to see what Simon Cowell is selling this time round.

View an 8-minute long season preview (with interviews) here.

CHARLIE’S ANGELS (ABC, Thursday nights)

Minka Kelly was on the BEST SHOW EVER (that would be Friday Night Lights, ya’ll). So I am partly watching this out of loyalty for her and partly out of girl power support and partly because Charlie’s Angels – the original show or the movies – is always a good time. Again, not sure I’ll stick around. We’ll have to see how the pilot is. Btw, Drew Barrymore is executive producer, and she did a pretty good job on the films…

View a preview here.

HART OF DIXIE (CW, Monday nights)

Rachel Bilson returns to TV (is this the first show she’s done since The OC?) in this Sweet Home Alabama-esque show. It seems predictable but I’ll watch because of more Friday Night Lights loyalty – hello, Scott Porter (Jason Street!) and Cress Williams – and it has a strong supporting cast, including Jaime King. Not sure I can buy Rachel Bilson as a doctor but again – we’ll see!

View an extended preview here (it pretty much seems to show you the whole first season though).

QUESTIONS:

1. What is on your must-watch list for fall TV?

2. Are there any shows you watch just because you’re loyal?

3. Are there any shows you watched last season that you’re ditching this season?