Fall 2011 TV (part three)

This one may be a bit long but I want to get through all the shows premiering this week and this week is the big one. I have 42 hours of TV I’m watching and/or recording Monday through Friday. It will be the most I watch all season. Or that I will watch eventually because I’ll be in Napa disconnected most of the week. I really need the vacation but it’s timing is a bit off for TV. Thank the gods I have two dual tuner DVRs and Hulu plus as a backup.

Modern Family Season 3. Wednesdays at 9pm on ABC. Premieres 9/21 with a special 60 minute episode.

So happy this show is back and I can’t wait to see what my favorite extended family on TV are up to next. Bonus: Phil Dunphy on a dude ranch. Enough said.

Revenge Season 1. Wednesdays at 10pm on ABC. Premieres 9/21 after Modern Family.

Revenge is a new soapy mystery that has Emily Van Camp getting her revenge on the fabulously rich and privileged in the Hamptons for mysterious slights against her family. The screener of the pilot I saw was enough to keep me coming back for a few episodes. I hope they can continue to walk the line of intriguing without spilling over into ridiculous.

The X Factor Season 1. Wednesdays/Thursdays starting at 8pm on FOX. Premieres with the inevitable dreaded audition episodes on 9/21.

I’m conflicted. I really don’t want to watch this. I’ll record it and fast forward past the despicable deliberate humiliation of contestants auditioning and the sad pathetic freaks looking for their 15 seconds no matter how low they have to sink to get it. I’ll pause and watch if anyone has a glimmer of authentic talent but I’m not hopeful. It’ll be judges being mean or inanely patronizing to attention seeking fame whores 95% of the time. Sigh.

Big Bang Theory Season 5. Thursdays at 8pm on CBS. Premieres 9/22 with 2 back to back episodes.

I adore this show for reasons I have mentioned before. It is one of the very few shows on TV that laugh with the geeks/nerds instead of at them. I also love that Kaley Cuoco’s  character, Penny, is slowly but surely becoming a geek as she is influenced by Leonard and his friends. The “cool” pretty popular girl is slowly developing into a complex geeky woman. This should happen more.

Community Season 3. Thursdays at 8pm on NBC. Premieres 9/22.

The gang is back at Greendale Community College for another season and I missed them so much. This show is probably the most original and inventive comedy on network TV. It constantly plays with and changes up style and form and is littered with pop culture homages. It’s brilliantly funny (in a not overly cerebral or high brow way) and shamefully underrated. I watch both BBT and Community because of the magical DVR but if I had to pick one it would be Community.

Parks and Recreation Season 4. Thursdays at 8:30pm on NBC. Premieres 9/22.

I came late to this gem of a show and I was wisely told to skip season one. P&R is shot in the same style as The Office but the characters are a lot more likable and it’s a hell of a lot easier to relate to them. The buffoonish boss and his psychotic assistant manager on The Office got real old real fast for me. My Jim and Pam love couldn’t bring me back after season 3. Anyway if you thought P&R had the same sensibility and avoided it for that reason you should reconsider. There are no unlovable people on P&R. Even the douchebags are wonderful. It’s a funny, sweet, and basically optimistic show. Give it a go.

Grey’s Anatomy Season 8. Thursdays at 9pm on ABC. Premieres with a 2 hour episode on 9/22

Yes I’m still watching. No I’m not sure why. I gave up on Private Practice last year and will probably give up on Grey’s this year if something isn’t changed up or interjected to renew my interest. 8 seasons is pretty long in the tooth for a TV drama so kudos to Shonda for keeping it going. Possibly it could be the last season.

Person of Interest Season 1. Thursdays at 9pm on CBS. Premieres 9/22.

Interesting new show starring Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson. Imagine Batman without all his fancy costume and gear helping a computer genius save the world one person at a time in a post 9/11 extreme big brother world. Then know it’s from the writers of Lost. I enjoyed the pilot and am interested to see where it goes. It will keep my interest if the underlying mystery gets as much attention as the “save a person every show” procedural aspect but since this is on CBS, who never met an overly repetitive crime procedural it didn’t like, it may be a long shot to stay on my DVR rotation.

Prime Suspect Season 1. Thursdays at 10pm on NBC. Premieres 9/22.

Maria Bello stars in this remake of the lauded British crime drama that starred Helen Mirren. It may seem a bit anachronistic since it’s about a female detective in an all male squad who has to prove herself and justify her existence. I have yet to see the original and have mixed feelings about this but I’ll definitely check out the first few episodes.

 

If I didn’t mention a show here then it either sucks and you shouldn’t waste your time (Charlie’s Angels, Whitney), or it’s just not a show I watch. More to come…

 

 

 

Fall 2011 TV (part two)

I’m back. I know you’re shocked. Me too.

Before I continue with the new and returning shows that will thrill or disappoint us all this fall I want to make a couple corrections to my previous post. I posted in error that Up All Night will air at 10 on Wednesdays and Free Agents at 10:30 on the same night. They do premiere at those times but their regular timeslots will be 8 and 8:30 respectively. All times I list are pacific because that’s where I am, this is my blog and time zones make my brain hurt.

The Emmys.  Sunday on FOX   9/18 (it’s an all day event to me with early coverage on E! and other channels but I think the broadcast starts 4 ish)

Hosted by Jane Lynch with hopefully very little Sue Sylvester. Some of the wrong people will win and some of the right people will lose. And hell, some of the truly deserving weren’t even nominated. It’s a crapshoot. Take it as a celebration of TV, ignore the miniseries and movie section like we all do and ooh and ahh over the pretty dresses and suits on all the pretty people.

How I Met Your Mother Season 7.  Mondays at 8pm on CBS. Premieres with two back to back episodes on 9/19

I have no idea what to expect from season 7 (has it really been on for that long?) of this show. I’m hoping for more crazy antics from Barney and Robin, crazy pregnancy stuff from Lily and Marshall and absolutely no answers for all the buzzkills who want to know who the mother is. I don’t care. I also don’t need the show to make sense or have any sort of continuity (that is the other kind of buzzkill that gets a special place in hell. 1st shippers, then continuity and plot hole obsessives, then people who talk at the movies). Just be funny guys. I’ll keep tuning in every week.

Two and a Half Men Season 9. Mondays at 9pm on CBS. Premieres 9/19

I’ve never watched a minute of 2.5 Men. Never. I’ve always disliked Sheen and have always disliked the inherent and apparent misogyny of the show and its viewers that glorifies him and his despicable escapades. But now I want it to double in ratings. I want it to succeed beyond everyone’s wildest dreams to prove that anti-semitic misogynistic freaks like Sheen are a hindrance to the industry and not a benefit.  So I’ll be tuning in to see Ashton Kutcher (hopefully) be the anti-sheen. Join me.

Two Broke Girls Season 1. Mondays at 9:30pm on CBS. Premieres 9/19

Here is a new sitcom starring the lovably sarcastic Kat Dennings and some pretty blonde girl and other assorted characters. Kat is great in the version of the pilot I saw and the main reason to tune in. The rest of the characters are all pretty two dimensional and exist for Kat to have someone to bounce jokes off of but it’s a pilot and there is plenty of potential in this odd couple comedy. I hope the rest of the cast steps up to the same level as Dennings as it progresses. I’ll be watching.

Castle Season 4.  Mondays at 10pm on ABC. Premieres 9/19

Is Beckett dead?!!!  Well, what do you think? My guess is ummmm… no. Castle is always a fun romp that early on survived on nothing but Nathan Fillion’s charm and charisma but has developed into a cohesive team of characters with a great straight man (in Stana Katic) to Castle’s silliness. This one isn’t must see TV for me anymore and I really wish it was less of a procedural but that’s probably why Fillion still has a job. Procedurals. sigh. Watch for the pretty men and women, the easily solved cases, or the Firefly references hidden in several episodes per season, just keep your “great drama” expectations low. This is (to blatantly rip off from Mo Ryan) TV to fold your laundry to. It’s needed though. Just imagine all that unfolded laundry.

Playboy Club Season 1. Mondays at 10pm on NBC. Premieres 9/19

I know very little about this new show other than the actors involved. The much maligned (who really cares if a guy cheats on his wife besides, you know, his wife? the whole thing is stupid) Eddie Cibrian who I’ve never seen act his way out of a paper bag, David Krumholtz who I adore from Numbers (and other things like Serenity), Amber Heard who is known mostly for being really pretty and a lesbian. Oh and Sean Maher is in this too on at least a recurring basis. I guess this is set in the 60′s and half the world has decided that it is a sexist piece of crap based on the title alone. Casting Cibrian probably didn’t help that image. I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for a few eps to see if they can subvert very low expectations. Who knows, maybe all the haters are wrong. I would love it if they were since people getting all outraged without all the facts usually annoy the fuck out of me and I don’t have a problem with the Playboy brand even though I’d bathe in Purell after meeting anyone from the Playboy brand.

Glee Season 3. Tuesdays at 8pm on FOX. Premieres 9/20

This show is just a little polarizing. You either love it to little ittle bitty pieces or you have no soul. Just kidding. Kinda. I know the show usually doesn’t make any sense and there is no “continuity” and “people just don’t act that way” and the 5 million other reasons people have for hating every other episode of this show but, you know what, they keep watching. Grumbling and bitching and secretly singing along they all keep watching. I adore this over the top angsty fun drama-filled piece of singular brilliance that is different from everything else on TV. This year there is even more reason to love it because they did something nuts (smart) and hired an actual writers room that includes Ali Adler (Chuck!) and Marti Noxon (so many things I love including Buffy! and Mad Men!). That has to help with the above complaints and I can’t wait to see what happens to the kids this year and what they’ll be singing.

The New Girl Season 1. Tuesdays at 9pm on FOX. Premieres in a primo spot after Glee on 9/20.

There is no way that you haven’t seen or heard the TV and print ads for this show. It’s physically impossible. So we know Fox is 100% behind this comedy but is it any good? Why yes. Yes it is. Its very good. Zooey Deschanel is frighteningly adorable in the way that every boy wants her, every girl wants to be her and every gay wants to be her best friend. It’s a lot of power and I hope she manages to use it wisely. I also hope the writers use it wisely since such a powerful weapon would really be scary if its power got reversed. Don’t make people hate Zooey. Tone down the “adorkable” just a bit and save it for the important moments. Trust me you don’t want to use it all up. I really do think this show is going to be a great hit for Fox and it’s about time they started picking up half hour live action comedies that are actually good (including last year’s Raising Hope).

Raising Hope Season 2. Tuesdays at 9:30pm on FOX. Premieres 9/20

If you didn’t catch this show last year then you missed a brilliant gem. Martha Plimpton and Garrett Dillahunt are crazy funny and the twin babies playing Baby Hope are the best actors on TV. Seriously, these kids are brilliant. Best baby acting EVER! All in all it’s a great family show that is touching, heart warming and gut busting funny every single week. Give it a try for a couple episodes just to see the second most funny old lady on TV run around in less clothes than you would like her to have on doing inspired old fashioned slapstick. We love you as much as BW, Cloris Leachman. We really do.

 

Let me know what you think of the shows above. And as always let me know if I made factual mistakes and where I desecrated the English language. Many many (oh my gods so many) more shows to come…

Fall 2011 TV (part one)

Long time no blog. It’s been over a year and that seems quite long enough to procrastinate and play around on twitter (follow me over there @IrrationaliTV for shorter rants/musings on TV, the biz, vodka, and food).

I’ve had several requests (thanks, Mom) for a “what to watch” for fall so I’m highlighting the new shows and returning shows that I think might be worth watching. The shows I don’t give a shit about (Dancing with pukes) or are definitely not worth watching (that horrid Tim Allen show) I ignore completely in this post as I do in life. If there is one you think I missed in error or are curious about just how godawful it is, hit me up in the comments and I’ll amend. I am going to list shows in the order in which they are premiering.

Sons Of Anarchy Season 4. 10pm Tuesdays on FX. Premieres tomorrow night (9/06/11) with a special 90 minute ep.

It’s not a show for everyone but if you like strong, in your face, smart character dramas where the bullets fly, the hogs are loud, the men are hot, and shit regularly blows up then this show is for you. Tune in and then run to netflix streaming for seasons 1&2. Season 3 is out on DVD/BD.

Ringer Season 1. 9pm Tuesdays on CW. Premieres 9/13/11

Tune in as the collective TV audience welcomes back (and worships) the much missed Sarah Michelle Gellar to the TV screen. Yes, Buffy is back and this time she is playing twins in an adult (long story on how this ended up on teen friendly CW) noirish mystery. No superpowers this time but she does have a lot of great hunky (it’s still a good word, shut up) costars. The pilot screener I watched had some pacing and horrid green screen issues but I imagine they have that fixed by now. I’m looking forward to seeing how this show develops.

Parenthood Season 3. 10pm Tuesdays on NBC. Premieres 9/13/11.

I gave up on this show early last season because Peter Krause’s character was pissing me off and I love me some Peter Krause but I’ve been hearing good things so I’m going to catch up on last season through hulu plus and then dive back in. I hope I haven’t been led astray.

America’s Next Top Model Cycle 17. 9pm Wednesdays on CW. Premieres 9/14/11

Yeah, I don’t get it either. It’s painful, cringeworthy, and sends all the wrong messages to women and men everywhere. I still watch it. I blame you, Pamela. It’s my one “I really am horrified that I watch this” show. You all have one. Shut up.

Up All Night Season 1. 10pm Wednesdays on NBC. Premieres 9/14/11

Christina Applegate is back with Will Arnett as her husband and the ridiculously talented and funny Maya Rudolph as her best friend in a new comedy about marriage, work and a new baby. I’m very excited for this show and expect Christina to finally get the big hit she deserves with this one. Or at least a barely limping by on ratings but critical hit since it’s on NBC.

Free Agents Season 1. 10:30 Wednesdays on NBC. Premieres 9/14/11

I don’t have a very strong opinion on this one since I have yet to watch a screener but it’s a remake of a popular BBC comedy and it has a strong cast (Hank Azaria, Kathryn Hahn, Anthony Stewart Head) so may be worth keeping the channel on after Up All Night. I’ll be watching the first 3-4 episodes before making a call on it.

The Vampire Diaries Season 3. 8pm Thursdays on CW. Premieres 9/15/11

This fun over the top teenage angst filled monster drama is back for another year of unbelievably good looking (and barely legal) vampires werewolves witches and bloody mayhem. I won’t miss a second.

The Secret Circle Season 1. 9pm Thursdays on CW. Premieres 9/15/11

From the same people that bring us too gorgeous for words teenage vampires on TVD, now we have a companion show with too gorgeous for words teenage witches. Bonus: Gale Harold is a dad up to no good and looking incredibly sexy while doing it. I enjoyed the pilot and will stick around for 5-6 episodes since that is how long it took TVD to get good.

Archer Season 3. 10:30 Thursdays on FX. Premieres 9/15/11 for a short 3 week run before returning for the rest of the season in its normal January timeslot.

Archer is by far the best animated comedy on TV. By a landslide. No contest. All other animated shows wish they were Archer and all other animated characters wish they were Archer. No other show is this smart and this wrong except maybe Louie but you’re watching that already. RIGHT?!

Since I don’t want to make these posts too long for the twitter generation I’ll pause for now. I have 33 more new or returning shows to regale you with for just the month of September. Another dozen in October. And don’t even get me started about the goodness coming up for mid-season.

Please let me know your thoughts and feel free to point out my mistakes/spelling errors/and where I have butchered English grammar.

Saturday Silliness

There are three actors who I think could play sisters and I always like their work. So I proposed on twitter today that they should all be in a show together. Missy Peregrym (Reaper, Rookie Blue), Amy Jo Johnson (Flashpoint, Felicity) and Marla Sokoloff (The Practice). Out of these three the only ongoing employment seems to be Johnson in Flashpoint. I don’t see Rookie Blue lasting more than the summer and Sokoloff stays active but hasn’t been a regular on a series for a while.

I think they should play sisters that run a catering business together. But wait. It is the year 2100 and the catering business is a front for their real work. They fight supernatural crime. Ok, I’ve lost half of you. Too bad, this is my make-believe.

TV needs more shows that have female leads and are all badass with the ass kicking and all. Plenty of shows have female leads but none on network TV have women leads who vanquish their foe on a regular basis. Especially none with a genre bent. Where are the Buffys? The Aliases? The Dark Angels, Tru Callings, Charmeds, Birds of Preys? Charlies Angels? Wonder Woman, Bionic Woman? What happened to these shows? Did people stop writing and pitching them? Did the networks stop greenlighting them? There are plenty of women watching TV. Way more women than men. Why are all the heroes men?

I love a lot of the TV that is on today, but there are very few shows that make me say, “Hell yeah! Kick his ass, Buffy/Sydney/Diana/Cameron!” We can get that feeling in small doses from Mary on In Plain Sight, Fiona on Burn Notice, Olivia on Fringe, Sarah on Chuck, and Myka on Warehouse 13. Hopefully we will get more from Covert Affairs and Haven next month and Nikita in the fall. I still want more. I want a show with kick ass female leads that have whole interesting lives that include relationships with men/women/family whatever and can solve the crime, track the fugitive, and take out the bad guy while wearing a pair of louboutins. Unrealistic? Hell yeah.

Is Mark Valley’s character on Human Target unrealistic? Jeffrey Donovan’s on Burn Notice, Matt Smith’s on Doctor Who? They are all ridiculous of course, but there should be an equal amount of women (or really even more) being just as ridiculous. We need to give women (and more importantly girls and young women) something other than Gossip Girl, and that despicable Twilight brainwashing cancerous crap to aspire to.

(Aside: Don’t anyone dare try to defend that horrible misogynistic Mormon propaganda disease to me that is harming every young girl exposed to it. I’d rather my nieces be given handguns and unlimited porn than see/read that offal. All vampire/supernatural fiction is not created equal. Some of it makes women and humans see beyond our limitations while some makes them desire to limit themselves and subject themselves to abuse and self-hatred/degradation.) Twi-crap rant over.

Just so you know, I’m not stating this as some sort of feminist screed. I find most feminist rants to be poorly thought out, overwrought, manhating, on thin ice and terribly terribly boring. Trust me, I’ve read so many feminist-ish (or at least they think they are) rants being a Whedon fan that my gag reflex starts before I click the link at this point. I adore men and I adore men shooting guns, beating each other up, and being topless (and bottomless) on many (and many more) TV shows. Thank you to all who are responsible for Spartacus, True Blood, and Justified for the generous portions of man candy.  I just want more ass kicking female leads on TV shows. I want more women to aspirationally (is that a word?) identify with.

Now to show my true colors and be really shallow, let’s cast the love interests. I figure one sister is married, one dating, and one in a new relationship. Sexual orientation for any of the three is up for discussion. I figure at least one should be lesbian. Not bisexual though. Lesbian. We aren’t going for male titillation here, just realism.

Additional regular to recurring casting suggested by me and on twitter (please add yours in the comments. Should be available actors that aren’t currently working on current series):

Significant others: Josh Holloway, Adrian Pasdar, Gina Torres, Seth Gabel, Glenn Fitzgerald, Lee Pace, Enver Gjokaj, Joe Flanigan, Felicia Day, Kandyse McClure

Clients/Bad guys/Random dates that turn into clients or Bad guys: Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, David Hewlett, Katee Sackoff, Fran Kranz, Tahmoh Penikett,  Rachel Luttrell, Paul McGillion, Dichen Lachman, Miracle Laurie, Mark Shepard, Tricia Helfer, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Wil Wheaton, Aaron Douglas, Claudia Black, Ben Browder

Who should be the totally awesome parents of these girls? Let me know.

Summer begins!

The offseason now lasts about one week. I’m planning on a long post about all the upcoming can’t miss Summer shows, but I won’t be able to get to it for at least a week. For now here is the highlights that you need to set your DVR for while enjoying these long summery evenings.

Tomorrow! 6/3 Thurdays:  Burn Notice USA at 9 pm , Royal Pains USA at 10 pm

Friday 6/4:   Flashpoint CBS at 9pm

Sunday 6/6:  Drop Dead Diva at 9 pm on Lifetime

Monday 6/7: Lie To Me at 8 pm on FOX, The Good Guys at 9 pm on Fox

Tuesday 6/8: Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family at 8 pm

Don’t forget the best dance show on TV: So You Think You Can Dance on FOX on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

More later…

Even more wrong

American Idol got it wrong and now I’ve already spent too much time on discussion of that show.

Official (for now) 2010 Fall TV schedule

Here is the full schedule for next fall based on what the 5 broadcast networks announced this week in New York. The purpose of the upfronts in NYC are to wine and dine and present  a dog and pony show to the folks who purchase TV advertising. The ad buyers spend all week being pitched as to where their ad dollars are best spent or at least who can trot out the coolest celebs and serve the strongest drinks.

People like me follow it because it gives us the chance to plan our TV viewing beyond August (which is already completely written down by day/date/time/show. Oh, just me then?). We are planning to have a cancellation pool at work which is a little ghoulish, but more fun than betting on college sports. Two out of three new shows on the schedule will be cancelled by next May. If I win the pool maybe it won’t hurt as much when the ones I like best are the first ones to get the ax.

Back to the schedule which I link below (but you can find it in a lot prettier fashion all over the Internet).

ABC picked up 7 new shows, CBS 5, NBC 7, CW 2, and FOX picked up 3 plus The Good Guys which is starting off this summer and bleeding into fall. CBS seems to have made the gutsiest moves this year and really moved some of their shows around. Fox has the most stable schedule and brought back their Thursday night intact for the first time in forever.

More to come on my impressions of the individual new shows and head to head schedule battles if I get time over the weekend.

Mock 2010 Fall Sched3

Wrong wrong wrong

Wow was my mock schedule ever wrong! I’m shocked by CBS’s new schedule although I am looking at it in admiration. There are some serious bold moves from the geriatric network that looks like they were enacted to crush NBC. Brilliant! I think there will be a lot of changes before the shows actually premiere in the fall. No way that NBCs sched stays the same. It will get destroyed if it does.

We should have CW’s final announcements tomorrow and then I will post the final announced schedule for all the networks. Remember that “final” isn’t ever really final. Schedules will morph and change over the summer and what we see now may only slightly resemble what actually occurs in the fall. I love this shit. Let the games begin.

Mock 2010 Network Fall Schedule

Mock 2010 Fall Sched I have been spending entirely too much time over the last week building (obsessing over) my own 2010 Fall Schedule for all the broadcast networks. This is a fun game I do every year. It’s kind of like my NCAA tourney bracket or my fantasy football team.

I sorta cheated this year since NBC announced their full schedule early after an intrepid reporter from The Hollywood Reporter snuck into their early run-through at the Hilton this morning that was for some reason completely lacking in security. NBC proving once again why they are the laughing stock of the town at times. So my NBC schedule isn’t so much my guesses as the actual final (for now) schedule NBC has already announced.

CBS and CW have been the most tight-lipped on what their new and returning shows are so my guesses for them are truly guesses. Fox and ABC have announced all their shows for the most part, but the scheduling brilliance here is all mine.

My silliness has been informed by great insight at The Futon critic (best TV site ever), Nellie Andreeva’s stellar reporting at Deadline Hollywood (she is a fabulous addition to the site), THR, my friend (and future emmy award winning writer because I say so) Travis and all the great back and forth I get to read and participate in on Twitter.

So click the link, laugh at my excel spreadsheet (converted to pdf) and tell me where you think I’m totally wrong or might be right in the comments. We should know the real schedule by the end of Thursday and even then it will change multiple times over the Summer and Fall will look nothing like any of it. Fun!

February Must sees!

It’s sweeps, people! What is sweeps?  Sweeps is the four months out of the year that ratings are used to set the rates advertisers pay for commercials. That’s why every November, February, May, and August (kinda) the shows get better, the repeats get fewer, and the guest stars get kinda epic.

This February there is a wrench in the works called the Winter Olympics (starts the 12th and ends the 28th). The other networks are doing their best but they really aren’t pulling out all the stops up against live sports and American Idol. I’m guessing May will be much more event-full.

Anyway, here is what you shouldn’t miss this month after you are Olympicked out.

The Superbowl – It’s on today, 2/7. If you didn’t already know that, then you aren’t watching it anyway. I’m rooting for the Saints and watching the commercials (except for that stupid one paid for by the despicable assholes at focus on the family). Boo CBS for running that crap.

Emma – Masterpiece Theater PBS (yes, I occasionally watch PBS. I know you are all shocked). 2/7  This is the third part of three, but is a wonderful version of the Jane Austen classic with Jonny Lee Miller who is my absolute favorite of Angelina Jolie’s ex-husbands. Look for repeats or pick it up on DVD if you are a fan of the genre. This is the best version, I’ve seen since Clueless. What? You didn’t know that Clueless was a version of Jane Austen’s Emma? You also probably think “10 Things I Hate About You” on ABC family is based on a movie with Heath Ledger. Well it is, but that was based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.

Ok, enough literary lessons. Sorry. It won’t happen again.

Chuck – NBC Monday 2/8 at 8pm. Last episode before it goes off the air for the Olympics the rest of the month.

How I Met Your Mother – CBS 2/8 at 8pm  Last new episode until March. Yes we are sensing a disturbing pattern.

Life Unexpected – CW Mondays at 9 (repeated Wednesdays at 8pm ) New CW show about a never adopted 16 year old who finds her birth parents. So far, great stuff. Not too late to jump in. The show reminds me of the old WB. It isn’t for everyone, but if you miss those shows, then you will like this one.

Big Bang Theory – CBS 2/8 at 9:30. Also the last new ep until March.

Other Monday shows: Heroes season finale 2/8 (if there is any justice it will be the series finale and this once promising genre show will be put out of our misery). 24 which I gave up on about 6 hours into it this year. It is painfully obvious (and pretty deplorable) that 24 employs no women writers and the female characters on the show become more unlikable and unbelievable every season. Really poor. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Still great.

American Idol – Fox Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The show finally starts in on the actual competition now that it is finished with the freak show auditions. I’m hoping that Ellen is able to bring some sanity to the judges. Good Luck, Ellen. You’re going to need it.

Lost – ABC 9 pm Tuesdays. Lost is back for its final season and if the 2 hour season premiere was any indication it will not disappoint. Don’t call me or text me or even tweet at me during this time. I’m busy trying to figure out what the fuck is actually going on. If you missed last week’s, the previous episode is repeated at 8pm every week.

The Good Wife – 10pm CBS Tuesdays. Really great show with a wonderful cast led by Juliana Margulies. Best legal show since The Practice.

White Collar – 10pm USA. Still not tired of looking at the beautiful Matt Bomer. The weekly capers are fun too.

Human Target – 8pm Fox Wednesdays. Thanks to great casting this show is growing on me more week after week. It’s fun, straightforward and the good guys (or our guys) always win.

Modern Family and Cougar Town – 9 and 9:30 2/10. Last eps before March, more shows getting out of the way of the Olympic juggernaut.

Leverage – 10pm TNT Wednesdays. Two more episodes in this season. The 3rd season will be back this summer. I’m guessing this show will go out with a bang. Probably several.

Psych – 10pm USA Wednesdays. Still enjoyable and funny after all these seasons, but I feel like they are losing a step. Hoping it picks up this season.

Ugly Betty  - 10pm ABC Wednesdays. Also going into repeats after the 2/10 episode. It will be back in March for the march toward its series finale. Let’s hope the writers are able to wrap up a happy ending for Betty. I am hoping for one with a strong independent Betty in the end and no ridiculous attempt at a prince charming. Betty doesn’t need a man to be happy.

Vampire Diaries – 8pm CW Thursdays. I am really enjoying this one. Much better than most give it credit for being. I’ll keep tuning in. It isn’t Twicrap and it isn’t Buffy. It’s its own animal or vampire. Repeats after this week.

Supernatural – 9pm CW Thursdays. Also in repeats after this week. Infuriating. I need to know how the brothers are going to stop (or at least slow down) the apocalypse.

Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice – 9-11pm ABC Thursdays. Still soapy goodness full of pretty people. Still tuning in.

Burn Notice – 10pm USA Thursdays. Don’t miss the fun and explosions with Michael, Fiona and Sam.

Project Runway – 10pm Lifetime Thursdays. Turning out to be a much better season than last fall. So glad that the incomprehensible Ping is gone.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand – Starz 10pm Fridays. If you like lots of gorgeous naked men, naked women, fights, fake blood and dismemberments, and stylized action as much as I do, run and order Starz from your cable provider. So good. There is story, and intrigue, and a hero’s journey in there as well for those of you that want story to go with all the pretty.

Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters – ABC 9-11pm. These shows won’t be back until 2/21 since they also are getting out of the way of the Olympics. Loving the Julie Benz addition on DH and I’m not trusting Sarah’s new boyfriend on B&S. I want the cute french guy back.

That is all for a very lame Olympics dominated February. My DVR is taking it very very easy this month. Hopefully it will be taxed a bit harder in March.

Update (Early Sunday morning). A friend pointed out that I missed Castle in my post and she was right. The Nathan Fillion charmer will have a new episode this Monday 2/8 and then will be in repeats the rest of the month.