A bunch of my favorite TV shows have been renewed for new seasons – here is a quick round-up.  (Yes, some of these are old, but so what?)

Fringe was just given the go-ahead for a third season, which is fantastic news.  The show’s ratings have been down thanks to its hyper-competitive timeslot, but the stories this season have been phenomenal, and the show is really coming into its own.  If you’re not watching it, you should be!

Smallville, which has seen every season since #7 potentially be its last, has gotten a pick-up to continue for a Season Ten.  As a fan of the show, I have been hoping for years that it would come to an end; it’s not that I don’t love it, I just think that based on the concept of the show – Clark Kent growing into the hero he will be – needs to eventually come to its logical conclusion.  For years, the show seemed to be dragging its feet, but no more.  The show still has its issues, but it has proven that it still has legs, and I am excited that they will continue for another year.  I still stand by my assertion that the show does need to come to a satisfactory conclusion, and that the showrunners should negotiate an end that will leave them and the fans happy.

NBC picked up the three Thursday night shows we watch, The Office, 30 Rock, and Community, for additional seasons.  Similarly to Smallville, The Office, as much as I love it, needs to end at some point as well.  What on earth is this documentary crew still doing in Scranton?  Are they *ever* going to take all of this footage and make it into something?  Or are we supposed to now think that the cameras are there as an ongoing reality series?  Has that ever been established?  I still like the show, and I’ll keep watching it, it just seems like it’s gotten a little too silly for its own good.

Community is also pretty funny, and while I can’t see it staying on the air forever (community college is only for two years, right?), another season is good news.  And 30 Rock is pure brilliance, and they need to keep that show going as long as they can keep Alec Baldwin on it.

How I Met Your Mother got a green-light for a sixth season, which is also great news, but once again, the show is going to need to come to an end based on the premise of the series.  Eventually, Ted’s gonna have to meet the Mother, and all of the story lines will have to pay off.

Big Love was given an order for a fifth season, which isn’t terribly surprising given that the show pulls in pretty solid numbers for HBO.  This season seems to be moving at a breakneck pace, which is a nice change from a lot of the other scripted shows on the air that seem to plod along.

And for what it’s worth, here is my official opinion on these shows that are still “on the bubble:”

24 – I could go either way on this one.  The show is still entertaining, but the formula has gotten a bit stale.

Heroes – Yeah, I have stuck with this show despite swearing off it several times.  I didn’t finish this past season, but now with the last few episodes on FiOS’ On Demand, I am planning on it.  The show is also past its prime, so I wouldn’t be heartbroken if it went off.

Scrubs – They never should have brought Scrubs back from the dead after last season, but to cancel it now would just be extra insulting.

V and FlashForward – Both of these shows have potential to live for a few seasons, if the writing can stay strong.  I personally have a little more faith in V, but I’m looking forward to seeing how both shows play out their seasons.

Every December, a ton of “Best of the Year” lists pop up everywhere, and they can get old pretty quick, but I’m digging the “Best of the Decade” lists that I’ve been seeing lately. So I figured I’d jump on that particular bandwagon, and so I now present my list of some of the best pop culture trends of the past ten years.

Funny Music from Artists Besides Weird Al
Don’t get me wrong – my obsession with Weird Al Yankovic, the king of parodies and musical comedy, is still strong as ever. And he had a great decade in his own right, with the fantastic albums Poodle Hat and Straight Outta Lynwood, as well as his several Internet Leaks songs and videos. But he also had some competition in the funny music department. Tenacious D’s first album is side-splittingly funny. Though the movie and its soundtrack were less hilarious than they could have been, the genius of their first batch of songs more than makes up for it.

Then there’s Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island crew. The videos for Lazy Sunday, D*ck in a Box, I’m On a Boat, and others are brilliant in their lyrics and their visuals, and the digital shorts have been some of the best stuff on Saturday Night Live in recent years.

And who could forget the brilliance of Flight of the Conchords? Their two seasons on HBO, their two albums, and their EP were full of catchy, quotable, fantastic, and hysterical songs. I cried a little bit (on the inside) when I heard the show was officially done. Hopefully they’ll keep putting out music into the next decade.

The Renaissance of the Serialized Drama
The aughts may be remembered as the decade when hour-long, serialized dramas came back with a major vengeance. The best of the bunch has to be Lost – a show that not only blows your mind every week, but it has you obsessing in between episodes, talking over theories and trying to guess what it all means. The season 1 and 3 finales are two of my personal favorites in a standout series.

While the writing may not be as strong at 24 as it is on Lost, it’s still an extremely entertaining show, and it’s made Jack Bauer an instant kick ass pop icon. Sure, it’s cheesy when he screams “Dammit, we’re running out of time!” yet again, but it’s hard to resist the show’s real-time Die Hard feel. Then there’s Smallville, which has gotten much better at telling long stories over multiple episodes instead of just relying on freak-of-the-week episodes. And Fringe straddles the line of stand alone episodes with a greater mythology, and so far has been doing a great job of both. I also have high hopes for FlashForward and V, but it will remain to be seen how well those shows pay off long arcs, but they’re both off to good starts.

Even when theses kinds of shows haven’t worked all that well (Dollhouse, Terminator, Heroes) or when they were good concepts that were canceled too soon (Eli Stone), it’s still good that network executives are giving their audience some credit, understanding that we have patience, and can appreciate the kind of story-telling where everything isn’t all wrapped up in a tidy package in 42 minutes.

There is a great, albeit very long article about this topic at GQ.com with the guys from Bad Robot – I recommend it if you have a half-hour to kill.

Sit-coms Are Amazing Again!
It wasn’t just hour-long dramas that rocked the decade; the sit-com was reintroduced as a medium of clever comedies, and not just full of pratfalls and one-dimensional characters. Arrested Development was able to use bad puns, sight gags, kissing cousins, and The Final Countdown to great effect for powerful belly laughs. The British version of The Office gave us an amazing new brand of painful and awkward humor that would live on in the American series, as well as Ricky Gervais’ show Extras. 30 Rock is written so brilliantly and the jokes come so fast I find myself having to constantly rewind back to listen to jokes again. How I Met Your Mother gave a new twist to the story of urban singles looking for love. And we got 8 great years of Scrubs – even if Season 9 leaves a little to be desired.

The Superhero Is Cool Again
It seems like ages ago, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past that superhero movies weren’t really anything to get that excited about. Then in a single decade, we got four fantastic films in the genre: Superman Returns, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man. (I know I’m going to get mocked for making those the ones I single out… but I just can’t get behind Spider-man. I tried, really, I did. And I enjoyed X-Men and X2, but I don’t know if they were amazing.) Too often, superhero movies were considered formulaic drivel, and could be released, hated, and forgotten about quickly. But the aughts made them not only bankable hits, but films that both nerds and critics agreed were actually good. I’ve defended Superman Returns so many times I’ve lost count, so I’ll just make this quick – it had its fans, and its share of people who hated it, but I loved it, so it goes on *MY* list, OK? The rebooted Batman films were also incredible, and they made that world so dark and believable it’s hard to not be foaming at the mouth for more sequels. And even though I knew nothing about Iron Man, I thoroughly enjoyed that film as well. Sure there have been some bad superhero movies in the past ten years, but the good ones were so great, it almost doesn’t matter.

The Apatow Movie Method
If some strange pop culture villain put a gun to my head and demanded I name the funniest movie of the past ten years, it’s a safe bet that I’d answer Superbad. I was laughing out loud a lot when we first saw that flick, and every time I’ve watched it since, I have the same reaction. That’s impressive considering I know the jokes that are coming. I also feel similarly about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and The 40-Year Old Virgin. And Anchorman and Talladega Nights and Walk Hard and any movie that had Apatow’s name attached to was guaranteed to be at least funnier than your average comedy. Of course, Judd himself didn’t always have much to do with every all of the above movies, but his influence can be felt in them – and others where he had no involvement whatsoever, like I Love You, Man; there are outrageous moments, painful moments, and things that are ridiculous enough to make you laugh so hard your stomach hurts, but they still keep themselves grounded in such a way that you buy what’s happening. Movie comedies will probably continue to evolve, but these movies will always make me laugh.

The Pixar Streak
So much has already been said about the brilliance of the Pixar movies, but here it goes anyway: The folks at Pixar are geniuses, and each and every one of their flicks have been funny, beautiful to watch, and full of great characters and stories. Two of the greatest films of the decade in my humble opinion are WALL·E and Up, neither of which sounded like a home-run concept, but were both executed flawlessly. Sure there are other companies doing similar kinds of animation, but those movies always just fail to impress me with their stories, and often times they are so full of timely references that the jokes will be out dated in a few years. Courtney and I have been watching a DVR’d collection of Pixar shorts, and even the company’s short films are crafted with amazing precision and humor. I sure hope my kids love these movies, because I know I’ll enjoy watching them too.

Nintendo Changes Video Gaming
I’m a Nintendo fanboy – always have been, always will be. And I loved the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance. But what Nintendo pulled off with the Wii and the Nintendo DS is truly incredible. Video-gaming is no longer just associated with nerds playing alone in dark basements – it’s now something that the whole family can do together, something that parents don’t dread if their kids want to do, and it’s even something that women actually enjoy. (And are not just pretending to enjoy for the sake of their boyfriends or husbands.) Wii Sports isn’t my favorite game personally, but I love watching people who have never held a game controller pick it up and play with ease. Wii Fit is a really fun way to exercise at home. The latest iterations of the classic franchises have all been fantastic: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Paper Mario, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii are all incredible games, as are their counterparts on the DS. (I just beat the first dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks this morning – it’s really fun so far!)

Sure Nintendo has room for improvement – better online capability, HD graphics, etc. But the fact of the matter is what they are doing now works, and it works well, and it works well for a huge chunk of the population.

Better, Clearer, Faster
High definition television. DVR. Portable players that let us watch movies, TV shows, and carry tons of music and photos, too. It’s pretty amazing that when we started this decade, those things weren’t common, and now it’s hard to imagine life without them. It sounds like a sweeping statement, but it isn’t, really. Try to go through a week without using your DVR. Or switch back to a standard definition TV. You’ll be going out of your mind in a week. What are you going to do, record your favorite shows with a VCR? Seriously.

And remember when you had to carry a discman with you to listen to music on the go? You looked strange wearing headphones, and you could only listen to one album at a time! Now you can carry thousands of songs in your cell phone.

And remember dial-up? When it would take a half hour to load a 30 second video clip? Now you can watch entire episodes of TV shows or whole movies on your laptop – or even on your TV – that load in seconds.

It’s hard to imagine so much has happened in ten years, and it’s even crazier that in December 2019, we’ll be looking back at all of this stuff as quaint and old-fashioned.

Super fast recap of the non-Lost season finales of the year:

Smallville – Super disappointing battle between Clark and Doomsday. They built up all season for 1 minute of a fight? And Jimmy Olsen wasn’t thew real Jimmy Olsen? Lame. And Chloe didn’t know that her husband had a brother? And she didn’t even try to use her healing power on him? Lame lame double lame.

24 – Tony was sort of kind of a little bit redeemed – he did have somewhat of a motivation for his actions, although he was willing to go to some awful extremes. And Kim in trouble was a tired way to end the season – there was way too much talking and not enough action in a finale where we knew Jack wasn’t going to die.

Fringe – A great end to a great first year. I really think this was one of my favorite new shows of the past season. The twists about Peter and where William Bell holds his alternate-universe meetings were great moments.

The Office – The best moment of the show was Dwight stalling for Pam and Jim. How many people have to get hurt before we do something? One? Two? Three? … FOUR?

Scrubs – What a great way to end the series, except that they’re not really ending the series. On the one hand I’m happy to have more Scrubs, but they did such an amazing job tying everything up, it could feel like overkill. And how wil they top the next series finale they have to do?

Another TV season has come and gone… Now I can begin a summer of watching baseball!

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, and there are a lot of TV shows to catch up on, so I’m making this a two-parter.

First up since it is fresh in my mind: Jack is back! Last night’s 24 mini-movie totally got me excited for Jack Bauer and 24’s return to TV this fall. The real-time action! The political intrigue! Jack taking out bad guy after bad guy after bad guy before they have any idea what’s coming at them! Yeah, last season was a let down, but I’m not ready to write off this show yet. Seeing Jack in Africa (instead of LA for the first time ever) was a nice change of pace, and having him run around D.C. should bring some fresh changes to the show. As for Redemption specifically, I thought it was enjoyable, although the boy soldiers thing did feel very reminiscent of Blood Diamond. And I didn’t totally get why Jack needs “redemption” – he’s saved the free world several times already. But the action was good, Jack yelled “Dammit!” a lot – everything was there. Oh – and one season seven prediction: Tony Almeida isn’t really a bad guy. He’s actually a good guy working inside the terrorist organization to take it down from the inside. I have to believe that – I just don’t accept that Tony would turn rogue.

True Blood ended up being one of my favorite new shows of the season. It got off to a rocky start, but once it found its footing, the show really started to work. The cliffhangers kept the show moving, they weren’t afraid to kill off characters, and none of the supernatural elements felt hokey. My only complaint with the tail end of the season was that the last 15-20 minutes of the finale felt like it was all set-up for season two. But hey, it worked, because I’m looking forward to it.

My other favorite new show has been Fringe. It feels like a cross between Lost and The X-Files – it was supposed to – but the format works. The acting is great and the stories are fun – I really hope the show can keep up its pace.

Meanwhile, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been really, really bad. I almost lost it last week when a human villain from the future showed up in the present, and Derek and his girlfriend killed him, but let the present version of the guy go, because he wasn’t yet that monster, and hopefully he wouldn’t become him. Hopefully? What? Is that how this show works now? Why do they bother protecting John then? Hopefully he’ll survive and defeat the machines and everything will turn up rosy. This may be one nitpicky point, but it is representative of the huge errors in logic this show has been making this season, and it’s getting to be too much.

All right, that’s it for now – more to come tomorrow!

Even the mini-reviews are getting to be too much (hey, I watch a lot of shows here), so I think I’m just going to stick to general impressions/thoughts on recent shows, skipping here and there as I go.  Hope you enjoy.

The Simpsons’ twentieth (!) season kicked off with a bang, and I found myself laughing a lot. Despite South Park dedicating an entire episode to “Simspons Did It!”, The Simpsons seems to be a bit behind in parodying things that South Park has already done: First 24 and now Dog the Bounty Hunter, but both times the different shows went in such totally different directions it didn’t matter. And both episodes have been good, and that’s what really matters. The erotic bakery storyline wasn’t hysterical, but it served its purpose in delivering some random laughs.

True Blood is finally starting to pick up, probably because they no longer have to worry about annoying things like set-up and establishing characters, but they seem to have gotten the knack of who these people are, what’s going on in their world, and the stories have started to pick up some traction.

Little Britain USA didn’t win me over immediately, but I loved the dog “suggesting” its owner strip and stand in garbage was great, and the show proved its worth with the line, “In America there are more fat people than there are people.”

Heroes still feels like they’re recycling plot points; now there’s another guy who paints his visions?  Can’t they come up with any new powers for people to have?  And next week we’ll see evil Claire and good Sylar?  I don’t know, I just want more from this show.

Fringe is getting better and better, and I like the fact that they try to pack in one “eww” moment per episode, like a guy getting holes drilled in his head or someone being tortured with electric shocks through their nostrils.  I’m not quite sure how the show is going to turn out less complicated than Lost with so many unexplained tidbits happening in each episode, but whatever, I’ll keep watching.

Smallville’s season is young, but I already really miss Lex. He really was one of the best parts of the show, and Tess Mercer just isn’t working for me as a replacement. The introduction of Davis was also incredibly yawn-worthy. This is the guy who will eventually kill Superman? Really? And how the hell did Clark get hired at the Daily Planet – he’s a college dropout that wrote a couple of articles in his high school paper, yet he was given a reporter job at one of the biggest newspapers in the country? And how has there been no mention of Kara still being trapped in the Phantom Zone? I get that she’s no longer a cast member, but shouldn’t Clark care that his cousin is trapped in a floating prison in space? And what’s with Lois suddenly being smitten with Clark? She never noticed him before, and even though this show has already taken many great liberties with Superman continuity, isn’t she supposed to continue to be apathetic towards him only to then fall for his alter-ego? Having Lois be interested in Clark kind of hurts that eventual love triangle. But to the show’’s credit, I am intrigued by the possibility that Tess is creating an army of super-villains, perhaps a Legion of Doom in training?

I’m starting with last week’s HBO shows; I didn’t get to watch last night’s due to the Emmys, but fear not, I’ll get to them…

True Blood: The First Taste – This show ain’t getting any less cheesy, but I’m still enjoying watching it. And apparently, I’ll enjoy it for a second season as well, if I so choose. I find it a little odd that the show got renewed after its second episode, but hey, HBO has gambled successfully before. So far, I’m liking Sookie and the vampire Bill, and I wish the show would spend more time on them than on the jerky brother and the sassy best friend.

Entourage: Unlike a Virgin – Johnny was obsessive and Turtle made fun of him, which always makes for good comedy. The more serious side of Vince and Ari, as they discussed the reality of his future as an actor, made for a nice contrast. I was surprised to hear Ari speak so candidly about Vinny’s so-so acting ability, though – it kind of seemed odd that he would be so invested in someone he didn’t really believe in.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Automatic for the People – What the hell is going on here? I am seriously confused. So everyone is a Terminator? Did the Terminators want the reactor to open and for it to poison people? Or was it just prepared that, if that plan should have been foiled, the T-1000 would find a way to buy and automate the system? This whole multiple timeline and multiple people and machines altering destiny thing is getting a bit confusing for me. It might be that I’m just over analyzing, but hey, that’s what good geeks do.

Fringe: The Same Old Story – I love that the whole baby-turning-into-an-old-man bit didn’t go anywhere near where I thought it was going to.  The show is still sort of finding its footing, but it has tons of potential.  I wasn’t that crazy about the “seeing the last thing the dying person saw” bit, especially since last week’s episode introduced the concept of questioning dead people.  There are plenty of paranormal concepts out there that they don’t need to repeat themselves, and I’m hoping that was a one-time lapse in judgment.

Smallville: Odyssey – My expectations were so low – how was I still able to be disappointed?  Well let’s start with how Jor-El allows someone to “control” Clark – he loses his powers.  Yawn.  How many times has that happened already?  Then Clark manages to escape to Russia from the North Pole without any special powers?  All of the scenes with him in captivity were just blatant attempts to get him in a wet T-shirt.  It was cool to see (half of) the Justice League going to find Clark, but I’m not so sure I want Green Arrow coming to rescue me, when if a couple of armed guards enter a room, he is so slow that he couldn’t fire off a single shot.  And the whole “spinal fluid kryptonite that controls you” thing was totally shoe-horned and under used.  And without powers, an arrow through the heart doesn’t kill Clark right away?  Huh?  The show ended with the potential of Clark *finally* accepting his destiny, leaving the farm, and moving on to the Daily Planet, but it was still a weak premiere.  Oh, and why does Tess look exactly like Lois?  Awkward.

The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards – Cons: Five lame reality show hosts that talk too much, everyone spewing their politics, and hokey TV show “sets.”   Pros: Ricky Gervais vs. Steve Carell, and 30 Rock getting its due.

Sorry to keep y’all waiting, but I warned you the posts would come a little fewer and further between. The TV season has kicked off, so here are some real quick mini-impressions of what’s premiered so far.

True Blood: Strange Love – This series has potential, but the writing has got to improve. The characters all seemed completely over the top, and all the exposition really got in the way. But that might have just been necessary for the show to get it’s footing, so I’ll give it another chance or two. Although the whole silver-hurts-vampires thing really bugged me, I did appreciate the fact that they called out the fact that it’s normally reserved for werewolf lore.

Entourage: Fantasy Island – The boys of Entourage are back, and I realized how much I missed them with this episode. It probably helped the show that I wasn’t that crazy about True Blood and anything would have looked good by comparison, but Entourage felt fun again after taking itself too seriously in it’s most recent run.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Samson & Delilah – While I understand that it wasn’t the show’s fault that the first season was cut short by the writer’s strike, this season premiere just didn’t feel like a season premiere. And of course it couldn’t, because it took place immediately after the very cliffhanger-y moments of the previous episode. I found myself not totally remembering everything that happened last season with the Turk, and the “Previously on” didn’t help much. I also hated Shirley Manson’s character right from the start, with her boring speech on the majesty of the machines, and the reveal that she is a T-1000 just felt haphazard. Does this show really need *another* Terminator running around? And WTF was up with John’s repairing of Cameron’s chip? The Terminator’s main circuitry works like a NES game – you just blow on it, clean off the dust, and it goes back to working all of a sudden? Lame.

Fringe: Pilot – So far, this has been my favorite television of the season. This episode worked brilliantly as both a stand alone and as a series premiere. They completely resolved the episode’s main mystery, but tied it into one over-arcing conspiracy story that should play out really well as the series continues. The introduction of the characters was handled well, the plot didn’t seem overly convoluted, and the extended length plus limited commercials made the pilot feel like a movie. My only complaints would be the way the music was very close to what you hear on that *other* J.J. Abrams show, and while I dug that they tried something new with the “this-scene-takes-place-in…” text, the bold letters in the middle of the locations just didn’t work for me.

Also, a belated goodbye to Swingtown, which seems unlikely to get picked up for a second season. Watching swinging suburbanites in the summer of ‘76 (say that fast three times) made for some enjoyable viewing while nothing else was on. Except anytime the daughter was on screen…

Summertime has come and (almost) gone, and now that we’ve all gotten that pesky fresh air and outdoor goodness out of the way, it’s time we can focus on the things that REALLY matter, namely TV. There are only a handful (thankfully) of new shows coming this season that I’m looking forward to checking out, and there are plenty more of my favorites coming back for another go-round. So here, for your reading pleasure, is my complete list of Must-See-TV this fall, in chronological order by season premieres.

First up is the (already behind us) premiere of Robot Chicken, which happened this past Sunday night. If you have a DVR/Tivo, you have no excuse to miss this show. It’s about 12 minutes long and consistently funny in it’s satirizing of random pop culture nuggets. Think of the throw-away gags in a Family Guy episode, but without any attempt at a coherent plot.

I’m also passed the premiere date of Z Rock, which airs on IFC.  It’s a sort of Spinal Tap meets The Office meets Entourage sort of show, about three hard rockers who play kid parties during the day.  It’s raunchy and simple fun, or at least the first episode was.

True Blood premieres on HBO this Sunday, September 7. The buzz has been mixed, but having recently gotten into TV shows about vampires, I figure this one is worth a look. Besides, I’ll already be on my couch watching HBO on Sunday for…

Entourage, which returns this Sunday right after True Blood. Entourage started to feel a little stale last season, and it didn’t help that it was paired up with the hysterical Flight of the Conchords. But it’s still good old fashioned mindless entertainment.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles gets to pick up from where it was so rudely interrupted in it’s first season run when it comes back on Monday, September 8th. Like I’ve said before, I was totally over the Terminator franchise, but this show has restored my faith.

The next day, Fringe makes it’s debut. J.J. Abrams, the dude behind Lost, is co-creator and executive producer, which is kind of all I need to tune in to see what it’s all about. Add in that it’s inspired in part by The X-Files, and I’m more than signed up. According to an interview with Abrams in the NY Times, viewers can drop in and drop out without missing a beat, which isn’t really an issue for me, because if I’m going to watch the show, I’m going to watch them all.  And while I’m a little afraid that giving a show with an overall arc the Law & Order treatment might dumb it down, I’m still curious to see. (IGN also has an interesting article on Fringe here.)

Smallville returns for Season Eight on September 18th. I’ve already said all I can on this. I’m worried, but I’ll watch anyway; with my expectations so low, I can only be pleasantly surprised. Or be disappointed even further, I guess.

Heroes’ third season picks up on September 22nd, and I am definitely jazzed. Some fans were really bitter with the way Season Two went down, and while I agree that it wasn’t amazing, I didn’t think it was that bad, and I’m totally confident that the show can really make this whole “Villains” story work. Besides, Kirsten Bell?  Check. Hayden Panettiere?  Check.  A funny and lovable Asian time-traveler? Check!  What more do you need?

Also that night is the return of Two and a Half Men.  The wife got me into this show, and I have to admit that it always makes me laugh.  It’s light-hearted and surprisingly dirty, but it works.  I also had hoped to watch the previous seasons of How I Met Your Mother this summer in time for that show’s premiere (same night), but that didn’t work out.  Though it’s never too late, I suppose.

The Dunder-Mifflin crew returns with new episodes of The Office on September 25th, and after last year’s amazing post-strike run, the show has set the bar incredibly high for itself. But I’m not worried; these guys have proven time and time again how amazing their writing can be.

Sunday, September 28th sees the return of Fox’s Animation Domination, with new episodes of The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad. The sheer fact that a show I started watching and loving when I was 10 is now entering it’s 20th season is something I never would have imagined.  In the past 19 years I’ve never missed an episode, and I don’t intend to start now. Family Guy has definitely lost some of its magic lately (especially after the “Cartoon Wars” episodes of South Park), but it still does have great moments here and there. And despite initially being written off by a lot of people as a Family Guy clone, American Dad has completely come into its own, and often times is even funnier than the show that inspired it.

On October 3rd, The Clone Wars makes it’s television debut, and after enjoying the movie, I am definitely stoked for the small screen version. Sure, I’m a geek for anything Star Wars, but this show is dripping with potential, so count me in.

October 8th will bring another animated show, and that’s the return of South Park. The first half of this season definitely had some pretty big misfires, but I can’t help getting excited for new episodes. Matt and Trey can redeem the season with a strong second half, and I fully expect at least one episode with a biting election/political slant.

Eli Stone gets it’s first full season to start on October 14th, and the show’s run earlier in the year was a lot more fun than I expected. It was initially given the time-slot after Lost, and it will remain to be seen if the show can pull in good numbers without it’s big lead in. The concept is definitely a little out-there, but the wife and I came to really enjoy the show’s great characters.

30 Rock returns at the end of the month, on October 30th, and though it will be tough to wait so long for new episodes, it’s a safe bet that it will be well worth it. The writing on 30 Rock is definitely top-notch, the jokes come fast and furious, and the long arcs fit seamlessly into each episode. It really is, quite simply, a brilliant show.

Finally, deep into fall on November 23rd, we have 24: Exile, the two hour prequel to 24’s upcoming seventh season. It seems like 24 lost a lot of fans with it’s sub-par sixth season, and the fact that there haven’t been any new episodes since May 2007 doesn’t help matters. The show definitely allowed itself to slip into old habits its last time out, and it will have to really try new things this year if it wants to keep going. I’m willing to keep going with 24, if for no other reason than last year, the show *did* have some moments of brilliance, even if they were lost in the sea of mediocrity.