What To Watch: Mondays

Fall TV Season is finally upon us, and the season premieres of returning shows and pilots for new shows will start hitting the air soon. I'll be doing a brief rundown, day by day, of the shows I'll be watching this fall, so follow along and add your two cents worth as well. Let's start with Monday:

Show	Net	Day	Time	Priority
Heroes	NBC	MON	800	DVR
House	FOX	MON	800	Watch
How I Met Your Mother	CBS	MON	800	Watch
Lie to Me	FOX	MON	900	DVR
Big Bang Theory	CBS	MON	930	Watch
Castle	ABC	MON	1000	Watch

First, a quick word about what I'm calling "Priority." "DVR" means that I'll TiVo the show, probably get around to watching it, but not necessarily on the night in question. "Watch" means that I'll make every effort to watch the show live (or relatively live, factoring in the 15 minute or so buffer to blast through the commercials). And my third classification (which isn't shown here on Monday) is "Sleepytime." Long ago having tired of the shouty nonsense from SportsCenter anchors and news program hysterical blathering, I like to have a bank of shows built up on the bedroom TiVo to watch as I'm falling asleep. Typically, these are fairly unchallenging but watchable procedurals. Also, my "best of the night" are shown in RED.

Heroes: Call it morbid curiosity or a bad habit, but I'm leaving this on the season pass list despite a continuing (and almost terminal) decline in the quality of the show. Mainly, I like Adrian Pasdar, Jack Coleman and Zachary Quinto as actors, and for the time being, their talents and appeal overcome the charisma void created by the rest of the cast and the plot hole-riddled scripting. Could have the plug pulled in short order if it doesn't improve quickly, though.

House: How has Hugh Laurie not been awarded an Emmy yet? The quality of the individual episodes and plot strands can vary, but there's no doubting the ferocious, multi-faceted and captivating central performance (along with quality work done by the rest of the cast, especially the understated Robert Sean Leonard).

How I Met Your Mother: When's the last time you were so entertained by a show built around a douchey principal character and his uninteresting quest? But the other four characters are so awesome we put up with Ted.

Lie To Me: Like House, the show's plot mechanics can be a bit of a one trick pony, but the lead English import is so damned good, it makes up for it. They did start to show different nuances to the "lie detection" gimmick late in the season, and bringing in Shawn Ryan as showrunner, and Sarah Fain & Elizabeth Craft (late of Dollhouse) as writers should only help the show improve in its sophomore season.

Big Bang Theory: Simply put, my favorite sitcom on TV. BBT grew leaps and bounds in its second season, continuing all the lovably geeky stuff (spot on, while treating it with respect - a difficult tightrope to walk) that made it so appealing in the first place, while rounding out and deepening the initially one-note and troublesome character of Penny. Proof that the "old" three camera sitcom format isn't dead, and can thrive in the right hands.

Castle: Nathan Fillion gets his best role since Captain Tightpants, and has terrific chemistry with stealth hottie Stana Katic in this engaging, breezy, crime drama. Castle feels like it should be on USA network, and that's actually a good thing. (And bonus points for giving me the first kid on TV since Rory Gilmore that I don't want to put into a wood chipper).

I'll take potpourri for $6,000, Alex

The Lost finale is still cooking my noodle, and I'll have more on that next week. However, here's an overstuffed basket of potpourri for your Saturday morning enjoyment:

Need a quick way to identify which Trek movie you're watching? Here's a handy chart.

How does Spock's mom stay so young looking? Big gulps of water, apparently. (Plus, any chance to indulge my lifelong crush on Winona Ryder is always welcome).

How big is the new Enterprise? Pretty fucking big.

i09's 5 favorite Trek ripoffs (and you really have to click the video for the "Phoenix 5.")

Here's a great podcast about movie scores. You'll find at the top of the list a episode about the music of Trek. Good stuff.

More Trek! Here's the wallpaper on my CrackBerry:

io9 has compiled a great collection of Trek Top 10 lists.

More Trek goodies, including a trivia quiz administered by "Q." (Yeah, I scored 20 out of 20).

Great set of annotations to the new Trek movie.

Can you tell that I FLOVED the new Trek film? Okay, on to other things...

This is AWESOME. The "world's three best visual illusions."

Flat screen TV's are now an apparent danger to children. Here's a solution: keep your fucking kids away from the TV. Here's another: get your priorities in line. TVs are much more important; don't spawn in the first place.

One man's take on why Fringe is attracting more viewers than Dollhouse.

Speaking of Fringe, how about that fantastic finale? Here's a closeup of a newspaper from the other dimension. JFK is still alive! (Does Oliver Stone have no career in this other dimension?) Len Bias still alive, and leading the Celts to a title! Stock market closed! White House rebuilt!

Michael Emerson chats with the AV Club.

Joss Whedon's "7 Things I Love About Sci-Fi."

io9 posits that Dollhouse is Joss's "greatest work." (I don't agree, but it's an interesting read nonetheless).

The gorgeous Juliet Landau talks about writing Drusilla for the Buffy comics.

Nathan Fillion Q&A with EW about Castle (which also got renewed, along with Better Off Ted. Yippee!). More Nathan here.

An oldie but a goodie from PJ O'Rourke, "I agree with me."

This cracks me up: the "history of everything" in timeline form. Which option makes more sense?

Asteroids couldn't have killed the dinosaurs. Wait, all this happened in 6,000 years?

Oh yeah. Marriage equality leads to bestiality, pedophilia and polygamy. Keep talking, Pat. It makes everyone else look smarter.

Thoughts on Joss's script for Alien Resurrection, and what happened as it was translated by the director.

Nice Interview with Jim Beaver, from Supernatural. (And damn, was I glad Bobby lived through that kickass finale).

Wizard Universe lists the "TV Greatest Sci-Fi Shows Ever."

How cool is this? The Tarantino Mixtape:

The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Today in Idiocy: I watch the Weather Channel occasionally, but didn't realize there was a type of "wind" that would only blow in the direction of nipples, while leaving the hair unmoved.

Bubble Watch

It's that time of the year when TV show renewals are in the air, and that brings the dreaded "bubble watch."

Because the great unwashed masses are generally too dumb or inattentive to appreciate quality work, or because of the limited broad appeal of genre fare, many of the shows I wind up loving often face the damned bubble. Fortunately, some of my most loved shows are already guaranteed (or almost a lock for) a place on the schedule next year, such as Lost, Supernatural, Fringe and Big Bang Theory (among 50+ others with a place of honor among my Season Passes). Others aren't so lucky:

How it would hurt if these shows were cancelled:

Gaping, sucking chest wound; punctured eyeballs; followed by being set on fire:

• Chuck (The most charming show on TV. A little bit of everything: espionage, laughs, romance, intrigue, action. Go buy a Subway sub on Monday!)
• Dollhouse (Like most of Joss's shows, this is really hitting its stride as it gets deeper into the mythology and characterizations. Been nuthin' but AWESOME since "Man on the Street.")
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Is there no room on TV for intelligent, well written sci-fi?)

Compound fracture of the tibia:

• Castle (A cut above the usual procedural with likable characters and charisma to burn).
• Reaper (wandering and amiable, but holding its own against the Idol juggernaut. The addition of Nina and Morgan has helped, Ben is a deadpan master, and Ray Wise's Devil is Emmy worthy).
• Party Down (Really funny, with distinct characters and an offbeat tone).

Vicious punch to the solar plexus:

• Better Off Ted (Why isn't this fantastical workplace sitcom, which never fails to make me laugh, getting more attention?)
• The Unusuals (Another cop show, sure, but at least it's trying something different).
• Law & Order (I've been with it from the beginning, and this current cast is fantastic and the best since the glory days).
• Lie to Me (Unique premise that's held up better than I thought it would thus far. Tim Roth and Kelli Williams are great, and Jennifer Beals showed up last night as Roth's ex-wife. Good stuff).
  

Hangover:

• Samantha Who (Yeah, it's kind of slight, but Christina Applegate is a fantastic comic actress).
• My Name is Earl (Even when it aims and misses, Earl has a great top to bottom cast who can handle anything from farce to heartwarming).

Quickies

The posting has been lighter than usual around these parts, because I've been in a bit of a funk, and had a lingering migraine-esque brain intrusion. But here are a few quickies:

I think that the daughter on Castle and Rory Gilmore are the only two kids (not involved with vampires) that I've ever liked on TV. And that show really is a charming and easy procedural, like Bones used to be (and occasionally still is).

Last Friday's Dollhouse was the best episode of the series, even better than "Man on the Street" two weeks ago. It figures that just as it is getting to the "must watch/I love this show" stage, FOX will put it on death row. Please Joss, go to cable next time. I'm sure all your fans know how to change the channel.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles sure ended with a bang, didn't it? I love this show, too, but the handwriting has been on the wall for some time with it, so the inevitable cancellation won't crush me. So, did John (and Weaver) wind up exactly "when" they were supposed to all along, or is this a separate, and new, branch in the timeline?

I'm more of a Marvel than DC fan (though I understand the corporate sensibilities involved with producing Big Bang Theory), but the nerds were spot on with their comic book references last night, weren't they?

It was nice to see UGA football on the television Saturday, even though it was about as exciting as standing in line at the DMV. With Cox, Gray and even Murray, I'm not worried about the QB position. Someone needs to break out at the RB position, and let's hope that we don't have another season of WR "dropsies" spreading like leprosy. And of course, as it did last year, a good deal of the season will come down to what Willie does with his talent.

That final round of The Masters was a joy to behold. Phil certainly let one get away, giving up about 4 strokes (rinsing the tee shot at 12, and missing makeable putts on 15 and 17, not even couting a bogie on 18).

I usually watch CSI: Original Recipe, but this is just can't miss:



Okay, I'll be back tomorrow with Idol thoughts. Time for some Advil and whiskey.

I'll take potpourri for $5,400, Alex

Here's a great add on for your Firefox browser: FoxyTunes. It adds controls for iTunes right into your browser, saving the laziest among us from having to (gasp!) toggle back and forth between two programs if you listen while you surf. (h/t T-Recs)

Still haven't gotten your fill of Watchmen? How about a movie podcast with Kevin Smith discussing the film? It's long, but awesome. (And the podcast was interesting enough that I went back and subscribed to the /film podcast. Lots of good geekery in there).

Dollhouse and Sarah Connor show ratings improvement! Both shows are also showing plot and content improvement, but will it be enough to get more seasons?

Joss talks to TV Guide about next week's pivotal episode.

The Live Feed chats with Ron Moore about the BSG finale.

EW has a fantastic slideshow walk through the history of BSG.

Buddy TV's list of the top 25 eps of BSG.

Carla Gugino's 5 favorite films (and cool that it includes 12 Monkeys).

Because no one can see enough Christina Hendricks pictures.

SI's Andy Staples looks at the SEC.

A funny comic for fans of the Watchmen graphic novel.

Just in case there's a gift giving occasion coming up.

Does this mean that Michael Vick's salary will be paid by taxes on the successful?

Scans of TV Guide (print version) feature on BSG.

Want a close up look at Chuck's chart from the back of the Tron poster? Look here. More on Chuck here.

What if Stan Lee wrote Watchmen?

Could there possibly be 10 defenses for the Howard the Duck movie?

These anti-bay marriage people are really lunatics. And I totally want to marry a robot.

SFX talks to the guy that's showing up on every TV show I watch, Mark Sheppard.

Interview with Nathan Fillion.

Patton Oswalt geeks out about Watchmen, Dollhouse (he's on Friday's ep), BSG and Burn Notice.

They're doing a "reimagining" of V, the childhood mini-series about alien lizard people invading Earth. And the iconic role of the hot alien leader will be played by Morena Baccarin.