It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The new fall television season can't start soon enough for me! This summer was especially dry, with Mad Men and Sons of Anarchy moving to the autumn. This summer was Merlin (am I the only one who thinks Uther is just doing what needs to be done?), So You Think You Can Dance, Ice Road Truckers, and lots and lots of reading.

Sadly, this fall is also on the lean side. Some shows I enjoy, like Lost, aren't coming back until January, two of my favorites (Doctor Who and Torchwood) not having full seasons, while the networks are producing fewer new shows, of questionable quality (Cougar Town? WTF, ABC?!).

Must-Squee TV
Bones (September 17, FOX, Thur@8)
Supernatural (September 9, CW, Thur@9)

Also Recording
Big Bang Theory (September 21, CBS, Mon@9:30)
Castle (September 21, ABC, Mon@10)
House (September 21, FOX, Mon@8)
Mad Men (August 16, AMC, Sun@10)
NCIS (September 22, CBS, Tue@8)
Sanctuary (October 9, SYFY, Fri@10)
So You Think You Can Dance (September 9, FOX, Tue@8, Wed@8)
Sons of Anarchy (September 8, FX, Tue@10)

Auditioning
Flash Forward (September 24, ABC, Thur@8)
NCIS: LA (September 22, CBS, Tue@9)
Stargate: Universe (October 2, SYFI, Fri@9)
V (November 3, ABC, Tue@8)
Vampire Diaries (September 8, CW, Thur@8)

On the Bubble
How I Met Your Mother (September 21, CBS, Mon@8)

Not much genre programming on my currently recording list (*sniff* I miss you, Atlantis and Battlestar), so I'm really hoping SGU, V, and Flash Forward deliver. Given SGU's sides, it's probably a foolish hope, but V and Flash Forward appear to have real potential. Recording Vampire Diaries is more about morbid curiosity.

Thanks to some hard sell during our most recent FriendCon, myfieldnotes and mrwubbles have gotten me into Castle. The premise is ridiculous, but Nathan Fillion is a charisma machine, the leads have good dialogue, and the family interaction is excellent.

House has moved up from bubble status; the dynamic with the new interns made the show much more watchable last year, and the closing arc gave me hope that they might actually start developing House's character. Fringe, Heroes and Dollhouse are entirely out. Fringe's characters are wholly unlikeable, Heroes has completely lost the plot (I think I watched about five minutes of last year), and Dollhouse suffers from a fatal flaw: no matter how cool the special effects are or how awesome Echo is, I can't bring myself to care about characters that have no memory of themselves week-to-week, because it utterly precludes character development. Wake me up if Echo has a breakthrough.