Television Fall 2006

My name is Kyle and this is the beginning of my second tour of duty as a Stealing Cable contributor. However, despite the fact that I was a member before, this is actually my first post on the site. (thus solved: the mystery of why I was "fired" the first time)

About Me: In general I watch way too much television. However, since the summer began I've laid off the television viewing a bit. I burned myself out watching approximately 20 shows at a time during the fall and winter seasons. Now I'm down to one new show, (and really it's basically a fluff show) The 4400. Rather than talking about that show, I'd rather share with you my current schedule of what shows I'm going to watch. This past year I had a dual tuner DVR, and although I'm changing residences in a couple weeks I feel very confident that I can get one for next year, because it is very important to me. My tentative Fall television schedule is as follows:

We'll begin with Monday where I start off with Prison Break at 8PM. The first season was silly and uneven, but mostly entertaining and I think the second season has some promise to be better than the first, so I'm definitely going to continue with that show. On at the same time is How I Met Your Mother, a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I can't dislike any show that features Jason Segel in a prominent role and has the two guys who created Clone High as writers. I'll follow those two up with 2 intersting looking new shows, Heroes and Runaway. Both have the potential to suck badly, but the premises sound interesting enough that I'll certainly give them a shot and see how they turn out. Then I'll finish off my night with the new show I'm looking forward to the most (as is almost everyone else) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I don't think I really need to go into much detail about that one, but it sure does look good.

Tuesday is almost as packed for viewing as Monday, and introduces my first (and really only) scheduling conflict. At 8 I have Gilmore Girls, constantly one of my favorite shows, although I am still moderatly concerned about them having new show runners, and apparently House will be on the also. That squeezes out Friday Night Lights, which had a pretty impressive preview and a pretty good pedigree. I'll probably figure out a way to record one of those shows on VHS so that I can watch all three. Then I'll follow that up with a show I've been a big champion of from the beginning, Veronica Mars. Although last season faltered a bit in comparison to the first, I like what Rob Thomas has been doing and have faith that this next season will be great, rather than merely good.

Next up is Wednesday, which is not nearly as busy as the first two nights. I actually think there's a good chance that when Lost goes on it's haitus I may not have any shows to watch on Wednesday. But when the season begins I'll be giving 20 Good Years and 30 Rock a shot. I don't have high hopes for either, but I believe they'll both end up being solid, but far from great, sitcoms. And although I'm mystified by people who think Lost is great I do still quite enjoy the show, and I will definitely be counting myself among the viewers next season. I'm also interested in giving Day Break a chance, mainly because Adam Baldwin's in it. The premise actually seems a bit silly to me.

Thursday night, all the biggest show's are on. However, apparently I don't know jackshit because there is almost nothing I want to watch. I'll definitely be watch My Name is Earl and the new best sitcom on television The Office, and I'm going to give 'Til Death a shot early in the season when nothing else is on. I'm also going to try to catch up on the second half of the first season of Supernatural before it's second season begins, but that might not happen. And finally I'll finish it off with Six Degrees, which I'm mainly interested in because of the cast, and not J.J. Abrams attachment to it.

Finally we finish off the week on Friday with only one show that I've deemed worthwhile, but it's a fucking good one. The third season of Battlestar Galactica begins on Sci-Fi on October 6th, giving everyone plenty of time to pick up the DVDs from the first two seasons and catch up, if you haven't already been watching. I love the hell out of this show and whole heartedly recommend to anyone with a brain, but I've got another post saved up to gush about BSG.

Weekends suck for dramatic television. I have a feeling my weekends are going to be dedicated solely to sports. (even though I won't be watching the NFL anymore)

Of course, this is all fairly tentative. I imagine there will be at least one great show I'm completely overlooking at this point that I'll be super into halfway through the season. This is just a little exercise to get a TV junkie like myself hyped up for the upcoming season. Only a bit of 3 weeks until Prison Break kicks it off!