If I don't watch them, who will???

--regolith

But you seemed so psyched last weekend!

So, speaking of the new TV season, it's really slim pickings. Some thoughts will follow in additional posts, since I seem to have a lot to say...

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Heroes is back, but, if the first episode of the season is any indication, it's back to its old tricks. The cast is too big, nothing satisfying ever happens, and the show just really isn't all that good. I think we all just watch due to the hints at what could be a good show, and the way it constantly strings us along. David Anders (Sark from Alias) could make an entertaining addition, but he's currently labeled as a guest star (and saddled with the horrible Masi Oka (Hiro)).

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Josh Schwartz, of The O.C. fame, is back with two new shows: Chuck and Gossip Girl. Unfortunately neither of them is worth sticking with, although one is much closer than the other. Taking the third season of The O.C. along with these new shows, one has to wonder if the early (and, to some extent, late) greatness of The O.C. was a simple fluke.

Chuck is out and out unwatchable. From the get go the premise is so ridiculous and stupid that no living human being could possibly get past it. Beyond that, the acting is bad, the effects are terrible, the writing is mediocre, and there's not a single likable character.

Gossip Girl, on the other hand, fares better. The acting and writing are both decent. Leighton Meester and Taylor Momsen are both incredibly lovely. The show's major issue is that you don't really care about any of the characters. They're the offspring of the rich and/or famous in New York City, and they all have superficial problems of their own makings that are virtually impossible to empathize with. Combine that with the fact that they all seem very one-dimensional and the show quickly becomes too tedious to watch.

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Reaper was a big surprise. Superficially it's a lot like Chuck -- a loser, who works at a big box retailer with his wacky best pal, experiences an implausible life-changing event that suddenly makes him "special". The difference in premise being that Reaper has the devil, while Chuck has an email. And the devil is by far the more believable of the two. Reaper's key advantage is that it's funny, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and the characters are quite likable. Is it sometimes cheesy? Sure, but it's also a lot of fun. Kevin Smith's fingerprints are all over the pilot, to its great advantage. While I was under the impression that Smith was to be an E.P. on the show, neither IMDB nor TV.com list him as one; hopefully the tone he managed to establish in the pilot will be carried forward to the rest of the series.

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The only other new series that even warranted a viewing was Journeyman. The pilot plays out like a cross between Quantum Leap and last year's quickly-canceled Day Break. The pilot episode was definitely intriguing, though I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call it good. This show is going to live or die on the explanation behind the main character's time travel, the way it is revealed (too slow and we get frustrated; too fast and we lose interest), and whether or not the characters manage to grow on us while we're still intrigued. I have a feeling that this one will probably go downhill pretty quickly, but in the meantime the hook is good enough to get me to stick around.

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House is back, and it's still great.

Supernatural will be back starting next week, and I expect the same quality we've come to expect over the past two seasons. Great leads, good production, and writing that hearkens back to the great 'monster of the week' episodes of early X-Files seasons make it worth your time.

Stargate Atlantis comes back again, even after Sci-Fi unreasonably axed SG-1. Atlantis has never actually been good, but it's been something of a compulsory watch if you enjoyed SG-1. Now that compulsion is gone, so we'll see if the addition of Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter) brings about any sort of improvement.

As for that garbage Justin has been watching, let's hope the answer to his question is a resounding "No one." The sooner such worthless dreg is off the air, the sooner we have a chance at getting something worthwhile to watch instead.

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