With all the new series premieres this fall, television enthusiasts will have their hands quite full. Unfortunately its tough to foresee just how enjoyable most of these new series will be.  One show that looks particularly interesting but could certainly miss its mark is a new series premiering on CBS called The Eleventh Hour. The show is based on a British mini-series of the same name that starred Patrick Stewart. (Yes, the bald guy who played Captain Picard in Star Trek.) The new series stars Rufus Sewell (A Knight’s Tale, Tristan & Isolde, The Illusionist) as Jacob Hood, a leading biophysicist who is called in by the government to solve abnormal scientific crimes at a late hour.

In the British series the same character, Jacob Hood, was brought in to investigate cloning, a more intensified global warming problem, and even a religious scandal involving the cure for cancer. If the US show follows the established roots of the original show carefully, the CBS version should prove quite interesting. Although the series is categorized as a sci-fi thriller, the show is more along the lines of a realistic crime series like CSI. None of the science is too unbelievable, and most of the solutions could be closely tied in to actual truths.

Both the series trailer and pilot trailer can be seen on the official CBS website.  They tell as much about the show, however, as a piece of grass would tell about life’s secrets. The one thing I do know for sure after watching is that the main character’s dialogue will be filled with plenty of dry, sarcastic humor. This seems very familiar, but I’m not sure where else we have seen it… [*cough* CSI *cough*].

On a side note, doesn’t it seem like most new shows these days are stealing something from CSI? Such shows like [*ahem] Fringe, The Mentalist, and so on and so forth. Anyway, I digress…

Judging by the trailer alone I would have to say this show will more than likely just fall in the ranks with the rest of the genre, providing very little new material, if there is any at all. I hope however that I am wrong. It is worthy to note that Jerry Bruckheimer is producing the series.

We will bear witness on Thursday, October 9th, 10 pm et/pt when The Eleventh Hour premieres. God save the queen, or President, I suppose, in the US series’ case.

Lots of US TV programs have started the fall season since September 1, and a lot more are expected to start until the middle of October. What are you looking forward to watching? Have you liked what you’ve watched since the start?

There aren’t a lot of good shows that have started yet. Gossip Girl has started and is always something I look forward to every week. It’s not what I would have liked, as expected, but it started that way last season also. Hopefully, it will pick up by the fourth or fifth episode.

Beverly Hills 90210 was a big disappointment. I think some people watched it regularly, but I found it shallow and boring. The issues were very predictable and boring. I felt no sympathy for the characters and found myself surprised when I realized it was a two-hour premiere. An hour tested my patience, two hours was unbearable. I was looking forward to the scenes with Kelly Taylor in it, but there weren’t very many. I thought the scene where Brenda Walsh first appears would be quite exciting, but it was so anti-climactic. It wasn’t a good experience. I probably won’t be watching it again soon.

Next week, new seasons for Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes and Ugly Betty are starting, and I’m real excited about that. Will Derek and Meredith finally get together forever? Will Dr. Hahn finally recognize Cristina’s abilities? Will George finally get what he deserves? Will Dr. Bailey reconcile with her husband? What will happen to all the heroes? Will Peter come back to the present from the future? Will Hiro stop Adam? Will Betty be able to choose between Henry and Gio? And next month, new season episodes for Samantha Who, Pushing Daisies and The Starter Wife will be premiering also.

What shows are you looking forward to watching?

J.J. Abrams.  The name sits with several recent shows and movies quite well. If you do not know him, then you may know his work: TV shows and films such as Lost, Alias, Cloverfield and, yes, even Felicity.

I was an early fanboy of Lost; I must admit the show started out quite interesting. Season one ended with many questions left unanswered that had many viewers hooked. After season one, however, the show just got most of its viewers, well…Lost- including me. For those of you still hooked on the show’s bizarre twists and turns you are quite aware of the long waiting periods between new shows being cooked up. With the new season set to air in early 2009, a good substitute will be required in the meantime.

What better substitute than a show created by the very same producer? The same quirky genre may not exactly be there, but the same taste still will be evident.

Fringe, a new scientific crime show with roots similar to that of X-files, premiered Sunday, September 14th, at 8/7 central. The show has harbored a widespread community, which appears to be growing rapidly. The official website contains links to a wiki dedicated to the show where viewers can discuss and express their opinions on the series to others. The website also hosts a link to view the pilot and the first full episode in the event you missed the premiere.

The show kicks off in an airplane, a strange man injects himself with some kind of virus and minutes later the entire passenger and crew population are infested. I won’t go into particulars, but the show’s main character, FBI special agent Olivia Dunham, embarks on a journey, so to speak, to find out what exactly happened on board the flight. With a certain personal connection, the main character, Olivia, only has so much time to find out what the virus is and what happened.

If you are looking for a great substitute until Lost airs in early 2009, Fringe should fill that void and keep you interested. If you are looking, however, for a brand new show which defines the sci-fi genre, you might not be so lucky.

Last night was the series premiere of this generation’s spin-off of Beverly Hills 90210, the teenage cult show from the early 1990s. And did it pass the test?

Um, not so much.

Where should I start?

1. Characters

Almost all the characters were very predictable and very flat. I felt no sympathy nor joy for the characters whatsoever. When the lead actress and actor (the Brandon and Brenda Walsh of the series) got into trouble, I felt no sympathy for them because I couldn’t relate to what they were going through. It’s almost as if the writers depended on people knowing the stereotypes to attempt to develop the characters in the series. The only positive thing about the characters of the new generation is that they resemble the original characters that much.

2. Actors

The actors in this series are mostly new-ish actors and actors that have not been seen on the big and small screen lately. One of the reasons the characters were so flat is because the actors weren’t very good. It was all just so predictable and typical. It was confusing getting to know the different characters because the actors, especially the teenage characters, somehow all looked very similar to each other, which made it hard for me to distinguish one from the other.

3. Storylines

The storylines were somewhat insulting and boring. It offered nothing new and didn’t give the audience a new dimension to the characters. It was the usual “former best friend trying to bring down her more popular former best friend” and “I’m the popular girl so I can make your life hell” kind of stories. Nothing new.

Hopefully, since this is just the series premiere, it will improve gradually. I’m really hoping that’ll happen because I love the original show. And I am willing to give this new show a chance. I just hope the writers step up to the plate.

Who would think a series, centered on a forensic blood splatter expert working for the Miami Dade police, would end up being so unique and involving of its own accord? Dexter, an incredibly brilliant drama series, answers the previous question without a single clouding doubt.

The show rightfully can be described as CSI with a killer twist. The forensic involvements of the show do seem somewhat similar in areas, but the show also has its own original contribution which helps it stand out above other drama series in the genre.

Imagine, a young man, Morgan Dexter, who is born into the world perfectly normal but later develops into a sociopath after witnessing his mother murdered brutally. He works, as stated earlier, for the Miami Dade Police Department as a forensics blood splatter expert. At the same time, he harbors a very dark secret, hidden inside Morgan is a bloodthirsty murderer who craves almost neurotically the need to kill. He follows a set of codes and laws which were set forth by his foster father, designed to protect him from being caught and alternatively keeping him from doing harm to the wrong people. One of the outlying rules in the code is that Morgan must kill only those who have been almost imperceptibly linked to another set of murders.

Last season (Season 2) Dexter was almost caught when his oceanic body dump site was found, and an FBI special agent, named Lundy, was called in to help Miami Dade catch the culprit. Morgan’s own sister (also working for the same department as a police detective), is included in agent Lundy’s task force, which is assigned, unknowingly to her, with the mission of capturing her own brother.

The anonymous killer (Dexter), who took over thirty lives, was revealed to the public as the “Bay Harbor Butcher”. A small cult gathering also started to appear, honoring the mysterious murderer who only pursued victims proven responsible for multiple murders. The task force soon feels the need to work harder and capture the “Butcher” as a few copycat crimes begin appearing.

Dexter later learns that his foster father actually was to blame for his birth mother’s death and chose to stop following the codes and laws which were taught to him.

By the conclusion of the season, Dexter successfully eluded those assigned to catch the “Bay Harbor Butcher” and saved himself from persecution for the time being.

With season 3 returning on Sunday September 28^th at 9 pm (on Showtime), excited Dexter fans can’t wait to see what new irrational habits he picks up and what new set of codes he creates for himself to follow.

There are so many teen dramas on the boob tube nowadays. There’s One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, The Secret Life Of The American Teenager, Beverly Hills 90210. And before that, there was The OC, Dawson’s Creek, Beverly Hills 90210 (the original), Gilmore Girls and more.

Admittedly, there are a lot of teenagers watching TV, so it only follows that most or a lot of the TV shows being shown should be able to relate to them and teenagers can also relate. But are these shows really accurate in their depiction of the teenagers?

I know when I was growing up as a teenager, I was never able to relate to the characters on the show. But I still looked forward to watching it because I wanted to know about their experience without having to go through the same things.

Did you watch the shows for your generation when you were still a teenager? Were you able to relate to the characters and their stories?

I grew up watching Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson’s Creek when I was a teenager. I never could relate to what the characters were going through, but it was always nice to have a venue to turn to when these problems did occur in my own life. They rarely happen, but it’s always comforting to know that they’re there for you.

But you know what? I haven’t been a teenager for almost ten years, and I still like to watch these shows. They’re comforting and less problematic than the adult drama shows for my generation. I mean, adult drama shows can be tedious and depressing to watch. Watching shows for the younger generation is easier because I already have an idea of the teenage issues. That way, I can focus on the stories, the characters and the shows and step out of the show after watching it.

Are you still a teenager or have those years ended already? Do you still find yourself watching these teenage drama shows? Why do you still watch them?

During the writer’s strike last year, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) occupied himself by creating a story that he later developed as a musical webisode. News of this story first came out around the start of the summer season. Joss Whedon and his team sought the help of the networking abilities of blogs to spread the word about a musical fiction he and his team produced: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Filion and Felicia Day, Dr. Horrible is the story of a guy in love with a girl and will do anything to get her to notice him. Neil Patrick Harris plays Billy, the guy in love with the girl from the Laundromat, Penny, played by Felicia Day. To get him to notice her, Billy re-creates himself as a villain, Dr. Horrible. But with every villain comes a nemesis: the superhero.

Yes, the girl fell for the superhero.

Dr. Horrible could not believe what had happened. His supposedly fool-proof plan had gone haywire and took a turn in the wrong direction. He needed to come up with a way to eliminate his nemesis, Captain Hammer.

It’s a simple story that became doubly interesting when Whedon turned it into a musical and split it into three acts to be shown on different days and made people wait in anticipation for it. That was a good move on Whedon’s part because it gave people something to look forward to. If you weren’t able to catch its limited release, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is available on iTunes and MSN.

Were you able to catch the limited release of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog? What did you think about it?

The last six-eight weeks of the summer hiatus can be hell. The new season hasn’t started rolling out its schedule yet, so you can’t decide which shows look the most promising. The old season is long over and hasn’t yet been released on DVD to give you a chance to re-live it all before the season premieres. Even with some channels (like TNT) offering fresh programming, you still can’t fill up your evening “tube time.” It’s very frustrating!

So why not do, what I do? I have a few standard shows that I fall back on when I know that I have a while to wait before my next Netflix DVDs will show up and even longer before my favorite series start back up. When I reach this period of limbo, I have a few shows that I bought on DVD that I can watch over and over again, no matter what mood I’m in.

One of these shows is The West Wing. Even for those who are not political, this show is a fantastic character study and will inspire you to…okay, well it inspires me to learn more about my country and its political system—and to explore the careers of the actors involved in the show. Shake your head if you must, but I can put in just about any of the discs in any of the seven seasons of this show and know that I will be entertained.

Another of these shows, when I want to laugh, is Scrubs. Scrubs is still running, but there are enough seasons of it that there are plenty of hours of television to keep me occupied before the fall season starts. Dr. Cox never gets old and is always funny. This show is moving to ABC for what is most likely its final season, and I can’t wait to see how it all ends!

A lot of shows left us hanging during their season finales last May, and I’m looking forward to having some of my personal questions answered.

Gossip Girl

OMG! What will happen to Blair and Chuck? Will they still get together? Personally, as much as I want them to be a couple, because they look so good together, I don’t think I’d want that. Not yet. If they got together, what will happen to them? Will they change? Will they suddenly become one of those lovesick couples who constantly spend time making eyes at each other? I don’t know about you, but one thing I love about the show is Chuck Bass’ flirtatious ways and Blair Waldorf’s sneaky ways, and I am not ready not to see that on the show.

Heroes

At this year’s ComicCon, Tim Kring and the whole team behind Heroes unveiled the first episode of the third season, which was reported to be amazing. The second season was too short and too full and really set itself up for a forgettable season. Yahoo! TV reports that it’s more focused and doesn’t introduce a billion new heroes.

Grey’s Anatomy

This is my guilty pleasure. It started off great but slowly developed into an underdeveloped soap opera. But I still want to know what’ll happen to Derek and Meredith and if they’re finally going to end up together.

CSI

Now that William Petersen is leaving the show as CSI Supervisor Gil Grissom (but staying on as Executive Producer), I wonder what will happen to the show. There are still the other characters, but I mostly watched the show because of Grissom. I wonder which actor they’ll get and character they’ll develop to add to the show.

Ugly Betty

Did Betty pick Gio or Henry? Did she pick anyone at all? Did she go to Italy? Or did she go somewhere else? What will happen to Daniel? Will he go back to Meade Publications?

I can’t wait for the new Fall TV season!

What about you? What show are you looking forward to this new fall season?

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Last Monday marked the season premiers of The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT. Many people shrug off stations like TBS and TNT because more often than not, they show reruns of other stations’ popular shows. In the last few years, however, stations like these (and A&E, Bravo, etc.) have become very popular in terms of original programming. They help bridge the summer sinkhole of low budget reality television (How many “do you want to be famous” shows do we really need anyway?) and give us fantastic characters and storylines to focus on.

I started watching The Closer via my Netflix subscription and, honestly, was surprised by how much I liked it! Brenda Lee Johnson, the show’s main character, is funny and hardcore all at the same time and can switch between the two on a dime. Kyra Sedgwick plays her to perfection and her surrounding cast of characters is all top notch. You might recognize her boss, JK Simmons, from his turn as the newspaper editor in the Spiderman movies! This season is the fourth season of the Closer and new episodes can be watched on Monday nights at 9PM.

Following The Closer on Monday nights is Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter. I watched my very first episode of Saving Grace last Monday and was immediately impressed. The story follows Grace, a tougher than nails cop in Oklahoma City and her angel, Earl. I absolutely was surprised by the performances in this show and cannot wait to get the first season on DVD so that I can catch up.

Summertime is often a quagmire in terms of television programming, but these are just two of the shows offered up by the “not so popular” networks. Imagine if the “major” networks put this much effort into their regular programming!