Originally Posted By: JeffS
At some point I might also catch up on Raising Hope

I adore Raising Hope. It has the same sensibilities as My Name is Earl, but even sweeter and more charming and without as much mocking of southerners as stupid people. Garret Dillahunt is fantastic on that show. He's a guy I'd only seen playing horrible, menacing characters (and playing them well), so I was shocked to see him play a part like this. Oh, and I love how Greg Garcia is from the D.C. area, so all of Dillahunt's shirts are Redskins and Capitals shirts.

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Oh, and I suppose the same goes for Chuck.

Chuck seriously pissed me off last season by violating the rules of their own universe. I'm willing to accept a lot from a show as long as they follow their own rules, and I like Chuck's cartoony spy shtick which presupposes that an awfully high number of international terrorists happen to make their way through Burbank, CA. But the whole idea since the show began was that Chuck has a fairly unique mental acuity for pattern recognition or whatever, which allows him to absorb the Intersect into his head. Last season had three people also get the Intersect put into their heads (two agents and *SPOILER WARNING* Morgan). The season finale just pissed me off because now apparently Chuck isn't special at all, and they clearly abandoned that simply to have some way to bring more drama into the mix. Ah well, I think it's stupid.

Last season, Chuck was the only show I've ever been able to save up on my DVR. I had no urge to see it week to week, so I watched it all WELL after the season was over. I'll probably do the same this year.

Originally Posted By: JeffS
...though I have no idea how they are going to continue with House. It's really getting laughable that they continue to keep him staff...

I agree. It really doesn't make any sense. And now I can't imagine any possible way we're going to see the show carry on the way it has in the past. There's no way he can stay at the hospital now. Hell, can he even be a doctor anymore?

Originally Posted By: hybrid8
Some of the stuff I want to check out only starts in 2012, such as Alcatraz, Awake, Missing, The River, Napoleon Dynamite...

Goodness gracious, the trailer for Awake was one of the most moving things I've seen in recent memory! I really hope the show is as good. I can't emphasize how much I liked that trailer. I urge anyone who hasn't seen it to check it out.

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For this fall I've set up a number of favorites so I can watch the pilots and decide what I want to keep. I've even added Pan-Am and the PlayBoy club against my better judgement. smile

Haha, oh you mean the "we've moved on from the Lost clones and now we're moving on to the Mad Men clones" shows? smile

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Returning shows, Fringe, Dexter and Walking Dead are the three I'm most looking forward to.

I'm very concerned that Walking Dead is going to go bad. AMC is really putting the hurt on that show. Well, technically Matthew Weiner is helping, but AMC is at least as much to blame.


Originally Posted By: tonyc
I'm also sad to see Outsourced go (and I thought I was the only one!) It started out a bit too cheesy, but really developed into a fun, lighth-hearted comedy with entertaining characters -- certainly better than anything The Office did last year -- but the anemic ratings still killed it. The show they're replacing it with ("Whitney") looks awful -- I can't imagine what studio exec thought Whitney Cummings was worthy of placement in a decent timeslot on network television, but I hope they're out of a job after it gets canceled in a few weeks.

I never liked Outsourced, but that Whitney show looks like garbage. Completely unfunny.

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In terms of new shows, my wife has insisted that we give "Up All Night" a shot, though my hopes aren't high -- I like Maya Rudolph a lot, but Will Arnett and Christina Applegate doesn't seem like a recipe for success to me.

I can't stand Maya Rudolph in almost everything I've ever seen her in (haven't seen Bridesmaids yet, though). I continue to be a huge Will Arnet fan, despite an atrocious track record for everything he's done since Arrested Development. That said, simply for his work as Gob he gets a lifetime pass for me smile I could take or leave Christina Applegate.

I also have no clue how they're going to make a show out of the experience of raising a baby. I mean, I haven't had a kid yet, but as far as I understand the specific kind of lack of sleep they're talking about kind of goes away after a certain amount of time, doesn't it? What does the show do once the baby sleeps through the night? smile

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We'll continue to watch the zombie corpses of The Office and 30 Rock, mainly out of habit, but those shows really stalled out last season.

Ugh, The Office is just tired, but I only have myself (and my wife) to blame for helping to keep it on the air by watching it every week. At least 30 Rock still has great moments.

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Community, Parks and Rec

Community remains my biggest surprise from the last five years of TV. I had LOW expectations for that show, but it continues to shock me how good it is. Parks and Rec, on the other hand, I really disliked in the beginning. When that show started all the ads for it said "from the creators of the Office," and I said, "well...yeah! It's exactly the same as the Office." Fortunately after the first season they stopped making Leslie Knope the exact female duplicate of Michael Scott and actually made her a competent person. That's a lot more fun. They improved all the other characters as well, and I think Ron Swanson is one of my favorite characters on TV smile ("I love the Food 'N Stuff, it's where I get all of my food...and most of my stuff")

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It's not really a "Fall" show, but Breaking Bad continues to be the best drama on TV, and despite starting out a bit slow this season, has been flat-out phenomenal the last few weeks. Too bad the season will end in a month or so.

I definitely plan to get back into that show. I stopped watching because, frankly, it was a little too good at portraying what it's like for a father to go through a battle with cancer, and that was a little too much for me at the time. I'm going to start again, though.


Anyway, sorry for the long post. I just get into TV a little too much smile
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Matt