New Fall TV shows

OK, so every year I get pumped up for the new fall TV shows. As I said before, one of my favorites of the new season was Smith, which is currently dangling in the wind, but I haven't been left completely high and dry. I still have two new shows that are delivering for me and three others that I've decided are worth giving a chance.

-Three potential winners
30 rock. I was a little pissed off when I heard that Jane Krokowski was brought in to replace Rachel Dratch after test audiences decided she wasn't hot enough to be a main character, but I'm giving the show a chance anyway. Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan and especially Alec Baldwin make me laugh consistently. I don;t know that I really like the premise of the show so far but the aforementioned three have made it worth watching.

20 Good Years. This is on right after 30 rock and just before Lost comes on ABC, so it's not like I'm planning my night around this show, I just figure it's on and Jeffrey Tambor has never let me down before. I still haven't figured out why The Ropers wasn't a big hit let alone why no one watched Arrested Development, but Tambor has been good for years. John Lithgow will play his normal over-the-top egomaniac and thats a proven winner too so maybe this show will hang around for a while despite "The Tambor Curse."

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. This was a heavily hyped show and for the most part it has delivered. The cast is quite solid and while I could do without Amanda Peet and Steven Weber. Peet becomes less hot every time I see her and she's proven to be a bad actress, it's been all downhill since Weekend at Bernie's. Weber was all right on Wings, a show that grew on me over the years because of the solid ensemble, but every time I see him do an interview I feel like kicking him in the nuts. Bad actors aside, the biggest problem with this show is that they're supposed to be writing very funny things to put in the show and every time something is supposed to be funny on that show, it falls short.

-OK, the big two.
Fridfay Night Lights. The best sports show since The White Shadow, not sure how many sports shows there have been, but if it's even half decent I'll watch it. I'm fully behind a lot of the plotlines so far. The back-up QB who has too much riding on him, the self-destructive fullback, the halfback who's too big for his britches, and the pressure on the coach, they're all solid. The thing that worries me is that they're trying to make certain things too dramatic. Why have the starting quarterback be paralyzed? This is completely ridiculous, and if you don;t think so try to remember the last time the top recruit in the nation got paralyzed. Never happened, why not? Because it's like lightning striking in the same place twice. Also if he was a top recruit, why did he look god awful in his first game of the season? Now they brought in this Katrina refugee as well, I guess this took place last year, because a player of his talent wouldn't sit around for a year then have corrupt people offering him money and such to play at their high school. Whatever happened to subtlety? All that said, the show still has a ton of potential and I'm willing to watch every episode untik it gets too ridiculous.

Heroes. By far the best new show of the season. Ever since lost became a breakout hit there have been tons of copycat shows trying to recreate the excitement and suspense, and this is the first one to come close. Plus it's actually willing to let things slowly develop, similar to Lost. have you ever gone back and watched early episodes of Lost? did it seem like nothing happened? That's because hardly anything did happen, yet people were on the edge of their seats. Anyway, I love the powers, I love that people are just discovering them, I love that no one really believes them about their powers. I don't know what they're gonna do after they all come together and save the world but for now I don;t have to worry about that.

So check out those shows.

-Bender Out