Welcome to the 3rd annual 21 hours of TV Fall preview. Everyday this week we will look at the current day of the week and what will be on that night (Friday, we will look at the weekend). It’s my self imposed task every year to limit my TV viewing each week to 21 hours (14 without commercials, just so you understand I’m not as addicted as you think.). In going through the daily schedules I will rate each show red, blue, or green. Green means I will be watching (at least initially), blue that I won’t but I won’t hold it against you if you do, and red that I refuse to believe anyone of sound mind could be interested. At the end of the week I will add my total hours up and cut what I need to get down to the required 21, which this year appears as if it might be an incredibly easy feat with Mr. Leno’s completely unappealing endeavor taking up a full hour each night.
Monday
Once again this year I will be one of the few who just isn’t interested in “Dancing with the people you might or might not have heard of at one point.” The show is completely unappealing to me as I like my reality competitions to eventually have some actual talent on them. The other programming that I won’t be partaking in, that many of you will, is the Monday night CBS comedy block. I’ve heard really good things about “Big Bang Theory” but I gave up laugh track sit coms a few years ago, and I don’t plan on ever going back. Can you imagine a drama putting in GASPS or SIGHS in the audio to cue us into when we are supposed to be scared or relieved? Filming in front of an audience should be completely reserved for sketch shows and sports, and I’m too insulted by the practice to wade through the canned response to find real humor. I did, however, manage to find four hours of TV on Monday nights that I will once again lock into my DVR, all returning shows. “House” and “Lie to Me” are absolute musts, and “Heroes” and “CSI: Miami” remain pleasant distractions despite thier many flaws. CSI:Miami might be the one show on TV where a laugh track might be helpful, just so I know the writers and producers are in on the fact that this show has become much more of a comedy than a drama. The only other show that I might revist if I’ve got hours to spare is “Castle”. It looks fun and I’ve been rooting for Nathan Fillion since “Firefly” was so badly mishandled.
The color coded breakdown:
8PM
ABC – Dancing with the Stars
CBS – How I Met Your Mother
CW – One Tree Hill
Fox – House
NBC – Heroes
8:30PM
CBS – Accidentally on Purpose
9PM
CBS – Two and a Half Men
CW – Gossip Girl
Fox – Lie to Me
NBC – Trauma
9:30PM
CBS – Big Bang Theory
10PM
ABC – Castle
CBS – CSI: Miami
NBC – Jay Leno
Monday’s total: Four 1 hour dramas, zero comedies, zero reality = 4 hours today, 4 hours total.