Monday Night Madness!

Wow. I went from watching Sex and the City re-runs again just to pass the time...to tonight's explosion of premieres and some super tv decisions to make. What to watch, what to watch. No doubt you are also feeling the DVR pressure. Might even be time to add another DVR.

(Or get a life.)

Anyhoo, as I was plotting my strategy on what to watch, it reminded me of an old drinking game I used to play, "Kiss, Kill, Marry". I don't remember how drinking played a part, but the concept is simple: given the names of three fictitious suitors, what would you do with each? You know, like "Kiss George Clooney, Kill Brad Pitt, Marry Jon Hamm".

Uh, or something like that.

There is so much crap premiering tonight that all I can say is, thank God I'm not a football fan, too, or I'd be really in trouble! So, since I'm not into fantasy football, let's play my little game:

KISS: The Event Yes, this looks like a keeper. Who doesn't love Blair Underwood in anything, really? But, I don't want to get too attached because it looks just like all those other high-concept shows that I get all into and the network pulls the plug around episode 7. The plot? It's about some big cover-up that even the president (Blair Underwood) didn't know about. Some regular guy who looks exactly like James Marsden (but is actually Josh Ritter) gets caught up in all of it while trying to find his missing girlfriend. Also, that chick that played Kerry Weaver on ER is a big part of it but she doesn't have any crutches.

KILL Dancing with the Stars I know, I know - I kinda wanna watch Jennifer Grey, too. Not tryin' to put Baby in a corner. But Bristol Palin? Really? How many times do you think the camera's going to cut to Mommie Dearest in the audience? I can't stomach that. Besides, you can catch the recap tomorrow instead of sitting through all 120 minutes of mush.

MARRY: Lone Star Not gonna lie, I'm really just jumping on all the other critics' bandwagons here, but I've already mentioned that this show about a guy living a double life looks pretty good to me. Plus, newcomer James Wolk has lots of potential as the next McDreamy-ish heartthrob type, and we need some more of those, no?

ON THE FENCE:

Hawaii Five-O I'll check it out because Scott Caan is hilarious. Jury's out on the guy from "The Backup Plan" (let's hope he's better in this) and, no offense to Daniel Dae Kim, but I just can't view him as anyone but Jin from Lost.

Chase If you're a Jerry Bruckheimer fan, this is for you, but I'm not overly excited, mainly because all of the marketing materials start out describing the female lead as a "cowboy-boot wearing deputy" and that sounds really lame. But, the premiere episode features Travis Fimmel, a model I worked with early in his career (name drop alert!) at Calvin Klein, and he was sweet as pie. So watch for him.

Just another manic Monday.

They Might Be Giants

Despite the recent cold snap, fall is still a ways off. But, never too soon to start DVR planning ahead! We've already talked about a few of the legal shows and Matt LeBlanc's long-overdue comeback vehicle...but what about some of these potential gems?

RAISING HOPE
Fox mashes up "Three Men + a Baby", a little "Baby Boom" and a dash of "Juno". Maybe a bit of "Raising Arizona".

Pros Nice to see Martha Plimpton still kicking around. The lead newcomer kid seems to have some promise. Is it just me or does he look like (a young) Crispin Glover?

Cons It's from the creators of "My Name is Earl"...and I'm pretty sure they reached the white trash quota in season one of THAT show. Also, probably a limit on diaper-catastrophe-hijinks plot lines.

Bottom Line When American Idol tanks because Fox blew getting Jlo as a judge, they'll need a hit. Give 'em some love.



SCHOOL PRIDE
NBC attempts tries to dig out of the hole they're in with feel good TV in this Extreme-Home-Makeover-for-Schools reality show.

Pros Who doesn't love a little feel good tv?

Cons These schools might need more than a fresh coat of paint.

Bottom Line The "hosts" seem a little random, but I'll support casting Miss USA Susie Castillo since she hails from the place where everybody knows her name. Also, it's like replaying the ending to "Lean on Me" every single week...and I love that movie!

Go ahead, try and not think of that theme song....



LONE STAR
Fox has another potential goodie on its hands with this series that's got serious buzz (my boyfriend even knew about this one, and he doesn't spend half his days scouring the internet for tv news like crazy me). The premise? It's about a really hot con man that lives a double life. And it's got Jon Voight.

Pros It's about a really hot con man that lives a double life. It's from the creators of "Party of Five". How can it lose?

Cons Could they have come up with a more original title? Googling it yields way too many John Sayles references, beer and country songs to slog through before I could find it on YouTube.

Bottom Line Weren't you listening? Hot con man? From the creators of "Party of Five"? Just watch it!

Cry Me a River...of Dreams

*SPOILERS*

Ok, so I've been sort of a fair-weather American Idol fan up to now.

Each week, I've basically been just watching elimination night for the most part, forwarding through just to see the recaps + the see-ya-later video, but Wednesday night was a wake up call.

Live TV is totally awesome.

Finding out in a recap that my favorite, Brooke White, choked up and had to re-start on Tuesday's show is just not as impactful as watching it live. And, yes, yes, even though seeing it in recap form still made me tense up and get teary eyed like some 16 year old dork who thinks she failed her chemistry final (flashback! flashback!), I kinda wished I hadn't cheated and skipped ahead.

Annnyway, Brooke slid through, and I think it's because America is clearly falling for the same my-god-this-sweet-and-innocent-thing-must-be-an-act-but-oh-my-god-she-actually-IS-this-genuine thing that, if it really IS fake, has got me hook, line, and singer.

Er, I mean sinker.

And no offense, CARLY, I know you had to take the fall this week, but I'm not really going to miss your is-it-Irish?-is-it-Fargo?-accented singing.