Fall 2007 Upfronts: The Good, the Bad, and the Serialized
This week the networks have been unveiling their fall schedules for the upcoming television season, and in doing so, revealing what shows have gotten the axe, and which ones will still be on our schedule. There have been a few surprises, but for the most part, pretty predictable.

News on Returning Shows:
Lost: As I previously mentioned, the show is slated for 6 seasons now, but next year will be the first of the final three seasons to only feature 16 episodes, and it will start in 2008, not fall 2007, and run without interruptions until May. It's likely to begin in February, just like the final 16 episodes of season 3 have run. It will also air at either 8 or 9 p.m. Whew.

Heroes: It's coming back (obviously) and will be supersized to 24 episodes, but will also feature six extra episodes called Heroes: Origins. These episodes will each be standalones, featuring a new character not seen on the show. We'll get that character's backstory and superpower, and each episode will be completely self-contained. After all 6 of the episodes have run, viewers can then go to the official Heroes website and vote on their favourite. The winner will become a regular character in season 3 of Heroes. Everyone involved in Heroes was pretty concerned when they lost 3 million viewers between the pre-hiatus March 5 show and the comeback April 23 show (silly fickle viewers!!) so they figure by featuring 30 installments, rather than 22, they'll be able to run the show virtually without any breaks.

The Office: It's back! And it's also supersized. The show will run 25 episodes instead of the usual 22, and five of the eps will be an hour long. Woohoo!! Now, if they can just figure out a way to up that to 52 episodes and NEVER make me take a week off, I'll be one happy camper. (My Name Is Earl got the same pick-up.)

Friday Night Lights: This is a show I'll be picking up in the summer. Watched it when it started, loved it, and then Global moved it around the schedule and I couldn't keep up. Low ratings, but huge critical praise, and unlike another network that rhymes with "cocks," ABC took a chance and renewed it.

Cancelled:
Jericho
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Thank God You're Here
Everything on Fox that's scripted
**There are dozens of cancelled shows from this season, but most of them have been previously announced.

Could be interesting, could be crap:
CBS announced the pilot for Moonlight (previously Twilight) has been picked up. It's about a guy who's been a vampire for 60 years and decides to become a private investigator. Pfft. He's only a quarter of the vampire investigator Angel was. And talk about stealing a title from a 1980s silly PI show. I'll still watch. ;)

Cane: It's got Nestor Carbonell (Richard, the non-aging Other from Lost) and Jimmy Smits (:::adore:::) so I'll be tuning in. It's about a family running their rum and sugar business, but dealing with problems on the home front.

Big Bang Theory: A sitcom about 2 geeks (interested) who fall in love with a super-hot Paris Hilton type next door (just lost interest) and it stars Johnny Galecki from Roseanne (I heart him... now I'm torn!)

Over on NBC, they've picked up the pilot for The Bionic Woman (yay, Zoe Slater on my TV again!) Produced by the people who did Battlestar Galactica and Rome, how can this show not rock? Apparently there's a fight with Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) in the premiere. I am SO there.

Chuck: A tech support guy gets a gov't database transplanted to his brain. Sounds atrocious, or it could be funny in a zany Arrested Development way. It's got Jayne from Firefly, so worth checking out at least.

Journeyman: A newspaper reporter begins travelling back and forth in time. Uh... ok. But it stars Kevin McKidd, who was Vorenus in Rome (:::drool:::) so...

ABC: Big Shots: Four male executives and the women who love them. Blech. BUT... the four guys? Michael Vartan from Alias, Dylan McDermott, Christopher Titus (who could read the bible and I'd be doubled over laughing), and Josh Malina (Will Bailey from West Wing). Hmm...

Dirty Sexy Money: It stars Peter Krause from Six Feet Under, so I'm already setting the PVR. It's about a lawyer who inherits his father's business and discovers the dark secrets underneath: very Arrested Development. And it stars Peter Krause. So far getting good buzz. And I should mention it stars Peter Krause. Already my new fave show.

Private Practice: Dr. Addison's Anatomy. Don't watch Grey's, don't care, but maybe someone else out there does. :)

Pushing Daisies: A man can bring the dead back to life through his touch, but they die if he touches them again. Apparently the look is all splash and colour, and it features cast and crew from Heroes and Wonderfalls, so it has my interest.

Miss/Guided: Judy Greer (George Bluth's cross-eyed secretary in Arrested Development) was the unpopular girl in high school, and now returns to the same place as the guidance counsellor. Greer is always funny, so if the writing is good, this could be a good one.

Rest of the shows didn't really appeal to me, either because of plot or creative team, or having anything to do with David E. Kelley, and there's yet another sitcom about techie geeks. Did they all get the same zeitgeist memo???

Tomorrow: CW and Fox unveil their falls, and we'll finally know if Veronica will live to solve more crimes or if she'll go to the little home of private detectives in the sky. The early buzz?: Veronica's been cancelled (it was just announced today Kristen Bell will be doing voiceovers on another CW show). So I doubt I'll have good news tomorrow. And nothing is safe on Fox.