What's on My PVR This Fall

It's been a VERY long time since I've done a post about all the other shows I'm watching. It's like some show about a bunch of people on a time-jumping island has taken over my life or something.... Now that the fall is back, and with it a lot of promising fall TV, I'm seriously worried about this Lost Rewatch and how I'm going to keep up with it. Here's hoping the posts don't soon look like this:

3.8 Flashes Before Your Eyes
Desmond goes back in time. Or imagines it. Or something.
Highlight: His underwear blows off in the blast.
Discuss.

I promise I'll try to prevent that from happening.

But I still haven't updated you on what I'm watching, and what went by the wayside last year. First, the tragic losses:

Ugly Betty: I loved this show. It was full of snark, and Betty, and Mark, and Wilhemina. And then Mark's snipes weren't so snipey and he was kinda nice to Betty (boring!) And then Wilhemina fell in love and actually became happy (UGH). And Betty didn't hook up with Gio (whatever!) And then Dad started getting it on with LaGuerta from Dexter, and Hilda was ragging on about how he wasn't waiting long enough (12 years or something) after their mom died. I'm sorry, Hilda... how long did you wait after your husband died before you were in bed with your son's gym coach? A week? An hour? I just couldn't take it anymore, and I deleted it from the PVR.

Heroes: Oh, this one was hard. In season 1 it rivalled my affections for Lost. It's the only series besides Lost where I did a weekly long post about it immediately after the ep aired. I suffered through that horrid finale, I came back in season 2 and desperately tried to find something I liked about it still, but there was enough there that I couldn't get rid of it, and then in season 3 the love just died. When Hiro became 12 years old again, I deleted the rest of it from my PVR, and stopped recording it. It was the most painful deletion of a timer I've had. But it's gone. No more.

And in between, and NOT one of the casualties despite what it might look like, is Fringe. Many have asked me what happened between me and that show. I got up to the 6th or 7th episode and I was working on the Finding Lost Season 4 book in the fall, and then in the spring I was working on Finding Lost Season 5. I wasn't finding enough time to devote to watching Fringe (or much else, for that matter) and to be honest, it just wasn't grabbing me. But there was enough that I DID like that I wanted to soldier on. So, I decided I'd wait for the DVDs to come out in the summer and catch up. I deleted the rest of them and waited. And then... they came out last week, ONE WEEK before the new season. Awesome work, there, Fox. I'm only about a third of the way through the season, so the rest will have to be on my PVR (I'll have to find a way to get last night's premiere... we had someone watching the kids while we were out and they stopped the recording on the show).

What I am still watching:
The Office (it also premiered last night, but I haven't had a chance to watch it)

Mad Men: I will post a longer post on this soon, but this season is freakin' fantastic. I LOVE THIS SHOW.

Dexter (new season starts September 27... longer post on that one soon, too)

Gossip Girl: The new season started this week and it's already off to a rockin' start. I thought I was going to KILL Chuck Bass in the first 5 minutes, and then realized no, no... but how much do I love that the writers are very aware that once you get a couple together, the audience loses the fun of the sexual tension? They know not to do that with Chuck and Blair, and I think they'll be as interesting as a couple as they were when they were just trying to be one. And if you haven't yet, don't forget to pick up a copy of Spotted, the new episode guide to Gossip Girl. The launch was this past Monday, and it was awesome.

Being Erica: It begins September 22 on CBC. If you're not watching Being Erica and you live in Canada... WHY?! It's one of the best things on television, an excellent show, with great writing, acting, and a perfect lead. Tune in!!

Dollhouse: It begins next Friday, September 25 (I'll try to get a longer post up on that soon, before it begins). This season promises a bunch of genre favourite actors, including Alexis Denisof, one of my favourite actors in the universe, Summer Glau, and Jamie Bamber.

30 Rock: It doesn't start until October 15, and I cannot WAIT.

Friday Night Lights: OBVS. It premieres October 28 on DirecTV and I'll be watching that feed. NBC has decided it doesn't have the ratings to run in its regular TV season, so it's pushed its second run of the episodes to next summer.

My new favourite show:
Glee: Also a longer post coming on this one soon (sheesh, seriously, get your act together, Nik), but I LOOOOVE this show. Love it. I was in love with the characters in the first episode, and while we're only on the third, I feel like I've known these people forever. And if an episode featured no one but Jane Lynch, I'd still be happy. That woman is a comedy goddess.

New shows I can't wait to see:
Vampire Diaries: Probably soapy, but I don't care, I love soapy. Especially when it involves vampires. I have the first couple of eps on the PVR and I'm hoping to catch up on the weekend.

Flashforward: It stars Charlie Pace, Harold without Kumar, Shakespeare, and Penny Widmore. What's not to love??? It begins next Thursday, September 24.

V: This doesn't start until November, but it's got Juliet and the trailer looked fantastic, so I'm there.

Bored to Death: It's got Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson, and Zach Galifianakis, and it's created by writer Jonathan Ames (whose books I LOVE). It premieres this Sunday on HBO and HBO Canada, and my longer write-up on it appears tomorrow.

Shows I'm kinda catching up on:
The Big Bang Theory: When this show first showed up in lists of new fall TV shows for 2007, I read the synopsis and basically said, "Well, THAT is my kinda show." And then an onslaught of my readers posted here and said it completely sucked, don't watch it, it's awful. THEY LIED. I've watched a few eps and thought it was hilarious, and so now I have a mish-mash of eps on my PVR from various seasons, in various orders, and I'm just watching them. And loving it.

Other shows I know I should be watching...
How I Met Your Mother: Watched the first episode, hated it, and now everyone is telling me I should have given it more of a chance. I don't have much time now, but here's hoping I can catch up somehow. The Alyson Hannigan factor is huge, of course. As is the Jason Segel one. And the Neil Patrick Harris one. Dammit, why am I not watching this show?

So, am I missing anything? (It's not like I can add anything.) And if someone could send me a schedule of how I could actually handle this while also doing the Lost rewatch and writing the book in the spring, that would be awesome. I have a feeling some other shows are going to drop off my schedule, to be picked up at a future time when... Lost isn't on the air. :( Oh no. I just imagined that future when Lost isn't around. I've gone to my dark place again....