So, last night in my 5th hour of TV, I wished that the networks would be a little less “all at once” about their new shows and space them out so people could actually watch and appreciate them. At this rate, if I don’t watch 6 hours of TV a night, my Tivo is going to get so backlogged that I’ll be slogging through it for weeks. Not to mention I insisted that I wanted to watch The War with my boyfriend, because I never sit through educational stuff. It’s 14 hours long. Help.
Ok, so in order now, the shows that I saw last night.

1) Heroes

I gotta watch this on Mondays because I’m so behind the curve by Wednesday! So, establish this was my favorite show last year, with the Office, and I have to say this premiere felt a little disjointed to me. I finally got what they were trying to set up by the end of the episode, but I don’t think you should have to spend 40 minutes going, “But I though…” and “That doesn’t make sense from the finale…” Anyway despite my skepticism, the new cast was surprisingly good. I love that they added Dania to the cast. Some Buffy people may remember her as a potential from the last season. She didn’t have a lot to do on-screen then, but we were all a tight-knit group that last 4 months of shooting, and I knew Dania was going to be big, she had a “star quality” about her that you know when you see it. Suffice it to say I think her character is gonna be cool! I actually found myself liking Claire’s storyline too, although really she needs to lay off the weird orange tan. Anyway, Peter showing up at the end was a given but still was cool to watch. And then…Amnesia?! Cornballll. I’m sure they’ll do something good with it, but overall I’m just hoping things get a little more focused after all the new people are established.

And as a general comment, I really don’t like the previews being whole season overviews on all the shows, it ruins surprises, like Sylar coming back. Even if you know it was gonna happen, it’s nicer to be wowed by it, than it being given away in a 30 second promo.

Onwardser and briefer…

2) Private Practice.

Ugh. This was a one timer for me. I’m not a Grey’s fan so maybe I was missing something, but when every plotline having to do with a wellness clinic results in an ambulance or police being called, you can’t have that much faith in the quality of medical care, can you? Also, why would a world-class neonatal surgeon go back to OBGYN work? Specialtists don’t backtrack like that for no reason, they go into huge debt to get their specialties and…

OK, it’s TV. Everyone looked pretty. Taye Diggs is still hot. Moving on.

3) Reaper

Now we’re talking. Objectively, probably my favorite show I’ve seen so far. Self-deprecating humor, really good acting, I really was excited about seeing more. Damn, they shoot in Canada so I’ll never work on it 🙂 I just really appreciated an hour-long show sustaining the level of comedy that you don’t even see in half-hours nowadays. Of course, this show was the THIRD or FOURTH show this season with the requisite scene between disaffected slacker big-box employee and imperious and self-important manager-type of said big-box store, but aside from that I really liked the characters and wanted to see more. #1 on my Tivo list.

4 ) Dirty Sexy Money

I wanted to hate this show. I read the script last pilot season and hated it. Well…I was wrong. I eat thorough crow. This show is so well cast and acted, it has a sense of fun underneath it that I never expected. All the characters are played teetering on the edge of making fun of themselves, but always having a grounded sense of reality. It’s really hard to do, and the wrong actors/director could have taken this into OC territory. Thank goodness that didn’t happen. It’s fun, and I usually don’t watch this sort of thing. I don’t know if I will watch the whole season, but I will definitely give it a few more tries.

5) Back to You

Er, is sitcom really dead? Sad face. This show I will watch because I am fiercely loyal to this format and the two leads are amazing at what they do. I can’t say I was laughing out loud at anything, but it hit all the required notes and I want to give it a chance. If it fails then there will be a continued spiral of networks not ordering comedies because they’re “dead”. How about ordering original out of the box comedies? Nah. That’s CRAZY TALK.

Ok, I’m tired just from reading all that TV I watched. Now…I have 4 hours of The War backed up. Shoot me now.