Getting Ready For New TV

I was elated when the writer's strike ended. Not because the writers got what they way (while that is a good thing and all), but more because it meant that we would get new TV on the air before Fall. The tireless string of new reality TV shows hopefully will slow at some point and scripted TV will once again fill my home with love and the smell of fresh baked bread. Well, maybe not bread, but in the least I will have some new shows to watch.

The shows I am most looking forward to are (in no particular order) How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Scrubs and Battlestar Galactica. I have been rewatching old episodes of some of these shows to prime myself and refresh my memory. That may be the biggest issue that returning shows have is that there has been a gap and the general viewing public is pretty A.D.D. when it comes to entertainment.

BG, of course, took more than a year to prepare itself for the final season of its sci-fi goodness. This was how the writers of the show planned it. The writer's strike, I believe, had very little to do with the show not coming back in over a year. It may have pushed it off a couple months. I have spent the last couple weeks rewatching the entire series. It started out furiously in season 1 and was one of my top 3 favorite shows for a while. Season 2 was a mixed bag. They spent much of the season building characters and the payoffs were few and far between much of the time. However, looking at the series in retrospect, I am thankful they took the time to do some of the things they did. Season 3 was such a great season of TV. I watched the final 2 episodes last night and I can honestly say that I believe episodes 19 and 20 of Battlestar Galactica season 3 are 2 of the best episodes ever on TV. The revelation of 4 of the final 5 cylon models along with the trial of Baltar really built those episodes to an amazing climax. It truly is a shame that they waited over 12 months to show us the real payoff for that build up.

The other 3 I mentioned are comedies. I love my comedies. I have seen the entire How I Met Your Mother series at least 3 times through. Twice for Two and a Half Men. At least 5 times for Scrubs. When you find something that has a wit about it on TV, you find yourself watching it as often as possible and praying that the network doesn't cancel its run. That has been the case for Scrubs the last couple of years. With my heart settled that this is the last season and that it will actually be completed, I was surprised to see that ABC may take the show for an 8th season next year. Now this has NBC renewing interest...so perhaps its not the end. CBS renewed Two and a Half Men, but I have not seen where HIMYM has been renewed as of yet. That bugs me. Such a great show and it cannot get the immediate renewal it deserves. Yet, Dancing with the Stars keeps plugging away.

I won't go into an obtuse rant about how I think the network executives are ruining television by unceasingly putting reality TV on the screen. Don't get me wrong, I like my fair share of reality TV...A little American Idol, a dash of Flavor of Love and a couple other shows that are just brain gas (credit: Greg Bunch) for the most part. I want real TV back though and am looking forward to some of my favorite shows returning. The Fall is looking good too with the return of Heroes.

The writer's strike may have been a good thing. Hopefully America missed their shows enough to hold out hope. Perhaps this hope will bloom into higher ratings and better TV for all. The writers had quite a few things right when they laid down their pens, but this could be the most right thing about it.