Tonight is the season finale of House, which brings my regular TV viewing to a close for this year. Time for a little review of how my shows, as selected last summer, did this season.
On Sundays, the only show I had on the go was The Amazing Race. This year there were two complete races, one in the fall, and an all-star edition in the winter. I watched both from start to finish, but both were quite disappointing — unsatisfactory winners, and less travel porn as they seem to be running out of fabulous international destinations. It’s always a question if this show will return for another season — it has lukewarm ratings — but for me at least, it’s on probation.
Mondays this year were mostly about Heroes, a show that I love and watch faithfully. Many out there were disappointed in the season finale, but I was pretty pleased — I liked the coming together of the characters and the fact that they actually tried to close out a story arc, and set up a new one for next season. I’ll definitely be watching this one next year. As for Prison Break, I actually gave it up midway through the season, but since Sir Monkeypants was still watching it, he kept me up-to-date with little show summaries for the four or five weeks I didn’t bother to watch it. In the end, I wound up watching the last few episodes running up to the season finale. I do enjoy this show, but the season finale was unbelievably grim and scary. I didn’t like the setup for next season at all, and I was really pissed that they couldn’t let the characters be happy for ONE FREAKIN’ EPISODE. So this one is on major probation — I will probably watch the season premiere but if it isn’t offering me hope for eventual happiness, it’s out.
How I Met Your Mother, my other little Monday night diversion, is still totally on the books, however. LOVE that Barney, and yesterday, Sir Monkeypants actually suggested we call the baby “Schbotsky,” after his favourite character. I also originally claimed that I would watch Studio 60 on Mondays, but actually I think I only watched maybe one or two episodes before I fell so far behind I gave it up. Sorry, Aaron Sorkin!
Tuesdays are opening up for next year as Veronica Mars has now been officially cancelled. I also used to watch House on Tuesdays, but gave it up midway through the season as well. Just like Prison Break, however, I kept up with the goings on via Sir Monkeypants, and then returned for the last few episodes leading up to the season finale. House is definitely a show that I can take or leave, but my adoration for Hugh Laurie seriously knows no bounds, so I always enjoy watching it for his performance alone. I don’t consider myself very invested in the show but I’ll probably continue to catch it next season whenever I happen to be awake and alert and looking for some casual entertainment.
I don’t really know what I was doing with my Wednesday nights this year, as the only show I was interested in watching was Lost, and we currently have about 12 episodes sitting on our PVR waiting for me to catch up. The long break for this show between fall and spring really hurt it, for me personally, in that I just wasn’t dying to know what was going to happen when it returned. As a result I just didn’t really bother watching it. A few weeks ago we were actually considering just giving it up and wiping the PVR, but then I heard from several online and personal sources that it really picked up in the last three or four episodes. Also, the news that it has an official end date — just three more seasons of 16 episodes each — makes me more interested in following it through to its conclusion. So, catching up with Lost will probably be one of our summer projects, and then we’ll tune in when it returns next winter.
On Thursdays, I gave Ugly Betty a fair shot but it was just too fluffy and repetitive to hold my interest. I also gave up Survivor, something I thought would never happen, but it does appear that our breakup is final and lasting. So for Thursdays, that just leaves Grey’s Anatomy, a show which I am still loyal to and will definitely be faithfully tuning in to in the fall. I can’t really explain why such a soapy, silly show holds my interest, but I love the characters and I love the banter and I love the surface-level medicine, and it’s all good and juicy and occasionally makes me cry. I can’t say it’s the best show I’ve ever watched but it’s probably the one I look forward to the most every week.
And Fridays and Saturdays are still a total TV dead zone.
So with VM cancelled, Survivor dropped, and Prison Break, House, and The Amazing Race on probation and likely to be dropped, that leaves lots of room in my schedule for next year. Only Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Lost, and Grey’s are guaranteed to return. Luckily all of the studios have announced really interesting and cool-looking stuff for the fall, and I can’t wait to put together my new schedule later this summer.
As an interesting aside, Sinnick asked me if I was planning on checking out any shows this summer that I don’t usually watch, but will visit in reruns to see how they are. There are a few I am kind of interested in — Bones, The Office, and Friday Night Lights for example — but I’m surprised to find that most shows don’t bother with summer reruns anymore. Instead, all the major networks have crappy reality shows premiering this week to run over the summer months. I miss the days of NBC’s “New To You” campaign, when they tried to use the summer to woo viewers to some of their lower ranked shows that were on the cusp of renewal. Instead I guess I’ll have to be content with catching up with Lost, and watching the Sports Night DVDs Sir Monkeypants got for his birthday.
TurtleHead 
Just a public service announcement. Friday Night Lights is on Sundays at 9pm this summer on NBC.
Thanks maryilee…I’ve heard nothing but raves about it so I’ll make some time to check it out.
If you’re going to give the Office a try, might I suggest also checking out 30 Rock? It’s one of those shows that picked up a lot of buzz as it founds its legs. I watched a recent episode and really enjoyed it. I don’t usually like sitcoms much, but this one’s very funny. Alec Baldwin in particular is a comedic gem — who’da thunk?
Don’t forget a new season of Dexter’s on its way…
Wow, I can’t believe you dropped Survivor!
30 Rock is a good suggestion from mr_hand. Maybe I’ll pick that one up for the summer.
Also for summer, you might want to check out So You Think You Can Dance. The auditions, which are running right now, aren’t very good. (I don’t enjoy laughing at people.) But once the real competition starts, it’s entertainment at its best. I cannot say enough how shocked I was at the dancing. I seriously have never seen anything that good. Ever. Some of the stuff those kids did last season didn’t seem humanly possible, and some of the choreography was the best I’ve ever seen. Seriously! One of the choreographers focuses on contemporary style, and some of her pieces actually moved me. So good!
As for fall, I’m eagerly awaiting more Private Practice. I loved the characters, and I hope the writing quality remains high. And that it doesn’t get too soapy. I like how it’s trying to be a little lighter/funnier than Grey’s.
Oh, good suggestion. I’ve heard good things about 30 Rock and I love Tina Fey. I think 30 Rock was the lowest ranked show of this season on one of the big three networks to get a renewal, so I’ll try to do my part to support it. Alec Baldwin, incidently, used to be part of my unholy trinity of actors too slimy to watch in anything (along with Michael Douglas and Richard Gere). But I’m very pleased to see he is no longer taking himself so seriously…so I’ll give him a try.
As for Dexter, I know you love it, but it was just too freaky for me. I can appreciate that it’s a great show, but I think in the end it’s just too scary. Eeek! I’m a lightweight. Maybe it will be better once the hormones are out of my system :).
I’ll definitely be watching Private Practice, too — Addison is one of my favourite characters on Grey’s, so I’ll follow her anywhere! I was going to include a list of fall shows that are looking really worthwhile, as the five networks have announced their new lineups already, but I figured I’d wait until September when I can actually plan a schedule. I’ll definitely include Private Practice, though, along with Gossip Girl, which is the CW’s replacement for VM, and features Kristen Bell as the narrator.
When is So You Think You Can Dance on?
Phew! Glad to hear Kristen has already found new work. But a narrator? That girl should be on screen! What’s Gossip Girl about?
SYTYCD is on tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow night on CTV at 8pm and 9pm, respectively. Both are audition shows. When the real competition starts, the competition will be on Wednesdays and the results show will be on Thursdays. I’m not sure if the times will remain 8pm and 9pm. We’ll have to see. For a lot of these reality shows you can skip the results show, but I recommend at least tuning in for the first 10 minutes. They do a group dance, and some of them are ultra cool.
30 Rock is hilarious. I know will side with me on that too. It’s definitely worth a try.
Gossip Girl is based on a teen book series, but EW says that the appeal is quite universal. It sounds like a trashy soapy kind of show like The O.C., which I loved in its first season even if it turned to crap quite rapidly in its second. So I’ll give Gossip Girl a try, sounds like fun.