As we get older, our TV time becomes more limited. The 9-5 schedule is practically non-existent, and we have to fit in dinner and any unfinished business before we go to bed. If you have children, your TV time is even more limited because you find yourself surrendering to the programming of Nick, Jr., the Disney Channel, or whatever' DVD the kids want to watch for the millionth time.
Even though our time has become limited, our choices have become endless. It's not only the network programs we have to choose. We have an endless choice of specialized cable shows that appeal to our tastes from sports to drama to reality to textbook topic channels.
Whoever created the DVR should be given a Nobel Prize.
However, even though we can now watch our favorite TV shows whenever, we have to cram in all our favorite shows in the limited amount of free time we have to sit on the couch and watch.
So far, here are some shows I highly recommend for the 2010 Fall Season. Understand that I don't have Showtime or Starz, so DEXTER, WEEDS, CALIFORNICATION, and SPARTICUS will not be on this list (though I hear they're really good).
1) HAWAII FIVE-O (CBS Mondays, 10PM/9PM): This has to be one of the biggest surprises of the season, which is saying a lot because it has a lot to live up to being a reboot of a classic TV show - something that doesn't often work out well on network TV (i.e. THE BIONIC WOMAN and KNIGHT RIDER). CBS has taken its cop formula - action packed stories stylistically directed with charismatic characters - and successfully applied it to this new episodic police program. Alex O'Loughlin as McGarret, Scott Caan as Danno, and Daniel Dae Kim and Chino Ho are not only appealing to a new audience but makes the older fans of the classic show not think about Jack Lord, James Macarthur, and Kam Fong. Even the casting of Grace Park as Kono, who was an overweight male islander in the original series, is acceptable. Yes, this show is essentially CSI: HONOLULU or NCIS: HAWAII, but every new episode is better than the previous.
2) BLUE BLOODS (CBS Fridays, 10PM/9PM): Finally, there's a reason to stay home on Friday nights again to watch TV. Again, CBS shows its genius by combining its family drama formula with its cop show formula to present a show that is exciting and emotional. Tom Selleck is strong as the patriarch of both his family, in which the sons and daughter carry on the family business of working for law enforcement that was started by their grandfather, and the commissioner of the NYPD. He is not Thomas Magnum in this show - not at all. Here, he is a staunch veteran who is trying to keep his family - both personal and professional - together. The cast is rounded out by a surprising group of exceptional talent consisting of Donnie Wahlberg (yes, THAT Donnie Wahlberg from New Kids on the Block and Mark's older brother) as a veteran NYPD detective; Bridget Moynahan as Selleck's daughter, a DA going through a divorce; and Will Estes, a rookie cop who graduated from Harvard and decided to go into the family business by being a cop rather than a lawyer (that's not so unbelievable because there's a true story about a Harvard educated lawyer who decided to work for the police instead of the DA's office). The show also includes a strong supporting cast with Nick Turturro as Estes's sergeant/partner and now Jennifer Esposito as Wahlberg's new partner. Part THE GOOD WIFE, part NYPD BLUE, CBS has a solid winner with this show.
3) LAW AND ORDER: SVU (NBC Wednesday 9PM/8PM): SVU continues to show why it's the sole survivor out of all the LAW AND ORDER spinoffs, and it just keeps getting better and better. Why? Because the cast remains constant and familiar. Unlike other cop series, the success of L & O is not about the stories but rather the relationships. Sometimes the relationships work out very well (Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth, Jerry Orbach and Benjamin Bratt, Jerry Orbach and Jesse L. Martin, Sam Waterson and Jill Hennesey, Sam Waterson and Angie Harmon, Sam Waterson and Christine Rohm). Sometimes they flop hard (Dennis Farina and Jerry Orbach). Sometimes the relationships are never given a true chance like the final season of the mainstay L & O with Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson (who actually impressed me) as the law and Linus Roache and Alana De La Garza as the Order. L & O eventually failed because the stories grew stale. SVU is different. Each story remains as engaging as the previous, and the mainstay and consistency of the cast - Chrstopher Meloni, Mariska Hartigay, Ice-T, Richard Beltzer, and Dann Florek. Though the DA assigned to the group always changes, the producers know how to integrate the changes successfully into the show. Plus, SVU is also able to get engaging special guest stars and recruit from NYC's talent pool to appear in episodes. SVU is a true mainstay of TV that shows no signs of faltering.
4) PARENTHOOD (NBC Tuesdays, 10PM/9PM): Here is the perfect example of a show that has so far survived the sophomore slump. This show continues to be as engaging and entertaining as it was last season as a mid-season replacement. The success of this show is that though it shares the same title, themes, and even situations of the 1980s Ron Howard dramedy (the divorced daughter with the rebellious daughter and distant son, the perfect oldest son with the child with a learning disability, the youngest wayward son with an interracial son), the producers of this show have not continued the story of the family from the movie. These are the Bravermans, not the Buckmans, and their situations have become modernized. Again, here is another show whose success is due to good casting and excellent writing.
5) THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS Thursdays, 8PM/7PM): Maybe it's because I'm a geek at heart and understand the obscure references to science fiction and comic books, but this show is really a belly laugher. It reminds me of THAT 70S SHOW featuring a collection of geeks and nerds instead of 70s teens. Every week I find myself laughing not only at the jokes but also at the situations.
6) TEACH: TONY DANZA (A&E Fridays, 7PM/6PM): Any fictional and reality show about teaching catches my interest. This reality show features the experiences of Tony Danza from TAXI and WHO'S THE BOSS? struggling to survive as a real English teacher in a Philadelphia high school. The situations are not canned or created as if they would be on one of his sitcoms. Danza is realizing the struggles today's teachers face, and it's most compelling when it overwhelms him to the point of frustration and tears. This show is like THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE in that it's difficult to fully embrace the struggles Danza faces because he's still a "celebrity" whose bank account is more than a teacher may ever see in their career. However, it is amusing to watch as Danza realizes the responsibilities and struggles that comes with teaching.
7) THE APPRENTICE (NBC Thursdays, 10PM/9PM): Say what you will about Donald Trump, but he knows how to recognize when a concept becomes stale and fixes it. That's what he attempts to do with this season of THE APPRENTICE by having a cast of unemployed businessmen and women compete to work for him. While the show is entertaining and even timely due to the recession and the high unemployment rate, it still feels like it's lacking depth. Still, it has me wanting to watch every week.
8) MODERN FAMILY (ABC Wednesdays, 8PM/7PM): Next to THE BIG BANG THEORY, this is definitely the funniest show on television. Ed O'Neill makes us forget the Bundys and makes us focus on the Pritchetts, who are much more amusing and even appealing than Al Bundy's brood.
9) SMALLVILLE (CW Fridays, 8PM/7PM): It's now the final season, and the producers have finally begun to address how Clark Kent becomes Superman. For comic book fans like me, it's been entertaining watching how the show integrates second tier DC Comic characters (Green Arrow, Zatanna, the Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Supergirl, the Justice Society of America) into the Superman mythology. The show has also been more successful than the SUPERMAN movies in featuring other supervillains other than Lex Luthor - Brainiac, General Zod, Metallo, and even Doomsday and now Darkseid. This is a comic book geek's show, and every episode makes you want to watch the next. Now only if they would write an episode in which an orphaned billionaire from Gotham City comes to Metropolis or feature a certain Amazon princess whose supposed to get her own series next year.
So here are eight shows making it worth the time to sit down and watch or to program into the DVR. You won't be disappointed.
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