Plotting my TV Course

The best thing about up-fronts is trying to figure out a viewing schedule for the next season. Normally I'd talk about the new summer shows, but I think I'm lucky enough that the only new shows coming in the next two months are So You Think You Can Dance and Burn Notice. Mad Men starts in August, as does Greek, so I actually have a few months to catch up on things like Chuck and Gossip Girl. For future reference, I'm using this schedule.

Mondays
8pm Heroes/Chuck (Chuck switches in midseason)
8pm Gossip Girl
8pm How I Met your Mother
8pm House?
8pm Greek (when it returns)
9pm Day One?
9:30pm Big Bang Theory

Clearly there's a problem here. If they were at different times during the week, I would probably watch all of these shows. Seeing as they're not, I'm assuming a similar situation will occur next fall as occurred last fall: I will fall horribly behind and spend the summer catching up. To prioritize these, I will definitely catch HIMYM and Greek, as I love both of those shows. I think I will love Chuck, when I finally catch up with it. Gossip Girl is a guilty pleasure I enjoy watching, but it's rather low on the importance pole. House is a show I enjoy watching, but it's so procedural I have a hard time plotting my week around it. Heroes is...Heroes. God only knows if I'll watch this crap or not. Knowing me I will, and then bitch about it the whole time. I blame Adrik for my inability to quit this show. As for Day One, I'll give it a shot. I'm always up for some Post-Apocalypse, even if these shows never do particularly well. At least THIS pairing makes sense, rather than Kings on Sundays. And as for Big Bang, I'm kind of sad it won't be next to HIMYM in the 8pm hour, but then again there is so much else at that time I won't miss it.

Tuesdays
8pm So You Think You Can Dance
9:30pm Better Off Ted

Anyone that hasn't watched Better Off Ted, you are MISSING OUT. That show is hysterically dark. Odd time slot, though. Hopefully the scrubs lead-in will help. Of course I'm watching SYTYCD, but other than that Tuesdays are pretty quiet. Side note: I predict Past Life and the Forgotten will both tank after a month.

Wednesdays
8pm America's Next Top Model
8pm So You Think You Can Dance results
9pm Glee Glee Glee Glee Glee Glee

I thought about including "Eastwick" but I'm going to have to hear something about that before I start watching it I think. Model outranks SYTYCD, especially since Brian will hopefully be in the country by then. And the results are never as good as the performance show anyway. I'm curious about Modern Family, but nothing is going to beat out Glee. When Lost comes back, that will go in. I'm also curious about Parenthood, although it just seems like the NBC version of Brothers and Sisters. Hopefully it'll be better.

Thursdays
8pm Flash Forward
9pm Grey's Anatomy
9:30pm 30 Rock
10pm Project Runway

I love 30 Rock. It's one of the four sitcoms I watch. I'm very curious about Flash Forward, so I'll give that a go. If I ever catch up on Fringe or Supernatural (much more likely with Fringe, I might add) . Vampire Diaries is the type of teen crap show I would watch, but I kind of hate vampire shows. They're so over-done. I cna't really tell you why I keep watching Grey's Anatomy, other than it's popular. Short of Callie I dislike most everyone else, and I especially hate Derek and Izzie. Runway is back, which is awesome, and that's all that needs to be said.

Fridays
8pm Smallville?
9pm Dollhouse
9pm Southland
9pm Ugly Betty

Fuck you, Fridays. I know normally you'd look at that lineup and think "3 very different audiences" but not so. I've heard numerous blogs complain about these three shows all competing. Sadly, for me, I think Ugly Betty may lose out in the end. This past season was just not as great, and they focused a whole lot on characters I hate (Daniel, Betty) rather than characters I love (Willy, Marc, Amanda, Justin). Southland's season finale was pure awesome, so I'll definitely be back. And Dollhouse is top of the heap as long as next season is like the second half of this season. If they go back to lumping together their stand-alones I may be done.

Saturdays
Ha. Right.

Sundays
8pm Amazing Race
9pm Desperate Housewives
10pm Brothers and Sisters

Race is awesome. Housewives is crap, but I feel like after investing 5 seasons I have to see how it ends (IF it ends. Please God lets announce an end date). Brothers and Sisters will only get watched if there is a Scotty or Sarah-centric episode. The rest of them suck. This show also needs to end.

Other things that need to be slotted in as needed: Mad Men, Damages, Doctor Who, Friday Night Lights, United States of Tara, and things like V and Caprica and Stargate Universe, which don't start until later in the year.

I hate how everything has gotten crammed into Mondays and Fridays. I was never sure how some of these things survived Monday in the first place, and I'm really not sure what is going to survive on Fridays. My gut tells me Betty and Southland will both die slow deaths. FUCK YOU JAY LENO. I blame him for anything on NBC that dies due to a strange time slot. Except Heroes; I might congratulate him on that. *sigh* Why can't I make a living on this stuff?