Time for the TV IV

The fall tv season is officially upon us, and I'm at a bit of a mini-crisis. I had gotten very used to the long summer nights devoid of Survivor, America's Next Top Model, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, the Bachelor, and even 30 Rock, The Office, Heroes, and Lost. But here the shows are again, bigger and louder than ever. Do I really have to get sucked in again?

So we saw the first episode of Heroes last night, and without giving anything away for those who are catching it later, there were far too many times during the show where Eryn and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows and laughed unintentionally. Overall it was one big "meh." A couple of times I even said, "do I really care to get involved in all of this again?" I think there are just too many characters that you don't really like and the plots weave together way too simplistically. Thank goodness for Tivo. And Battlestar Galactica, which I am now finally starting to watch, thanks to Ben for sending the first season to me. The big contrast with that show is, they have this huge sprawling cast, and there's not a weak link among the actors or a stock character among the group. VERY interesting. And cool action sequences like space battles that are mostly silent (because space is a vacuum, blah blah).

On the plus side, the new Survivor actually was pretty interesting - I think the backdrop of mainland China is excellent for the show. I've never liked the first 8 weeks or so of the show, but the premier was actually fun to watch this time. The good thing about Survivor to me is that you don't have to actually sit and watch the whole episode...you can just dodge in and out, make sure you see the reward challange and then coem back for tribal council. Not like Heroes or Lost where you want to catch every word.

And so far the new show contending for a spot in our weekly lineup: Kid Nation. It's like Survivor....with kids. Thought I would hate it, and we kind of accidentally started watching it on Sat night. Here's the thing: it's really good! The kids are so much more interesting than I'd ever would have thought. The premise is very similar to survivor but with enough changes that you don't feel like you're watching a straight copy. I'm not quite ready to make it appointment TV just yet...but I'd say it's definitely worth a look...and much more engaging at this point than Heroes (sorry HRG and Parkman - if it was just your two stories (or any two..or three...but not seven) it would be great).