Looking over the list of returning shows coming back this month got me thinking. I realized something very peculiar: none of my favorite shows are starting back up again this month. Is this just me? Or is this just another sign that the traditional TV “season” of years past just doesn’t hold up anymore? Sure, there are a bunch of new shows coming out that I have high hopes for, but when it comes to the shows that I consider my personal favorites, they are nowhere to be seen. Heck, the thing I’m looking forward to most is the final season of Lost, and that doesn’t even start until next year.
Let’s run down the list quickly. Mad Men started last month, so that doesn’t count. 30 Rock is being pushed off to October, as it was last year. Lost doesn’t return until 2010. Ditto Breaking Bad (which I think may be the best show on TV) and Damages. Heck, even some of the new shows that I’m looking forward to (V and Parenthood) aren’t starting until later in the year.
I think for me, this is really a testament to the quality of programming on cable these days. Most of my favorite shows aren’t on network television anymore, and the cable “season” doesn’t really have a beginning or end. I wish it were a little more solidified than it is, because I don’t have the foggiest idea of when Breaking Bad or Damages are returning, but I know it’s not for a while.
Am I alone here with my quirky viewing habits? I mean, there has to be more people like me out there that just don’t like watching reality or procedurals. It seems like finding programs that don’t fall under either of these categories is getting harder and harder, which is why I am hoping that the many promising new comedies this season (Modern Family, Community, Cougar Town), bring back the sitcom genre from the depths to which it has sunk. I know I’m looking forward to some of the non-procedural dramas that are starting up too, including FlashForward and, with a much more wary eye, The Vampire Diaries and Eastwick (out of curiosity more than anything else).
Maybe I’m more excited about this season than I thought.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Sep 14, 2009 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
Almost all of my favorite shows were either cancelled last season or are just ending their summer runs. But Glee already started last week, so that’s one for September.
I have The Office to keep me going through the fall. That’s it until winter. Then I finally get my Lost, 24, and Chuck back.
Maybe I’ll get into Community as well. The ads have already drawn me in with that Matt & Kim song.
I think we end up focusing on the superiority of cable series, and forget that, for quantity, nothing competes with network right now. And I’m not talking about junk, but that the amount of good, enjoyable shows on the networks far outweigh the superior, but much fewer in number, shows on cable.
I hear what you’re saying, but my TiVo definitely knows that the fall network season is back! :)
I just wish that I could get into procedurals, but I can’t. No doubt there are some really high quality ones out there these days (and LOTS of them), but I just don’t enjoy them.
I am a total TV snob.
We’re pretty light in the procedural department, and I actually find it a strange generic label; I’m not sure how people can broadly slap things like Criminal Minds, NCIS, and Cold Case in the same boat….
It’s cable, but I’d recommend you try Californication, if you don’t watch it already (9/27). Hank is a really fantastic character that I find myself more and more consumed by the more episodes that air. Ignoring the prolific amount of sex he has, he’s a really complicated character study, and Duchovny is a tremendous actor. And Hank’s a literary snob!
My general rule of thumb is that if someone dies before the opening credits and the killer is caught before the closing credits, I’m not a fan. Just not the type of show I enjoy. I like serial dramas.
So you’re saying you wouldn’t be against episodes that are “To be continued”?… :-)
I was totally with you until recently. It started with NCIS, but now its Bones and Castle. My goal is to not let it grow past that.
Uh oh; don’t let Debbie see that you just called Castle a procedural…. ;)
No, I’d definitely classify Castle as a procedural, just “the new trend” of procedurals, a post I’ve been meaning to write for months! About that….
Mighty convenient! :)
Right … and I don’t watch reality shows; American Idol is a Star Search reboot, and The Apprentice is an advanced MBA course. ;)
CASTLE IS A PROCEDURAL!!!!
:)
Dollhouse! Glau and Bamber showing up! Pure joy.
I am excited for Dollhouse too, just not as much as some of the other shows that are premiering later.
Deb: I totally agree that its different. The procedurals that I watch really don’t fit the old definition.
Most of the new shows for 2009 are worse than 2008 and I
thought the majority of them hit bottom. I am curious
to know your target audience. It seems to me these shows
are an insult to adult intelligence. Thank God for Netflix
or I would not have anything to watch.