This past TV season I and several million other people around the world were treated to the series finale of LOST. Rather than cramming the series with more and more mysterious, dead-end plot twists (à la X-Files, Heroes, Alias), the creators of LOST determined an end date for the series and answered a myriad of questions along the road to the finale, satiating most of LOST‘s devout followers. Yeah, creator writer producer dudes!

I think part of LOST‘s appeal was that the show was just so different from anything that had come before. I think X-Files and Heroes had this aspect working in their favor, but their failing was that they went absolutely nowhere (I’m conjecturing here because I never bothered to continue watching these shows straight through to their finales.  Did the cheerleader save the world?  No wait, I don’t care.). The writers of these shows dangled an unattainable carrot in front of the audience for years and years and had absolutely no idea where they were going.  I think they discovered to their dismay that the audience will only follow that carrot for so long before it has had enough with the chase and will give up the pursuit.

Who is the smoking man?...I stopped caring a long time ago.

Saving the Cheerleader seemed so important at the time.

Nothin's on! Only Doctor and Lawyer shows. Boo!

One remarkable aspect of LOST was that even though it was neither a medical drama or a legal drama it was a major success on par with triumphs like Star Wars, Coca-Cola, and the wheel. I think if an alien from the planet Zergon was to land in the United States and turn on the television he/she/it might quickly come to the conclusion that doctors, lawyers and police detectives are the only people on earth that live exciting, dramatic lives.

In the wake of LOST‘s phenomenal success, I decided to take a look at some of the new shows that are either on now or will be coming to television sets across America this fall.  Lo and behold, in the wake of LOST‘s success, TV stations are coming out with risky, fresh, interesting, “never-been-seen-before” shows that are…oh wait, no…they’re just doing the doctor and legal drama shows they’ve subjected us to for years. Here’s a bit of what we have to look forward to this fall:

Thursdays 10/9c

As near as I can figure this is a “reality show” in as much as it just follows real doctors (and nurses?) around to see what they experience. Have I got your attention yet? Well here’s the kicker…it takes place in Boston, Massachusetts.

Tuesdays 10/9c

Get ready to get down right gritty…That’s right, America…This isn’t no ordinary cop/detective show. This one takes place in Detroit…Detroit, Michigan. And…AND…you want an AND!? Err, did we mention the grittyness?

Thursdays 9/8c

As near as I can figure this is just an ordinary cop show but with a slight twist: everyone is as green as Barney Fife and as absent minded as Gilligan. This show promises to have the regular cop chases and shootouts, but our heroes will do goofy things like forget to load their guns and gas up the squad car.  In an upcoming episode one of the fearless rookies will no doubt stand up in the middle of a shootout to take a shot and have his drawers fall down to his ankles revealing “I heart NY” boxer shorts.  I think this one might be a comedy on par with Benny Hill.

Mondays 10/9c

U.S. Marshal who goes after criminals by chasing them, following the well-known, but often neglected formula: U.S. Marshal + Chasing = Must See TV.  Hmm, what more can I say about this gem?  The U.S. Marshal is a pretty blonde with a chip on her shoulder.  She’s smarter than you and she knows it.  She’s half Jedi, half Steven Segal, and she and her elite team are putting the hurt down Monday nights on NBC this Fall.

Wednesdays 10/9c

Okay, so next up we have…Zzzzzz (slaps face to try and awaken some interest)…Will there be a murder victim found underneath the Santa Monica Pier? If you’re like me, you’re on the fence between “Maybe” and “Don’t care”.  Actually, we might have to wait for Law & Order: Santa Monica before we see that scenario come to pass.

Premieres Friday, September 24th at 10/9c

Cop/Detective show with a twist: The police chief has a son who is a detective and another son who patrols the streets. I might not have the lineage down correctly, but I’m pretty sure there are three main characters, all of them are related some how, and they all bleed blue, NYPD blue that is.

Premieres Wednesday, September 22nd at 10/9c

Lawyer show, Takes place in Vegas, Sequel to According to Jim? Maybe, it’s a prequel to According to Jim? I’m a bit confused as to how Jim Belushi has time to make this show and According to Jim. Is According to Jim still on TV? How many times can one mention the show According to Jim in one paragraph? I never really watched much According to Jim. You know which show I liked? Arrested Development. That show got pulled before it’s time. That was a smart, fun show. But I digress…

Hawaii Five-0 title graphic: Then and Now

Hawaii-Five-0

Premieres Monday, September 20th at 10/9c

A recycled version of the popular original from the 1970′s. Similar to the original, this show has cops and detectives battling criminals in Hawaii, the U.S.’s fiftieth state.  If the updated title graphic is any indication, this show promises to be at least 3 times better than its original.

Outlaw

Premieres, Friday, September 17th at 10/9c

Disgusted with the state of the legal system, Supreme Court Justice Cyrus Garza (played by Jimmy Smits) decides to quit his appointment, return to private practice, and use his inside knowledge of the law to turn the system on its head.  Want some spice?  Justice Garza is a time travelling robot from Roman times who is controlled by the spirit of Augustus Caesar playboy with a penchant for gambling.  Sure to revive the courtroom drama genre, you’re not going to want to miss Outlaw on NBC this fall.

Mike’s provides a response to Coors Light’s recent ad campain, “Look our mountains turn blue when our beer is cold.”

Bret Micheals had a bit of trouble exiting the stage at the Tony Awards Sunday night…

This segment aired on April 16^th, 2009 on the Daily Show and made me laugh…

I guess we might be the last family in America to try Netflix but we saw the free trial deal and decided to give it a try. We figured this might save us money.

Our family’s history for saving money when it comes to movie watching has followed an evolutionary process. We started out renting movies, but we always, and without fail turned our movies in late and paid these outrageous late fees. So we decided, like most of America decided (see fig. 1 & 2) that we’ll just buy movies we like so we don’t have to pay a late fee. Checkmate, Blockbuster. That worked out for awhile but then we got to thinking, “Wait, what are we doing?” Enter Netflix.

So far we’ve seen, “Thank You For Smoking“, “Darkon“, and tonight it’s “Eagle vs. Shark” and have really enjoyed Netflix and the absence of late fees.  This might be the end of the “saving money on movies” evolutionary train.

A good idea for a lottery ad…this one is for the lottery in Washington.

Washington Lottery

I don’t watch a great deal of television, but I do enjoy a show called “Pushing Daisies”.  This award-winning show is in danger of cancellation.  For those that haven’t seen the show, the lead character, Ned (Lee Pace), has a peculiar gift.  When he touches a dead person once the dead person returns to life, when he touches them again the person becomes dead again, forever.  If Ned fails to touch the person he has returned to life within 60 seconds time, another person dies in place of the originally deceased.

Ned uses his talent to solve murder cases, returning murder victims back from the dead for 60 seconds of questioning.  Ned receives help from his cohorts, a P.I. named Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) and his childhood sweetheart Charlotte “Chuck” Charles (Anna Friel).

The show is beautifully narrated, well-written and has an excellent cast.  Help save Pushing Daisies from cancellation by signing the petition here.  “Pushing Daisies” airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on ABC.

SNL spoofs The Lawrence Welk Show…

My daughter likes cartoons. Each morning she gets to watch a little television while the adults get showered, dressed, etc. From time to time I get sucked into watching a few of the shows my daughter enjoys. Some of these shows I kind of enjoy and some I tolerate.

First the shows I like. One show that I’m fond of is called “Charlie and Lola”. The show is about Charlie and his little sister Lola and is a cartoon done in a sort of artsy simple paper mache/drawing style.

One of the things I like about Charlie and Lola is that they talk in British accents and use words like “cross” and “squabble” instead of “angry” and “fight”. The show has a steady pace also and is not ridiculously slow like other children shows tend to be (more on that later).

Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba

Another show that isn’t too painful to watch is “Yo Gabba Gabba”.  The characters are goofy as all heck and make you think the creators might be on drugs but the characters sing songs, dance, and learn about eating healthy food, not biting friends, etc.  Some of the songs are kind of catchy…which can be a good thing or a bad thing.  I’ve gone through a good bit of my day with a Yo Gabba Gabba song stuck in my head before, and while there are a world of more unpleasant things to endure, I didn’t much care for the experience.

“Little Einsteins” is cool just for the simple fact that the characters in the show fly around in a rocket ship.  The show also teaches children about a “composer of the day”, and an “artist of the day” playing a piece that the particular composer of the day wrote and exploring a work of art that the artist of the day created; which I think is a cool thing.

The next batch of shows aren’t my favorite but are still not too annoying to me.  First up is the “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse”.  The show includes most of the classic Disney characters you know and they usually are faced with a problem or obstacle that they need to figure out.  They have this robot thing (I think they call it Toodles) that they call upon from time-to-time throughout each episode that provides them with tools that help them complete the task at hand.  For some reason the Toodles robot is always equipped with exactly the correct tools they need for that particular episode…very handy.  It sort of reminds me of those James Bond movies where Q supplies Bond with all these goofy gadgets that for some reason are the exact tools James Bond needs at various points throughout the film to complete the objective.

Handy Manny

Next up is “Dora the Explorer”.  I think Dora is cool in that it teaches children Spanish in an entertaining way.  What I don’t like about Dora is that it goes at a snails pace.  There seems to be lots of repetition, which I suppose is good when you would like to learn a second language, but not when you just want to be entertained by a television show.  Maybe the problem is with me here; I mean…maybe I’m not really the target audience for this one.  The show does keep my daughter’s interest, so maybe it’s just me.  “Handy Manny” is another one that I just for some reason can’t really get into.  It also plugs Spanish in from every now and then for the children to pick up on.

The shows I have a hard time stomaching are shows that have live people in outrageously colorful outfits and showing overly exaggerated emotion.  One of these shows is the “Doodlebops”.  Most of the characters in the Doodlebops have a painted face and matching wild hair and get way too excited about things like finding an apple in the fridge.  I can’t really say too much else about the Doodlebops because I haven’t seen a whole lot of the show.

Another show that falls into this category of goofy, over exaggerated, non-cartoon shows is the “Imagination Movers”.  Imagination Movers I would says is a bit of a step up from the Doodlebops I guess…maybe a half-step up though.  One or two of the songs they sing are somewhat catchy, but the emotions these guys show are way too exaggerated.  Another thing that I don’t particularly enjoy is the fact that they general spend an entire episode trying to figure out something pretty darn simple.  For example, there is an episode where one of the Mover’s feet is stuck in a bucket and the whole Movers gang, for the rest of the show, tries to figure out how to get this guy’s foot out of a bucket.  Thumbs down from me.

Imagination Movers

Finally we come to the “Wonder Pets”.  I just don’t like these guys.  They creap me out.  The cartoon appears to be created from actual pictures of animals.  The pictures are shuffled together one after the other bringing the creatures to life.  Again, I’m guessing I’m not the target audience.  These guys just aren’t for me.

Wonder Pets

The one good thing about all of these shows is that they appear to convey a message or teach a lesson to children watching, something I don’t think many of the cartoons I watched even attempted to do (except for maybe the G.I. Joe PSAs).