The New TV Season: Watch, DVR or Skip: Sunday at 10:00 p.m.

Tuesday at 10 PM

Watch: Parenthood
Watch. It's good. We swear. And now that Brothers & Sisters is gone, don't you need a big family drama in your life?

DVR: Sons of Anarchy
This show might be a lot to take right before bed, so record it and watch it when you are ready to see the members of SAMCRO do what they do best.

Skip: Unforgettable, Body of Proof
Trust us, you can forget Unforgettable, and we gave Body of Proof more than a fair shot last season and we were underwhelmed.


Maybe I should start "Sons of Anarchy". Otherwise, I'll be watching hockey.

 

This isn't the first time I've heard that Parenthood is a good show. I guess if nothing's on I may give it a peek. Son's of Anarchy I'm waiting until the end and then going to do a marathon of it.

 

Wednesday at 8 PM

Watch: The X Factor
Like Idol, this show is going to be buzzed about, so if you want to make fun of Paula along with the rest of the world, watch it in real time.

DVR: Survivor
Coach is reportedly back? Not sure if that's better or worse than Lil' Russell.

Skip: Up All Night, Free Agents, H8R, The Middle
Up All Night needs some work, Free Agents is in the running for the worst fall show, H8R would be better as a five-minute segment on E!' News Daily and The Middle still has Patricia Heaton on it.

Watch It Online: Suburgatory
This show is utterly charming, but it's stuck at a busy time, so if you've got that second DVR handy, we recommend going for it.

 

Wednesday at 9 PM

Watch: The X Factor
Same reasons as at 8 PM.

DVR: Modern Family, America's Next Top Model
Comedy or returning all-star models, pick your preference and get to recording.

Skip: I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Harry's Law, Happy Endings, Criminal Minds

I Hate My Teenage Daughter is appalling, we've seen all the Harry's Law we ever needed to last year, Happy Endings should just be happy to still exist and Criminal Minds will never be our cup of tea.

Modern Family's pretty funny...

 

Uh-oh. When did Criminal Minds go from must-see to skip it? I just finished Season 2 and it's probably the best TV crime drama I've ever seen -- or at least the one that's most appealed to me. About a million times more palatable, to my taste, than the CSIs, Law & Orders, NCISes and so forth.

 

I got this list from TWOP, and they say it's just not their cup of tea. I am so very sick of police procedurals, I've never seen it.

 

I agree about procedurals. Not really my cup of tea, and even those I've occasionally enjoyed I tire of quickly. I put off watching CM for years. The reasons it works better for me than the others include but are not limited to: it does not fetishize the crimes to the extent many of the others do, or demonize the criminals; the criminals, and the victims, are real characters, rather than stock Eeevil Murderers and red shirts, and the show often empathizes with all parties involved. It's better written than most, and accordingly less predictable, and it doesn't moralize like a bunch of the others do. And it often has geeky references that I appreciate. Plus it's a pretty well rounded ensemble cast.

 

Wednesday at 10 PM

Watch: Revenge

"We were ready to write this one off, but Emily VanCamp plays a perfect vindictive bitch, and we'll never get sick of seeing corrupt Hamptonites get what's coming to them.

DVR: CSI

Yes, we are saying that you should record a CSI. Credit the power of Ted Danson for that unexpected turn of events.

Skip: Law & Order: SVU

These episodes will be in syndicated reruns soon enough. Why waste valuable time watching them now?

DVR a Later Airing: American Horror Story

This show looks great and has an amazing cast, but at 10 PM, it might give us nightmares. So we'll record it and watch it during the daytime."

 

I still like Criminal Minds myself. The Middle is actually a charming little show. And Modern Family has been my favorite show comedy or drama the last two years.

 

Thursday at 8 PM

"Watch: The Vampire Diaries
Stefan is evil! Dead vamps are back. Everything is all topsy-turvy. Don't miss it.

DVR: Community, Parks & Recreation
This double team of funny should be recorded, so you can rewind and watch the best bits over and over again.

Skip: The X Factor, How to Be a Gentleman
We can live without the X Factor results show, and we'd advise you to stay as far away from How to Be a Gentleman as possible. Don't be suckered in by Dave Foley, it's a trap.

Watch It Online: The Big Bang Theory
See Sheldon and Co. on your computer, because while we love this show, we love Community so much more."

 

Watch Community and Parks & Rec. You might want to DVR Community just so you can watch it again, too.

 

Thursday at 9 PM

"Watch: Grey's Anatomy
The show is now less dark and twisty and more light and twisty, there are some great actors and even the Chief isn't quite so awful now, so we're hooked again.

DVR: Person of Interest
Ben Linus! J.J. Abrams! Jim Caviezel! It has an intriguing, provocative premise, so we hope it doesn't turn into a case-of-the-week procedural.

Skip: Whitney, Bones
Whitney Cummings can do better (i.e. 2 Broke Girls). And Bones now has a baby. That's going to go real well.

Watch It Online: The Secret Circle, The Office
Secret Circle could turn out to be this year's Vampire Diaries -- or not. And even with James Spader, we can wait until the morning after to watch The Office now that Steve Carell is gone."

 

I'm in the "morning after" boat for The Office, mainly because I usually work Thursday nights. I think the show has run it's course, though, and needs a quality ending.

 

Thursday at 10 PM

Watch: Prime Suspect
Maria Bello rocks in this cop drama. This might fill the Detroit 1-8-7 void in our lives.

DVR: Jersey Shore
As of this writing, Deena has yet to fall off the bridge. Record and watch on repeat.

Skip: Private Practice
Formerly a guilty pleasure, now just an annoying hour of our lives that we can live without.

Watch It Online: Beavis & Butt-head
Our teenage selves are excited for the slackers to make their comeback.

DVR a Later Airing: The League, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Project Runway
You'll want to record the FX comedies and Project Runway to watch over the weekend, for sure.

Wait Until the Reruns: The Mentalist
We were wowed by The Mentalist finale (memo to House: if you are going to send your lead to jail for a crazy crime, make it a good one), but since this show is impossible to see online (at least legally), we'll just wait for the reruns.

 

Friday at 8 PM

Watch: Nikita
Maggie Q kicks ass and Lyndsy Fonseca is no slouch, either, so what better way to start your weekend off right?

DVR: Chuck
Since the show will be over soon, we've got to get used to making it less of a priority. Plus, Morgan as the Intersect? Really, show?

Skip: Kitchen Nightmares
At this point, if you've seen Gordon Ramsay fix up one chum bucket of a restaurant, you've seen 'em all.

Watch It Online: A Gifted Man
A solid drama with Patrick Wilson, but not mandatory viewing. Perfect for when you want a nice medical show without the crazy hookups.

 

Friday at 9 PM

Watch: Fringe

What the hell happened to Peter? You better watch to find out. We've got the Observers on alert to make sure you do.

DVR: Grimm

A handsome guy with a bit of a power taking down supernatural evildoers -- definitely worth recording to watch over the weekend.

Skip: CSI: NY, Supernatural

We've only got room for one CSI in our lives and that's original flavor. And as for Supernatural, this is the year we're going to try to make a clean break.

 

Friday at 10 PM

Watch: Blue Bloods
This show got really good. Catch up and tune in for the Selleck and Wahlberg storylines. Perhaps this season, they'll solve the mystery of why Will Estes is on this show.

DVR: The Soup
These highlights of the weird world of reality hosted by Joel McHale are the perfect companion to a second helping of Community.

Skip: Boss
We're a little curious to see Kelsey Grammer as an evil mayor, but not enough to pay for Starz.

 

Sunday at 8 PM

"Watch: Once Upon a Time
Weird fairy tale-infused fun for the whole family. And Jennifer Morrison isn't even all that annoying in it. Not sure about the happily ever after part, though.

DVR: The Amazing Race
Record it because you know you'll be frustrated when football or whatever stupid sporting event on CBS pushes it back and you're stuck watching Andy Rooney.

Skip: Extreme Makeover Home Edition, The Cleveland Show, Allen Gregory
EMHE is getting shipped off to Fridays at some point, so why bother. And Cleveland and Gregory are subpar compared to The Simpsons and Family Guy."

 

Sunday at 9 PM

Watch: The Good Wife
We liked it on Tuesdays, but we'll redo our entire television-centric lives to find a way to watch this one in real time as all of the political and legal drama unfolds.

DVR: The Walking Dead
Zombies! Messed up humans trying to survive! A big old mess behind-the-scenes with writers and showrunners trying to survive! You'll want to record this chaos for posterity.

Skip: Desperate Housewives, American Dad
Trust us, you don't need to see how DH turns out. As for Dad, does anyone even watch that show?

Watch It Online: Family Guy
Because we actually still enjoy the Griffins? sometimes.

DVR a Later Airing: Boardwalk Empire, Dexter
Either grab these from On Demand or record them early the next AM, because both of these shows deserve your full attention.

 

Last one this year:

Sunday at 10 PM

"Watch: Pan Am
The better of the Mad Men-esque new shows, and while not exactly hard-hitting, it's got a certain breezy style that we can appreciate at this hour.

DVR:
CSI: Miami
Don't worry, we haven't lost our minds and started recommending that you actually watch David Caruso remove his sunglasses. You just need to DVR it in case The Good Wife gets pushed back, as is likely to happen almost every week during football season.

Skip: Hung, How to Make It in America
We've met our quotas on both of these shows, so we're going to forget they exist so our DVRs don't have an aneurysm.

DVR a Later Airing: Breaking Bad/Hell on Wheels
AMC usually reruns their shows right after their first airing, which is just so thoughtful of them. We'll watch both of these intense dramas later in the evening."