Seasons change, seasons begin

Do you know the best part about moving? Yeah? Me neither. But that is what I have been up to for all of September, and it is finally over. The moving is, but the unpacking is far from finished. The networks have also unpacked their new fall shows and season premiers. I am going to keep my opinions brief considering how much information there was. So here we are, my week in review for the season premiers!

Sunday, 09/23:
Family Guy (Fox)- Star Wars parody episode. Very very very well done. A few jokes made absolutely no sense, or fell flat, and normally I love the irreverent dance routines, but the one at the end here was stale. Overall, the best Family Guy episode since 2005.

Monday, 09/24:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)- Cute new sitcom about a bunch of high IQ geeks meeting the hot new neighbor. It is not laugh out loud funny, and may only appeal to people like me who act like this and are friends with people like this, but the show is clever and doesn't shove it's characters in your face like other shows. A good start, and I hope to see this one do well.
Chuck (NBC)- Hard to gauge Chuck. Between TV commercial previews, online ads and previews, and before the movies previews, I have basically seen the entire first episode already without actually having to watch it. But when put together in a cohesive package, Chuck was fun, clever, funny, and a nice surprise. This show could get old fast, but I will reserve my full judgment for the new episodes.
Heroes (NBC)- Oh Tim Kring, what is your evil plan? I love Heroes, easily my favorite show last year. But when it comes to the big episodes (premiers, finales, etc) you fail to impress. Heroes was best after the first few episodes last year, and failed at the finale. The premier was just as dull as last seasons finale, with the only cool points being that Kensei being British (I think the true Kensei will end up being Hiro, which the videos on http://yamagatofellowship.org have made me believe more than anything, or, the British dude has powers) and the end with Peter having no memory and the Haitian's necklace on. Heroes is best when you are wondering what is going to happen next, what the mystery is, and admittedly, the premier is not the place to confuse new viewers. I hope and pray that Heroes can deliver a 2nd season as good, or better, than the last.

Tuesday, 09/25:
Reaper (CW)- This is my favorite new show for the season, beating out Bionic Woman. Reaper is about 21 year old Sam Oliver. He works with his best friend at a Home Depot style store, and has a huge crush on his female coworker, Andi, played by the wonderful Missy Peregrym from Heroes. Sam's parents sold his soul before he was born, and it is now Sam's task to collect souls that escaped from Hell. Reaper is a blend of Buffy and Dead Like Me especially with DLM's Delores Herbig, Christine Willes, as someone who looks to be a minor ongoing character. With Kevin Smith and Mark Gordon behind this, expect good things. Catch this show.
House (Fox)- Has House really been on for 4 seasons now? Doesn't feel that long. Ok, enough random thoughts for now. As a whole, the premier wasn't that fantastic, but had some wonderful pieces found in it. Wilson's role in this episode was wonderful, and the fact that House relied on a janitor was great. The rest of the episode felt a little flat, like I was waiting for something good to happen. Something good DID happen when House realized he was treating the wrong patient. I rarely get surprised by the final diagnosis, but this one had me stunned. And in the end, isn't House about the mystery of the patient? In this way, this was a great episode. However, just as Cuddy and Wilson are trying to tell House, the show seems like a lot less without Foreman, Cameron and Chase. Yes, I know they will be back, they are still in the credits, but between now and when they return, the writers better have something better than a crazy cops to work with.

Wednesday, 09/26
Bionic Woman (NBC)-I wasn't disappointed with Bionic Woman, but I think this should have been a 2 part premier, or at least 90 minutes. The beginning was good, the ending was good, but they didn't flesh out Jamie's character while at the facility. The other characters said out loud what she was feeling, instead of seeing Jamie go through the emotions and thought processes herself. I think Michelle Ryan is not only absolutely gorgeous (very much my type) but seems very capable of making more out of a character a lot of us think we already know. This show has the most potential of the other shows premiering this year, but I want to see a little more character development, and less reliance on 2nd tier characters telling us what the main characters are doing or feel and less reliance on special effects. And yes, I could compare this one to Buffy, but other than the "strong woman" aspect, I have yet to see much else to make them comparable to each other.

Thursday, 09/27
CSI (CBS)- Hey, remember when CSI was about the crime committed and the technology used to solve it? Yeah, me too. I knew this episode would be a thriller, and I honestly believed Sarah would die considering her trimmed down role last year, but this episode left me bored. I was reading while it was on. Why do I still watch this show?
The Office (NBC)- Next to Heroes, I was most disappointed with the Office premier, but that is probably because I had such high hopes after the fantastic season finale, and watching the season 1-2 DVDs this summer. The episode wasn't bad, just not great. The Dwight/Angela storyline felt forced and poorly acted, but the Pam/Jim storyline was dealt with very well. I think this would have been better as a 30 minute show instead of a whole hour. It is VERY rare to hear me say "I wish the show was shorter" but a sitcom should be short and concise, not filled with lots of fluff. I still love The Office, but NBC needs to rethink the shows format.

I have yet to watch Moonlight from Friday night, which is CBS's version of Angel. It is literally about a vampire running a detective agency. This week we will see 30 Rock premier, and I am looking forward to that as well. Overall, the fall premiers and season premiers were above average, better than most years, but with some low points in there. Here is hoping a great year of TV is waiting ahead.

Oh, yeah, also, I finally bought a 360 yesterday. Go me.