Monday Night Preview

How I Met Your Mother (CBS) 8:00PM Premier 9/21
Gavin's Take - Other than The Amazing Race, I have for a long time been very much uninterested in the shows on CBS. They are generally boring, formulaic and uninteresting. Until How I Met Your Mother came along. The show is unique in format, creative in writing and generally hilarious. Although Neil Patrick Harris steals pretty much every episode, the entire cast is delightful. I'm excited to see the humanity of Barney develop with his crush on Robin. I'm very excited to see this one come back!

The Big Bang Theory (CBS) 9:30PM Premier 9/21
Gavin's Take - On this one I'm a victim of classic television marketing. They paired this with How I Met Your Mother in hopes of capturing some of the same audience. It worked. I saw a couple episodes of The Big Bang Theory and I was hooked. I especially love the smart humor, since there are usually two levels in every scene. Some jokes are for everyone and are hilarious, but the real gems are the smaller, subtle jabs that are clearly intended for a specific audience. I'm looking forward to seeing how the trip to Antarctica ended up!

House (FOX) 8:00PM Premier 9/21
Gavin's Take - Hugh Laurie is a genius. I'm pretty well convinced that I'll watch just about anything featuring his amazing ability, and House is no different. Is it fairly easy to predict? Usually, especially the medical parts of the show (Is this the right diagnosis? Well it's only 30 minutes in, so I'm going to say... no). But overall it's a great television show. I'm excited at the rumor that the original cast is going to take a bigger role this year with House in the asylum for at least the first few episodes. I may be the only one, but I missed Chase and Cameron and the dynamic of the original cast. They never left, but they obviously played a smaller role the last few seasons. Something I'm ready to see remedied.
Alison's Take - Arguably the best show on TV. Hugh Laurie is a genius. But is that because House is a genius? House, for those of you living under a rock, is a medical drama. A medical comedy. Take a grumpy diagnostician, a female dean of medicine, and several small fry doctors and you have the funniest medical drama on TV. House, unlike other medical shows, never wavers, never takes a dip into the unrealistic. It always stays true to what it is.

Heroes (NBC) 8:00PM Premier 9/21
Alison's Take - So this is my sci-fi show for the season, and has been for awhile. When I first started watching Heroes I got lost in the unknowns. This show took a lot of patience at first. But now, several seasons into this show it is fast paced and easy to get sucked into. Ordinary people become extraordinary. This is the everyday Joe’s dream, to make a difference. But Heroes is not a light drama, focusing on the good. More often than not it asks questions about altruism. Can you truly do something for the sole purpose of doing good? It also asks the classic good vs. evil question. What makes a villain? What makes a hero? What sets them apart? Stay tuned this season.

Trauma (NBC) 9:00PM Premier 9/28
Gavin's Take - Clearly trying to be ER set in the field. Will it have the same quality? I doubt it. I'd imagine it'll be more closely related to the ill-fated Third Watch as opposed to the epic success that was ER. Only time will tell if they've got the character development and scenarios that keep us all entertained. One thing is certain, they WILL focus on the big earth-shattering disasters on a regular basis. It could get tiring, and much like ER (and to a lesser extent Grey's Anatomy) it could quickly get to the point where they have to stretch to completely unrealistic scenarios. We'll see.

Dancing with the Stars (ABC) 8:00PM Premier 9/21
Alison's Take - I admit that this is not the best reality show. It’s not even the best reality dance competition show. But it does entertain me. It’s always fascinating to see football players do the jive and Actors attempt the waltz. But I argue that the popularity of this show has nothing to do with the stars, but instead with the professional dancers. It’s not always about the ability to dance. The choreography and the music is what makes the show. I’m always looking forward to Cheryl Burke’s choreography or Louis van Amstel classic waltz. But beware this show has a horrible tendency to screw up your TiVo with a three night premiere.

Castle (ABC) 10:00PM Premier 9/21
Alison's Take - I started watching this show on the off season and it was mildly entertaining. It’s not the best show out there, and when it came out it was horribly predictable and a little cheesy but I stuck with it because I saw potential. I believe this show just has to find its place on TV. It’s not a classic detective show and it’s not a drama or comedy. So what is it? I hope that question is answered in this season. And I seriously hope that Fillion and Katic (Castle and Beckett) have developed a natural chemistry instead of a forced on screen attraction.

Other shows I may/may not watch:
Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) 8:30PM Premier 9/21
Lie to Me (FOX) 9:00PM Premier 9/28
Little People, Big World (TLC) 8:00PM Premier 10/12