Television Say You Love Me...

Just a little end of fall TV round up.

The best new show of the season is clearly Veronica Mars (Tue 9PM on UPN). This bizarre combination of teen soap and crime drama is the one show I can not miss. All the characters have proven intriguing and likeable even characters like Logan, who I thought was going to be a paper thing bad guy, and Duncan, who seemed rather drab and boring at first. Each episode has a self-contained mystery story coupled with more revelations about the late Lily Kane and Vernonica's missing Mom. Both parts of th show are always statisfying and Enrico Colantoni as Veronica's dad steals every scene he's in. If you aren't watching this show now you are really missing out.

The second best show is obviously lost right? Nope it's Star Trek: Enterprise (Fri 9PM on UPN).. Yes the show that was so bad it almost killed the Star Trek Franchise is now one of the best shows on television. Ok maybe I'm just a geeky fanboy but Enterprise has been really great. It got off to a bumpy start with Nazi time traveling Aliens (the less said the better). But once this season started telling its own stories its has been phenomenal. The Eugenics War story with Brent Spiner was great and the current Vulcan storyline has been even better. Easily the best Trek since the end of DS9. My two favorite Shows are on UPN there must be something wrong with me

Without a doubt Lost (Wed 8PM on ABC). is a phenomenal show. The fact that a show like this is also a huge hit is really exciting. High concept shows that work are supposed to last 13 episodes and then be cancelled. I was worried that this show wouldn't be able to sustain itself but the twist in last night's episode gives me hope that they have the creativity to do anything with this show.

Like most HBO dramas its is hard to judge a season of The Wire (Sun 9PM on HBO) accurately until its completed. This season the focus has returned to the west Baltimore drug trade and there is a really great City Hall sub plot. McNulty continues to be one of the best characters in TV history. And if they ever make my life into a movie I demand that Clarke Peters play me. So what if I'm a fat white guys and he's a 50ish black man. Anyway if you haven't seen this show I highly recommend getting Season 1 on Netflix.

The second season of the The O.C. (Thurs 8PM on FOX) is just getting going but damn what a fun show. Ryan is as angsty as ever doing his mini-Russell Crowe thing, Seth is getting some much deserved flack for being a selfish twit and he's still funny, Summer is getting more rounded and more delightful with each episode, Sandy is the only TV dad in history that made me wish he was my dad (no offense Dad!), and Jimmy is apparently now a drunken pirate. Of course its not all roses, the Achilles heel of this show is Marissa, she's supposed to be the Kelly Taylor of the show but Mischa Barton's absolute lack of acting skills can almost ruin otherwise perfect episodes. Recast Marrissa and this show has potential all-time great status.

I've only seen a few episodes of Arrested Development (Sun 8PM on FOX) this season but damn is that funny show. My favorite character? Annyong.

Survivor (Thurs 8PM on CBS) continues to be best reality show ever. This season started out so-so but the svengali-like Ami and her all-girl alliance made things interesting, but last week's episode turned everything on its head with one of the best betrayal/power shifts in the history of the show. It was one of those moves that you always you think people should make but never do. Bill Simmons expounds on it here.

The Apprentice (Thurs 9PM on NBC) is not as good in this time as it was in the first season but it's still pretty compelling television. The people on this season are clearly crazier than the first season which is always a good thing, but the commercial ties in each episode get old.

It's weird having something to watch on Sunday nights that doesn't involve football or HBO. Desperate Housewives (Sun 9PM on ABC) is solid show, well written, interesting mystery, and plenty of eye candy but I don't know if they can keep it up and when I miss an episode I don't really care to find out what happened. Boston Legal (Sun 10PM on ABC) is frivolous but usually entertaining. James Spader is excellent as is Shatner. The only bad part of show is the music they use. That has to be the most annoying score in TV history.

The one show that I started watching these season but have since dumped is Smallville (Wed 9PM on WB). This was never that good a show to begin with but this season I lost all interest. First the gay subtext between Clark and Lex seemed to evaporate. It's no fun the watch if you can't find the gayest look of the episode. The final straw for me was when Lana's mystical tattoo made her into a reincarnated French witch. C'mon if I wanted to watch Charmed then I'd watch Charmed.