Winter 2008: The Second Season

January is here and so is new programing. It is officially mid-season, and even though we are in the midst of a strike, the networks still have a bunch of new shows to roll out that have been in the can for awhile. So this is good news, some fresh television and some new series to sample. Some highlights coming up for me are:

-Return of Lost on January 31 -- even though its only 8 episodes, its better than nothing. I am just excited for the mythology to continue, the chat boards to be fired up, and the online/magazine breakdowns to return. Seeing Matthew Fox on this weeks cover of Entertainment Weekly made me very excited for 'Lost talk'

-Return of Law and Order with a somewhat new cast

-The return of 'Old Christine' which is a very funny sitcom, and JLD is a fantastic comedic actress

-Celebrity Apprentice and American Gladiators (more on this below)

-Cashmere Mafia vs. Lipstick Jungle (since the wife will be watching, I might get involved just to see whats going on there...more on this below)

-The Wire, season 5. I missed the first four but I am hearing I just need to get in and get going with this show.

-Sarah Connor Chronicles....why not? No 24 this year, so I might as well replace the hour. Seems logical.

-DVR'd episodes of Dirty, Sexy, Money and Pushing Dasises.

In fact, they don't need to come back from the strike, I have plenty to do here. Looks like my plate is fairly full.

This past weekend I rocked out the new Celebrity Apprentice. Now you know how I feel about reality TV, and I am not going to get on my Lauren-Conrad-and-MTV-reality-shows-are-the-downfall-of-society soapbox -- there are plenty of people to do that. And if you like those shows, then enjoy. I don't.
But I am going to watch the Donald and his so-called celebs battle it out for charity if for only to see the genius that is Gene Simmons each week. Omarosa (celebrity?) was the obvious choice for dismissal this week, but she must be good for rating so instead Trump fired the super-hot playboy centerfold because 'she didn't call Hugh Hefner for a donation to the hot dog sales competition' -- seems logical right? It's a whole new world out there when Trump chooses ratings and drama over ass. Who is this Donald Trump?
Meanwhile, Trump asks the guys and girls to sell hot dogs and the winner is the team that makes the most money. The girls are out there working their marketing campaign and designing T-shirts while Gene Simmons made a couple phone calls to high-rollers. Winner you ask? Oh, the guys by about $60,000.
Stephen Baldwin is a trainwreck waiting to happen. I love that NBC has cornered the market on Baldwins. I assume Daniel will show up soon on ABC to support his brother Billy (on Dirty, Sexy, Money) and then we can get an all out ABC vs. NBC Baldwin cage match. And why do I think ABC and NBC would get together on this ratings game...precedent folks, precedent.

You see, ABC is sending Kimmel to Leno, and NBC is sending Leno to Kimmel. This Thursday night. What a frickin disaster this strike is becoming. The other night Conan just sat there spinning his ring to see how long he could keep it going. Friday night, Bill Maher is coming back to HBO on 'Real Time', but instead of a monologue, he is going to talk to the audience. Shoot me now.

This rant has been all over the place, my apologies. Back to the weekend.

We also watched American Gladiators -- took me back to my childhood and it was awesome. People getting hurt left and right, getting the steriods knocked right out of them. The final obstacle course, the Eliminator, was chewing people up -- too funny. I will be back for more tonight.

Cashmere Mafia premiered last night. One girl thinks she is a lesbian, one girl is married to a quiet guy with not much to say, one girl is married to a cheater which she excuses because she is busy with her career, and one woman lost her fiance because he couldn't handle the fact that she was promoted over him. This show really loves men. Thanks Darren Starr! From the female side though, these girls weren't all that interesting -- I couldn't even tell them apart for awhile. I will give it another go around and see where its headed. But if every dude is a cheater who can't handle successful women, I am out.

Speaking of out. More later, out.

P.S. Gladiators killed Mafia last night, and Mafia only held 54% of the Desperate Housewives lead-in. Not so good. Also this, Marcia Cross rules on DH and Terri Hatcher is the worst. Just brutal.