Jan 04 2009
TV: Week of January 4
January used to be a dead month for new shows. It used to just be reruns, but now filled with midseason replacements and reality shows.
Season Finales: Lipstick Jungle, Stargate Atlantis, Sanctuary, Crash
Pick of the Week
Scrubs
Channel: ABC
Time: 9/8c
Starring: Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Judy Reyes, Sarah Chalke, Ken Jenkins, John C. McGinley, Neil Flynn
Premieres: Tuesday, January 6
Trailer
Synopsis: The show moves to ABC where it gets to finish out its final season properly. In the final season, J.D. and Elliot might get back together again, Dr. Kelso has retired as the Chief of Medicine, but he still hangs around since he gets free muffins for life from the coffee shop, and Courtney Cox guest stars for a few episodes as the new Chief of Medicine.
Recommended
Damages
Channel: FX
Time: 10/9c
Starring: Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Tate Donovan, Anastasia Griffith, William Hurt, Timothy Olyphant, Marcia Gay Harden, Ted Danson
Premieres: Wednesday, January 7
Trailer
Synopsis: Last season, Patty won her case against Frobisher and got away with murder. Ellen is ready to take her down by working with Patty and being an FBI informant.
My Take: Some people didn’t watch the first season since it was so complicated, but I loved it. You really had to pay attention to catch everything, but it completely paid off at the end. I can’t wait for more.
Nip/Tuck
Channel: FX
Time: 10/9c
Starring: Dylan Walsh, Julian McMahon, Joely Richardson, John Hensley, Roma Maffia, Kelly Carlson
Premieres: Tuesday, January 6
Trailer
Synopsis: It is the last half of the fifth season due to the writer’s strike. The doctors are still in L.A., but they face a crisis at the medical center this season. Also, Christian decides to finally settle down after many years of being a bachelor while Sean decides to start a new relationship.
Monk
Channel: USA
Time: 9/8c
Starring: Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, Jason Gray-Stanford, Emmy Clarke, Hector Elizondo
Premieres: Friday, January 9
Trailer
Synopsis: Monk returns for the second half of its 7th season with more neurotic detectiving.
Psych
Channel: USA
Time: 10/9c
Starring: James Roday, Dule Hill, Maggie Lawson, Tim Omundson, Corbin Bernsen, Kirsten Nelson
Premieres: Friday, January 9
Trailer
Synopsis: Psych returns for the second half of its third season with more psychic detective work.
My Take: I love the show. I think it is one of the funniest on television.
Willing To Try
Superstars of Dance
Channel: NBC
Time: 9/8c
Starring: Michael Flatley, Susie Castillo, Nigel Lythgoe
Premieres: Sunday, January 4
Trailer
Synopsis: Professional dancers from eight countries (Ireland, India, USA, Argentina, China, Russia, South Africa and Australia) compete in different competitions with solo dances, duos and group dances.
Not My Thing
The Secret Life of the American Teenager
Channel: ABC
Time: 8/7c
Starring: Molly Ringwald, Shailene Woodley, Francia Raisa, Ken Baumann, Daren Kagasoff, Megan Park, Greg Finley, Josie Bissett, John Schneider
Premieres: Monday, January 5
Trailer
Synopsis: The pregnant teenager finally starts to show and can’t hide her secret any longer.
My Take: It is geared too young for me to watch.
The Bachelor
Channel: ABC
Time: 8/7c
Starring: Jason Mesnick
Premieres: Monday, January 5
Trailer
Synopsis: He proposed to DeAnna in the last Bachelorette season, but she rejected his proposal. Now, the single dad has a chance to find his own love.
True Beauty
Channel: ABC
Time: 10/9c
Starring: Vanessa Minnillo, Cheryl Tiegs, Nole Marin
Premieres: Monday, January 5
Trailer
Synopsis: From Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher, they gather a bunch of beautiful people that think they are only being judged for their beauty, but what they don’t know is they are being judged on their inner beauty so they are put to the test constantly when they don’t even realize it.
My Take: While the concept sounds interesting, the people are so shallow in the trailers that I know I wouldn’t last 10 minutes watching the show.
The Biggest Loser: Couples
Channel: NBC
Time: 8/7c
Starring: Alison Sweeney, Jillian Michaels, Bob Harper
Premieres: Tuesday, January 6
Trailer
Synopsis: Eleven teams of two people try to lose the most weight.
My Take: I think it is great that these people want to lose weight, but I worry about how much they are pushed to extremes and how hard it will be for them to keep the weight off when the competition is over.
10 Items or Less
Channel: TBS
Time: 11/10c
Starring: John Lehr, Bob Clendenim, Chris Payne Gilbert, Christopher Liam Moore, Greg David Jr., Kim Coles, Kirsten Gronfield, Roberta Valderrama, Nancy Hower, Robert Hickey
Premieres: Tuesday, January 6
Trailer
Synopsis: Workplace comedy about the people that work at the local grocery store, Green & Grains.
My Take: I just don’t find it very funny.
13 Fear Is Real
Channel: CW
Time: 8/7c
Premieres: Wednesday, January 7
Trailer
Synopsis: Thirteen people go live in the woods for a reality show, but they don’t know that they are the reality show where they are being scared to death with one of them being “killed” off each week. Executive producers are Jay Bienstock, Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert.
Flashpoint
Channel: CBS
Time: 9/8c
Starring: Enrico Colantoni, Amy Jo Johnson, Hugh Dillon, David Paetkau, Sergio Di Zio, Michael Cram, Ruth Marshall, Mark Taylor
Premieres: Friday, January 9
Trailer
Synopsis: A group of police negotiators dealing with kidnappers, hostage situations and bomb threats.
My Take: It didn’t look exciting enough for me to watch this summer and I don’t plan on starting now.
Why?
Howie Do It
Channel: NBC
Time: 8/7c
Starring: Howie Mandel, John Catucci, Jerry Lambert, Kyle Dunnigan, Alex Mandel, Jenine Profeta, Vic Cohen, DJ Ravi
Premieres: Friday, January 9
Trailer
Synopsis: Howie hosts a prank show.
My Take: I know I’m getting sick of Howie Mandel. I’m wondering if others are feeling the same.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Horray Scrubs! love it! Psych & Monk are also super awesome, but I do think it is time for Monk to go, so I am staying for the end. I kinda stopped watching Nip/Tuck after the Carver season but sporadically watched it a bit after that, never saw any of the CA ones – not sure if I will be drawn back in or not. I think I will skip everything else – I want to watch Damages, but I’m going to wait and get it all on DVD so I can binge!
January 5th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Beware when watching Damages all at once on a DVD. It’ll probably make your head explode!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I really liked Nip Tuck. I only watched half of the last season though as it wasn’t as interesting. I watched the opener for this season and feel some hope that it might get better again, but only a little. I like Christian though, since he played Cole on Charmed.
Re: 13 Fear is real: This looks disappointing. The only “scary” reality show I have seen was long ago on MTV called Fear. They basically took people to real, reportedly haunted, places, gave them a ton of info about all of the cruel/ bloody/ evil goings on there and then messed with them through the night. It was really well done but wasn’t on the air long. I have not seen anything else scary/ reality wise that has come close to living up to that show.