Unglued to the Tube

Every Summer, I make a transition away from living my life according to television, and my time is my own. I find other ways to fill it, from putting in extra hours at the gym to catching up on other series on DVD or online such as True Blood or Eureka. We had a power outage about four months ago and I still haven't reset the clock on my VCR. And I still haven't been able to figure out why the digital converter box in my parents' room gets NBC but the ones in the living room do not. Truth be told, with nothing to watch back in July, I didn't spend much time on the problem before throwing my hands up in the air and hoping the networks were broadcasting stronger digital signals by the Fall. I may be four weeks and 7 gigs away from the end of my musical season, my main gauge for measuring the Summer, but as far as the television season is concerned, Fall is here.

Supernatural snuck up on me last Thursday, and I didn't even realize it until one of my friends e-mailed me about the episode the next day. The fifth season was always planned as the final one by the creators, although if ratings are good it might continue. As much as I like the series, since they've progressed to facing Lucifer, the biggest big bad of them all, I'm not sure how anything else could compare when this season's arc concludes. I also missed the premiere of the new Vampire Diaries, but with lukewarm reviews considering it “Dawson's Twilight”, it really doesn't sound like my kind of show.

So what will I be watching this season? Quite a bit in the next few weeks, with a ridiculous amount of shows landing on Thursdays. It's time to start paying attention to those television listings again, and I'm going to compile a list of premiere dates so I know when the shows I want to see will begin:

Thursday, September 17th(TONIGHT!)
Fringe, 9 PM, FOX
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 10 PM, FX
The Office, 9 PM, NBC

Monday, September 21st
How I Met Your Mother, 8 PM, CBS
Heroes, 9 PM, NBC

Thursday, September 24th
FlashForward, 8 PM, ABC(NEW SHOW!)

Friday, September 25th
Smallville, 8 PM, CW
Dollhouse, 9 PM, FOX

Sunday, September 27th
The Simpsons, 8 PM, FOX
The Cleveland Show, 8:30 PM, FOX
Family Guy, 9 PM, FOX

Friday, October 2nd
Stargate: Universe, 9 PM, SyFy(NEW SHOW! STUPID NAME CHANGE FOR A CHANNEL)

Thursday, October 15th
30 Rock, 9:30 PM, NBC

Thursday, November 3rd
V, 8 PM, ABC(NEW SHOW!)

* * * * *

Seriously, what's the deal with Thursdays this year? It sucks that My Name is Earl was canceled without a proper finale and on a cliffhanger no less, but that's one half hour of my week that I'm going to need for other things. And these are just the Fall premieres over the next three months, so it doesn't even factor in Chuck, 24, Lost, Scrubs(technically a spinoff without a name change), and Better Off Ted, most if not all of which we won't see before 2010. And I'm sure I've forgotten a few shows, but I hope not; this is plenty!