Fall Frenzy

September is over. That means Fall Season TV is officially here. This past two weeks, my favorite TV shows from the US came back on air, as well as other new ones that are definitely worth watching. Here is a run down of the new shows that I watched which premiered in September, in order of their premiere dates.

"Glee" (Wednesdays @ 9PM on Fox) technically premiered in May 2009 but the 2nd episode was not shown until September 9. This show is most often compared to "High School Musical" but it has a wider audience demographic. The show focuses on a glee club or show choir of an Ohio high school. Chris Colfer who plays Kurt Hummel is a revelation. The pilot averaged 10 million viewers and it is the first to be picked up for a full season.

"Community" (Thursdays @ 9:30PM on NBC) is about a lawyer who was forced to enroll at community college after his degree was deemed invalid by the State Bar. I may soon tire of this show but for now, Danny Pudi as Abed makes me laugh.

"Accidentally on Purpose" (Mondays @ 8:30Pm on CBS) stars Jenna Elfman of "Will & Grace". She plays Billie, a San Francisco movie critic in her 30s, who gets pregnant after a one-night stand with a chef named Zack (Jon Foster). I love Jenna Elfman so I'm keeping this show on my list.

"The Forgotten" (Tuesdays @ 10PM on ABC) stars Christian Slater, who also starred in "My Own Worst Enemy", which was cancelled last year after only 9 episodes. The pilot episode of this new series, which is about a group of amateur detectives who volunteer to identify John and Jane Doe crime victims, did not captivate me. I'm watching 2 or 3 more episodes and if I'm still bored, I'm "forgetting" it.

"The Good Wife" (Tuesdays @ 10PM on CBS) has Ridley Scott as one of the executive producers. The "dream team" cast includes Juliana Margulies, Christine Baranski, Josh Charles, and Chris Noth. The story revolves around Alicia Florrick (Margulies), the wife of politician, Peter Florrick (Noth), who returns to her old job as a defense attorney after her husband is jailed following a very public sex and corruption scandal. It's about time for a good legal drama such as this one to come to primetime television.

"Mercy" (Wednesdays @ 8PM on NBC) is a hospital drama which focuses on the nurses of Mercy Hospital. The pilot was my least favorite among the new shows simply because I find it unrealistic to have a show about nurses and not have any Filipinas. Filipina nurses are like signatures on every major hospital in the US! Let's see in the next episodes. I read that this show got good ratings.

"Modern Family" (Wednesdays @ 9PM on ABC) is a mockumentary-style comedy about a quirky family composed of Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill), his daughter Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), his gay son Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Fergusin), and their own respective families. I did not read any spoilers about this show so I was genuinely surprised towards the end of the pilot when it was revealed that the three families are actually part of one big family. Also, the "Circle of Life" bit really got me laughing.

"Cougar Town" (Wednesdays @ 9:30PM on ABC) immediately follows "Modern Family". It stars "Friend" Courteney Cox as Jules Cobb, a 40-year old newly-single mother living in Florida with his 17-year old son. I was not wowed by the pilot but I'm still watching a few more episodes.

"Eastwick" (Wednesdays @ 10PM on ABC) is the 3rd new show on ABC's Wednesday night line-up. It is an adaptation of the novel, "The Witches of Eastwick", by John Updike, which also had a film adaptation in 1987. "Eastwick" is beong compared a lot to "Desperate Housewives" but I think "Eastwick" is slightly better. Maybe it's the magic!

"FlashFoward" (Thursdays @ 8PM on ABC) stars Joseph Fiennes as FBI agent Mark Benford, who ends up investigating a global phenomenon where everybody on the planet simultaneously lost consciousness for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. During the blackout, people worldwide see what appear to be visions of their lives six months in the future. Towards the end of the pilot, a CCTV footage shows a mysterious man walking through a baseball stadium in Detroit while everybody else was unconscious. And so the mystery begins... and I'm hooked.

"The Beautiful Life". starring Mischa Barton, was this year's first casualty. The show, which followed the lives of New York models, got cancelled after 2 episodes. The 2nd episode had a dismal 1 million viewers or less than a third of executive producer Ashton Kutcher's Twitter followers. It's sad because I think it was better than those "90210" and "Melrose Place" rehashes. Oh well, let's see who gets the next axe.

Up next... my favorite returning shows and my take on the premieres. Stay tuned!