Watching Sitcoms

I know I haven’t been writing about sitcoms too much lately, which is a little sad, since this site is called Watching Sitcoms. I guess there just aren’t too many sitcoms that I like to watch anymore. Maybe there never really were. At least not anytime in the last few years.

There are a couple I still watch, every week, even though I don’t always talk about them, and they are The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. The last couple of weeks were repeats, and so is this week, which makes me unhappy, cause I do miss them when they aren’t on.

I think part of the problem why I haven’t been blogging about the eps, which were great, is that Mondays are a very busy night. At 8:00 pm, I’m also watching Chuck, House, The Bachelor and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I’ve basically been DVRing two shows upstairs (Chuck and House) and two shows downstairs (The Bachelor and Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother). I have to DVR The Secret Life when it repeats at 10:00 pm. Of course, I also watch Heroes and True Beauty on Mondays (or at least I DVR them and watch them at some point).

So what that all means is that I end up watching The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother on Tuesday and Wednesday during my lunch hour when I come home from work to eat. So I’m downstairs and not near the computer. I should take notes so I can blog later, but I never do, cause I’m eating.

And that’s really my entire story about why I don’t talk about sitcoms too often. I’ll try to do better.

Now onto Best Action TV Series in the Hulu Awards. This is a great category, cause I actually have some interest in the shows. In case you haven’t guessed yet, I’m a fan of action and adventure and an unbelievably huge sci fi geek. But that’s beside the point.

So for the category of Best Action TV Series, the nominees are 24, Burn Notice, Chuck, Journeyman and Prison Break. I’m gonna jump right in here off the bat and say that Chuck is my fave of all these. I’ve never been a fan of 24, although I’ve watched the show on occasion, for some reason, I never got hooked. I’ve also watched Burn Notice, my sister really likes it, but it also didn’t hold my interest for more than an episode or two.

As for Journeyman, (more…)

So I sat down and wrote out a complete schedule of all the shows I want to watch coming up in the next few weeks and I realized something.  I’m not gonna be able to do it.  There just isn’t enough time in the day for it.  Especially since I went back to work full-time.  *sigh*

Here’s the breakdown:

Mondays (7 hours)
8:00 pm - Chuck (NBC), House (FOX), The Secret Life of the American Teenager (ABC Fam), The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
8:30 pm - How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
9:00 pm - Heroes (NBC), The Bachelor (ABC)

Tuesdays - (4 hours)
8:00 pm - 90210 (CW), American Idol (FOX)
9:00 pm - Fringe (FOX)
10:00 pm - Law and Order: SVU (NBC)

Wednesday (2 1/2-3 hours)
8:00 pm - American Idol (FOX), America’s Next Top Model (CW)
9:00 pm - Lost (ABC)

Thursday (4 hours)
8:00 pm - Bones (FOX), Smallville (CW)
9:00 pm - Kitchen Nightmares/Hell’s Kitchen (FOX), Supernatural (CW)

Friday (4 hours)
8:00 pm - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
9:00 pm - Dollhouse (FOX), Monk (USA)
10:00 pm - Psych (USA)

That’s over 20 hours of television. There is no way I’m fitting that all in, still working full-time, maintaining two blogs and having a life besides. Some shows are gonna have to go, but I just don’t know which ones. Monday is the worst. I was just coming around to being OK with the fact that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had been banished to Fridays, mostly because Monday’s wouldn’t be so crowded anymore. Then they moved both House and The Secret Life to the same time slot on Monday. So now its gonna be even harder.

I guess I’ll just have to watch some shows online, since I can only DVR two things at a time. But when will I have time to watch these other shows. They kinda frown upon that sort of thing where I work. (”Gee, boss, I’m sorry, but I didn’t have any other free time to watch The Bachelor. I didn’t think you’d mind.”) *sigh*

I think I’m a TV junkie. I may need help.

New stuff is coming!! Maybe I get too excited about TV, I don’t know, but I can say that I’m happy that some new shows are coming. Well, not actually new, but returning shows with new episodes. And one new show that I care about, anyway. But that’s not until February.

Here’s how the week starts out:

On Monday, January 5, 2009 at 8:00 pm (ET) The Bachelor is coming back to ABC. I’m not a huge fan of reality TV, but some shows I just love and this has turned into one of them. I’m not even sure why. Maybe it’s all the stupid hot chicks. I guess it makes me feel good to know that they really are idiots. I mean, it wouldn’t be fair if they were all beautiful and young, with great bodies, and smart, too!

Also returning on Monday (more…)

I was talking to some friends about shows we watch in common, and it was pointed out to me that I watch a lot of TV. I didn’t really think so, well, I guess I did, but I didn’t think it was that noticable. Anyway, it got me to thinking about (more…)

This year, because I’m a huge glutton for punishment, I decided to watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles again. I watched all of last season, but I really didn’t like it, cause it seemed like every ep was exactly the same. Lots of things blowing up and terminators smashing things. Look, I’m a big fan of blowing stuff up, but I do like a bit of a story line to go along with the blasts.

Last year, I didn’t think Sarah Connor lived up to even that minimal goal. But since I’m a fan of the movies, plus the fact that I like Summer Glau, (oh, and the glutton thing above) I thought I’d give it another chance this season. And, honestly, it’s not that bad. I’m not saying its masterpiece theatre or anything, but this season, three episodes in, I’m really enjoying it. I’m interested in what’s going to happen next.

Maybe I was just too hard on it last year, maybe I expected too much. I did notice that there aren’t as many explosions this year, so maybe that’s it.

One little issue that’s going to cause me a problem is that Monday nights suddenly got full. Last week The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother both started their new season on CBS at 8:00 pm and 8:30 pm, and this coming week Chuck starts back on NBC at 8:00 pm. With Sarah Connor on Fox at 8:00 pm, I’m gonna have to choose, since I can only DVR two things at once. And I can’t watch another station when I’m DVRing two different shows. It’s gonna get tricky.

Maybe I can go somewhere else and watch Sarah Connor.

My research hit a little snag with NBC in that their website made it a little hard to find a page for each show that just had words I could read. Everything was a video, which might work great in some cases, but for me it doesn’t. I want things all written out, like what the show is about, who’s in it, and when it airs. Plus, I’m doing this while my husband watches TV next to me, so I often have to turn the sound off. Although, there was an interesting looking vid with Zach Levi of Chuck talking about all the new shows on NBC this year. I may go back and watch that when I get a chance.

Anyway, I did find out some stuff about new sitcoms on NBC and I can only find one. I did see references to several other new shows, however, and some new shows coming in 2009, but I’m not concerned with those right now.

So, the only new sitcom I saw this Fall for NBC was Kath and Kim which premieres on Thursday, October 9, 2008, at 8:30 pm ET. This is based on an Australian comedy of the same name. In our version, Kath (played by Molly Shannon) is sexy divorced mom to Kim (Selma Blair). Kim, also recently separated from her husband, returns home hoping to go back to being the spoiled princess she was growing up. Mom has no interest in that, as she is finally finding time for herself.

Maybe this will be funny, but I’m not a big fan of Molly Shannon. I might give it a chance. We’ll see.

As for returning sitcoms, there is 30 Rock (back on Thursday 10/30 at 9:30 pm ET), The Office (Thursday 9/25 at 9:00 pm ET) and My Name is Earl (Thursday 9/25 at 8:00 pm ET).

It’s getting to be about that time again. August is almost upon us and we begin to wonder when our favorite shows are going to start back up in the Fall. Well, I am anyway. The absolute best list ever, I mean the absolute most comprehensive list anywhere around is found at The Futon Critic, right here. They have lots of other lists, too, showing all the new shows, all the old shows, on every single network, and when they are starting, how many eps there will be, or just showing the fate of some shows that are never to be seen again.

It’s an amazing undertaking and I give them a lot of credit, cause I don’t know how much time and effort it must take to compile such a list. But luckily for me, all I gotta to is link to it and then I get to share all that info with all of you.

I am going to give a quick rundown of the shows I’m excited about seeing, and when they start, but you really, really ought to go check out their list. I’m in awe of it.

So here’s my list of the shows I’ll be watching (all times are ET):

Wednesday 9/3
8 pm - Bones - FOX

Monday 9/8
8 pm - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles - FOX

Tuesday 9/9
8 pm - Fringe - FOX

Thursday 9/11
9 pm - Kitchen Nightmares - FOX

Tuesday 9/16
8 pm - House - FOX

Monday 9/22
8 pm - The Big Bang Theory - CBS
8:30 pm - How I Met Your Mother - CBS

Tuesday 9/23
10 pm - Law and Order: SVU - NBC

Sunday 9/28
11 pm - Little Britain - HBO

Monday 9/29
8 pm - Chuck - NBC

I’m also looking forward to these shows, coming in 2009:
Dollhouse - FOX
Lost - ABC
Hell’s Kitchen - FOX
Torchwood - BBC America

But honestly, go over to The Futon Critic and check out their list. It’s incredible.

Now that the absolute end of the strike is in sight (yay!!!), here’s some news about when shows are gonna be back on the air. I love Michael Ausiello, don’t you? He always has all the answers.

So I checked out his list for all the shows I’m watching, and I was interested to see that some shows still have pre-strike episodes that haven’t aired yet. Somehow, I thought everything that was out there had already aired, with the exception of those few shows that are presently airing new eps, like Lost, Smallville, Supernatural and whatever else there is . . . they know who they are. For instance, I didn’t realize that there are still eps of Back To You and Bones that haven’t aired. So that’s fun. Hopefully, those will air before Spring.

It was sad to see that both Chuck and Moonlight are not going to be back until Fall. I love those shows. Along with Big Bang Theory, they were my favorite new shows of the past season. At least Big Bang will be back by April or May. I guess it gives me something I can look forward to. I have some questions about those shows, though. When will the first season DVDs come out? And when they do, will it be just these few episodes? I mean, they won’t hold off on putting out the DVDs until after new episodes air next Fall, will they?

Well, the exciting news is some of the shows we’ve come to know and love will be back soon. And right now I’m busy pretty much every night of the week watching American Idol anyway.

Woo and hoo!! New episodes are back. At least for a couple of weeks. And you can color me happy. Not that I’m not enjoying all the stuff I’ve been watching on DVD, but I’d just like to see something filmed after 1989. Its been so long for some shows, I’m not even sure I can remember everything I watched before. Which is a bad sign, cause it obviously means I don’t need to watch anything I don’t remember. And there’s also the fact that even when I remember which shows I was watching, I’m pretty sure I don’t remember what was happening when I saw them last.

I already mentioned Chuck, which will air the last two taped episodes tonight on NBC at 8 pm and 10 pm (this is lovely, cause I really, really miss Chuck) and Torchwood’s new season, which starts on BBC America on Saturday, January 26 at 9 pm. My watchingcw blog also discusses the new eps of Smallville and Supernatural, which start airing on Thursday, January 31 at 8 pm and 9 pm, respectively, on the CW.

And in other very exciting news, also coming back with new eps is (yay!!) House, three weeks in a row, starting Tuesday, January 29 at 9 pm, following American Idol. It will be so much fun to finally see how the new team works out, since we just got them picked when the last ep aired.

Finally, season four of Lost is starting on Thursday, January 31 at 9 pm on ABC, preceded by a recap episode entitled Lost: Past, Present & Future, at 8 pm. I’m really looking forward to Lost, but I’m not exactly positive why. I guess I just keep thinking that some day I’ll understand it and then it would have all been worthwhile. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you should go watch the “Missing Pieces.” They are a little confusing as they’re in no apparent order and they deal with stuff that happened over the past three years, but they are still fun. It only takes about 20 minutes to watch all of them that are up at the ABC site, so you should go see them before the season starts.

Chuck, Torchwood, Smallville, Supernatural, House, American Idol, Lost

Well, kiddies, I have some exciting news. The final two new eps of Chuck will be airing on Thursday, January 24 on NBC, one episode at 8 pm and the other at 10 pm. (It bookends an episode of Celebrity Apprentice.) I’m not sure I understand the theory behind doing that, but I’ll be happy to watch them anyway (not Celebrity Apprentice, you understand, cause yuck!). Chuck had just been getting better and better every week before it went on hiatus. I constantly found myself thinking about the show and wondering what would happen next. I was sad to see it go, and I kinda wish they had spread these two episodes out over two weeks instead of showing both eps in one night.

I was just thinking the other day about the ep where Casey, when he saw that Bryce was still alive, said something like, “Didn’t I kill you?” It was so awesome and very Jayne Cobb-like. Since I first fell in love with Adam Baldwin when he played the character of Jayne on Firefly, it made me so very happy to see that side of Casey. If you haven’t seen Firefly (and I can’t imagine that, since I mention it about once a week, it seems), you really, really should get the DVDs. There are only 15 eps, but each and every one is really good.

Back to Chuck. Don’t forget to catch it Thursday. I know I won’t. And what’s even more fun, I’ll be able to see it in HD.

Chuck, Zachary Levi, Adam Baldwin, Firefly