Watching Sitcoms

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…)

My brother-in-law asked me about Sanctuary, a new SciFi show, that premiered on Friday. I hadn’t really heard anything about it, so I checked it out. I also read up a little on it. Apparently, it was an online only show that came out last year. I didn’t actually try to find a place to see any of the original eps, I just decided to start out where ever they chose for us to start with the first TV ep, Sanctuary For All. It was OK. I’m not saying I was in love with it or anything, it was actually a little slow moving for me, but I’m interested enough to want to see what’s next.

The premise is somewhat like Torchwood, with some differences. Young Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) is a forensic psychiatrist, who recently lost this job at the FBI because he was too interested in finding monsters, so now he works for the local police and they all treat him like he’s loony. He seems to have a keen eye (much like Sean from Psych) and can see clues at the scene of the crime that police have missed. Will, following a murder case that the police think is resolved, keeps snooping and ends up at the Sanctuary, run by Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping). She shows him a host of magical and scary creatures, including a lovely mermaid. Basically, the Sanctuary is a place for all these “monsters” to live, in little natural habitats like zoo creatures, and be free from harm.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the Torchwood similarities are there. Torchwood is a government created agency that is called in to deal with supernatural issues; the Sanctuary appears to be more of a private venture which aims at saving creatures. Both have little holding cells where they keep the scary monsters. Dr. Helen Magnus is an immortal British woman with a staff of Americans; Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) of Torchwood is an American immortal with a staff of Brits. Both premiere eps start with someone on the police force coming up against something that can’t be explained away, and then getting asked to join forces with the monster hunters. On Torchwood it was Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and on Sanctuary, Dr. Will Zimmerman. Torchwood’s majordomo is the lovely to look at Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd), while Sanctuary is served by a caveman looking creature who’s name I didn’t catch.

If I had to choose between them, Torchwood is much, much better, with more interesting story lines and a much more fast moving pace. But it may be too soon to judge yet. Once Sanctuary gets past laying all the ground work, maybe it will be better. I’m gonna give it a chance.

I mean, what else to I have to do on Friday nights anyway.

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.

So, what am I watching now? I thought I’d make a list, cause I’m getting a little confused myself. Especially cause it seems like shows are ending and starting all randomly every week. Here’s my rundown (all times are ET):

Monday
The Big Bang Theory - CBS - 8:00 pm
New Amsterdam - FOX - 9:00 pm
The Bachelor: London Calling - ABC - 10 pm

Tuesday
American Idol - FOX - 8 pm
Beauty and the Geek - CW - 8 pm
Reaper - CW - 9 pm

Wednesday
America’s Next Top Model - CW - 8 pm
American Idol - FOX - 9 pm

Thursday
Miss Guided - ABC - 8 pm
Lost - ABC - 9 pm
Smallville - CW - 8 pm
Supernatural- CW - 9 pm

Saturday
Torchwood - BBC America - 9 pm

That’s about 12 1/2 hours per week. That’s not too bad, is it? But, wow, that’s a heck of a lot more reality TV than I realized. And this Tuesday night (April 1) is the start of Hell’s Kitchen on Fox at 9:00 pm ET, following American Idol. That will be at least 6 hours of reality TV a week. I say “at least” because both American Idol and The Bachelor are sometimes longer than an hour.

Of my TV watching time, only an hour and a half is devoted to sitcoms. But, at least its 5 hours is on the CW, and since I write the watchingcw.com blog, too, I feel reassured by that.

Also returning soon are some other shows I’ll be watching, like House, Bones and Law and Order: SVU. Which puts me at a total of 15 1/2 hours per week. That’s not too bad, only a little over 2 hours a day. Of course, that’s only prime time, and it doesn’t take into consideration my regular daily routine while making, eating and cleaning up dinner, from around 5 pm to 8 pm. Then I usually watch, in this order: Everybody Loves Raymond, Everybody Loves Raymond, Judge Judy, 30 Minute Meals, Judge Judy, and Jeopardy. So that’s another possible 3 hours per day. But who’s counting?

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