Fall TV Preview - What's Tapeworthy on Thursdays

As always, Thursdays is jam packed with GREAT TV and even the lesser TV is nonetheless addictive. If Tuesdays in Canada and Wednesdays in the States is the best night for new series, Thursday is the best night for returning faves. In fact its so jammed back, I'm going to have to do a little Tetris game to manoeuvre the schedule so I can watch as much of my favorites on this night and it won't be possible to watch all the shows I want to watch live despite my best efforts. Seriously, this is quite horrendous in my world!


Here's the Fall TV Preview for Thursdays:

All times Eastern based on current scheduled times and all times pm. Green = New Show, Blue = Returning Show, Red = Must Watch Live

Everybody's a winner on Thursdays. Except Fox. Sorry, you may actually win some ratings with lameass reality gameshows but no one under 65 is going to be watching your network for once.

All night is going to be a toss up between what to watch, and what to tape for later, and the hour longs will probably win over the half hour comedies only for the sake of not breaking up the hour time slots. (ie. 30Rocks 4.5 Stars plus Earl's 3 stars averages to 3.75 Stars which Ugly Betty beats out with its 5 stars. So Ugly Betty wins.

8:00 - 9:00

Ugly Betty - ABC/City 8:00 - 9:00 - *****WATCH LIVE - IMO, I think Ugly Betty got to the perfect mixture of outrageous campy comedy, soapy drama and heartwarming fairytale. America Ferrera at this point has been hailed enough as carrying this show, all deservedly, because a lesser actress would not carry though the confidence and bumblings with equal weight, and Betty would have remained a character forever. Still, the supporting cast is just jammed full of AWESOME characters, that almost each one could take a spinoff on their own, including Vanessa Williams' Wilhelmina, Michael Urie's Marc, Becky Newton's Amanda, Christopher Gorham's Henry, Ashley Jensen's Christina (who really needs more lines this year! Did anybody see Ashley with Orlando Bloom in Extras? Hilarious!), and Judith Light as Claire Meade. This is not to lessen the excellent Eric Mabius, Rebecca Romijn or Anna Ortiz, and of course, Mark Indelicato's Justin, who doesn't deserve his own spinoff, he deserves his own variety series.

Survivor: China - CBS/Global 8:00 - 9:00 - *1/2 FLIP BY - Since last season sucked, that probably means this season will be awesome again and as much as I say I'm never going to watch again, I always flip by and do.



My Name is Earl - NBC 8:00 - 8:30 - ***TAPE - I don't think it went through the sophomore slump everyone said it did last year but I think the original set up limits the height this show can go. It's still pleasurable viewing, comfort television with a slight edge, and the wonderful Jaime Pressly (who was nicely awarded at the Emmy's this year, who would have thought THAT 4 years ago?) and Jason Lee and their quirky guest stars have a nice zing to it.


30 Rock - NBC 8:30 - 9:00 - ****1/2 WATCH LIVE (or TAPE for LATER IN THE NIGHT)- It won the Emmy! Woo! I actually think it was the 4th best comedy on TV still (after Ugly Betty and The Office and How I Met Your Mother) but I'm still happy about the win since it was improving so fast that if it weren't for the slow start in season 1, it would have been almost a perfect season. I hope Alec Baldwin doesn't threaten to back out again for personal troubles (and I hope Tracy Morgan doesn't get arrested or get in trouble again) because we need them in this hilarious comedy, not that Tina Fey and Jack McBrayer isn't enough, but put it all together and you have comic gold for the dozens of us that enjoy it!

9:00 - 10:00

The Office - NBC/Global 9:00 - 9:30 - ***** WATCH LIVE (or TAPE for LATER IN THE NIGHT)- I know Steve Carell is the star but even the background ensemble came into their own, from Creed to Angela to Kevin to Phyllis to Kelly to Toby to Oscar to Meredith. The fact that Pam and Jim's flirtation dance can still continue to feel real and ring true, while still being hilarious and heartbreaking is a testament to the show. Dwight can be a little much, and slightly overrated but that's peanuts to the excellency of this show in its entirety.









Grey's Anatomy - ABC/CTV 9:00 - 10:00 - *** WATCH - Season 3 dovetailed from its season 2 high, and it's THIS close to being put in the corner on the bad mat, but they got rid of Isaiah Washington and supposedly the set atmosphere has freed up so much which I will assume clogged up much of Shondra's thoughts last year. With mistakes being re-corrected (Gizzie, Isaiah), I'm hoping this can rebounce to the frothy melodrama it was so good at being at.

Supernatural - The CW/City 9:00 - 10:00 - ***1/2 TAPE - I know, it scores higher than Grey's Anatomy, because at this point, it's a better show, but I'll probably continue to tape it and catch up in large marathons because I'm just used to doing it that way (plus I'd rather be scared all at once instead of strung throughout weeks). Plus, everyone will be talking about Gizzie the day after. Which is not to say the Winchesters are not gossip worthy, especially with some girls added to the mix this year, but really, its more droolworthy on this show than anything else.

Scrubs - NBC 9:30 - 10:00 - *** TAPE - It's not as good as it used to be but still enjoyable and I'd like to complete it by watching this last season (or so they say).








My Name is Earl - IN CANADA ONLY Global 9:30 - 10:00 - ***TAPE - Crab man is great too! Randy still makes me laugh but I worry sometimes that Ethan Suplee isn't actually acting.








10:00 - 11:00

Big Shots - NBC/CTV 10:00 - 11:00 - **1/2 TAPE - I didn't love the pilot at all but it's Michael Vartan and Nia Long. I know, I'm too easy. I keep flipping back from being completely offended by this show and wanting to see more Vartan...







Shows I Like In Theory But Don't Watch Anymore: Without a Trace.

Shows I Just Gave Up On But Might Get Sucked Back In. Maybe: ER.

Shows I Just Gave Up On: Smallville, CSI.

Shows I Didn't Realise Still Existed: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Don't Forget The Lyrics.


For the Fall TV Preview for the rest of the week:
Mondays
Tuesdays
Wednesdays
Thursdays
Fridays
Sundays

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