WWMW: Wednesdays

Let's continue the weekly fun of analyzing what's worth watching, tivoing and avoiding on Wednesday nights this fall...

ABC: They have Dancing with the Stars leading in to Lost. Who's decision was that? This is where Alias belonged before ABC decided to blow it up. But before Alias was there, I had no clue what started the night, so I guess this is either here nor there. George Lopez and According to Jim will replace Dancing with the Stars mid-season. Can I get a group yawn for antiquated "family" comedies? Then we have our beloved Lost, entering its third season (of apparently 5... see the entry entitled "Lost Movie?" below.) ABC promised no repeats this season. Starting October 3, we're going to get a six episode arc, followed by a mid-season replacement of Daybreak, the Groundhog Day-esque thriller starring Taye Diggs, which will last for 13 episodes, and then Lost will return for a non-stop 16 episode arc to have its ultimate finale in May. Obviously, the 9pm timeslot belongs to ABC for me. Following Lost is the new serialized drama The Nine, about the aftermath of a 52 hour bank robbey/hostage situation. Starring many of our favorites - Kim Raver (Audrey) from 24, Tim Daly (Wings, Eyes), Chi McBride (Boston Public), Scott Wolf (Everwood, Party of 5) - this newbie is getting a lot of buzz. Although it's being tagged as a "character show" (a la JJ Abrahms), the producers insist there's a lot more to the show than that. This one is definitely on my radar, except I'm afraid to commit to a new show on ABC after the whole cancelling Invasion fiasco. Wow - I guess I had a lot to say about ABC!

CBS: Wednesday's are going to be the home for a new-concept for CBS - a non-CSI Show! Jericho kicks off the evening, a serialized drama about a small town coming together after a nuclear attack. I am looking forward to watching the pilot of this show. Am I going to watch the 44 minute episodes on TV rather than the 90 minute episodes online? I don't know... I'll probably watch on TV to begin with (especially since there's not much competition at that timeslot) and if I like it, I'll switch to the 90 minute episodes on the internet. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, scroll down to see my article on Jericho's internet experiment. Then CBS fills out its night with CSI-style crap (I have no clue what Criminal Minds is, but I assume its the same brain-numbing nonsense that CBS viewers love.) Next!

NBC: NBC starts of Wednesday's with 2 comedies: 20 Good Years with John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor and 30 Rock with Tina Fey. I'll watch 20 Good Years for a few episodes, but I doubt it will stick, or become more than a TiVo afterthough. It's a show about two aging men making the most of the rest of their lives - not really targeting my age group, although I'm sure my dad will appreciate the humor. 30 Rock is one of the show's I'm really looking forward to. It's the "other" show about the backstage workings of an SNL-type show (i.e. Not the Matthew Perry one, but the other one.) NBC.com has put up some initial footage, and it looks pretty funny! After the 2 comedies, we have Biggest Loser - and you know how I feel about reality television littering the "real" season! Finally the night closes with Kidnapped. Now, I'm sure many people are asking what's the difference between Kidnapped and Fox's Vanished. They both center around missing people but - and here's where it get's tricky - on Kidnapped the son of a rich family is "kidnapped" and on Vanished the wife of a senator "vanishes." Wow - that just blew my mind! In any case, they are both getting mixed reviews. I plan to watch both to begin with, and see where to go from there.

Fox: Speaking of our bushy-tailed friend, what does Fox have in store for us on Wednesdays? We start the night out with Bones, in its sophomore season. This show is about some people going through corpses to solve mysteries? Um, don't you belong on CBS? Next we have Justice - another generic lawyer show. (Sadly, Victor Garber is attached to this - how the mighty have fallen, SpyDaddy!) Replaced mid-season with American Idol - who cares... replaced late-season by another season of The Loop. Really. Another season of The Loop (who's even heard of this show?) while I'm forced to watch pirated copies of Kitchen Confidential in the secrecy of my basement? (Okay, I don't have a basement, but you know what I mean!) **For those readers wondering when I'll ever get over the cancellation of Kitchen Confidential, you should know that I don't let go of things easily.**

CW: Finally, the CW gives us a duo of America's Next Top Model, which is one of the few watch-worthy reality shows, but with so much to watch, the best it can get from me is to drop by once in awhile if my other shows are in re-runs and my TiVo is empty. Followed by teen drama One Tree Hill, which I never got into.

PHEW! That was a long one! Again - I haven't technically *watched* any of the new shows - I base my opinions solely on their teasers online and my fave critics' reviews. If you're interested in forming your own opinions, you should really be following the TCA (Television Critics Association) Press Tour by stopping by blogs from TVGuide.com (Ausiello or Roush) or Kristen from eonline.com.