TV roundup

It's officially Fall, which means that television shows are starting or starting back up. I already watch too much TV, but with Boyfriend out of town, I have even more time to waste in front of the idiot box this year (or at least this month). This means that I watched a ton of TV last week. I'll have to figure out how to narrow it down before Boyfriend comes back. Thankfully I have a few weeks to weed things out. In the meantime, here are my thoughts on my massive TV binge

How I Met Your Mother - I love this show. So much. I mean, I'd probably be okay if we never met the mother at all (though I bet we do either this year or next year). But we know that Barney's getting married eventually (possibly at the end of this season, though maybe not until next season, hopefully to Robin). Lily and Marshall are pregnant. Marshall got his dream job at an environmental law firm. And Victoria's back! So excited for Victoria! I predict an interesting season. As long as Nora doesn't hang around too long.

2 Broke Girls - This was fun and has a bunch of potential. I like the concept - two girls trying to raise enough money to open their own cupcake store. They work at a diner together, and one of them also nannies for a family on the upper west side. I can see all sorts of get rich quick schemes and various financial setbacks as they work towards their goal of $250,000 (currently they have ~$350). There's a bit of an odd couple dynamic between Max and Caroline. Max currently works two jobs just to get by and seems to have been doing this her entire life. Caroline grew up rich, but recently lost everything, a la Cordelia Chase. The fact that this comes on right after How I Met Your Mother greatly increases the odds that I'll stick with it throughout the season.

Castle - I just can't stop watching this show. It's really nothing special, just another goofy cop procedural. But it has Nathan Fillion and I've fallen a bit in love with Beckett. This could get booted if I get too busy, but as long as I have time I'll probably continue to tune in. The pilot was a bit heavy, since they had to deal with the aftermath of Beckett getting shot and Castle admitting that he loved her. I'm hoping the rest of the season is more lighthearted, like it has been in the past.

Glee - Oh Glee, why can't I quit you? I honestly wasn't planning to come back to Glee this season. It's still a fun show, but incredibly uneven. Character development doesn't seem to matter and nothing really sticks from week to week, except for the storylines concerning gay characters. But then they brought Marti Noxon on board. Noxon is responsible for some of my favorite and least favorite Buffy episodes. She wrote the What's My Line? arc, I Only Have Eyes For You, The Wish, The Prom, and Doomed, which are all excellent. Of course she's also responsible for Bad Eggs, Beauty and the Beasts, and Living Conditions.I suppose it's still early in the season, but so far things don't look all that different from last season. But the musical numbers are fun and I'm excited about the rumored lack of theme episodes. Because those got old. I like having more of a mix and not knowing what to expect until they break into song.

Ringer - This show appears to be heading into silly soap opera territory. I guess it's just a matter of how long SMG can hold my interest and whether or not any other characters become interesting. Bridgett is bonding with Juliet over the whole drug thing. I think she's still pretending to be pregnant so she'll have a valid excuse not to drink, but that seems like the worst idea ever.

New Girl - I watched the pilot. It was alright. Not really funny or anything. And I don't really care about the characters. The main girl, Jess, is more annoying than cute. The guys she lives with are kind of awful, but at least they have a "douchebag jar" that they must contribute to whenever they do something really douchey. It just didn't catch my interest, so I'll probably be avoiding this show. Which is actually a relief.

The Big Bang Theory - This one may not last too much longer. The early seasons were fun, but it seems to have stagnated. There's never any real progress in any way. I like the introduction of Amy Farrah-Fowler, and she's still a really interesting character. But the show itself just isn't holding my interest the way it used to. The seem completely unwilling to maintain a storyline for multiple episodes. For example, in the season premiere, Penny is lamenting the fact that she hasn't been able to get an acting gig and is considering moving home to Nebraska. Then, right at the end of the episode, she gets a callback for a commercial. And I got really excited, because it looked like we might go back to dealing with Penny as a struggling actress, or maybe see some of what she goes through filming the commercial. But nope, the episode ends with a screening of her completed commercial and by the next episode it's like it never even happened. It gets frustrating.

Parks and Rec - I marathoned all three seasons of this show over the summer and kind of fell in love with everything about it. The premiere was good, if predictable. The big question at the end of last season was whether Leslie would give up her dreams of running for office in order to pursue her relationship with Ben, dump Ben so she could run for office, or try to have her cake and eat it too. But she's Leslie, which means there was only ever one thing she could do. Though it will be interesting to see if she and Ben can actually stay broken up through her campaign. And I'm really excited to see more of Tammy 1.

Community - As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best shows on television right now. But I can't watch it yet. Boyfriend and I always watch NBC's Thursday night block together, so these will just pile up on the DVR for a few weeks.

The Office - I guess James Spader is joining the cast. But not as the new Michael Scott. I guess we'll see. This is another show that I have to wait on until I can watch it with Boyfriend.

Pan Am - This looks like it could be fun. This show follows four fairly different stewardesses back in the 1960s. Maggie was grounded for refusing to wear her girdle and will probably be the feminist voice of the show. She joins the crew as a last minute replacement for a stewardess who didn't show up (Bridgett). Kate is an international spy, working with the CIA and MI-6 and doing spy things. Her younger sister, Laura, is a runaway bride looking for adventure. And Colette was sleeping with a man who turned out to be married. We'll see how long the show holds my interest.