2008 Upfronts (part six)

Now let us take a moment to move our attention from the television shows that have been pushed onto a breakaway iceberg so that they float out to their painfully cruel death, and instead focus on the ones that are still dancing with the penguins. (How's that for a shabby – and Zoologically inaccurate – metaphor?)

Here is the full list in alphabetical order. (WARNING: It's painfully long.)

20/20
24
30 Rock
48 Hours Mystery
60 Minutes
According to Jim
American Dad!
American Gladiators
American Idol
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Most Wanted
America's Next Top Model
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Bones
Boston Legal
Brothers & Sisters
Chuck
Cold Case
COPS
Crimetime Saturday
Criminal Minds
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Dancing with the Stars
Dateline NBC
Deal or No Deal
Desperate Housewives
Dirty Sexy Money
Don't Forget the Lyrics
Eli Stone
ER
Everybody Hates Chris
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Family Guy
Friday Night Lights
Ghost Whisperer
Gossip Girl
Grey's Anatomy
Hell's Kitchen
Heroes
House
How I Met Your Mother
King of the Hill
Kitchen Nightmares
Law & Order
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Life
Lipstick Jungle
Lost
Medium
Million Dollar Password
My Name Is Earl
NBC Sunday Night Football
NCIS
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Primetime
Prison Break
Private Practice
Pushing Daisies
Reaper
Rules of Engagement
Samantha Who?
Scrubs (Now on ABC!)
Smallville
So You Think You Can Dance
Supernanny
Supernatural
Survivor
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Amazing Race
The Bachelor
The Big Bang Theory
The Biggest Loser
The Celebrity Apprentice
The Game
The Moment of Truth
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The Office
The Simpsons
The Unit
'Til Death
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty
Wife Swap
Without a Trace

(You'll notice that anything that starts with "The" is sorted under T. Don't blame me – blame the creators that felt that the "The" was necessary. I bow to their creative choices.)

So everyone has the shows that they hate and the shows that they love. No doubt you'll see both in the above listing. If I've learned anything doing this year-in and year-out, it is that every show has fans that think it is the best thing out there. Of course they are miserably wrong, but let's just let them live in their barking mad world, okay?

So let's talk about the best shows. You know, the one's that I watch.

Heroes
The first season was flawless... until the creators fell painfully flat on their face in the twenty-third hour. Season two was scattershot at best. So if Kring & Co. don't produce a nearly perfect third season, this show may never see a fourth year.

How I Met Your Mother
If you are not watching this show than you are depriving yourself of the funniest show on television. Simply stated, simply true.

Life
I love Life. It's not as cloyingly quirky as Monk has become and it has a hidden darkness buried beneath the humour. Not to mention a brilliant (ongoing and weekly) mystery.

Lost
The show that always manages to alienate its viewers by pushing the premise simply too far. And then bring them back by pushing it even farther.

My Name Is Earl
Jason Lee is just awesome. But the fact that this show was renewed yet again (after the most dreadful season yet) was simply too much. Delete! (Sometimes you have to walk away from a show and just pray that the actors you love find something more worthy of them.)

Reaper
It started out great, got stale, and then breathed life once more. On the fence, this one is. But I'll be there to see which way it tips.

Rules of Engagement
Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price elevate this average sitcom into something that's funny. A lot funny.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I was really starting to tire of the show's formula until Brian Austin Green arrived to give it some kick-ass heart.

The Amazing Race
Still the best reality show out there. If you don't love it, it's only because you haven't watched it. YES, it really is *that* good.

If you are still waiting for me to mention your favourite show, I have news for you: As good as your favourite show is, each and every one of the above is even better. (Well, except for My Name Is Earl, but hopefully that will get cancelled soon. And then maybe Jason Lee will join your favourite show and it will finally be good enough for me to watch.)

And now that we have that bit of squeak out of the way, next blog let's move on to the new shows. Because without my guidance, you'll just end up watching something ordinary instead of something awesome.

Suit up!

-TTVB-