Just about everything is back, let’s take a look:
Justified- quality on par with previous seasons. The new hook for the season is well underway and the pieces are moving into place.

Shameless- I’m a little worried about Steve’s plotline getting a bit out there and goofy, but so far no worries. Great work the budding power struggle between Lip and Fiona. Kev: a secret from his passed just showed up. Taken from the UK show, but looks like it’s going to be much different.

House of Lies- I like it, no complaints so far.

Californication- a sober Hank but for how long? This show feels like it’s on a treadmill that should have worn out long ago, but I’m still compelled to watch.

Face Off- At the start, the contestants all looked super solid. The worst of the bunch easily and quickly got culled. The second episode was a disaster, half of the cast made a terrible final product. It now looks like there are 3 guys head and shoulders above the rest in terms of ability, but previews show there is some crazy work coming. It’s either from these 3 guys or some others really step up to the plate.

Archer- love it. The season starts with Bob’s Burgers!

The Americans- TBA

The Following- You can see Kevin horror movie Williams technique all over the pilot. Aside from some super goofy tropes that led to stupid lines/acting, it’s a cool idea. Hope it runs well.

Legit- I like Jim Jeffries, so I know what to expect and got it. Good fit for FX, should be a good season. I hope the story lines pull more from new ideas than his stand up stuff.

Spartacus: War of the Damned- Awesome start! Took a bit for me to get back into the groove (a lot of new names to learn) but I love where they are going. Marcus Crassus is the new lead villain for Rome this season. I was iffy on him at the start but by the end of the show I’m convinced. Great actor, this last season could really be fantastic.

ALSO: Top Gear UK is back tonight! It’s been a year but we can all rejoice that the boys are back!

Fringe has been one of my favorite shows since it started and now it’s over. It’s a partial miracle that Fox let the team finish the show instead of dropping it off the side of a cliff like they usually do. Granted the show wasn’t a ratings monster, but no show that’s moved to Fridays and given huge “vacation” gaps in its seasons gets the chance to.

But it’s all over now, the story is finished. There’s a real, satisfying end. The final truncated season referenced a lot of the series past which was a real treat. Loved these characters and while there was some missteps here and there, it”s a terrific series. There’s very little sci-fi shows on network television, so it’s sad to see the show go. I hope everyone gets great gigs coming off of this amazing gig.

Real exciting month for TV as everyone is coming back from break and new seasons are starting as well.

Justified FX January 8
Shameless SHO January 13
House of Lies SHO
Californication SHO
Face Off SyFy January 15
Archer FX January 17
The Americans FX January 30
The Following FOX January 21
Legit FX January 17
Spartacus: War of the Damned STARZ January 25th
House of Cards NETFLIX Feb 1

AOTS ended it’s run on G4 last week, so it’s now hitting me how weird it is not to have this show to watch. 4 shows a week, they barely had any time off. I started watching probably 2 1/2 years ago for Olivia Munn and grew to love the show. Weird and funny, there was a lot of good segments to watch with all of its ups and downs. Kevin Pereira left earlier this year and now I follow him on his Pointless podcast. End of an era I guess, G4 is getting rebranded and relaunched sometime next year which makes the loss even dumber. They threw out a ton of people with literally nothing to replace them for a good 3 months or so.

Tis the nature of the beast I guess. Much love to the entire cast and crew for all the hard work over the years.

I’m up to my eyeballs in TV, which means I’ve had to push movies more to the side just to keep up. That’s pretty much cut off any series viewing on Netflix Instant.

Grimm- I’ve been watching this on Hulu as it collides with Fringe in the same time slot. I like it, concept, stories, actors. It’s a unique world they’ve created. I give it one knock for the transformation effects which tend to look terrible.

Fringe- I look forward to each new episode, but that sadly means it just gets closer to being over. Solid episodes so far, but nothing too earth shattering yet.

Sons of Anarchy- Brutal season! The stakes are high in every episode, the drama and deaths keep adding up. Clay is back to making waves which is already raising hell. Clay is right back on walking on the razor edge and when he gets caught, he’s not going to get another pass.

The Walking Dead- Great season premiere, more fun and intensity than most of the last season. Got some very good pieces falling into place, so I have some high hopes for the season.

Dexter- Excellent start but I’m always wary of rampant stupidity from the writers to kick in. The last episode was rather strange, some good ideas with some questionable execution. I’m still on board with it though. The plot for this season was long over due and has breathed new life and impotance into Dexter.

Homeland- Just a great, great show. This season is continuing right on track from the last and the last episode was fantastic. Brody is just falling apart, I can’t see how he’s going to keep himself together for much longer. That’s just in his personal life with the rampant risks he’s had to take, the jig is really up for him with Saul managing to get that video out. Huge, huge win for Carrie. She’s going to be able to roll into the CIA on a chariot with wings made of gold flakes and unicorn hair on tomorrows episode.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia- Back and as obnoxious as ever.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- I think Nickelodeon has another hit on its hands. I really like this new version, pays all the right respect to the original cartoon run while making it their own. Love how it looks, some great animation sprinkled throughout.

For me, it started with Sons of Anarchy which is off to a rowdy start! A few people have already died and the stakes have never been higher. Might be the best season yet based on what’s going on right now.

Weeds has finished it’s run and it’s better sweet. The show hasn’t been that good for some time and it really was time for the show to wrap up. Going into the last 2 episodes, it was set up for Nancy to relaunch her empire legitimately, hooking up with a tobacco company that was betting on cannabis becoming legal in the US. So how was the end written? About 7 years after that episode. It was really jarring to set up with. Stevie is getting ready to have his bar mitzvah and the first time you see him you ask, who the hell is that? Last time I saw him he was 5! So jumping ahead, some old characters are brought back for a cameo or a helping hand. Nancy managed to convince Conrad to work with Silas to regrow MILF using the land bought by the tobacco company. She also manages to convince Guillermo not to kill her and team up to sell on his turf, giving him a share of the company. The bet works and the company takes off, they are in a legal drug trade. Now Starbucks wants to buy them out. So success finally comes to Nancy, but her family is completely splintered. For some reason they married and killed off the rabbi Nancy started seeing in this season which I can’t understand why. Silas has moved away and married his first girlfriend (the deaf girl from season 1 or 2) and has a young daughter. Andy took off running after finally managing to sleep with Nancy (which was SUPER weird) and never looked back. Doug made a cult and Shane is a drunk because he ran off with that loser cop from last season. So in the end, everyone comes back together so Nancy is reminded she isn’t completely alone. It was a bitter sweet ending. The last episode was so weird, that the end was just crammed in because more than one last season was being written when they started season 8. While the show paled in comparison to it’s start, I still liked the characters. The 5 main actors all stuck with the show and the last scenes is them sitting outside together smoking a joint. While the family is broken, you’re left with the feeling that everything will be alright. There is music playing over that final scene and Doug says something that makes everyone laugh, I’d love to know what he said. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t scripted, Kevin Nealon looked like he said something real to his castmates.

FaceOff is still a great watch and it’s sister show, Hot Set is now on right after it. It’s about set design/production and while it’s interesting, FaceOff is a much cooler show.

Boardwalk Empire is back for season 3 and I just remembered I need to watch it! After the shocking finale, this season has a lot to live up to.

The next 2 weeks see the return of more shows than I can really think of. Fringe being my real go to as it’s only going to be 13 episodes until the series finale! Happy it didn’t get canceled and they’re going to be able to give us an ending.

The summer television season is coming to a close and it’s been a good one. First and foremost is Breaking Bad which continues to be the best television show airing right now. I could blabber on but anything more is really reedundant, the quality and intensity of this show has never dipped or faultered, Last weeks episode sent shockwaves through the entire fanbase for being so incredible. We get to see the aftermath tonight. There’s only 3 more shows until the break into next year!

Falling Skies is my sci-fi show which ends tonight. Better than last season for sure. We are show a lot more, some interesting developments and the posibility of an alien rebellion opens things up. The promos for the season finale look promising.

Franklin and Bash continued to fun as well. It just struck me that it’s the only lawyer show I watch. Even though the season is very short by network television standards, it always seems to fly by. Looking forward to season 3 next year.

Face Off comes back this week! I love this make up compitition show, I can’t believe no one thought of doing it sooner. Can’t wait to see the talent they’ve found this year.

Louie continues to be the most anti typical comedy out there. He’s in a different head space than anyone else.

Futurama has been on a roll! After the mediocre movie pieces that stretched for a few years, finding a normal season pace on Comedy Central has put the show right back in the sweet spot. These recent episode continue the quality from last season with great character specific episodes that build on why the show is so popular (the nerd jokes are great too). The animation is fantastic too.

Season 2 of Wilfred continues to be one of my favorite new shows. It walks the sick and twisted line with a certain amount of honesty and love that I really like. The chemistry between Jason and Elijah is what really makes Wilfred work.

Children’s Hospital just came back on those maniacs keep crushing it. I was a little late to the party, starting with season 3 but quickly watched the first two seasons. So funny, it scratches that same itch that Always Sunny in Philly does. I’m going to go on record and say that Ken Marino is a comedic genius. He’s been in the game for a long time now, but not enough people know about him. I hope he really hits it big in the future.

Weeds is on it’s last season! Good! Seriously. It’s time to bring this show in for a landing. It’s not the worst show, but it certainly isn’t the best. I still feel invested in the characters and really just watch to see how it ends.

Episodes is a show that I’m not sure why I watch. I’m not sure I can explain why. I guess because it’s kind of behind the scenes of a (fake) TV show that I like to watch it? I think it’s just grown on me like a fungus. I’m not a Matt LeBlanc fan, but I like that he’s playing up himself on the show.

True Blood remains on the top of the heap for the best bad show on TV. It’s a guilty pleasure, what can I say. Interesting season and I’m really impressed with the FX for the smoke monster that’s been chasing Andy, it looks amazing.

I can’t remember if I wrote about Korra since it ended, so I’ll just throw that here anyway. The finale was kinda weird due to it really wrapping things up, but I can’t really complain about such a good show. Best animation on TV by miles, it’s a joy to see in HD. Great VO and the soundtrack is spectacular. Truly unique action scenes and the continuation of one of my favorite universes makes this show one of my favorites. It’s going for a full 4 seasons so there is a lot to look forward to.

Since the standard TV season is over, the summer series has kicked into high gear.

Top Gear (UK) is back in full force and good as ever. I think the US edition comes back on at the end of this month too. True Blood, the best trash on TV is back as well and the character arc changes they are making a pretty smart. The series was getting ultra whiney by a lot of the characters and many of them have grown up and changed in the first 2 episodes so that’s promising.

Real World/Road Rules challenge is back on (“Rivals”) and I just watched my first episode so that’s always fun to watch. Weeds is back too, which at this point I think I watch just out of habit now. They always do something to keep me watching and I genuinely like the characters. Last season had a crazy ending and they’ve jumped the timeline ahead 3 years which was a surprise for me. Much like True Blood a lot was getting stale so the writers have found a new road to shake off some shackles (plus the actor that plays Shane has become a man since last season and grown like a foot and a half, so that helps explain that). Still a bit early to see if it’s worked, but I’m hopeful.

I’m watching Franklin & Bash and Falling Skies on TNT, which are both new. I think F&B is the first lawyer show I’ve put any time into and I like it. Falling Skies is filling my sci-fi spot in place of Fringe (which had a fantastic season) and The Event which was canceled (bummer since the final few episodes were very good too). Wise choice with starting the show 6 months after the alien attack, we can avoid the expected “shock and awe” beginnings there and get on with things faster. Show seems kinda slow so far but it’s still intriguing. It’s 4 shows in so far and we’re getting a better take on the invading force, which I like.

Comedy is going strong with Wilfred and Louie on FX (continuing their awesome original programming line up, year round) and Futurama on Comedy Central. Last weeks Futurama in particular was really funny.

A quick run down of the shows I’ve watched. A lot of winners so far.

Series 16 of Top Gear flew right by! A new Stig was brought in and the usual high quality car enthusiast programming continued on! The Christms special was a particular stand out.

Shameless on Showtime just finished up it’s first season and it was damn good. William H Macy rules, pretty much the whole cast does aside from the youngest kids. A lot of crazy stuff goes down every episode and the finale was especially rough. Not sure how Frank is going to live through it.

Face Off is the first show I’ve watched on Sci-fi (sorry buy SyFi is fucking stupid) in at least a decade. I can’t believe it took this long for a movie makeup competition to happen. It’s a great premise and the show found a great cast for it’s first season. I was happy with who won and look forward to the next season.

Skins, Season 3! As expected, no where near as good as the first season. The cast change was a tough one to get over, I found most of the characters to be more annoying than anything. JJ was my favorite, he was the easiest to relate to and the most believable. It wasn’t a terrible season, but it was a huge drop off in quality.

The two ABC shows I watch are Modern Family and The Event. MF is basically brilliant and The Event has gotten better since it’s cone back. It got really slow for awhile there and things seem to be picking up again.

Fringe continues to be the best Science Fiction show on TV. Just terrific writing and acting every episode. There’s some complex story telling going on but they manage to keep everything very clear and easy to follow. Changing the credits for the stories in the alt dimension (and for flash back episodes) is brilliant. When Olivia was possessed 2 episodes ago it got me worried that they took a turn down Stupid Lane, the concept and explanation was hard to swallow and this is on a show where the impossible is tested all the time. Looks like it’s going to be a quick and interesting arc so I remain positive on things working out.

Mad Men season 4 just hit DVD and I’m plowing head first into episode 7 this weekend thanks to Netflix. Great show and the new ad agency is surprisingly effective at breathing new life into the show. The story of these broken people continues to keep my interest high.

The second season of Archer is more than half way done and holy shit is it funny. I can’t even explain how great this show is. They take some dark subjects on and just steam roll you over with it.

Hawaii 5-0 is the only CBS show I watch, I enjoy it because it’s just a brain dead show. Like it just fits the cookie cutter mold and follows the most basic TV rules around but it works. Must be the cast and location that does it for me.

Justified on FX (this network might have the best collection of shows right now) is another winner. It’s fun stopping in on US Marshall Raylan rousting the creeps of his Kentucky home town. It’s got that Wild Wild West vibe going on that I really like, you don’t see that much these days. Special mention to Walton Goggins who plays Boyd, he’s amazing. One of the best TV characters around today.

NBC’s Thursday line up is pretty strong too. I watch Perfect Couples for Olivia Munn and while it isn’t the best show, it makes me laugh. Parks and Recreation is on a roll with its 3rd season. 30 Rock is always worth tuning into, I can’t really think of an episode I haven’t liked. The Office is a rough one though, I kind of watch out of curiosity now. There’s been more than a few terrible episodes and the show just feels tired. I can see why Steve Carell wants to leave and it may be in the best interest of the show. Michael Scott is just played out as a character. I like how they have things set up with Holly, it looks like they can move Michael on in a positive way and the combo of Will Ferrel and Ricky Gervaise giving the show a shot in the arm for the last few episode of the season could be great. I’m not sure if I’ll keep watching next season.

Great season! In and out in just 6 episodes, this was a great prequel and a nice stop gap until the next full season starts in a year.

Being a huge fan of Blood and Sand, I loved seeing how the house of Batiatus rose to power. Watching him and Solonius as friends working together and seeing how they became enemies was fantastic. Batiatus and Lucretia strengthening their bond taking over the house from his father sets up the events in BaS really well. Every character that makes it has brilliant paths to it. Seeing Crixus learning from Gannicus which also worked into Asher’s own devious struggle for advancement was one of the best side stories.

Everything I liked about the first season was present, such a well written and produced show. Can’t wait for the continuation of the story despite getting a new actor taking over for Andy as Spartacus.

I heard about Skins through MTV’s remake for the US. The first 3 series recently popped up on Netflix Instant and I decided to give it a spin as I was looking for a new tv series to get into. I knew it was about High School kids and it was supposed to be pretty provocative show. Being on British TV, they can show much more in terms of language and sex so that throws American’s into a tizzy.

Easiest way to describe the show is Harry Potter, but replace the magic with sex, drugs and the real world. You follow along with this group of friends through the last year or two of their high schooling and really, their childhood. They’ve known each other for years and the world as they know it, changes. Growing up is harsh.

I watched the first episode and slowly felt it draw me in. I caught a few minutes of the US version and couldn’t stick with it because it looked really fake. It felt too filtered and phony to get into it. After that I dove head first into the original series. I blitzed through 19 episodes (two series) in about 3 weeks. I fell in love with the characters. If a show can make me love it’s characters, it’s a wrap. There’s 9 main characters and while I didn’t love them all, I felt like they were all real. And more importantly, their relationships were real. The layout of the show is really smart, each episode focuses on one character (as you can see in the title of an episode). While one is the focus, the other kids come in and out, sometimes you don’t see a character for awhile, but in the end they each have their own full fledged background and story arc. Tony, Michelle and Sid are arguably the main characters, but everyone really has their moments.

The writing is really well done especially considering the subject. Each kid does fall into a stereotype, but guess what? Kids do fall into a stereotype. It’s really easy to make teenagers annoying, but Skins manages to walk that fine line of writing intense drama without falling into the dreaded emo pit. Skins manages to take on some After School Special type scenarios (drugs, sex, shitty parents, eating disorders) without being cheesy and insulting. No one is perfect, they all make mistakes and you’re going to yell “What are you doing! You idiot!” at the TV. But that’s what happens when you have the perspective of an adult and you see that they really are just kids and they just don’t know any better. You learn from mistakes and you become a better person when you recognize that and can grow up. It’s not all gold though, there’s some scenes that don’t work or are too soap opera-ish and some acting can get rough. The main cast is typically very good, some ancillary characters can be amateurish. The rough stuff is pretty minimal I think and the good far out ways the bad. I really like how it’s shot too, it has a more cinematic look and feel to it than a TV show.

It’s been 3 days since I saw the season 2 finale and it’s stuck with me since then. It burrowed down into my head and brought up some memories, it really made me think about life. Now my teen years were nothing like what’s on the show, but it throws out feelings and events that I think just about everyone can relate to (especially when you’re older and you’ve lived through some shit).

Very few movies and shows have a lasting effect on me and those become my all time favorites. There’s a big cast change for season 3 so while it’s the same show, it’s a different story. That could change my perspective on the show as a whole, but as it stands the first 2 seasons is some of my favorite story telling I’ve seen since Inception.