State of TV: Mondays

Mondays are INSANE with the TV. There's no time for an introduction!

8:00! First there's "Dancing with the Stars." I got to see Marie Osmond faint without knowing it was coming, so that was fun. But truth be told I watch the 90 minute show in about 20 by just watching the dancing numbers and seeing the scores.

Next is "How I Met Your Mother," which has had some rocky episodes this season--the numerous post-break-up of Ted and Robin storylines to be specific--but it still manages to make me smile most of the time, though outright guffaws are few.

"Everybody Hates Chris" is another sitcom that doesn't make me laugh all that much, but I still think it's worth watching. But I have the same complaints I had last year, which is too often Chris Rock's narration announces jokes that should really just come organically from the story and the actors.

"Prison Break" is just ridiculous and is one of those shows I usually have on in the background while I'm doing other things, so I couldn't begin to tell you the plot this season. But I think it involves a prison break.

Lastly at the 8 o'clock hour is "Chuck," which I really wished I liked more, but it just isn't cutting it for me. It doesn't manage to make the whole secret spy thing very entertaining, the way "Alias" was able to, I don't care about Chuck at all, and his obnoxious best friend is just...obnoxious. Adam Baldwin is also completely wasted on the show.

At 8:30 there's only one show, and it's "Aliens In America" on the CW. It's at heart a sweet sitcom, but is often marred by these moments of vulgarity that seem wildly out of place and take me out of the comedy thinking, "Um. Ick."

At 9:00 the main show is "Heroes," and boy oh boy, has it sucked this season. While last season was certainly stupid, it was saved more than once by cliffhanger endings, and moments that just made you go, "Whoa. That was awesome." This season has had none of that, and instead the show just seems to be repeating season one, minus all the cool stuff. Come on. Didn't we deal with the post-apocalyptic New York thing already? What the hell? And why bring all the heroes together at the end of last season just to have them all completely separated again if you're not going to do anything new with the story? And can the black tears twins just die already? I want this story arc to just finish and I hope Tim Kring's promises to make things better come true.

Shockingly, "K-Ville" is still on, and it continues to disappoint. The only reason to watch it is to see the New Orleans scenery, because it certainly ain't because of the stories the show is telling...

At 9:30 is the sitcom "Samantha Who?" starring Christina Applegate as a girl with amnesia. It's made me laugh a few times, so I tolerate it. My favorite line of the season came after her boyfriend told her whenever she tried to explain her job to him, she would start to talk really slow, like he was a monkey, and she says, "There's no reason to talk slowly to to a monkey."

Finally at 10:00 there's "Journeyman," which I would probably still watch even if I didn't need to for my Culture Blog posts. I have a feeling it's going to be one of many victims of the writer's strike, and we may never find out just why Dan keeps hoping back in time, and why Livia is right there with him, which will be a shame. I will say this, though. It feels like the writers had a lot of the show's mystery planned out ahead of time--Livia turning out to be a time-traveller even before she met Dan; that weird science guy--and I appreciate that. I'm tired of shows that feel like the writers are just pulling stories out of their asses. (See "Heroes," above.)

Lastly, there's "The Bachelor," and while I'd like to say I only watched it because there was a local girl on it, and I therefore I had to watch it for my SFist posts, I can't because that would be a lie. Doesn't mean I'm not happy the season is ending soon, though.