TV Mad Man

Thursdays. Oh, Thursdays, easily the busiest night of all of TV and there are some really great stuff that makes it even harder to decide. Let’s see what I am still watching and see if it matches up to you?

I am going to go network by network this time because there are so few things I don’t watch. Starting with cable, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is one of the best installments of this series since New York. Good women, doing crazy stuff, nothing better. On the CW, The Vampire Diaries is one really smart show, and the best thing about it: it is a smart show for teens that uses vampires in a great way. I always look forward to TVD, especially along with Nikita which has done nothing short of approve every single episode.

At FOX, I have never been a Bones fan (I hope to catch up one day on DVD) but I do love me some alt-Fringe, that is for certain. This season has creatively been on fire, with each episode alternating between worlds seamlessly and Anna Torv really proving herself as n actress. The only thing that is lacking, the ratings. Get them up, while at CBS, the ratings are great, where Big Bang is still funny and working and The Mentalist a stable performer on Thursday night.

The best shows however on Thursday nights are on NBC and ABC. I look forward every week to a new 30 Rock, which I can’t say about the past two seasons. Its lead in, Community is funny, damn funny, but I can’t say I am as on-board as some other people in the TV universe, while The Office is slowing improving in the waning days of Michael Scott.

On ABC, Grey’s Anatomy is having its best year since maybe even season 2, delivering smart, original stories, while placing the characters in new and harrowing situations following the traumatic shooting. As you know, last week I gave so much praise to it’s spin-off which is just magnificent in the days of Charlotte King, you must watch, and read the article here.

So, what are you watching Thursdays, and how are you handling it. Sound off below.

With the new fall season starting, new TV is bring us the good, the bad, and the mediocre, but how do you sort out the good and the bad? Here is what to watch this fall, so you can see the best new friendships, new loves, new action, and new heart. Now, with a rocky year last year, can How I Met Your Mother rebound, and Chuck Lorre do it again on CBS…

What CBS Says about Mike & Molly:

MIKE & MOLLY is a comedy from Chuck Lorre (“Two and a Half Men,” and “The Big Bang Theory”) about a working class Chicago couple who find love at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting. Officer Mike Biggs (Billy Gardell) is a good-hearted cop who sincerely wants to lose weight. Mike’s partner, Officer Carl McMillan (Reno Wilson), is a thin, fast-talking wise-guy, who despite his teasing encourages Mike on his road to slimness and romance. While speaking at an O.A. meeting, Mike meets Molly Flynn (Melissa McCarthy), an instantly likeable fourth-grade teacher with a healthy sense of humor about her curves. For Molly, focusing on smart choices isn’t easy because she lives with her sexy older sister, Victoria (Katy Mixon), and their mother, Joyce (Swoosie Kurtz), both of whom flaunt their healthy appetites and slender figures. Mike also faces temptation at the diner he and Carl frequent, where they’ve become friends with the Senegalese waiter, Samuel (Nyambi Nyambi), who finds trying to eat less a foreign concept. For Mike and Molly, thanks to their mutual love of pie and the desire to resist it, finding each other may have been worth the “weight.”

Who is the mother? Well, you will be revisiting that question in a big way, if you tune into the sixth season premiere of How I Met Your Mother on CBS this week, and for a viewer like me, that is one question I do care about getting an answer for. The fifth season of the comedy was easily its worst and it lost its vision but after seeing the premiere, I can say with certainly, this year is a big step up. Rachel Bilson returns as the Mother’s roommate, and offers more hints to the identity, as well as a wedding that certainly has a big importance in Ted’s life but to find the details you will just have to tune in on Monday, but CBS is also hopping to get some new eyes to another comedy.

Mike & Molly, is another Chuck Lorre creation, who made The Big Bang Theory and Two and Half Men, which has become the most popular on TV right now, but I doubt this will hit as big. The pilot starring the charming Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell, is just 22 minutes of fat-jokes that border on the annoying. The pilot is not without its dose of charm which certainly helped, plus the wonderful Swossie Kurtz, but if I can get more substance out of a simple love story than I don’t know if I will be able to check back in. Mike and Molly airs at 9:30/8:30c tomorrow on CBS, while Mother kicks of the night at 8/7c.

“Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait…
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unravelling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!” How I love when I hear that song, the new season of CBS’s hit The Big  Bang Theory does not begin on its new night until next Thursday at 8/7c but the previous third is now out on DVD.

The new box set includes all 23 episodes plus some fun bonus features.

Of course, the gag reel, and a collection of the cast favorites moments, but the fun begins with set tours with cast members Simon and Kunal. Hilarity ensues.

Catch the DVD in stores today!

Thursday was a pretty quiet day in terms of upfront news as it is fast approaching. That statement worked until tonight when the craziness started!

Matthew Perry in Mr. Sunshine

It all started with the report by Deadline.com that the staple Law & Order was cancelled by NBC because of a dispute with creator Dick Wolf. That was quickly called out too soon as reports of troubles are true, but negotiations are still ongoing but unlikely to change by Monday. NBC reversely picked up the David E. Kelly/Kathy Bates starring vehicle Kindreds for midseason and according to THR, the intelligent Garza legal pilot which is a chance for Jimmy Smits to shine. But the best news from NBC, CHUCK IS RENEWED. Enough said. (The other bubble show Heroes, may get a limited pickup to finish the series.)

ABC took to the waves by announcing six new pickups of series following the announcement of the first drama No Ordinary Family.

First up the new comedies, the fantastically written by star Matthew Perry and pals pilot Mr. Sunshine and starring Allison Janney was one of the three laffers. Mr. Sunshine focuses on a sports center manager (Perry) and his friends, think of it as the male-led Cougar Town). Second is Happy Endings, starring Elisha Cuthbert and Eliza Coupe, and centers around an almost married couple and their eclectic friends. I have read the script by David Caspe flows nicely and is a good adult sitcom. The last official pickup is the only multi-cam by the network, Better Together, which features Joanna Garcia and Jennifer Finnigan as sisters who are both in a relationship as well as their parents. Debra Messing’s ABC pilot Wright vs. Wrong is very close to a pickup as well.

The Cast of ABC's Detroit 1-8-7

The new dramas on ABC (more pickups to come tomorrow) include the Michael Imperioli fronted cop drama, Detroit 1-8-7, which had a solid script and a very nice cast including the underrated Aisha Hinds, and The Whole Truth which brings back Joely Richardson to the Jerry Bruckheimer drama, that focus on both sides of the law, with the other side shown by Rob Marrow. Joely is one of my favorite actresses and the script was a refreshing legal concept. The third drama pickup is My Generation (also called Generation Y), written tremendously by Noah Hawley (The Unusuals), focuses on a class of kids that were in a documentary in high school, and now are being looked at once again 10 years later. The class includes actors such as Mechad Brooks, Jamie King, and Kelli Garner.

In terms of current shows at ABC, a personal favorite V has been renewed for a second season, and now multiple sources including EW, are reporting that Better off Ted, Romantically Challenged, Scrubs, and FlashForward, are all cancelled.

CBS picked up their first freshman entry today, Mike and Molly. The pilot about a couple that meets at a meeting for “larger” people is from their favorite creator Chuck Lorre (The Big Bang Theory) and stars the wonderful women Melissa McCarthy and Swoosie Kurtz.

Lastly on the cable side, partner networks TBS and TNT, who are both doing presentations next week, picked up new series. TBS greenlit Glory Daze, which stars a crew of unknowns that play 80′s college students in Wisconsin. Finally in a pilot started at TBS, Franklin and Bash moved to TNT and Lynette Rice at EW is reporting has been okay-ed for series. The pilot about street smart lawyers stars Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar.

Stay tuned throughout the night, tomorrow, and the weekend for the latest in advance of the Upfronts next week.

If you are a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you are going to want to listen up.

In maybe a sneak peek at what is to come in the fall, CBS has decided to air a new BBT at 9/8c, 30 minutes before regular time, due to Charlie Sheen’s incidences that led to less episodes of Two and a Half Men, and the unforeseen future if America’s number one comedy will live. Big Bang Theory has been climbing in the ratings and is now foreseen as a huge smash hit especially in the college demographic.

Also, you might want to stick around (maybe to avoid ABC’s terrible Romantically Challenged) for a repeat at the normal time. In tonight’s new episode, Leonard and Penny have a falling out leading to the silent treatment which causes Sheldon to take action.