Fall TV 2010

I made a decent dent in my Summer TV Viewing schedule.

• Fringe season 1 and 2 – check!
• CSI season 10 – check!
• Rescue Me season 5 vol. 1 & 2 – check! And bonus, I watched season 6, too!
• The Shield season 7 – check!
• Stargate Atlantis seasons 2 thru 5 – check! Stargate Universe season 1 – check! Thank you, Netflix instant streaming!
• Breaking Bad seasons 1 & 2 – check! (Gonna get season 3 soon).
• Mad Men seasons 1 thru now – check!
• Prison Break seasons 3 & 4 – check!

And as a bonus, I bought and watched all four seasons of Friday Night Lights and it fast became one of my all-time favorite shows. Then there were the shows I watched that weren’t on my list: Dollhouse seasons 1 & 2 and Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles season 2. Not to mention I actually managed to re-watch shows like Roswell, Buffy and Angel and the last two seasons of Lost.

Yeah, I’m a TV-watching badass. But now it’s time to settle in to the new fall shows and returning favorites. I’ve made my annual spreadsheet (hey, FOUR TiVos, people!) and I have to say: it’s kinda weird making a fall schedule that doesn’t include Battlestar Galactica, LOST, 24, or Nip/Tuck. Whatever shall I watch?

Have you ever seen my schedule so barren?!

I was going to lessen my Netflix subscription from five/mo (summer viewing) to one/mo, but I don’t know now. Maybe I’ll go back down to three/month because this schedule doesn’t look like it will satisfy much.

Sunday: The Amazing Race, Dexter, Desperate Housewives.

- The obvious winner here is Dexter. I pay for Showtime for three months out of the year just for Dexter.

But I have to say, this watermelon to the face on Amazing Race is HILARIOUS!

Monday: The Event, Chase, Hawaii Five-O

- The Event has promise. Some early reviews call it “the new LOST.” I don’t know about all THAT, but it’s probably the new show I’m looking forward to the most. I’m watching Hawaii Five-O only to support Jin from LOST and Boomer from BSG. Yeah, I said it.

* Funny story about The Event. While watching The Emmys a commercial came on for The Event. When Blair Underwood said he’s the president, Kali said, “You’re not! Obama is the president. Just because you’re black doesn’t mean you’re the president.” A few minutes later he comes out on the stage to present an award and Kali says (I shit you not), “He kinda looks like Obama.” I said, “Kali, that’s the same man you just said didn’t look like Obama.” “Ooooh, they tricked me!”

Tuesday: Glee, Raising Hope, The Good Wife, No Ordinary Family

- Need I say it? GLEEEEEE!!!!

Raising Hope looks funny. I love The Good Wife and I’m looking forward to more of the lovely Archi Punjabi now that she’s won an Emmy for her portrayal as the sexy and resourceful Kalinda. I wish No Ordinary Family had a better name.

Raising Hope – this preview makes me laugh and cry…

Wednesday: Undercovers, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Modern Family, Detroit 187, Criminal Minds, Survivor

- I’m happy to see a show with a mainstream premise starring a black couple. Thank you, J.J. Abrams! He consistently casts the most diverse casts that represent what the world REALLY looks like. However, I’m sure the show won’t last. I’ll support it anyway. Donny is making me watch Detroit 187. And we are big Criminal Minds fans in this house. Why, oh why, did they move Survivor to Wednesdays?!

Thursday: Bones, Fringe, Vampire Diaries, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, CSI, Nikita

- I still need to get caught up on Bones. We LOVE Fringe and I’ve been singing its praises to anyone that would listen all summer. Vampires Diaries was a surprise to me last season. I didn’t expect it to be so good. Ian Somerhalder’s fine ass doesn’t hurt and the season finale was jaw-dropping. I loved the movie La Femme Nikita so I’ve decided to give this 2nd TV reincarnation a shot.

Friday: Medium, Smallville, Supernatural

- CBS bumped Medium up to 8pm which suggests that the tone may not be as dark as previous seasons. This is Smallville’s last season and I’m sure the same is true for Supernatural (another great show I wish more people would watch).

There’s a very good chance that I can actually cancel the service to the TiVo in Jack’s room if I don’t watch Modern Family and move Criminal Minds to the TV in the family room and if I give up CSI altogether. We’ll see.

My fall schedule begins tomorrow night when Vampire Diaries returns!

What about you? What are you excited about?

STOP THE PRESSES! I just found out there’s a show on AMC this fall about … wait for it… wait for it… wait… for … it . . .

The ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!

The Walking Dead has lots of promise!

Dexter – S4E3 – Blinded By The Light

Previously on Dexter: Dexter’s newborn baby boy is cutting into his sleep and killing time. When a murderer walks due to his sleep-deprived courtroom screw-up, Dexter decides taking care of him will solve one of his problems. Lt. Laguerta and Batista carry on a secret affair. A new serial killer (John Lithgow) called The Trinity Killer is in town, recreating his decades-old crimes one after the other.

So creepy.

Agent Lundy returns to town and seeks Dexter’s help in catching the Trinity Killer. Falling asleep at the wheel, Dexter crashes his car with the remains of his latest victim in the trunk.

Due to his head injury, Dexter can’t remember where he hid his latest victim’s body before the crash. Lundy reaches out to Deborah, who thinks he wants to rekindle their relationship. She feels like a fool when she realizes he just wants her help with the  Trinity Killer, who, by the way, has already started stalking his next victim.

And now…

Rita corners Dexter at a neighborhood BBQ – she’s upset that he lied about the seriousness of his accident. She can be so annoying.

Dexter and his new neighbors discuss starting a watch group to catch a neighborhood vandal. Dexter muses that he’s used to working alone to catch the bad guys.

That night, TK (Trinity Killer) makes the lady he’s been stalking drive to a building near the docks. He takes her a top floor and makes her jump.

Anton tells Deborah he has a local gig that will keep him home every day. She doesn’t look thrilled.

Dexter finds the fresh hell of being driven to work every day by Rita who won’t let him stop for a second cup of coffee. See, she’s annoying.

Quinn gives Dexter Miami Dolphins tickets – he knows that Dexter saw him pocket money from a crime scene. Dexter gives the tickets to Masouka.

At the latest TK crime scene, Lundy shows up and admits to Deborah that he’s happy the TK chose Miami – he got to see her again. She’s all atwitter.

Dexter is put off at the neighborhood watch meeting when he realizes that the neighbors will be watching his comings and goings. This puts a serious cramp in his serial killing. He suspects the neighbor’s teenage boy, Andy, as being the vandal. He realizes he needs to out him soon in order to disband the group and ensure his ability to come and go as he pleases. He lifts the boy’s prints from a soda can and matches it to the prints of the person who grafittied his gate.

Anton notices a change in Deborah’s behavior when she has a lunch/meeting with Lundy. She’s still atwitter.

LaGuerta and Batista are shot at by the suspect couple in the vacation killings.

Dexter, pretending to be on neighborhood watch duty, decides to put the fear of God in Andy. Before he can make his move, the neighborhood watch group chase him.

“It’s watch and report, assholes. Not watch and chase. This is so humiliating.”

Dexter has to flee from the makeshift cops with flashlight headbands and whistles. Hilarious.

Masouka tries to sell the Dolphins tickets to Deborah and Quinn while they’re performing a dummy drop at the latest TK scene. Quinn is pissed that Dexter gave away his bribe.

LaGuerta and Batista have to get their stories straight about the shooting. They left the office at noon and didn’t get to the scene where they were shot at until after 3pm. They decide to come up with a lunch/flat tire story to hide their afternoon delight.

Dexter tries, once again, to convince Quinn that he doesn’t give a shit if Quinn is dirty. Quinn tells Dexter he wouldn’t understand what it’s like to be a cop.

Deborah and Dexter have a heart-to-heart. They’re both feeling crowded at home. Neither believe that the jumper at the TK scene was a suicide.

Dexter has to have a talk with Aster who is all moody-tween. He is always embarrassing her in front of Andy who she is obviously crushing on.

I think I liked Rita and her kids better when they were just the white trash family Dexter was spending time with to seem normal.

Deborah lies to Anton about working late when she’s really meeting Lundy for drinks to discuss TK.

Dexter hears the vandal hard at work and decides to hide in Andy’s room to scare his ass when he returns. But Andy’s in his room. Dexter sees it’s the Dad that’s been doing the vandalizing. He shines his headband light into the Dad’s eyes as he corners him in the basement. He tells him he needs to stop what he’s doing or he will come back and leave with the man’s head in a bag… and he already has the bag.

The Dad jumps bad and Dexter beats him down. He’s miserable because he lost his wife and the bank is going to take his house. Dexter is like, “You gonna lose more than that if you keep it up.” The Dad finally agrees to stop.

On his way home, he triggers his neighbor’s security lights and takes them out with a rake… and he’s busted by Rita.