All your shows are finally back from hiatus. Read more…
Just a while back I remember writing my Summer TV Guide, where I mentioned that we had to wait about 3 months until our favorite shows return after their summer hiatus. Finally, the time has come, and in a couple of days the Fall TV season will officially begin. The biggest networks already started releasing promo videos and posters of the returning shows as well extensive ad campaigns for their new shows.
I'm going to start with my top picks of the new shows that will premiere this month (it'll be interesting to see which shows survive and which will get cancelled after a few episodes!):
Melrose Place (Sept. 8) – A remake of the hit '90s series follows a group of sexy twenty-somethings whose lives become entangled when a mysterious dead body appears in the pool of a trendy Los Angeles apartment complex they are living in. The cast is made up of mostly fresh new faces, except singer Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and a couple of returning actors from the original show (just like 90210 last year).
Glee (Sept. 9) – Read my review of Glee which I wrote here(http://khaleejesque.wpengine.com/articles/20090628) a couple of issues back.
Vampire Diaries (Sept. 10) – The show starts at the beginning of a new school year in a small Virginia town. 17-year-old Elena grows fascinated by a handsome, mysterious new student, Stefan and they are immediately drawn to one another, but what Elena doesn’t know is that he is a centuries-old vampire, struggling to live peacefully among humans. Meanwhile, his brother Damon is the direct opposite, a reckless and brutal bad-boy.
The Beautiful Life (Sept. 16) – Produced by Ashton Kutcher, this drama follows two young models, Raina Collins who is a stunning beauty with a secret past and Chris Andrews, a strikingly handsome Iowa farm boy. They soon discover that although the life of a high-fashion model may seem glamorous, behind the façade is a world of insecurity and competition. The show stars Mischa Barton, High School Musical's Corbin Bleu and Elle McPherson.
Accidentally On Purpose (Sept. 21) – A sitcom starring Dharma & Greg's Jenna Elfman as a thirty-something movie critic who finds herself pregnant with the baby of her much younger fling, Zack. She decides to keep the baby and invite the man to live with her as friends, but things get chaotic when Zack’s deadbeat friends begin turning her place into a frat house. Throw her ex-boyfriend/boss James, her party-girl BFF Olivia, and her old-fashioned sister Abby into the mix and this sure will be a hilarious show.
The Forgotten (Sept. 22) – This Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama centers on a group of amateur detectives’ attempt to reconstruct the pieces of unidentified murder victims' lives from what little evidence is left behind. Each episode is narrated by a "body" who watches the team as they pursue the tantalizingly difficult challenge of figuring out who this victim once was; to make sure they are not forgotten.
Cougar Town (Sept. 23) – Courtney Cox is finally back on the small screen (after the now classic Friends and the canceled drama Dirt) this time playing a 40-year old divorcee who's longing for a little more action in her life, so she decides to start dating again and with the push of her friends she turns to men who are younger than her.
Eastwick (Sept. 23) – Based on the popular movie "The Witches of Eastwick", this fantasy series about three friends living in the small town of Eastwick, stars Ugly Betty's Rebecca Romijn and Lipstick Jungle's Lindsay Price. Their world is turned upside down when a mysterious stranger arrives in town and eventually tries to seduce them with his wealth, charisma, and bad-boy sex appeal and what’s even more dangerous is that he's unleashing their supernatural powers which they didn’t know they possessed.
FlashForward (Sept. 24) – From the writer of last summer's box office smash The Dark Knight, comes this drama where the world's population sees into the future when everyone blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds at the same time. When they wake up, everyone is left wondering if what they saw will actually happen. No one knows what these flash forwards mean, but it's clear that people who've never met will soon be somehow connected.
V (Nov. 3) – Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell stars in this reimagining of the 1980s sci-fi series as FBI counter terrorism agent Erica Evans. She is the first to discover that beneath the skin of a presumed friendly visiting alien race, they're more sinister and evil than anyone imagined. Meanwhile, news anchor Chad Decker wants to advance his career by getting an exclusive interview with the aliens' leader Anna, not knowing her twisted goal of why they came to Earth.
Here are the premiere dates of some of my favorite returning shows as well as a small recap of where things left off:
Gossip Girl (Sept 14) – The show begins its third season just where we left off; Jenny taking over as queen bee at Constance, Serena goes in search for her father with Carter, Chuck and Blair's fairy-tale (or not) relationship, Nate's last-ditch escapades before heading off to Columbia, and Dan, Vanessa, Blair, and Georgina all prepping for life at NYU. Look out for cameos by Tyra Banks and Hilary Duff sometime during the season.
One Tree Hill (Sept. 14) – The seventh season opens up a year after Peyton and Lucas rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after (the two main stars Chad Micheal Murray and Hilarie Burton decided to leave the show) and producers added new characters, most notable Lipstick Jungle's Robert Buckley to freshen up the series.
Fringe (Sept. 17) – Honestly I haven’t finished watching the first season so I cannot write a summary and at the same time I don’t want to spoil any of the details, but I had to include Fringe and its premiere date on this list because it was one of the few successful freshmen shows of last season that got good ratings and were eventually renewed for another season.
Heroes (Sept. 21) – The finale ended with Sylar and Sen. Petrelli having morphed into one and a new killer on a drowning spree. The new season introduces new characters and heroes, Claire goes off to college. Matt Parkman and his wife Janice, have a second chance at raising their super-powered baby together.
Grey's Anatomy (Sept. 24) – In my opinion, last season's cliffhanger of Grey's Anatomy was the most shocking of any show that season as well as one of my favorite cliffhangers ever! The new season picks up right where last season ended, and sadly there will be a funeral during the first episode. As the season goes on, it'll be interesting to see how the writers will deal with the absence of main stars Ellen Pompeo, who will be on maternity leave for a while, and Katherine Heigl who will be away for 5 episodes so she can film her new movie.
Desperate Housewives (Sept. 27) – After an explosive and amazing fifth season of this show, we finally get to see who Mike married at the end of the season as well as being introduced to a new family that just moved into Wisteria Lane, of course bringing with them their fair share of dirty secrets. Also in the sixth season, Susan's daughter Julie returns to the cast full-time.
Brothers & Sisters (Sept. 27) – The show left off when The Walker family reunited with Tommy in Mexico, there Kitty and Robert appeared to be headed toward a divorce and Justin, who is heading to medical school, popped the question to Rebecca. The new season has Kevin and Scotty wanting to be parents so they go looking for a surrogate as well as a new love interest for Sarah, played by Sex and the City: The Movie star Gilles Marini.
Dexter (Sept. 27) – The new season deals with Dexter's new life as he balances being a husband and new father, as well as trying to catch the "Trinity Killer" , who is one of America's most prolific and deadly serial killers, who relocates to Miami after being tracked by the FBI.
Private Practice (Oct. 1) – My second most shocking cliffhanger of last season was the finale of Private Practice. Tune in for the premiere of the third season to know if that crazy ex-patient cut out Violet's baby from her stomach or if she was saved by someone…
Ugly Betty (Oct. 9) – The show ended on a sad note, when Daniel's fiancée died after a battle with cancer. Also, Betty and Matt finally decide to move in together but Betty's ex Henry comes back to town and makes things more complicated.
30 Rock (Oct. 15) – The Emmy and Golden Globe winning comedy show returns for a fourth season with new hilarious situations for Jack, Liz Lemon and her staff. One or two of last season's storylines will carry over, and Jenna may finally find a real love interest. Watch out for the Emmy Awards later on this month (where 30 Rock has the most nominations for a TV show this year, 22, and broke the record for most nominations for a comedy series in a single year) to see if it's going to repeat last year's winning sweep of all the major comedy categories.
There are many new and returning shows which I didn’t mention, so please feel free to email me if you have any questions regarding the premiere dates of the shows you watch that weren’t included or more information about any of the shows. Contact me at abdulla@khaleejesque.com
– Abdulla Al-Mulaifi. Images: Fanpop.com http://www.fanpop.com/
