Fall Tuner Pileup - Monday Nights

The fall primetime grids are essentially set in stone at this point, so I figured now would be a good time to start taking a look to see what's worth watching each night.  Even with a two-tuner TiLoh and a lot of old standards going off the air and freeing up space (so long Lost and 24), there'll be some tough timeslot decisions to make, and since I'm currently stuck on the world's slowest bus, might as well start making them now.  Things to consider watching and thoughts on why below:


Grids are courtesy of The Futon Critic: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/guide/fall-2010-grid/ and all times are EST, because that's where I live.

8p
How I Met Your Mother - CBS
Chuck - NBC
House - FOX


All three of these are shows I've been watching for a while, and all are still worth my while.  However, House will likely be put on the backburner - season 5 was a misfire all around and while season 6 started strong (Hugh Laurie in the asylum goes on the House top 10 episodes list, no question), the writers didn't follow through on premise of House trying to change and reverted back to old tropes pretty quick.  Season 7's hook seems to be the idea of him and Cuddy in a relationship, but they dragged the tension out so long at this point that I just don't care about their relationship anymore.  It's probably past its prime, but still good enough that I'll stick around

Similarly, HIMYM is also coming off a weak season, but a) it's easier to course-correct a sitcom, even a continuity-heavy one, by simply being funny and b) Sepinwall's recent interview with the creators (found here: http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/how-i-met-your-mother-creators-promise-a-return-to-emotion-and-romance ) had them acknowledging the issues that last season had.  Chuck had an iffy start to their 3rd season, but found it's footing midway through and had a ton of fun with a happier Sarah, bumbling Morgan, and exasperated Casey all having to work as a team.  It's not the greatest show ever, contrary to what the internet and Subway would have you believe, but at its best its a lot of fun, and that counts more than most people think.

9p
The Event - NBC
Lonestar - FOX


Nothing returning that I'll watch, but two new shows that I'll check out.  I haven't seen pilots for either one yet, but buzz has The Event as an iffy prospect, but a great cast (Blair Underwood, Laura Innes, Jason Ritter, and Zeljiko Motherfucking Ivanek) means I'll check it out at least once.  Lonestar's gotten better reviews - despite the common throughline of "how does this stay a series" - and I like anything that keeps Adrianne Palicki in a southern accent, so even if it becomes clear early that it's going down in flames, I'll probably stick it out for at least a few episodes.*

*Note: The preceding paragraph was all lies.  My girlfriend is going to force me to watch Hoarders during this timeslot, while I loll my head around in boredom and wish for death.

10p
Castle - ABC
Men of a Certain Age - TNT


There are a couple of new shows in the timeslot as well (Chase on NBC, and the Hawaii 5-0 remake on CBS), but neither one looks like anything I haven't seen done before, and done better.  My sister will be watching Chase because she's in love with Amuary Nolasco from Prison Break, but understandably that doesn't do anything for me.

Castle's enjoyable due solely to Nathan Fillion, but that's enough for me to keep watching.  Not to shortchange his supporting cast - they're of a better quality than you usually get on these shows, and more fun (notably the white cop/hispanic cop team and Castle's daughter), but without Fillion there is no show.  Good to record when I want to put on something I can drift in and out of without missing anything.

At the other end of the spectrum is Men of a Certain Age.  Middle class, middle aged white guy problems (this includes Andre Braugher, whose race never really comes up as an issue) hit close to home apparently, and depressingly so.  Literally, watching these 3 guys continually fail at even the most mundane of dreams over and over again killed me, but I kept coming back, and imagine I will keep doing so. The acting is great, particularly from Romano, but all three leads do solid work. Worth watching if you are addicted to sadness, I guess.

So that's Monday nights; I'll try to run through the rest of the week sometime in the next month or so.  Agree or disagree on these picks?