Scenes From a TiVo

The programming gods finally have timed things right for us and our TiVo viewing this fall. With House on hiatus while they figure out who will win the World Series, and the World Series of Poker having been won for this year; Tuesday nights are catch-up night in our house for our TiVo.

We are grateful for this, because things tend to get a bit backlogged on the old TiVo, and we start seeing that little hourglass that is all hurry up and watch these shows, or I'll start deleting them... and we hate that.

So, let's move on to Tuesday and Wednesday viewing, shall we? We'll pretend that House is not on hiatus for this exercise.

Tuesday:

• House (8pm, FOX). Hugh Laurie rocks my socks. If you get a chance to hear him speak with his normal British accent, you quickly realize just how good he is at playing Dr. Gregory House. I wasn't thrilled with the House/Stacy storyline; I just didn't really see a whole lot of chemistry there, even though they had a past together. I do see chemistry with Dr. Cuddy though, and would like to see that story evolve further.
  
  
• Boston Legal (10pm, ABC). I have to admit, I couldn't watch this show when it first aired. I'm not a big fan of William Shatner (Sorry, Bill!). I guess it's from my childhood, when my mom watched the original Star Trek and he chewed up the scenery and spit it out each week (see David Caruso: CSI Miami). But I wanted to watch this show, because I have always harbored a secret crush on James Spader. When Candice Bergen joined the cast, I decided to give it a try, because she makes any show she's in better. Trust me, she does. This is a great show. Spader and Shatner play off each other so well, I can tolerate Shatner for longer periods of time. The rest of the ensemble is hit or miss though, while I love Mark Valley (who was amazing in Keen Eddie) I'm not really sure what his purpose is on this show besides being lovely to look at. Julie Bowen can definitely act (see LOST for proof) but this is not her best effort. Rene Auberjonois, who I was glad to see back on a show because he was so amazing in Benson as the butler has had a small storyline that has just fizzled out this season. Constance Zimmer is a breath of fresh air this season, and as a parent of a child who has Asperger's Syndrome, I'm thrilled to see a show delve deeper with an adult character who is trying to work with the syndrome and some of the repercussions and quirks of it.
  
  
• House Hunters International (1:30am, HGTV). We tape this later than when it airs on Monday night because out TiVo is busy at 10pm. Who doesn't like to see houses in places far-off?
  

See? I told you Tuesday is a light TiVo day. Thank you programming people!

Wednesday creates overload for my TiVo. This is a busy day for us, so let's get to it!

• Criminal Minds (9pm, CBS). I'll admit, at first I wasn't thrilled about seeing Thomas Gibson in a drama role. He'll forever be remembered as Greg, as in Dharma and Greg. But Shemar Moore (swoon!) and Mandy Patankin? Sign me up for that! Out of all the crime shows out there, this one stands head and shoulders above them all. This is the only one that each week my husband has difficulty figuring it out, and usually he can tell you whodunit in the first 10 minutes of a show. When you can stump my husband, that's a winner in our house.
  
  
• LOST (9pm, ABC) Duh. I was a fan from the get-go. Even when it got to be a bit tedious (season two, anyone?) I still hung in there. I even played the online game during the summer break. I read spoilers, and chatted in forums about theories. Then I decided to stop reading and just be surprised each week. So far this season I have enjoyed the show more because of it. I am concerned with the plethora of shows now out there taking a page from the LOST playbook, because I don't want every show to be like this one, but it does keep me tuned in, so I guess they are doing something right. SO far the only show to do the LOST playbook steal and get it right is Heroes. Not to mention, I loves me some Sayid.
  
  
• The Nine (10pm, ABC). I'm trying to like this, but already I'm not really into this show. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the lead-in show is already taxing my brain, and I can't concentrate on this show. This show might be better of on Tuesday, without LOST in front of it. I'm just sayin'.
  
  
• Project Runway/Top Chef (10pm; BRAVO). Tonight is the season finale of Project Runway3, but does Bravo rest on it's laurels? No way! This slot will be filled with Top Chef, and this time they actually got a chef to be the host instead of Billy Joel's current wife. I'm sure Katie Lee Joel is very nice, but Padma Lakshmi (I'm hoping!) will be a much better fit for this task. I will miss PR though, this season has been the best yet. Uli should win in my opinion, but I think Jeffrey will take top prize.
  

Tomorrow is Thursday and Friday's offerings, and if your house is like my house, the programming gods made me cry when they moved Grey's Anatomy to go up against CSI. Thanks to trusty TiVo, these are both viewed commercial free!

What a wonderful world we live in.