Premiering at 8:30 is The Class, which was one of the first pilots picked up by any network this season (after a pretty intense bidding war), which I imagine bodes pretty well. The show is about a group of twentysomethings (are there any other kind of groups on television?) who were friends in third grade and are reunited 20 years later. Cutesy for sure, but Jason Ritter has turned into quite a likable and effective comedian à la his late pop, John. He heads the cast along with uber-likable Joey refugee Andrea Anders and Mean Girl-hater Janice Ian (Lizzy Caplan). I have enough goodwill left over from HIMYM to give this show a whirl. Sticking around at 9:00 is the inexplicably number one rated comedy on television Two and a Half Men. I just don’t get the appeal of this show, and I find it hard to watch, mostly because the tabloid circus that is Charlie Sheen is far more entreating. Furthermore, it’s hard to watch the poor chubby kid playing the half man from the title. With all the debauchery going on around him, he’s only about 5 seasons away from a starring role on Child Stars: Where Are They Now, saying something like: “Then I lost my virginity to a coke whore in Uncle Charlie’s trailer… and that’s when I realized I had hit bottom.” Shudder. Bringing up the end of the comedy-block is Seinfeld curse disparager Julia-Louis Dreyfuss’ midseason hit, The New Adventures of Old Christine. Don’t let the cumbersome title fool you: this show is actually quite funny, thanks in no small part to Ms. Dreyfuss’ excessive charm. 10:00 pm is CSI: Miami which despite the inclusion of David Caruso continues to perform exceptionally. I heard that this show ended with a … wait for it… wait for it… bang this season, but I just couldn’t care less.

Tuesday

CBS will again go with NCIS at 8:00 pm; so my parents and grandmother will still have something to watch on Tuesdays. Actually, based on the big numbers this show puts up, chances are most people’s parents are tuning in to see how Mark Harmon went from Summer School to lame navy procedural. Sticking around at 9:00 pm is midseason’s The Unit, a show I actually wanted to catch if only because it comes from the cerebral mind of playwright David Mamet (Glengarry Glenross). When he’s not being assassinated on 24 or scaring me into buying Allstate car insurance, Dennis Haysbert shows up to star in this show with Felicity/Jennifer Garner castoff. Scott Foley. Alas, this show has no shot with me again this season as it is up against the luminous/sublime/genius Veronica Mars and better shows I’m interested in checking out (right now, NBC’s new show Kidnapped and FOX’s House are the frontrunners for the coveted DVR slot). At 10:00 pm is the premiere of Shark about a (tell me if you’ve heard this one before) former high-power attorney (stop it) who decides to quit his job (I’m listening…) and become a prosecutor (no way) and mentor a bunch of young, inexperienced, and I’m willing to bet attractive, Assistant District Attorneys (shut your mouth!). Jeri Ryan is around to add some spice, and you’re interest in this show will be in direct proportion to how high your James Woods threshold is. My James Woods-ometer maxes out at 4, so chances are I’ll be catching up on my DVR at this point in the night.

Wednesday

LOOK YOU PUT THIS GUY ON CRIMINAL MINDS AND MAYBE I’LL CHECK IT OUT.

The lead off slot belongs to the new show, Jericho, starring Skeet Ulrich. No, it’s not a show about obnoxious people living on Long Island, NY, but rather a small town that is cut off from the rest of the world after a mysterious nuclear explosion. The show looks pretty intriguing -- I just hope it learned a lesson from the slow-burning Invasion on ABC. That show took way too long to get really good and was thus cancelled, but if Jericho gets the ball rolling quickly, it might have a shot. Unfortunately, early word suggests that Jericho does not take my advice. At 9:00 pm CBS is keeping the surprise hit Criminal Minds put since it was able to more than hold its own again Lost and American Idol in its premiere season. Again, not a show I ever got into, which is surprising because there was a time I thought I would follow Inigo Montoya to the ends of the earth to find out who killed his father. Alas, the ends of the earth was CBS’ lineup that had Inigo letting his dominant personality, Mandy Patinkin, overtake him and charge him with solving dastardly crimes that Stabler does a better job of working out over on Law & Order: SVU. CSI: NY closes the night. I wonder if this show has gotten any better in the last two years? Since Melina Kanakaredes is still sniffing around I’m going to guess, no.

Thursday

Posted by on May 26, 2006 2:48 PM