letterten 2007-08 fall preview

ABC \| CBS \| CW \| Fox \| NBC \|\| Sun \| Mon \| Tue \| Wed \| Thu \| Fri \| Sat \|\| Complete \|\| Main

	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
	Dancing With the Stars Sep 24 (special; performance, Sep 25, 8p) Iteration 5 [Jun 1, 2005]			Samantha Who? Oct 15 Season 1	The Bachelor Sep 24 (90-min premiere, 9:30p) Iteration 11 [Mar 25, 2002]
	How I Met Your... Sep 24 Season 3 [Sep 19, 2005]	Big Bang Theory Sep 24 Season 1	Two & A 1/2 Men Sep 24 Season 5 [Sep 22, 2003]	...Engagement Sep 24 Season 2 [Feb 5, 2007]	CSI: Miami Sep 24 Season 6 [Sep 23, 2002]
	...Hates Chris Oct 1 Season 3 [Sep 22, 05; UPN]	Aliens/America Oct 1 Season 1	Girlfriends Oct 1 Season 7 [Sep 11, 00; UPN]	The Game Oct 1 Season 2 [Oct 1, 2006]	Local Programming
	Prison Break Sep 17 Season 3 [Sep 5, 2005]		K-Ville Sep 17 Season 1		Local Programming
	Chuck Sep 24 Season 1		Heroes Sep 24 Season 2 [Sep 24, 2006]		Journeyman Sep 24 Season 1

Monday. Lunes. Lundi. Montag. Maandag.

"Monday, Monday." Or so said The Mamas and the Papas. Six new shows and two webs running sitcoms. Sitcoms, really?

Fox starts the season essentially a week early on September 17 with the premiere of Prison Break and the series premiere of K-Ville. I expect Prison to do what it did last year, no more. K(atrina)Ville will get checked out, but has an uphill battle to climb between Dancing With the Stars, Two and a Half Men and Heroes.

ABC launches returns with the fifth iteration of Dancing with the Stars and the 11th iteration (really?) of The Bachelor. Samantha Who? doesn't arrive on the scene until mid-October, so it will rely on its Dancing lead-in to generate an audience.

CBS has a surprisingly strong comedy block led by former bubble show, How I Met Your Mother. The Big Bang Theory follows just before CBS' flagship comedy, Two and a Half Men. (It is funny and is a traditional sitcom. I watch it and I laugh. But there's something about it that makes me wince to know it's in the same slot that Murphy Brown and M*A*S*H once occupied.) A midseason replacement from last year, Rules of Engagement, slides in just before sunglasses, er, CSI: Miami.

NBC saves the world on many levels on Monday. Chuck does it at $11/hour. Heroes does it with non-super superheroes...and a Hiro. Journeyman defies spacetime to do it. Heavy night. I sure hope someone succeeds.

The CW also tries to make us laugh with Everybody Hates Chris and the new Aliens in America. The longest running sitcom on TV, Girlfriends is followed by the 'exactly who was watching?' The Game. Fifth place finish, not necessarily deserved.

It's going be a close race between Dancing With the Stars, CSI: Miami and Heroes for the winner of the night.

Overall, it's CBS' night to lose, even if Dancing takes the night. NBC has the most to lose on the night. You know you're just waiting for 24 to return (and not suck) in January.