Tonight on the Tube: House S.7 Premiere, Lone Star Series Premiere, Castle S.3 Premiere & Lots More

News & Notes

Tonight, ABC has the 11th season premiere of Dancing With the Stars and the third season premiere of Castle, CBS has the sixth season premiere of How I Met Your Mother, the fifth season premiere of Rules of Engagement, eighth season premiere of Two and a Half Men and the series premieres of Mike & Molly and Hawaii Five-0, FOX has the seventh season premiere of House and the series premiere of Lone Star, and NBC has the fourth season premiere of Chuck and the series premieres of The Event and Chase.

Over on cable, BBC America has the fifth season premiere of Top Gear, Food Network has an America’s Best special, Logo has the first season finale of RuPaul’s Drag U, and Nat Geo Wild has the first season finale of The Lion Ranger.

Happy Fall TV Season Everyone! Which means it’s time to bring back the Solid Selections section or the second best bet in each hour of primetime.

Prime Picks

House (FOX): Season Premiere. Things pick up right where last season left off, with Cuddy having shown up at House’s place after he lost a patient. It’s a great start to the new season, which continues on in next week’s episode. Huddy shippers will be happy, but those that aren’t in favor of seeing them together should be happy with the fresh look it gives things and that the writers have continued to allow House to grow, which was seriously lacking in the first five seasons.

Lone Star (FOX): Series Premiere. Robert Allen grew up a con man under his father’s tutelage, but has exceeded his father’s expectations with how good he has become. He is presently in the middle of two different lives he has constructed. One in a small town and the other in the big city with a woman he loves in each place. The latter of which he had intended to get into the family business and clean it out. But, he thinks he can do the job for real and doesn’t want to go through with the original plan of his father’s. The cast is excellent and this first episode just great TV, but I am looking forward to seeing what the possible timeline will be for how the story will be told and how much time would pass over the course of an entire season. While I’m on board, I don’t think that the show can sustain the tension and believability if a season equals a year and multiple seasons equals multiple years.

Castle (ABC): Season Premiere. I loved this episode and the way they bring Castle back into the fold. The show is just fun and I have been looking forward to its return. Starts a minute after the hour and runs 59 minutes.

Solid Selections

Chuck (NBC): Season Premiere. Chuck and Morgan are searching for Chuck’s mother, played by Linda Hamilton. Casey and Sarah are after an operative, played by Dolph Lundgren. So happy that this show is back for another season and very excited to watch tonight’s episode.

The Event (NBC): Series Premiere. A man is searching for his missing girlfriend and ends up in the middle of a giant conspiracy. What is the Event? Well, that will be the big question of the series. But, you will find out what an event is, as you will see some of them and get explanations for them going forward. This is a big mystery thriller that is really exciting. The first episode is constructed very well, but it leaves me to wonder what the structure of episodes going forward will be, cause not sure that the first episodes format can hold up long term. The story is told in multiple time lines for multiple characters where things finally come together at the end of the episode with an ending that left me wanting to see the next episode, but still with the one reservation. The cast is phenomenal and I would really like to see this do well, cause I think there really good be something here.

Hawaii Five-0 (CBS): Series Premiere. Steve McGarret is back in Hawaii after the man he has been chasing around the globe as a highly decorated Naval officer murders his father. He is enticed to head up an elite police task force to clean up the island and go after the worst of the worst. I think CBS has finally found a hit for Alex O’Loughlin even though he isn’t the standout in the opening episode. That would be Scott Caan who brings the humor. The first episode is full of action and does a good job of bringing the team together. Also, it sets up a mystery to investigate going forward to go along with the bad guy of the week formula they will be following.

Other Options

• 90210 (The CW): New. Naomi gets access to her trust fund. Dixon, Navid and Liam take Oscar out on the town.
• America’s Best (Food Network): New Special. A look at 10 locations to get the best “Comfort Food.” Plays again later.
• The Big C (Showtime): New. Cathy wants to feel sexier and sets out to meet someone new. Paul gets hurt.
• Chase (NBC): Series Premiere. A team of U.S. Marshals track down the bad guys. The team is introduced. This is a solid action hour that really isn’t any thing special. They’ll be chasing down a bad guy in each episode, but nothing overly interesting was setup in the first episode. It’s definitely the third best option in the time period.
• Gossip Girl (The CW): New. Lily gets Serena to help her find Chuck. Juliet takes Nate and his love life on as a project. Another really good episode of this show that closes out the Paris episodes and finishes setting things up for the season going forward.
• Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives (Food Network): New. “You Found Em” and Guy visits them. A repeat episode follows. Both play again later.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS): Season Premiere. Ted runs into an ex. Robin is still upset over Don. Marshall wants to start a family. The writers promise that this season will be better than last season, which I hope turns out to be true.
• Mike & Molly (CBS): Series Premiere. Two members of Overeaters’ Anonymous, a fourth grade teacher and a cop, meet and dance around asking each other out. Starts a minute after the half hour and runs 29 minutes. Love Melissa McCarthy (Samantha Who?, Gilmore Girls), who plays the teacher, and the people behind the show have been behind Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, so I am going to give it a few more episodes. There is an over abundance of fat jokes in the first episode, but there could be something here going forward.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS): Season Premiere. Audrey and Jeff find out something surprising about their surrogate.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS): Season Premiere. Jake wants to live with his mother after finding out that his dad is dating Eldridge’s mother. Charlie thinks about lessening his drinking. Runs 31 minutes.
• Unwrapped (Food Network): New. Get a look at sandwiches like Manwich, Subway, Skippy peanut butter, and Nature’s Pride bread. A repeat episode plays right before. Both play again later.

Sports Note

• ESPN has Monday Night Football action with the New Orleans Saints at the San Francisco 49ers.

Late Night

• Covert Affairs (USA): Repeat. Last Tuesday’s two episode season finale episodes, “I Can’t Quit You, Baby” and “When the Levee Breaks,” replay.
• Mad Men (AMC): Repeat. Last night’s episode, “The Beautiful Girls,” replays.

TV Marathons

Bravo has seven episodes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Oxygen has eight episodes of Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood early.
Syfy has six episodes of Ghost Whisperer.
USA has 10 episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
WE has seven episodes of My Fair Wedding With David Tutera early and later 10 episodes of The Golden Girls.