Actually as I stated yesterday there are really only two reasons. They are the shows I can’t wait to see again and new shows that might be worth a look. This list is the seven returning favorites that I am most looking forward to continue watching. They are the ones that have I have pretty much seen every episode of so far, the ones that I almost never miss. So without any further ado here are:

The 7 Fall 2006 Returning TV Shows I Can’t Wait For

• Prison Break - (Returns Monday Aug. 21st on FOX) I can’t believe this starts next Monday already. It doesn’t seem that long ago that the boys were running through a field having missed their flight with many a cop in pursuit. How will they get away? Will they all make it? Who will be the first to Westmoreland’s hidden stash of cash? I can’t wait to find out.
• House - (Returns Tuesday Sept. 5th on FOX) Will the treatment he asked for in the emergency room work? Will he have less pain and no longer need a cane? Without the pain and drugs will he be less of an ass? The answer to the last will be no, no matter what the answers to the first two are. House is one of the great characters on TV right now and too much of a change would kill the show. I am ready for more telling it like it is or at least how House sees it. How about you?
• How I Met Your Mother - (Returns Monday Sept. 18th on CBS) Are you ready to “suit up” and see what happens next. Will Lily and Marshall get back together? What is going to happen with Robin and Ted? This is one really good show. I don’t think we will need to invoke the “lemon law” anytime soon.
• Grey’s Anatomy - (Returns Thursday Sept. 21st on ABC) Will Meredith choose McDreamy, McVet or just walk away? Will Izzie get over the loss of Denny? This show is one of the best on TV. The way they intertwine the medical cases as metaphors for what the interns are dealing with in their personal lives is outstanding? It makes for great storytelling and very good watching.
• Smallville - (Returns Thursday Sept. 28th on The CW) How will Clark get out of the Kryptonian prison he is trapped in? How will Zod be defeated? This is one fun and interesting telling of the story of how Clark Kent becomes the superhero we all know he will be and how Lex Luthor becomes his evil nemesis.
• Veronica Mars - (Returns Tuesday Oct. 3rd on The CW) How come Keith didn’t make it to the airport to meet Veronica? What will be the first mystery to solve? How will she like Hearst College? Will people finally realize how good a show this is and watch it? This is definitely the best show not enough people are watching. Maybe with no overarching season long mystery and three smaller mystery arcs to follow it will be more accessible to a wider audience? As long as the writing and acting stays as good as the first two seasons it will be all good.
• Lost - (Returns Wednesday Oct. 4th on ABC) What? Will Kate, Jack and the rest get away from the Others? Who are the Others? Who the heck knows what is going on? I hope they really do have an end game in mind for this show but until then I am content to sit back and watch. The storytelling on this show is tremendous. The way you learn about the characters in bits and pieces via flashback. The way that they all seem to have crossed paths at some point in their past before getting on the plane.

What are yours? What returning shows look good to you this fall? Leave a list of your own in the comments.

Actually there are two reasons. They are the shows I can’t wait to see again and new show that might be worth a look. This list is the seven new shows premiering this fall that I am most looking forward to checking out. They are the ones that have caught my eye, the ones that I will definitely not miss. Will they be any good? Will they last more than a few episodes? I sure hope so. But as with any new show looks can be deceiving. So without any further ado here are:

The 7 Fall 2006 New TV Shows I Can’t Wait For

1. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – (Premieres Monday Sept. 18th on NBC) This one is getting a lot of buzz because it is from Aaron Sorkin who brought us the TV shows The West Wing and Sports Night and the movie The American President. He is a very gifted writer that puts forth interesting characters, funny dialogue and serious situations that move at a breakneck pace. It also has the return of Matthew Perry to series TV. He played my favorite character on Friends, Chandler Bing. In this he plays a troubled TV writer that looks to be somewhat based on Mr. Sorkin himself.
2. Heroes – (Premieres Monday Sept. 25th on NBC) Hasn’t everyone thought about what it would be like to have a superpower? In this series ordinary people start to realize they have extraordinary abilities. But why have they, for what purpose? Have they been different all along? How many of them are there? These are the things that I want to know.
3. The Nine – (Premieres Monday Sept. 18th on ABC) This show has a strong cast with Chi McBride (Boston Public), Tim Daly (Wings, Eyes) and Scott Wolf (Party of Five, Everwood). Nine people are held hostage in a bank. Their lives are inextricably linked and changed forever. But what happened in there? Well the show follows these people after this horrific event. You get to see pieces of what happened in flashbacks. It has a bit of a Lost vibe to it in the way the story is told.
4. Six Degrees – (Premieres Thursday Sept. 21st on ABC) Six beautiful people who don’t know each other. Yet their daily decisions affect the other five. Is it coincidence? Or is something larger behind it? This show is from the people who brought you Lost and Alias. Two of my favorite recent shows. This looks really good even thought it seems like they just decided to take the flashback sequences from Lost and turn them into a show.
5. Runaway – (Premieres Monday Sept. 25th on The CW) What if The Fugitive had a family? That is the idea behind this show starring Donnie Wahlberg (Boomtown) as Paul Rader and Leslie Hope (24, Commander in Chief) as his wife Lily. Paul is unjustly convicted of a violent crime. He and his family, which includes two teenagers and an eight year old, go on the run from the authorities and the real killer. They change their names and try to stay one step ahead knowing that the smallest thing could uncover their secret life.
6. Smith – (Premieres Tuesday Sept. 19th on CBS) This one looks good but given the climate recently for this type of show (Heist, Thief) I wonder how long it will stick around. It stars Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) as the leader of a crew who is looking to do one last big heist and then call it quits for good.
7. Standoff – (Premieres Tuesday Sept. 5th on FOX) What is it like to be a hostage negotiator? The show stars one of my favorite actors Ron Livingston from one of my favorite movies Office Space. In this he plays Matt Flannery one of the two best hostage negotiators in the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit. Who is the other one? Well just ask Matt as he is sleeping with her, yet nobody knows. They have agreed to keep it a secret. That is until Matt lets that info slip while trying to talk a guy out of a bad situation. What will happen now? I want to see, do you?

What are yours? What new Fall 2006 shows look good to you? Leave a list of your own in the comments.

The TV season is coming to an end in the next few weeks. The networks will soon be announcing their schedules for next season. Many shows are on the bubble as far as coming back for another year. So, what shows should be given another year and hopefully many more? Here is the TVaholic wish list.

Seven Shows That Deserve Another Season

1. Veronica Mars – The ratings may not totally be there but this is by far the best show on UPN and one of the best on TV. With the merger of UPN and The WB there has been talk about whether this show would make the new combined lineup. The show has engaging characters, great writing and an overarching mystery that keeps you coming back each week. Yet each episode can also be enjoyed individually.
2. Scrubs – This is another show that I can’t believe could be on the bubble. It is one of the best comedies on TV right now. Each episode is a hilariously wacky morality tale. There is a lesson to be learned by one or more of the characters and you the viewer for each episode.
3. Everwood – This is one of the best dramas on TV. The characters are well written and the acting is outstanding. This is another that might not make The CW lineup. If you like drama you should definitely be watching this show.
4. Invasion – It was one of the three sci-fi shows to hit the networks this season. It was not a favorite of most early on because of the slow pace. They kind of follow the Lost formula with a creepy situation and just enough revelations to keep you coming back for more. The revelations were almost too slow coming as it took about eight episodes before you felt like you knew something. Once that happened the show became very engaging.
5. Surface – This show had a 15 episode run and left us with the heroes left surrounded by water in a church bell tower. This can’t be the way it ends. I want to see more. Why were these creatures created? Who is behind all of this?
6. Out of Practice – This is a true sitcom in the classic style. The comedy is based off of the situation more than any other show. While not as good it reminds me of classic sitcoms like I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show. One or two characters know something that the others don’t and misunderstanding follow. They do a really good job of this and were starting to get better as the season went on. If The King of Queens is not renewed this would be a good re-addition to the CBS Monday night comedy lineup.
7. Related – This show was more than just a beautiful cast. It was a fast paced family dramedy with snappy dialogue, good acting and interesting characters. Yet once again The CW will probably not have room in their combined schedule.

What shows do you hope will make it to next season? Leave your own list in the comments.

Turns out as a Seahawks fan that the best thing about the Super Bowl was once again the commercials. Usually I have no dog in the hunt and watch mainly for the spectacle of the event and a few hopefully funny commercials. I have read that people thought this year was weak commercial wise. To me it seemed much as it always does. Some stood out, some made you say “they spent millions for that” and yet others were neither bad nor good really. If you want to see a breakdown by quarter of all the Super Bowl XL commercials head over to FoxSports.com. They have descriptions of all 44 of them and links to video for most. So what were the best commercials this year?

Criteria: If it made me laugh or at least chuckle a bit it made the list.

TVaholic Prime 7 Super Bowl XL Commercials

1. Careerbuilder.com, “Bunch of Jackasses”: I laughed the loudest at this one. This was quite a clever and funny extension of the “work with a bunch of monkeys” ad from last year.
2. Diet Pepsi, “Stunt Double”: Anytime a company takes on another straight out in a funny way it is a good thing in my view. This was much superior to the first Diet Pepsi ad.
3. Ameriquest, “Don’t Judge”: When the little girl lets go of the balloon she has brought for her father and then the look on the face of the doctor was pretty funny. Dark humor when done well as in this case is another good thing.
4. Sierra Mist, “Security Wand”: This was sophomoric humor of the best kind. It was funny. The whole thing is a setup for the rubber glove snap at the end. Made me laugh.
5. Michelob, “A Little Darker”: For whatever reason even though I kind of saw it coming I laughed when the dude drilled the hot chick that had been talking smack before the play. She gets him back later at the bar.
6. Ameriquest, “Mile High Club”: Cleverly done and it made me chuckle. The look on the woman’s face as she realizes what it must look like to everyone else is priceless. Reminded me of the Southwest ad a couple of years back when the guy drops some change and the women behind him steps up to him like a quarterback and starts barking calls. The look on that guy’s face said it all as did this woman’s face as she straddled some unknown man on the plane.
7. Aleve, “Live Long and Prosper”: Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek Spock fame can’t make his famous salute until he takes some Aleve. Made me chuckle a bit when the crowd went wild.

Honorable Mention

Budweiser, “Magic Fridge”: Funny but just short of making this list.
MasterCard, “MacGyver is Priceless”: Fun and good to see Richard Dean Anderson in his best role, but not funny in a make me laugh out load as the ones above mostly did.

So what did you think about the Super Bowl XL commercials this year? Where did TVaholic go wrong? What was your favorite? Let us know in the comments.