Mid-October TV report

It's been a while since I gave you a TV update. In truth, there was a week there where I didn't watch anything live at all, and then last weekend I had to catch up by watching a lot of things that my VCR had taped. And then I had to watch online the things that my VCR didn't tape. But I think I'm mostly caught up now, and all the new shows have finally aired, so here's an update on my thoughts.

First, the shows that have been on for a few weeks. I'm only commenting on them when my thoughts have changed since my last TV post.

• Gossip Girl-- I'm sure this will surprise you, and it even surprises me, but I've stopped watching it! The reason is that I'm not home on Monday nights, and if my VCR is going to be taping something, it makes most sense to have it tape the two-hour block of Chuck and Heroes on NBC. So I thought I would watch Gossip Girl online, but the CW posts the episodes only sporadically, and when they do, it's such a pain to watch, with a tiny window even in "full screen" and banner ads over part of the picture, so I've just given up on this show. Surprisingly, I don't miss it much, and I figure they'll probably repeat it over the summer or something, right?
• Pushing Daisies-- I liked this week's episode more than the first two. The ratings aren't looking good, though, so I'm not getting too attached.
• Ugly Betty-- It also seems a little bit better than it did in the beginning of the season. I was really surprised that Gio came back this week. I thought he was off the show for good. Who knows?
• The Ex-List-- I'm still on the fence about this one. A show that makes its target audience want to dig their eyes out with a spoon isn't a good thing! And by the end of each episode, I feel really ishy inside. Someone has suggested that the target audience really isn't single 33-year-olds like Bella and me, but women my age who have been married for 15 years and want to be reassured that their life would be even worse if they were still single. At any rate, the only reason I'm still watching is the promise of a different cute male guest star each week. But I'm not sure how long that promise is going to hold me.

Now on to the new shows.

• My Own Worst Enemy-- Well, I didn't hate this one, but I just don't see what's going to happen every week, and why I should care. It kind of seems like Chuck without the funny, and what's the point of that? Ultimately, I guess whether or not I watch it will be determined by how wired I am when I get home from work on Monday night. If I feel like I could just crawl right into bed, I won't watch it, but if I feel like I need to unwind, I will. It's that simple!
• Life on Mars-- I liked the second episode better than the first, which I already thought was just fine. It does seem like it works best when you just ignore the "mystery" of why Sam is stuck in the past and just treat it like an old-school police show. There sure is a lot of punching going on, and that takes me back to my childhood! :)
• Crusoe-- This got pretty bad reviews, but it made me suspend my disbelief, and that's really all that I require on a Friday night. Plus, the scenery is gorgeous. I'm not exactly sure how they can sustain the show every week with just two main characters, but I guess we will find out. Oh, and I like the dog!