Returning TV

Good news as far as TV goes. The upfronts (or what passes for them these days) were last week so I got to find out the status of the shows I've been watching.

Reaper made the cut over at CW. And honestly even though I think it's a well done and funny show, this surprised me given that the show isn't pulling in huge ratings. I assume the fact that not a lot of the CW's other new shows stood out and with the writer's strike maybe they figured the bird in the hand was a safe bet (that is until it poops on your hand). Anyway, I was happy to learn that tidbit. Sadly it seems that Smallville is coming back again too. I still watch that show, but mostly out of momentum at this point. And given that next year they're losing the actors and characters of Lex Luthor and Lana Lang (and it also lost a couple of the writers / producers that have been with the show since it's inception) I'm not even sure what direction the show is going.

Over at FOX I was pleased to learn the new show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles got picked up. FOX also is going to be showing the new Joss Whedon show Dollhouse, but for some reason they have it as a midseason replacement show (although that's how Terminator started and it got picked up, so maybe Joss will have better luck with Dollhouse midseason than he did with Firefly at the beginning of the season). It also looks like FOX decided to pick up Bones again, which Ginger and I have recently started watching. Looks like they picked up House too, although that one was pretty much a no brainer given it's ratings. Everyone keeps saying how good House is, but we haven't started watching that one yet. We might have to consider watching it on DVD.

Over at CBS all the procedural shows (CSI, NCIS, Without A Trace, etc) all seemed to get picked up. Plus as an added bonus they renewed How I Met Your Mother (one of the better comedies on the air in my opinion). Although since Sarah Chalke seems to have a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother now I have to wonder how that's going to affect Scrubs since that got picked up by ABC (and props to ABC for picking that up). The other ABC shows I watch that got renewed are Dirty Sexy Money (a guilty pleasure show that looks absolutely stunning in HD), Lost (which I don't know why I'm still watching other than it also looks really pretty in HD) and the new comedy Samantha Who? (which I never thought I would really like a Christina Applegate show, but it's got Tuvok from Voyager and he's really funny as the sarcastic doorman).

Finally NBC comedies My Name Is Earl and The Office are back (as is some spinoff of the Office, which apparently got approved without even having a script or a pilot). Plus we should get a full season of Heroes this year (although with the writer's strike I'll be really surprised if their viewer numbers aren't way down when they start up next year).