TV Tues - Please, Please, PLEASE Let Studio 60 Find an Audience!

This week starts up the new season in earnest. I'm afraid I'm a little behind in TV watching from last week (have a huge stack of video tapes to wade through), but here are my thoughts on what few shows I managed to get watched.

RETURNING SHOWS

Survivor: So, the much talked about "segregated by race" season has started and, as I expected, the controversy seems to have been a bunch of people getting worked up over nothing. I did find it interesting that out of the four groups, only the African American team truly embraced the "we have to represent our people" mentality. So far only one cast member has truly gotten on my nerves, and he was voted out, so things are looking good so far.

Amazing Race: I can't help but wonder if the twists and turns Phil warned of early on will amount to anything other than non-pit-stop Philiminations; my guess is no. I wasn't too sad to see Bilal and Sa'eed go, but hated that Vipul and Arti got cut. I would have much rather seen Team Coalminer, Team Single Mom, or Team Abusive-Relationship-in-the-Making go. I'm kind of rooting for Team Recovering Addicts, if for no other reason than it cracks me up that every single one of their interview segments looks like they spent half an hour setting up their blocking for on of their modeling photo shoots.

How I Met Your Mother: As always, the best bits of the show revolve around Barney, although Marshall and Robin at the gun range was a fun bit as well.

Two and a Half Men: As always, the best bits of the show revolved round Rose, although Alan and his mom's conversation was a fun bit as well. I have to admit, I'm sort of sad to see Candy go, I thought she was a fun addition to the cast. And I'm constantly annoyed that they've made the character of Judith act so gleefully evil towards Alan; Marin Hinkle deserves a better role.

Bones: I'm hoping that the truce between Bones and the new boss lasts; I don't think I could take week after week of them violently butting heads. A little conflict is good, but they were walking dangerously close to overkill.

Prison Break: I have a confession to make: I fastforwarded through sections of last night's episode because I just couldn't bring myself to care enough about certain subplots (I'm looking at you, Sucre and Maricruz!), and even portions of the show that I did watch barely entertained me. Is it just Prison Break burn out on my part? I did enjoy watching the evil Secret Service guy weasel his way into the doctor's confidence, and watching T-Bag get beat up is always fun.

NEW SHOWS

The Class: This is probably the best of all the new sitcoms I've seen so far this season, but that's not really saying all that much. I liked the cynical, sarcastic Kat (surprise surprise) and the over-achieving anchorwoman Holly, but was put off by the "mother/son always yelling at each other gag" and found the "woman leaves husband" plotline a little forced. I'm undecided on most of the characters, especially the depressive Lina, who has such unusual mannerisms and delivery that it kept taking me out of those . . . and this is apparently after they toned her character down from how it was in the pilot (according to The TV Gal, anyway). I'll be giving this a few more eps to find its footing, thanks to its cushy, pre-HIMYM time-slot if nothing else.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: I've already talked about how much I loved the pilot, and rewatching it last night just reaffirmed my opinion of how much the show rocks. Seriously, if you're a fan of The West Wing, SportsNight, Matthew Perry, or fast-talking snappy patter in general, do yourself a favor and go to NBC.com, scroll down to the NBC 24/7 section, and, Internet willing, watch the series premiere online.