It’s got that new season smell

by Joe Moore

It’s premiere season on TV and I’m excited. There’s a couple of returning shows that I really got into last year, and a few new ones that sound quite enticing. xfilesFirst, let me say that my tastes run toward drama. But not just any drama. I like stuff that’s outside the box. As an example, I was one of the original X-Files fans. I remember that Friday night in September 1993 when the show first appeared. I loved everything about it from the creepy music to the mysterious logo to the amazing anti-relationship between Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Their characters were strong from the start and stayed true to the end. I was also a big fan of Millennium, another of X-Files producer Chris Carter’s shows. Not as famous and successful as X-Files, but just as captivating.

So what do I look forward to this year? Fringe. It’s X-Files all over again, only in HD. Last week was the first show of the new season, and it had plenty of surprises and twists. There’s also a new show called Flash Forward. Here’s the premise: Suddenly, the entire world stands still for 2 minutes, 17 seconds. Chaos ensues. Cars crash, medical procedures are brought to a halt, and millions of other events are disrupted. A couple of FBI agents are assigned to investigate what happened and why. Advance reviews say the concept is fascinating and the story addictive.

Then there’s the return of Doll House on Friday nights. This one pulled me in last season and I’m looking forward to see if it can sustain imagemy interest a second time around. It involves a girl code-named “Echo” who is a member of an illegal underground group who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. They not only perform unusual and controversial roles, but they literally become whoever their clients want them to be. It’s hard to look away.

And when I do need a laugh or two, the Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men are hard to beat.

So how about you? Are there any shows you’re looking forward to? How about ones you intend to avoid? Is this the year you break the ties to 24 or American Idol?