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Twitter'House,' 'Heroes,' 'Dancing with the Stars': What to watch, record and ignore on Mondays
Monday marks the official start of the 2009-10 TV season, and it also marks the start of a blizzard of new shows and returning favorites taxing your recording device of choice. We're here to help. As we did last week with Thursday nights, Zap2it will be providing thoughts on what to watch live, what to record for later and what can be put on hold for the crowded fall schedule. Below is the guide for the regular schedule on Monday nights, which includes "Lie to Me" on FOX and "Trauma" on NBC, both of which start Sept. 28. This week features two-hour premieres of "House" and "Heroes."
8 o'clock
What's on: "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC), "Heroes" (NBC), "House" (FOX), "How I Met Your Mother" and "Accidentally on Purpose" (CBS), "One Tree Hill" (The CW)
Watch: "House." Monday's formula-breaking two-hour premiere is fantastic, and even when the patient-of-the-week stories get repetitive, it's still very entertaining to watch Hugh Laurie, one of the best actors on television, on his game.
Record: "How I Met Your Mother" and "Heroes." Even though it's entering its fifth season, "HIMYM" still feels remarkably fresh. I can't say the same for "Heroes," but I'm at least curious to see if Robert Knepper and a shorter season can help lift the show out of its funk. If not, that's what the fast-forward button is for.
Ignore: "Dancing with the Stars," "Accidentally on Purpose" and "One Tree Hill." I might search out clips of "Iron Chef America" chairman Mark Dacascos, but "DWTS" is just too much of a time investment to bother with. "Accidentally on Purpose" isn't on par with the rest of CBS' comedy lineup, and since I haven't watched "One Tree Hill" for the previous six seasons, I'm not likely to start now.
9 o'clock
What's on: "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC), "Gossip Girl" (The CW), "Lie to Me" (FOX), "Monday Night Football" (ESPN), "Trauma" (NBC), "Two and a Half Men" and "The Big Bang Theory" (CBS)Watch: Recorded "HIMYM" and "The Big Bang Theory." These two shows have been an effective comedy block on CBS for the past two seasons, so why not replicate that with the help of your DVR? "Monday Night Football" could be a wild card here, depending on who's playing.
Record: "Gossip Girl" and either "Lie to Me" or "Trauma." The Upper East Side kids are headed downtown to start college, which means a fresh new batch of shenanigans. "Lie to Me" showed potential to be more than just another crime show in its first season, and if "Trauma" can live up to its pilot, it could be a nice new spin on the medical drama.
Ignore: "Dancing with the Stars" and "Two and a Half Men." Yes, they're the most-watched shows in this hour. But while "Men" can be quite funny, it's never been a must-see for me. See above for my "DWTS" rationale.
10 o'clock
What's on: "Castle" (ABC), "CSI: Miami" (CBS), "The Jay Leno Show" (NBC), "Monday Night Football" (ESPN)
Watch: "Castle." Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic are just fun to watch together, and their chemistry elevates the show above standard crime-show fare. "MNF" is again an alternate.
Record: "The Jay Leno Show." Come 11, you can use the fast-forward button to condense it into an easily viewed half-hour warmup to your late-night talk show of choice.
Ignore: "CSI: Miami." The addition of Eddie Cibrian to the cast has not raised my interest in watching Captain Sunglasses and his crime-solving crew.
What's your strategy for getting through Monday nights this season?
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oh yes, lets ignore the number one show dancing with the stars. not sure how qualified this person is telling us to ignore the number one shows of the night and record the should have been cancelled heros. plus whats wrong with eddie, he is a great actor on the highest rated drama show of the night. lets all watch cw. weird, hope next time a more qualified person will critique tv.
I watch nothing live. Big Bang Theory will get close to live and maybe Castle. 10pm is easy because there are only two networks at that time this season. CSI:Miami would probably go if it wasn't for the lack of competition. I'm on the west coast with satellite, so cable channels show their primetime stuff from 5pm - 8pm my time, so they don't compete with broadcast channels for me, thus Greek will probably be the first thing I watch tonight.
1. All 4 CBS comedies, CSI: Miami
2. Heroes, Trauma, Castle
3. House, Lie to Me
With all due respect to Rick, who is now officially my favorite ratings reporter. :) I don't think too many people need to be told what to watch...
It's a conceit of critics that they must enlighten us poor sods and I think it's one of the two main reasons why so few even read what they say.
Guys, this is an opinion piece. Like all critics you shouldn't make your choices based on one lone post but get to know what this person has to say regarding a variety of shows. Some things you'll agree on. Some things you won't. That's how criticism works. You find the critics whose tastes are similar to yours but who actually have the time to watch everything. They're there to help guide your viewing and help you discover things you might not ordinarily watch as much as they are there to validate your choices or steer you clear of something bad. There's a reason there's a lot of critics out there, because everyone's tastes are different.
Dancing with the stars is boring so agree there.
Meow, Eddie Cibrian is hot but a great actor? I'm glad you're not the critic.
I generally ignore critics as a rule, since their opinions are so rarely ever their own (especially the ones who are mouthpieces for whichever network/company/conglomerate owns the source for which they write). Most of the Monday shows are ones I ignore, simply because I don't care for sitcoms, can't stand game shows in prime time (which is essentially what DWTS and the others are), have hated CSI:Miami since it premiered, and got tired of Leno last Thursday. I'll probably catch a few episodes of Castle this season, but I won't go screaming home from a function just to catch it when it's actually on.
And to yank a whisker off of meow...who the hell is Eddie Cibrian?
I totally agree that House is a must watch show. However, I also 100 percent disagree about Two and a Half Men. That show NEVER gets old. Also one of the best on television; sometimes on House I get really sick of Foreman's ego and looking at Thirteen.
Wow, just his opinion. Don't bite his head off. I too have stopped watching DWTS on Mondays. I watch the Tuesday results show which also shows a brief recap of Monday and they also do the best dance from Monday over again and after that I've pretty much seen Monday's show. I have too many conflicts on Monday to put that on the list.
"HOUSE" is a must see this season, every season they add a new twist.
HOUSE was so 4 years ago, the quality has gone down, as for cbs on bright spot is the revamp CSI with eddie, Dancing with the stars is a must see on mondays and thats it. HEORS like glee had a nice run and now needs to go away. the acting and quality on those s hows are so bad.