Bring in '08

So what is Nat’s TV looking forward to in the new year? Well, the start of the year is generally long before we know that things are coming… and it’s beginning to look like there may not be the usual pilot season, which may lead to slim pickings in the fall. Still, while the TV may be off at the moment, the screen does not look utterly blank for the rest of the year. And so, in no particular quantity or order…

• New episodes of things, one the strike is settled (we’re not so looking forward to writerless episodes of things like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.)
• The new version of Rob Thomas’s Cupid (assuming it gets picked up)
• Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, Dollhouse
• Veronica Mars, Season 4 (in comic book form)
• New episodes of Lost, even if they leave us hanging due to the strike
• Netflixing the rest of The Wire Season 4. Because not everything can wait until the strike is over.

The high points of the year

It wouldn’t do just to post the disappointments of the year, when there have been a lot of TV, umm, appointments this year:

• 10. Nekkid Holly Hunter – perhaps not quite the only reason to watch Saving Grace, so I’ll pretend I watch it for the other reasons
• 9. Streaming TV – more and more of it available legally from the network as a back-up for when you miss something. Sure could be a lot of money in this for them. Might be nice if their contracts actually reflected this financial potential…
• 8. My So-Called Life on DVD – yes, it’s been done before, but this time it’s not being done by a criminal, and it’s well-done and still available
• 7. Friday Night Lights survives – not that it didn’t round things out nicely in season one, but it’s nice to see something get the benefit of the doubt
• 6. Mad Men – because slick and stylish is fun to watch, even if the slickness and stylishness is the focus of its social criticism
• 5. Rob Riggle talks about the administration and the war – because you can see some well-earned, barely concealed rage of the American fighting man behind that broad smile
• 4. Buffy Season 8 – sure, it’s in comics, not on TV… but it’s Joss Whedon giving us more Buffy!
• 3. House – because just when the show risks puttering out, they devise a season plan that gives it some fresh and worthwhile meat
• 2. Corner Gas – because when the writers’ strike is going, it’s good to have several seasons of good fun sitcommery already on hand. Thanks, Canada!
• 1. Pushing Daisies – non-standard, clever, and smooth