We're more than a month into the Fall TV season — time enough to figure out which shows we don't want to miss and which ones we miss on purpose. Sarah and Lori have been giving their week-by-week reviews of what they're watching in She Made Me Watch This, but if you're like me, you get so caught up in how adorable they are that you totally forget what they're saying. And some readers can't watch the vlogs for various reasons. So here's a slightly different forum for weighing in with your opinions of this season's series — after I weigh in with mine, of course.

Let's start with what was probably the show most anticipated by AfterEllen.com readers: Bionic Woman.

My one-word review: meh. The eye candy factor only goes so far. I just don't care about these characters. Even Katee Sackhoff can't hold my attention for an hour in a boring show. TiVo-worthy? Nope. … continue reading

Who here is watching Pushing Daisies? Raise your hands. OK, keep them up. So who here would be excited to hear that Pushing Daisies got a full season order? Feel free to wave those arms around with joy. Here, I’ll join you.

The quirky little show is one of the season’s most unexpected successes. And when I say quirky, I mean really quirky. Like women-in-giant-dandelion-outfits quirky.

The show’s touched-by-a-piemaker premise is a grown-up fairy tale. It’s like Dr. Seuss, dipped in Tim Burton, then sprinkled with Disney. In other words, it’s weirdly sweet. Or sweetly weird. The sweet part mainly has to do with the piemaker Ned (Lee Pace) and his back-from-the-dead childhood love Chuck (Anna Friel). They’re so cute, it’s almost annoying. … continue reading

I'm stuck on Chuck. (I just had to get that out of the way.) But gratuitous rhyming aside, I am loving this show. Here's one reason.

Her name is Yvonne Strahovski and, obviously, she's hot. But more about her in a minute.

Chuck is about a geeky computer repair guy (redundant, I know), coincidentally named Chuck, who gets an e-mail full of pictures embedded with government secrets that are somehow downloaded to his brain. He can't access the data, though, until he sees something related to one of the pictures. The NSA and CIA send agents to recover the data, but when they discover that the top-secret files are hidden in Chuck's mind, they have to protect him while getting his help with spy stuff.

So, Chuck is a secret agent on the side while trying to live a normal geek life. Jake 2.0 was similar, true. But Chuck doesn't take itself so seriously. The show has action, comedy, suspense and hot women. What's not to love? Maybe I wouldn't like it so much if I weren't a geek myself, but I am and I do. … continue reading

I am not particularly drawn to the paranormal. As I mentioned previously, I had a few issues after my brother tricked me into seeing Poltergeist. And it's not just that I get scared. (Of course, it's partly that I get scared.) It's also that it's just not my thing most of the time. I did watch The Twilight Zone, and I like the occasional campy heaven-and-hell–themed movie (Two of a Kind, Oh God, Switch). And there's The Hunger. But that's not about the vampires.

It seems, however, that my tastes do not reflect the current television lineup. Alessandra Stanley, the New York Times TV reviewer who recently expressed dismay at how insecure the new Jaime Sommers is, notes that this season is paranormal-heavy. I must say I agree with her that it is pretty weird.

She noted that a few of the paranormal shows have been on for a least a couple of years:

The Ghost Whisperer

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Tonight on ABC, Christina Applegate's new series Samantha Who? premieres. Time Out New York calls it "easily the best new sitcom of the fall crop, though there's an extent to which that's damnation with faint praise." I feel like I've heard almost nothing about this show, but it might be worth a look, especially with costars like Jean Smart, Jennifer Esposito and Melissa McCarthy (Gilmore Girls).

Over on CBS, Melanie Lynskey (But I'm a Cheerleader, Heavenly Creatures) guest stars on Two and a Half Men, which should really be called Two Hotties when Lynskey and Holland Taylor show up.

The new ABC crime procedural Women's Murder Club debuts tonight.

Everyone's talking about Angie Harmon, but I'm more interested in Laura Harris (Dead Like Me).

And I'm also more interested in Elvira, who graces (haunts? sorry) Fox Reality tomorrow night (at midnight, natch) in The Search for the Next Elvira. … continue reading

The new doc at Seattle Grace has already turned McDreamy's head.

We met Lexie at the end of Grey's Anatomy last season, although we didn't know much more than the fact that she and Derek flirted at the bar. Then, in a callback to Grey's first episode, she showed up as one of the new interns. This season, we learned that she's Lexie Grey, Meredith's half-sister. And the actress who plays her, Chyler Leigh, is quite the hottie. … continue reading

The next two days are going to rock. Or are they going to thirty-rock?

Tonight, try Pushing Daisies on ABC, brought to you by the creator of Wonderfalls. I thought the pilot was excessively cutesy (despite the presence of the awesome Kristin Chenoweth and Swoosie Kurtz) and, well, just kind of dumb. I rolled my eyes so many times, I'm still trying to get them unstuck.

But Sarah and Lori liked it, and so did plenty of critics, so don't listen to me.

On Comedy Central, Sarah Silverman does her cutesy-as-satiric thing tonight on the second season of her show. Now that I can get behind. (If only.)

And tomorrow on NBC — I'm telling you now because you can't possibly prepare early enough — Tina Fey is back with her own cuteness and genius on 30 Rock.

It's good to be alive.

Although House debuted last week, things really get interesting tonight when everyone’s favorite TV misanthrope hires 40 new doctors for his medical team. Among them is Olivia Wilde, everyone’s favorite bisexual character from The O.C. (OK, there were only two — what’s your point?)

I like her more as a brunette; she looks less, well, O.C. Her character (named 13 because House is too lazy to learn everyone’s names and instead gives them all numbers — oh, House, I love you) is a bit of a mystery, apparently. She doesn’t like giving out personal information and is “very self possessed, incredibly confident, but not arrogant. She is kind of cool, calm and collected.” Let Olivia tell you the rest. [Warning: Spoilers] … continue reading

Last week, Private Practice and Bionic Woman were jointly, and depressingly, reviewed in The New York Times. The essence of the review appeared midway: "Both shows suggest that the easiest way to make a female protagonist likable is to dumb her down with self-doubt." I had planned to watch Bionic Woman but not Private Practice. However, I decided to check out both and see if the prognosis was as bleak as the reviewer suggested. My conclusion, not surprisingly, was both yes and no.

I started with Private Practice, which I'm not going to thoroughly review, except to say that it was disappointingly stupid. If Audra McDonald is going to do television instead of Broadway, then it needs to be good television, people!

For anyone unaware, Private Practice is the ill-advised spin-off of Grey's Anatomy (which I do not watch.) The show's opening introduces us to the other doctors in Addison's new practice. Fertility specialist Naomi (Audra McDonald), Addison's best friend, is sobbing on her bathroom floor eating an entire cake.

… continue reading

After last night's premiere bonanza, tonight is all about the returning shows.

On CSI (CBS), we may find out whether Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) escaped from the miniature killer's clutches. We still won't know what she ever saw in Grissom.

On The Office (CBS), Michael thinks the office is cursed. The first four episodes this season are hour-long Pam-apaloozas. (No, they don't really focus on Pam, but I will.) … continue reading

So, was it good for you? The much heralded, much anticipated, much drooled-over Bionic Woman premiered last night. Are you still basking in the afterglow, or do you feel like you’ve taken a cold shower?

Me, I’m already smitten. But not with the title character. Oh, Sarah Corvus. You had me at “Time out.” Seriously, what is it about the bad girls?

*** Warning: Spoilers! *** … continue reading

UPDATE: No, Maya's not leaving SNL after all, so just look at the pretty picture in this post and ignore the rest!

She's in. She's out. She's coming back. No, she's not. The rumors have been floating around for a while now, but EW.com insists that Maya Rudolph has resigned from, rather than re-signed with, Saturday Night Live. There's no official statement yet, but some blogs cite personal and family reasons rather than money or screen time. SNL returns this coming Saturday; this would have been Rudolph's eighth season.

The worst thing about this, other than the fact that we'll no longer get to see Maya's side-splitting impressions of Whitney Houston, Oprah Winfrey or Donatella Versace — or see her "translate" for Fred Armisen's kooky Prince or play Nooni to his Nuni — is that her departure leaves only two female cast members on SNL, Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig. And although each of those women possesses more talent than any three of the male cast members put together, that's a ridiculously low percentage — even for a show that has a crappy track record of giving women their due.

I'll miss you, Maya, but I wish you a happy life and a movie career that's more like Molly Shannon's than Victoria Jackson's. Hold on tight to the Shrek stuff!

Well, damn. Now I’m going to have to watch Life, too. After carefully plotting out my fall TV viewing schedule, I had committed to not adding any more shows. I am but one poor, tired blogger. I cannot carry this weight alone. At some point I need to sleep and see sunlight again. Please, no more. But, alas, the television gods had other plans for me, because after I had decided against watching Life — despite the delicious Sarah Shahi — they had to go and show me this.

Oh, Sarah. A white tank top? You’re not even playing fair. It’s like the lesbian Field of Dreams: If you wear it, they will come. I fly the white flag of surrender. You win, I’ll watch. Go ahead and cover up now — your diabolical plan worked. … continue reading

Just in time for the fall TV season, GLAAD has released its 12th annual Where We Are on TV report, and the answer is — brace yourselves — we're nowhere.

Or, to put it differently, lesbians and bisexual women do exist on network TV, but we're competing with Lucy Liu for screentime. (We already love you, Bonnie Somerville on Cashmere Mafia.)

Or we're a cartoon (hi, Julie Kavner as Patty Bouvier on The Simpsons) or a mayor with a pretty small audience (keep on keepin' on, Libby Villari on Friday Night Lights.) Otherwise, no, we don't really exist. In case you hadn't noticed. And even though there are way more gay men on TV (waaay!), they're mostly white, which makes them just as misrepresented. Sure, things are better on cable, but must we be ghettoized so relentlessly?

In short, GLAAD has pretty much justified every rant we've ever done here on AferEllen.com. Read the report (and behold their very clear, very sobering graphics) and weep! And then thank GLAAD for getting the word out, because maybe someday someone will listen.