I love the start of the Fall TV season!
I always get excited about all the new and returning dramas and what I’ll be watching. Every year I go through the same ritual of trying to figure out my “live-watch” and DVR schedule for each night. It’s more thrilling to me than a new pair of Louboutins. OK, I’ve never owned a pair of Louboutins, but you get the picture.
The preliminary work begins with the arrival of TV Guide’s Fall TV Preview issue. They do a handy grid that lays out all the primetime shows by timeslot for each day of the week. I photocopy their grid and then highlight all of my returning shows in blue along with any new shows that I want to catch in yellow. In the past, I would try to watch at least one episode of every new drama on the broadcast networks, but there just isn’t enough time any more especially now that cable is also putting out great shows. So now, after the networks hold their Upfronts, I makes notes of which new series peaks my interest and go from there. In general, I’m partial to almost everything on The CW, so all of their new dramas are still guaranteed the one episode nod.
Next, on a separate piece of paper, I write down the premiere dates of all my returning shows and the new shows I want to check out and my task of building my TV watching schedule begins. I also have to factor in my favorite series on cable stations like USA Network, TNT, ABC Family, FX, and Lifetime, but fortunately most of those are in the summer, however, mid-season can get very complicated.
All the shows that I plan to watch live are “A’s”, the shows that I’ll record on DVR 1 are “B’s” and the shows that go on DVR 2 are “C’s.” This is an on-going organic process as I quickly give some new shows the boot after one or two episodes while others become my favorite – even topping some of my fav returning shows, which actually happened last fall with three new series and required some hasty re-shuffling on the DVRs. This year, I also be planning which shows I’ll “check-in” and engage with on my favorite social TV site – GetGlue.
Well, that’s my annual start to the Fall TV season. Do you have a Fall TV ritual? What new or returning shows are you looking forward to?