Aarrggghhhh! Sometimes networks make no sense. Yesterday, ABC spent all day advertising a new episode of "Alias" would air -- one that previews and spoilers indicated would be pivotal. I set my VCR and sat down to watch and THEY RERAN THE SEASON PREMIERE!! A quick visit to the Television Without Pity (TWoP) forums for the show indicated that this was not a glitch in the west coast satellite feed: No one got to see the promised new episode. Speculation is that ABC didn't want to compete with the 7th game of the World Series because Disney owns the Angels and if they won, Michael Eisner would be accepting the trophy. Wouldn't want people watching his network for an exciting piece of television when they could be seeing him gloating for two minutes with a trophy. By the way, does anyone even care whether he did or not?? Now we have to wait another week for that pivotal episode and the sweeps episodes will be off-schedule for maximum ratings. Grrrrrr.

At least we have the premiere of 24 tomorrow. Looking forward to that one.

We're getting deeper and deeper into "John Doe" and keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't get canceled. If you have a Nielsen box, please, PLEASE watch this show a few times.

The first two episodes of TE3 have held my interest. We'll see how much longer watching people learn the same skills as the previous seasons can keep me entertained.

TAR3 continues to rock. Though it sucked that the last five minutes were interrupted in my timezone by the stupid press conference about the sniper *suspects* being sought. Five minutes of a talking head who said only about 2 sentences of actual news and I missed the Harvard Law School grads interpreting "walk to the pit stop" as "take a taxi" and therefore getting eliminated by penalty time. It sucked. Luckily, the people in the TWoP forums gave me the recaps and the info I needed to understand every nuance of what happened.

"Buffy" rocked last week. Amazing payoff in long-term continuity for those who have been watching the series for years. I've only been watching since FX started airing it last year, but I managed to see all six seasons and feel validated now that things from five seasons ago *do* matter in a television show.

"Angel" has caught my boi's attention and I am also enjoying the improvement. We haven't watched the tape from last night's episode yet. However, I read some spoilers for the season a few days ago and I'm excited at where the show is headed for the season. I'm going to love watching how they make these things happen and what plays out as a result. I won't spoil here, but it's good stuff and worth watching November and February sweeps.

There's more gushing to do -- and disbelief at the success of certain shows-- but it's time to leave tv and return to real life.

Saw the premiere of "Birds of Prey" -- while it's nothing special, it's way better than "Firefly". We're willing to give it a chance. Bad acting seems to be a universal problem with the new series this season, but at least "John Doe" and "Birds of Prey" have a consistent storyline and interesting effects and camera work.

TAR3 hit the ground running and is living up to the quality I've come to expect after two seasons. Though I was annoyed that there wasn't a Roadblock in the first leg of the race. And when are they going to break down and have a lesbian on the show??? They've had gay men in every season, in fact they have had at least two in each of the three races and still not a single lesbian -- well, not an open one.

Tough Enough (TE) is starting their third season this Thursday night. We'll probably be out that night, so it will be taped. Our taping schedule is pretty full already: Buffy and that 70s show on Tuesday (decided not to tape Smallville); Enterprise, Twilight Zone, TAR3 and Birds of Prey on Wednesday; Will & Grace & Friends (if we're not home) and now TE2 on Thursdays; John Doe on Fridays; Alias on Sundays (and Angel if we're not home). Still have to check out David E Kelly's new show (I like Kathleen Robertson, not DEK) and 24 doesn't start for a few more weeks, so who knows what we'll end up taping.

Both Buffy and Angel seem to have improved greatly. I had stopped watching Angel about 2/3rds through last season (and I'd only started watching it last fall) and was sticking with Buffy out of loyalty rather than interest (though Evil Willow was worth seeing and I like James Marsters portrayal of Spike). Even my boi is getting into watching with me. The problem is she asks me questions about Angel that I can't answer. I have to remind her that I've only seen about a dozen episodes, but I have picked up some background from knowing the Buffy history of characters and reading forums and recaps online from previous Angel episodes. I think Buffy has me hooked until it ends. We'll see if Angel holds my interest after next week's Las Vegas episode.

And how is it that Alias is actually *better* in the second season (at least so far) than the first? Most shows have a sophomore slump after a good first season. Not complaining at all. Just wondering.

After most of the season premieres I can say TAR3 (tomorrow night!!) and BtVS are the only "must sees" on my list. I'll also be watching Alias, Enterprise, Twilight Zone, John Doe, West Wing, Friends, Will & Grace, Smallville, and Angel, but I won't be upset if I miss a week here or there due to actual living. I won't know about 24 for another month and there's still a few other new shows to give a trial period. Until Tough Enough 3 starts!