As a self-proclaimed television aficionado, you’d think I’d be more upset about the writers strike.  Let’s face it, aside from the So You Think You Can Dance fetish, I’m pretty much only interested in scripted television.  I should be crying my eyes out.  But while I’m following the strike coverage religiously (Deadline Hollywood Daily, dudes), I’m perfectly content to miss out on the 2008 season.  Doesn’t bother me at all.  So what’s going on here?

1. A really weak pilot season.  None of the year’s new shows were particularly thrilling.  The only ones I still watch regularly are Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies, and I sort of want to love those shows more than I actually do, you know?  I loved Mad Men, but it finished its run mid-fall.  My parents adore The Big Bang Theory.  It’s cute, but I don’t need to watch it every week.  They’re more into it, I decided, because they don’t know any super geeks.  I do, so watching fictional geeks is considerably less thrilling.  So, yeah.  Big yawn to the new shows.  And I have extremely low expectations for the ones yet to air (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Cashmere Mafia, whatever).

2. No exciting cliffhangers.  As for the other shows I watch, I’m happy to press the pause button on their current plotlines.  In previous years, I was into heavily serialized shows like Veronica Mars, Alias and Lost.  I would’ve been irate if the networks put Logan in jail or left Vaughn caught in the throes of some Rambaldi device and then left me hanging for months on end.  But this year, I don’t really have a must-see heart-pounding drama.  I love Friday Night Lights, but c’mon, it’s just football.  Heroes is the only show around with life-or-death stakes, and I hate to point this out to you, but Heroes is mediocre.  It’s exciting occasionally, and some of the people are pretty, but it’s never awesome.  So, yeah, Heroes going off the air for months?  I’ll survive.

As for the softer dramas — Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty – no big cliffhangers there either.  Sure, McDreamy is flirting with the new nurse, but we the viewers know a stupid plot twist when we see one.  It’s not like Meredith has her hand stuck in Bomb Guy’s chest.  Now there’s a cliffhanger!  Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever be as emotionally involved with Grey’s Anatomy again, even if they taped Christina to the front of a speeding train or something.  You can’t top Bomb Guy.  It’s fourth season, the show’s peaked.  It’s all downhill from here.

There’s nothing crazy going on with the half-hour comedy romantic subplots, either — and that’s the Catch-22 with comedies.  They’re more accessible to viewers, but people won’t skip happy hour to go home and watch except in two situations: the show’s attained cult social status, or some folks on the show are about to make out.  Romantic tension is key.  For example, 30 Rock is my favorite show.  I’m obsessed.  But I’m willing to DVR it.  Last season, DVR was unacceptable; I had to watch in real time — because Floyd and Liz were going to hook up.  Same thing with Jim and Pam on The Office: they’re together now, so we can all take a deep breath and relax.  I can even relax all the way to 2009.  As long as I’m assured these shows will come back eventually, I’m happy.

3. College basketball.  I mostly watch ACC games during the regular, and this means I’m woefully underinformed when March Madness rolls around.  When it comes to the Big East, I’ll end up picking teams with stupid mascot names for my bracket, crap like that.  Because normally I’m watching too much TV already to have time for SportsCenter – but this year, there won’t be any good TV to get in the way!  It’s all college hoops all the time, baby!  (Apologies for channeling Dickie V.)

4.  The writers are right.  

5.  The Wire.  I’ve never seen it!  I’m going to rent it!  I’m pretty excited about it!

I watched the return of the late shows last night — loved that Conan seemed to play by the rules; while clearly there was planning about what went on the air, it didn’t seem as “written” as the Leno material did.  And Dave was fantastic, continuing to publicize the writers strike while keeping the material hilarious.  Hey, I guess that’s what professional writers are good for!

Obviously, I’ve taken a little break from posting.  And by “little,” I mean “over three months.”  Don’t hate, I’ve been busy.  But here’s a quick rundown on where I’m at these days:

Television: Man, this WGA strike sucks, huh?   Just give the writers their internet residuals and let’s be done with it.  Still in love with Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock, House, and The Office.  And South Park!  Honorable mentions to How I Met Your Mother and Pushing Daisies.  Scrubs has been unusually weak, but I still won’t miss an episode.  Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty are fine, I guess.  Favorite new show that I actually don’t watch much: Dirty Sexy Money.  Most of the new shows were pretty zzzzzzz, right?  Chuck’s okay but despite Zachary Levi and Captain Awesome, I don’t watch that very often either.  Sad that sexy Michael Vartan’s show was cancelled, and also sad that Rob Thomas couldn’t turn it around.
Movies: Loved Atonement, No Country for Old Men and Michael Clayton.  Really liked Enchanted, Gone Baby Gone, and American Gangster.  Thought Casey Affleck was awesome in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but the rest was totally overrated and snooze-inducing.

And what else?  Celebrity gossip has been totally boring lately.  I’m sick of Britney (though I’m down with Gimme More) and I need a break from Lindsay.  I kind of want to make out with Shia LaBoeuf, which is, frankly, a surprising turn of events.

So, that’s all for now, but I’ll get back into the swing of things in January.  Hopefully with something interesting to say!  But no promises.

You can’t vote for the Emmys, but you can vote for E! Online’s Tater Tops awards here. Refreshingly, they include shows overlooked by the Academy of We Make Television But We Don’t Bother Watching It.

Here’s a sampling of my votes:

Moment That Made Me Want to Throw Out My TV: Meredith and Derek fizzle out in the finale, Grey’s Anatomy
Best Fight: Roy versus Dwight’s pepper spray, The Office
Best Bitch: Vanessa Williams as Wilhelmina Slater, Ugly Betty
Best Kiss: Matt & Julie, “Black Eyes and Broken Hearts,” Friday Night Lights
Best Show of Skin: Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) shirtless, Veronica Mars
Best Chemistry: Kyle Chandler & Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
Show I’ll Miss the Most: Veronica Mars
Best Reality Show: The Amazing Race
Best Comedy: 30 Rock
Best Drama Ensemble: Battlestar Galactica

According to Gold Derby, Friday Night Lights is still in Emmy contention, but Battlestar Galactica got ignored again.  Also, 30 Rock got some serious love from the judges.  This is great news; now that Kevin Reilly has jumped from NBC to Fox, Friday Night Lights is in danger, and could use some Emmy buzz.

Here’s the lowdown on NBC’s new and returning series:

Returning Series:
Heroes: Staying at Mondays at 9 pm after Deal or No Deal. I don’t really get what’s going on here, but NBC is doing the regular season of Heroes, plus a spinoff called Heroes: Origins, where a new character will be introduced each week, and then viewers can vote online to pick which one will join the regular cast next season. This sounds … needlessly complex.

The Office: It’s a good thing this show is awesome, because it’s going to be on all the time — 20 regular episodes and 5 one-hour episodes. It’s staying at Thursday at 9 pm, so sucks for you, Grey’s Anatomy fans.

My Name Is Earl: 25 episode renewal. I love this new “we’re not going to be restricted by the 22-episode paradigm” attitude, but sheesh. Will stay at Thursdays at 8 pm.

30 Rock: A full renewal, hurray! It’s moving up to Thursdays at 8:30 pm, another vote of confidence.

Scrubs: Renewed, but only for 18 episodes. Amazingly, it will actually air in the fall, staying at Thursdays at 9:30 pm.

Friday Night Lights: Unfortunately, Friday Night Lights will now be airing on Fridays at 10 pm, after a block of game shows and Las Vegas. That’s usually when I’m out with a beer in my hand, but luckily I’ve got a DVR. This is kind of a depressing move, at least it’s a renewal, and perhaps it will take some of the ratings pressure off.

Notice how I didn’t mention Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip or Crossing Jordan? That’s cause they’re canceled.

New Series:
Journeyman: Stars Kevin McKidd (Vorenus!) as a newspaper reporter who travels through time and changes lives. Somewhere in time, he bumps into an old girlfriend, but he’s already married, awkward! Does he get tomorrow’s newspaper on his doorstep every morning like Early Edition? We’ll have to wait and see. Airing Mondays at 10 pm, so maybe it’ll catch some of the Heroes crowd.

Chuck: A “comedic spy thriller” about a geek who gets secrets embedded in his brain and is persuaded to become a government agent. The premise sounds funny, but that lame Sarah Lancaster is in it, so I’m marking this one down as suspect. Tuesdays at 9 pm after The Biggest Loser.

Bionic Woman: From the folks who brought you Battlestar Galactica. These guys are great at “reimagining” series, but … seriously, Bionic Woman? Wednesdays at 9 pm. (Make sure to check out Katee Sackhoff in the trailer here.)

Life: A police detective returns to the force after serving time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, hopefully with a Life sentence. (Honestly, they couldn’t come up with a better title than Life?) Wednesdays at 10 pm.

Lipstick Jungle: Based on the book, which I did not read. Has Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price as a bunch of career-oriented Carrie Bradshaws. Or I guess that makes them Miranda Hobbeses. Sundays at 10 pm.

The IT Crowd: Like The Office but with Joel McHale. Luckily, he has plenty of office experience from doing those Burger King commercials. Not currently on the schedule, so it might get plugged in wherever the first cancellation is, or just fill in on Thursdays for Scrubs.

Preview NBC’s new shows on their site or here.