My Fall TV is almost complete. Tonight, well, right now as I type, is the fall finale (though, I see it as a summer finale, since it was the first half that started in the summer, they used to be over before the fall, it just got a later start this year) of USA Network’s Psych, allowing the slot to be filled by the new series, White Collar next week. Then in the first week of November, ABC will premiere V, after that (Nov 3), I’ll have a good idea of which series I’ll like more, which ones would kill me if they got canned, and ones that I’d be indifferent about.

But let me go over the new shows I watch now and give an idea to which ones are winners and losers. Then I’ll predict how I feel about the next new shows based on their previews.

So far, the first new series of the fall began with the CW’s Vampire Diaries, over a month ago. After six episodes have aired, I can say the series is actually not as bad as I thought. It started rocky, but I actually enjoyed the 6th episode more than the previous, and am looking forward to more. From the first episode, I knew it to be better than Twilight right off the bat, which isn’t hard to do. The positives of Vampire Diaries: a) no sparkling vampires that play baseball b) there’s actually sex and violence (though toned down for an 8PM slot on broadcast, but that’s alright), and c) Ian Somerhalder (Smallville, Lost) as Damon gives enough reason to watch since he’s not the one writing in a diary. The negatives: a) yeah, that whole diary thing b) winy female character, therefore still a bit teeny. The other Thursday series was FlashForward, and since I was already swamped with shows, I caught the Friday encore (actually decided to catch that at last minute, since I knew what kind of show it was, I waited ’til the ratings were in, they were good, I proceeded), and, though I usually allow time for shows like these, I quickly stopped watching. Even fast-forwarded in the middle, just so it’ll end faster. When shows deal with time, even in the manner, they got to be careful. There just seems to be too many little holes for me to just let it slide and enjoy (some of the stuff they saw in their ‘FlashForward,’ seem to only happen because they knew the future, which is a little too flawed for me). The other Thursday show, which I had REALLY high expectations, was NBC’s Community, again, like I did with 30 Rock when it premiered a few years back, I watched the pilot, but nothing more. NBC used to have the best comedies. They should’ve kept My Name is Earl.

Tuesday is probably my slowest night, of all TV, with one new drama, CBS’s NCIS: LA, which I only watched because of it being a spinoff of NCIS, but I knew it wouldn’t be as good (no Gibbs + no Tony + no Abby + no Duckie = not as good), but it’s not bad neither. I do get a kick out of the Hetty character, she’s just funny and interesting enough to keep me tuned in. The other characters, I barely remember their names.

The next new series would be the ABC comedies of Modern Family and Cougar Town on Wednesday night, which I have go to say, also exceeded my expectations for them. Modern Family features an interesting storytelling (the couples and their kids talk to the camera discussing their families as if they were talking with a therapist, at least that’s what I picked up on it). And Courteney Cox’s new series Cougar Town is actually much more funnier than I expected. And I hope, maybe this series will get her the Emmy nod she deserves (being the only Friend to never be nominated). ABC’s other series, the drama Eastwick, I’m a bit indifferent about. It’s not bad, I had low expectations for it anyway, and I find myself saying “The Power of Three will set us Free,” since I think about Charmed sometimes (three witches, really the only similarity, but it seems to stick). NBC has a new series on Wednesday called Mercy. I had low expectations, watched it because it has Michelle Trachtenberg (interesting, since I never liked her character, Dawn, on Buffy, but I have this need to watch shows with Buffyverse actors). And, like Eastwick, it was on par with the low expectations I had for it, I even missed on episode, and seem to not miss much of anything (only 4 have aired so far, like mostly everything else).

Friday is Syfy’s Stargate Universe, which is the second spin-off of Stargate SG-1. No surprise, it’s so far coming off as the worst between the three. SG-1 was golden, where Atlantis fizzled a little toward the end, but Universe is so different. It’s very obvious they wanted to go dark and capture a Battlestar Galactica feel to it, but why? The franchise was good as it was. I’ll still watch, since most Sci-Fi/Fantasy type shows tend to prove themselves later, and I am curious as to what the enemies could be (and let’s hope they don’t find a way to bring the replicators in like they did with Atlantis).

Sunday gives us one new comedy, FOX’s Cleveland Show, a Family Guy spinoff, which is funny and watchable, so that’s a plus in my book, though it’s no Family Guy. CBS has a new drama, Three Rivers, which is sinking in ratings, which sucks, because Alex O’Loughlin (Moonlight) stars in it as a top transplant surgeon, and though it may not be the greatest, it’s actually not as bad. It airs Sundays at 9PM. Plus, CBS fucked it up when they aired the pilot (which was obviously the pilot) second, and the 2nd episode 1st. Shame on you. Now, I need to clarify that only 2 episodes have aired so far, so I may be lenient towards it because they were out of order, though I think it’ll get better once we see the episodes in the order they were meant to be seen in.

That leaves me with, as I said, White Collar (which stars the awesome Matthew Bomer (Tru Calling, Chuck)) and V (which stars Morena Baccarin, best know for the role of Inara on Joss Whedon’s Firefly and also as the Orici in the final season of Stargate SG-1). Based on the previews, I have really HIGH expectations, and I’m thinking V may take some getting used to, but it looks like I’m gonna love White Collar, and when Monk leaves this year, White Collar looks like an excellent compantion for Psych, and I’m glad USA Network looks to be building an audience by having Monk as a lead-in.

And for the previews:

Summary:

In order, here was my list of what I was looking forward to, with shows of high expectations listed first: White Collar, Stargate Universe, Community, Cleveland Show, Cougar Town, NCIS: LA, Vampire Diaries, Three Rivers, Modern Family, V, Eastwick, Mercy, and FlashForward.

Now, with the ones that have already aired, here’s what I’m still watching that I prefer, with the best first: Modern Family, Cougar Town, Vampire Diaries, Three Rivers, Stargate Universe, NCIS: LA, Cleveland Show, Eastwick, Mercy, and then the ones I already stopped watching: Community and FlashForward.

I stand by that in the end, White Collar will at least meet my expectations for it (maybe even better them), while V will more likely fly under my expectations (sci-fi shows can be trickier).