To me, September feels more like “New Year’s” time than January does, because for most of my life it’s been linked to the beginnings of two very important annual events – the school year and the fall TV season. Back-to-school will still impact my life for at least nine more years, but recently, the arrival of new TV episodes in the fall has met with less fanfare. There are a few reasons for that – being able to do my own TV scheduling, thanks to the DVR and TV on DVD, is a big one, but another is that “fresh” TV isn’t exclusive to the fall any more. There’s been a “mid-season replacement” season during the winter for almost as long as I can remember, but that “replacement” factor meant that shows that started in January or February were considered second-tier – not good enough for the “real” season opening in the fall.

That’s not true any more, folks. Some of the biggest shows on TV run straight through (no re-runs!) from January to May. Some have split seasons, or take such a long break for the holidays that it feels like a new season when they come back with new episodes. The shows I’m eager to see back in my DVR this month all fall into one of these categories.

Seasonless shows back from a holiday break
Even though the news doesn’t wait, things do tend to slow down between mid-December and early January, so those fine folks at The Daily Show (my favorite, and y’all know why) and The Colbert Report (Tall Paul’s favorite, because I think he’s just jealous of Jon) have been on vacation. They’ll be back just in time for change to come to Washington, D.C. – a change that it’s been suggested will prove detrimental to comedy. I’m counting on Jon and Stephen to prove the naysayers wrong.

Fall shows back to continue their seasons
My Thursday-night comedy favorites – 30 Rock (some days, I AM Liz Lemon), The Office (Dunder Mifflin makes me appreciate my own job much more), and My Name is Earl – are just about the only shows on my must-see list (besides The Amazing Race, which has already ended its season) that actually start new episodes during the traditional fall TV season any more. They’ve been gone for just a few weeks, but I’m looking forward to seeing them again soon!

Returning to finish split seasons
Life on Mars was the only new series we sampled this fall, and we got totally hooked. (No, I never saw the British original, so please don’t tell me how much better it was; for the record, I never watched the original British version of The Office, either.) This show’s a head trip, and a lot of fun to watch. Detective Sam Tyler was hit by a car in 2008, and came to in 1973 – or did he? If you grew up on 1970’s TV cop shows, the police scenes feel like time travel themselves. The show is taking its time explaining some things – although it did get an order for more episodes this year – so you do need to be patient; in the absence of Lost, this has been our “what-the-hell-is-going-ON?” show. When it returns at the end of January, it will be airing after Lost on Wednesday nights – good scheduling!

Burn Notice is the best reason I know for having basic cable (although Mad Men fans might say differently), and it will be back in a couple of weeks for the second half of its second season. Will (reluctantly) former spy Michael Westen finally pin down the people who “burned” him out of the CIA? That’s the central question of the series, but we love this show because it’s clever, engaging, has great characters, and wouldn’t work as well as it does if it took place anywhere other than Miami.

Returning after a long break
Lost, the original “what-the-hell-is-going-ON?” show, will be back soon with a two-hour season premiere, preceded by a one-hour recap show. I think running this series straight through the winter/spring season really works, but since it can be hard to keep up with what’s going on here when it’s on every week, a review after an eight-month break is essential. According to its producers, this is Lost‘s next-to-last season, and they have promised that they won’t leave loose ends – so far, I haven’t lost faith that they’ll keep their word. I’m definitely in it for the long haul, and I believe this is a show that rewards patience. However, if they kill off Sawyer, Desmond, or Sayid, they will definitely test my patience; among its other credits, this show has some of the finest men on television.

Scrubs wasn’t supposed to come back after last season, and for awhile, it wasn’t certain where it would go if it did – but it IS back (for now), on a new network, and I’m happy. This show isn’t afraid to combine medical drama and utterly absurd comedy, and I am looking forward to witnessing Dr. Cox’s rants again.

Returning after a VERY long break
Last year, we learned that Jack Bauer wasn’t completely indestructible – the Hollywood writers’ strike of 2006-07 killed an entire season of 24, and until the 24: Redemption special episode/TV-movie aired last November, we hadn’t seen our man Jack for a year and a half. He’s coming back just after New Year’s, but some things will be different this time – the president (a woman), the location (Washington), and CTU (shut down), among other things. The changes will probably be good for the show, although the way 24 has played fast and loose with Los Angeles-area geography has always been a source of amusement to Tall Paul and me, and I’ll miss mocking that.

Returning to suck me in one more time (and I’m taking my whole family with me!)

The most popular show on TV, ratings-wise, doesn’t even show up until January; American Idol is the best evidence that the winter TV season isn’t second tier any more. This year, there will be a fourth judge, and it’s rumored there will be less audition absurdity shown – we’ll have to see. AI will do their best to play up the strengths and talents of this year’s contenders, but there won’t be another David Cook, so we need to take this crop on their own merits, whatever they turn out to be.

Return of a show that I have never before confessed has sucked me in
I was a Gilmore Girls fan, but the WB Network’s scheduling always bugged me – the show ran nearly two full months of repeats between late November and the end of January, which was almost the enough time to run the entire season to date all over again. The CW has continued that trick with Smallville, a show that’s been on for years but which I just began watching this season, thanks to the fact I married Comic Book Guy. It’s actually fun to see how it tweaks the Superman story, though – and it scores very high on the pretty-boy scale, which doesn’t hurt either (especially while I’ve been deprived of my Lost eye candy).

When we got the new cable installed after we moved, we got a DVR box with more capacity. With so many favorite shows coming back, hopefully we won’t make it explode before March.

What are your TV-viewing habits like? Are there any shows you’re excited about seeing again soon?

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