While for many on the Hill, the beginning of September marks the much-anticipated return to Tufts, class and work, the entertainment world does its best to distract us with the fall TV season. Television returns in full force this week, and all of the major television networks have worked extremely hard to rebound from last year's writers' strike fiasco.
There are many new shows, each begging for its chance at stardom, hoping to be the next "Lost," "Sex and the City" or "American Idol."
Many oldies-but-goodies will also be returning, alongside a handful of newer shows that survived from last year.
Starting with the master of popular TV, ABC lines up a couple of new shows: "Opportunity Knocks" and "Life on Mars."
The former is a reality game show intended to test everyday families' knowledge about each other, while "Mars" is a drama about a present-day cop who time-travels to 1973.
ABC can afford to hold back on the new shows as the season will cruise along with the enormously popular "Desperate Housewives," "Ugly Betty," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Dancing with the Stars," though the main attraction, "Lost," won't return until February.
While "Betty" and "Grey's" are both on a downward spiral in terms of popularity, the shocking decision to fast-forward the lives of the women in "Housewives" five years into the future proves the network is not above taking risks to create good television.
Last year's "Pushing Daisies" will also make its triumphant return, with the less popular but particularly cute story of a man who brings his love back to life, but is not allowed to ever touch her again as a result.
NBC and CBS are branching out with more new shows than ABC, but NBC also has the ever-popular, highly-addictive "Heroes" and "The Office" to fall back on — especially since no one can get enough of the ultimate awkward couple, Jim and Pam.
The new lineup on CBS features "The Mentalist," starring Simon Baker, about a highly observant, nearly psychic man, and "The Ex-List," a story about Bella Bloom (played by Elizabeth Reaser), who must revisit all of her ex-boyfriends to find her true love.
NBC's new shows hold more promise, especially "Kath and Kim," a comedy starring Selma Blair and Molly Shannon about a unique mother-daughter team who balance just the right amount of love and insanity.
Another interesting NBC tidbit is the return of Christian Slater to the screen in "My Own Worst Enemy," a show about a man with schizophrenic tendencies, in which one half is an efficiency expert with a "Pleasantville" life and the other half is a covert assassin.
The FOX network, though known in the past for its less-than-average offerings, brings back some of its more popular features, including the beloved grumpy doctor in "House," the sexually-depraved forensic anthropologists of "Bones" and the time-slowing agent of "24."
The network will also premiere one of the most-talked-about new shows and the newest creation of J.J. Abrams, "Fringe."
The show begins with an entire international flight turning into goo, and then follows an FBI agent who must track down two scientists to help her solve the mystery/conspiracy of those using the world as test subjects in a lab.
Although just the mention of the Abrams name causes television viewing to drastically rise, "Fringe" cannot top the new (or is it old?) show coming to the CW this fall.
Everyone must have seen the entertainment news announcing this show, as well as the several magazine covers displaying not only the beautiful new faces but also the controversial old ones returning to America's favorite ZIP code.
That's right — "90210" will return to television, with Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty reprising their old roles as Kelly Taylor and Brenda Walsh, respectively.
What's left to be seen is whether the new show can affect the new generation as it did teenagers of the last decade. The excessively sexy "Gossip Girl," returning for its second season, may have already claimed the attention of the majority of the 18-24 demographic.
Nearly all of the old favorites will be back, but there is still great potential for a new top-dog series. At thevery least, viewers will get to see Garth and Doherty throw down like in the old days.
