Fall TV Scorecard - A Rundown of the Network Offerings

It's Homer Simpson's favorite time of the year. New TV season! No mincing words with a wasted paragraph, lets get right into the new shows.

The Bionic Woman- instant success. It's a remake done with the best possible conditions. TV has had about 10 solid years of sexy women running around as the lead on sci-fi/genre programming (from Buffy to Charmed). It's a remake of a familiar genre classic, but today we have the technology and special effects to pull off a show like this without the suspension of disbelief. And the original Bionic Woman, Katee Sackhoff, returns to play an evil Bionic Woman. And Grey's Anatomy castaway Isaiah Washington will show up on a few episodes. Finally, on the same night and channel as Heroes; there is no better red carpet!

Heroes- Everyone fears a sophomore slump, but they are set up to have a pretty good 2^nd season. Their advantage; season one involved a lot of slow pacing and effort to introduce the concept to the mainstream audience. Now they have us, and they know it. It gives them room and license to get wild.

Lost- It's a fair bet that the fourth season is a hit. Lost found it's direction- now that they have a set schedule of three more seasons of 16 episodes each. They finally responded to the fan outcry by bringing the show together by the season three finale. With only 16 episodes this season, it's guaranteed to have less filler. Harold Perrineau Jr. returns to the show, which at least gives us an update on Michael and Walt (with his mysterious powers). Plus, Lost doesn't return until February, and absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Nip Tuck- Last season, while still creative, was a bit of creative slump compared to seasons two and three. It was repetitive, watching Sean rehash the same, stale, arguments with Julia. Now, with the marriage over, the family separated, and the lead characters relocated to the left coast, this is iffy.