What to watch during November Sweeps...

(or at least, what I'll be watching...)

So... Sweeps start on November 1st... Which means that I have to take at least ten minutes here to pimp my favorite shows for those of you out there who might not watch them (yet!).

My very favorite show in the whole universe right now is Supernatural. It is amazing and completely fantastic television... It's like a movie that has another (good!) sequel every week... I LOVEit! And God forbid I ever accidentally miss it! It airs Thursdays on the CW at 9pm EST. November 1st, episode 3.05 "Bedtime Stories" will air. Here's the trailer:


The promo scene (aka "The Director's Cut") can be seen at the CW website here. I wish I could embed it, but I can't 'cause it's not up at YouTube yet...

You can also watch the first three episodes (and very soon the fourth should be added) there on the CW website... so you can get all caught up... :D

I also give big thumbs up to the following, which I never miss (unless my DVR malfunctions and then I'm sad):

Prison Break - FOX - Mondays at 8pm - although it's getting a bit ridiculous lately

Heroes - NBC - Mondays at 9pm

Bones - FOX - Tuesdays at 8pm

Ghost Hunters - Sci-Fi Channel - the time varies, but usually somewhere between 8 and 11 pm. (oh, and this Halloween, they are broadcasting *live* from the Waverly Hills Sanitarium for *6* hours! If you've got nothing to do, I recommend watching. Their live investigations are kinda awesome...)

Smallville - CW - Thursdays at 8pm - despite the fact that it's been sucking since at least the beginning of last season... I can't seem to let it go...

My Name Is Earl - NBC - Thursdays at 9pm

Supernatural - CW - Thursdays at 9pm - so much better than anything else in this timeslot that it is sad other things get higher ratings... ::sighs:: Seriously, give it a try... and then you too will be saying:

ER - NBC - Thursdays at 10 pm - got hooked on this only at the end of the 2004/2005 season... Wow, that's late! But it's surprisingly good for a show that's been on as long as it has.

Ghost Whisperer - CBS - Fridays at 9pm - 'cause what else is on on Friday nights, and I like Jennifer Love Hewitt... she's so classic... like Audrey Hepburn...

Pleasant surprise

Usually, I dislike female characters on TV... Lana Lang on "Smallville," every girl on "90210," "Melrose Place," and (uck!) "Sex in the City" to name a few off the top of my head. They're unusually vapid and self-centered and completely obsessed with guys most of the time... and I could probably say the same thing about "Desperate Housewives," if I actually was ever bored enough to watch it... And by and large, female characters on network television can be easily categorized into the virgin, vixen or mother archetypes. But this Fall season, I tell you! There are some fantastic, role-model worthy female characters in the new offers from network TV. There's "Dr. Temperance Brennan, PhD," based on real-life forensic anthropologist Dr. Kathy Reichs, PhD, on "Bones." She's a forensic anthropologist who is obviously brilliant, very professional and doesn't take crap from other (living) people. All of her coworkers seem to be trying to get her to lighten up, but she seems to think she's just fine the way she is. Then there's "Dr. Molly Caffrey, PhD" on "Threshold". She's a woman who comes up with contingency plans for end of the world scenarios. Her "Threshold" plan was put in place when something extra-terrestrial began infecting humans. (I also love this show because - other than that it' good - it has a character who is a dwarf, but not comic relief. He's a brilliant scientist and a linguist. Very nice from breaking out of stereotypes. And if all that weren't good enough, Brent Spiner - "Data" on "Star Trek" - is also in this show.) And then there's "Melinda Gordon" on "Ghost Whisperer." She's a newly wed, who co-owns an antique store with her best friend in a small middle-American town. The catch is that she can see and communicate with ghosts and they have a tendency to seek her out at inopportune times. What I really love is that the male characters in all these programs take a backseat to the female stars. There aren't very many programs in television history that that can be said about (I've read academic essays on it for modern American culture classes), so I take that three new characters like this in one season, at least two of whom are shaping up to be as well-rounded as Dana Scully, as a very good sign... Good sign of what exactly? ... That women are perhaps finally being more equally represented in positive roles on television to start. And that they are being cast in roles that many people wouldn't automatically think of a woman doing - such as forensic anthropology and secret government jobs (both fields from what I understand are dominated by men).

But I'm an equal opportunity television watcher... Of the new Fall programs, I'm also watching "Prison Break" and "Supernatural." "Prison Break" only has two characters who are female, and other than that they are both totally all guy shows.