that would be a great show...because Joanie loves Chachi.

I was 90% convinced that Directv sucks, because their DVR is janky, and upgrading to HD is going to be a total PITA, but THIS clinches it. I HAVE DIRECTV, and I had NO FREAKING IDEA they were airing new episodes of Friday Night Lights since the beginning of October. I had No. Idea. I am speechless. I <3 this show, and far as I can tell, they made zero effort to let me in on some exclusive deal. I have FNL on a season pass on my NBC channel...why couldn't they tell me? Why? Cause they suck. That's why. I don't even know what to say. I suppose I will have to start watching in January like the rest of the world.

me being speechless:

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#1) The Shield. By far my favorite thing this season.

#2) Friday Night Lights. best season yet. by FAR.

#3) Family Feud. John O'Hurley is a great host. I usually watch one or two day while cooking or watching the toddler. Classic game show that hasn't lost it's touch.

#4) Wolverine and the X-men. Cartoon on some channel I don't get. oh wait, I mean: a cartoon I download every week. Nice story so far. Pretty good art.

#5) Dexter. Sigh. still good, but it's no longer great. Plus, episode 6 had a huge continuity error in the blinds behind Debra (the blinds were wrong! the blinds were wrong!) basically sums my feelings about the season: there was a continuity error in the blinds.

I just about gave up on Grey's Anatomy last year, but they have definitely redeemed themselves this year. The addition of Kevin McKidd convinced me to give it a chance, and I have not been disappointed. I thought it was odd, though, that you reference the Callie/Hahn romance without mentioning that it is over and Brooke Smith has been unceremoniously dumped from the show. Big mistake, IMO.

I have been a devotee of Friday Night Lights since the pilot episode (well, really, since I first read the book years ago). Last season was somewhat disappointing with its soapy elements, but its heart was still there. I don't have DirecTV, but I'm happy to hear it's back in good form. January is just around the corner.

Dude, I don't know about your DirecTV but mine has been showing commercials for "Friday Night Lights" for months now. If you watch mostly stuff like Showtime or HBO I guess you'd miss them, but I don't have any of the extra cost channels so I get to see all the ads for every flippin' extra thing they can milk you for.

Friday Night Lights celebrates football, which is basic sadistic evil, but worse, it shows small-town football, the evil that makes living in small towns unbearable. And Grey's Anatomy is just another soap opera. I root for the day when every character on the show dies in a gory explosion.

However, Havrilesky provides a good defense for both. I can't accept her arguments, but she argues well for both, with practically no pretense and no cheap stunting. She's really grown as a critical writer. Now if she'd just find some good shows to praise...or for that matter if there were good shows to praise on the current schedules of the networks...

By the way, I haven't seen Wolverine and The X-Men on local channels. I wonder if the network affiliates in my area have dumped the program; this happens to a lot of kid's shows. I fully expect that the FCC will eventually kill the requirement to entertain/educate kids at all, and children's programming on free TV will die completely. It will only appear on pay cable channels.

I'm going to second what washpublicdefender said about Brooke Smith's character being written off the show. I hope they consider bringing her back sooner than later.

Even worse would be having to see the woman with Ausberger's every week. I don't have much experience with people afflicted by that particular ailment, but I have enough to question how believable the character is. Was a nice effort and thought (I notice Eric Stolz directed that particular episode), but I felt the character came across as silly and contrived.

Best,

-m in detroit

The "Eclipse which gave them their powers" is the polite term for "black ops project". NBC is so silly. The show has jumped several tracks and rolled over so many times that it is unfathomable - unless the eclipse gave you some powers too.

This is ridiculous. Turn off the TV and do something. There are a lot of problems in your life and in your country that your sitting on the couch will not solve.

Thanks so much for the tip on Friday Night Lights! I was one of it's biggest promoters during the first season and got a lot of other people to watch, but then drifted away, disappointed, sometime last year. So great to hear that it's regained its form. Now I can't wait for January.

Watch YouTube. THAT's reality. Anyway does FNL still affect that jittery handheld crap? Are tripods too 'fake'?

Friday Night Lights? Yawn. Grey's Anatomy? Yawn. Predictable plots, uninteresting people, mediocre acting. What ever happened to good script writing? It seems today's prime time TV is geared to pre-teens, who, of course, are never at home watching the tube. I could say the same for TV commercials. Hello? There ARE adults watching also, although I am reading a whole lot more than I used to and watching DVDs.

My choices? "House," "24," "Prison Break"--although the in again, out again plot wears thin. Some shows, like "Life" would be OK if I could stand watching the lead actor for an hour. Same with "Dexter" and "Chuck," "Desperate Housewives," "Wife Swap." Unattractive people.

Of course, we can't each have our way, but can't writers at least make an effort at keeping a mature audience?

Get rid of "the Office," "King of Queens," anything with Adam Sandler, Steve Cottrel or Will Ferrel, game shows,well....almost everything that passes for humor. Those shows are NOT funny. The cast is NOT funny.

The one where they all declare their love for one another while a flaming helicopter crashes into a busload of AIDS orphans right outside the ER doors and there's a gang of terrorists who break into the hospital and hold everyone hostage while their drug lord gets a liver transplant at gunpoint. Oh, and it's Christmas.

Yeah I love that shit.