There are a lot of brand new shows on television this season. If you’re wondering if any of them are worth your time, I’m here to surprise you by saying, “Absolutely.”
What is a real marvel is two of my favorite new shows are on the lesser network, The CW. It has reached the point where I would rather watch hours of programming on The CW before I even think about turning to Fox, which (with a few notable exceptions) has long been a wasteland of crappy reality shows.
“Aliens in America” is one such redeeming CW entry. A sitcom that actually doesn’t make me want to vomit, “Aliens in America” is about Justin Tolchuk (Dan Byrd), an awkward 16-year-old in Medora, Wis. Despite encouragement from his doting mother, Franny (Amy Pietz), his cheapskate dad Gary (Scott Patterson) and his popular sister Claire (Lindsey Shaw), Justin can’t seem to climb the social ladder at his all-too-typical high school. His mom signs up for the school’s exchange student program, thinking they’ll receive a handsome Nordic teen who will instantly befriend her son and make him popular. Instead, they get Raja (Adhir Kalyan), a 16-year-old Pakistani Muslim.
“Aliens” deals with ethnicity in a smart and blisteringly real way. The show is also hilarious, reminding me of past favorite outcast shows like “Freaks and Geeks.”
Another CW winner is “Reaper,” a comedic-drama about Sam (Bret Harrison), a 21-year-old college dropout (“It made him sleepy,” says his mom) who finds out that his parents have sold his soul to the devil. Satan requests that Sam serve as his bounty hunter, tracking down souls that have escaped from hell and sending them back. Sam eventually accepts his fate and resigns to a life as Satan’s bounty hunter with his slacker friend, Sock (Tyler Labine).
“Reaper” is a nice replacement if you were ever a fan of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” It combines humor and drama to create a compelling and gut-busting hour of television.
NBC’s “Chuck” is another favorite new show of mine. Another comedic-drama, “Chuck” follows the life of Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), a nerdy guy who has government secrets downloaded into his brain when he receives an e-mail from his former Stanford University roommate, who is now a CIA agent. Both the National Security Agency and the CIA dispatch agents John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strzechowski), respectively, to protect Chuck and the information he contains.
“Chuck” is actually from the creator of “The O.C.,” Josh Schwartz, and contains a lot of the same humor. The show is clever and funny, providing you’re willing to suspend belief for an hour.
So in case you’ve grown weary of “Dancing with the Stars” and “Desperate Housewives,” or if you’re just looking for something new, give these new shows a shot. They might surprise you as much as they surprised me.
