ON POPULAR CULTURE:

Ah, fall, that time of year when I get my biannual cold, leaves change on the trees, and new TV shows start, and old TV shows resume.

"Fringe" - you tried to be interesting, and I tried to be interested in you. You had Joshua Jackson and some other people in your cast, and I think some of the "Lost" guys were involved at some point in production. But here's the rub: I don't care about your characters.

"Hole In The Wall" - some would say that the recent weather is indicative of End Times. I would say the fact that this show exists is proof that the End is Nigh.

"The Mentalist" - it kills me that this unabashed rip-off of "Psych" - minus the humor, charm, or Maggie Lawson - is so highly-rated. It just goes to show that old people - the target demographic of CBS, I believe - are killing America.

Returning Shows I Watch

"How I Met Your Mother" - this show does all the little things right. Case in point from the last episode of last season: The main character is talking about what life would be like if he had gotten in several different cabs, including one that is obviously a late-70's sedan with "Taxi" spray-painted on the side. Cut to: the inside of his apartment, via flashback, and another character is reading a newspaper. The newspaper's headline? "Naked Cabby Kills Again" or something very similar. I rewound and checked, and sure enough, the man driving the spray-painted Taxi did appear to be naked. Just an amazing show, although at this point, I just want him to meet the mother already.

"Heroes" - Okay, okay, everyone hated Heroes season 2. But season 3...I love the question of "what does it mean to be human?" Will Claire realize that it's not our capacity to feel pain that makes us human? (Hint: it's our capacity to feel love.) How many Ali Larter clones were made, and where can I get one? And if you screw up the future, couldn't you keep going back to the past to get it right? (Also known as the Harry Potter problem)

"Chuck" - although I haven't watched the season premiere yet, I'm confident it will be wonderful.

"Life" - although I haven't watched the season premiere yet, I'm confident it will be wonderful in a completely different way.

"The Office" - Just amazing.

"My Name Is Earl" - This is another show that lost its way during last season. However, producers seem to have realized this and are fixing it. The show continues to tell stories in a different way than anything else on TV, and their fictional universe is as richly populated as anything outside "The Simpsons."

"30 Rock" - yeah!

"Lost" - I know it doesn't start until February, but I'm already excited to find out what in the world is going on there. Will it end up being a dense mess like the end of "John From Cincinnati?"

Fox Sunday Night - The Simpsons is still good, but in a completely different way than how it used to be good. Family Guy is still good for a laugh, but it's simply too...exposed to be fully enjoyed. I'm not normally one who stops liking something when it becomes mainstream, but I enjoyed Family Guy more when I felt like I was one of the few who liked it. And American Dad continues to be a very funny show. The fact that they've gone from "We have to hide the alien in the attic" to just allowing Roger to wear costumes of whatever suits his fancy and let him blend in to human society...well, that's just amazing.

It seems like I watch a lot of TV, but through the magic of Tivo, it doesn't take too long. I still have time to catch up on video games, books, and, you know, real life.