Anyone else think that was about half as cute as it thought it was?

Yeah, the first few hours of this season of "24" rocked, but the last few shows are leaving that slight vomit taste in my mouth. Who's writing this stuff? STRETCH!

...on "30 Rock." I don't know why I've watched for so long, honestly. Just out of habit, the TiVo keeps recording it, might as well. The HFPA gave Alec Baldwin, the show's saving grace, their Best Actor in a Comedy award because they love to appear ahead of the curve. But jeez, it's just awful. Tina Fey humor just...sucks. "Mean Girls" excepted, of course.

But that's just me.

Off the TiVo schedule it goes, along with "The Nine" (what a snooze it became) and likely "Heroes," the most overrated show on television. On that front, I'll give the new episodes a shot, but if it doesn't look up soon, it's gone. Ditto "Studio 60," which needs to spice itself up...and this coming from one of the show's few supporters.

Sigh, oh well. At least there's Jack Bauer on Mondays, Midland, TX high school football on Wednesday nights, along with a hilarious season of "The Office."

Alright. Now that's a solid season premiere. I wasn't high on last season much at all, and I still feel like season four - well - the first half - is the high mark for the series. But this time it looks like the writers are digging...deep. A very promising start.

Also saw one of those TV spots for Billy Ray's "Shattered Glass" follow-up, "Breach," which I saw six or seven months ago. I had forgotten all about it, actually, though I did speak to Ray about the film last February for the NY Times. The film is a tight, interesting cat-and-mouse drama with Chris Cooper tackling a deeply conflicted and daunting character. Lots of great religious overtones permeate the script, and though it isn't the most penetrating follow-up to what was a solid and righteous debut for the writer/director, it is a decent enough thriller. Things certainly may have been tweaked and nuanced for the better since the cut I screened. Regardless, Ray has a great head on his shoulders (he points to the films of the 70s as what inspired his desire to be a writer) and I think he's got a long, versatile career ahead of him.

You know, I never was much for Peter Berg's film "Friday Night Lights" two years ago, but I've got to say what he's done with the material on the small screen is an achievement indeed. I finally caught up with it over the holidays via TiVo, and I love this show. The characters, the arcs, the filmmaking, the acting, all of it, top quality. I realize I'm kind of alone on that - not a lot of people seem to love it. But I found a new drug.

"Heroes"
This thing is turning out to be a melodramatic piece of garbage. Seriously, I'm feeling burned for being seven episodes deep and having that commitment to keep watching.

"Jericho"
Caught up on these the last few weeks, and, well, it just doesn't seem to be going anywhere. And again, what's with these shows that don't seem to have a life after season one? Speaking of which...

The Nine
Ugh. I stopped caring. I still watch, but I stopped caring. Are you still watching? Were you ever?

Anyway, I've bailed on the horrid "30 Rock" and still need to catch up on all the episodes of "Friday Night Lights" (for some reason, I'm not itching to do that). "Studio 60" is proving itself uneven, with a fantastic show always being followed by a scattered one for some reason. "Shark" is still a good episodic for my money and "Lost" has convinced me they're making this shit up as they go along.

Ah well, "24" isn't far off. Let's hope it's a better season than last, though. Season 5 was just a sharp turn downward from Season 4, I felt. But the ending leaves Season 6 with a bevy of possibilities.

I don't spend a lot of time talking TV around these parts, but there's plenty to discuss lately it seems.

"Shark"
This is one of the best new shows of the season. It's refreshingly unique amongst the rest of the procedurals and seems to really care about its main character, building upon what we know with newfound creativity each week. I hate that I missed the pilot, but the last three episodes (especially William Forsythe's guest spot) have been nearly flawless. Woods is heading for an Emmy nom I think.

"The Nine"
Finally caught up with the first two episodes here, and there isn't a lot to discuss yet. But where do you take a show like this after season one anyway? I don't know, but so far it seems an interesting take on the "Inside Man" structure, and a harmless viewing experience each week (as long as they steer clear of the melodrama of the cop vs. the force stuff).

"Lost"
Sigh. Count me amongst the legions getting TIRED of the relentless measured pacing of this series. No, I don't want the answers NOW, but some more meat on the bone each week would be nice. I liked the opening moments of the season premiere, and I love that they are clearly developing the best relationship of the series (Sawyer and Kate), but I hope we get somewhere soon. Can't count our chickens two weeks in, though.

"Studio 60"
This one is a can't miss each week for me, but it admittedly has some glaring flaws. But most of those flaws exist in the realm of hyper-reality, a typical Sorkin scenario in any case. Most opposition comes from an industry experienced in what's being carried across on screen, but I can't call myself a hater by any stretch. I've got live TV experience in my blood too, mind you, and this stuff is just fun and it moves quickly. Last week's episode was the best so far, and it did a nice job of building on specific characters.

"30 Rock"
On the other hand, this show is a real piece of shit. I'll give it one, maybe two more weeks, but I laughed ONCE during the season premiere - at Tracy Morgan running in his tighty whiteies down the 405. And that's a cheap joke, folks. Alec Baldwin just reads lines of the page and Tina Fey seems to have taken a step back to the pre-"Mean Girls" days of bad, Jimmy Fallon sidekick humor.

"Twenty Good Years"
That's what it's called, right? The John Lithgow thing? Well, I stopped watching ten minutes in. Not my cup of tea. Sitcoms have sucked for so, so long.

My good friend Sasha Stone and I were talking yesterday about the "Pirates" phenomenon sweeping the box office record books, and she mentioned somethng that occured to me a few days prior, only she put it in the concise terms that really drove it home as an interesting as hell tid-bit.

How funny is it that, just as "Aquaman" beats out "Spider-Man"'s opening weekend gross on HBO's "Entourage," "Pirates" ends up doing it in real life?? This is like one of those creepy/interesting moments like "Back to the Future 2" predicting the Florida Marlins would win the World Series in 1997, no? I don't recall the exact gross of "Aquaman" that Jeremy Piven blurts out as Adrian Grenier stands atop the roof of a house party Billy Crudup-style. Maybe I should hit the up the ole' HBO ON Demand and find out for sure, but I don't think it was very close to what "Pirates" ended up raking in. Actually no, it was something like $118 mil, right? Anyway, stuff like this cracks me up.

Oh, and "Entourage" has to be the most entertaining series on television in a LONG time, just for the sheer romp of it all. Congrats to Piven on his second Emmy nomination. Now, let's see a win!