Must See TV -- Does it exist anymore?

Last Sunday I was well intentioned. I was going to watch the Emmys and report back on my thoughts - The fact that it has taken me 5 days to sit down and write is a testament to the following sentence. The 2008 Emmys was not only time wasted, but brain cells lost. With that, onto the new season. For this casual viewer the bulk of my Must See TV won't arrive until January, so I am only mildly interested on what debuted this week.

Disclaimer - I don't watch House and/or Ugly Betty. I love and adore Hugh Laurie and America Ferrera, but neither show has ever landed in my bandwidth. I especially know of great love of House and I will inevitably discover it on DVD one of these days. I suspect friendships depend on it.

It was a week of debuts for all things reality -- America's Next Top Model, The Biggest Loser, Survivor have all made their fall debuts. I don't watch the latter so my only statement is - Why on earth would you want to watch people eat bugs in HiDef?

ANTM and I suspect the Biggest Loser (which is on tape) are both suffering from the same problem - predictability. It is a staid format that leaves little intrigue. For me it is why most shows like these leave little drama and interest beyond their first couple of seasons (think The Apprentice). However, the biggest insanity of the week was provided by the show made just for my mom, Dancing with the Stars -- 3 nights??? We need 3 nights of BAD dancing? All three sit lined up on my DVR and I can't quite get my arms around watching Cloris Leachman ballroom dance. Overkill is always my problem. Make us miss you and revel in your return. Three back to back nights of DWTS simply reminds me of how bad the 'b' list celebrities are and how much I miss the talents of So You Think You Can Dance! For my money, I will be awaiting the arrival of the top of the class this Sunday - The Amazing Race.

Oh and for those who think it is a dying art, I did watch one scripted show this week (Mad Men didn't have an original episode because of the Emmys). My love of some of the actors has made me return to Grey's Anatomy, against my better judgement. Here was a melodrama that in my opinion balanced the best parts of Chicago Hope and ER in their heyday. Last season was about as bad as show could get - worst than Desperate Housewives second season, worst than the West Wing post Aaron Sorkin and worst than when the Cosby kids had grown up and Raven Simone was brought in for cute factor and yes, worst than when Moonlighting lost its way post Cybil Shepard pregnancy. It lost everything that made it great, sharp writing with wit and emotion, interesting story lines and strong characters with frailty. Last year's season closer went a long way in atleast earning a three episode peek to see if Grey's can get its groove back. After last night's opener, I remain skeptical. It was neither sensational, nor compelling. While it was nice to see Sandra Oh's character recover. It maligned an interesting character in Nurse Rose. Best to call this one a draw. In a week cluttered in reality TV, a draw will bring me back next week.