ABC usher's in it's Sunday line up

Yes I realize it is Wednesday, but life often gets the better of me and Paul Newman died this weekend, I needed a moment for perspective. So the scripted season is officially up and running and Sunday brought about a return of an old favorite for me and the chance for two shows that I am once again on the fence about -- ABC has a theme going in this.

First, The Amazing Race kicked off. Seriously, even if you don't watch reality TV as a regular course of your television repertoire, you should spend a couple of hours with The Amazing Race. It's travelogue on crack. Think the HGTV meets the Food Challenge with better scenery. What is not to like about a dozen couples (be it friends, couples, siblings or parents and children) racing around the world in the biggest 'treasure hunt' of a lifetime. The show spans all continents and tracks over 30,000 miles in the course of a month. You get to see world famous destinations along with remote locales you'd never consider, let alone heard of all the while getting a cliff notes glimpse into cultures. From a contestant point of view, it brings out the best and worst in people for sure, but for those who take it for what it is - an experience of a lifetime the voyeuristic at home can just simply enjoy the ride.

In addition to the above, my lone appointment TV at the moment ABC ushered in the season premieres of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. The former has had a bumpy road since it's breakout initial season, mainly because it has underestimated the power of the friendships they established among the women at the core of the show and focused on the antics and mystery components to varying degrees of disastrous failure. Last season, didn't quite bring Desperate Housewives back to full season one form, but with storylines surrounding Felicity Huffman's character's cancer and the poignant episodes that were built leading into and out of a tornado disaster Desperate did get some of its groove back, enough to create an inspired final five minutes of the season cliffhanger that had fast forwarded all of Wisteria Lane five years juxtaposing the characters into spaces where we often wouldn't imagine they'd land. This season picked up where that final five minutes left off, partially living in real time and partially filling in the back story of the last five years - including Bree losing custody of her grandson who she was raising as her own son, Gabriela having given birth to two daughters and embracing her inner sloth, Lynette cancer free and trouble filled with wild children becoming deviant teens and Susan, have yet again separated from Mike over yet another conflict. Susan is the greatest loss on Housewives, what started as a quirky insecure funny character has become a ball of twitches and irrational behavior (think Monica on Friends after about 5 seasons). That said, the episode failed to go beyond establishing this season. I will likely keep an eye on it, much like Grey's Anatomy, but my love of Felicity Hoffman may not be enough to keep this on the DVR list. P.S. - Edie's new husband (WHO is my LA LA LA from Boomtown)- here's my prediction, he's after either Susan or Mike for the woman and child who died in the accident they were in during the flashback.

Now, Brothers and Sisters has left me troubled. I love the actors on the show, really, there isn't a bad one in the bunch. The writing and plot lines are killing this show. For me B&S has always been a bumpy ride, it came out the gate rocky and then settled into a nice rhythm and last season again went off the ranch. The season ending discovery that Rebecca was not the long lost sister and Star Wars moment of "There is another" brother - mystery Ryan is recycling at its worst. It's a turn off for a multitude of reasons and at the top of the list is, that it takes these characters on a journey we have already seen them make! Save for a delicious scene between Patricia Wetig and Sally Field where Field reveals to Wetig she wasn't the only lover of patriarch William the opener did little but chip away at the credibility and moreover, the likability of these family members, the most disturbing of which is that of oldest sister Sarah played with voracious depth by Rachel Griffiths. Shame on the writers, your actors deserve better. I will miss these actors, but I am pretty much done with this one.