The Fall Season is Upon Us

Ugh. I'm pretty sure I've complained about having TV homework earlier in the summer but oy. I still have the last 6 (or so) episodes of The Office, Cold Case, Numb3rs, SVU, NCIS and Medium to catch up on... and I don't really want to. I mean, I want to know what happens and I am still going to watch the new seasons and whatnot but I just don't feel like sitting down and watching all of these stockpiled episodes. Will they ever get watched? Probably... but I'm not 100% sure. And it will definitely take some time and effort!

Unfortunately for me, however, the start of the fall season is rapidly approaching. Here's a cheat sheet, courtesy of Ausiello, on many shows' premiere dates:

Tuesday, September 8:
90210, 8 p.m. (The CW)
Melrose Place, 9 p.m. (The CW)
Sons of Anarchy, 10 p.m. (FX)

Wednesday, September 9:
America’s Next Top Model, 8 p.m. (The CW)
Glee, 9 p.m. (Fox)
So You Think You Can Dance, 8 p.m. (Fox)

Thursday, September 10:
Supernatural, 9 p.m. (The CW)
The Vampire Diaries, 8 p.m. (The CW)

Friday, September 11:
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, 8 p.m. (Fox)

Saturday, September 12:
America’s Most Wanted, 9 p.m. (Fox)
Cops, 8 p.m. (Fox)

Monday, September 14:
Eddie Griffin: Going for Broke, 10 p.m. (VH1)
Gossip Girl, 9 p.m. (The CW)
The Jay Leno Show, 10 p.m. (NBC)
Lincoln Heights, 8 p.m. (ABC Family)
One Tree Hill, 8 p.m. (The CW)

Tuesday, September 15:
The Biggest Loser, 8 p.m. (NBC)

Wednesday, September 16:
The Beautiful Life, 9 p.m. (The CW)
Launch My Line, 10 p.m. (Bravo)

Thursday, September 17:
Bones, 8 p.m. (Fox)
Community, 9:30 p.m. (NBC)
Fringe, 9 p.m. (Fox)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 10 p.m. (FX)
The Office, 9 p.m. (NBC)
Parks and Recreation, 8:30 p.m. (NBC)
Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday, 8 p.m. (NBC)
Survivor: Samoa, 8 p.m. (CBS)

Friday, September 18:
Brothers, 9 p.m. (Fox)
Crash, 10 p.m. (Starz)

Sunday, September 20:
Bored to Death, 9:30 p.m. (HBO)
Curb Your Enthusiasm, 9 p.m. (HBO)

Monday, September 21:
Accidentally on Purpose, 8:30 p.m. (CBS)
The Big Bang Theory, 9:30 p.m. (CBS)
Castle, 10 p.m. (ABC)
CSI: Miami, 10 p.m. (CBS)
Dancing with the Stars, 8 p.m. (ABC)
Heroes, 8 p.m. (NBC)
House, 8 p.m. (Fox)
How I Met Your Mother, 8 p.m. (CBS)
Two and a Half Men, 9 p.m. (CBS)

Tuesday, September 22:
The Forgotten, 10 p.m. (ABC)
The Good Wife, 10 p.m. (CBS)
NCIS, 8 p.m. (CBS)
NCIS: Los Angeles, 9 p.m. (CBS)

Wednesday, September 23:
Cougar Town, 9:30 p.m. (ABC)
Criminal Minds, 9 p.m. (CBS)
CSI: NY, 10 p.m. (CBS)
Eastwick, 10 p.m. (ABC)
Gary Unmarried, 8:30 p.m. (CBS)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, 9 p.m. (NBC)
Mercy, 8 p.m. (NBC)
Modern Family, 9 p.m. (ABC)
The New Adventures of Old Christine, 8 p.m. (CBS)

Thursday, September 24:
CSI, 9 p.m. (CBS)
Flash Forward, 8 p.m. (ABC)
Grey’s Anatomy, 9 p.m. (ABC)
The Mentalist, 10 p.m. (CBS)

Friday, September 25:
Dollhouse, 9 p.m. (Fox)
Ghost Whisperer, 8 p.m. (CBS)
Law & Order, 8 p.m. (NBC)
Medium, 9 p.m. (CBS)
Numb3rs, 10 p.m. (CBS)
Smallville, 8 p.m. (The CW)

Saturday, September 26:
48 Hours Mystery, 10 p.m. (CBS)
Saturday Night Live, 11:30 p.m. (NBC)

Sunday, September 27:
60 Minutes, 7 p.m. (CBS)
The Amazing Race, 8 p.m. (CBS)
American Dad, 9:30 p.m. (Fox)
Brothers & Sisters, 10 p.m. (ABC)
Californication, 10 p.m. (Showtime)
The Cleveland Show, 8:30 p.m. (Fox)
Cold Case, 10 p.m. (CBS)
Desperate Housewives, 9 p.m. (ABC)
Dexter, 9 p.m. (Showtime)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
Family Guy, 9 p.m. (Fox)
The Simpsons, 8 p.m. (Fox)

Monday, September 28:
Lie to Me, 9 p.m. (Fox)
Trauma, 9 p.m. (NBC)

Wednesday, September 30:
Hank, 8 p.m. (ABC)
The Middle, 9 p.m. (ABC)

Thursday, October 1:
Private Practice, 10 p.m. (ABC)

Friday, October 2:
Stargate Universe, 9 p.m. (Syfy)
Til Death, 8:30 p.m. (Fox)

Sunday, October 4:
America’s Funniest Home Videos, 7 p.m. (ABC)
The Next Iron Chef, 9 p.m. (Food)
Three Rivers, 9 p.m. (CBS)

Monday, October 5:
Sherri, 7 p.m. (Lifetime)

Tuesday, October 6:
Scare Tactics (Syfy)

Wednesday, October 7:
Secret Girlfriend, 10:30 p.m. (Comedy Central)
South Park, 10 p.m. (Comedy Central)

Friday, October 9:
Sanctuary, 10 p.m. (Syfy)
Ugly Betty, 8 p.m. (ABC)
Wizards of Waverly Place, 8 p.m. (Disney)

Thursday, October 15:
30 Rock, 9:30 p.m. (NBC)

Friday, October 16:
Supernanny, 8 p.m. (ABC)

Friday, October 23:
Southland, 9 p.m. (NBC)
White Collar, 10 p.m. (USA)

Wednesday, October 28:
Friday Night Lights, 9 p.m. (DirecTV)

Monday, November 2:
I Want to Work for Diddy, TBD (VH1)

Tuesday, November 3:
V, 8 p.m. (ABC)

Saturday, November 7:
The Wanda Sykes Show, 11 p.m. (Fox)

Oh! And if, like me, you missed the premiere of Glee (a show I was sort of ambivalent about when I first heard about it but have since heard and read nothing but raves and so now feel compelled to catch the pilot) just a heads-up that Fox will be re-running the first episode this Friday.

Now! I also culled some tidbits from Ausiello's column today so here are some spoilers on Chuck, Bones, Monk, Numb3rs, Cold Case and The Mentalist:

CHUCK:
1.) Erstwhile Superman Brandon Routh is joining Chuck for a multi-episode arc...

Routh’s character, Shaw, is a mysterious new spy who takes control as the new leader of Operation Bartwoski, becoming a mentor to Chuck and a rival in his affections for Sarah. He first appears in this season’s fourth episode.

2.) Smallville vet Kristin Kreuk is joining Chuck for multiple episodes as Hannah, a girl Chuck meets on a flight to Paris. “Chuck and Hannah definitely have feelings for each other,” teases an insider.

Laid off from her glamorous publishing job, Hannah ends up working at the Buy More. (I’m sure that won’t prove distracting to the horny nerd herders at all!)

BONES:
Will Brennan rethink wanting Booth’s baby?
Ausiello: Booth’s baby? No. A baby? And how. “She does not want to have his baby if he doesn’t want her to have the baby,” says series creator Hart Hanson, adding that “it was really significant that once he had doubts, she wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’ll have the baby with someone else.’ If Brennan wants to have a baby, she wants to have Booth’s baby. Her interest in having a child declines to zero when she considers having anyone else’s baby.”

MONK:
Any scoop on whether or not Monk will finally figure out who killed his wife Trudy? It’s the last season of the show, and so far USA Network hasn’t given us any indication that they’ll wrap up this thread before the show calls it quits.
Ausiello: A USA insider assures me that we “will have closure on Trudy’s murder by the end of the season. Viewers will start seeing clues to that in the upcoming episodes.”

THE MENTALIST:
Ausiello: Series creator Bruno Heller confirms that Rigsby and Van Pelt “will take their courtship to the next level. We’ve been working toward this. The push and pull of should-they-or-shouldn’t-they is a big part of their dynamic in the office. But once they do take it to the next level, that presents a whole fresh set of problems for them: Who do they tell? Can they tell anyone? What happens when the bureau finds out?”

Will they finally catch Red John this season?
Ausiello: Not by a long shot. “I don’t foresee finding Red John,” Heller confesses. “I think finding Red John is a lifetime’s journey. But never say never.”

COLD CASE:
Ausiello: Look for Nick to spin out of control after he receives some overwhelming news about his health.

NUMB3RS:
Is this the last season?
Ausiello: “With the reality of what the business is, we would love it to come back another year after this, but we don’t know,” concedes Numb3rs co-creator Cheryl Heuton.

Also, there will be a Rashomon-type episode where there’s a shooting and everyone there tells a different version of what happened. So the team uses the mathematical concept of “Combinatorics” to filter through the different points-of-view and make sense of what actually happened. In other news, Peter MacNicol’s Larry will disappear for a chunk of the season to gain a new perspective on things.