Sorry for the delay

What a week last week. Had two Fantasy Football Drafts, was out and about a lot, got my rear kicked at work (bad, bad week to have my job) and just couldn't get on the computer as much as I wanted to.

It'll probably be a short one this time, too.

Premieres I'm already too late on:

House and Standoff started tonight. Sorry you missed them.

Also, MyNetworkTV began its run of Fashion House and Desire tonight. The network is taking a Spanish telenovela approach by airing episodes of each show every night during the week with a recap episode on the weekend for a few months. The shows have a definite ending after their runs, which is cool. But I haven't heard a single good thing about the offerings MyNetworkTV is giving us, so I shied away from it (I don't have any idea what channel is carrying it in my area if that tells you anything).

Nip/Tuck Season Four started as well-- but FX usually repeats the heck out of their shows, so you can still catch it later this week.

The Dane Cook: Vicious Circle special debuted on HBO last night. I would expect it to be replayed dozens of times on the five or so HBO channels in the next month. His Tourgasm summer series was pretty disappointing, but I think Vicious Circle is supposed to be more of a concert show.

Thursday on FOX has the debuts of 'Til Death and Happy Hour. Don't get your hopes up for either (see my previous post about the pilots), but they are new when everything else is repeating right now. 'Til Death has potential, Happy Hour should be canned soon.

FOX Sunday kicks off with new Simpsons (with Metallica), American Dad, Family Guy, and The War at Home. (I'll be watching three of them; guess which ones). Remember, there's football on before these shows, so they could run over their times (those of you taping/DVRing them).

HBO begins the fourth series of The Wire Sunday night. I haven't watched it yet, but I heard it's a fantastic show. Guess I'll have to try to get the previous seasons on DVD from the library.

And the TV Guide Channel is airing preview shows dedicated to all the networks starting next Monday night. I'm sure it'll mostly be crap, but you may get some good looks at what's to come.

My Fall Preview issue of TV Guide came in the mail today. Sweet Jesus-- they give the scoop on 92 new shows! Yeah, I won't be catching them all.

Because I hadn't mentioned it before: I was shocked to hear the news that Star Trek (The Original Series) got a Lucas-esque makeover with updated special effects and music. It hits syndication on September 16. I'm looking forward to seeing the "remastered" episodes (even though I'm a purist at heart, I just had a hard time getting into the series when I finally watched all the eps in the late '90s), but since the shows aren't airing in any logical order, I'm sure I'll be a little peeved (I'm anal retentive that way).

I flipped through the channels a little this weekend and caught the infamous Flava of Love scene when a chick drops a duece on the floor. I missed how or why she did it, but she did it. Crapped right on the floor! Classy bunch of ladies he had to pick from...

I also watched the first two eps of Who Wants to be a SuperHero? which is a show I was expecting to hate but didn't. Stan Lee is a little (okay a lot) cheesy, but the guy knows his sh** and deserves respect for his contributions to the industry. The contestants were hokey, but they weren't made fun of (something I was afraid of-- thankfully little of the casting sessions were aired). And it was really fake about making one of the contestants a super-villain, but I'll give it a pass on that.

The show really tries to get to the crux of what makes a hero, and I don't think that's a bad thing when the word "hero" was all the rage when 9/11 occurred but the context wasn't always used correctly (yes, fire fighters, paramedics, police officers, and volunteers who risked life and limb in the disaster are all heroes, but when people not directly affected by the events who showed up for work the next day are being called heroes, I've gotta draw the line...). The show wasn't to see who had the best costume or "powers", but was to show how the average person can have heroic qualities by their actions. It's cheesy, but no one pinched a loaf on the floor, so it's got a leg up on other shows.

I enjoyed the last two episodes of Prison Break and am liking the direction the show's going in-- and I, like last year, am already trying to put the pieces together for future episodes (like Sucre heading to Las Vegas, which is between Utah and Mexico-- think maybe he'll bump into Linc and Michael? I think so).

Next week's ep looks intense: Abruzzi's back, T-Bag gets picked up by a car, and Tweener may be found out. Two weeks from now, Mahone may apprehend his first escapee (if what I read in TV Guide is telling the whole truth).

And, finally, I just want to acknowledge the passing of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin. I didn't watch his show, but I'd seen him on late night shows and a Wiggles DVD, and it's a horrible shame that he died so young. He is a person who genuinely loved nature and its inhabitants as well as life, and the world is worse off for having lost him.