To paraphrase Dexter's Trinity Killer, traditions matter because they give us a sense of history. They also teach us who we are and what's expected of us.
So in celebration of that fiendish character's warped but delightfully old-fashioned worldview, I'm happy to take part in this little Thanksgiving Day tradition we have here at TV Squad. Here are a few things I'm thankful for this TV season ...
Year four of Dexter– Well, duh ... Sure, the Batista-Laguerta relationship is a little dull, and Quinn is a poor stand-in for Dokes, but Dexter's dealings with Trinty and his Dark Passenger are fascinating to watch. John Lithgow's complex and unnerving portrayal of suburban serial killer Arthur Mitchell is sure to earn him an Emmy nod, if not the win.
Community - Here's the thing: It's just so damn funny. And it has the best and weirdest cast of characters on TV. I can't get enough of Señor Chang and Abed.
I figured I may as well make this list before I food-punish myself into a turkey-flavored coma this Thursday. It's true, television has gone through its ups and downs in the past year. A bit of residual anger still bubbles within me when I think of Jay Leno shuffling not-so-subtly around Conan O'Brien or the fact that I'll never be as daring or funny as the writers behind Peep Show, but Thanksgiving is not meant for dwelling on silly things like that (it's what the rest of the year's for). Let's review my list of a few (TV-related) things that I'm thankful for, and then I promise I'll let everyone leave and stuff their faces.
Community: I've liked this show since the pilot and I'm thrilled to see it taking off. In the beginning, I enjoyed its snappy dialogue and overall attitude, but feared that it wouldn't find a direction until NBC got impatient and chopped it from the schedule.
A lot of us here at TV Squad have been listing that for which we are thankful. Like many of the others, I feel I have to start with my wife and family, and my friends. And I'd also add the comedy community in Boston, where I work, and beyond, for giving me something worth writing about and following day after day, year after year.
But this is a TV site, so the big part of this list is the things I am thankful I can see on the rundown TV in my office that makes a horrible cranking sound when I try to play DVDs, ot downstairs when I'm not bothering anyone by trying to catch up on thirteen discs of the Steve Coogan Collection.
My Local Library
Don't laugh. I have a rule that I won't watch an episodic TV series unless I've started it from the beginning, which means I wind up missing a lot of shows everyone else is screaming praises for.
(S01E05) Hmmm, I'm not even sure what it was. I still really like Community, and there were some moments that I recognized as humorous throughout this episode. And yet, I found myself kind of bored with most of it. Maybe it's me.
There was certainly plenty going on, with Señor Chang on the warpath because someone cheated on their Spanish test, Abed learning the highly cultured art of "messing with" someone, and Annie recruiting Pierce to write the new school song. You have the Dean running around still pretending the community college is Harvard or Brown, while Jeff's friend, Professor Duncan, began his quest to beat Jeff into Britta's pants.
I will state, officially for the record, that I am about as done with Britta constantly accusing Jeff of only wanting to get together with her. We're five episodes in and it's getting tired. Either he is or he isn't, but I don't need to hear about it in every scene they have together.
At 8, ABC has a new FlashForward, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.
CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then new episodes of CSI andThe Mentalist.
NBC has a new Community at 8, followed by new episodes of Parks and Recreation and The Office, the season premiere of 30 Rock, and a new Jay Leno Show.
FOX has new episodes of Bones and Fringe.
The CW has a new Vampire Diaries at 8, then a new Supernatural.
TBS has Baseball Playoffs at 8, the Dodgers vs. the Phillies.
At 9, Spike has a new TNA Wrestling.
MTV has a new Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory at 9, followed by new episodes of Bully Beatdown, Nitro Circus, and Pranked.
Cartoon Network has a new Total Drama Action at 9, then a new Stoked.
At 10, Lifetime has a new Project Runway.
FX has a new It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at 10.
As part of our ongoing efforts to infiltrate every one of your senses, we've decided to bring back the APB Podcast, last seen in various forms around two years ago. In this first podcast, Jason Hughes, Kona Gallagher and myself discuss the following topics:
The Letterman scandal
A minute (if that) about Jon and Kate
How the fall season's going so far, including why Dollhouse's ratings are so bad,
Ask TV Squad, where we answer a question submitted to Isabelle's column,
(S01E02) It looks like self-awareness has come to the study group of Community, or at least to one member of it. Also coming to Community is Ken Jeong, finally. Jeong is hilarious in ... well everything he's in, and here is no exception. We were introduced to him in a lovely scene where he berates and screams at his Spanish class for no reason at all.
Now that we're past the introductions, it's time to start getting a feel for what this show is going to be like. I'm guessing that they're still trying to figure out everybody's personality, and it's going to take time to get it right. Not to mention that it will probably take a few episodes to give everyone a chance to expose their inner selves.
I guess I was a little surprised at how quickly Shirley and Annie not only connected with one another, but went on a well-intentioned but incredibly tacky protest crusade. They did confirm that the show will be more Scrubs-zany than realistic. I can hang with the more screwball humor.
On tonight's hilarious second episode of Community, we see the first appearance of Ken Jeong, who's joining the cast as Spanish professor Señor Chang. Chang has a bit of a chip on his shoulder because he always has to fight against Asian stereotypes.
He's a welcome addition to the cast, and he's been having a hell of a summer. Besides his memorable turn in the massive summer hit The Hangover, he was also in All About Steve and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. To promote the latter movie, Jeong and co-star Jeremy Piven bounced around the ring on WWE Raw in August. Imagine a tiny guy like the 40-year-old Jeong trading blows with huge wrestlers and you can see the comic potential.
When I talked to Jeong at NBC's party at the TCA press tour, we were interrupted by WWE's The Miz, and the exchange between them was just too funny for me to keep on my hard drive. Audio is after the jump.
At the same NBC TCA party where I spoke to Joel McHale, I also ran into Community creator Dan Harmon. Suffice to say, he's a chatty fellow. I started off by asking him how a first-time show runner like him prepares to be in front of a ballroom full of reporters, as he had been earlier in the day. His answer was pretty interesting: they get briefed and told we're a bitter lot.
Harmon's claim to fame before Community was that he helped create The Sarah SilvermanProgram for Comedy Central, and he was one of the few people who thinks that the network creative process has been as smooth, if not smoother, than the process for basic cable.
He also got extremely effusive about having Chevy Chase on his show; I was going to edit his epic response to my question about Chevy, but it's so loopy that I figured I'd just let it stand as is. Interview after the jump.
Like most people in this world, I often turn to master geek musician Jonathan Coulton when I'm trying to figure out how I should feel about something (you can smell hair burning when I try to think for myself).
So imagine my horror when the Fall schedule started filling out and Mr. Coulton was still dealing with strictly music-related matters. Well, I can finally have a restful night of sleep, because John Sellers of True Slant has gotten Jonathan Coulton's take on Fall TV.
Each year, as the new fall season approaches, I go through all the magazine and online sources talking about the various shows to try and figure out which ones I'm going to be excited about, and which I'm going to avoid like the plague.
Inevitably, I wind up sampling plenty of shows from which I should have steered clear. At the same time, a few shows will slip between the cracks, and then I'm bashing my head against the wall because I missed out on the beginning of something special. I hate coming into things late.
This year, I decided to share my top and bottom five selections. I'm sure the rest of the Squadders and you will have differing opinions than mine, but that's what makes America great, right? Chime in with your own lists in the comments.
The networks have had a quiet summer, quietly introducing scripted bomb after scripted bomb, so they're certainly ready to jump into the new fall season. And It looks to be an interesting one. ABC is scheduling a two-hour block of new comedies on Wednesdays as the sitcom tries to make a comeback.
Even more risky is NBC handing 10:00 to Jay Leno every night of the week. Everyone's waiting to see how that one plays out. FOX is banking on huge positive buzz for Glee to make it a hit, while ABC is hoping FlashForward can pick up where Lost is leaving off when it wraps its run this season.
To help you with it all, TV Squad has put together a handy calendar of all the premieres so you can schedule responsibly in this busy time of TV watching. Some nights have as many as twelve premieres scheduled, so you might need to invest in a few more DVRs to catch all your favorites; Monday's still look grim. Bookmark this page and you'll have it handy to help see you through.
I figured I may as well make this list before I food-punish myself into a turkey-flavored coma this Thursday. It's true, television has gone through its ups and downs in the past year. A bit of residual anger still bubbles within me when I think of Jay Leno shuffling not-so-subtly around Conan O'Brien or the fact that I'll never be as daring or funny as the writers behind 
A lot of us here at TV Squad have been listing that for which we are thankful. Like many of the others, I feel I have to start with my wife and family, and my friends. And I'd also add the comedy community in Boston, where I work, and beyond, for giving me something worth writing about and following day after day, year after year. 
At 7:30, FOX has Game 2 of The World Series.
(S01E05) Hmmm, I'm not even sure what it was. I still really like 
At 8, ABC has a new FlashForward, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.
As part of our ongoing efforts to infiltrate every one of your senses, we've decided to bring back the APB Podcast, last seen in various forms around two years ago. In this first podcast, Jason Hughes, Kona Gallagher and myself discuss the following topics: 
(S01E02) It looks like self-awareness has come to the study group of 
On tonight's hilarious second episode of 
At the same NBC TCA party where 
Like most people in this world, I often turn to master geek musician 
Each year, as the new fall season approaches, I go through all the magazine and online sources talking about the various shows to try and figure out which ones I'm going to be excited about, and which I'm going to avoid like the plague. 
The networks have had a quiet summer, quietly introducing scripted bomb after scripted bomb, so they're certainly ready to jump into the new fall season. And It looks to be an interesting one. ABC is scheduling a two-hour block of new comedies on Wednesdays as the sitcom tries to make a comeback. 
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
