You might have noticed that we tend to focus on the same few shows each week–there’s a good chance that someone will mention FlashForward, for example. But that’s the joy of TV.

Some people don’t like routines. But getting a chance to delve into characters or plots–really sink your teeth into something, for about 22 hours a year–is why TV, when fully realized, is such a rich and complex media.

Not all shows are that, of course. But the ones that you really get into, those are the ones that bring us here, week after week (except for Ellen, who did some experimenting this week).

Here’s what we thought, let us know what thought about this week’s shows in the comments.

Ellen

The Jay Leno Show
It’s tempting to term this week’s theme “What The Other Half Watches,” but that wouldn’t be accurate for NBC’s big-chinned albatross: The failure of The Jay Leno Show to captivate the nation is so unsurprising that reporters are now focusing on how upset local affiliates are with their peacock parent for fitting them with a nightly ratings drain. Having never liked Leno in his previous incarnation, I automatically wrote off the show, but am still glad I watched the entire hour — so I can tell you, it really is as dreadful. The opening monologue featured Lindsay Lohan DUI jokes that were stale two years ago; featured “10 at 10” guest Ludacris snuck in a product placement for his cognac, and several minutes were devoted to the revolutionary idea that Denise Richards looks good in slutty outfits acting out male fantasies. As I watched I felt my face freezing into a rictus of distaste. The one moment that didn’t feel totally leaden? Leno interrupting guest Martha Stewart’s “craft” of “glittering” (i.e., putting glitter on things) to spray compressed air at her hair. I could’ve watched that on YouTube.

FlashForward
After watching Scott and Robert bitch about and give up on ABC’s LOST-y new sci-fi series, I dropped in on the fifth episode without any more information than that given in the promos and their write-ups. Even after picking up the program for a full season, gaining and keeping casual viewers like me is what will determine how awesome the special effects look after the initial pilot order runs out. Unfortunately, this episode focused on all-too-human motives of self-interest and pride: A bitchy senator takes Agent Benford (Joseph Fiennes) to task for the poor quality of his reported memories, because he won’t tell them he was also drinking through them, while his boss blackmails the president into getting the funding for MOSAIC, an international database that’s like a more-life-ruining Google. (Can Google tell you that your blind date will be pregnant in six months? Exactly.) The last scene contained a nifty twist but was undermined by a “Watchmen”-level bad music cue. Will I tune in again? I’m a little curious, but probably not enough to add it to my regular rotation.

Robert

Stargate Universe
In case you haven’t been keeping up (and you should be), over the last two weeks Stargate Universe has literally gone from one end of the spectrum to the other. In “Darkness” the Destiny loses all power, and after a close shave passing through the atmosphere of a nearby planet, finds itself set on a new course for a nearby sun. In last week’s “Light”, the Destiny’s passengers decide to use the last remaining shuttle as a lifeboat and as the clock runs down, choose who goes and who stays through a lottery. Not coincidentally, in these two episodes, both Rush (Robert Carlyle) and Young (Louis Ferreira) have become a pair of dueling anti-heroes the likes of which are rarely seen on television. The predicament also gives us a chance to get a closer look at other characters as they ponder their impending doom into one of the ship’s Kino devices as a “message in a bottle”. As SGUposes its first real threat to the series only five episodes in, it’s a good sign for viewers that a show like this isn’t afraid to raise the stakes so soon. The only question is how often and to what degree the show will make good on it.

FlashForward
In what shouldn’t have been a surprise to astute FlashForward viewers, the big revelation about Special Agent Hawk (Christine Woods) was more ham-fisted than anything else, but added another level of skepticism about the nature and accuracy of the flash forwards themselves. It’s this element that drives home the rest of the episode, in which Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance) and his team pay a visit to Washington to testify about their investigation before a Senate committee. Under fire from a rival senator with an eye to shut down the Mosaic project, Wedeck plays his only remaining card with longtime confidant President Dave Segovia (Peter Coyote) to keep Benford and the team on the case, only to discover that Benford’s flash forward may be unreliable because he was intoxicated during it. Shortly afterward, men with guns show up and attempt to take out Wedeck and his team (all puzzlingly set to a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”, mind you) while Hawk is also gunned down back in Los Angeles. Again, we have a show that’s raised the stakes significantly in just as many episodes, but here the very premise of the show itself is in question. Are the flash forwards a glimpse of the future or just one possible future?

Zoë

Dexter
After a few weeks of complaining, I should note when Dexter gets it right. Are there still plots that make my brain glaze over? Yes. Do I still not care a fair chunk of the characters? Yes. But this week was, if not the best episode ever, a solid return to what Dexter should be. He killed, for starter, he didn’t care about the police office, and most importantly the ending gave me more joy than I can describe here. It may even keep my whining about Quinn next week.

How I Met Your Mother

As the daughter of a resident alien, this episode struck close to home, particularly in the idea of belonging to who countries. It wasn’t an amazing episode of HIMYM, but it was solid. There’s some critique to be made of the broad Canadian stereotypes and jokes, but frankly, there’s ample anecdotal evidence to show that ex-pats tend to be exagerrated forms of the national stereotypes to cope with the distance. So the British take tea and care about the queen, the Americans rant on the Constitution, and the Candians? If HIMYM is right, they continue to be unfailingly polite, eat Tim Hortons, and hockey brawl. And that’s the way it should be.

Scott

So You Think You Can Dance
I hate to repeat Mia Michaels’ promo-ready proclamation that’s been played about a zillion times every episode this season, but season 6 TRULY IS gonna blow season 5 out of the water. Season 5 definitely grew on me, but none of the dancers had any star quality (save  Janette, but don’t get me started on the tragic miscarriage of justice that kept her from winning). Not true of season 6, which seems filled to the brim with promising talent like Russell the krumper and cute-as-a-button jazz dancers Mollee and Ellenore. Best of all, the lovable Adam Shankman will take the third judge’s chair permanently, saving us from the inane vocabularial gymnasticism of Lil’ C.

Glee
As we head into our first Glee-less weeks since it started brightening our lives two months ago, it’s a good time to reflect on just what a wonderful little show this really is. I must confess, the Glee haters’ arguments make sense when removed from the context of the show. It doesn’t have rules it sticks to (the narration is here some weeks, gone others). It does suffer from manic sickly sweetness (Pushing Daisies may be gone, but its spirit lives on). But none of this ever prevents me from absolutely loving this show every week. It’s one of the most fresh and original – actually, downright unusual – series to come down the pike in a long damn time, chock full of great characters and writing, and it’s also a lot more sophisticated that it gets credit for; I’m surprised more people don’t note its similarities to Election, Alexander Payne’s brilliant and beloved study of human nature in a heartland high school. And its boundless exuberance shouldn’t be taken at face value, as AV Club’s Todd VanDerWerff astutely noted in his review of this week’s episode: “Glee… is about the opposite of its title, about the fact that these people are trying to craft a perfect little world to live in that is, nonetheless, doomed to disappear after they leave high school…  the noisiest show on television has a completely silent title card, stark white letters against a black background.”