It feels a little off to be a part of the media and not commenting on fancy new computer products or the president or something like that. But more than anything, it feels great.

Instead of focusing on media events, we get to discuss shows that, ok, will never solve the economy, but get to discuss issues like love and friendship and apocalypses and technology. Often sexily.

Imperfect? Sure, but in the best sort of way. So here’s what we thought about those imperfect worlds–tell us your views in the comments!

Zoe

Psych: “You Can’t Handle This Episode”
Psych is my…well, not guilty pleasure, because I hate that term, but “turn your mind off” show. It’s never anything worth writing home about, neither in being offensive, nor in being positive. It just sort of exists and I watch it. End story.

So I was vaguely enthusiastic for its return this week and it delivered, like always, the exact sort of episode you expect to get. Fine. That’s why I’m here. But it also had the misfortune of doing one my least-liked tropes, the “I just found out I have to move and/or travel to X country…tomorrow.” It’s not like I expect a lot of realism in my show about a fake psychic detective, it’s just that this concept crops out every now and then and it annoys me. Especially when the character is going to Uganda, the kind of country that requires, y’know, shows and complicated visas to get into. It’s not the sort of place you just get to go to right away.

But oh well. Sean’s girlfriend has moved away, finally re-opening up the possibility of him and Gus making out.

Bones: “The Dentist in the Ditch”
First off, big, big thumbs up for promoting the idea of sex work as something that 1) you can tell someone about without them hating you and 2) something you can leave and 3) something that doesn’t make you a horrible person forever. Stuff like that, as well as my girlish nerdiness, is why I love Bones.

Second off, thumbs down, or at least sideways, for taking part in another disliked trope the “gays are just like us!” Look, I have nothing against promotion of gay people as awesome. Go bananas. But I do have something against the sort of Gay 101 that Bones did this week. I know that TV is an important medium for social progress and kudos for that, but I really feel that by this point, pretty much everyone in America at least knows what a gay person is. We don’t need to go wacky over it anymore, right? It could even be a complicated and somewhat nuanced? Please?

But, third, thumbs up for at least doing some gay stereotype busting. Gay hunters, gay football teams, etc. More of that, please, without the WE’RE DOWN WITH GAYS AND THEIR GAYNESS, REALLY writing.

Dennis

The Deep End: “Where There’s Smoke”
Unlike other recent new shows (Blue Mountain State, Life Unexpected) that I’ve watched a week of, then given up, I am inexplicably still watching The Deep End. Ratings were not good the first week out, so maybe I’m still committed to this one so I can add another short-lived show to my TV-viewing repertoire? Or perhaps it’s just a Tina Majorino soft spot (even if that didn’t prevent me from hating Napoleon Dynamite). No matter what the reason, I do find this show an OK little diversion, like what Grey’s Anatomy was before everyone discovered it and the ridiculous amounts of hype suffocated it. I am bummed, though that the show decided to write Rachelle Lefevre off so quickly. The pilot appeared to be setting her bar-failing paralegal up to be an integral (and most interesting) part of the show, but by episode 2 she was quickly shipped off to Montana. Memo to the show’s writers: if this show tanks, give her a Big Sky-set spinoff.

Greek: “I Know What You Did Last Semester”
I’m so happy to have this show back! There are rumors on the interweb that this show is in danger of being canceled, and I’d be super-peeved if that’s true. While I’d be angry, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised either, as this show about is about college (and the beer-chugging, experimentation, and dorm room romps that come along with it), and that doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of ABC Family’s more chaste roster (if a show about a pregnant teenager can manage to be chaste). Still, I’m loving the perpetual partner swap that is the Rebecca/Evan/Casey/Cappie quadrangle. And the better-than-Big Bang Theory science geek rivalry between Dale and Rusty! And TV’s most compelling gay couple (yeah, they’ve surpassed Brothers & Sisters’ increasingly inane, squabblesome Scotty and Kevin), frat boy boyfriends Calvin and Grant! Don’t take the co-eds of Cyprus Rhodes away from me, ABC Family!

Damages: “Your Secrets Are Safe”
This is the only ultra-serial show besides Lost that’s really roped me in (apologies to Jack Bauer and Hiro Nakanmura) in the last few years, and that’s why I was so disappointed with last year’s nonsensical sophomore season. So I was happy I listened to the critical mass of advice to check out season 3, since it at least initially, appears to be far less of a chore to watch. Glenn Close is as scary-intense as ever. Lily Tomlin, Martin Short, and Campbell Scott are far less scenery-chewy than last season’s addition William Hurt. And glory be, Rose Byrne appears to be less of a cyborg than ever before! To reference the theme song, I guess this show isn’t “through with” me yet.

Dollhouse: “Epitaph Two: Return” and Better Off Ted: “Mess of a Salesmen”
A fond farewell to two of my regular TV shows, one of them permanent, one of them hopefully less so. Dollhouse returned to the bleak future of  “Epitaph One” and made me wonder why the whole damn season couldn’t have been set here. But I guess this is yet another unanswered question to add to the Dollhouse list, along with “How much of a vision did Joss Whedon actually have for this show?” and “How restrictive was Fox in Whedon’s vision?” Let’s hope when Whedon comes up with another idea, he goes to cable with it.

There’s an episode or two of Better Off Ted still unaired somewhere, and I hope ABC gets around to airing it/them…and maybe miracle of miracles, actually renews this show! My favorite moment in this ep: Linda’s line about Veronica’s intentions being occasionally “100 and crazy percent.” With lines like that, Ted has at least carved out a spot in the TV Quotable Brilliance Hall of Fame, alongside 30 Rock’s “I want to go to there.” Hell, this season I’ll go as far as saying Ted might be out-rocking 30 Rock. Now if it only it had Rock‘s ratings. Quick, someone dress Jay Ferguson up as Sarah Palin and see if it’ll get this show a few million more viewers.

Robert

Caprica” “Pilot” and “Rebirth”
Having seen the two-hour pilot of Caprica when it hit DVD back in April of 2009, I already had a good idea of what this new “prequel” series to Battlestar Galactica would bring. Now that it’s finally airing on Syfy, seeing the world of Caprica fleshed out with its own storylines and characters (a young William Adama being the only overlap) is a big treat for any BSG fan. In just the first two episodes, Caprica has already taken on the issues of loss, religion, terrorism, corruption and most importantly, the moral dilemmas that accompany advanced technology (artificial intelligence, virtual reality and robotics), especially when any and all consequences cease to exist. Instead of yet another examination of society on the brink of extinction, Caprica gives us a civilization that’s both at its highest peak and blind to the pitfalls of road ahead. And while it doesn’t hurt to be familiar with the BSG universe, it’s hardly required to understand the lofty goals Caprica is aiming for.

Scott

Damages: “Your Secrets Are Safe”
The first season of Damages was fantastic, a clever reinvention of the lawyer genre that delivered Hitchcockian twists, Lynchian atmospherics and three classic characters: Željko Ivanek’s put-upon corporate closet case Ray Fiske, Ted Danson’s amoral manchild Arthur Frobisher, and Glenn Close’s murderous corporate raider Patty Hewes. The second season stumbled badly, desperately trying to up the “keep ‘em guessing” factor to such an extent that I’m still confused about exactly what happened. So I’m happy to report that this week’s third season premiere feels very back to basics. First of all, the corporate malfeasance has been scaled back to a much more easily digestible caper (the bad guy this season is Bernie Madoff, whereas last season it had to do with scientists and ecological devastation and strip mining and cancer and shit like that). Second, the central season-long whodunit is a murder mystery, finally making Patty’s long-suffering right hand Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan) interesting by killing him off and throwing him in a dumpster, as opposed to last season’s “did Patty get shot? oh she did but with blanks… wait, she had a heart attack! nah, just catching her breath… A STRANGER JUST SHOT HER! but it was a tiny gun so it’s ok” fiasco. And best of all, we’ve got some great new characters, including Campbell Scott as the Madoff stand-in’s saintly son, Lily Tomlin as his snappy mom, and especially the great Martin Short playing against type as a tremendously creepy lawyer.