Review: Grey's Anatomy 9x03, "Love the One You're With"

Grey's Anatomy has had its ups and downs over the years. Those downs have been pretty low at times, but it's always, in my opinion at least, been able to recover. After the first two episodes of this season, I was started to wonder if it had finally hit a bottom it couldn't come back from. The episodes bored me, and I couldn't bring myself to care about what was happening. I liked both Sloan and Lexie a lot, but their deaths didn't even affect me.

I think my biggest problem with the current state of Grey's Anatomy is there's far too much trauma. Look, I appreciate some trauma on Grey's Anatomy from time to time. I loved the Denny storyline, and the season six finale with the hospital shooting was what convinced me to go back and watch from the beginning.

However, the trauma has reached a point of saturation on the show. A lot of beloved characters have died: Denny, George, Lexie, Henry, Sloan and for a brief period of time Meredith (Remember that time she drowned? Although I can't quite remember if she technically died.). There's been a shooting at the hospital, a bomb, a car crash for Arizona and Callie, a plane crash and worst of all a musical episode. I won't even go into all of the relationship drama that has taken place of the course of the show. I feel like I'm drowning in the trauma, and I need some fun and humor to keep me from becoming overwhelmed.

That's why I mostly enjoyed last Thursdays's episode, "Love the One You're With." While it wasn't a perfect episode and was still bogged down with some drama, it was a breath of fresh air compared to the first two episodes of the season.


My absolute favorite storyline to come out of last night's episode was the relationship between Mr. Feeny (whose character is technically named Dr. Thomas, but there's about zero chance I'll be able to refer to him as that) and Cristina. I love Cristina's misanthropy, but I always enjoy seeing her bond with another person. The budding friendship between her and Mr. Feeny was incredibly sweet and exactly what she (and the show) needs right now. I want sweetness and humor not tragedy and tears. I will even suffer through the awkward product placement iPad scenes if it means that Cristina stays in Minnesota for a while and we get more Mr. Feeny.

While Cristina's storyline provided sweetness to the episode, Bailey's was a nice dash of humor, at least initially. Bailey's exasperation with Meredith and company joining the attendings' lounge was fun to watch and reminded me of her relationship with them in the earlier days of the show. I laughed at the camera panning to her during April and Jackson's relationship conversation and her sticky-noting everything. I was really annoyed with the motivation for Bailey's actions that was tacked onto the storyline: that Bailey's upset about everyone in her life moving on. I was so appreciative to have this silly, fun plot, and then of course Grey's had to make into an emotional thing.

There were also some fun, small moments in the episode that I liked. Jackson and Meredith talking about the chief's relationships with their mothers was a nice way to give the two a bonding moment (and I got a kick out of Meredith asking if he was talking about Owen), and Cristina's attempt at a smile was funny.

I was somewhat ambivalent about Alex's story. The new girl, Jo, is a little annoying and reminds me a little bit of a second-rate Lexie. Even though I wasn't crazy about her, I didn't enjoy Alex's being a jerk towards her. However, I'm hoping that their probable relationship will be a nice, normal one and will lead towards a permanent, positive change in Alex. I'm tired of seeing Alex go through some character development towards becoming a nicer person, only for it to be retracted. I'm also tired of seeing him in disastrous relationships. So while I didn't exactly enjoy his portion of this episode, I'm hoping it will lead towards good things.

My two least favorite storylines were Derek's and Arizona's. Unsurprisingly, these were two of the more dramatic elements of the episode.

Before I start talking about Derek's portion of episode, I'm going to give a warning that you might want to skip the following paragraph if you're a Derek fan. I'm definitely not a Derek fan, and it's hard to not go into rant mode when I'm when I'm writing about him.

I found Derek incredibly annoying in this episode. His speech about not accepting the settlement was one of his most self-righteous moments in the show (no small feat). I'm not saying that it was necessarily a bad idea to reject the settlement, but he went about it in the most self-righteous way possible. Not only did he hold back on sharing his thoughts on the matter until they were actually in the meeting, he gave some long-winded speech about how doctors are better than people who work in airlines. Plus, this means that the plane crash plot is going to be dragged out even longer. Great, more melodrama. The only tragedy I want to see right now is Derek's death.

I'm finding Arizona's story very annoying as well. I understand that losing a leg is a huge deal, and the scene where Arizona was lying in the bathroom was pretty sad. However, the segments with Arizona really drag down the show. I don't want to see this angry, bitter Arizona; I'd rather see the cheery Arizona who's great with kids. Like I've already said, I'm tired of watching tragedy. I want fun, and this storyline is not bringing it.


My hope for the rest of this season of Grey's Anatomy is that it will abstain from inflicting tragedy on the main characters and leave it for the patients. I want good things to happen to them (other than Derek of course) and for the show to lighten up a bit. Both the characters and we desperately need it.

Review: The Mindy Project 1x03, "In the Club"

When I reviewed The Mindy Project's pilot a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the show didn't quite live up to my expectations and that I was hoping for improvement in future episodes. While The Mindy Project still has some growing to do, I do feel that the show has made some strides in the two episodes following the pilot.

Last's night's episode, "In the Club," featured a club night outing for Mindy and her coworkers. I didn't completely love the episode, but it was pretty fun and wisely fleshed out some of the supporting characters. Because "In the Club's" primary accomplishment was allowing us to get a better idea of who these characters are, I'm going to spend most of this review talking about them.

One of the biggest surprises to come out of last night was that I realized I'm warming up to Danny. I was pretty harsh on him in my review of the pilot. While he was somewhat more likeable in the second episode, I enjoyed Danny far more in this episode. I was expecting him to spend the whole episode feeling like a fish out of water in the club setting, but it was a good choice to let him dance and show off his fun side. Given that The Mindy Project is deeply rooted in the romantic comedy genre, it's important that the leading man be likable. While the writers have some work to do before I'm fully team Danny, "In the Club" proved that Danny can be more than a jerk who tells Mindy to lose fifteen pounds.

I was somewhat surprised that Morgan was added to the work crew last week. While I found him pretty funny, he seemed more like a ridiculous one-off character. However, I surprisingly enjoyed his pretending to be an attendant in the bathroom. I think the writers are going to have to be careful not to let Morgan get too out there if he's going to be a regular part of the show (Moments like the roofie joke are a little much for me and err on the wrong side of the line between endearing weirdo and overly broad caricature.), but he can actually be pretty funny and fits into the group better than I expected.

I don't really have strong opinions about Shauna or Betsy, but it was nice to see them get more than a line or two in this episode. Jeremy, on the other hand, is just a weak link in the cast. I felt no connection to his character, and frankly, I find him cliche and grating. In both this week's and last week's episodes, his storylines have been somewhat disconnected from the main cast (other than a pep talk from Morgan this week) and could have easily been cut without much of a effect on the episode. Because I've managed to warm up a bit to Danny after hating him in the pilot, I'm not going to say that Jeremy is a completely unsalvageable character. However, the writers need to majorly retool him and figure out how to use him or cut him out completely.

While Mindy's coworkers got some additional screen time in this episode, Mindy's sister friend Gwen only had one brief scene. I was excited to see Anna Camp in the cast list when The Mindy Project premiered, but she's been underused so far. Given that this was a very contained episode focused on Mindy's work crowd, it's understandable that this wasn't a Gwen-heavy episode. Still, I'd love to see her used as more than one-an-episode sounding board for Mindy.

Steven Tobolowsky's character Marc Shulman was also missing from the episode. While I think Tobolowsky is great, he got enough screen time last week that I didn't really miss him.

"In the Club" was a very loose episode and light on plot. While plot-light episodes can be great, in this case, it felt a little bit scattered. There were a couple of stories thrown in like Mindy's ovaries before brovaries (sorry, I can't resist a Parks and Recreation reference) dilemma, Jeremy's seduction of a bachelorette, Shauna's infatuation with Danny (This felt a bit hasty, considering that he won her over solely with his sweet dance moves. This isn't Grease, you guys. Then again, Danny kind of won me over with his sweet dance moves. So who am I to judge?), and Morgan's imitation of a bathroom attendant, but they felt uneven and disjointed.

Still there were plenty of jokes and fun moments scattered throughout the episode to make it worth watching. I loved Mindy quizzing the NBA players and Josh on their favorite Tom Hanks rom-com.

Speaking of Josh, I'm kind of intrigued by his character. He gave off creepy vibes, and I was fully expecting his storyline to take a "jerk who's trying to take advantage of Mindy" path. However, his gift of a limo ride home and return of Mindy's pashmina suggested otherwise. IMDB suggests that Josh will return in a future episode. While I'm not sure what the writers were going for with his character, I have to say that I'm intrigued.

"In the Club" was a fun installment of The Mindy Project and provided some much needed character development. I'm finding it hard to unbiasedly judge the show because I'm watching through Mindy-Kaling-loving glasses, but I feel like it's on its way to becoming to a really fun show.

Edit 11/21: I'm not sure why I assumed Mindy and Gwen were sisters, but apparently that's not the case. I've corrected my mistake above.

Review: Doctor Who 7x02, "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"

As a fairly new viewer of Doctor Who, this seventh season is the first that I've watched the show live (Well, relatively live. I watched it on BBC America, several hours after it aired in the UK.). I know some viewers had issues with last week's episode, "Asylum of the Daleks," but other than a few problems, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I enjoyed this week's episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" even more.

I imagine that some will criticize "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" as crowded, flashy, silly, filler, and frantic. I totally agree with all of these assessments; they are why I loved the episode so much. I like Doctor Who a lot, but I don't watch it because I think it's a super well-written show. Please don't start throwing things at me, but sometimes it's kind of awful. I watch it because I like to sit back for an hour and get lost in the fun. That's exactly what "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" brought to the table: a bucket of fun.

R.I.P sweet Tricey, the dinosaur of my heart

The dinosaurs were obviously part of the fun (I can't be the only who fell in love with Tricey), but the Doctor's "gang" was probably the best part of the episode. Queen Nefertiti was awesome. She was sassy, brave, and really likeable. As a clever viewer on Reddit pointed out, in fitting with her storyline in the episode, the actual Nefertiti did disappear from historical records after a certain point. I would loved to have seen a whole episode devoted to her set in Egypt, but the randomness of her being in an episode about dinosaurs added to the chaotic fun.

Rory's dad Brian was a fantastic addition to the gang as well. He was utterly adorable, particularly in his interactions with Rory, and he reminded me a lot of Donna's grandfather Wilf. It's always fun getting to see a character become introduced to the craziness of the Doctor's world, and I particularly loved the effect that the Doctor had on Brian. Brian's transformation from homebody to travel nut was a sweet note on which to end the episode. Plus, the scene where he's sitting on the edge of the TARDIS and looking at the world was gorgeously filmed.

Gorgeous. It's fun to imagine what this scene would have looked like on the earlier seasons' budget.

I know this was supposed to represent Brian's learning to love traveling, but it looks more like he learned how to use Photoshop.

I like the Ponds, but they sometimes rub me the wrong way (Amy moreso than Rory). The appearance of Jenna-Louise Coleman, the actress who's going to play the Doctor's new companion, in the first episode of the season actually got me excited for the Ponds' departure. However, if they're written in the next couple of episodes the same way they were in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," I really might miss them. Both had plenty of great, funny lines in the episode. One of my favorites was Rory telling his dad that he no longer has a Christmas list at 31 (and the Doctor's response that has one). More than anything, they both looked like they were having a lot of fun.

Since I usually do really like Rory, I was more impressed with the improvement in the writing of Amy in this episode. Amy was written as a competent companion rather than the sassy damsel in distress she often is portrayed as. While the group of Rory, Brian, and the Doctor was a bit more fun, I liked seeing Amy getting a chance to lead the group of her, Nefertiti, and hunter John Riddell. She showed her smarts in figuring out the computer system, her general awesomeness in helping to take down the dinosaurs, and her humor in letting Nefertiti believe she was also a queen. My only complaint with Amy in this episode is that Karen Gillan's acting seemed a bit off to me. It wasn't terrible, but I feel like she had a little bit of trouble with the differences in Amy's writing.

As much as I loved "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," it did have a few drawbacks. The pacing in the first ten or fifteen minutes had me feeling like I was on a roller coaster, and the ending was thrilling, but the episode lost a bit of its momentum in the middle. Most of this was due to the episode's villain Solomon. I liked Solomon's goofy minion robots, but Solomon was a bit of a bore. I feel like such a fun episode could have used a more fun villain. I was a bit shocked that the Doctor sent the missiles towards Solomon and let him die, but reading some Internet comments from more avid fans than I has convinced me that it was indeed in character for him. My other minor issue was that I didn't care for Nefertiti's crush on the Doctor. It was thankfully a very minor part of the episode and not a terrible idea, but it seemed a bit repetitive after seeing so many historical women act similarly towards the Doctor.

While "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" was mostly a filler episode, there were a few moments that hinted to the show's larger picture. The most obvious foreshadowing was a moment between Amy and the Doctor. He tells her "You'll be there till the end of me," and she ominously jokes "or vice versa." While I thought this was probably a bit too obvious, it's nice to see a bit of a lead up to the Ponds' last episode. 

A subtler and more visual bit of foreshadowing was the scene in which Amy and Rory appear in the foreground both wearing blue and bathed in cold, blue light; the doctor, on the other hand, appears in the background in the lively, warm light of the TARDIS. This could simply be representing their distance from the Doctor as they live their own lives, but I think it could also foreshadow death for at least one of them. 

Even her nails are blue.

After the Daleks forgot the Doctor in the last episode, I also have to wonder if Solomon's machine not recognizing the Doctor (I wasn't sure why it didn't recognize him, though) ties into a season-long theme of the Doctor's enemies forgetting him. I'm not sure how this would be used as a story arc or if it means anything at all, but it's something that stuck out to me.

"Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" wasn't the cleverest or most well-written episode of Doctor Who, but it was ridiculously enjoyable. Dinosaurs are cool, and the episode embraces that. It also brings together an interesting group of people that looked like they were having fun. I know there are some out there that will disagree with me, but between "Asylum of the Daleks" and "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," I think season seven is off to a great start. I'm excited to see what will happen next.

LOL, Okay: A Review of Revolution 1x01, "Pilot"

For the past several years, many shows have tried to fill the television void left by Lost. These shows vary, dealing with everything from aliens (The Event) to dinosaurs (Terra Nova) to worldwide blackouts (FlashForward), but they all try to replicate Lost's complex mysteries and mythology. Even if these shows don't intentionally imitate Lost, the comparisons are inevitable.

This fall season's Lost-esque contender (which actually has J.J. Abrams attached as a producer) is Revolution, a show about the world 15 years after all electricity has been shut off. More specifically, it focuses on Charlie Matheson (played by relative newcomer Tracy Spiridakos), a plucky young woman trying to find her uncle and obtain his help to get her brother Danny back after he's been taken by the evil "militia."

So is Revolution any good? 

Let's start with the positive. During the 44 minutes I was watching Revolution's pilot, I was never bored. There's some exposition and a few flashbacks, but most of the episode focuses on the show's here and now. The pilot is pretty well-paced and moves along fairly quickly. There's a good bit of action, but there's also some smaller moments that let viewers begin to get to know the characters and understand what they're going through. One of my favorite moments of the pilot was a short scene right after the power goes out where Charlie's parents let her eat as much melting ice cream as she wants and tell her to remember what it tastes like.

The characters themselves are a bit of mixed bag. I'm going to need a few more episodes to decide how I feel about the show's female lead Charlie. I think she could be a likable character, but her can-do spirit and repetition of the "we're family" argument could also become grating. Her gruff uncle Miles (played by Twilight's Billy Burke) serves as a nice foil to Charlie. Miles is probably my favorite character. He's kind enough to be likable, but his pessimism adds a nice element of spice that the show needs. My second favorite character is Aaron (Zak Orth), a semi-dorky ex-Google employee, who provided a not overly over-the-top bit of comic relief.

I loved Giancarlo Esposito's performance as Gus on Breaking Bad, but his performance here as Captain Neville, part of the militia, is decidedly less impressive. His threat to Charlie's dad to "re-educate" his teenaged children so that they wouldn't remember his name is a joke compared to Gus's threatening of Walt's family. Pretty much everyone who plays a bad guy in Revolution is similarly campy and over-the top. Watching them trot around on horses made me laugh rather than fear them. Monroe, presumably at least the show's intial big bad, didn't get enough screen time for me to decide if he suffers from similar campiness. However, his giant tattoo of his own name on his arm points to yes.

It isn't just the villains of Revolution that are campy. The whole show is pretty silly. I admittedly don't know much about what the world would look like if electricity everywhere was shut off (and maybe Revolution is spot on), but I feel like Revolution takes some major liberties with the concept. It explains that many people died from lack of medicine and other complications of the electricity blackout, but the world looks far more deserted (and full of vegetation) than I would expect it to a mere fifteen years after the blackout.

I enjoyed watching Revolution quite a bit, but I managed to do so by saying "LOL, okay" to many of its aspects and embracing the silliness. Here's a sample of those "LOL, okay" moments.

Warning: This section may contain spoilers from Revolution's pilot.

These children's clothes? LOL, okay.

This magical electricity necklace? LOL, okay.

Danny using a crossbow? LOL, okay.

Gus on a horse? LOL, okay.

More 19th century clothing? LOL, okay.

The idea that Danny could even temporarily escape the militia's capture? LOL, okay.

Expecting us to think Elizabeth Mitchell's character is really dead? LOL, okay. (Although I suppose I may have to eat my words on that one if she really is.)

Nate's general existence? LOL, okay.

Danny's general existence? LOL, okay.

Extreme vegetation? LOL, okay.

The fight scene where Miles takes on a hoard of men with only minimal help? LOL, okay.

This tattoo? LOL, Okay.

Vague, covert instant messaging using the handy, dandy electro-pendant? LOL, okay.

Revolution is no Lost. It's silly and will probably end up suffering from some of the same problems that Lost's failed successors have. Still, it's pretty fun, and I'm interested to see where it's going. If you enjoy high-concept, mysterious shows and can accept the absurdities of Revolution with a "LOL, okay," (I promise guys. That's the last time I'm going to use that phrase. Well, it's the last time in this post.) it's worth a shot.

If you're interested in Revolution, you can check out its pilot now on Hulu or NBC.com. Alternatively, you can wait until its television premiere on NBC on Monday, September 17 at 10/9c.

Have you seen Revolution's pilot yet? What did you think? Who's your favorite (or least favorite) character? What moments, if any, stood out as absurd to you? Do you plan to keep watching? Let me know in the comments.

Review: The Mindy Project 1x01, "Pilot"

I love Mindy Kaling. I find Kelly Kapoor, her character on The Office, to be hilarious. I particularly enjoyed Kelly's music career. I read both of Mindy Kaling's blogs, The Concerns of Mindy Kaling and Things I've Bought That I Love. I check her Twitter fairly often. Most of all, I loved her book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns).

All of this is to say that it was pretty much a given that I'd be watching her new show The Mindy Project. When I saw that the pilot had been released early on Hulu, I was really excited, and of course, watched it instantly.



Given how much I like Mindy Kaling, I'd pretty much committed myself watching The Mindy Project before even watching the pilot. It could have been completely wretched, and I'd still probably watch a minimum of half a season. Thankfully, it is far from wretched. However, it is also fairly far from perfect.

One of The Mindy Project pilot's weaknesses is that it doesn't offer much new. It focuses heavily on rom-com cliches and fails to add a fresh twist to them. I particularly didn't care for Mindy's drunken wedding speech. The whole scene feels particularly tired and a bit lazy. Rom-com cliches can be fun, but I'm hoping that The Mindy Project will eventually find a way to help its use of them to feel a bit fresher.

I enjoyed Mindy Kaling's character, but I'm a bit iffy on some of the supporting characters. Anna Camp who plays her sister friend Gwen doesn't have a lot to do in the pilot but does well with what she is given, and I enjoyed the appearances by Bill Hader and Ed Helms. Everyone else is either bland or unlikable. The two main love interests are particularly disappointing. It took me a while to tell them apart, and when I finally did, it was mostly because of Jeremy's accent. Mindy's British-accented fling Jeremy is like a watered down, doctor version of Russell Brand. The show is presumably setting up Danny as Mindy's hate-turns-to-love romantic interest; he has the hate part down pat, but I'm curious how convincing the love part will be because Danny isn't very likable.

After all of that criticism, you might be starting to think that I hated The Mindy Project, but I actually did enjoy it. I'm a sucker for Mindy Kaling's brand of comedy: cute, girly, slightly shallow, and a little immature. The Mindy Project reflects all of these concepts. Most of the pilot's references, ranging from Downton Abbey to Sandra Bullock, are right up my alley. The pilot had plenty of fun lines, although none really stick out in my mind. Most of all, I thought it was a really likable show; I want it to succeed.

So yes, The Mindy Project's pilot is a little rough, but I strongly believe that it's going to find its voice.  Mindy Kaling's brand of humor isn't for everyone, but if you're a fan of hers, I suggest you give The Mindy Project a shot. I know I'll be sticking with it for a while

If you want to check out The Mindy Project, you can watch the pilot now on Hulu or wait to watch its television premiere Tuesday, September 25 at 9:30/8:30c on FOX.

Have you seen The Mindy Project yet? Did it live up to your expectations? How do you feel about the romantic interests? Do you plan to keep watching? Let me know in the comments.

Edit 11/21: I'm not sure why I assumed Mindy and Gwen were sisters, but apparently that's not the case. I've corrected my mistake above. 

Go On: 1x01, "Pilot"

I wasn't planning on watching Go On. I love Chandler Bing as much as the next person, but Go On's promotion didn't appeal to me. However, I changed my mind when I saw that NBC was going to air Go On's pilot early. Go On is the first fall pilot I've seen pop up this year, and that was enough for me to give it a shot. What can I say? I'm easily swayed.



Go On isn't completely terrible; I like the show's concept, and I like Matthew Perry. One of the problems with Go On, however, is that it feels second-rate in several ways. Its setup is similar to Community, but I far prefer Community's community college environment and cast of characters (It's been a while since I've seen Community's pilot, but I feel it was much stronger at these aspects even then.). Matthew Perry's Ryan King is definitely Chandler-esque, but he's a muted version saddled with emotional baggage.

In fact, most of Go On has a muted feel to it. I didn't really connect with the show's comedic moments or its dramatic ones. The emotional aspect felt forced and most of its comedy felt stale. I didn't feel like these elements were balanced particularly well either; it was as if the show tried for both and ended up with neither.

I do have to give Go On some credit for its standout scene. The March Sadness bit was pretty funny and a nice way to introduce the therapy group. It was definitely the freshest moment of Go On. It was pretty presumptuous for Ryan to propose such a game after spending only a few minutes in therapy, and I thought the show seemed to overly glorify his methods while treating the group's leader Lauren like a joke. Perhaps future episodes will do a better job with that balance.

For the most part, however, I didn't really enjoy Go On very much. It wasn't particularly bad, but other than the March Sadness scene, it just didn't work for me. With its setup, it could very well turn into a fun show, but without some changes, I'm going to have to give it a pass. I'm probably not going to watch again, but if I hear good things about future episodes, I may give Go On another go.

7 TV Show Substitutions to Tide You Over Until Fall

If you're like me, you're eagerly waiting for the return of your favorite fall shows. Sure, there are some great summer shows (such as Breaking Bad and shockingly Teen Wolf), but fall programing offers a much wider selection. While you're waiting, here are substitutions for some popular fall shows.

1) If you like Once Upon a Time, you should try The 10th Kingdom.



If you're still watching Once Upon a Time, you're clearly fine with cheesiness. You may find this hard to believe, but Once Upon a Time isn't the cheesiest of them all. The 10th Kingdom, a mini-series from 2000, is quite possibly the cheesiest show I've ever seen, and I devoured all 400 or so minutes of it in one weekend. Like Once Upon a Time, it mixes the fairy tale world with our world; a girl and her father from our world are sucked into a magical world with an obligatory evil queen. There's also plenty of familiar faces, including Ed O'Neill as a troll and Gilmore Girl's Scott Cohen as a werewolf.

2) If you like Hart of Dixie, you should try Everwood.




Admittedly I've only seen about one and a quarter episodes of Hart of Dixie, but Everwood's premise is so similar that I feel it would make a good substitution. Both shows feature a city doctor's move to a small town. Granted, widowered father of two Andy Brown of Everwood is somewhat different from the shorts-wearing young woman Zoe Hart of Hart of Dixie; so if you're just watching Hart of Dixie for the hot southern guys, you may not fill that void with Everwood. If you, on the other hand, love the small town medicine in Hart of Dixie, Everwood might be right up your alley.

3) If you like The Vampire Diaries, you should try Buffy the Vampire Slayer.



I have such a weak spot for supernatural teen dramas. The Vampire Diaries started out as Twilight-esque mess worth of little more than eye rolls, but by the middle of the first season, it had developed into a fun, twisty ride worthy of only a few eye rolls here and there (although season three drew quite a few more of them). If you're a Vampire Diaries fan and have never experienced Buffy the Vampire Slayer, get thee to Netflix and get your marathon on. The shows share more than a few elements in common, and there's seven whole seasons of Buffy to tide you over until The Vampire Diaries returns. You might be thrown off by the extreme 90s cheesiness of Buffy at first, but once you get to season two, you may even find yourself looking forward to the next Buffy episode more than the next Vampire Diaries one.

4) If you like How I Met Your Mother, you should try Happy Endings.



Unlike the other substitutions on this list, Happy Endings is actually still on the air. It's such a great show that I couldn't help but include it. It doesn't have the same framework as How I Met Your Mother, but they both fall into the group of Friends-esque comedies. While I was ready to swear off Happy Endings after its lackluster pilot, it quickly found its footing. Season one had some great episodes, but season two was full of them. There's nothing wrong with just re-watching How I Met Your Mother reruns of FX (particularly if they're from the golden years of HIMYM), but if you're looking for some new material, Happy Endings shouldn't disappoint you.

5) If you like Castle, you should try Firefly.



On the surface, a police procedural and a sci-fi western may not seem to have that much in common. Okay, they may not have that much in common internally either. What they do have in common, however, is Nathan Fillion. It's hard to imagine Castle achieving the level of success it has had without Fillion's charm, and those of you suffering from Nathan Fillion withdraw can get that fix from Firefly. Don't be turned off by the show's genre; a sci-fi western didn't sound very appealing to me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show's short run. Plus, after watching Firefly, you'll be able to understand the references to it on Castle.

6) If you like The Office, you should try Summer Heights High



If you've never seen Summer Heights High, you're in for a treat. Like The Office, it's a mockumentary featuring kooky cast of characters. Unlike The Office, the three main characters are all played by the same actor.  Chris Lilley plays all three excellently, but I'm partial to snobby, private school girl Ja'mie. While Summer Heights High features a similar off-color humor as The Office does, I should give a warning that the language used on it is somewhat stronger than the language on The Office. I doubt that many people are actually looking forward to The Office's next season (sorry, I had to throw a jab in), but if you are or are looking for a show that's reminiscent of The Office in its glory days, you should check out Summer Heights High.

Alternative: I hated to give another currently airing show as my main suggestion, but fans of The Office should also consider watching Parks and Recreation if they've yet to do so. It's similar to The Office but with more heart. It starts out a bit weak but really finds its footing starting in season two. It's hilarious, and the characters are fantastic.
 
7) If you like Revenge, you should try Veronica Mars.



I confess: I raked my brain for any current show resembling Veronica Mars because it felt wrong to write a list of TV show recommendations and not include it. Revenge and Veronica Mars aren't exact matches, but they have plenty of similar elements. Although Veronica is more of white hat and and Emily's more of a black hat, both enter their series with revenge for a loved one on their mind. Both are strong female leads, both go on undercover missions, and both pilots start in medias res (okay, the similarities are getting little thin). I'd recommend Veronica Mars to just about anyone, but I feel like Revenge fans will particularly enjoy it.


What fall shows are you eagerly awaiting the return of? Do you have any suggestions of TV show substitutions? Leave a comment, and let me know.