I started watching some of the new shows as they trickled into the summer slots. I confess I was more taken with some of the summer series — Continuum, Suits, White Collar, etc. on networks like Bravo, Showcase and Space. The downside is that most of them are only 10 or 12 episodes per season, which makes some of the arcs a little short. I loved Continuum, enough to start an episode guide; Suits blasted through Season 2 way too fast and loose, but the final episode paid off big time with a new hottie in young Mike’s life (who looks a LOT like Donna, just saying) and lots of political shenanigans at the firm; and White Collar is finishing its Season 2 arc even though I think USA network is already into or done Season 4. An episode disappeared a couple of weeks ago — they advertised it and never showed it. I have no clue what’s going on there. Rizzioli and Isles is about to start again as is Covert Affairs and, I think, Lost Girl. In Plain Sight wrapped the season and the series, and I was pleased to see that Mary didn’t suddenly become the Stepford Mom.

However, this is about the new season, not the old seasons, so let’s get on with it. But be warned — there be spoilers beyond this point.

Grimm added itself to my PVR roster last year, as the dark fantasy alternative to Once Upon A Time. Grimm is pretty dang good, with lots of mysteries. The season ended with Nick meeting his supposedly-dead mom, and his fiancee going into a coma from a witch’s spell just as Nick was about to tell her about the beast world. New season opened and his fiancee has forgotten who he is AT ALL, let alone being a Grimm, and yet Nick’s cop partner finds out his secret. Throw in Monroe and his gf, and suddenly Nick’s got a posse helping him with the wild creatures that go bump in the night. The mom episodes were great, but didn’t last long enough, and Nick didn’t seem to be as affected as he should be. But I’m picking nits. I love the show, definitely on my PVR for the future.

Go On is the new Matthew Perry vehicle and I confess I was one of the few people who didn’t like Friends that much, yet turned into Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and loved it. I even gave his arena show a go last fall, but it didn’t gel. This one was worth a go, but I struggled for the first episode. Basic premise is that he is a DJ who lost his wife, his boss wants him to go for grief counselling, he doesn’t want to go, ultimatum is given after a meltdown, he goes. But he wants to skate through it, blow it off. Best scene in the premiere is him turning a therapy session into a Final Four grief tournament — he puts all the patients into brackets and gets them to “compete” to see who has the worst story for being there. The biggest pain/grief wins. The scene is darkly hilarious, and hides the fact that it is “real” vs. the “sugar” approach that the real therapist is doing (who incidentally has no training in this area). Perry manages to break through to one of the characters, and ultimately decides to return to the group as it might help him after all. I have a suspicion that anyone who liked the dysfunctional relationship backgrounds of those on the sitcom Becker might find this one appealing, but it dragged all the way through. Just not enough of a premise to hold my interest.

Guys With Kids is semi-interesting premise — oh, look, it’s guys with kids. Think the Exes show but with kids. Essentially the three guys try to be dads, date, have lives etc. Essentially they suck at it. And each week, they’ll learn a little lesson about how to be better at something. The opening lesson is to have the newly divorced dad stop listening to everything the hoverparent ex-wife has to say about their child. With the exception of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dunking a kid, there was nothing funny in the entire episode. I didn’t even snicker. Yawn.

The New Normal is the latest Ryan Murphy creation, who brought us such great works of art as Glee, American Horror Story and gasp, the Glee Project. Yawn. Okay, three critics trounced this, and I thought, “Sure, if they hate it, it might be good”. See the way my mind works? Nope, the show sucked. It is about two gays who decide they want a baby — no chemistry between them when they meet, no chemistry when they decide they want a baby as an accessory, nothing at all anywhere that is remotely funny or compelling. What a crapfest. I’m sure someone will nominate it for an emmy somewhere sometime.

The Mob Doctor premiered tonight. I really really wanted to like this one. The main actress is Jordana Spiro — I loved her in the show My Boys even if the show itself didn’t gel with me. Yet, here’s the thing…watching the show, I kept looking for the punchline. I saw her smirk, I saw her smile, I saw her almost wink at you, and then no punchline. Cuz of course this is a drama. And the big drama is that a mobster wants her to kill a patient and she’s refusing to comply. If you think any of the characters seem a bit familiar, I kept thinking, “Main character. Brother. Mother. Complicated love life. Principled behaviour. I didn’t think Rizzioli was back for another couple of weeks?” Yep, Rizzioli is a cop and Dr. Grace is a surgeon, but same general feel. I didn’t completely hate it, so I’ll give it another week or two, but not the strongest sale so far.

Other shows that interest me for the future:

• SUNDAY: The Mentalist, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, 666 Park Avenue;
• MONDAY: How I Met Your Mother (season premiere only), Partners, Hawaii Five-O (premiere only), Revolution, Castle;
• TUESDAY: NCIS, NCIS: LA, Ben and Kate;
• WEDNESDAY: Law & Order: SVU (premiere only), The Neighbours, Arrow;
• THURSDAY: The Big Bang Theory, Person of Interest, Elementary, Last Resort, Beauty and the Beast;
• FRIDAY: Made in Jersey, Blue Bloods, Fringe, Nikita

See you around the channels…