Let’s start with the returning shows that I don’t watch — Grey’s Anatomy (this is still on the air???), The Vampire Diaries (wrong demographic but the show doesn’t completely suck, pun intended), The Millers, Scandal (just cuz you say it’s shocking doesn’t make it interesting), Parenthood (Married, With Children was more interesting), The Biggest Loser (nope, I don’t watch emotional fat people be exploited for fun or profit), Bones (chemistry was never there for me, but not terrible), Two and a Half Men (keep fighting, Chuck Lorre! There’s humour in there somewhere!), and Reign. But just because I don’t watch them shouldn’t scare anyone else away — I expect full seasons for them all.

For new shows, it’s a pretty mixed bag on Thursday night. I watched snippets and trailers for Bad Judge and it was just plain stupid from the word go. I have no idea why it was greenlit, and I predicted early cancellation. The McCarthys looks okay, I had mild interest in it, but okay in the comedy world is a death sentence. Not my cup of tea in the end, and I’m betting it finds it hard to locate an audience. Also predicting early cancellation.

Two of the big dramas for the fall generated mild interest for me. Gracepoint is based on the UK show, and it has a pretty solid premise. But being the father of a young boy, watching a show about the death of a young boy is apparently not something I want to do. I gave it a try, but I was feeling disconnected pretty early on, more like I was watching a train wreck in dread, even though the show itself was decently staged. Ended up passing pretty quick (which may be a testament to the show, not sure). But I’m sure it will run full season.

I was also mildly interested in the brand new How To Get Away With Murder. Technically that’s not really what it is about, it is about a defense lawyer who teaches Criminology Defense at the local law school and emphasizes the “practicing” side of being a lawyer over the “theoretical” side of being a law student. It is high energy, everybody has bright snappy lines to say, and if there is a head toss in there, all the better. Which is precisely why I’m not watching. The show is stylized like a TMZ version of L.A. Law. I wasn’t sure if I was watching a tabloid covering a murder trial or a murder trial disguised as a tabloid news show. Scandal found a home, I’m sure this one will too, and they are bright enough to flash forward to mid-year to show where the arc is going. I just won’t be with it when it gets there. I didn’t find a single character that I cared about in the entire show, at least not enough to come back for more.

The last new show that garnered interest for me was the relationship comedy, A to Z. Quick premise is two people meet, go on a date, seem a bit familiar to each other, and in the middle of the date, the guy figures out where he’s seen her before — at a concert years before, with her in a special dress. She denies it was her, lots of miscommunications later, and voila, she admits she was the girl. Destiny, right? I really liked the initial premise, and even the description of it as a Penny Marshall-like show. When Harry Met Sally, definitely that kind of feel. Except the Andrew character is all over the map — put together, ready to date, then going into neanderthal dating rituals while judging Zelda. A very confused character. Zelda by contrast is pretty spacey to begin with, but when she’s with Andrew, she usually pulls it together to be half-way normal. I liked the premise, and of the five new romantic / relationship shows this fall, this is the one I would give the biggest thumbs up to…but not space on my PVR for the fall. I also doubt it will find its audience, which is too bad. There’s some good actors hiding in the show, including Cristin Millotti as Zelda. She deserves another shot, as too many people probably showed up to see the mother on her own (she played the mother in How I Met Your Mother). So close, but no magic.

Last but not least is the returning Elementary. I am not a Jonny Lee Miller fan. Nor am I a Lucy Liu fan. But I love them both in this show. They were awesome in the first two seasons. So I am in for the season, and I’m sure it will run full season. Except I have to admit something…the first episode of the year sucked. Holmes and Watson have split up…Holmes ran away for six months, Watson’s on her own, things are going well for her. Holmes even has a new partner to train. And she’ll be awesome as a story trigger. But the Holmes / Watson dynamic was completely absent, and it felt like you were hanging out with Mom and Dad after a divorce. Not fun to watch AT ALL, so it will be interesting (or painful) to see how many episodes it runs before it is “resolved”. They do kind of patch things up at the end of the episode, but only mildly. Still, I’m in for the duration. I think.