After spending the past few weeks watching all of the new premieres and returning favorites, I felt compelled to blog about them!

THE NEWCOMERS

Back to You - starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton
Wednesdays at 8 p.m., FOX

This show is definitely a winner for all you journalism lovers out there. It especially rings true for those addicted to local newscasts. Kelsey Grammer plays anchorman Chuck Darling, who comes back to Pittsburgh (my hometown!) after spending a decade away in LA. Darling and Kelly Carr (Patricia Heaton) were a dynamic duo in the ’90s, full of chemistry. Off-screen though is a completely different story. Grammer plays a very Will Ferrell in Anchorman-esque newscaster, a complete womanizer. Heaton is so uptight that sometimes you just want to give her a stiff drink.

The supporting cast is hilarious, including a portly news director who’s not much older than I am, and an oversexed weather girl named Montana Diaz Herrera. This is a winner for anyone who’s interested in returning to the traditional half-hour sitcom that I for one, miss dearly.

Gossip Girl - starring Blake Lively and Leighton Meister
Wednesdays at 9 p.m., THE CW

As an avid fan of the Gossip Girl book series, I was very excited to see that a television show was being released. At first the series was to be made into a movie, but Lindsay Lohan backed out as Blair Waldorf. I think that handing the task of visually creating the Upper East Side to Josh Schwartz, of The OC fame.

The concept of the series works so much better on television. The storylines are exactly what Gossip Girl is all about, catfights, sex and unbelievable parties. It’s a soap opera for today’s generation, just as Schwartz created The OC at 26 years old for our generation. The only complaint I have about it is that Jenny Humphrey’s character doesn’t look at all like what she is described as in the books. That’s bound to happen though right? Especially with Blake Lively (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and Leighton Meester looking like dead ringers for Serena Van Der Woodsen and Blair, respectively. I think that this show, with a solid fanbase, should be about on par with The OC and it’s fame.

Private Practice - starring Kate Walsh
Wednesdays at 9 p.m., ABC

As an avid Grey’s Anatomy fan, I couldn’t believe my disappointment with this highly anticipated Kate Walsh spin-off. I watched the pilot, and I just was so saddened by the fact that I really wanted this show to work, but I don’t think it does. The entire hour felt very forced. The show reminded me of a less witty, more depressing Grey’s Anatomy. It wasn’t incredibly horrible, but it seemed very bland and not something I’ll tune into each and every week.

Amy Brenneman’s (of Judging Amy) and Tim Daly (of The Sopranos) talents seem to be wasted on this show. I almost feel bad for Kate Walsh, as I think she left a good thing with Grey’s Anatomy. ABC tries to make Walsh’s Addison Forbes Montgomery a ’00s version of That Girl with Mary Tyler Moore. Instead, everything seems so cliche: girl fed up with life, decides to create new one with location and job change. I don’t foresee this lasting too long, especially since Grey’s/Private Practice creator Shondra Rhimes set it up so the Chief is keeping Addison’s position open as long as possible.

Dirty Sexy Money - starring Peter Krause
Wednesdays at 10 p.m., ABC

Peter Krause tends to stick with the screwed-up family dramas. After finishing Six Feet Under on HBO, Krause switches to a less morbid drama as a family’s lawyer. Dirty Sexy Money reminds me a lot of the primetime soap Dynasty that ruled my parents’ TV airwaves in the ’80s. It centers around Donald Sutherland’s family of his wife and five grown, screwed-up in more than one way children.

Just to get you started, his oldest son, played by Baldwin brother William, is involved with a transgendered prostitute…and about to get involved in an election to become the next all-American U.S. senator. Then there’s daughter Karen, who’s been married three times, and twins Juliet and Jeremy, who are reminiscent of today’s troubled celebutantes. I can’t forget Brian, an Episcopal priest with an illegitimate child. Basically, if you’re obsessed with today’s Paris Hilton culture, you’ll love this completely unbelievable, off-the-wall, yet highly addictive primetime soap.

Big Shots - starring Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan
Thursdays at 10 p.m., ABC

I missed this show when it aired but I caught it this evening on ABC.com. First of all, can I just say that eye candy Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan make this show worth watching?

Anyway, out of all the new shows, I think that Big Shots and Gossip Girl will be my favorites. Big Shots is the Sex and the City for men. Four good-looking, extremely prominent businessmen (I’m talking CEOs here) discuss life and love in the big city. In the pilot episode, McDermott’s character tries to cover up the fact that he slept with a transgendered prostitute. In the meantime, he’s forced to hire his hilariously witty 19-year-old daughter Cameron at his offices. Vartan’s character seems to be the group’s center of good choices, except the poor guy is reeling from the fact that his wife cheat on him. Then there’s the Joshua Malina’s character, who has a mistress that makes “a short, insecure lactose-intolerant man feel like a porn star,” and the fourth, Christopher Titus, has a wife whose expectations of him are beyond high.

I’ve tended to enjoy a guy’s company more than a woman’s at times, because guys are so much more low-key and I think this is what makes this show so great. It shows that men are the new women. They’re worried about their relationships, appearances, and the women that drive them “absolutely crazy.”