So, what does an always-optimistic TiVo owner watch this season?

For starters, I gave up on the CBS show, Shark. I enjoyed it some last season, but it's just another generic cop/lawyer show with a more-talented-than-average lead in James Woods. The subplots that form the longer story arcs, such as the troubled relationship between Mr. Woods' character and his daughter, really don't add much and the supporting cast just aren't that interesting. At least Sunday nights still have that evergreen, 60 Minutes, which remains surprisingly strong.

Mondays remain a busy night here on the ol' TiVos! While I await the premiere of this season's 24, Fox has given us K-Ville. Again, nothing special here, just a cop-buddy show that only offers use the barest sense that they're in New Orleans rather than, say, Orlando. Not an interesting character in the bunch. And airing before K-Ville, Prison Break has lost a great deal of momentum this season as the writers decided to trap our protagonist in a new, foreign jail! I'll stick with Prison Break for now, but this show is, as Steven Colbert would say, "on notice"!

CBS tried to foist a real dud on us Monday nights. The Big Bang Theory features a tired version of the classic formula where gorgeous, not-too-bright beauty meets socially awkward, brainy nerd. Lordy, this is nothing worth seeing. None of the characters come close to anything but clichés and the plots smell like, well, not roses. Two And A Half Men continues to amuse, perhaps not as much as it used to, but I count at least three characters that make me laugh and the show still has masterful one-liners in nearly every episode. On the other side of the black hole known as Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother still amuses. It's hardly brilliant, but Neal Patrick Harris' Barney character is still worth the time, all by itself. Another show that remains "on notice" for me is CSI Miami. David Caruso's central character is almost a cartoon, with his fake gravitas. Still, the stories are colorful, the visual style is bright, and the episodes are always chock-full of pretty, pretty people in skimpy, skimpy clothing!

NBC put two new shows on Monday night, either side of Heroes, the big winner from NBC last year. Heroes still satisfies, but seems to be struggling with too many plot threads which are slowing down the dramatic momentum. Perhaps the de-fanging of the major villain, Sylar, left the show without a straight-line plot? Starting NBC's big night is Chuck. this show has a lot of buzz and even my sister, who's rarely able to catch any prime-time TV, saw a bit and found the actor playing the title character charming and engaging. While the lead player in Chuck is easy to like, the plots are already showing signs of repetition and the other personages are hardly brilliant. One of the most difficult shows to figure is Journeyman, a sort of retread of a theme made familiar on shows like Quantum Leap and Early Edition. The hero finds himself "visiting" the past of others' lives, where he struggles to make sense of them and his mission (usually to set something right). I'm not sure about this one as the lead actor is a bit wooden, but the sub-plots are intriguing and the tone of the show is pleasingly somber, yet urgent.

ABC isn't doing much on Mondays just yet. Are they still trying to figure out what to do without Monday Night Football? They give us a heavy dose of reality programming, which is about the only kind of TV show I can easily resist. I'm still working on forming an opinion about Samantha Who?, the only scripted show on ABC's Monday night. The premise intrigues, a woman who has forgotten her life after suffering from amnesia and awakes from a coma to find she was not a very nice person, to say the least. Can she make a new life as a good person? Will she fall back into the old ways as she works to resume her job and social life? Is she just a retread of My Name Is Earl?

The big, golden nugget for sitcoms this season comes on the CW network every Monday night. Aliens In America is off to a great start. The fish-out-of-water tale is set in Wisconsin, where a small-town family takes on a foreign-exchange student, expecting some handsome, Nordic lad, but getting Raja, the Pakistani. The delight here is how the family is a pretty basic, standard-issue sitcom family, but Raja is the sweetest, most honest, and honorable lad. While the kids at school call him "Roger", Raja perseveres, respecting his elders, promoting modesty and virtue and remaining true to his innocence. Don't make any mistake, he's not naïve, but he is a character to admire.

CDs listened to today:

• Gyorgy Ligeti: Requiem
• Lightning Bolt: Hypermagic Mountain