Monday, April 6
On this week's Chuck (NBC, 8pm), our hero not only reconnects with his long absent father, played by Scott Bakula, but also lands his dream job working for tech mogul Ted Roark, played by Chevy Chase! That's a lot to get done in a day. Good work, Chuck.

Despite his penchant for filthy stand-up comedy, Bob Saget just loves to play suburban dads... I guess. Why else would he have agreed to star in Surviving Suburbia (ABC, 9:30pm), playing a father of two with an as-described by ABC "cynical" take on his cookie-cutter life? Oh, sitcoms. Why do I feel like the phrase "cookie-cutter" is going to get a little more play before we're done with this show?

The Hills (MTV, 10pm) is back. Double episode premiere. Stuff about Lauren and Heidi. What else do you need to know?

Tuesday, April 7

That show Trust Me (TNT, 9pm) is having a double-episode season finale tonight. I would describe what's going to happen, but whenever I see Eric McCormack I go off into a nice little fantasy of myself happily watching Will & Grace reruns, so that makes it hard to pay attention to anything else.

Time to start questioning the answers again... because Fringe (FOX, 9pm) is returning from its mid-season break with a creepy little mute boy and a serial killer and probably a lot of subliminal messages transmitted to us via frog. Fringe-tastic!

After an extended hiatus and with just ten webisodes to put out the fire (haha) of viewers' impatience, Rescue Me (FX, 10pm) is coming back with a vengeance, an extra-long season order of 22 episodes, and a whole heap of guest stars! And apparently the guys will have to deal with a French journalist who is writing a coffee table book about 9/11? I'd write down what I think Tommy Gavin will have to say about that, but for propriety's sake I don't think I should.

Wednesday, April 8
Life (NBC, 9pm) bows its second season this week, and it looks like Crews will have to go all out if he wants to save his missing partner, Reese. Which is good -- would you really want to watch if he was only going to go half-out?

In case you've been dying to catch up with your favorite fauxlebrities -- actually, these people don't even deserve the "-lebrities" suffix as that implies a certain degree of fame -- The Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Duel 2 (MTV, 10pm) premieres tonight. Did you know this is the seventeenth season in the Challenge series? I didn't. And now I'm sad, because that's so much time wasted on shameless self-promotion and giving away huge sums of money to undeserving fame whores. Which means I should probably stop watching TV altogether, because there are a hell of a lot more shows out there that fit that description.

There are plenty of cop shows on TV now, and plenty set in New York. But none of them provide the eccentric humor of The Unusuals (ABC, 10pm), which premieres tonight. Amber Tamblyn (yay!) heads the cast as a rookie detective who is assigned to the homicide division's Second Precinct, home to a whole mess of... well, unusual colleagues whose quirks conceal deeper secrets. So people get shot, but people also refuse to take off their bulletproof vests even when sleeping! See? Unusual.

Thursday, April 9
There are a hell of a lot of news series premieres tonight, so I hope your TiVo is feeling energetic. First up is Parks & Recreation (NBC, 8:30pm), the much-touted Office semi-spinoff starring Amy Poehler as a local government worker charged with turning a construction pit into a community park. And speaking of The Office, it's airing new episodes at 8pm AND 9pm tonight (Michael Scott Paper Company!), so program accordingly.

Okay so this one's not a premiere... but bear with me, especially you Buffy/Angel fans. Charisma Carpenter, yes that's right, Cordelia Chase herself, will guest star on this week's CSI (CBS, 9pm) as a skydiver named Mink. But you'll actually have to watch CSI to see her, so you make the call.

Southland (NBC, 10pm), is the other NBC premiere tonight, the one not about a wacky group of mid-level Indiana bureaucrats. Southland follows Ben McKenzie as a rookie cop who questions whether he can handle his new LAPD job as he assists on cases in some rather, well, gritty neighborhoods. Similar to where his previous character Ryan Atwood was supposed to be from. Now that's what I call full circle -- and in only two shows!

Remember that time you were invited to a house party at a remote location and it turned out to be the site of a gruesome down-to-the-last-guest killing? Now you can relive the experience with the premiere of Harper's Island (CBS, 10pm)! Or you can, you know, read Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Or whatever.

Final premiere of the night: Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire (Comedy Central, 10pm). Described as a "workplace comedy set in an ancient realm," we follow the titular character as he assembles a ragtag group of heroes to destroy the evil Chancellor Dongalor. Apparently this Krod Mandoon person is also a germaphobe, which I didn't think they had back then, but go figure.

Friday, April 10
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX, 8pm) wraps up its second season tonight with the long-awaited confrontation between the Connors and Skynet. Wouldn't it be cool if one of these days Governor Schwarzenegger made a guest appearance or something? You know, when he's done solving California's crippling debt.

And now for the final finale of the week: Friday Night Lights (NBC, 9pm). It's five months after the state championship, and all our (not-so) little high schoolers are making their final plans for college -- right before the show goes on its summer hiatus. Realistic, no?