Kick, Pooh, kick!

Recent TV: I skipped last night's Bionic Woman, just as I promised I would. I have to admit, I felt a nagging urge to watch it anyway, despite knowing how awful it would be. But I resisted, and am a better man for it.

Heroes is getting really weak. I've been hating the stories involving Peter in Ireland, and Hiro in ancient Japan, but when they didn't show up in this Tuesday's episode, I was pining for them to return. Because without them, we had to spend even more time with the even more awful stories involving Claire and her douchey new boyfriend (aptly nicknamed "Captain Emo" over at The AV Club), Maya and Alejandro (or "the Toxic Twins," ibid), and, worst of all, the wretched Katrina-exploiting Nawlins plotline, featuring Pint-Size Gangsta and his sister, the Tomato Carving Wrestler. I keep hoping this season is going to shape up like last season, which floundered a bit at the beginning, but got progressively more awesome as the pieces began falling into place. There was a minuscule amount of forward progress this last episode, with the revelation that Parkman's father was not only one of the original 12 heroes, but is also the "Nightmare Man," but this show needs to pick things up in a big way before it loses me altogether. At least Kristen Bell will be in next week's episode, which should improve things quite a bit.

I skipped Life last night, because it's going to reair this weekend, if I feel like catching it. And I didn't miss it that much. Or at all, really. Out of sight, out of mind. It's just about eliminated from my viewing schedule.

Still loving Dirty Sexy Money, but it might be drifting a little too far into standard soap opera cliches, and away from the humor that made me enjoy it so much in the first place. It's a little early to tell, so it's still got the benefit of the doubt.

Pushing Daisies remains my other new favorite show; it may actually be surpassing DSM. Last night's episode was the first without Barry Sonnenfeld directing (ABC objected to his budget overruns), and there was no discernible drop in quality. In fact, I liked it more than the previous week's outing. How can you not love seeing Chi McBride stuck in a hole like Winnie-the-Pooh, complete with the line, "Kick, Pooh, kick!" Fun stuff.

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Tonight's TV: My Name Is Earl, 30 Rock (with Steve Buscemi!), and another hour-long The Office. Also: Ugly Betty, which I'm beginning to tire of, and tonight's guest appearance by James Van Der Beek doesn't exactly have the kind of star quality that's going to refresh my interest.

A new show debuts tonight, the last of the new Fall shows: the drama/musical hybrid, Viva Laughlin. Which might be interesting -- and should, at the least, be different -- but is getting slaughtered by the critics. I'm starting to fall a bit behind; I have yet to post my reviews of Samantha Who? (which I kind of liked) and Life Is Wild (which I still haven't even watched). I should post Samantha and Laughlin soon, but honestly, I don't know if I'll ever be able to bring myself to watch Life Is Wild. I started it yesterday, and turned it off almost before it had begun. Zero interest.

On cable tonight, on Comedy Central at 10:00 is a repeat of last night's excellent new South Park, followed by a new Drawn Together, which I probably won't watch until it reairs at 12:30, since I'll be watching Viva Laughlin at 10:00. And on FX at 10:00 is a new It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which I won't watch until it reairs at 11:00, for the same reason.

Plus, tonight on Fox, starting right now, the Cleveland Indians should be putting the final nail in the coffin of the Boston Red Sox, and advancing to the World Series against the seemingly unstoppable Colorado Rockies. Better wrap this up -- it's baseball time!