By Stacie Caplan > Junior > Film > University of Western Ontario

In the past, families sat around their boob-tubes and watched classic shows like I Love Lucy and Happy Days. Today, there are shows about just about everything: vampires, surviving on an island, weight loss challenges and rich snobby kids. With fall around the corner, new television shows and new seasons are on the air.

Sick of the same, boring, tedious sitcoms? Well, ABC’s hit new show, Cougar Town, will definitely keep you entertained with Courtney Cox as the star. Jules (Cox), a recent divorcee and mother of a 17-year old son, seeks to reenter the dating scene, which includes partying with and seeing younger men. She seeks to relive her 20’s yet maintain her lavish lifestyle being a top real estate agent. Watch out, younger men. Here comes Courtney!

If you combine High School Musical with Freaks and Geeks, you get Glee. A show about a high school glee club, Glee has seen excellent ratings mainly due to the dark humor, great music, and talented cast. Seeing that music and singing is a huge trend, (American Idol, Camp Rock) Glee fits in perfectly being a musical comedy. “The music is amazing. I love their versions of Kanye West’s ‘Gold Digger,’ and Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing.’ They are all very talented,” says Nicole Inwentash.

Back for round two, Gossip Girl starts off continuing with all of the drama from last season. It must be tough deciding what Chanel purse you want to wear each day. The gang, Serena (Blake Lively), Blair (Leighton Meester), Chuck (Ed Westwick), Nate (Chace Crawford), Dan (Penn Badgley) and Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) are all in college and still living their glamorous elite lives.  With new characters, Hilary Duff and Michelle Trachtenberg, there will be more hook-ups, relationships, break-ups and of course drama adding some spice to the season.

For two minutes and seventeen seconds, everyone around the world lost consciousness. During this event, people saw what seemed to be visions of their lives in the future. ABC’s hit new show, Flash Forward, is getting a lot of attention from viewers and critics. It plans to be the next big sci-fi thriller and replace Lost, which is in its final season next year. “Flash Forward is an interesting concept. It seemed kind of far-fetched at first, but that’s what makes it interesting. I am excited to see where this season goes,” notes Kristina Loschiavo.

Another American obsession this year is vampires. From the Twilight novels to the films, vampires are taking over every medium. Thus, it is no surprise that the CW launched The Vampire Diaries early in September. Based on L. J. Smith’s book, The Vampire Diaries revolves around two vampire brothers (evil and good) who battle to win the heart of Elana (Nina Dobrev) and those of her friends and family in a small town. The show has received mixed reviews. Some critics said that the show got off to a bad start but has been picking up.