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By Kate Blake- Editor and Admin

Last week marked the official beginning of the new fall TV season which included some returning favorites and some new faces to the sci-fi and action tv landscape. Here are some of the highlights to date- SPOILER warnings if you haven’t seen the shows mentioned.

Monday Night

Heroes: If you haven’t watched Heroes in a while- you need to add it back to your viewing schedule! This season has started out strong with newcharacters and old ones who are being tied together in a new story arc. Claire is at college dealing with being herself and no longer running. Noah is redefining himself and his role in the Heroes world. He has already helped Tracy reclaim her life. We have Petrelli drama on all fronts with SUPER Peter and Nathan/Sylar. The new story arc with Robert Knepper from Prison Break is intriguing and the powers he and his carnival family wield include some all new ones that are fresh not only to Heroes but TV. I love Samuel’s earth moving powers, the Tattoo lady is still a bit of a mystery, and this week we saw a deaf woman who is seeing sound as colors. Meanwhile Matt Parkman is having a very tough time dealing with Sylar who has taken up residence in his head. Hiro is dying and trying to franchise his heroics and Ando is getting busy with Hiro’s sister. We aren’t quite sure where Mohinder is- he is supposed to return later this season hopefully right in time to save Hiro’s life.

Wednesday

Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth share the SyFy channel Wednesday night block and both shows have been having a great fall with interesting stories and some fun. Watch for the annual Ghost Hunters live all night event on Halloween. I am betting Josh Gates will be on board for the overnight investigation.

Eastwick ABC premiered their new witchy series on Wednesday night and I was pleased that the producers made some edits to the original pilot. The pilot that aired did a nice job of introducing our three main characters and showing glimpses of the dormant powers within that are stirred when they all pitch coins in a fountain at a town celebration. Paul Gross as Darryl Van Horne has the Jack Nicholson sleaze factor down in spades. This week he began the seduction of the women – and the dance continues this week. I like all three female leads with Lindsey Price and her quirky newspaper reporter who suffers from inappropriate verbal incontinence in the presence of the guy she lusts after making me chuckle. Sarah Rue is her BFF who is feeling pushed aside by her friend’s new witchy friends. Rating? Chick flick with a paranormal twist- I will keep watching to see how it develops.

Thursday

Supernatural: We have talked about the boys here repeatedly and the show just keeps getting better. The ratings have been soft but many of the show’s male viewers have been watching this little thing called football which also airs on Thursday nights…..Just make sure you have it on your DVR list so if it is pre-empted for sports in your market you will catch the showing whenever your local affiliate airs it.

Bones: Week 2 of season 5 had the show back on track with not one but two gross bodies, the team at the Jeffersonian pulling together to make sure that their favorite intern Wendell kept his scholarship , Booth and Bones had some bickering about money and plumbing and ended up with their heads under a sink. The show is back on track and into the groove as Booth is regaining his own personality again after his brain surgery.

Flash Forward: If you missed the premiere you really missed one of the most exciting , intriguing and captivating series premieres that I can remember. Great cast, interesting mystery at the heart of the show, and a very non-sappy set of storylines. Joe Fiennes is a formidable leading man and commands every scene he is in. John Cho is charming and adorable and you really want him to be ok. Sonya Walger is right on point at the loving wife and caring surgeon who is wrecked emotionally by her glimpse of the future. The actor I am looking forward to seeing more of is Jack Davenport whose character is introduced in the last minutes of the pilot. Dominic Monaghan joins the story this week so make sure you catch the pilot and then tune in on Thursday!

The Mentalist: Last season ended with Patrick Jane and the CBI team taking out Red John’s accomplice and latest protege. The series premiered on Thursday in its new time slot on CBS with the team being pulled from the Red John case and Jane getting pissy about it. He and Lisbon go back and forth as they try to solve the case of the week with Jane being his usual sneaky self and getting the job done and finally ending the episode admitting he really has nothing else and it is only a matter of time before they will get the case back.

Friday

Smallville: Hey guess what? Smallville moved to Friday night last week with a strong premiere episode with Brian Austin Green guest starring in part 1 of a two episode arc that he is in. Guess what? Post- Doomsday Clark is back in black in full hero mode, Zod is on earth ( and very hot!) and Lois Lane is now the leading lady front and center. Joining the series this year as a semi-regular is Alessandro Juliani ( Gaeta on BSG) as Dr Emil Hamilton who is taking on superhero support duties along with Chloe . Make sure you have Smallville on your DVR – this season is going to be good!

Dollhouse: Did you watch the season premiere? Yeah- me neither and the ratings reflected it. Dollhouse got about the same number of viewers that Smallville did and FOX cannot keep a show on with ratings at CW levels. The Dollhouse deathwatch has begun- the question is how many of their second season episodes will actually air. I have it sitting on my DVD recorder on disk- I probably won’t get around to watching these until next month.

Medium: The DuBois family made their move to CBS seamlessly and didn’t lose any of their viewers helping elevate their lead in Ghost Whisperer for a strong CBS Friday night. If you were worried- Allison has managed to survive the coma she went into after the delayed brain surgery she had in the season 5 finale on NBC. The first episode was a bit subdued with Allison using a cane and not yet fully physically recovered- she is even called “House” in deference to her using a cane. Over the episode her gifts and physical well being return. Next week promises to be exciting as the family is back with mom yelling and poor Ariel seemingly possessed by an unwelcome spirit. I am hoping we will see more with the kids this year as Marie is now in school and verbal and Bridget cracks me up every week.

COMING this week:

Stargate Universe premieres on SyFy on Friday so be sure to set your DVR! You will not want to miss this!

Coming NEXT Week:

Sanctuary : Last season ended with a horrible cliff hanger that had everything in turmoil. The new season promises to be exciting as the show picks up right where it left off last year.