Initial Impressions of the New TV Season

1. ABC has a hit in the making with FlashForward. I'm not thrilled by ABC's transparent attempts to present this as the next Lost, but then again their attempts are somewhat effective. I'm enjoying the performances of Joseph Fiennes and John Cho, and I'm intrigued by the mysterious stadium camera footage...
   
   
2. Gossip Girl is entering that post-high school no-man's land where so many other teen dramas have met their demise. Just as Dawson's Creek took a nose dive when everyone, you know, moved away from the creek, we'll soon find out whether Blair and co. can survive south of the Upper East Side. I'm certainly a fan of GG creator Josh Schwartz...but I can't help but remember what happened to his first hit show post-graduation. OK, I'll spell it out for you: The OC sucked after season 3. And the show's demise can't be attributed solely to Mischa Barton's departure.
   
   
3. Speaking of Dawson's Creek, I've really enjoyed the first three episodes of Kevin Williamson's new series The Vampire Diaries. I'm much more interested in this show than any of the CW's other teen dramas (especially 90210 - I just can't find a way to care about those characters).
   
   
4. Reality TV is still thriving, thanks to Top Chef and Project Runway, but Survivor is a bit stale. Host Jeff Probst needs to stop providing obvious and annoying narration during challenges. Dude, this the 171st season of Survivor - give up the futile attempts to convince us we've just seen "a Survivor first" during every episode.
   
   
5. Better challenges (and drama) than Survivor? Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Ruins. This is the best guilty pleasure on TV.
   
   
6. More credible and almost as enjoyable: the new Curb Your Enthusiasm season, which hasn't even entered the Seinfeld reunion plot arc yet.