Continuing with comments this season of TV premieres, here are my views on the current seasons of House MD, Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Mother and Brothers & Sisters...
Gossip Girl S4

As for Serena, I’m glad to see some stability in her life, after all that she put herself through last season, trying to find herself and her father. It’s good that she’s finally in college, but as we all probably know that the stability will not last. Her budding romance with Colin Forrester I’m sure will lead to catastrophe when we find out what his connection with Juliet is. Speaking of which, the Juliet storyline has grabbed my attention entirely this season. I’m quite sure that her seeking revenge from Serena, on behalf of Ben in prison has to do with the guy Serena killed a long time ago, when she was BBFs with Georgina Sparks, but where Colin fits in to this whole thing, I’m dying to find out! For me, the Juliet angle seems straight out of Desperate Housewives—a mysterious person coming into the characters’ lives, with some secret goal to achieve, in a way that makes them wreak havoc in the lives of the characters. While she almost had Serena expelled from Columbia, she did cause Dan and Vanessa to break up. Not that I’m shocked or depressed about that! Vanessa has always seemed like a fifth wheel among the others, and I really hope they do something more with her character to justify her presence in the show.
House MD S7

However, even with her gone, life is almost as usual for House’s team. The medical mysteries continue to pose a challenge, and the basic premise of the show is kept alive, with original cases, even after six years. The team has its ups and downs as well. Seeing Chase confront Foreman about his superiority complex was good material, in terms of seeing their relationship as co-workers evolve. While on Chase, I do hope he finds happiness with someone, and moves on from his whoring around with women. I think the temp, Dr Kelly Benedict might be good for him. She seems to not be a very strong person, so I think it might be just right for him to be with someone who he can fix, after being with Cameron, who lived to fix people. I think, that’s going be his path for this season—moving on from his broken marriage, and finally finding someone new. At the same time, nothing has really indicated what path Foreman and Taob will take. I’m waiting to see what it is.
Coming back to ‘Huddy’, at least in the first four episodes, the writers have done an excellent job of playing out their relationship. While it’s clear that they’re both willing to be honest about their feelings, I was impressed by how they uncovered the insecurity that they both feel, when they both agree that they’re holding back, and being cautious about the relationship. Facing hurdles like these is what can make their union a success. I’m looking forward to seeing them get deeper into an uncomfortable phase, where things aren’t so happy, and the reality of being in a committed, serious relationship sinks in further, and perhaps even the devastation of the last finale catches up with them. What I do miss is Wilson. I feel like he could have played a bigger role with House and Cuddy getting together, but he’s almost been pushed aside, as though House doesn’t require his best friend any more. I do hope they give him more of a role in the show, before his character disappears and Robert Sean Leonard decides he doesn’t want to be a part of it. Regardless of Wilson’s role, there’s a lot to look forward to the rest of this season.
How I Met Your Mother S6

Meanwhile, the show goes on as usual. The entertainment factor is still alive. However, I’m not so excited by Lily and Marshall trying to have a baby as being their story for the season. And I’ve almost made peace with the fact that Barney Stinson will never evolve as a character, and will remain a caricature. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Neil Patrick Harris, and I still like seeing him do his job on the show, but if legendary characters like Joey Tribianni and Chandler Bing (Friends) could evolve from being two goofy guys sharing an apartment, I think Barney Stinson needs that too. Even his relationship with Robin did nothing for his character, becoming one of the most pointless storylines of the show. I like seeing his sensitive side at times, like in the episode when he really wants to look up to his half-brother’s father as being his own, but such moments are few and infrequent.
All said and done, I’m still waiting for the magic of ‘Act 3’ of HIMYM take over this season, as Carter Bays’ indicated earlier this year. A lot of people say that they don’t like the show any more because it’s not as good as it used to be, but I feel that if it’s losing its charm, it’s because it’s just like it used to be. I’m dying to see it evolve a bit, as a whole. I hope it does, so that it can be the legendary show that everyone thought it was going to be.
Brothers & Sisters S5



COMING SOON: Thoughts on the Ugly Betty series finale