The Simpsons - One of the best opening sequences in a long time - a great throwback to the movie. The episode wasn't bad (I don't know of a "bad" Simpsons episode), but it wasn't spectacular either. It was The Simpsons, which is the best I can say. Nice to know somethings don't change. 

Family Guy - This is the first of three shows this week to suffer from "too long for their own good." The Star Wars spoof was funny, but at an hour it was way too long, and you could tell that they were just stretching for time. I'll be glad this Sunday when they go back to the half-hour format. 

Chuck - This show was pretty good, actually. I liked the guy who played Chuck, but the pilot wasn't as engaging as I hoped it would be. I think if it's developed right, it could turn into a really solid show, but if it stays as it is, it's going to get stale fast. I was glad to see Adam Baldwin (Jayne from Firefly) back on the screen, so that was nice. And the scene where Sarah is dancing around Chuck, rather sleazily, and killing the guys while Chuck, since he's a total nerd, is totally out of it, was pretty hilarious. Though, in reality, Chuck would have to be suspicious if a girl like that just asked him out. Lord knows I would be. 

Heroes - I was really looking forward to this one, and I was a little disappointed. By skipping ahead four months, they lost all the moment they had built up from last season. Now, I understand that for this kind of suspense driven show, you have to start out slow and work to the crazy stuff, but still. I was so happy to see Sark from Alias in it, and there's real potential for this season, but this first episode didn't do much for me. Everyone said Lost stumbled a bit during the second season, so we'll see what Heroes does. 

Journeyman - Nothing spectacular here, either, but it was rather interesting. Great music selection and I really like Keven McKidd (he was brilliant in Rome). It probably had my favourite ending of anything this week, but I get the sense that it may not stick around for long if they don't tweak it a bit to make it more exciting. 

My Name is Earl - Here's show number two that suffered from being too long. Earl is really  brilliant, and one of TV's most hopeful shows, but there was too much stretching for time and striving to be funny. Despite all that, when Earl just buckles down and is himself, that's when the show really takes off, as it did manage to do by show's end. I think this is going to be the show's most ambitious season, since they really have written Earl into an interesting situation. I can't wait to see what they do with it. 

The Office - After seeing this, I praise God that The Office is only an hour long every now and then; it should really only be when it's a keystone plot episode. There was so much uncessary stuff in this episode that I was shocked: the whole Dwight and Angela thing could've been cut down a lot, as could the whole first half with Meredith and the curse. Pam seeing Michael naked was totally irrelevant to anything going on in the epsiode, and should've been scrapped entirely except for the fact that it gave off one of the shows two best bits: Jan telling Pam to back off. I'm a huge Jim/Pam fan, and it was nice to see them together, but something about Pam really rubbed me the wrong way for a good portion of the episode. I get that her whole arch last season was being more honest and so this new attitude she had is the culmination of that, but to me she came off not as good natured as she used to be, and almost, as Karen said, "kind of a bitch." Jim was great as always, but I don't know; we'll see how the writers handle them actually being in a relationship. If last night was any indication, I'm a bit nervous. Hopefully, once they go back to the half-hour, they'll trim down all the fat and it'll be The Office that I love, but last night was not much of anything really. The highlight of the episode for me was Michael asking Toby if he desecrated any indian burial grounds over the summer. That was the real Office. Not sure what the rest of it was. 

Best new series premiere: Chuck
Best returning series premiere: My Name is Earl