Flying through HIMYM!

It was eight short months ago that I decided to give How I Met Your Mother a try, as I received the first season on DVD as a Christmas present. August is now upon us, I've mowed through all four seasons thus far, and I'm left waiting another month - are you serious?! - for the fifth season to make its way to DVD! How can this be?!

The show is not the most riotously funny show I've seen - that honor goes to Arrested Development - and it's not in the same league as Cheers or Seinfeld - but it certainly stacks up favorably next to almost all sitcoms from the past decade. Neil Patrick Harris is obviously the main attraction, but the rest of the cast has a Friends-esque dynamic, with different pairings producing strong results each week.

I never actually thought I'd catch up to the live show, but it's almost finally upon us. Of course, now I've got to find something else to pass the summer nights. Now, about that Rubicon show...

Summer television is Justified

Just when I thought I had nothing left to watch during the summer, along comes Justified, which has miraculously become one of my favorite programs. I gave it a chance in the spring on a lark, mainly due to the presence of Deadwood star Timothy Olyphant, and I haven't been disappointed.

The story of a US Marshall forced to come back home to Kentucky when his on-the-job actions start generating too much negative heat, Justified is a nice mix of serialized drama, encapsulated stories, and irreverent humor. It doesn't have anywhere near the complexity of my all-time favorite show, Lost, but it fills a need, not unlike what Burn Notice has done for us in recent years. It works, it's reliable, and it's damn good entertainment!

Will anything take their place?

What happens when a number of your favorite shows leave the airwaves at the same time? What is a man to do? Lost and 24 have both ended their runs - as have Heroes and FlashForward, but who's counting? - and it's time to turn our attention to what's going to fill the void.

Nothing will "replace" Lost, and, quite frankly, it's foolish to pretend that anything will. The show is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement, and, in keeping with that notion, I don't expect to see anything like it again. 24, on the other hand, may have been ahead of its time and a groundbreaking achievement, but that was more than five years ago, and it's been showing signs of wear since the fifth season.

Next fall, Survivor will be all that remains of my once-dominant trio of programs. Other contenders, long waiting in the wings, will need to step forward - Friday Night Lights, The Office, or Chuck, for example. Will they be the same? Unlikely, but maybe something new fills the void. I can only hope...

Don't forget the early years

It's not uncommon for a show to overstay its welcome. Even critical and pop-culture favorites like Friends managed to hang on too long, as ratings and, ultimately, finances cause networks to do peculiar things. 24 was no different, but we kept coming back, always hopeful that it would recapture some of its old magic.

The show was a tricky one, because it never truly spiraled off into the abyss. Every season brought with it hope & promise, and each year had its own run of strong episodes. Each one's final grade was determined, however, by its ability to sustain whatever momentum it built up early on, by its willingness to steer clear of the tried & true, and by its ability to minimize those cringe-worthy moments.

Well, season 8 had its moments, but too many of them involved the show veering steadily off the rails. Does it make me love the show any less? Does it make me forget what this show once was? Certainly not, but its time had come. I'll choose to remember those great early seasons, and I'll still look forward to one final journey in the years to come...

Gone too soon... or not

FlashForward began the season as one of television's most promising shows, but some behind-the-scenes struggles and an extended network absence surely killed what chance it may have had. That being said, it returned from its forced hiatus rather well, but is it too late? I'm not talking about a second season - I'm talking about finishing the first season! One can only hope...

A Hero til the end

I thought I was done with this routine a year ago when Prison Break finally ended. I have a tough time giving up on shows I've become invested in, even when I recognize that they're shells of their former self. Such has been the case with Heroes, a show that has been veering off course for four of its five seasons. It's never matched the creative success of its first season, and, while millions of other viewers have jumped ship, I have not. Is there hope for me? Of course. The fifth season just wrapped, and, while it could certainly be built upon for a sixth season, it's a pretty good place to end the run. However, considering the network it's on, I won't hold my breath...