The top 10 new shows of the fall (in my humble opinion)

Of all the show's that have premiered this fall, these are the ten that I like the most:

1. Heartland (It's a rural drama set on a horse ranch, taking place in the Canadian prairies with a good cast and good storylines so I love it.)
2. Life (Damian Lewis who plays the lead in this show is phenomenal and so is the character he plays, excellant supporting cast and storylines as well)
3. Cane (I love this show because of the ongoing storylines and family dynamics, it's becoming more and more of an addictive show for me. The complex characters and the cast who play them are awesome.)
4. Waterloo Road (This British drama is pheomenal. It's such high quality with moving storylines and characters. I urge people who get the chance to watch it to do so.)
5. Dirty Sexy Money (A really entertaining show. Donald Sutherland and Peter Krause are awesome in this.)
6. Blood Ties (While it doesn't have a big American budget for expensive sets, I find the characters in this show about a private eye and a 400-year-old vampire intriging. I was surprised how much I liked it because before I watched it I thought it would be cliche but it isn't.)
7. Samantha Who? (It only debuted a couple days ago, but it started off really strongly. Christina Applegate sure proved herself as a talented actress.)
8. Kyle XY (Even though it debuted in the States a couple years ago, it only began airing in Canada this year, and I really like it so far.)
9. Bionic Woman (While I think there are plenty of flaws with this show, I have become a regular watcher)
10. K-Ville (While it started off great, it's fading. I was hoping for more in the way of ongoing storylines but the show is seeming to go in more of a procedural direction.)

My thoughts on City TV's new season's shows

Originally, earlier this year, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of Canuck shows planned to air on City TV's stations for the 2007-2008 season but since City TV was recently purchased by Rogers Media the smallest Canadian network's schedule has changed slightly. CTV Globemedia, which temporaily held options on all City TV's shows after taking over CHUM Media, kept some of the shows, while passing on a few others to Rogers. Shows originally planned for City TV's 2007-2008 season were Across the River to Motor City, Blood Ties, Murdoch Mysteries, The Bridge, Terminal City, Less Than Kind and Grand Star.

Across the River to Motor City is, at least from what I can gather from the vague info I've found online, is the story of a father and daughter at two different times in history--the present year and 1963. The show is also set in Detroit and Windsor, two cities across the Canadian-American border from each other. It is the story of murder, mystery and conspiracy. To me it seems exceptionally complex but the critics have praised it so I definitely intend to check it out when it debutes November 19th.

Blood Ties is the real diamond in the rough for this TV season. It debuted early in August and from the handful of episodes I've seen, I've been thoroughly impressed with the writing. The show isn't flashy or expensive-looking but the characters are exceptionally intriguing and it's a show I plan on watching for a long time to come. The show's main characters are Vicki, a private investigator, Mike, her former partner from her days as a police detective and Henry Fitzroy, a 500-year-old vampire. Put the three together and you have an amazing show.

Murdoch Mysteries is a show which was scheduled to debute on City TV this fall, but since CTV Globemedia retained the rights of it when it bought out CHUM, the show is in a bit of a limbo. It's scheduled to air on CTV Globemedia's specialty channel Bravo sometime in 2008 but no word yet if it's gonna end up on the big network itself. Hopefully it will because from what I hear, it'll be good and it deserves all the exposure it gets rather than getting burnt off on a channel not very many people watch. The show, by the way, is about a detective in Victorian-era Toronto (late 1800s for those who aren't history know-it-alls) who solves a variety of mysteries of the supernatural sort. There's something refreshing about watching a mystery series set in a time before the internet and cell phones existed--it feels more mysterious if you ask me.

The Bridge is a cop drama set in Toronto. That's all I know about it. It's set to air in 2008.

Terminal City is a ten-part miniseries which originally aired on Movie Central last year. It garnered a few awards and the critics loved it. It's about a woman who becomes terminally ill with breast cancer who hosts her own reality show. I will give this show a chance as breast cancer has hit my family in the past and I am interested to see how this show deals with the real issues. It debuts September 10th.

Less Than Kind is a quirky comedy set in Winnipeg. It's main character is a teenager whose family runs a failing driving school. I'm definitely gonna watch it when it airs in 2008 as I lived in Winnipeg two years and it'll be interesting to see if I recognize anything in the background.

Grand Star is a show with scarcely any info available. From what I can gather (please feel free to reply with a correction if I'm wrong) the original title of this series was Ice Planet. It's a sci-fi show which takes place far into the future on earth where an ice age has encased the planet after the explosion of nuclear waste on the moon. Yes, you've heard me right. I may or may not let curiosity get the best of me and watch it when it airs September 22nd on Space TV. It will not be airing on City TV as was originally fortold.

Show Review - Blood Ties

[2-hour pilot episode, aired Sep. 14 on Space TV]

This show just won a convert. Honestly, it was really good, but not necessarily in the conventional way. It didn't blow me away like other shows have. The storylines, premise, and setting are all been-there-seen-that but by the end of this two hour pilot episode I really really can't wait to see another episode. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you that it has to do everything with the actors in the show and the characters they played. They won me over. They are what made the show so good.

The central character in the show is 30-something-year-old Vicki Nelson. Vicki is a tough former cop, who quit the force after being relegated to a desk job when she started to lose her sight. She suffers from some sort of degenerative eye disease which apparently will cause her to someday be blind. Vicki can still see, though she has tunnel vision and night blindness, but instead of letting it bring her down, she starts her own private investigation business. In the pilot episode, a young woman named Corrine Fennel hires her to find her boyfriend's killer, telling Vicki that a vampire killed him. Of course, Vicki doesn't believe her but by mid-episode she comes around to the idea when, while out investigating, she meets a really good-looking man named Henry Fitzroy who just happens to be a vampire. When Henry's vampire charms don't work on Vicki (he is capable of hypnotizing humans with his eyes) he is taken aback. Once he convinces Vicki that he is not the bad guy she thinks he is, the two pair up to fight a demon and save Toronto from destruction. Also assisting them is Miki Celluci, a detective on the police force and a former lover of Vicki who is very protective of her.

There is definite onscreen chemistry between Christina Cox and Kyle Schmid, who play the roles of Vicki and Henry. And there is also onscreen chemistry between Christina Cox and Dylan Neal, who plays Mike. This, thankfully, makes the inevitable future love triangle between Henry, Vicki and Mike extremely unpredictable. Most television triangles consist of two people who are right for each other and a third who obviously is not. Blood Ties does not follow that example and I think that serves the show well. It makes me want to tune in next time to see just what happens to these very intriguing characters.