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.)

Burnt soup & my thoughts on Cane

Yesterday I tuned in happily to see Cane, a show that's quickly becoming a fave of mine this year. I typically gravitate to shows with storylines involving family dynamics and what I really like about Cane is that three generations of the main family on the show--the Ducque family, to be specific--all have major storylines, giving the show a multigenerational appeal. The family dynamic angle is not enough for me to watch a series though, as my detest for Brothers and Sisters and 7th Heaven will prove. A series needs riveting ongoing stories, appealing and well-developed characters and worthwhile settings to make me like it and Cane has all that in full force.

The show revolves (as previously mentioned) around the Cuban-American Ducque family who own a rum and sugar-cane empire near Miami, Florida. The head of the family is Pancho Ducque. His wife is Amalia. They have three natural children named Francisco, Isabel and Henry. Pancho also has an honorary son, Alex Vega, who was taken in by the family as a boy. Alex is married to Isabel and they have three children together named Jaime, Katie and Artie.
The show has an excellent cast playing all these complex characters but because I don't feel like clicking back and forth to read the names on the imdb website to name them here, you can go there yourself.

The show's name comes from the sugar-cane empire that the Ducques own, and is also perhaps a reference to the Cane/Abel story from the Bible in which one brother hates the brother that he thinks his parents love more. In the show's case, middle brother Frank (short for Francisco) is resentful of his father Pancho's decision to make oldest brother Alex the new CEO of the family company, despite the fact that Frank is the natural-born son (Alex is honorarily adopted). Frank is also secretly having an affair with Ellis Samuels, the daughter of the rival enemy sugar-cane family, and she's manipulating him into giving up precious Ducque secrets. The Samuels cause a fair amount of problems for the Ducques, so much so that Alex is forced to hire a hitman to get rid of a man they sent after him. I won't get into the plot because it might give alot away but I urge you to check it out. The show needs better ratings desperately as it's not doing so well in the States. It seems every year the shows I like most get cancelled early. I'm hoping this won't be the case with Cane.

I like Cane so much, that yesterday when I was watching it on my TV, I was so into it that I forgot all about the tomato macaroni soup I had cooking on the stove. It burnt BADLY. The pot it was in is beyond washing. It's in the garbage bin beside my apartment building now. My apartment smells horribly of burnt tomatoes. But watching Cane was worth it. Honestly.