Returning TV series refresher course
Remember that hole in your stomach as you crept into your first math class after summer vacation, every once-learned equation replaced by fuzzy summer memories?
The stakes are a bit lower as familiar fall TV series return, but you’ll need a cheat sheet just the same. Here’s a refresher course on some of the top returnees:
•”How I Met Your Mother (Monday, 8:30 p.m., CBS): Ted (Josh Radnor) and Robin (Cobie Smulders) kissed in the finale and it looks like their relationship will last at least a few episodes into the second season. But we’re not getting too attached; producers have said Robin’s not the titular mother.
•”The Office” (Thursday, 8:30 p.m., NBC): Smothering all other story lines – yes, especially the goofy-geeky “webisodes” broadcast over the summer – is what will happen with Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) after last season’s smooch finale and Jim’s long-awaited admission: “I’m in love with you.” NBC promos promise “anything’s possible.” We hope so.
•”CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (Thursday, 9 p.m., CBS): In last season’s finale, Gil (William Petersen) had to decide what to do with the incapacitated Jim (Paul Guilfoyle). Jim makes it through surgery, setting up the final scene shocker: Gil and Sara (Jorja Fox) are getting it on! A one-time thing? An off-camera secret? Promos promise only Cirque du Soleil action.
•”Grey’s Anatomy” (Thursday, 9 p.m., ABC): Is Denny really dead? Is Addison pregnant? Where are the panties? Ah, the burning questions surrounding the life of Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). Our answers, in order: Yes – show creator Shonda Rhimes says “Denny, like Dylan, is dead. He’s really dead.” A big maybe on the Addison question, though Rhimes promises the love triangle will be straightened out. And as for the underwear: One promo displayed them pinned up on a bulletin board.
•”Desperate Housewives” (Sept. 24, 9 p.m., ABC): When we left off, Mike Delfino (James Denton) had been run over by the mysterious Orson (Kyle MacLachlan), leaving him in a coma. Perhaps he’ll wake up and learn that dishwater-dull Season 2 was just a dream.
•”Gilmore Girls” (Sept. 26, 8 p.m., The CW): Look for fallout as Richard (Edward Herrmann) and Emily’s (Kelly Bishop) marriage crumbles and Lorelai (Lauren Graham) tries to keep Rory (Alexis Bledel) in check after she slept with her married former boyfriend in last season’s finale.
•”Lost” (Oct. 4, 9 p.m., ABC): We can’t imagine Michael (Harold Perrineau) and son Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) get very far on their raft, which makes the fact that Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Hurley (Jorge Garcia) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) are bound and gagged by the Others all the more frustrating. Biggest questions: What’s up with the woman searching for Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick)? That giant statue’s foot? And what happened to Locke (Terry O’Quinn) and Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje) in the hatch blast?
•”Las Vegas” (Oct. 20, 9 p.m., NBC): The flashy, sexy series pumped up the action in the finale and pumped poor Ed (James Caan) full of lead; he’s in an ambulance, but we doubt they’ll kill off the boss. Meanwhile, the first couple of episodes this season have Mike (James Lesure) and Sam (Vanessa Marcil) in Hawaii. What happens in the islands …
•”The O.C.” (Nov. 2, 9 p.m., Fox): When the only thing you can remember from last season is the death of a main character – Marissa (Mischa Barton) – you know a series is in trouble. With kids headed off to college, the younger generation gets more attention; look for intrigue from Taylor (Autumn Reeser). And producers say the Cohens are “engaged in a battle for Ryan’s (Benjamin McKenzie) soul.” Whatever that means.