TV Winter Preview: Some Top Shows to Watch in 2009

Winter TV season starts next week and here’s a chronological look at some top shows that might be worth a look:

1. Scrubs (Jan. 6): Scrubs moves from NBC to ABC for season eight with the introduction of Courteney Cox Arquette as the new chief of medicine.

2. Damages (January 7): The second season of the sophisticated legal mystery starts with legal bad ass Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) deciding what case she will try, now that she’s more than flush with the dough she collected from crushing Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) in last season’s case. Patty has her enemies, though. One of them, Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), is her employee. New on the show: Close’s old “Big Chill” co-star, William Hurt, as Daniel Purcell, who turns to Patty for legal help. Timothy Olyphant from “Deadwood” plays a sinister loner. “Damages” did serious damage at the Emmys in September. Close won Best Actress in a drama and Zeljko Ivanek won Best Supporting Actor. Excellent defense for a first season.

3. 24 (Jan. 11): “24″ returns for the first time in two years with bad ass Jack Bauer facing Congress for his misdeeds (maybe they’ll give him a bailout?). Jack is on a dark journey coming to terms with his literally torturous past all while trying to bring down evil Jon Voight and preventing Senegalese rebels from invading the White House. Tony Almeida is back and literally badder than ever—he’s gone to the dark side!

4. American Idol (Jan. 13): American Idol is back for season eight. After seven years of just Randy, Paula and Simon, “American Idol” is finally adding a new judge: singer/songwriter Kara Diguodi, who is proving to be much more like acid-tongued Simon . Producers are promising fewer goofball auditions this year (although some fans think that’s the best part) and a renewed focus on the art of music.

5. The Beast (Jan. 15)
Patrick Swayze who is undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer, plays Charles Barker, a FBI veteran who gets the job done while breaking a few rules – well, enough rules to merit an investigation by Internal Affairs. Barker has taken a new partner, Ellie Dove (Travis Fimmel), to work undercover with him. “To be undercover you have to pretend to be a very nasty person. While Dove admires his new mentor, he’s also been tasked with discovering whether Barker’s gone permanently to the dark side. “Barker has made a deal with the universe that to do this job he’ll have no life,” says Romano, a former English professor.” “Ellis isn’t sure he wants to make that deal.”

6. Friday Night Lights (Jan. 16): They’re going to put Friday Night Lights in the Smithsonian some day, because few artistic endeavors—much less commercial TV series—have ever rendered Americana so faithfully. Plus, Kyle Chandler is way hot. DirecTV subscribers have already seen season three, but if you’ve only got regular TV, you can finally catch up with the Dillon Panthers again beginning Jan. 16 on NBC.

7. Battlestar Galactica (Jan. 16): The ragtag fleet found Earth—but now what?! The future of the human race remains unknown, but let’s face it—Cylonic secrets are the true mystery of Battlestar Galactica’s final 10 episodes. Which Cylons are at risk for permanent extinction now that the Resurrection Ship has been destroyed? What do they want with Earth? And most fascinating of all, which familiar human is the last Cylon?

8. Big Love (Jan. 18): The Henricksons are back in town, and season three of Big Love is guaranteed to be a doozy: Look for a shocking pregnancy, a dire illness and the return of Ana, who rapidly becomes a potential fourth wife.

9. Lost (Jan. 21): Season five Jack (Matthew Fox) wants to go back to the island to rescue those who didn’t escape with the Oceanic Six. The penultimate season of “Lost” will focus on “new mysteries,” says exec producers Damien Lindehof and Carlton Cuse. “But we feel we are rounding the corner and heading home.”

10. Lie to Me (Jan. 21): Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling book, “Blink,” focuses on the work of Dr. Paul Ekman. Ekman who teaches that it’s microexpressions — tiny downturns at the corners of the mouth, a quick shoulder shrug – not the eyes that really are the windows of the soul. “Lie to Me”‘s creator Samuel Baum has developed an entire series around that notion, with Tim Roth (“Pulp Fiction”) starring as Dr. Cal Lightman, a deception expert who always knows whether someone is fibbing, he just doesn’t always know why. The series follows Lightman and his team of deception experts as they assist law enforcement and government agencies to expose the truth. “People can lie about anything. There are as many stories as there are lies, and as many lies as there are people,” Baum says. “Any juicy story you can think of has lies at the heart of it.”

11. Burn Notice (Jan. 22): TV’s coolest spies return to finish up season-two with Michael and Fiona do their best to keep things professional…but find that in their line of work, that’s a lot harder than it sounds.”

12. Trust Me (Jan 26): Tom Cavanagh and Eric McCormack play modern-day Mad Men whose partnership is tested when one of them becomes the boss of the other.

13. The Closer (Jan 26): Cable’s most popular show, starring Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson, returns.

14. Dollhouse (Feb. 13): Joss Whedon the creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” returns to television with a new series in which the mindfrak is built in to the premise: Young men and women are deprogrammed of their own personalities in order to make room for fabulous new personas ranging from perfect girlfriend to hostage negotiator.  Eliza Dushku stars as Echo, a member of the “Dolls,” people whose personalities have been erased and replaced with new traits, memories, skills and language. Controlled by a sinister group known as the Handlers, they are hired out to commit crimes, fulfill fantasies and occasionally perform good deeds.
The Dolls return to their blank slate state in between assignements. The story’s conflict arises when Echo begins to remember what she’s been doing. Then she questions her life at the Dollhouse.

15. Reaper (March 17): The CW’s Reaper is light fare but , and it returns in March for a 13-episode second season. Look for further exploration of Sam’s past and his true connection with the Devil, plus a dangerous romance for Ben.

16. Kings (March 19): The next great epic serial is here! Created by Michael Green (Everwood, Heroes), Kings is the biblical story of David, Goliath and King Saul, retold in an alternate universe that looks somewhat like our world but is visibly unique and different. Ian McShane returns to television as the imperious King Saul; newcomer Christopher Egan stars as golden boy David.

17. Amy Poehler Show (April TBD): Last but not nearly least. No one knows what the name of show is our what it is about, but few care. With Amy Poehler (host of Smart Girls at the Party), Aziz Ansari (Scrubs) and Rashida Jones (The Office, Unhitched) onboard and producers Greg Daniels and Mike Schur of The Office it should be great TV.

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