Keepin' up with the tube

The cable guy is coming Wednesday … He’s actually coming to upgrade us for digital cable, but I say Kates and I are sooooo getting a DVR.

Because it’s happening. My worst fear is coming true …

At the start of summer I heaved a huge sigh of relief when the last season finale aired and I could turn off the tube set for the summer -- well, except for Cubs games and a few episodes of ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time.’

Then.

Now.

We’re barely two weeks into the fall TV season and there’s gotta be like a record number of new -- and very good -- shows on TV. Forget baseball pennant races. I now find myself glued to the TV about two hours each night to watch the most talked about shows just so I can keep up with the talk. … I don’t even want to think about the VCR tape full of the hours of television I couldn’t watch last week because I was too busy watching other shows.

And yet I love every bit of it. I just hate that I can’t pull myself away and I’m becoming one of the people I hoped I’d never become …

Sunday nights are loaded. In a season of change, the opening scene of ‘West Wing’ couldn’t have been more clever -- a graying Jed Bartlet, cane in hand, walks into his presidential library three years into the future and happily greets CJ and Toby, although it’s no secret they’ve had some great disagreements. Although I would’ve liked to see Rob Lowe’s character in there too

… And then Josh suddenly scurries into tell Bartlet that ‘the president’ has arrived. But of course we only see ‘the president’ step from his vehicle and the opening credits begin before the camera can focus on his face. But the bigger question was, ‘what was Josh’s role!?’

Then you’ve got ‘Desperate Housewives’ returning over on ABC. Ooooh yeah! … So we know for sure now that Rex died, but we saw no signs of Paul, although Mike said he didn’t shoot him, which Zack didn’t do to Mike. And Susan knows that Mike is Zack’s father. Got all that? It’s ok if you didn‘t, the best part of the show was watching Bree duke it out with Rex’s mother and then change Rex’s ugly orange tie DURING the funeral. I laughed hysterically.

And all I have to say about 'Grey’s Anatomy' is: Consider it the new ‘Friends.’ Yes? OK, there will never be another ‘Friends.’ But seriously. Is there a more likable and fun cast on TV right now? Meredith, Cristina, George and Alex are feisty but adorable, and vulnerable but strong-willed. Then you bring in “The Nazi,” Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Burke and Dr. Webber and you’ve got a completely new layer. …It’s funny. It’s dramatic. And it’s got a heckuva soundtrack. It’s smart television.

That’s Sunday.

But the week is just starting.

Monday nights on CBS are loaded. Forget Thursdays on NBC … ‘King of Queens’ and ‘Two and a Half Men’ are now tenured comedy acts and ‘How I Met Your Mother’ is smushed in between with all the makings of a smash. …Yeah, we’ve seen the storylines before (five 20-something buds trying to find themselves in New York City and gathering at the local eatery), but the storylines still seems fresh and real … I barely stopped laughing during tonight’s show.

I won’t waste my time talking about ‘Out of Practice’ though. CBS has got it at 8:30 p.m., but I’m thinking maybe they should put it on the shelf …

Back to Sunday and catching up on that VCR tape … Fox’s ‘War at Home’ is still pretty hilarious and I hope it stays and keeps its somewhat unusual format of breaking out of scenes to offer an exclusive on the character‘s exact thoughts. . . It’s too bad it’s got such tough competition.

And ’Head Cases’ … well, let’s just say we were barely halfway through watching our taped version of last week’s episode when I realized I was bored with it and muttered aloud, ’I think I’m done watching this.’ Then I discovered it’s already been canceled.

Oh, the burden of keeping up with the TV ...

Gotta go. Still gotta watch last week’s episodes of ‘Reunion’ and ‘Inconceivable,’ so I can be ready for this week’s showings of ’The Office,’ ’Amazing Race’ ’Lost’ (… by the way, did you see its ratings last week? Martha doesn’t stand a chance), ’Invasion’ and NBC Thursday.