I watched "The Education of Max Baird", a somewhat long name for a new CBS drama airing on Sundays. Actually I missed the first half because traffic was quite heavy on my way back to my apartment. But that's besides the point. The preview I read of it said that this is going to be a good show. And it looked ok to me.

Probably not going to watch it though. The reason being that I need to keep my television viewing down. 9.5 hours of shows from returning regulars. Another 7.5 hours of new shows that I want to try out. Plus three hours of shows that I missed last year because I had to cut them out. And two hours of talk shows each day (Live with Regis and Kelly and The View) and that's already thirty hours. And it was more like 40 plus and I trimmed it down and Max Baird is one of those casualties.

Today I watched "Crossing Jordan", starring Jill Hennessy. The review I read tanked on the show, saying that the character is just too mean to like. I didn't see that in this episode. She gets angry and is passionate, but not mean. The Seinfeld characters were mean. It looks like a nice show, and I do like shows with women on top. There was a nice scene where Jordan (I don't even remember if that's her first or last name) and her dad are recreating a crime and you see her in the role of the victim and him in the role of the killer "what are you doing now?" "I'm scared."

So what other new shows do I want to try? Let's start with Monday, where it's Crossing Jordan and Boston Public. Boston Public was really bad last year and I don't have hopes that it'll be any better, but I want to see Jeri Ryan's character. I saw her hosting an MTV special, something like the 10 best beach videos ever and she had a two piece bathing suit on and looked quite fetching.

Tuesday is really crowded. Frasier and Three Sisters since I sort of like them both. JAG because it's my favorite show. Dharma and Greg and Spin City, again nice shows. Gilmore Girls moves to this night. Philly which I want to try, some sort of police or court room drama. Smallville is also going to be on Tuesday, yet I'm not going to see it. I saw a preview on WB and it looked good, but not interesting. Focuses on a part of Superman's life that I have no interest in.

Wednesday we have Ed and The West Wing, both good shows. And then we have Enterprise. I've seen so many people nitpick and criticize it based on very little information. But it looks good. Then again I think all the other shows were good too. This one will be more action, more discovering the unknown. Next Generation was too civilized, Deep Space Nine was too political, Voyager was too "nice to meet ya, see you later".

Thursday is just Friends, Will & Grace, Just Shoot Me, and ER. That three hour NBC block. I don't think I'll watch Inside Schwartz -- it looked really dumb. With Gilmore Girls gone there's nothing else to watch on Thursdays. Friday is just Dark Angel and Thieves. Dark Angel may not be as good as last season. Watching the commercials for it, I can't help but think "SeaQuest, season 2", when they moved away from the hard science to total fantasy. Thieves was one of the lowest rated reviews but who knows, I may like it anyways.

Saturday is no network programming. Citizen Baines looks like a nice drama but I have enough to watch. Stargate SG-1 and Andromeda are both on Saturday and they're both good shows. Sunday is Alias and Band of Brothers. Alias looks like ABC's answer to Dark Angel, though it's not a science fiction show. But from the commercials, it's got a very kick-butt heroine. Lot of plot holes though, from what the reviewer said. Band of Brothers I wouldn't call a tv show since it's only eleven or thirteen episodes and that's it. It's really good. Like Saving Private Ryan without the disturbing and gory deaths, though it does come close at times.

Other shows. Witchblade I'll see what they do after that disappointing season ending. The Tick is not my kind of comedy but I'm willing to watch it for a few episodes, if only to see who they cast as Carmelita. 24 is supposed to be possibly the best new show of the season. We'll see, since they had to change the first episode in light of the Twin Towers attack.