This week, the new TV season starts seriously oozing its way out onto our screens. Trying to get a leap on the competition, NBC has already premiered Father of the Pride, which I've already commented on, and Hawaii, which I have no real interest in seeing. (The commercials and premise don't do anything for me, and the word on the street is it's not very good. I got enough TV to watch as it is.) Thursday sees the premiere of Medical Investigation, before it moves to its regular Friday night slot. On the surface, it looks like NBC's version of CSI, which is ironic, considering NBC and CBS have their dueling franchises with Law & Order and CSI, and I'm not interested in either of them any more. The idea of them stealing from each other's playbooks on top of that is absurd. But this show... I want to see it because it stars Neal McDonough, from NBC's late, lamented Boomtown, and has a bunch of producers from that show on staff. It won't be a Boomtown substitute (because who copies failed series?), but that pedigree is enough to get my attention.

Saturday, KidsWB premieres the new Batman cartoon, called The Batman. I don't think I need to say any more about that.

And Sunday, we get the first episode of Jack & Bobby, the first new fall series to premiere with some actual positive buzz surrounding it. Produced by West Wing director/producer Thomas Schlamme (the man who made the show look better than everything else on TV, until he quit two seasons ago), the producer of Everwood (which I've recently started watching), and co-created by novelist Brad Meltzer, this one sounds like it could be interesting. On the surface, it may be a typical WB kids/teens drama, but with the additional hook that one of the two brothers will grow up to be president. This sense of destiny is what may separate this show from the pack. We'll see.