T.V. Club: The Season Premiere

Hi everyone and welcome to T.V. Club, the part of The A.V. Club where we talk about television. Actually, we hope "talk" isn't strong enough a word. This is the place for obsessive, unsparing coverage of the shows we love (and the shows that sometimes don't justify our love the way they should.) And by "we" I don't just mean the A.V. Club writers who will be covering the shows. Television is a mass medium, more massive than anything else we cover, and we hope you'll be joining the discussion with us.

Here's how it works: We've selected a healthy handful of programs, both new shows and returning favorites, that we feel are worth covering on an weekly basis. You'll see them over there at the right. (If we didn't pick your favorite, sorry. Let us know and we might change our minds.) We'll also be bringing in new shows as the season goes on (e.g. Lost when it returns), adding shows we deem worthy that we missed the first time around, and possibly removing shows if our interest starts to wane (or, of course, if they end their runs). One other note: We're only launching blogs for shows we can catch from the beginning of their current season. So, as much as we love Mad Men, we're not going to get to it until its next season launches. (Note to AMC: Please officially renew this fine show, okay?)

Every show has a single writer assigned to it who will blog about, and grade, each episode soon after it airs. These writers have not been chosen casually. They know their shows inside and out. When they're not watching them, they're probably thinking about them. But that's not to say we plan to go easy on our favorite shows. As regular A.V. Club readers know, this is not the place where anybody gets off the hook. And please don't let us off the hook, either. If we're off base about an episode, please let us know.

But T.V. Club won't only be covering the shows you see at the right. We plan to review most new shows as they premiere. And it's here you'll also find coverage of special programming, the occasional look at television trends, one-off reviews of shows we don't usually cover, and whatever else occurs to us.

But let's back up a second. Why are we doing this? It's partly because we watch way too much television not to make it part of our jobs. And it's partly because you've responded enthusiastically every time we've covered television in the past. But it's mostly because television can be really good. Sometimes it can even be great. But not unless we demand it.

Here's quick guide to when our chosen shows premiere and who will be covering them: