TVGuide Recommends Nice Girl Shows

TV Guide posted their list of editors picks for fall tv and they just happen to agree with the Nice Girls’ choices. (Italics are my own thoughts.)

90210
Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 2, 8 pm/ET
Who’s on it: A whole bunch of shiny, happy newcomers including Shenae Grimes and Tristan Wilds as adoptive siblings; series vets Lori Loughlin and Rob Estes play their thoroughly modern parents.

What it’s about: It’s a reboot of the classic ’90s Fox series, in which a Midwestern family relocates to Beverly Hills. Just to shake things up, this time one of the kids is adopted and African-American. Look for appearances by original cast members Jennie Garth, Shannen Doherty and Joe E. Tata.

Why it’s an editors’ pick: Nostalgia aside, the creators of Freaks and Geeks remaking 90210 intrigues us.

Dollhouse
Premieres: January 2009
Who’s on it: Eliza Dushku, Olivia Williams, Tahmoh Penikett

What it’s about: “Who do you want me to be?” is the creepy tagline for this Joss Whedon creation. Echo (Dushku) is an “active,” a blank canvas upon which clients assign identities, which are then wiped clean when the engagement is over. Echo lives with other actives in a lab run by the mysterious, madam-like Adelle (Williams). Things go awry when Echo starts to remember her life before it was erased as FBI Agent Paul Ballard (Penikett) closes in on the Dollhouse’s illegal operation.

The Ex List
Premieres: Friday, Oct. 3, 9 pm/ET
Who’s on it: Elizabeth Reaser (Ava/Rebecca from Grey’s Anatomy)

What it’s about: A psychic tells Bella Bloom (Reaser) she has one year to get married, or else she never will. The catch: Her true love is someone she has already dated. Despite the insane, age-of-Google premise, it’s cute. Reaser does a great job handling the show’s breezy dialogue, and she plays Bella with such approachable exuberance that you will forget her sad turn on Grey’s.

Why it’s an editors’ pick: Despite its apparent limitations (what happens in Season 2?), its thoroughly modern rom-com premise will have you asking which of your exes might be the one who got away.

Fringe
Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 9, 9 pm/ET
Who’s on it: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble

What it’s about: An FBI agent (Torv) enlists an institutionalized scientist (Noble) and his con-artist son (Jackson) to help solve the mystery of a plane full of people killed by a mysterious necrotizing skin condition. The deadly flight appears to be part of “the pattern,” a larger, disturbing nightmare scenario.

Why it’s an editors’ pick: Joshua Jackson is the wild card in this very serious drama; he’ll keep it light and entertaining. (And he’s nice to look at.)

Kath & Kim
Premieres: Thursday, Oct. 9, 8:30 pm/ET
Who’s on it: Molly Shannon, Selma Blair

What it’s about: It’s a remake of a broadly comic Australian series (check YouTube) about a strange mother-daughter relationship that develops when Kim (Blair) leaves her husband after six weeks of marriage to move back in with her mom, Kath (Shannon). “Part of the comedy comes from our age difference,” says Blair of the fact that Shannon is only 8 years her senior.

The Mentalist
Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 23, 9 pm/ET
Who’s on it: Simon Baker (‘Nuff said!)

What it’s about: Patrick Jane (Baker) is a former fake TV psychic who now uses his heightened observation skills to work as a private investigator. If you threw Baker’s performances in The Devil Wears Prada and on The Guardian and Smith and USA Networks’ Psych into a blender, you’d end up with this smoothie. As cop shows go, it seems sharper than most. Baker is charming, and the show has a tart sense of humor.