Charlotte Kyle
Features Editor
With multiple Chrome tabs open on my borrowed MacBook, a notebook and pen in my lap and a sharp stress-related headache pounding in between my eyes, one might mistake me for a student studying for an upcoming exam.
No, my task at hand was far more important than reading textbooks and practicing the art of shading in Scantron bubbles.
The new television season officially kicks off next week and I, like students during finals week, am completely unprepared.
I have begun my preparations, though, and with enough cramming I can be ready for everything the new season has to offer.
The first step in preparing for a new season is to know what’s out there. I hit up the usual stops – TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly and Google – reading up on which shows were new this year.
Yes, I had read these summaries back in May when the networks announced their fall lineups, but I needed a refresher course. Even I can’t memorize all of the shows that manage to make it to air.
Once I figured out what sounded decent I had to plan accordingly. There are only so many TV slots and I had to see which shows overlapped. This means determining which show I want to watch live and which show I can watch online the next day.
There weren’t too many conflicts, at least not in the first draft of my TV schedule.
Zooey Deschanel’s FOX sitcom “New Girl” airs opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar’s CW drama, “Ringer,” but both seem like shows I can watch after the airdate as long as I avoid the appropriate Twitter and Tumblr tags.
The next step is to figure out what airs when. “Ringer” aired Tuesday and “Up All Night”?started Wednesday but those were just early premieres. Next week is when the fun starts, with “Community,”?“Parks and Recreation” and “The Office” topping my countdown list.
As far as new shows go I will enjoy checking out CBS’ “2 Broke Girls”?on Monday and FOX’s “New Girl”?on Tuesday, though the pilot for the latter is available for streaming if anyone wants to watch it early.
Once I?have checked out the new shows that peaked my interest I will revise my schedule once again. This means ditching the awful shows and putting the barely decent shows on hold.
I will then add to my list if I?happened to miss a good show.
(This is possible, of course, because I?am only human.)
By the end of October I should have my finalized schedule, complete with color-coded charts, hiatus calendars and cancellation odds.
This is only sort of a joke. I?haven’t made a chart this elaborate in the past but the more I?consider it the more I?think it definitely needs to happen.
The drafting phase of my schedule also means I get to predict which shows will crash and burn, as well as which shows will be successful just to spite me.
We will look more into this theory next week, though, as the CW’s “H8R” premiered just after press time and I?cannot accurately comment on its quality or predicted lack thereof.
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