Returning TV

It is usually closer to Christmas before we get a sense of the new TV shows that will have established themselves as must see TV in the US and receive the most hype when they reach our shores. Big names continue to head for the small screen, of note is 'Damages' which RTE1 is alreadys howing on Saturday nights, starring Glenn Close. While we wait I have been watching new episodes of 'Heroes' and 'Dexter' both of which I've plugged here before and both of which I'm glad to say have upped their quality for their second years. 'Heroes' has dived head first into the series arc and every episode has the production value of a summer blockbuster. So too 'Dexter' is excelling in developing its story, making a hero of sorts of a serial killer. Advertisment free, successive episodes is slowly becoming the only way my family can watch TV. My parents and sibling will gladly sit and watch episodes of 'Prison Break' uninterupted, something of an achievement with a movie of ober 2 hours normally being a big ask of them. High concept TV is big business since the success of 'Lost' and everyone from Flash Gordon to the Bionic Woman are being rehashed this year as well as novel premises centreing on death ('Reaper'), secret government agencies ('Chuck') and as ever dysfunctional families ('The Riches', 'Dirty Sexy Money').