Season Pass has never been about a roundup of TV news around the Web. We figure savvy TV lovers can peruse the Net on their own. But today we'd like to give a shoutout to our favorite TV sites — some are old friends and a few are newly discovered.

Amuse yourselves while you wait for the latest posts in our Q&A series. Coming up shortly are “Friday Night Lights” showrunner Jason Katims, who is still trying to work us into his busy schedule, and “The Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons, who is scheduled to sit down with me on Friday to answer your questions. Look for that post next Wednesday. For more upcoming features, have a look at the menu there on the right side of this page. And we are open to suggestions from readers as well.

Our favorite sites (in no particular order):
Cynthia Littleton’s On the Air blog: Our Variety colleague blogs about all things TV.
TV Series Finale, which remarks on the last episodes of your favorite (or not so favorite) shows. Recent posts include “The Riches,” “King of the Hill” and the MRC slate for the CW. I look forward to their take on the last ep of the venerable NBC series “ER,” which is on its its 15th and final season.
By Ken Levine, from the Emmy-winning vet sitcom scribe and baseball announcer. Hard for me not to dig someone who loves TV and baseball!
What’s Alan Watching?, by New Jersey Star-Ledger tube critic Alan Sepinwall. His “Mad Men” recaps left us feeling inadequate. We bow to his genius insights.
Television Without Pity for their snarky, in depth recaps of our favorite shows
Pop Candy, Whitney Matheson’s fun pop culture blog for USA Today
Coaxial, the TV page on fanboy fave site Ain’t It Cool News
The Watcher, our pal Mo Ryan’s TV blog on the Chicago Tribune site. Check out her funny comments on those silly CNN election night holograms. That ridiculous bit of technology reminded us of watching the NFL on Fox, where there are so many gimmicks and graphics you can scarcely see the play on the field.
Project Rungay, for a laugh-out-loud take from a couple of witty gay guys on one of our favorite reality shows and more
TV Tattle, a roundup of TV news and criticism

And there are many others. Check out our list of links on the bottom right-hand side of this page. Are there any we missed? Please clue us in.

Posted by Kathy Lyford

Fox's "Fringe" got off to a modest start last night. CW's "90210" hangs in OK in its second outing, while CW's well-reviewed newcomer "Privileged" looks strong in its debut. Variety ratings guru Rick Kissell has all the details right here.

The CW has done it again. Last season our group of 30- and 40-somethings surprised even ourselves by giving high ratings to both of the CW’s new offerings — “Aliens in America,” which lasted just one strike-shortened season and “Reaper,” which will return for a second season on the netlet.

This year two of our three highest rated shows are the overly hyped “90210” and the lesser known but far more charming “Privileged” — both, again, on the kid-skewing CW.

“Privileged” is the superior drama of the pair, with a lead in JoAnna Garcia who exudes an Amy Adams-like charm, young stars who actually look like teens and the ever-classy Anne Archer as the resident grown-up.

Co-stars Michael Cassidy and Brian Hallisay, as Garcia’s potential love interests, and Allan Louis as the family’s chef, all add their own appeal.

So, while I may tune into “90210” occasionally, I have set a season pass for “Privileged” and am in for the long haul.

Let’s just hope that more folks outside the Clearsil demo start realizing the lure of the CW.

— Kathy Lyford

Our friends at the Paley Center for Media and TV Guide will co-host fall preview parties at the Paley’s BevHills location. The weeklong series of free public screenings offer a sneak peek at the new and returning shows of the fall season prior to their broadcast premieres.

The Fall Preview Parties begin at 6 p.m. with Q&A sessions beginning at 7 p.m. and screenings to follow. Screenings and parties are free with seats available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Hey, this may be the only way anyone’s going to get to screen the NBC shows before their debut dates!

Here’s the sked:

Friday, Sept. 5 Fox ("Fringe"; "Do Not Disturb")

Saturday, Sept. 6 CW ("Privileged" (pictured, right); "90210")

Monday, Sept. 8 NBC ("My Own Worst Enemy"; "Kath & Kim"; "Crusoe"; "Knight Rider')

Tuesday, Sept. 9 CBS ("Gary Unmarried"; "The Ex List"; "Worst Week"; "The Mentalist")

Wednesday, Sept. 10 ABC ("Pushing Daisies"; "Private Practice"; "Eli Stone"; plus a preview of "Life on Mars")

*Please note the schedule is subject to change*

Turns out people want to watch online videos... well, online.

"Online Nation," the CW's clip show featuring videos uploaded from viewers and downloaded from the Internet, has been declared 404.

Show had its final airing last Sunday. Repeats of freshman series "Aliens in America" will take its 7:30 p.m. slot this Sunday. Yup, a show about geeks taking the place of a show featuring videos made by geeks.

"Online Nation" reps the first official, no-asterisk-attached cancellation of the new season. Fox still insists that "Nashville" will return -- although that's about as likely as Toby Keith singing at President Hillary's inaugural ball.

So why did the CW hit "delete" on "Online Nation"? Check out this stat from Variety ratings messiah Rick Kissell:

CW finds itself down 24% year-to-year in its target demo of adults 18-34, due mostly to its woeful performance on Sunday night. The lineup of “CW Now,” “Online Nation” and “Life Is Wild” averaged a 0.2 rating in the demo this week, placing the broadcast net 27th overall in the time period. VH1, for example, delivered triple the rating of CW with repeats of one of its own shows, “America’s Next Top Model.”

Yikes. That's scarier than the "Peanut Butter Jelly" video.

-- MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

"Pushing Daisies" held up pretty well in its second outing Wednesday, but it's "Private Practice" that's really looking like a hit for ABC. NBC's "Bionic Woman" dipped in week three, but not precipitously.

Meanwhile, Fox's "Back to You" and CBS' "Kid Nation" had a tough time in the 8 p.m. hour. "Pushing Daisies" (10.1 million, 3.6 rating/11 share) led the hour in the adults 18-49 demo and held the majority, if not vast majority, of its premiere aud last week (13 million, 4.3/13). NBC's "Deal or No Deal" (12.5 million, 3.1/9) regained some of the aud it lost last week to "Daisies" (pictured left). Same could not be said for "Back to You" (6.5 million, 2.2/7) or "Kid Nation" (7 million, 2.0/6).

At 9 p.m., "Bionic Woman" (10.1 million, 3.8/8) improved in the demo on its "Deal" lead-in. CBS' "Criminal Minds" (14.5 million, 3.8/8) led the frame in viewers but "Practice" (12.2 million, 4.8/12) won the demo by a comfortable margin, up slightly from its second outing last week. CW's "Gossip Girl" (2.9 million, 1.7/5 in adults 18-34) got lost in the fray but no matter; the frosh sudser earned a full season pickup from CW on Wednesday. Fox's "Kitchen Nightmares" (6.5 million, 3.0/8) was in its regular zone of the past few weeks.

At 10 p.m., it looks like time is running out on NBC's drama "Life" (8.1 million, 2.8/8). ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" (8.9 million, 3.4/9) is better off, but it also has a better lead-in. CBS' "CSI: NY" (13.3 million, 4.0/11) easily took the hour.

For the nightly bragging rights overall, it was ABC in 18-49 (3.9/11) and CBS in viewers (11.6 million.)

--Cynthia Littleton

Tuesday is proving a tough slog for the season's newcomers. ABC's "Cavemen" (pictured left) and "Carpoolers" took a tumble in their second outings. CBS' "Cane" is still slippery and CW's "Reaper" can't catch a break against the flames of Fox's "House."

After last week's respectable opening, ABC's 8-9 p.m. comedy duo dropped by about 2 million viewers apiece in week two and two 18-49 demo share points. "Cavemen" finished out at 8 p.m. with 7 million viewers and 2.5 rating/8 share in the adults 18-49 demographic (compared to last week's 9.2 million, 3.5/10), while "Carpoolers" rallied a tiny bit at 8:30 with 7.3 million and 2.8/8 (compared to its debut at 9.1 million, 3.5/9), per prelim Nielsens.

CBS' "NCIS" had no trouble taking the 8 p.m. hour in viewers (16.1 million) and 18-49 (3.4/10). Fox topped  the night overall with 9 p.m. inferno "House" (17.7 million, 7.3/18), though ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" (16 million, 4.0/10) was competitive in the hour in viewers. CW's "Reaper" (pictured right) managed 2.7 million and 1.5/4 in adults 18-34. At 10 p.m., CBS' "Cane" was on par with last week at 9.1 million and 2.3/7, but still off its lead-in from "The Unit" (11.1 million, 3.0/7).

--Cynthia Littleton

Word around town is that the CW has ordered the back nine episodes of “Gossip Girl,” making the sudser the first frosh of the fall to get a full season order. The series, from creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, was one of the first shows to premiere last month and has scored solid Nielsen numbers in its three-week run.

The full story at Variety.com is here.

— Josef Adalian

ABC's 8 p.m. seedling "Pushing Daisies" got off to a good start, drawing 12.8 million viewers and 4.2 rating/12 share in the adults 18-49 demo.

"Daisies" (pictured left) easily led its time period and built slightly at the half-hour mark, per prelim Nielsens. Show was boffo with femmes, thanks no doubt to the charms of star Lee Pace. It drew 5.3 rating in women 18-49, 4.2 in W18-34 and 6.3 in W25-54.

The presence of "Daisies" hammered Fox's 8 p.m. anchor "Back to You" (6.6 million, 2.4/7) to its lowest score yet in three airings. CBS' "Kid Nation" started out soft in its first half-hour but jumped by more than 1 million viewers in the second half to finish out in third place, behind NBC's "Deal or No Deal" (11.1 million, 2.8/8), with 7.5 million viewers and 2.4/7 in the demo.

ABC got more good news at 9 p.m. as "Private Practice" (pictured right) held up well in its second outing with 12.3 million viewers and 4.5/11 in 18-49. NBC's competing "Bionic Woman" took a tumble from its premiere outing last  week but still delivered a credible 10.9 million viewers and 4.0/10 in the demo.

CBS' "Criminal Minds" was also a factor at 9 p.m., winning the hour in viewers (14.4 million, 3.7/9) and undoubtedly siphoning off a few demo points from the competish. CW's "Gossip Girl" (2.8 million) was pounded by the surprisingly strong young-femme appeal of "Practice," which scored a 6.2 in women 18-34 to "Gossip's" 2.7. "Gossip" nonetheless had the teen aud sewn up with a time slot leading 2.5.

At 10 p.m., week two of ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" (9.7 million, 3.6.10) was again a little soft coming out of its "Private Practice" lead-in. NBC's "Life" (8.8 million, 3.0/8) had the same problem going up against CBS' incumbent "CSI: NY" (12.7 million, 3.9/10).

Overall, ABC led the night in 18-49 (4.1/11) and narrowly beat CBS for the total viewer crown too (ABC's 11.61 million average to CBS' 11.55 million). Click here for a full rundown of the night from Variety and Season Pass-er Rick Kissell.

-- Cynthia Littleton

"Cavemen" and "Carpoolers" opened respectably on Tuesday in the 8 p.m. hour. It's always a tough assignment for two new shows to lead off the night, especially for shows that have been beaten up pretty good by crix.

The dawn of "Cavemen" (pictured left) brought in 9 million homo sapiens and 3.3 rating/10 share in the adults 18-49 demo, per prelim Nielsens. At 8:30 p.m., "Carpoolers" (pictured below) held the crowd, averaging 9 million commuters and 3.4/9 in the key demo, and that was enough to keep the ABC comedies in second place for the hour behind CBS' ever-popular "NCIS" (16.3 million, 3.6/10).

ABC's fortunes perked up at 9 p.m. with the "Dancing with the Stars" results show (15.7 million, 4.3/10) but Fox topped the hour with another strong perf from "House" (17.3 million, 7.1/17). Sadly, CW's much-loved 9 p.m. entry "Reaper" (2.8 million, 1.6/4 in adults 18-34) isn't scaring up much business in its tough  time slot, though it is a positive sign that "Reaper" ranked No. 2 to "House" for the hour in the dude demos of men 18-24 (2.3) and male teens (1.7).

At 10 p.m., CBS' "Cane" (9.2 million, 2.5/7) was pretty soft against NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" (11.7 million, 4.5/12), which is also off its usual game, and ABC's "Boston Legal" (10.9 million, 3.1/8).

With the aud transfusion supplied by "House," Fox had no trouble winning the night overall in viewers (12.6 million) and adults 18-49 (5.0/13).

--Cynthia Littleton

It's a "Wild" back-to-back scheduling of continental proportions.

BBC America has slated the second season of "Wild at Heart" -- the U.K. drama about a family that flees British city life to run a game park in South Africa -- Sundays at 7 p.m. (ET) starting Oct. 14. That means it will run an hour before The CW's "Life is Wild" -- the new U.S. drama about, you guessed it, a family that flees American city life to run a game park in South Africa.

Yes, "Life is Wild" is based on "Wild at Heart" -- part of this season's Brit invasion (see also: "Viva Laughlin," "Kitchen Nightmares" and the sheer number of U.K. thesps lighting up U.S. small screens). "Life is Wild" even shoots on the same set as the U.K. original (and, I presume, uses some of the same animals).

"Life is Wild" will air Sundays at 8 p.m. starting Oct. 7, which means you can flip to the CW and re-live the same concept you watched an hour prior (but with better teeth -- hey, it's a joke!). Then decide for yourself whether you prefer your family-in-South-Africa dramas with a Yankee accent or a British one.

-- MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

Here's a handy way to kill time at work. Yahoo's TV page is offering streaming vids of a smattering of new and returning shows. Most notably, they're giving people a sneak peek at the sophomore season opener of NBC's glorious "Friday Night Lights."

I'm a latecomer to "FNL" fanaticism but I've been hooked ever since Season Pass maven Kathy Lyford thrust the season one DVD set in my hand and said "watch!" I don't have the time to gush properly here about how fabulous the show is on every level: writing, cast (leads Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton were robbed this year of Emmy noms, that's just a fact), directing, pacing, setting, tone -- I could go on. And on.

I can't wait to see the season opener but first I've got about five segs to go from last season. Kathy sez the opener is apt to be a little controversial among the "FNL" faithful, so click here to watch it via Yahoo, and if anyone has an opinion, let us know right here....

Other shows on Yahoo's free streaming vid menu include:

Aliens in America -- CW

The Big Bang Theory -- CBS

Blood Ties -- Lifetime

Brotherhood -- Showtime

Chuck -- NBC

Dexter -- Showtime

Life is Wild -- CW

--Cynthia Littleton

Wednesday's newcomers got off to fair-to-middling starts, per the prelim Nielsens. (Click here for a full rundown of the night by Variety ratings guru and Season Pass contributor Rick Kissell.)

Fox's "Back to You" won its 8 p.m. timeslot in adults 18-49, but didn't have the kind of opening night drawing power you'd expect for the combo of Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. Sitcom averaged 3.1/10 ratings share in the key demo and 9.5 million viewers overall.

For all the advance hoopla, CBS' "Kid Nation" didn't do a whole lot of business for the Eye in its 8 p.m. debut, pulling in about 9 million viewers and 3.0/9 ratings share in adults 18-49.

Gordon Ramsay's numbers also cooled off after his hot summer in "Hell's Kitchen." Chef's new show "Kitchen Nightmares" followed Fox's sitcom block at 9 p.m. with 6.6 million viewers and 3.1/8 in the demo.

CW had something to talk about with the 9 p.m. bow of "Gossip Girl." Show wasn't so hot in overall viewers, drawing about 3.7 million, but scored in its target demos of women 18-34 (3.2/9) and femme teens (5.3/17).

--Cynthia Littleton

The season begins in earnest next week with debuts of the following:

New shows…:
"K-Ville” (Monday at 9 on Fox, pictured at right)
“Back to You” (Wednesday at 8 on Fox)
“Kid Nation” (Wednesday at 8 on CBS)
“Gossip Girl” (Wednesday at 9 on CW)
“Kitchen Nightmares” (Wednesday at 9 on Fox)
“CW Now” and “Online Nation” (Sunday 7-8 on CW)

…and returning shows:
“Deal or No Deal” (Monday at 8 on NBC)
“Prison Break” (Monday at 8 Fox)
“Beauty and the Geek” (Tuesday at 8 on CW)
“America’s Next Top Model” (Wed. at 8 on CW)
“’Til Death” (Wed. at 8:30 on CBS)
“Survivor: China” (Thursday at 8 on CBS)
“Simpsons,” “King of the Hill,” “Family Guy” (Sunday  8-10 on Fox)
“Cold Case” (Sunday at 9 on CBS)
“Shark” (Sunday at 10 on CBS)

For a comprehensive schedule, by date or name, click here.

— KL

I don't think I was alone in considering the CW a network for the Clearasil set. Fair or not, it just seemed like a desination for youngsters. So imagine my surprise at the nets' high rankings among our Season Pass panel — comprised mostly of people old enough to have kids in the CW's coveted target audience age range. You know, if we'd all married young and had kids right away.

Three of the CW's new shows (drama "Gossip Girl," dramedy "Reaper," and half-hour laffer "Aliens in America") got almost all thumbs up from our group, with multiple season passes being set for each show. I initially gave "Aliens" one thumbs down indicating it isn't my cup of tea, but I've sinced flipped it to one thumb up; I would watch it again, just not every week. And none of us thought drama "Life is Wild" was unwatchable — it just skewed a bit too young for our taste.

"Gossip" is soapy and dramatic in the way the exec producer Josh Schwartz's late Fox show "The O.C." was in its first season. "Aliens" is cute, humorous and sometimes poignant. And "Reaper" is just a delightful surprise. I can't say enough good things about the latter — funny, sweet, touching, beautifully cast...

Those CW DVDs sat on top of my TV for weeks until I finally had to watch them in order to finish off my list. What a mistake on my part. It looks like the CW is growing up. I just hope auds our age give the shows a chance.

— Kathy Lyford

Here's a shocker. According to a survey, the new fall skein that teenagers were most aware of back in early August was CW's "Gossip Girl." (Must be all those promo shots of pouty-looking girls in sexed-up school uniforms.)

Coming in No. 2 on the awareness-meter in the survey of 750 youths in the 13-17 demo, conducted the week of Aug. 6 by market research outfit OTX and social network site eCrush, was a tie among NBC's "Bionic Woman, ABC's "Cavemen" and CBS' "Kid Nation." ABC's "Pushing Daisies" rounded out the top three, followed by a tie for fourth among CW's "Reaper" and Fox's "Nashville" and "The Next Great American Band." CW's "Aliens in America" weighed in at No. 5.

When asked what shows they were most intent on checking out, No. 1 was still "Gossip Girl" (pouty star Blake Lively pictured at left) but ABC's "Pushing Daisies" rose to No. 2.

Survey did have some counter-intuitive findings. Despite all the hoopla about Net marketing and alternative distribution platforms, 51% of respondents said they were getting most of their info on new shows from ads and promos seen on...TV. Word-of-mouth chatter from friends was cited by 33% of those surveyed, while Internet ads were cited by only 26%. TV network websites ranked far down the list of info sources (19%); blogs and newspaper ads were even more negligible (7%).

And when these teens were asked how they intended to watch the new shows they're most interested in, some 70% chose the answer "in its scheduled time period on TV," warming the hearts of network skedding execs everywhere. Only 21% said "using my DVR, VCR or DVD recorder," which pretty much adheres to the stats indicating that DVR penetration, for all the ink it receives, stands at about 20% of U.S. TV households.

For more factoids from the survey click here.

--Cynthia Littleton

Readers in Gotham and L.A. don't have to take our word(s) for it. The Paley Center for Media (aka Museum of Television & Radio) is offering a sneak peak at fall's new shows through its pilot screenings series at its Manhattan and BevHills branches.

The TV party starts tonight at 6:30 p.m. in BevHills with a slate of Fox shows: "K-Ville," "Back to You," "Nashville" and "Kitchen Nightmares."

CW pilots unspool on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. with "Reaper," "Gossip Girl," "Aliens in America" and "Life is Wild." NBC takes over at 6:30 p.m. with "Chuck," "Life," "Bionic Woman" and "Journeyman."

On Monday evening it's ABC's turn: "Pushing Daisies," "Dirty Sexy Money," "Samantha Who?" and "Big Shots."

CBS rounds out the slate on Tuesday evening with "The Big Bang Theory," "Moonlight," "Cane" and "Viva Laughlin."

Screenings have already been underway for a few days at the Gotham facility, but as of this posting TV junkies there can still catch the same slate of CBS pilots on Monday and the CW sked on Tuesday.

For further details click here for the Paley Center website. For clips of some of the above, scroll down to the Variety Video link on this home page, and check out On the Air blog's Clip Madness. 

(Pictured above: CBS' "The Big Bang Theory")

Welcome to Season Pass, Variety.com’s blog for dishing about fall’s new scripted TV shows.
We wanted to give readers a wide range of opinions on the fall fare so eight of us spent a good chunk of our summer watching all of it. We like to complain, but it was really kind of fun.

Each of us has rated all the shows using four categories:

Love it, setting a season pass now

Worth another try

OK, but not for me

Won't watch again

"Reaper" (below) was one show that took us all by surprise. I did not expect to like it and it ended up being one of my favorites

The shows that rated the highest (one or two thumbs up) among our group of TV junkies were: ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” (seven season passes), NBC’s “Chuck” (four season passes), the CW’s “Reaper” (six season passes), CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” (three season passes), the CW’s “Gossip Girl,” (one season pass), Fox’s “Back To You” (one season pass) and CBS’ midseason entry “Swingtown” (one season pass).

See the chart for more details.

Our opinions are meant as a guide only. We encourage you to give all the shows a try and see for yourself what shows speak to you.

We’ll be blogging after each episode to track the shows’ progress. And we’ll weigh in on topics related to the season.

Have fun and happy channel surfing!