If you're a fan of "Mad Men," you've got to check out the slideshow of illustrations by artist Dyna Moe on her Flickr page. We think they're the bee's knees. As the artist explains, she started when Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) hired her to design his Christmas card. She was so inspired she then drew a new wallpaper for each episode.

Below are a few of my favorites. Check them all out as soon as you can. And, you can buy cards, posters and mugs at her Zazzle page. Color me impressed . . . and excited.

It's that annual time to reflect on what worked on TV over the past year… and what didn't. Here is my personal list.

BEST

"Mad Men"
This intricately woven tale of 1960s ad men's work and home lives captured the imagination of an obsessively loyal fanbase. It's also one of the few things Emmy got right, awarding the show its outstanding drama trophy. And creator Matthew Weiner has become one of our favorite people this year. See our Q&A here.

DirecTV's deal for "Friday Night Lights"
A shared window plan between the satellite provider and NBC bought the critical darling another season. Those lucky few who subscribe to DirecTV have had the privilege of enjoying a season that approaches the greatness of the show's epic first season.

"Big Bang Theory"
This comedy about socially awkward geniuses has emerged as a surprise hit this fall after garnering fair ratings in the strike shortened 07-08 season. Creatively the show's never been better, with the razor sharp ensemble now firing on all cylinders and auds propelling it to season high numbers week after week. See our Q&A with star Jim Parsons here.

"Desperate Housewives"
Fast forwarding the ladies' lives five years added a much needed jolt to the flagging drama. See our Q&A with creator Marc Cherry here.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin
Priceless

"Privileged"
A sweet dramedy that's too smart for the CW's core audience. More people ought to be watching.

"Worst Week"
Consistently laugh-out-loud funny.

"Dexter"
Jimmy Smits proved a suitable friend, then foil, to our favorite sociopathic hero. See our Q&A with exec producer Clyde Phillips here.

“The Office”
Anyone who works in an office has got to appreciate this painfully accurate laffer.

“The Biggest Loser”
As reluctant as I am to include a reality show in any best of list, I have to admit, this one hits on every emotion.

"The Capture of The Green River Killer"
This Lifetime mini was an engrossing and emotional account of the 20+ years search for a serial killer with stellar performances from Tom Cavanaugh and Amy Davidson. It's too bad the broadcast nets have given up on movies and minis.

WORST

The Emmy Awards
An embarrassment to the television community. Everyone involved should be ashamed. If you've blocked out how truly awful it was, read my review from that night here.

"Do Not Disturb"
Auds mercifully checked out early from this dreadful Fox comedy.

"Grey's Anatomy"
This show has lost whatever charm it once had and now just feels desperate.

"Knight Rider"
A bad idea, executed horribly.

"Crusoe"
Unwatchable.

"ER's" final season
I've been a fan for most of this hospital drama's 15 seasons but this last gasp has been a slow painful death.

"Boston Legal"
Someone needs to explain to me how this ever attracted an audience. I've never been so happy to see a show end its run.

Those are mine. What are yours?

For more best of lists, visit TVGuide.com's list of best shows and best TV moments. TV.com weighs in here. Our pal Mo Ryan of the Chicago Tribune has her say here.

Did you see other lists that resonated with you?

— Kathy Lyford

“Mad Men” has definitely had an impact on my wardrobe. I've purchased several vintage dresses in the last couple of years and, more than ever, I lean toward 1960s-inspired new pieces as well.

But the show also makes me wistful for the furniture and tchotchkes from that era. Watching, or re-watching, an episode, often makes me yearn for a weekend trip to the flea market or prompts me to visit Ebay and do a search for “mid-century” items. In fact, I found a magnificent Danish Modern teak credenza on Ebay that now serves as my living room's entertainment center.

If you have ever felt that same twinge of nostalgia, you’ll enjoy this interview with “Mad Men’s” set decorator Amy Wells conducted by the publication Interior Design (owned by the same parent company that owns Variety).

Asked why viewers don’t see a lot of big-ticket mid-century pieces, Wells had this to say:

"I want to make 'Mad Men' look real, as if the people really have those pieces. It's important that they be imperfect, not iconic. A lot of people had Danish modern at the time because it was reasonably priced, and much of it still exists because it was so well made."

Check out the interview here and the accompanying slide show here.

Posted by Kathy Lyford

Photo: The Draper's bedroom

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

It's been years since I've watched "Saturday Night Live." Years. Of course, for the last month or so I have been catching online videos of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.

But the hosting stint by "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm lured me in. And he was funny, folks.

I especially enjoyed the skits "Don Draper's Guide to Picking Up Women" and "Two A-Holes at an Ad Agency in  the Sixties." The latter -- with a nifty assist from "Mad Men" cohorts John Slattery (who lives in New York) and Elisabeth Moss (who's starring in "Speed-The-Plow" on Broadway) -- was a clever spoof on the Carousel pitch from the "Mad Men" season 1 finale. I wonder if those would have been as funny for viewers who don't watch "Mad Men." Other Hamm highlights included a brief bit as the ghost of JFK and an amusing imitation of James Mason appearing on Vincent Price's Halloween spec.

Our "Mad Men" hero even made the most of the pretty dumb "Jon Hamm's John Ham" (I laughed out loud at "Feel stupid yet?") and managed not to embarrass himself on the really lame Pat Finger campaign ads (don't ask). Of course, the fact that he's so darn cute doesn't hurt.

Unfortunately, the non-Hamm skits only served to remind me why I don't watch the show anymore. The laughs are just too few and far between.

Variety's TV blogs have unofficially turned this into "Mad Men" weekend. There are a couple of "MM" posts over at Cynthia Littleton's On the Air blog, here and here. And we'll be recapping the season finale there shortly after it airs. And there's Season Pass' own Matthew Weiner Q&A here.

Apologies to those who don't watch the show. But, you know, you really ought to. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't. Tonight is the "Mad Men" season 2 finale so we promise we'll get back to talking about other shows, or at least "Friday Night Lights" and "The Office," this week.

Posted by Kathy Lyford

Posted by Kathy Lyford

Two of Season Pass's favorite TV actors - "Entourage's" Jeremy Piven and "Mad Men's" Elisabeth Moss - are starring together in Broadway's revival of "Speed-the-Plow," David Mamet's satirical dissection of Hollywood and the movie business. The three-hander also stars Raul Esparza.

Variety's crackerjack theater critic David Rooney gave high marks to the show, especially the cast. You can read his review here.

One good thing about cable's shorter seasons is that the actors have time to spread their wings in other projects and ply their craft onstage. I don't know who originated it, but there's a saying about actors that film makes you famous and TV makes you rich, but theater makes you better.

Well, we already think Piven and Moss are pretty great. In fact, this casting has moved "Speed-the-Plow" right to the top of our Broadway must-see list.

Posted by Kathy Lyford

Being a “Mad Men” obsessive, I've read a lot of interviews of the show’s creator Matthew Weiner over the last couple of years. So when I sat down to breakfast with him last week to go over readers’ questions, I expected someone a little uptight, single-minded, perhaps a control freak. This is what many of the profiles had led me to believe of the man. What I discovered was, as you would expect if you watch the show, a man who is incredibly intelligent, passionate about 1960s America and fascinated with human behavior. He also has many traits you might not expect: he’s very funny, extremely sweet and surprisingly soft spoken. He’s somebody I’d love to hang out with more. I found him endlessly fascinating and entertaining. And, although the interview was all about him, he spent a lot of time asking about me, my background and my family and my parents’ experiences growing up. I suspect he does this with everyone he meets and I’m sure the information he learns informs his writing.

If you’ve been paying attention, you already know that Weiner wrote the “Mad Men” pilot eight years ago, before his stint as a writer-producer on David Chase’s HBO masterpiece “The Sopranos.” Earlier in his career he was also a writer on the Ted Danson comedy “Becker.” As “The Sopranos” was coming to a close, Weiner shopped the “Mad Men” pilot around town, was famously turned down by HBO, and eventually sold it to AMC, which was just wading into the original series waters. What a way for the network to start!

He speaks quickly and in a stream-of-consciousness kind of way, which I’ve tried to capture in transcribing his answers. I hope that will give you an essence of what it’s like to have a conversation with him. You’ll find that he not only answered the questions completely but he went above and beyond, often exploring tangents that were not part of the original question. You’ll get a lot of bang for your buck in this Q&A, I promise. (Although there is one question that gets a one word answer!)

As I write this, AMC has exercised its option for a third season of “Mad Men,” the show that has captured the imagination of the country. Weiner and Lionsgate, which owns and produces the show, are still negotiating his deal. So, our show will return. Let’s just hope it still has its genius at the helm.

And with just one show left to air this season – Sunday’s season 2 finale – here is what Weiner had to say:

Q. How much of the Don Draper story did you have in mind when you wrote that spec script? And do you know now how the series ends? — Cynthia
A. I sort of know how the series ends. I don’t know if I have a very good ending to it yet but I sort of know how it ends. In terms of Don’s backstory, I had all of it. Here’s the interesting thing: I had written a movie about this character. I’d gotten to page 80 and I’d only covered a fraction of his life. It was called “The Horseshoe.” Actually the hobo story was in there, and the thing with him bringing his own body home (from the war) and a lot of his childhood and things that you’re still going to see (in the last two episodes of season 2) were in there, things you’ll find out about. And there’s way more to be mined. And on some level it was a story that imitated writers that I love - Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Irving.

And I had all of that. And when I wrote “Mad Men,” and AMC said “Where does the series go?” I went home and looked for my notes about “Mad Men” and I came across the script (for “The Horseshoe”) and started leafing through it. Now this was a script I wrote – “Mad Men” is eight years ago – this is a script I wrote eight years before that. I wrote it before I had my first job. After I got married this is what I worked on for a year. And I got to the last page of the script and it said “Ossining, 1960” and I said “Oh my God. That’s who he is.” I loved John Cheever and those writers and that’s why I picked Ossining.

I told Jon (Hamm, pictured with Weiner above) the whole story before last year started. He was the only one I told, except for the producers, of course. And I told Jon about the brother and how the genealogy works and what kind of childhood it was and where he was from. There were a lot of these people. It’s an American story. You know mountain (folks), or whatever it is, coming to New York and shedding the whole thing. That’s the American dream on some level. Even though I didn’t finish the movie I did know where it was going. And I feel lucky to have that consistency and the audience can see that it’s not just being spun as it goes along.

The "Mad Men" Q&A with Matthew Weiner will post by Wednesday. As you might imagine, his answers were so in depth and so detailed, I've had difficulty finding the time to transcribe them. I'm working on it. I promise you the wait will be worth it.

In the meantime, you can amuse yourself with the stellar recap by my colleague Cynthia Littleton over at her On the Air blog.

Posted by Kathy Lyford

"Mad Men" showrunner Matthew Weiner will be answering reader questions right here on Season Pass.

By now you've probably all gotten a sense of just how much we at Season Pass, and Variety at large, love this show. Check out our analysis and recaps at my esteemed colleague Cynthia Littleton's On the Air blog. I am very excited by this opportunity, as I hope you are.

With a show this intricate and attentive to detail, I am expecting some really creative and clever questions from you all — something beyond "Jon Hamm is really hot. What's it like to work with him?"

So there you go, you've been challenged.

Here's how it works:

1) Click the comment button below and leave your question by Tuesday at midnight.
2) Read through the other comments so you aren't repeating a question that's already been asked.
3) You may ask more than one question but that won't boost your chances of seeing your questions answered. I try to be fair and let lots of folks have a chance.
4) On Wednesday I will choose the 20 best questions to present to Mr. Weiner, who will then answer at least 10 of them.
5) On Monday, Oct. 20 I will post the answers.
6) Any changes to this timeline due to unforeseen circumstances or conflicts with Mr. Weiner's schedule will be added to this post as necessary.

Thanks for participating and have fun!

P.S.

There is still time to get your questions in for the "Friday Night Lights" Q&A before the Friday deadline.

And be sure to check out our previous Q&As with "Desperate Housewives" top dog Marc Cherry and "Ugly Betty" boss Silvio Horta.

Upcoming Q&As include the showrunning teams from "Lost" and "How I Met Your Mother." Stay tuned for details and added shows.

Hey all you "Mad Men" fanatics, head on over to my colleague Cynthia Littleton's blog for my recap of last night's "Mad Men." It's very long, but there was so much to say! This show continues to amaze me.

Cynthia's thoughts follow mine.

While it's true that the networks are throwing every questionable reality concept against the wall this summer to see what sticks, TV lovers should not despair. Cable is roaring back with plenty of superb programming and the networks are offering the occasional quality scripted fare to keep us entertained during the hot months.

So there's plenty of small screen delights to tide us over until the granddaddy of all event programming, the Summer Olympics, arrives Aug. 8-24 with hundreds of hours of real-life drama on NBC and its sister networks.

Before you plop down on the couch and glaze over watching the likes of "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" or "Celebrity Circus," set your Tivo for some of these gems:

This viewer's picks:

New series

"Fear Itself" (NBC, Thursdays at 10 p.m., starting June 5) — A repurposed version of Showtime's "Masters of Horror," this anthology series brings the best horror scribes and directors in the biz together for hourlong episodes appropriate for broadcast audiences. (The net promises more chills on the DVD set.) I'm particularly looking forward to the episode titled "Eater," about a rookie cop ("Mad Men's" Elisabeth Moss, right) who spends her first night in the precinct guarding a serial killer.
Brian: I liked the potential of "Masters of Horror" and the pedigree was great, but it was pretty uneven, and I'd worry that "broadcast-friendly" means that storylines get even further diluted to be mass-appeal. Plus, horror film fests like After Dark, and its extensive DVD brand, have stolen some thunder from the TV anthology format. There's plenty of horror out there for fans who want it. How much regular auds will be drawn to it on TV is a big question mark.

"Swingtown" (CBS, Thursdays at 10 p.m., starting June 5) — The pilot for this '70s-era romp about suburban promiscuity and open marriages was promising. I look forward to seeing where they go with it. See Season Pass panelist Cynthia Littleton's take on episode two.
Brian: "Swingtown" felt to me like a promising attempt to bring edgier cable-style material to broadcast TV. But the execution was fairly timid, and selling a show about sexy swingers without much sex doesn't give me much hope. I do love Molly Parker ("Deadwood" has a lot of residual goodwill in my book) and I'll stick around to see how the show develops through episode three.

Returning series:

"Meerkat Manor: The Next Generation" (Animal Planet, Fridays at 9 p.m., starting June 6) — Who knew these odd little critters led such fascinating lives?
Brian: I'm in! "Manor" fans will be keen to see if Flower power still rules, or whether the too-hip promos for the new generation will dilute the charms of the first seasons. Will Stockard Channing prove a better voice for the 'Kats' exploits than Sean Astin?

"My Boys" (TBS, Thursdays at 9:30, starting June 12) — I can't wait to hang out with this tomboy Chicago sports reporter and her posse of beer-swilling, poker-playing dudes for a second season.
Brian: I'm from Chicago, and these stereotypes feel a little clunky, but the girl was cute and thanks to some buzz, I may give this one a shot.

"The Closer" (TNT, Mondays at 9 p.m., staring July 14) — Kyra Sedgwick's tour de force performance as sweet as pie on the outside, tough as nails on the inside Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson elevates this to something above your standard murder of the week procedural. I'm in for season four.
Brian: This and Holly Hunter's show carry some heft in my book thanks to the star pedigree. But it wasn't enough to get me to sample either so far, and isn't likely to in the future. Still feels a little Lifetime-ish to me.

"Mad Men" (AMC, Sundays at 10 p.m., starting July 27) — This sterling period drama is back for its hotly anticipated second season. The cabler is helpfully running a marathon of season one on July 20 as a primer for new viewers or a refresher for returning viewers. The "Carousel" pitch for the Kodak slide projector from the season-one finale titled "The Wheel" may very well have been the finest scene of the last TV season, broadcast or cable. Despite the implausible twist involving Peggy in that same episode, I am enthusiastically, eagerly on board for the further adventures of these dapper 1960s ad men and the complicated women in their lives.
Brian: I've set my DVR for the July 20 marathon. This may be my catch-up show of the year.

Reality that doesn't make us cringe

"So You Think You Can Dance" (Fox, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8, bowed in May) — The dance competition enters the serious phase of the contest as only the best move on.
Brian: I can't read that without giggling.

"Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" (Bravo, Thurdays at 9, staring June 12) — Sure she can grate on your nerves, but she's damn funny. (Pictured left)

"Project Runway" (Bravo, July date TBD) — It doesn't get better than this competition reality series where the sometimes overly dramatic contestants reap what they sew. Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and Tim Gunn are worth making a weekly date with. This is the last season on Bravo before the show packs its garment bags and moves to Lifetime.
Brian: I've got plenty of friends who remain diehard fans, so I'm sure to see some episodes. But like "America's Next Top Model," it seems like there's always a new season of "Runway" just around the corner, so no single run ever real stands out.

See what else summer has to offer on the next page.

— By Kathy Lyford with Brian Cochrane 

Special thanks to Rick Kissell

Hidden amid the embarrassment of the modified Golden Globes was the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press actually made some great choices in the TV categories.

That roar you heard Sunday night was Season Pass cheering the wins for AMC’s rookie drama “Mad Men” and its charismatic star Jon Hamm. Also very deserving were Glenn Close for her role as the cutthroat attorney in FX’s uneven drama “Damages” and Tina Fey for her role in Season Pass fave “30 Rock.” Kudos also to the HFPA for choosing the least obvious choice for its top comedy series with HBO’s “Extras.”

Too bad these folks didn’t get their moment in the sun. Oh well, most of them have the chance to repeat as champs at next year’s back-to-the-glitz Globes ceremony.

— Kathy Lyford

Spoiler warning: If you haven't watched Thursday's "Mad Men," read no further.

We may have witnessed the first truly brilliant moment of the 2007-08 television season with the pitch-perfect end to Thursday's "Mad Men." There's been no shortage of greatness on the new AMC series, but this really was one to cherish.

In the final scene, Betty Draper (January Jones), having been allowed a brief escape from her housewife prison before events beyond her control shoved her back behind lock-and-key, walks out into her backyard in a robe wispy enough to fit her personality, cigarette dangling from her mouth  ... and BB gun in hand. Coldly fuming, she takes aim at the domesticated pigeons of her neighbor (who earlier in the episode had scared her children by threatening their dog) and fires. And fires. And fires.

Has there been a better expression on TV in recent times of giving life the finger? What's more, the simmering rebellion echoed storylines involving Betty's husband, Don (Jon Hamm) and Don's assistant, Peggy (Elisabeth Moss).

"The Sopranos" and David Chase had their ducks. Now "Mad Men," created by "Sopranos" writer Matthew Weiner (who co-wrote this episode) has its pigeons. The coda capped another tour-de-force offering from "Mad Men," which somehow needs to be remembered at the 2008 Emmys -- even though the bulk of it is airing before this weekend's 2007 awards.

— Jon Weisman

As a strong summer of cable programming transitions into the start of the fall broadcast season, Stuart Levine and Jon Weisman offer some thoughts about they've been watching:

Jon: How about we kick off our first Season Pass chat by talking about Sunday's premiere of "Tell Me You Love Me." I'm seeing a wide range of opinion on it; something tells me that this new HBO series could be the most polarizing program since … that last HBO series, "John From Cincinnati."

I think the show teeters on the edge of self-pity and self-absorption, but I'm cautiously interested in its serious look at sex and relationships.

Stu: I completely understand that all the explicit sex is what will draw attention to it, but that's short-selling the series. Creator Cynthia Mort is able to look at the underbelly of what makes relationships both thrive and then fall apart, and it's the latter I find most compelling. These four couples seem awfully real to me.

HBO distributed the entire series at TCA this summer and I've watched the whole thing already — I figured it was a good time with summer programming not burdening my Tivo. Without giving anything away, as the series moves along, the sex loses its wow factor and the out-of-the-bedroom problems take become much more scintilating.

Jon: Just to get the newer primetime cable shows out of the way, "Mad Men" was far and away the king for me this summer. Each episode is not only entertaining in and of itself, each seems to open up whole new worlds to explore. The characters are incredibly rich. It's a long way until next year's Emmy nominations, but I sure hope "Mad" gets remembered.

HBO's modest but clever "Flight of the Conchords" was my other summer favorite among the new shows ("Damages" seems to have forgotten to give Glenn Close anything interesting to do), while "Big Love" still doesn't seem to get the credit for excellence that it deserves. It really evolved into so much more than its premise in season two. In many respects, it does very well what "Tell Me You Love Me" is aiming to do.

Stu: I completely agree with you on "Mad Men." It captures 1960 so incredibly well, it's scary. Props to the set and costume designers especially. "Sopranos" alum Matthew Weiner has entered into the David Chase-Aaron Sorkin-David Milch arena with this one.

I may be wrong but I don't remember AMC renewing it for season two. Wonder what the holdup is? I know it's critically beloved but I don't think the ratings have been all that stellar. I'm sure it'll be completely forgotten come Emmy time next year but no matter, it's a gem.

I can't go along on "Flight of the Conchords." Very aware that some people just love it but I watched two episodes and didn't get it. Maybe it's me.

I'm really down on "Rescue Me." Used to love it but it seems to have gotten away from Denis Leary and Peter Tolan. What started out as a terrific look at how 9/11 affected this particular group of fireman has turned into a bad comedy. Time to get back to what made it a draw in the first place.

Jon: I only committed to watching "Rescue Me" this season, so it doesn't suffer from comparison for me. The thing I've noticed is it has the same problem "Party of Five" came to have toward the end of its run - an episode can be moving along smoothly, and then there's one clunker of a scene or subplot that just knocks it off the rails. 

If it is serious at all about becoming more than a channel known mostly for movies, AMC simply has to renew "Mad Men." Its value transcends ratings.

Stu: Agreed. Will be sorry to see both "Mad Men" and "Damages" come to an end. On the latter, FX's most recent dramatic fare ("The Riches," "Dirt") haven't really worked for me, but from the pilot, "Damages" had me hooked. Which makes me think: Can't wait to see the final season of "The Shield" too. The Vic vs. Shane confrontation could make for a great payoff.

Jon: It's going to be hard making time for all the high-quality cable shows along with the upcoming broadcast TV premieres, the increasing load of Oscar-contending movies and the baseball playoffs. It'd be nice to read a book once in a while, but duty calls.

Stu: A book... what's that???

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!