Back To You (Season One) - Back to You remained solid throughout its first and apparently only season. It wasn’t Frasier by any stretch of the imagination, but I got more and more into it as the show went on. It helped that they got rid of my least favorite character, Montana, towards the end. Word is that ratings weren’t the problem but rather expenses. My question is if they weren’t willing to pay for a sitcom with Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammar, why did they buy one? I guess they did so on the off-chance that it would have spectacular rather than good ratings. Word is that CBS may be interested in picking it up. Grade: B+

The Big Bang Theory (Season One) - Outstanding show from start to finish. The only complaint that I really have about it is the suddenly late-season movement on the Leonard-Penny romance. It’s no secret that’s where the show is going, but gradual movement would have been preferable. Nonetheless, this remains the best new sitcom that I’ve seen in a while. Hopefully they can keep it up. Grade: A

Boston Legal (Season Four) - Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Though never as good as The Practice or even Ally McBeal, Boston Legal nonetheless remained the able continuation of the franchise. Unfortunately, this season was almost designed to accentuate the aspects of the show that I don’t like and marginalize what I do. The sermons got more sermony and the character development screeched to a halt for the latter part of the season with the exception of the last episode. Also, what is the deal with the British female lawyers? Kelly seems fixated on them. It’s not uncommon for doctors to come from around the world to practice medicine… but lawyers to practice law? That’s nitpicking, I know, but one episode of this show had such bad sermonizing that I wrote a post about it over at Bobvis. Just as a racist begins all of his racist comments saying “I’m not a racist, but…” Shore never fails to mention his love for America prior to showing mocking, searing contempt for its government, its people, its institutions, and just about everything else about it. It’s unlikely that I’m going to be back next season. Grade: F

How I Met Your Mother (Season Three) - More of the same, which I mean as a compliment. It’s unclear how long they can keep this schtick going, but they’ve done well enough so far. Grade: B++

Lost (Season Four) - To anyone that has no idea what I’m talking about when I talk about how atrocious the dialogue on this show is, I present to you the first five minutes of the last episode of the season. “You have no right to say his name?” Give me a break. Now that I have that out of the way, this Season of Lost was great. I thought that people were unduly hard on last season, but this season was an even greater improvement. Despite losing two episodes due to the writer’s strike, it never felt forced. Other than the dialogue and acting (at points, though even that seems to have improved?), my only complaint is that I like John Locke too much for him to die. Hopefully the island can bring him back to life somehow. Grade: A-

My Name Is Earl (Season Three) - This show has started to lose its bearing. The prison angle worked out better than I would have thought. The coma angle had its moments. The married-to-Billie thing worked out to be kind of a disappointment. That all three of these happened in the same season is a bit much. I hope they slow it down next season. Grade: C

The Office (Season Four) - This show has taken some flack, but I thought that this was the best season since the second season of The Office, which may have been the best single season of any show ever. Yeah, it’s moved further away from its British roots, but it seems like a natural evolution and also somewhat necessary. What the British version of the show did was fine for a show that lasts twelve episodes, but the American version is approaching 100. I’m wondering if they’re going to change things up next year since a couple of the actors on the show that write for it were either written off or given the appearance that they might be (Toby left Dunder-Mifflin and Ryan was hauled off in cuffs). I thought that the Jim-Pam storyline was handled well, though they’re moving a little fast for my tastes. Grade: A-

Reaper (Season One) - Immensely improved. My biggest problems with it early on was that it seemed too formulaic: Sam called by Devil, Sam chases escaped demon, Sam captures escaped demon. The only ongoing storyline was Sam’s relationship with whatsername, which didn’t terribly interest me. They’ve punched things up the second half with a couple ongoing subplots including a revolt against Satan by some renegade demons,a love triangle of sorts, and some questions about Sam’s paternity. They ended the season on a cliffhanger, so I’m going to be kind of irritated if the CW goes under and no more episodes are made. Grade: B-