Yet Another Media Blog

New Show of Note: Threshold (CBS, 9pm), which yes is yet another secret alien invasion show, but this one has the best cast: Carla Gugino (from the brilliant-but-cancelled Karen Sisco) as the star, along with Brent Spiner & Peter Dinklage.

Returning Favorite: NUMB3RS (CBS, 10pm), last season's most pleasant mid-season surprise, both in quality and the fact that it garnered enough ratings for a second season. The bad news is that Sabrina Lloyd is gone; but the good news is that Navi Rawat returns. Someday soon I'll have to write up a post about the woderfulness that is the radiant Navi Rawat, so you'll understand.

Bonehead Scheduling Move of the Night: Cancelling Joan of Arcadia, a wonderful show that dared to explore faith, and replacing it with The Ghost Whisperer (CBS, 8pm), another talking-to-the-dead show that claims to be based on the experiences of a crackpot medium.

Also New: Three Wishes (NBC, 9pm) features Amy Grant and the bunch of do-gooders traveling each week to a new town and bestowing three wishes on its inhabitants. It's a show intentionally designed to tug on the heart-strings, and even my cold heart has nearly moved to tears just watching the previews. But I have to wonder: how mean is it to all the other of requests they get for help when they'll only fulfill three of them?

Also Returning: The Bernie Mac Show and Malcolm in the Middle, two of the best shows I don't watch, are banished to the FOX Friday 8pm death slot. Nothing else that FOX has tried here has worked--maybe a couple of single-camera comedies will. Yeah, right.