Primetime Preview: Mondays

7.30 – 8.30
How I Met Your Mother vs Two and a Half Men/The Big Bang Theory vs So You Think You Can Dance

Ouch – we have so few sitcoms on TV right now – why do the networks insist on pitting them against each other.

Part of me feels that after a successful summer at 7pm, How I Met Your Mother will have the chops to take on the Charlie Sheen laffer, but then I saw the promo for the first new episode next Monday – look how big Jake has gotten!!! The fact that puberty has finally hit that kid will have me and every other sitcom fan tuning in next Monday night

The hot tip…
Two and a Half Men in first place with So You Think You Can Dance in second, How I Met Your Mother in third and The Big Bang Theory bringing up the rear (it deserves to be a timeslot winner but it still hasn’t fully caught on yet)

I’m very interested to find out what Seven will schedule after How I Met Your Mother, or if they’ll be showing hourlong installments (which would burn through them awfully quickly)

8.30 – 9.30
Desperate Housewives vs Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities vs Good News Week

So Nine really wants that Monday win and they’re going about it well too – Underbelly in 2008 was a megahit even without viewers in it’s home state – the new version should have a big turnout for the premiere – what happens after that depends a lot on the quality of the series and the intrigue of the storyline.

Desperate Housewives jumps forward in time by 5 years which sounds like a cool idea for a fifth season but it will struggle to garner attention against Nine’s local spectacular.

Finally Good News Week returns after a year of decent performances (but never setting the world on fire) given the competition this is Ten’s smartest move leaving the drama to others and offering a fun alternative/

The hot tip…
Underbelly, for 12 weeks anyway, then Housewives when it vacates.

9.30 – 10.30
Brothers & Sisters vs Aussie Ladette to Lady vs Dexter

At least you can say there’s something for everyone here, Brothers & Sisters which is a soap opera I guess should hold enough housewives viewers, the Underbelly audience may split up with those interested in violence heading over to Dexter which is a US premium cable serial about a police forensic/serial killer who only kills criminals (that’s one way to keep the prison population low), and those interesting in T&A moving on to Aussie Ladette to Lady. If ever there was a reality show that I didn’t expect a local version of – this was it!

The hot tip…
I’d like to think that the more conducive timeslot and better promotion would get Dexter over the line but something tells me that this local version of Ladette to Lady will be a minor hit, Nine have shown the nous to use the British instructors from that show which will help them immensley as their starched demeanour provides an excellent source of comedy against the louts that come through that finishing school!

All shows will benefit from the absence of Andrew Denton who retired his Enough Rope program late last year.