The Good, the Bad and the New of TV: The Bad

Unfortunately, there are so many hours in a day to watch all these shows. Plus summer is a bust because there are new shows and episodes in the summer too. So some show have to go. Some are sad to say good-bye to but others I am glad to kick the habit of.

• CSI:Miami - It just got too much at the start of the season. Sure, it has more action, but that is not why the CSI series is so popular. Whatever the heart of the series was, its gone. Emily Proctor looks tired and overworked. This could be a story-line plot behind it but I'm not seeing it. Plus, I get tired of other people making mockery of David Caruso's sunglasses-yeaah routine. It's now the cultural shorthand for absurd and self-delusional. I don't need to see the real thing week in and week out. In one episode last season, he entered a hostage situation with a vest and holding those sunglasses. I'm sorry if people are offended thinking I am making fun of albinism and photophobia. That could explain why Horatio Caine is unable to tan and why he needs those glasses in a hostage situation.  
• The Amazing Race - After watching so many races, ironically, it is the fatigue that killing this for me. 
• How I Met Your Mother - The series is at the same point for me when I stopped watching Friends. Although both were still popular at this point, the uniqueness of the series was lost. It seems to repeat itself. Story-lines and characters become predictable. What ever it was that made it endearing is gone. It is as if the writers were just aiming for the quick and sure-fire laughs. The guys have been acting out for so long that they stopped being quirky and become annoyingly juvenile. Someone should also put those kids listening to the story out of their misery. At the beginning of the series, their dad's story made him look like he was being wise, relate-able and that he was passing them wisdom. By now, he looks like a douche to them. My suggestion? Do a pivot by ending Ted's story, show who the mother is (and add a new character) and begin Barney's by bringing in his kids. This is a more interesting angle than figuring out who Ted ends up marrying.
• NCIS - I can't stop thinking that Mark Harmon is the luckiest guy on TV. He is totally into the character that it makes you forget the various major parts he played in other series. Kudos for the series writers not tipping a hat to any of them. But again, it feels like it's stuck in plot-of-the-week rut. The series needs to evolve. Then again, it may just be biding time. It is the top of the charts, though. But that could be just the fans tuning in hoping for something good.