TV I'm still watching

Network television (traditional and cable) just isn't making shows for me anymore. Frankly, outside of more sitcoms--where's the next Arrested Development?--I don't know what would attract me back to TV. Not reality shows, not do-it-yourself shows, not police or doctor or lawyer dramas. I used to like historical documentaries, and still do when they're on PBS, but the stuff on the History Channel, et al., seems so overdone and artificial, not to mention repetitious--I'd be surprised if there was more than 20 minutes of un-reiterated information in any hour-long cable history doc. If Mike Rowe was always shirtless, I might watch Dirty Jobs more often. Even my old standby, Game Show Network, has gotten rid of the old black & white game shows they'd run overnight, and seem to be producing no more new Lingos or Chain Reactions (where have you gone, Dylan Lane, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you, woo woo woo...).
So aside from my usual surfing of Turner Classic Movies, here's what I'm still watching on TV:

Pushing Daisies--canceled, with its last 3 episodes just recently burned off on the TV graveyard of Saturday night. I liked the last twist [SPOILER:] that they finally decided to tell the aunts that Chuck was still alive, and think they should have done that a year ago.

Pluses: quirky and wonderfully whimsical; phantasmagorically colorful; solid ensemble acting, especially the fabulous Kristen Chenoweth (who got to belt a few songs now and then) and the sexy Lee Pace; occasional interesting guest stars (Paul Reubens, Diana Scarwid, Wendie Malick).

Minuses: the arc story stuff took over the show, disastrously, in the second season, and the colorful whimsy could only make up so much for that.

The Big Bang Theory & How I Met Your Mother--Monday night sitcoms with likably unlikeable characters, the first with physics nerds, the second with hip young middle-class New Yorkers reminiscent of updated "Friends."

Pluses: good acting, funny dialogue, and great turns by Jim Parsons on Big Bang (pictured) and Neil Patrick Harris on Mother (who will now no longer be forever associated only with Doogie Houser); Mother has some very clever bits involving narrative distortion of time and space, flashbacks and flashforwards

Minuses: I don't care one bit for the arc story on Mother, leading us up to the big moment when Ted will meet his future wife. To the show's credit, they have put that on the back burner. On Big Bang, as much as I like Parsons, his character, a nearly autistic savant, who is deliberately irritating, sometimes goes too far. So far, Parsons has kept me laughing, but I fear they will make him such an alienating putz, I will lose all empathy for him.

The New Adventures of Old Christine--We just started watching this one this year, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine, whose ex-husband, with whom she has remained friends, is about to marry a woman, also named Christine. This is the most traditional of the sitcoms I currently watch, reminding me at times of 90's shows like Roseanne or Grace Under Fire.

Pluses: Louis-Dreyfus, the best female comic on TV since Ellen DeGeneres's heyday on Ellen; Clark Gregg, her ex, who is a bland-but-sexy husband type.

Minuses: They don't always know what to do with co-star Wanda Sykes--sometimes she's hysterically funny, sometimes deadly dull. Also I don't much care for Hamish Linklater, playing Christine's goofy brother.

Castle--Nathan Fillion as a famous author who shadows a female police officer to get ideas for his books. Basically an old-fashioned cop show with a little more humor than most.

Pluses: the charmingly sexy Nathan Fillion, who single-handedly makes the show worth watching, though Stana Katic, as the cop, has grown on me, and they have good chemistry.

Minuses: the supporting cast is OK, but as characters, they all need to be better developed.

Gary Unmarried--Jay Mohr is divorced from Paula Marshall, but with joint custody of two kids, they keep getting involved in each other's lives.

Pluses: I'm a little embarassed to admit that I find the beer-swilling, overgrown frat-boy Jay Mohr to be kinda sexy, and he and Marshall work well together; well written without being particularly original or edgy; I liked the addition of Max Gail as Mohr's old-hippie father in the last few episodes.

Minuses: The rest of the supporting cast is so-so, and the plotting could use some originality and/or edginess.

I watch enough Burn Notice to keep up, but aside from Jeopardy, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report, that's about it for broadcast television. I imagine I'll get excited about something this fall that will wind up being either too quirky (Daisies) or too edgy (last summer's Swingtown) to last, so I'll be in a similar boat next summer.