After seven seasons on the air and surviving a switch between networks (from NBC to CBS), it’s hard to say that “Medium” didn’t live a good, long life. With that said, however, the show had continued to find new ways to keep things interesting, and with the trio of DuBois daughters growing up and getting their own storylines almost as often as their mom. As such, Allison, Joe, and the gang could’ve easily kept going for another few seasons without any complaints from me.

Am I going to try to defend my enjoyment of this show? No, I am not, because there’s no point in wasting your time or mine. You may not have thought it was very funny, and if you didn’t, that would be your right. I, however, did. And I still miss it.

There’s nothing I dislike more than a series that doesn’t know when to leave good enough alone, and for my part, I don’t know why they felt the need to change the formula and kick Skeet Ulrich‘s character to the curb. Sorry, did I say “curb”? I meant “grave,” of course. Not that there’s anything wrong with giving an actor of Alfred Molina’s caliber a more substantial role, but to do so in midseason can’t have pleased the existing viewership very much. Truth be told, I’d rather they’d just kept the original “Law & Order” around, but in its absence, this was a nice substitute, and it sucks that it never had a chance to really spread its wings.

When it comes to casualties in the alien-invasion field, I can accept the cancellation of “V” a bit more than that of “The Event,” if only because it was a minor surprise that it made it to a second season in the first place. And if I’m to be honest, I’m not really surprised that NBC couldn’t be bothered to give “The Event” a shot at a sophomore year, since they probably figured it’d only let them down the way “Heroes” did. But whereas “Heroes” really dropped the ball in its second year, I felt like “The Event” had a better chance of upping the ante. Guess I’ll never know for sure.

My wife’s the one who tipped me to this show, describing it as being more than a little bit “Buffy”-inspired, and I don’t disagree with that assessment, though it’s inevitable that any ABC Family series isn’t going to be as rough and tumble as the adventures of our favorite vampire slayer. Also inevitable, unfortunately, was the fact that it only lasted a single season. Apparently, if a sci-fi series doesn’t feature a hot teenage boy as its lead (stand up, please, “Kyle X-Y”), then it doesn’t have a chance in hell at making it very long on ABC Family.

And what’s the deal with the lack of love for new cop shows? Apparently, America loves crime procedurals to the point where the thought of a little extra character development scares them away. Thankfully, “Blue Bloods” has proven to be at least somewhat of an exception to that rule, but it doesn’t come anywhere near the work that was being done on “The Chicago Code.” Hell, even “Detroit 1-8-7″ didn’t touch “The Chicago Code,” but at least filming in the Motor City gave it a slightly different look than your typical cop show…though, in fairness, having Michael Imperioli and James McDaniel in the cast would’ve made it worth watching no matter where it was set.

If the Germans can learn to love David Hasselhoff, then, dammit, why can’t we as a country see fit to embrace the brilliance that is Norm MacDonald? I don’t even like sports, and I still TiVoed the damned thing every week. America, you’re on notice. Again. (Seriously, I’m about ready to move to Canada. They like me better up there, anyway.)

Yes, I agree that “Happy Endings” has grown substantially as a series since last season, which means that, okay, fine, maybe my previous claims that it should’ve been cancelled instead of “Traffic Light” were said in haste. But I still think “Traffic Light” was a better-than-average comedy about a bunch of friends, and I thought so from the very first episode, so to watch it get even better as it went along and still get denied a second-season pick-up was downright infuriating…though not, I suspect, as infuriating as it was for Tyler Labine to see “Mad Love” lose its battle to stay on the air. The ensemble of Labine, Jason Biggs, Judy Greer, and Sarah Chalke didn’t gel quite as instantly as one might have liked, given the comedic abilities of the foursome, but, again, by the end of season, it was tooling along quite nicely. And what did we get in its place? “2 Broke Girls.” Not that I don’t love Beth Behrs’ impossibly-long legs and the way Kat Dennings always looks like she’s about to bust out of her waitress outfit, but all things being equal, I’d still trade ‘em for another session of “Mad Love.”

I’ll be the first to admit that Season 2 of “Hung” was a less than stellar showing from the series, so much so that I probably wouldn’t have picked it back up in Season 3 if I hadn’t pulled a gig blogging the show for the Onion A.V. Club. That, as it turns out, would’ve been a tremendous mistake, as just about everything that had annoyed me during the show’s second year was discarded (so long, subplots about Ray’s creepy kids!) in favor of ramping up the things that had actually worked…like, say, Lennie James, who worked his acting magic every time he turned up as Tanya’s former-pimp boyfriend. I don’t know that the show has a fanbase substantial enough for us to ever see “Hung: The Movie,” but I’d sure as hell pay to see it.

Just as I was starting to get over FX’s decision to cancel one of 2010′s best new series (“Terriers”), they decided to pull the plug on another great show. I’m sure the reason it never took off was because casual viewers couldn’t get beyond the fact that it sounded like a rehash of “Rocky Balboa,” but it was so much more than that, thanks to Holt McCallany’s performance as Patrick “Lights” Leary, the boxer who, as a result of bad investments over the years, was forced to battle back against pugilistic dementia and get into the ring again in order to support his wife and three daughters. With a supporting cast featuring Stacey Keach as Leary’s dad and an impressively threatening performance by Bill Irwin (between this and “CSI,” I just can’t look at Mr. Noodle the same way ever again), “Lights Out” deserved far better than to hit the canvas after only one season.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. Just typing the title of the show and looking at the shot of Ray Romano, Scott Bakula, and Andre Braugher is making me sad all over again. Some people couldn’t understand all the love that was lavished on the series, but those who saw a bit of themselves in these three men – and, believe me, you didn’t have to be their certain age to be struck by the familiarity – quickly found “Men” to be must-see TV. Joe, Owen and Terry weren’t just characters. They felt like real guys. You don’t get nearly enough of their like on television. I don’t blame TNT for pulling the plug if the ratings weren’t there, but I do blame audiences for not branching out and investigating series that fall slightly outside of their usual viewing patterns. Set aside the predictable once in awhile, wouldja? There’s a lot of great television out there that deserves to thrive, and all it takes is for you to give it a chance.

(8:30 – 9 PM, Sept. 26, with special preview on Sept. 19 at 9:30 PM)

The competition: Dancing with the Stars (ABC), The Sing-Off (NBC), Terra Nova (Fox), Gossip Girl (The CW)

Starring: Kat Dennings, Beth Behrs, Garrett Morris, Matthew Moy, Jonathan Kite, Brooke Lyons

Executive producers: Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cummings

What the network says: “A comedy about two young women waitressing at a greasy spoon diner who strike up an unlikely friendship in the hopes of launching a successful business – if only they can raise the cash. Sassy, streetwise Max Black works two jobs just to get by, one of which is waiting tables during the night shift at the retro-hip Williamsburg Diner. Sophisticated Caroline Channing is an uptown trust fund princess who’s having a run of bad luck that forces her to reluctantly give waitressing a shot. At first, Max sees Caroline as yet another in a long line of inept servers she must cover for, but she’s surprised to find that Caroline has as much substance as she does style. When Caroline discovers Max’s knack for baking amazing cupcakes, she sees a lucrative future for them, but they first need to raise the start-up money. While they save their tips, they’ll stay at the restaurant, working with Oleg, an overly flirtatious Russian cook; Earl, a 75-year-old kool-kat cashier; and Han Lee, the new, eager-to-please owner of the diner. Working together, these two broke girls living in one expensive city might just find the perfect recipe for their big break.”

What we say: What’s this? A new sitcom in CBS’s Monday night lineup that isn’t a Chuck Lorre production? Will wonders never cease! Better yet, it’s a relatively strong one, though like so many other sitcom entries this season, it’s one where the leads are strong but the ensemble surrounding them is hit or miss…and, unfortunately, that includes Garrett Morris, who deserves so much better than hackneyed one-liners. (There’s a Duke University locker room joke, for God’s sake. Uh, zing?) Dennings, however, is the sarcastic version of Zooey Deschanel, which is to say that she’s cute, funny, and she could take you down a peg without even blinking, and Beth Behr is, for lack of a more elaborate phrase, sweet and pretty. The two of them also have instant chemistry together. If a cast as strong as “Mad Love” couldn’t make it more than a season, we probably shouldn’t pin any major hopes on “2 Broke Girls,” but it’s a certainly a show that we wouldn’t mind seeing succeed.

Tuesday

(10 – 11 PM. Sept. 20)

The competition: Body of Proof (ABC), Parenthood (NBC)

Starring: Poppy Montgomery, Dylan Walsh, Michael Gaston, Kevin Rankin, Daya Vaidya

Executive producers: Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Ed Redlich, John Bellucci

What the network says: “A drama about an NYPD detective with a flawless memory who not only remembers her every moment and emotion, but is physically incapable of forgetting. This extraordinary ability both enhances and complicates all aspects of her life.”

What we say: If you’re a sucker for a procedural with a gimmick, look no further. Call it Marilu Henner meets “The Mentalist,” with Carrie Wells – Montgomery’s character – using her memory to solve crimes while also being tortured by a childhood event which, for reasons we will no doubt learn in the season finale cliffhanger, has been one of the few moments in her life that she can’t remember. Of course there’s a romantic past with fellow detective Al Burns (Walsh), so you know that’ll be a recurring plot line as well. Frankly, the best member of the ensemble is television stalwart Michael Gaston, who’s the only member of Burns’s team of detectives who makes any sort of impression whatsoever. Like “The Mentalist,” they’ll have to quickly make the show less about the gimmick and more about the ensemble for “Unforgettable” to come anywhere close to living up to its title.

Thursday

(8:30 – 9 PM, Sept. 29)

The competition: Charlie’s Angels (ABC), Community / Parks & Recreation (NBC), The X Factor (Fox), The Vampire Diaries (The CW)

Starring: David Hornsby, Kevin Dillon, Dave Foley, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Nancy Lenehan, Rhys Darby

Executive producers: David Hornsby, Adam Chase, Ted Schachter and Joe Hipps

What the network says: “A comedy about the unlikely friendship between a traditional, refined writer and an unrefined personal trainer.”

What we say: It doesn’t take much to figure out that if you blended Hornsby’s and Dillon’s characters together, you’d get some approximation of Barney Stinson, but this definitely isn’t “The Bro Code: The Series.” Ironically, “Gentleman” is the exact opposite of just about every other new sitcom to hit the airwaves this season, in that the ensemble is much more charming and funny than the leads. Actually, that’s not entirely true: the leads are fine, but Dillon in particular is stuck playing a man-brute while Hornsby has to be perpetually prim and proper, and although the latter’s not so bad, Dillon seriously needs to dial it down a few notches. But Foley’s as hilarious as usual in the role of Hornsby’s boss, who’s feeling his age and is trying desperately to make himself look young and seem relevant, and although Rajskub doesn’t get to do much more than act bitchy, there’s a lot of potential with the casting of Rhys Darby as her husband, who’s laugh-out-loud funny every time he opens his mouth. As it stands, though, we’re still a long, long way from inspiring me to switch my allegiance from “Parks & Recreation.”

(9 – 10 PM, Sept. 22)

The competition: Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), The Office / Whitney (NBC), Bones (Fox), The Secret Circle (The CW)

Starring: Jim Caviezel, Michael Emerson, Taraji P. Henson, Kevin Chapman

Executive producers: J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Jonathan Nolan, David Semel and Greg Plageman

What the network says: “A crime thriller about a former-CIA agent who teams up with a mysterious billionaire to prevent violent crimes using their own brand of vigilante justice.”

What we say: Be honest: you know the mere fact that J.J. Abrams’ name is in the credits was enough to inspire a raising of the eyebrows and an immediate curiosity about the series. Then, however, you may have suddenly flashed back to last season’s “Undercovers” and sighed a bit. Fortunately, this is much closer to “Alias,” but with the added bonus of Michael Emerson, who’s got just as much creepy charisma here as he did when he was playing Benjamin Linus on “Lost.” Caviezel’s playing a strong but silent type who throws out the occasional witty one-liner, but the action’s what keeps things going, plus a bit of the fear of the information age that drove such films as “Enemy of the State” and “Eagle Eye.” I’m inevitably way more intrigued by Emerson’s character than I am Caviezel’s, but the latter sure plays the bad-ass well in the pilot. I’m just curious to see if CBS’s audience can accept a bad-ass on a weekly basis. For the moment, though, they’ve got me sold.

Friday

(8 – 9 PM, Sept. 23)

The competition: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC), Chuck (NBC), Kitchen Nightmares (Fox), Nikita (The CW)

Starring: Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Ehle, Margo Martindale, Pablo Schreiber

Executive producers: Neal Baer, Carl Beverly, Sarah Timberman and Susannah Grant

What the network says: “A drama about a brilliant, charismatic surgeon whose life changes forever when his deceased ex-wife begins teaching him the meaning of life from the ‘hereafter.’”

What we say: Okay, seriously, what is it about CBS Friday nights and series about people who can talk (or at least whisper) to ghosts? Beats me, but you can’t blame the powers that be for playing it safe and sticking with what’s worked for them in the past. There’s schmaltz, as you’d expect from a series where a guy’s talking to the spirit of the late love of his life, but Wilson plays it well, and with Margo Martindale in the mix, you can count on a certain amount of snippy dialogue. For my part, I’d watch this thing every week if we could keep Jonathan Demme in the director’s chair, as he is for the first episode – call me crazy, but I’d rank this right up there with “Reaper” as a perfectly delivered pilot – but somehow I suspect that’s not likely to happen. Still, if future episodes can match the tone that he’s set and keep the proceedings from wallowing in sentimentality, I’d be willing to revisit the series on a regular basis.