A few networks started some of their fall shows this week, and more shows are coming next week.
Monday, CW will present the season premieres of two youth-oriented dramas: One Tree Hill, which is filmed in Wilmington, at 8 p.m., and Gossip Girl at 9 p.m.
The most widely-discussed new show of the season, The Jay Leno Show, will make its debut Monday. It will be shown weeknights at 10 p.m.
Tuesday, NBC will bring back The Biggest Loser for its eighth season at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, CW will begin its new drama The Beautiful Life, about the modeling business, at 9 p.m., following the reality show America's Next Top Model, which started its new season this week.
Thursday, CBS will start the 19th round of Survivor at 8 p.m. Fox will begin the new seasons of Bones and Fringe at 8 and 9 p.m. respectively.
NBC's Thursday lineup will start in one configuration next week and change in mid-October.
At 8 p.m. Thursdays through Oct. 1, NBC will show Saturday Night Live Weekend Update specials. Then at 8:30 p.m. this Thursday, Parks and Recreation will start its second season. At p.m. Thursday, The Office will start its sixth season with an amusing episode in which Michael (Steve Carell) goes overboard with office gossip. Then at 9:30 p.m., NBC will present the debut of its new comedy Community, about teachers at a community college. Community will move to the 8 p.m. Thursday slot in October to make room for 30 Rock, which doesn't start its new season until Oct. 15.
The big onslaught comes the week of Sept. 20-26, when 33 shows will start their new seasons or make their series debuts. I will be previewing the new shows of the season (and summarizing the ones that already started) in the Sept. 19 Journal, so stay tuned.
It's time to say goodbye to Hank, Dale and the rest of the gang on King of the Hill. Fox's long-running animated sitcom will draw to a close on Sunday with two back-to-back episodes at 8 and 8:30 p.m., ending a 13-year run. The show was frequently preempted by sports -- 15 episodes aired in each of its ninth and 10th seasons, and 12 episodes in its 11th season, compared with 22 episodes in an average TV season. It is being replaced later this month by The Cleveland Show, a spinoff of Family Guy.
Three months after the June 12 digital transition, more than 99 percent of homes in the United States are able to receive digital TV signals, according to a report released this week by the Nielsen Company.
The report found that as of Aug. 30, only 0.6 percent of homes in the U.S. -- about 710,000 households -- were unable to receive digital signals. When the transition took place in June, that number was at 2.2 percent.
The Triad fared better than the national average, with only 0.38 percent of homes in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point market -- just more than 2,600 households -- still considered "completely unready" for digital television, according to Nielsen.
This week's new TV-to-DVD releases are dominated by shows that are about to start their new seasons, aiming to whet viewers' appetites with the previous seasons of the show. Among the new releases are the fourth season of Criminal Minds, a procedural drama with better-than-average character development; the first seasons of Parks and Recreation and Fringe; and the fifth season of The Office. Both The Office and Fringe are also available on Blu-ray, with a few exclusive extras.
Also among this week's new DVDs is a show that won't be coming back this fall. Worst Week followed the misadventures of likable loser Sam (Kyle Bornheimer), who tried his best to impress his future in-laws, to no avail. The humor revolved around the awkward situations that Sam got into that inevitably spiraled out of control. The show was based on a much better British series.
■ Tim Clodfelter can be reached at 727-7371 or at tclodfelter@wsjournal.com.
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