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Let Us Count The 6 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Be Separated From Your TV Tonight

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By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 25, 2008

Six reasons to stay home tonight:

We get the season debuts of "My Name Is Earl," "The Office," "ER," "Ugly Betty," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Survivor: Gabon, Earth's Last Eden."

•The fourth season of "Earl" will have our favorite fruit loop, Earl (Jason Lee), getting back to righting the wrongs on his karma list.

•On "Ugly Betty," our favorite frump (America Ferrera) rides back on a motorcycle while guest stars include Lindsay Lohan, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa.

•On the two-hour "Grey's" premiere, things are certain to get rocky for lovers Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). Apparently naughty nurse Rose (Lauren Stamile) will cause problems.

•The 17th season of "Survivor" is set in West Africa, where 18 people will compete for $1 million. Most are in their 20s and look good in bikinis and briefs.

•NBC's long-running, critically acclaimed medical series "ER" begins its 15th and final season with Angela Bassett, formerly of St. Petersburg, as the new County General Hospital chief of staff, Cate Banfield.

•After being shut out at this year's Emmy Awards, "The Office" opens shop tonight with an hour episode. Oh, no! The office sweetheart, Pam (Jenna Fischer), is scrapping Scranton for art school in New York.

"CSI" DELAY: Fans of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" will have to wait. CBS' most-watched drama doesn't return to Thursday nights with new episodes until Oct. 9.

Next week, the 9 p.m. time slot on the big three networks will be filled with "The Sarah Palin-Joe Biden Show." The vice presidential debate could be as good as any soap and has the potential to be a comedy.

This is a big season for "CSI" because co-producer and star William Petersen will be leaving the show about midway through this season. Petersen, who created the role of forensics leader Gil Grissom, is headed to the theater.

Replacing him will be Laurence Fishburne ("Matrix") as a former pathologist who comes to the CSI after being an itinerant college lecturer. Supposedly, the character has "the same genetic tendencies as a serial killer" but he's not killing anyone yet.

Also postponed to Oct. 9 is CBS' new crime drama "The Eleventh Hour." Film bad guy Rufus Sewell stars as an unorthodox genius who steps in at the eleventh hour after all else has failed.

The longest wait will be for "30 Rock." The Emmy-winning best comedy on TV doesn't return until Oct. 30. That's because NBC plans three "Saturday Night Live" political specials on Thursday nights in October.

"ER" EXIT: Of her new role on "ER," Bassett says Cate is "a very good boss."

"I think she has very high standards, but she's the new person in the room, and there's some folks that are not able to appreciate her style," Bassett said during a visit to the set in July. "She's trying to bring up the level of excellence, and she's butting heads with different personalities early on."

Series co-creator John Wells says many of the 26 regular characters from the 14-year run of the series will come back including Noah Wyle, who played Dr. John Carter for 10 years.

"We always planned that the end of the series would involve Noah returning because he was so central as a new entering character growing up in the ER," says Wells.

Other possible encores include Eriq La Salle, Alex Kingston, Ming-Na, William H. Macy, Sara Gilbert and Laura Innes.

As for the most famed alumnus, George Clooney? Probably not, says Wells.

"His schedule is a little busy!" Wells jokes. "He's a friend and he has been great to us in his success. My assumption is, if he's available, he may come back and do maybe some press for us or something."

TUNE IN TONIGHT

Ugly Betty, 8 p.m., ABC

Last season ended with a cliffhanger. Henry proposed to Betty and Gio asked her to run away with him to Rome. You'll find out her choice tonight.

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