Let?s face it. Summer is a crappy time for primetime television. I can?t stomach all the reality television the networks are shoveling out, but what I can do is offer up some suggestions for great reruns. Whether you watch them weekly or grab a couple DVDs and watch them all at once, the following shows will make for some great viewing that will be sure to help pass the time before Sweeps are finally upon us.

SCRUBS ? This NBC comedy is up for two Emmy?s this year ? its second time being nominated since the show?s debut in 2001. Scrubs features a cast of experienced actors lead by Zach Braff (Garden State), Donald Faison (Clueless) and Sarah Chalke (Roseanne). The actors portray resident medical students working hard to become doctors while attempting to take themselves seriously as professionals and as adults.

While the writing is superb, the great thing about Scrubs is that the entire cast has a knack for performing comedy and drama simultaneously, allowing for scripts of great depth that in turn develop diverse, realistic and relatable characters. Scrubs is the only show on television with writers and actors talented enough to tastefully master fart jokes and death issues in the same half-hour episode.

Be sure to check out Scrub?s first season DVD for John C. McGinley as Dr. Cox, a sarcastic doctor with a penchant for minute-long rants, and Zach Braff as Dr. John Dorian, whose gift for inner-monologue is second to none.

VERONICA MARS ? Veronica Mars just wrapped up its first season this spring, but as long as no one has ruined any season finale surprises for you, it is well worth the reruns. The plot centers on Veronica Mars, daughter of a private eye, who is desperately trying to solve the murder of her best friend, Lilly. Cracking other cases along the way, Veronica receives pieces to Lilly?s puzzle as the season progresses, while dealing with every day high school drama typical of any seventeen-year-old girl.

This show serves up an equal dose of drama and laughs with a healthy sense of dark humor, but it?s the honest portrayal of high school life that really has me hooked. So often, the teenagers we see on television transparently reflect the forty-year-old writers who created them, or the thirty-year-old actors portraying them. But these characters make you forget the fact that they are characters at all, and isn?t that the sign of a job well done? Watch one episode (CBS, Thursdays at 8pm), and I guarantee you will be watching them all for the wit, the writing, and the unfurling mystery that will keep you guessing every time.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT ? FOX will finish airing the second half of its Arrested Development marathon this Friday, so if you have some plot re-capping to do before the September 19 season premiere, make sure you?re in front of T.V. tomorrow night at 8pm.
And if you?ve never watched the show before, where the hell have you been?

This Emmy-winning comedy is famous for its sharp wit, inside jokes, and bits that ? if you?re not watching carefully ? can go right over your head. That kind of humor makes this show perfect for re-run watching; you?ll find something new to fall off the couch laughing over every time you watch it.

The plot follows Michael Bluth, who is involuntarily put in charge of his dysfunctional family and their crooked business after his father is imprisoned for cooking the books. Michael must pull the business out of the hole and restore its reputation while supporting his family ? his alcoholic mother Lucille, shopaholic twin sister Lindsay, older brother/magician Gob, mentally stunted younger brother Buster, aspiring actor brother-in-law Tobias, rebel niece Mabey, and finally, Michael?s own neurotic son, George Michael.

The acting on this show is absolutely flawless. The actors have an innate sense of comedic timing, and play off of each other as if they?ve been working together forever. When you?re watching them, you actually get a sense of the fun they?re having, which will inevitably put a big smile on your face in turn. The jokes are subtle and intelligent, without relying too heavily on gags or slapstick, and often leave you wondering ?How did he just say that with a straight face?? In short, Arrested Development respects its viewers? intelligence, and promises to leave them rolling in the aisles.

So there you have it. Three great television shows that will pull you out of your ?Rockstar: INXS?/ ?Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? rut. Something different. Something with substance. Something awesome. Happy re-running!






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