A Few of My Favorite Things

Many believe that the television season ends in May when all the major networks wrap up stories or leave us with cliff-hangers until the fall.

This is so not true, my friends!

In fact, summer may be my favorite time of the year for television. Here's what I'm watching and what you should totally check out.

The Mole--My love affair with reality television began with The Mole back in 2001. The first host was the unknown-at-the-time Anderson Cooper (ooh, la la!). I'm not sure what happened to Mr. Cooper (besides showing up in my dreams and giving me the best name ever to give my first born son, he he!), but the show is now hosted by Jon Kelley. Each week the contestant are given tasks to complete as a team which can earn them money into a community pot. The only problem is, one of the contestants is being paid by the network to sabotage the game. The end of each episode is a 10-question quiz about the identity of the mole. The contestant with the lowest score will be "executed." Catch it, Monday nights at 10:00 pm eastern on ABC.

30 Days--Morgan Spurlock, the genius behind "Supersize Me" is now in his third season of "30 Days. " I initially became interested in this show because the very first episode was about living on minimum wage and the experiment was conducted right here in Columbus, Ohio. The premise of the show is that an individual with strong beliefs and opinions or curiousity about a life situation finds themselves in the complete opposite for 30 days. Making sense? For example, this week's episode was about an NFL player who had seen a teammate make a bad tackle and as a result became a quadriplegic. For his 30 days, the now retired NFL player used a wheelchair and had to take on simple daily tasks such as getting around public places, driving, and having to deal with society. In addition he got to learn from other quads who defy the odds of being handicapped. The reason I like Morgan Spurlock so much is that he's thought provoking without shoving it down your through that he's right and you're wrong (Michael Moore). Catch this show Tuesday nights at 10:00 pm eastern on FX.

So You Think You Can Dance--Back for it's forth season is "So You Think You Can Dance." Unlike "Dancing with the Stars" this show features good dancing with a variety of dances like hip-hop, ballroom, contemporary, jazz, etc. The competition is very much like "American Idol": thousands try out and only the best of the best make it to the top 20--10 guys and 10 girls. Each girl is paired with a guy and a choreographer works with the pair to create a unique dance each week. The pair performs, is critiqued by the judges, and then is voted on by the audience-at-large. During the first couple of weeks, the bottom three couples is determined by the audience and then the judges decide who is going home. Once the competition is down to the top 10, then the audience gets to vote on the individual and their vote either keeps or eliminates the individuals. The winner is voted "America's favorite dancer" and wins $250,000. So You Think You Can Dance airs Wednesday nights at 8:00pm eastern and Thursday nights at 9:00pm eastern on Fox.

My Boys--"My Boys" is quite possibly my favorite sitcom on TV. PJ is a 20-something tomboy who is a sports writer. Her friends also share her interests in sports and beer, oh, and they all happen to be male. Another friend, Stephanie, is her female voice of reason who tries to feminize PJ. PJ has also dated most of her guy friends, except for her brother, of course. At the end of the first season PJ shares a passionate kiss with her close friend and roommate Brendan who quickly moves out. At the end of the second season PJ is courting many men and has to come to a decision which one she will choose to take to Italy with her on a trip she and Stephanie have already planned. Who will she choose? Find out tonight on the season premiere! My Boys is on TBS, Thursdays at 9:30pm eastern.

Intervention--My guilty pleasure. Intervention documents the lives of addicts--drugs, alcohol, anorexia, bulemia--you get the point. The addicts agree to be part of the documentary to talk about their addictions and how they got to the point they are, but they have no idea they are about to be ambushed by their family, friends, and an interventionist. The drama is raw and real and is both hard to watch and hard not to watch. The new season starts Monday at 9:00pm eastern on A&E.

Finally, the summer of television will hit a high note on August 8th when the Olympics begin. You can catch the Olympics on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, and pretty much every station under the sun. I can't wait!

Dust off your remotes, set your TiVOs, and get watching.