Yay! I’ve been looking forward to this night all summer. If I haven’t really been all that excited about the new season, I have been excited about the two new shows premiering tonight. In fact, they’re pretty much the only new shows that’ve piqued my interest (excluding Joss’ Dollhouse, of course, since that’s a mid-season show). I’m ok waiting for my returning favorites but only because I have a few weeks to get acquainted with these new friends…

 
 
 
 
Fringe @ 8PM (FOX)
This pilot blew my socks off. It was pretty much love at first read. In fact, as soon as I finished it, I was telling people they had to watch. Then I saw the pilot screener and it just reaffirmed my love. It’s not perfect but that’s ok. It’s still exciting and fun and, OMG, Joshua Jackson!! I know it’s gotten a lukewarm reception online but several of my offline friends can not wait for the show to start and at least one of them LOVED the pilot. Leads me think the show will get a warm welcome and that makes me every so happy because I want this show to succeed. I need to have it on my TV each week. A cross between The X Files and Alias, the show is likely to fill the hole left by the absence of those shows.

In the pilot episode, an FBI agent recruits a brilliant but incarcerated scientist and his estranged, sharp-witted son to investigate an airborne tragedy that may harbinger a trend of increasingly unsettling phenomena.

 
 
 
 
 
Privileged @ 9PM (CW)
This series is based on the book “How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls” by best-selling author Zoey Dean and the script made me want to go out and buy the book. That’s how much I was drawn to these characters! The preview clips of the show have dialed back my excitement slightly but I’m still eager to see how the show turned out. Unlike other new CW shows, this is a storyline I can get behind. 23 year old Megan has graduated from Yale but her plans to conquer the world of journalism are thrown off course when she gets fired. She takes the job as live-in tutor to a cosmetics mogul’s twin teenage granddaughters in Palm Beach, FL. The twins aren’t too pleased about the plan, though, and Megan’s going to have to win them over as she struggles to adjust to this new world. I love the perky Megan with her “can do” attitude not to mention the quirky cast of secondary characters and I think you will too.

In the series opener, Megan is hired by cosmetics-company head Laurel Limoges, meets her new charges and begins to enjoy the perks of her new position—including a private suite and a handsome neighbor.

ETA: Thanks to seat42.com, you can now check out the pilot online. Sweet!