Just because we heart you, Remote Access has merged all the fall premiere dates for new and returning shows into one handy-dandy list, by date.

Most premieres don’t get hot and heavy until the week of Sept. 23, but they start trickling out tonight.

Here, if you prefer not mixing and matching your networks, here are links to the original postings on all the fall lineups:
• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• The CW

Not sure what the heck you’re going to watch this season? Stay tuned to The Journal News, LoHud.com and Remote Access for our previews of the fall season.

On Sunday, in the Life & Style section of The Journal News is our fall TV preview. Then here, on Remote Access, we start a week-long series of webcasts on the entire fall lineup. We’ll give you the lowdown on all the hot shows coming to the small screen, from sci-fi to sitcoms.

OK, ‘nuff said. Here’s the fall premiere dates:

Thursday, Sept. 6
8 p.m. — Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fox)
9 p.m. — Don’t Forget the Lyrics (Fox)

Saturday, Sept. 8
8 p.m. — Cops (Fox)
8:30 p.m. — Cops (Fox)
9 p.m. — America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back (Fox)

Tuesday, Sept. 11
8 p.m. — The Biggest Loser (NBC)

Friday, Sept. 14
9 p.m. — Nashville (Fox) (pictured, at right)

Saturday, Sept. 15
11 p.m. — MADtv (Fox)
Midnight — Talkshow With Spike Feresten (Fox)

More premiere dates after the break.

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With the release of the second and final season of “Rome” on DVD today, I thought it was as good a time as any to plumb the “House”-ing of the networks’ fall lineups, which could have a great effect on “Rome’s” stars.

The success of Brit actor Hugh Laurie as everyone’s favorite cranky Yank doc on Fox’s “House”:http://fox.com has paved the way for a number of his countrymen (and women) to get their shot at prime time on this side of the pond:

Kevin McKidd, so moving as the emotionally constricted Lucius Vorenus on “Rome,” stars as time-traveling reporter Dan Vasser on NBC’s “Journeyman”:http://nbc.com.

Ray Stevenson — every bit his match as his good-hearted sidekick, Titus Pullo — is a Long Island detective who tangles with the living dead on “Babylon Fields,” which has been picked up by “CBS”:http://cbs.com.

The character who comes closest to curmudgeonly House, though, is borderline nutcase Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis), a Los Angeles cop wrongfully imprisoned for murder on NBC’s “Life.”

“Life” is one of those “Count of Monte Cristo”-style revenge fantasies, in which Crews winds up not only with his freedom and his old job but a huge settlement and a multimillion-dollar home, thereby illustrating what I’ve long suspected: That while money can’t buy happiness, it can sure make misery comfortable.

It would be unfair to pass judgment on preview tapes of “Journeyman” or “Life.” (I haven’t seen frame one of “Babylon Fields.”) But I would nonetheless like to make a case for Stevenson, McKidd and Lewis as American TV stars. All three have the necessary acting chops, looks and charisma. And yet all three are quite different.
Stevenson is capable of marrying machismo to tenderness. McKidd, who could be Daniel Craig’s brother, riffs on tormented hubby Vorenus in “Journeyman,” playing a guy caught between reclaiming the fiancée he lost and holding on to his increasingly baffled wife.

Lewis, a titian-haired beauty, is harder to pin down, which may be why stardom has eluded him. He should’ve become a big star on these shores after playing Maj. Richard D. Winters, the quintessential American hero, in HBO’s “Band of Brothers.” That performance would’ve been the highlight of many careers, but he followed it up with a poignant performance as the cold, abusive Soames Forsyte in PBS’ “The Forsyte Saga” — a turn so brilliant that it totally reinterpreted the story. You have to be a very good actor indeed to do that.

I don’t want to let this topic go, however, without remembering the ladies. While the men of “Rome” have snagged series’ leads, Polly Walker, the bewitching Atia, has a supporting role on CBS’ Cuban-American drama, “Cane,” a throwback to “Dallas” and “Dynasty.”

Anyone who’s followed the voluptuous Walker’s career — she turned up recently as a tigress of a mother on PBS’ “Miss Marple” — knows she deserves better than the fourth female lead. On “Cane,” she at least plays one of her trademark temptresses, with a Southern accent.

Here’s hoping she gets to unleash both her inner Vivien Leigh and Joan Collins.

Here’s a look at NBC’s fall season premiere schedule, thanks to TVGuide.com

Tuesday, Sept. 11

8 p.m. — The Biggest Loser

Monday, Sept. 24

8 p.m. — Chuck
9 p.m. — Heroes
10 p.m. — Journeyman

Tuesday, Sept. 25

9:30 p.m. — The Singing Bee
10 p.m. — Law & Order: SVU

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TVGuide.com has previews and clips of all the new ABC and NBC shows. I’ve also linked to the Remote Access posts that listed all the shows and what they’re about.

For links to the videos, Read more of this entry »