I’m shaking, literally shaking. It’s so close, oh so close I can feel it taking over my body and life once again. It hurts so bad, but I want it too much to stop it. Two words, Fall Television.

I kid you not when I say that television isn’t just an essential part of my life, it’s one of the biggest components. While I spend my free time studying the progression on television most of you just want to know what shows you should watch to make your lives as amazing as can possibly be!

This fall their are a number of new shows entering the likes of prime time so it’s hard to know which ones are going to be captivating or entertaining. Most of my critics are based on three things: Is it a new concept? Is it captivating? and is it wildly entertaining?

Here are the shows you should keep an eye out for this fall. You can check out the trailers for each of them on their network websites!

New Premieres

Outsourced

While I’m biased because this show replaced my beloved Parks & Recreation, I am just as curious as every other brown girl out there on how exactly the show is going to impact or reflect Indian culture. While it does look entertaining I just wonder what the laughs will be at the cost of. Komal wrote a great review on the summary of the show, which you can check out here.

September 23rd 9:30/8:30c NBC

$#*! my Dad says

If you are on twitter you’ve definitely caught buzz of this show. The entire premise is on a 29 year old guy, Justin, who moved back home and started tweeting the insightful yet harsh things his dad says to him. For example, his latest tweet reads “Put the rake down. I don’t wanna sit around watching you ‘give it your best.’ Either stop sucking or get the f%ck out of the way.” The hilarious William Shatner will play Justin’s father and if you ever watched Star Trek or Boston Legal, I’m sure you know what to expect from his performance.

September 23rd 8:30/7:30c

The Event

The premise of this show seems like it will follow the formatting of Lost and Heros, because it’s super top secret and they can’t really tell you what it’s about. All you know is that the Event will change everything. What they can tell you is their is a presidential assassination attempt, a missing person, and a CIA cover-up aren’t the super secret event but are a part of the plot. It seems like it’ll be epic and enticing or too complicating and annoying. How’s that for selling it to ya?!

September 20th 9/8c

Returning Must Sees:

Modern Family

ABC

They just won the Emmy for best comedy! If you didn’t watch last season, you need to go and watch that immediately, not to understand the show, just because it was that fantastic. The show is formatted like the 50s nuclear family sitcom but with a Modern family. You know Columbian wives, gay couples, Korean babies, and deranged fathers. I can’t even emphasize how much you need to see this show.

Community

NBC

This show is so underrated but it’s one of the best shows on TV right now. I was never a big Joel McHale fan but the show isn’t all about him, more than it is about the different types of students that attend a community college. Freshman straight out of high school, billionaires wanting to get a degree, stay at home moms, and a girl who traveled the world and is finally back at school. If you’re a big movie buff, you’ll appreciate the show more because it stylizes a lot of the episodes in the format of famous movies like Goodfellas or Good Will Hunting because one of the students it a film major.

The Big Bang Theory

CBS

Putting this on here makes me reveal how big of a nerd I really am. But to be honest, the show is wonderful and hilarious whether you’re a nerd or not. It focuses on the lives of 4 nerds, all brilliant but snubbed at their social lives. Each of them has a different flaw such as being an over womanizer, not being able to talk to women unless intoxicated, being over emotional and then there’s Jim Parsons. He literally steals the show with his unusual character who is socially awkward but in an in your face way. It’s worth checking out to see if it’s your cup of tea or not.

Other shows to watch out for:

Law & Order: Los Angeles

September 22nd 10/9c NBC

By now you know the premise but at least it will fill the void of the original.

Mike & Molly

September 20th 9:30/8:30c CBS

Your All-American couple a cop and a teacher except they meet at an Overeaters Anonymous.

My Generation

September 23rd 8/7c ABC

A documentary crew follows up with the lives of a group of high school graduates 10 years later. (Not actual documentary)

Hawaii 5-0

If you love action then you’ll be excited of this remake of the original cop show.

Top Chef: Just Desserts (Bravo)

TBD Bravo

Like the original, but dipped in sugar.

Undercovers

September 22nd 8/7c

Mr. & Mrs. Smith every single week. Done.

According to a February 4 article in the Hindustan Times, Bollywood is extending its reach across the world.

Baz Luhrmann, the fantasy and music obsessed Hollywood director of films like Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet, has professed his admiration for Bollywood and its Shakespeare-inspired stories. On his fourth trip to India, he announced plans to make a film in India in the future and work with “music maestro A.R. Rahman.”

Bollywood is the perfect fit for Luhrmann. Everyone knows traditional Bollywood films are full of extended song and dance sequences that come out of nowhere. Luhrmann’s films have a sophistication and attention to detail which would allow traditional Bollywood films to be taken more seriously by critics.

Luhrmann used a Westernized version of the popular song “Chamma Chamma” from the 1998 film China Gate in his most famous movie, Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman.

Check out the complete story on Hindustani Times.

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto on the Oscar Red Carpet for Slumdog Millionaire.

by Fauzeya Rahman

This year’s Academy Awards will be like any previous year.  We’ll see the usual red carpet scene, celebrities either looking fierce (or not so much) and awards will be given to the top movies of the year.  Unlike previous years, however, there’s a good chance we could see a movie whose storyline came straight out of the slums of Mumbai win best picture of the year.

“Slumdog Millionaire” has received both critical acclaim and widespread popularity.  Its success has been analyzed by hardcore film buffs and casual moviegoers alike.  Whatever its appeal is for the individual viewer, the movie succeeds in bringing the South Asian identity out from the sidelines into the forefront.

It is very rare to see South Asian characters in popular sitcoms or movies in the States.  Whenever there was the rare Desi cast, they were always portrayed as a recent immigrant with a heavy accent, usually as a taxi driver or a similar profession.  Needless to say, it was hard to identify with Apu from “The Simpsons,” and most of us never really saw much of ourselves portrayed in Hollywood.

Kal Penn in the hit series "House".

Flash forward to 2009.  Aishwarya Rai is starring in the new “Pink Panther” movie.  Snoop Dogg collaborated for a track in the Bollywood flick “Singh is Kinng.”  Kal Penn is a household name (well, in households with teens or 20-somethings present).  There is a definite fusion and collaboration that is taking place, a clear step in a new direction.

Seeing as how Asians account for 13.5 million of the U.S. population, a stronger presence in pop culture is to be expected.  Rather than having the token Asian fulfilling some stereotype, we’re starting to see South Asians cast in major roles in TV and in movies.  We aren’t 100 percent at accurate representation, but slowly we’re getting there.

Lakshmi Menon in an ad for Banana Republic.

One big difference (and improvement) is that South Asians aren’t solely represented as “exotic” anymore.  Take Lakshmi Menon for instance.  She’s appeared in Banana Republic commercials, has modeling contracts with Hermes and Givenchy and has walked in runway shows for top designers such as Michael Kors and Vera Wang.  She’s achieved great success not only as an Indian model, but as a model in general.

This wasn’t always the case for Indian models.  For model/host of “Top Chef” Padma Lakshmi, during her modeling days she was usually featured in ethnic clothing in exotic locales.  As the advertising and editorial world is heading towards greater diversity, we’re starting to see differences in our everyday lives.

So what does this all mean?  Well for starters, maybe the younger generations growing up seeing such diversity will be uninhibited in choosing their career paths.  They will further break down barriers and stereotypes and we’ll be seeing fellow South Asians filling more non-traditional roles, further erasing stereotypes.  Maybe we’ll see more Bollywood and Hollywood collaborations on the big screen.  Maybe rather than being seen as “exotic,” we’ll be seen simply as we are.

Kal Penn on the hit TV series House.

Kal Penn, born Kalpen Suresh Modi, has made us laugh in many movies from his humble beginnings in American Desi all the way to Harold and Kumar. He has even tackled more serious roles such as “Gogol” in the Mira Nair film The Namesake. Currently, he plays a doctor on the hit FOX show House. Things you may not know about the actor: he’s a vegetarian and taught a lecture course at the University of Pennsylvania called “Images of Asian Americans in the Media” and a seminar called “Contemporary American Teen Films.”

Manu Narayan with Jessica Alba and Mike Meyers in The Love Guru.

Manu Narayan performed under the glamorous lights of the Broadway stage for the lead role of “Akaash” in the smash Bollywood Dreams. Just this last summer he played “Rajneesh” in The Love Guru opposite Mike Myers and Jessica Alba. Take note: he can sing! Narayan graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a double major in saxophone and voice. He has sung with Cyndi Lauper and even preformed for Queen Elizabeth, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair!

Maulik Pancholy for the Showtime hit Weeds.

Maulik Pancholy, graduated with a Master’s degree in Acting from the Yale University School, and went on to make multiple appearances on popular televisions shows such as The Sopranos and 30 Rock. He even voices the character “Baljeet” on the popular Disney channel cartoon Phineas and Ferb. But, you may recognize him best as James Marsden’s lovable co-worker in 27 Dresses. Keep a look out for him on the silver screen this year and a role on the Showtime hit Weeds.

Information provided by IMDb.

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