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Big News » Northwest Airlines mechanics are going on strike. Just so long as the Icelandair mechanics aren't doing the same. (I'm sorry, I'll stop.)

Now, today's story...

It's a sad state of affairs when I can go nearly a full week without having anything interesting to write about or having time to write about anything interesting. Indeed.

But I think the former is more my issue. On the other hand, the new television season is right around the corner. (That was the cue for you non-TV watchers to tunnel your way out of here. Sorry.)

Now, those of you who are still with me, either you're wonderful friends or you actually do like primetime television. Kudos on either. So I think I'll write my preview commentary chronologically by premiere date.

And now that I think about it, I'll discuss only the new shows in this post. We'll save returning shows for another post. Those shows I'll be discussing here will be Prison Break, Reunion and Surface. I may chat up some of the others in the future.

Anyway.

To begin, there's Prison Break, which debuts Monday, August 29 on FOX. That's just over a week from now. As I understand it, the series is about a man who is wrongly convicted and tossed into the big house. His brother Michael, an architectural engineer of sorts (or whatever), knows the ins and outs of this particular "big house" and pulls off a faux bank robbery in order to get imprisoned as well. Smarty pants.

That's all I know about it from the FOX promos, but it was the critics who reviewed the series in online articles that actually piqued my interest. Apparently, Prison Break lives up to the thriller FOX proclaims it to be. At first glance you think, once they make their big break, it's all over right? He'll be free. But people don't just escape prison, end of story. Somebody's got to come after them.

I'll be watching next Monday to see for myself if they can really pull off a decent show with such a narrow premise. I think it can be done. I don't think it will be easy.

FOX's Reunion follows the lives of six high school friends from the day they graduate until their 20-year class reunion. It premieres Thursday, September 8 after The O.C. and each episode is a new year.

Weaved throughout the series is a murder-mystery story wherein one of the buddies bites the dust and one of the others is the responsible party. It makes for an interesting story, but probably a goofy funeral scene in the pilot episode, since they can't reveal the name of the deceased (who, as I understand it, won't be known until the finale).

And while the story may seem a little far-fetched, I have hope that, like Prison Break, under the right conditions it could succeed. The problem would be meddling network canceling it before the season's over and us never knowing who was killed.

The only other series I want to mention before leaving you alone is Surface, which hits NBC for the first time on Monday, Septmber 19. At first, it looked like a generic mystery series. In seeing more promos and reading up on it a little, I'm intrigued. (I'm also a fan of Boston Legal, which Lake Bell left to take this job.)

Surface is basically the story of three people who individually discover an alien species that's been living deep beneath the "surface" of the ocean. I might point out as this time that the series was initially titled "Fathom," which I thought was more appropriate. It has a forboding connotation much like the promos NBC has been running.

Basically, these people have front-row seats to what may or may not spell the end of the world as we know it. If it's a mystery even half as good as Lost, it might just hold my attention. We'll see how it turns out.

Having said that, I think it's important to know that I have written all of this without having actually seen any of said shows. My seemingly baseless accusations are based on promotional ads I've seen on TV and others' accounts of what the shows were like. My informed opinions on each of these will be posted as soon as I've seen them.

Yeah, Yeah: I know I said I'd stop with the Iceland comments, but I felt compelled to inform you (and only you) that my Icelandic vocabulary has now reached over 230 words. How about that. If you can translate þessi, hjól, helgi, hætta, með, and bíó (and you're not a native speaker or an online dictionary cheater) I will give you — a nice, congratulatory message. Written personally by me. Customized with your name and everything. Seriously. No, not seriously. Grow up.