I've never been a procedural fan, unless you count a unique one like Pushing Daisies. I like it a lot better when it's a serialized character drama that I can really get interested in, or else a hilarious comedy. 30 Rock, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, Dexter, Heroes...all shows that don't feature one of those three categories.

What is a "procedural" exactly? And what's the opposite? And what does "serialized" means? I watch TV, but I don't classify according to these terms, and I don't know what they mean.

It's funny that you just wrote about how you're sick of procedurals. In an effort to watch less TV, I cut 6 season passes a few days ago, almost entirely based on them being procedurals (Bones, NCIS, Medium etc). I figured if I could easily miss one episode, I could easily miss the entire show.

Maybe I'm in the minority for networks to not care, since I'll start watching a show with a strong arc at its core from the start of the season to the end without needing to be served up bite sized entertainment that I can jump in on at any time. Whenever I wonder how I could watch less TV, strict procedurals are the first on the chopping block.

You know what we haven't seen in a while, is Teacher procedurals. Doctors, Lawyers, Cops, they have oversaturated TV. Firemen have Rescue Me, what do teachers have? There used to be Boston Public, and a couple crappy sitcoms, but no dramas. The Wire had some scenes with teachers, but not much. A good drama about the educational system in this country could be good. And I'm sure there are enough English teachers out there with Shakespearean fantasies to write a few dozen pilot scripts.

I think we're on the edge of a new popular breakthrough in these kinds of shows. Part of why they work is the good vs. evil, helping regular people aspects of these shows. But there are also new ideas that come along every so often that push the genres to tell stories in different ways. CSI added the visual style and scientific elements. ER was a fairly gritty, realistic depiction of emergency medicine early on. Matlock, Murder She Wrote, and Quincy were early instances of more personality-driven procedurals (see House, Shark, and Lie to Me now). The Wire was about as realistic as possible without being a documentary. All of these shows have contributed to the changing face of these formats. I had hoped Pushing Daisies would be that next step, but it failed. Maybe Damages is (to some degree) a step forward for lawyer shows, but I don't see it as so much of a procedural. I guess that, even though it apes the Ocean's movies big time, Leverage is something different, good on them. Something about The Closer feels unique, as it's not just driven by Brenda's character; it's a true ensemble show, with wonderful writing and an interesting style. I have to say, cops, doctors, and lawyers will keep getting shows because of the wealth of interesting stories that can be told (and retold), combined with the near-guarantee of a resolution each week. But I'm always on the lookout for something new and different; thank goodness for LOST indeed!

Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Dexter (a procedural, but original), True Blood (not a great show, but original enough and not a procedural), Hustle (Though, I suppose it is a "con-man" procedural, like Leverage, only better).

Need to keep in mind, Leverage is as much a procedural as Eli Stone or Damages, if not more so. As is Pushing Daisies.

All you are really saying, is that you want to see some real inventive spins on the procedural, which I agree with you on.

Lost, yea, can't put that in the procedural category at all. Heroes too. BSG. DH. Uhm, I'm sure there are more, but can't think of them right now.

No love for a Unique show like LOST eh? ;]

Yeah, i too am sick of all of the doctors/lawyers/cop shows. It kind of sad that those seem like the only kind of shows that are being made, and it's because people like watching them... for some reason.

I miss shows like Pushing Daisies =/