sons of tucson

(S01E01) "All right, boys. Let's play house." - Ron to the Gunderson boys

It's hard to dislike 'Sons of Tucson,' and believe me, I've tried.

It stands on Fox's Sunday comedy pedestal as a mix of borrowed plots and styles. It's got the attitude of 'Malcolm in the Middle,' the plot of 'Arrested Development' and the dramatic tragedy of 'Breaking Bad.'

But, hey, if you're going to borrow, borrow from the best.

You'd probably get pretty creative if your banker dad ended up in prison over a bad stock deal, and you wanted to avoid being foster kids.

In the case of the Gunderson kids on 'Sons of Tucson' (8:30PM ET on Fox), that means wrangling a slacker to pose as their dad. Yeah, it's not a big brain teaser to figure out who the responsible ones are in this equation.

Watch the video after the jump.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• At 7, ABC has a new 'America's Funniest Home Videos,' followed by new episodes of 'Extreme Makeover,' 'Desperate Housewives,' and 'Brothers & Sisters.'
• CBS has a new '60 Minutes' at 7, then new episodes of 'The Amazing Race,' 'Undercover Boss,' and 'Cold Case.'
• NBC has the series premiere of 'Minute To Win It' at 7 (two episodes), followed by the season premiere of 'Celebrity Apprentice.'
• FOX has two new episodes of 'Til Death' at 7, then a new episode of 'The Simpsons.'
• At 7:30, Disney has a new 'Hannah Montana,' followed by new episodes of 'Sonny with a Chance' and 'Jonas.'
  
• At 8, Food Network has a new 'Challenge,' then the series premiere of 'Ultimate Recipe Showdown.'
• GSN has a new 'High Stakes Poker' at 8.
• Style has a new 'Ruby' at 8.
• At 9, FOX has a new 'Family Guy,' followed by the series premiere of 'Sons of Tucson.'
• HBO has the series premiere of 'The Pacific' at 9, then a new 'How To Make It In America.'
• ESPN has a new '30 For 30' at 9.
• History Channel has a new 'Ax Men' at 10.
• At 12:30AM, Cartoon Network has a new 'Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Great Job.'

Check your local TV listings for more.

Are you a fan of war dramas like 'Band of Brothers'? What about love stories? According to retired Marine captain Dale Dye, HBO's latest 10-part miniseries, 'The Pacific,' has it all. Dye worked as their military training adviser, and he promises me that 'The Pacific' isn't just for guys. Honestly, I could listen to his stories all day -- the man has lived.

Another guy who tells a mean story? Tyler Labine, formerly of 'Reaper' and now playing leading man and dad-for-hire on 'Sons of Tucson.' Don't know about his new show? I let him give you the scoop.

Want more? E-mail me TV questions at TheTVShowGirl@aol.com and I'll try to get you answers on the show. -- By Maggie Furlong

I am knee deep in the holiday spirit and drunk on power. Only I can reach the top of the tree, so what goes up there is up to me ... so long as my wife approves. With television mostly in reruns, I find myself with extra time in my head, and when I spend time in there I find things. Things like what I want for Festivus!

• MTV and VH1 to play music videos. I'm from the MTV generation, which means I have no problem sitting around watching music videos for hours and hours. I love music. I love videos. The music industry would probably appreciate it, too. I don't like feeling like I need to take a shower while watching any one of their trashy reality shows.
• Lost to blow us all away with a SATISFYING conclusion. No fade to black, no comas, no Bob Newhart waking up next to his wife. Make it work and make it make sense. If you do that, you'll have one of the greatest shows in television history. So, no pressure guys.

It's strange that not only is it almost 2010 but it's the end of the decade.

The end of a year also means that it's time for the midseason shows to make their appearance. We already know that Chuck and Lost are coming back (January and February, respectively) and now FOX has announced their midseason schedule. After the jump, full details on when we'll see the return of Jack Bauer, Simon Cowell, Gordon Ramsay, reality shows, new shows, and special episodes of your favorites.

Fox has just announced its midseason lineup and it looks like a doozy! Between returning hits like 'Glee,' pop culture staples like 'American Idol' and 'The Simpsons,' not to mention a handful of promising new series, it looks like Fox has an unseasonably hot winter ahead. Check out the full schedule.

The networks have had a quiet summer, quietly introducing scripted bomb after scripted bomb, so they're certainly ready to jump into the new fall season. And It looks to be an interesting one. ABC is scheduling a two-hour block of new comedies on Wednesdays as the sitcom tries to make a comeback.

Even more risky is NBC handing 10:00 to Jay Leno every night of the week. Everyone's waiting to see how that one plays out. FOX is banking on huge positive buzz for Glee to make it a hit, while ABC is hoping FlashForward can pick up where Lost is leaving off when it wraps its run this season.

To help you with it all, TV Squad has put together a handy calendar of all the premieres so you can schedule responsibly in this busy time of TV watching. Some nights have as many as twelve premieres scheduled, so you might need to invest in a few more DVRs to catch all your favorites; Monday's still look grim. Bookmark this page and you'll have it handy to help see you through.

While it was a little odd that the "screener" of Glee we got was the exact same episode that FOX aired after American Idol in the spring, the rest of these shows were truly new. Dramatic offerings included FOX's loose adaptation of the DC Comics property Human Target and Past Life. On the comedy side they offered us screeners for The Cleveland Show, Brothers, Sons of Tucson and the aforementioned Glee.

After enduring the screener for Do Not Disturb last season on FOX, I could only hope that these offerings were at least better than that offense to the senses. And they were. Well, most of them. Unfortunately, it seems that FOX has at least one Do Not Disturb in them every season. Other than that, one of these shows was far better than I expected, another a bit worse, and a third one stands as one of the better pilots I've ever seen.

What should you expect from the new TV shows coming this fall? Read our first impressions of Fox's 'Sons of Tucson' ...

I'll admit that it looks like Tyler Labine is doing his best Jack Black in this clip from the new FOX sitcom Sons of Tucson, but you know what? It actually looks like a cute, funny show. The premise seems a little far-fetched (at least one stretched to season length and not just one episode or one movie), but I'm going to check this out.

So what does this mean for Reaper?

Fox has inked a deal for a bunch of new pilots for next season. They include such titles as The Station, Walorsky, Two Dollar Beer, Sons of Tucson and Human Target.

Among them, Human Target is of the most interest to me. It's an adaptation from a DC Comics character. He's a bodyguard named Christopher Chance that assumes the identity of the person he is supposed to protect. Properly done, this could become a companion show or successor to 24 (particularly since Prison Break is ending).

This isn't even the first television adaption for The Human Target, as Rick Springfield starred in a brief series about the same character in 1990. However, things were different then. The environment is better for such a program now, assuming they take it seriously and don't make it too cartoon-like (although I could argue that 24 is cartoon-like in its presentation).

So which of the new Fox pilots do you find interesting?