Image Credit: Justin Lubin/NBCWatching TV this week is like participating in the opening scene of The Walking Dead — you’re an aimless zombies shuffling around on abandoned city streets, ready to lunge at a tasty rerun of The Barefoot Contessa at any moment. But lo! The 2011 midseason TV cometh. Hark! A new crop of shameless teenagers think they can sing. Paula Abdul will presumably live to dance. Oh, there will be so much new TV in January. And bitter cold, and depression, and fat. But focus on the TV! So much TV. (Check out our lists of start dates for the broadcast networks and the cable networks.)
What midseason TV are you dying to see right now? My top five:
5. TV Land’s Retired at 35, starring Jessica Walter as a hopefully Lucille Bluth-esque mom
4. NBC’s David E. Kelley/Kathy Bates legal drama, Harry’s Law
3. Survivor: Redemption Island, because Dalton Ross insists it’s going to be great and I know I’ll constantly be messing up and calling it Temptation Island.
2. Parks and Recreation. Finally.
1. American Idol — looking forward to the challenge of telling J. Lo and S. Ty apart!
What are yours? Also, what would you realistically pay to watch your No. 1 choice on-demand RIGHT NOW? I had myself convinced I’d blow $50 to see the Idol premiere because it’s going to be such a mindf—, but when I really thought about it and clicked over to Paypal, I realized it was probably more like $4.99, and it would probably have to include some sort of special “Steven Tyler Lip Dub” package, so…no. The real answer is zero dollars. Oh well!
Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett
Over the weekend I had nightmares about being a contestant on ABC’s Wipeout. They were at first terrifying but ultimately harmless because I ended up using my powerful sense of reason (which clearly does not translate to daylight hours) to decide to just jump into the water immediately. Think about it. The contestants clearly aren’t required to “complete” in any of the tasks in the early rounds. The subtitles to your right don’t lie. It doesn’t hurt when you fall into a refreshing pit of muddy water. It would definitely hurt to get punched in the face by a reverse Whack-A-Mole board or have your spine tapped by a big fat ball that looks like a stranger’s gut swathed in a tight red tee. Why even try? You know what will happen if you try. 
