I do not think that word means what you think it means....

Funny, but this particular movie quote covers two of the new shows I saw this week.

First up, last night after CSI I caught the premiere of CBS' Criminal Minds starring, among others, Shemar Moore, Thomas Gibson, and Mandy Pantinkin (thus the Princess Bride quote). Patinkin's character is a FBI profiler who long ago "retired" to teaching at the academy and comes back out into the field to lead a team of profilers as they chase psychopaths and serial killers across the country. I had two impressions, first, that the pilot episode was all about Silence of the Lambs. There were a number of references to the film, both visual and plot-wise. Second, the show works hard to move away from those references. The episode started slow, but gained momentum as the hour went on, and I think I'll watch it again on Wednesday night at its regular time.

Next up, NBC's Inconceivable (only in this case it means EXACTLY what you think it means). I wasn't planning on watching this show. Between my loathing of any kind of baby show, and my preconceived notion that it was going to be sappy and dumb, I was rather planning on avoiding it and watching Numbers instead. However, I caught it before Numbers started and it hooked me. The show is a lot more like ER was at the beginning of its run than I expected. Of course Ming-Na as one of the stars doesn't hurt. The show focuses on the doctors and staff of a fertility clinic as they help their patients (and in some cases themselves) along the road to parenthood. Like ER, it was engaging and interesting, and in some cases altogether unexpected. For example, one of the storylines of this episode was what happens after a surrogate gave birth to her own baby, rather than the baby she was supposed to be carrying for an infertile couple. Not bad for a Friday night show. I'll probably try to see it next week.

The third new show I saw was E-ring, NBC's pentagon drama starring Benjamin Bratt and Dennis Hopper. Not bad. Good suspense, although not quite a Tom Clancy novel. I'm sure military types will freak out about how unrealistic it is, but hell, I liked it, for what it's worth, as did DH, so we'll probably try to catch this one again.

Two shows I saw that I don't care if I see again: Bones (ruin a good book, why don'tcha?) and Martha's Apprentice (better than the Donald's, but eh. It's the Apprentice)