School is back, the leaves are turning, and there’s yet another ceaseless cavalcade of 9/11 documentaries on History Channel. Which can only mean one thing: TV ratings season is back, baby! Of course, the impressive quality of the first run original series on many networks -- especially our friends in premium cable -- made the long, lonely summer eminently more bearable this year than in the days of yore, but nevertheless, it is always a delight to get back to our regularly scheduled programming, isn’t it?

And so, here, a look at the Geek Speak-friendly shows that have, or are soon to, hit the airwaves. Some, knowingly entering their final seasons; some, kicking off anew, and others, like the rest of us, just waiting to see what the year will bring.

For your consideration:

A GIFTED MAN
Premiered Friday, September 23, 2011
Season 1
CBS

Driven and successful neurosurgeon Michael Holt (Patrick Wilson) runs into ex-wife Anna (Jennifer Ehle) on the street and the two have a pleasant evening catching up on the past ten years of their lives. The next day, he calls her… only to find out that she died two weeks earlier. Anna, also a doctor, had been director of a free clinic in a needy sector of New York City, and from beyond the grave she appears to Michael, apparently to show him the error of his selfish ways. Also featuring Julie Benz as Michael’s fanciful sister, and promising a series of patients who need Michael’s specialized care, it’s kind of  Christmas Carol meets House, and with an only slightly less arrogant protagonist.

Chances of Renewal: CBS doesn’t mind some non-threatening ghostly action, and with the end of Medium last season, this may fill that void.

ARCHER
Returned Thursday, September 15, 2011
Season 3
F/X

Blink and you’ll miss this limited-engagement return of cartoon über-spy Sterling Archer and his assorted uncouth cohorts in a special three-episode “mini-arc” already in progress, with the remainder of Season 3 to air in 2012. The “Heart of Archness” story sees Archer, bereft after his new bride was killed (hey, didn’t that happen to James Bond? What are the odds?), seeking solitude on a desert island, while the folks at ISS crack wise and occasionally attempt to rid the world of evil. So, pretty much business as usual, then.

Chances of Renewal: Archer has been one of F/X’s biggest hits, well, ever, and as long as this weird scheduling doesn’t piss off diehard fans, a Season 4 is certainly not out of the realms of possibility.

BEING ERICA
Returns Monday, September 26, 2011
Season 4 (Season 3 on SOAPNet)
CBC/SOAPNet

At the end of Season 3 (sorry, SOAPNet viewers, but you are SO behind the times), our captivating, time-traveling friend Erica (Erin Karpluk) had graduated from her “therapy” -- which involved magically visiting critical points in her own past, and thereby learning valuable lessons about her present attitudes and issues -- and had been recruited as a therapist herself. With her first patient awaiting her, and her rocky relationship with fellow time-traveler, the very belligerent, very Irish Adam (Adam Fergus) seeming to have finally achieved at least a mild level of interest, what will this season bring for our angst-ridden but surpassingly charming -- and charmed -- heroine? One hope: bring back nascent rock star Kai (Sebastian Pigott), and more of his songs of awesomeness! That is all we ask.

Chances of Renewal: CBC has already announced that Season 4 will be the show’s final season.

CHUCK
Returns Friday, October 21, 2011
Season 5
NBC

After a lackluster season that squandered its best chance at a truly fascinating villain (Timothy Dalton), bitched incessantly about relationship minutia like whether or not the CIA’s skittish Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) would unpack her clothes at beau Chuck’s (Zachary Levi) house, had way too little Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) shirtless and seriously underplayed the magnificent odd-couple chemistry of hard-core Casey (Adam Baldwin) and geeky comic relief Morgan (Joshua Gomez), Chuck got dedicated viewers excited about a Season 5 with a last minute change-up to the dynamic of the show: Morgan downloaded the combined knowledge of all the intelligence agencies in all the world, along with some other nifty skills, and the Season 3 finale ended with his utterance of some immortal words: “Guys… I know kung-fu.” What this will mean now, of course, a matter of conjecture, but one likes to think that it will take this show back to its roots, putting the untried Intersect (Morgan) in the care of experienced agents (now including Chuck) and foiling the dastardly schemes of some as-yet unnamed criminal enterprise, all the while rocking the romance angle in some way -- though how this is to be accomplished is a mystery. With Chuck and Sarah married, Morgan happily dating Casey’s amiable daughter Alex (Mekenna Melvin), and Casey looking to hook back up with her mom, who’s left? As long as we don’t focus too much on anyone from the Buy More, then we’re probably okay… unless it’s General Beckman (Bonita Freidericy)? ‘Cause, hell no!

Chances of Renewal: This has already been announced as Chuck’s final season, and many would say the show was lucky to even get a Season 4.

DEATH VALLEY
Premiered Monday, August 29, 2011
Season 1
MTV

Okay, so it wasn’t strictly a Fall debut, but MTV makes its own rules, baby (like, purportedly being music television, and yet not playing any, like, music), and this sneaky Reno 911-meets-True Blood spoof, which sees a troupe of engagingly off-putting police officers in California’s San Fernando Valley face off against legions of Universal Movie Monsters (zombies, vampires… even werewolves), all “documented”, COPS-style, for our viewing pleasure, came as a delightful surprise from the network that, over the summer, gave us the fun-but-in-deadly-earnest re-imagined Teen Wolf. Featuring such stand out characters as the uncomfortably over-sharing idiot Captain Dashell (Bryan Callen), the bumbling Officer John John (Texas Battle -- how great a name is “Texas Battle”?) and the secretly kickass newbie Kirsten (Caity Lotz), among others, it’s a funny-clever, not-funny-ha-ha take on the “monsters living among us” trope currently so prevalent in pop culture. Worth a look.

Chances of Renewal: Look, objectively, not great. But on the other hand, it’s MTV! So who can tell?

DEXTER
Returns Sunday, October 2, 2011
Season 6
Showtime

Season 5 of Dexter was largely disappointing in its torturous justifications for our titular serial killer (Michael C. Hall) still remaining uncaught, but made less so by the extraordinary performance of former teen queen Julia Stiles as abused revenge killer Lumen Pierce, and our friendly neighborhood serial killer Dexter’s burgeoning relationship with her -- before she had her fill of the killing and took off at the end of the season, that is. With his wife Rita (Julie Benz) killed by the still-at-large Trinity Killer in Season 4, and Dex’s detective sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) still clueless as to his extra-curricular activities -- not to mention, there are all these kids around – what Season 6 will bring is really anyone’s guess. Well, no, there’ll be blood, obviously. But as for everything else… TV’s most oddly compelling anti-hero awaits.

Chances of Renewal: It’s still getting Emmy nominations -- rare, for Showtime -- and rating pretty well, by cable standards, so unless things take a major turn for the worse, a Season 7 is definitely possible.

FRINGE
Returns Friday, September 23
Entering Season 4
FOX

The end of last season saw Fringe’s biggest twist yet (and that was saying something): series essential and indirect but ultimate cause of all the paranormal evils in their world, Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) was made to have never existed, leaving the two universes to which he owed some allegiance locked in an uneasy alliance, Olivia (Anna Torv) bereft of their newly-minted love and Peter’s already unhinged father, the brilliant Walter (John Noble) hallucinating a mysterious “man” whom he does not recognize but is, of course, his beloved son. Throw in the arrival of our universe’s Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel), yet more mad science and some increasingly cryptic utterances from those deadpan Observer folks, and it’s set to be yet another season of awesome crazy from the folks at Fringe Division. Stay tuned!

Chances of Renewal: Fringe has defied the odds before, and now with a healthy buzz surrounding it, calling its Season 3 it’s best yet, let’s not count a Season 5 out completely…

GLEE
Returned Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Season 3
FOX

After a unbearably shoddy first half of their last season, the kids from McKinley High’s Glee Club came back strong for the latter part of their sophomore outing, which raised hopes for this, their junior year. With summer break over, we’ve returned to Will (Matthew Morrison) and Emma (Jayma Mays) dating; the kids still performing Broadway-worthy production numbers and getting no respect; random new students on the horizon (plus, oh, hello new regular, Darren Criss as Blaine!); former head cheerleader Quinn (Dianna Agron) come over all chain-smoking punk; and the eternally crabby Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) running for congress on an anti-arts platform. Why are we still watching this show again? Oh, yeah. The Broadway-worthy production numbers. P.S. Alas, poor Sam (Chord Overstreet), we hardly knew ye…

Chances of Renewal: Incredibly likely. The iTunes sales alone…

GRIMM
Premieres Friday, October 21, 2011
Season 1
NBC

Called a fantasy/mystery/crime drama by its network (wow, it’s a triple threat! Though of what, we can’t be sure), this series purports to revolve around a Portland, Oregon police detective who discovers he is the descendant of a long line of “Grimms”, hunters dedicated to hunting down and killing the manifestations of fairy tales… so, basically, he’s Lord Farquaad. It is to be hoped he draws the line at torturing The Gingerbread Man.

Chances of Renewal: This stars no one you’ve ever really heard of (though you may recognize some faces) and sounds… kinda dumb. Which means it could well be amazing. This one really could go either way.

NIKITA
Returns Friday, September 23, 2011
Season 2
CW

Season 1 ended with Nikita (Maggie Q) and Michael (Shane West) reunited and on the run, while Nikita’s former informer – and, we thought, friend – Alex (Lynsay Fonseca) had come over all Inigo Montoya (“you killed my father, prepare to die”) and had returned to the uncertain arms of a possibly kinder, gentler Division, now under the velvet-gloved control of the icily charming Amanda (Melinda Clarke). What this unexpected sophomore season will bring, given the changing dynamics and the total restructuring of our good-guy-bad-guy barometer -- plus, Birkhoff (Aaron Sanford) doesn’t live at home anymore -- can hardly be predicted, but the smart money is on yet more Nikita/Michael angst, a new love interest for Alex, some quality screen time spent with Division top op Owen (Devon Sawa) and, with any luck, a very dead Percy (Xander Berkeley).

Chances of Renewal: Sketchy.

ONCE UPON A TIME
Premieres Sunday, October 23, 2011
Season 1
ABC

ABC’s calling this one a “fantasy/drama” (ooh, only a double threat! Point to you, NBC!), and is taking pains to point out that it is nothing like rival network’s also-fairy-tale-related Grimm, no, not one little bit. Instead, this story has to do with one Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) a bail bonds collector (?) who finds herself in the small town of Storybrooke, Maine and discovers that it is, in fact, the real world home of fairy tale characters who have no memory of their iconic existences in assorted Disney movies. (Emma’s father, for example? Prince Charming. Obviously.) Oh, no, it’s nothing like Grimm AT ALL.

Chances of Renewal: Could well depend on how well the not-at-all-similar Grimm does. Although, that Jennifer Morrison sure is pretty, and she is joined here by Ginnifer Goodwin, who is also pretty. This one’s too close to call.

SANCTUARY
Returns Friday, October 7, 2011
Season 4
Syfy

The explosive Season 3 finale of this addictive web-series-come-good saw Dr. Helen Magnus (Helen Tapping) returning home to England… in 1899, following a fugitive of dubious character who happened to have had the wherewithal to build a time machine. Meanwhile, legions of Abnormals have invaded Hollow Earth under the direction of the ambitious Thelo (played by professional wrestler, Edge), and the rest of the Sanctuary team are… well, doing something important, no doubt. So, with two cliffhangers awaiting resolution, along with the ongoing romantic tension between Magnus and her immortal beau, Druitt (Christopher Heyerdahl) -- AKA, Jack the Ripper – and yet more wackiness at Abnormal HQ to come, there has possibly never been a better time to check in to the Sanctuary. ‘Cause, hey, look! Henry Foss (Ryan Robbins) is there!

Chances of Renewal: If Syfy were a living entity, and that entity had a girlfriend, it would probably be Amanda Tapping. As long as she’s still in, this show isn’t going anywhere.

SUPERNATURAL
Returned Friday, September 23, 2011
Season 7
CW

When Season 6 wrapped up its tumultuous adventures in quip-filled blasphemy, everyone’s favorite angel, Castiel (Misha Collins) had gone very, very Dark Side, had claimed for himself the mantle of God, and was demanding that his one-time best of best buds, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), and their mentor Bobby (Jim Beaver) bow down to him in worship. Season 7 commences with the boys prepared to do just that -- hey, they haven’t managed to stay semi-alive this long without knowing when to fold ‘em -- when Cas declares their devotions empty, decides not to kill them, and then goes on a sinner-smiting rampage, starting with hypocritical evangelists who hate on gay people. However, it appears that the power of all the souls in Purgatory (the souls who gave him the godlike abilities in the first place) are too strong for his mere celestial being, and suddenly, oooh! It turns out Cas is dead and the soul of God’s early mistakes, like the Leviathan, is now in charge… “This is going to be fun,” he/it crowed as episode 07.01 came to a close, and you know what? He’s probably right. (For the most part, anyway…)

Chances of Renewal: Not assured but not ridiculous. This show has defied the odds before, and those boys do still look terrific in denim.

TERRA NOVA
Premieres Monday, September 26, 2011
Season 1
FOX

Environmental catastrophe about a hundred and fifty years hence leads scientists to develop a time machine, opening up a doorway to the Earth of 85 million years ago. We get to join the tenth group of settlers to evacuate into the past… and this one just happens to land amidst a whole group of… wait for it… hungry dinosaurs! Um... okay then.

Chances of Renewal: It sounds ridiculous, like Land of the Lost or something (and the trailers show that the effects aren’t far from that level, either). Then again, the towering, chiseled Jason O'Mara stars, and he could probably be convincing taking on a T-Rex or two, so… still, no. Sorry, but it’ll be lucky to last the season.

THE SECRET CIRCLE
Premiered Thursday, September 15, 2011
Season 1
CW

Cassie (Britt Robertson) is blonde, beautiful and, unbeknownst to her, heir to incredible witchy powers. The fiery death of her unfortunate mother leads her to take up residence in the small town of Chance Harbor, Washington, where she soon learns that she is the long-awaited seventh member of a magical conclave, to whom her presence gives real power. There is, of course, a boy -- played by Sarah Connor’s Thomas Dekker -- with whom she has an immediate connection, but who happens to be dating the unofficial leader of the pseudo-coven. There’s the expected bad girl, who happens to be the daughter of the high school principal (played by the ever-stunning Natasha Henstridge). And there is the handsome, smooth-talking villain: Queer as Folk’s beauteous Gale Harold, in a shockingly sinister turn. So far, it’s… not unwatchable.

Chances of Renewal: Considering the venerable CW has already enjoyed two seasons of success with yet another L. J. Smith-based series, The Vampire Diaries -- of which it has just embarked on a third -- plus the inherent appeal of Robertson, Dekker, Henstridge and Harold, it would take a catastrophe of truly massive proportions for this one to fail.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
Returned Thursday, September 15, 2011
Season 3
CW

At the end of Season 2, the many and varied inter-species romantic relationships on this show were in a state of turmoil. Also, people died and there were dirty deeds afoot, carried out by even dirtier villains… but mostly, this show is about the romantic relationships thing, and Season 3 looks very much like carrying on that tradition. With snarky vampire Damon (Ian Somerhalder) kind of a good guy now, his earnest vampire brother Stefan (Paul Wesley) gone aggressively Dark Side, more forbidden love nonsense between abnormally pretty people and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) all Sixth Sensing his exes, events in the aptly-named Mystic Falls continue to be both surreal and really compelling. If you like that sort of thing.

Chances of Renewal: Not bad at all, one would think, although the fact that heroine Elena (Nina Dobrev) turned officially eighteen on the show and might have to -- at some point -- actually graduate from high school someday might make things problematic.

THE WALKING DEAD
Returns Sunday, October 16, 2011
Season 2
AMC

This adaptation of the cult-favorite comic came out of almost nowhere to be one of the most highly-praised genre offerings of the past year. In a somewhat perplexing final installment of its first season (a countdown clock? Really?), our plucky group of zombiepocalypse survivors were last seen running from what had, up till this point, been their last, best hope for a cure: the CDC. What is next for these hapless souls is anyone’s guess, except that -- obviously -- the incomprehensibly popular racist redneck Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker) will return, and probably more people will get chewed on by the undead.

Chances of Renewal: The original six-episode season was a runaway hit for AMC, as premium cable channel ratings go; it would take a lot of suck for them lose this kind of love.

-- Rachel Hyland