Guest Author - Amy Ralston Young

Looking for new episodes of your favorite shows? Get them while you can. With the strike still raging on, new episodes are becoming as elusive as the Abominable Snowman.

Here are the few shows that have managed to save new episodes for the New Year.

“According to Jim” ABC, Tuesdays, 9 p.m. EST

After a May announcement that the show would not be renewed, ABC made a change in the game plan only 6 weeks later. The show was picked up for 18 more episodes, which began airing last week on the alphabet network.

I’m sure ABC is happy to have something new during the strike – even if it is a show on its last leg.

“According to Jim” is a show based on the family life of self-employed Jim (Jim Belushi), an abrasive yet lovable father of three. He tends to be a little lazy and always looks for the shortcuts. His wife is the beautiful and sensible Cheryl (Courtney Thorne Smith). She keeps Jim in check and raises their three adorable children – Ruby, Gracie, and Kyle.

Cheryl’s brother Andy (Larry Joe Campbell) is Jim’s best friend and partner in crime, while her sister Dana (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is Jim’s biggest foe.

The show has its fair share of unforced laughs, but there is also an increasing amount of sexual content as the seasons go on.

In this week’s episode, Cheryl decides to take extra precautions to ensure her family’s safety, but they seem to have the opposite effect on Jim.


“Carpoolers” ABC, Tuesdays, 9:30 p.m. EST
After a month-long break, ABC’s freshman sitcom makes a return to television – thankfully without its old lead-in “Cavemen.”

“Carpoolers” brings together four very different men who all happen to work in the same office complex and share a ride to work every day. The cast is full of potential and as the shows went on, the series gained momentum. Being one of a handful of shows with new episodes might also give this silly comedy a boost.

The carpoolers are Laird (Jerry O’Connell) – a recently divorced dentist whose wife left him with barely more than an ab-lounger and an over-active sex drive. Next is his best friend Gracen (Fred Goss), a marriage counselor who is worried his wife makes more money than he does. Aubrey (Jerry Minor) is not only the housewife, but also the breadwinner in his home, as his wife likes to lounge around and bark out orders and nothing else. The last of the quartet is Dougie (Tim Peper). Dougie is a newly married, young father. He is a little naive, but that’s just part of his charm.

In this week’s show, Laird develops a crush on a sexual harassment workshop leader and feigns sexual harassment so he can spend more time with her. Am I the only one who sees the problem with this?


“My Name is Earl” NBC, Thursdays, 8 p.m. EST

By far one of the funniest shows on television, “Earl” never disappoints. New episodes of this show make life a little more bearable.

This fresh comedy debuted in September 2005, and doesn’t show any signs of stopping.

Earl Hickey (Jason Lee) is a petty crook who after winning $100,000 in the lottery is hit by a car and while in the hospital develops a belief in karma. He sets out to right all of his past wrongs, armed with a list and his sidekick brother Randy (Ethan Suplee). He receives occasional encouragement from Crabman (Eddie Steeples), and tongue-lashings from his ex-wife Joy (Jaime Pressly) who is now married to Crabman. (Just a side note, Joy is by far my favorite character.)

In this week’s show, Earl finds that getting out of prison isn’t as great as he thought it would be. Turns out, he has no job, no place to live, and absolutely no money. He decides that this whole karma thing isn’t as great as he thought and decides to turn back to the only life he’s ever known – that of petty crime. As Randy plans an intervention, karma (Alyssa Milano) comes looking for Earl.


“30 Rock” NBC, Thursdays, 8:30 p.m. EST

The brainchild of “Saturday Night Live” writer and alum Tina Fey also saved new episodes for the new season.

Fey stars as Liz Lemon, head writer for “TGS with Tracy Jordan,” a fictional sketch comedy show in New York. Liz is incredibly successful at writing great material and manages to keep the show moving along each week, averting disaster after disaster. What she is not good at is dating – or having any manner of a social life for that matter.

Often her biggest problems come from her boss’s, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), attempts to commercialize the show. The show’s star Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) isn’t exactly a help to Liz either. Tracy is pretty much insane and the staff works hard to keep him in control – or at least appearing to be normal. Liz’s best friend Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) is the show’s female lead. She’s also the real shows dumb blonde.

In this week’s episode, Jack is trying to land a big deal with a German network and keep his long-distance romance alive. Neither of which seem possible. Liz finally decides to invest in real estate, and tries to avert another disaster on set as Kenneth becomes addicted to caffeinated coffee.