With nearly 15 million viewers, Samantha Who? marks a turning point, or rather a returning point, in today's TV trends.

The new 30-minute comedy is the only kind of its class ranked consistently in Nielsen's Top weekly shows, even with a million-viewer drop off over the last few weeks.

Starring Married...With Children's Christina Applegate, Samantha Who? chronicals the life of a woman with retrograde amnesia as she slowly unveils the mysteries of her past.

The comedy also stars Designing Women's Jean Smart (a smart move by ABC) as Samantha's mother, who is set on exploiting her dauther's condition to be selected for Extreme Home Makeover, another ABC program. Gotta love the interadvertisement!

People today are quick to say Americans have short attention spans and won't dedicate themselves for long periods of time, but today's TV trends suggest otherwise. We have become so invested in story lines, networks have even canned the once-popular opening theme songs (stay tuned for the best of TV themes blog): Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy are two examples of shows that have already dropped their intros.

A refreshing break from these monotonous hour-long, dramatic-comedy trends, Samantha Who? is short and light and doesn't take itself too seriously.

Even while the story line isn't more complicated than a couple seasons, for now, at least, it's gold. On October 30, ABC picked up the show for the full season.

Samantha Who? airs Mondays on ABC (Sunflower Broadband ch. 9).

Well into the fall schedule, here are TV's new seasons on my five-star scale. Supplemental information also provided by TiVo and TV.com on how they're fairing with the general TV-watching population.

Cane: *** -- Ranked 99th most watched show on TV today but with a lowly 6.8 TV.com user-voted rating.
> A good addition, if a bit esoteric. A pinch of melodrama and a dash of unbelievability.

Pushing Daisies: **** -- 7th highest ranked show (of all time) -- 62nd most watched show -- 9.3 TV.com rating.
> Quirky, yet hip. Tim Burton-macabre-style with artistic cinematography and narration.

Bionic Woman: *** -- 17th most TiVo'd -- 42nd most watched show -- 8.3 TV.com rating.
> It's good, but not that good. A little dry with bad acting -- watch only if you need some gratuitous violence.

Private Practice: **** -- 11th most TiVo'd show -- 80th most watched show -- 8.7 TV.com rating.
> Slower paced than its TV-parent, Grey's Anatomy, but surprisingly quite good, especially for a slightly older audience.

Dirty Sexy Money: * -- 376th most watched show (not kidding) -- 8.9 TV.com rating.
> Only ranked so high because no one watches it -- it's simply already been done.

Moonlight: ** --58th most watched show -- 8.3 TV.com rating.
> Film noir meets vampires -- a little predictable (read: boring), but not half bad.

America's Psychic Challenge: ***** Full Five! -- abysmal 6.1 TV.com rating (it's bad, but OH so good!)
> Debuted last week as the BEST-BAD reality show on TV. In the premiere, the first group of four psychics had to find a living man in an abandoned mental institution, give a reading of a hidden celebrity, and describe the events of an unsolved murder. As the show progressed, the first four contestants (of sixteen) were rated and two were given the psychic boot, begging the question, why would audition if you knew you weren't going to win?

Tune in this Friday to see two more "psychics" kicked off. Playing Fridays 9 p.m. on Lifetime (Sunflower Broadband ch. 2).

ABC produces yet another gay character this week on Desperate Housewives ... make that two. The newest hysteria to Wisteria? Bob and Lee (played by Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm, respectively) The lucky gay couple, along with their pet-pal Rafael, are parked next to Susan -- who incidently steals their dog in an attempt to win their affection. Confused? So is Susan.

The addition makes ABC the standout in GLBT representation, according to an earlier GLAAD study showing that there are 16 gay of 710 regular characters on the six major networks today: ABC with 15 and one on NBC. With the addition, 17 are now hosted by ABC with 3 on Desperate Housewives alone: Andrew Van de Camp, Bob, and Lee.

> This awkward-interaction scene comes when Susan introduces herself to the new neighbors:

Susan: I'm Susan I live next door.
Bob: Oh hi, I'm Lee's partner, Bob.
Susan: Oh! You're partners -- what kind of business? You know, whatever it is, just don't let the neighborhood association know you work out of your house. They're so not cool.
Bob: Actually, we're life partners.
Susan: oh...Oh! (pause) OH!! That's super! Haha, yeah, I've seen a lot of cable so I "GET" it ... you're just great!
Lee: Uh, thank you? I hope we can live up to your stereotype.

> Yesterday, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the host pleaded with the dog rescue group, "Mutts and Moms" to return a dog they seized. According to the Associated Press, DeGeneres claimed the dog did not mesh well with her cats, so she gave it to her hair-stylist, in what Mutts and Moms called a breach of her adoption contract; however, Ellen's publicist said what she did was in the best nature of the animal -- a Brussels Griffon terrier mix named Iggy.

Because of the statement on her show, the organization, especially Marina Batkis, received "...voicemail and email threats of death and arson." Batkis did not believe the family was well-suited to own a dog for reasons not specified.

"It's very upsetting to hear that someone is getting those kind of calls," DeGeneres' publicist Kelly Bush said. "Ellen just wants the dog reunited with the family."

While it is just a dog, it's validating to see so much effort poured forth to protect the rights and well-being of an animal. My only hope is that that is the true nature of this group's doggy-dogma.

Also, click here to watch the video of Ellen pleading on her show yesterday.

Liz Taylor can pull off convincing impersonations! This is George Dub-ya's view of gay marriage -- complete with Bushman primal grunting. (Actually, it's just about her love life -- but I thought that was depressing enough.)

> In unusual TV news this week, Democratic Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, D-Ill., said in an on-air interview that he would no longer wear the American Flag lapel-pin that has become so politician-popular post 9-11. He says the pin itself has become a substitute for true patriotism and he'd rather show his loyalty by reforming the country than sporting cheap-collar-clap-trap. An admirable message -- but strangely, super-risky.

"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism," he said.

Apparently what Barack doesn't know is what hurts him: No, the American people don't think paltry-pins promote patriotism -- it's those magnetic yellow car-ribbons (bought from the "local" Wal-Mart) that really stand as a true American testimony.

Anyone feeling unease about Senator Obama's decision can rest-assured: Senator Clinton's pin is parked prominently on her pink suit.