EMMY AWARDS SPECIAL...

Well, we knew THE 60TH ANNUAL EMMY AWARDS was an awards show going in, so we can hardly be surprised that it dragged shamefully. The telecast was buoyed by more deserving winners than usual (see below) but the lack of a strong host (five weaklings don't equal one Conan O'Brien) meant there was no energy driving events forward.

I want to start off with last night’s standout show: the fourth-season premiere of SUPERNATURAL. Last season ended with Dean getting dragged down to hell, and last night he awoke in his coffin and clawed his way out of his own grave. That certainly was special.

The biggest reveal of 90210 was the confirmation that Dylan is Kelly's baby-daddy. Guess Luke Perry now has a pretty strong negotiating position if he ever changes his mind (he's reportedly not interested in reprising Dylan) and decides to pop by and play father to little Sammy.

How many of you are waiting for a member of the royal family to sweep you off your feet? It looked like GOSSIP GIRL's Blair was going to get that chance, but all was not right in romance department. It appeared that Marcus was more interested in taking on the mantle of lord of the manor than assuming the position with his girlfriend — and we already know Blair is not interested in being "queen of her castle."

To be blunt, this week's installment of TRUE BLOOD kinda sucked (pun intended). Jason did not kill Maudette, but I really don't care who did because I never knew who Maudette was, beyond being a "fang-banger." Bill saved Sookie from her life-threatening injuries by allowing her to drink his blood (or "V juice"), but when she awoke he was licking blood from her head wound.

It's only the second episode and 90210 is already showing signs of pandering to its young-adult demo: Parents Harry and Debbie insisted on declaring Friday night Family Night — and worse, they expected the kids to enjoy it! Good/bad parenting was the theme of the episode: Dixon and Annie did not appreciate their intensely involved parents; Silver was hiding out from her drunken mother and envied the Wilson family; Naomi was horrified to discover that her mother knows her husband has been carrying on an affair but doesn't want to sacrifice her lifestyle to divorce him.

"Dan and the mother are in a book club? Now there's a novel twist." — Gossip Girl

This was a funny episode of GOSSIP GIRL, thanks to lines like the above, and the show's willingness to take Blair down a peg or two. While she went to great lengths in her quest to become the "consort" to Lord Marcus, she remained unwilling (or unable) to surrender in her battle with Chuck. So fans got to see obsequious Blair and Queen B Blair.

I am willing to admit that a huge part of my problem with TRUE BLOOD is that, just like heroine Sookie, I cannot get past the lead vampire being named "Bill." Now, I have nothing against guys named Bill, it's just not a very vampirish name (which could actually be a compliment, depending on your disposition toward undead blood-suckers)."William" would be much more suitable, I believe.

90210, the self-described most-anticipated premiere of the fall, proved to be meandering and somewhat diverting if ultimately pointless. After it was over I tried to recall what it was about and failed, so I settled for (sorta) remembering what happened: Some pretty people moved from the Midwest to Beverly Hills, where they met some other pretty people, and some stuff happened at a high school where everyone was too old to actually be a student. No, wait — that was BEVERLY HILLS, 90210. Oh, yeah...it was also 90210, so we're cool.

Thanks to a lot of excellent series on cable, it did not feel like a long summer at all. In fact, I was genuinely shocked to realize it is now September — and time for new fall series already!