Thursday nights have been our evenings for watching NBC for a while now. FRIENDS & WILL AND GRACE are among our favorite sitcoms, while ER is a must see for Donna. She hooked me on the series when we began dating.

Despite finding the networks decision to play with the length and starting time for all of their shows last night, we decided that we’d toss in a tape to catch the season premiere of CSI (my personal favorite late-night drama series, followed closely by CSI: MIAMI).

FRIENDS began with Chandler, Monica and Phoebe discovering that not only was Ross in his room with Joey’s current girl, but that Joey and Rachel were finally together in her room. Naturally, zany high jinks ensued. The show is just plain fun and you really can’t think things through seriously, but rather go with the flow. As with ER, I never watched FRIENDS until Donna and I started dating, but I quickly discovered that it is very enjoyable and a no-brainer. What more can you really expect or want from network fare?

WILL & GRACE starts off within a few hours of the last season closer, with Jack & Will discovering that they have just spent the night together. Since neither has any memory of what happened they assume the worst. Poor Grace, meanwhile discovers a letter meant for her husband and also assumes the worst. This show really does push the limit and doesn’t expect the audience to take anything seriously. Even edited it’s not hard to spot some scenes where the cast members themselves appear ready to start laughing. Wonderful writing and a great cast of natural comedians.

Since NBC was playing games with the starting time of ER (reportedly starting it at least a minute earlier than its advertised 10:00pm), we decided to just keep the TV on NBC and watch COUPLING. The show has got tremendous PR and the recent announcement that several mid-western stations refused to carry the program, certainly pushed the curiosity button for me. I mean, I knew going in that the show was basically a clone of the British hit, which in turn was a copy of FRIENDS with even more innuendo. What I quickly found was that it was not funny, plus saddled with a laugh track which began during the opening when characters (we did not even know) were making comments (we didn’t understand the meaning of) only to discover that we had been mislead as to whom the references were directed anyway. Boy, tears were just streaming down my face as I clutched my sides in laughter!

You certainly can’t go wrong with condom jokes, lesbian references and couples making out in public restrooms. The Emmy judges will have no problem voting next year!

Needless to say, after about ten minutes of this I switched over to the Game Show Network and caught the genuinely amusing MATCH GAME PM. In my book, the best bet for 9:30pm viewing when nothing of note is on the other networks. Just watching Charles Nelson Reilly and Richard Dawson cutting it up compensates for the sometimes lame contestants and other ‘network personalities’ that fill the remaining seats each night.

Finally, I switched back a minute or two early and we were able to catch the opening of ER. Of course, the promos had been a bit misleading; hinting as they did that someone from the cast was involved in a rather graphic automobile accident at the shows beginning. On the other hand, we learned the news that one of our favorite cast members had been killed off-camera. Most of the cast returned this time around and a new member added (Parminder Nagra as Neela Rasgotra). This episode is proof that the show has not lost its edge and why it continues to be a strong ratings grabber for the network. Even though the show is not getting the Emmy nominations it once did it is still one of the better dramas on the air. Carter (Noah Wyle) continues to be the main reason to tune in each week; his performance is always worth watching and is sometimes surprising in showing how good an actor he is. Sadly, I have never warmed to Abby (Maura Tierney) who has to be THE most annoying and whiny character ever created for a non-sitcom. As much as you are supposed to hate Dr. Romano, at least you can sometimes see and understand why he is the way he is, certainly the loss of his arm has only increased his anger. However, even with all that it’s Abby whom I’d love to see fall victim to a fatal accident. I can’t understand how both Luka and Carter could have any feelings whatsoever for such an ungrateful and self-absorbed little bitch.

Next week should prove very interesting as Carter goes back to Africa to discover Luka’s fate. Looks to be another great season for a great show.