New TV shows that have me intrigued...

It's been a while since a television show has inspired me to crack-like levels of fandom. When I was in middle school, myself and my friend Kristin watched "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" obsessively. Every Tuesday night (you can tell it's important if I remember what day of the week it was, and this was about 15 years ago) she would walk down to my house and we would watch it together. I remember being devastated by the season finale when Buffy has to kill Angel. Anyways, my point is that there haven't been a lot of shows over the years that have excited me very much. The only ones in recent memory are the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and to a degree, "Game of Thrones".

So, there are two new upcoming shows that have my attention and have hopes for. The first is on the CW, and while this network has had nothing appealing to me since it changed from the WB, I am hoping this will change with "Arrow". It is a TV version of the DC comic hero Green Arrow, who is a part-time member of the Justice League. The protagonist Oliver Queen is a super-rich playboy (comics sure do love them, don't they?) who ends up washed up on an island, where he must learn to survive and becomes a real tough guy. He is finally rescued after five years and upon his return to Starling City takes it upon himself to rid the city of corruption. He tries to reconnect with ex-girlfriend Dinah Laurel Lance (who happens to be the Black Canary, I sure hope they follow up on her story), his best friend Tommy, his mother and his drug-addled sister. Dinah apparently is a crusading attorney who wants to fight the same bad guys that he does (am I sensing a pattern here DC?). The one-hour pilot is supposedly briskly-paced and similar in feel to "Batman Begins", only Ollie here doesn't have qualms about killing people as much as Mr. Wayne does. "Arrow" comes to the CW in fall of this year.

The second show, called "Revolution",  is a post-apocalyptic show from J.J. Abrams and one of Supernatural's guys (haven't seen it, but heard many good things about the show).  For whatever reason, electricity stops working all over the world. We come in fifteen years later, where survivors are living in smaller communities using 19th century technology. All is not well however, a group of baddies has formed a militia and wants to take control. There is a lot of fighting of rifles, crossbows and swords - LOTS of swords. There are villains who channel the whimsical menace of Whedon's baddies, and another guy who wants to be Han Solo. Sine it is an Abrams' show, there is bound to be a lot of mystery. "Revolution" hits NBC in the fall.