Best New TV Dramas of 2007

When the unofficial pilot of Private Practice aired during a special two-hour episode of Grey's Anatomy, many fans were disappointed and quite skeptical that this new series would survive. After some tweeking, series creator Shonda Rhimes seems to have found the right formula to keep us entertained week after week.

The great thing about watching TV shows on FX is that since it's cable, pretty much anything goes since the network allows TPTB more creative license than the major networks. The Riches is a provocative new drama about a family of travelers (gypsies) who assume the identities of an extraordinarily wealthy family they accidentally kill. The husband (played by Eddie Izzard) must pretend to be a functioning attorney, the wife (Minnie Driver) is an ex-con with a bit of a drug problem and the kids have a whole set of problems that help make up this hilarious dysfunctional family unit.

Everyone loves a good time traveling story, but NBC's Journeyman kicks it up a notch by adding an intense family situation to the mix, giving this fantastic drama a more realistic feel. As Reed Diamond (Jack Vasser) says, "It's a time traveling show for people who don't believe in time travel."

In all the doom and gloom many dramas play out over the course of a season comes a show about doom and gloom. When Sam learns on his 21st birthday that his parents sold his soul to the devil before he was born, he must become a bounty hunter for the big guy. This hilarious dramedy brings more laughs than serious drama, and we just can't get enough of it each week!

This series has become one of my guiltiest pleasures this season and offers no moral values -- just pure, television escapism at its best. When Nick George's father dies, he takes over the job of playing family lawyer and handler of the extraordinarily wealthy Darling family. With barely a moment of time to spend with his own family, Nick is thrust into a world of greed, power and all that entails while trying to track down the person responsible for his father's suspicious death.

What would you do if one day you discovered that all of the government secrets had been downloaded into your brain? Such is the life for the geeky, lovable, minimum wage earning, nerd herder Chuck Bartowski. The CIA and FBI must protect him, while relying on Chuck to relay critical information and terrorists are after him to gain access to his vast library of government secrets. Will Chuck ever be normal again? Than again, was he ever normal to begin with?

It's colorful, it's charming and it's unlike anything we've ever seen on television -- this Dr. Seuss-like dramedy deals with life and death....well, mostly death, but in a dark humor sort of way. From the time he was a little boy, Ned has been able to touch things and bring them back to life, but unless he touches them within 60 seconds, someone in close proximity will die. When he learns his childhood sweetheart Chuck has died, he brings her back to life and the two fall in love, but can never touch each other again or risk her dying forever. Will the pie maker and the love of his life live happily ever after?