Her Monday must-watch (10/3)

Before I get into tonight's must-watch, I want to encourage you all to tune in to The Playboy Club tonight, as it's need of some desperate ratings help. As Perez Hilton and others have speculated, it very well could be the first show canceled this season if things don't turn around fast. I'm enjoying this show and the character stories that are developing, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

So why isn't The Playboy Club my must-watch? Well, I'm afraid it may be too late for this show no matter what I say, but a girl can dream. More importantly, there's one other show that I can't not throw my must-vote watch to because of the importance of it's third episode of the season tonight: Two and a Half Men.

In the first two episodes, everything that was needed to set up this season has been taken care of. Here's the rundown: Bury Charlie Sheen - I mean Harper; introduce Ashton Kutcher's character Walden Schmidt; have Walden move into Charlie's old house; have bikini-clad (presumably) former lover of Charlie stroll in from the beach looking for him only to find out he's dead and hit on Walden instead; meet Walden's wife, who was the reason Walden tried to drown himself and ended up at Charlie's beach house in the first place; have Walden hire housekeeper Berta and ask her to move in; and of course, make life so awkward for Alan at his mother's house that when Walden asks if there's any way he can repay Alan for everything he's done for him, have Alan say "Mind if I stay here a while?" And there you have it.

So far the ratings for a Sheen-less Men have been HUGE. Like Walden Schmidt huge (as we learned in episode one). But episode three is where the setup ends and the real future of Men begins. Will viewers stay interested? I can't wait to find out.

Also, previews show Ashton will be sporting a half-up ponytail do. That image alone is worthy of a pause button moment.

His Tuesday must-watch

Who's that girl? It's Jess! And she's back for night #2 of what is already taking off as a hit new comedy, The New Girl (FOX, 9/8c).

I guess I should have known this show was going to be a gold mine when I saw that Liz Meriweather was the brains of the operation. In 2011, Meriweather wrote the hilarious screenplay for "No Strings Attached", which starred Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman (if you haven't seen this get it on your Netflix queue ASAP). The movie was just one great line after another, and Meriweather is back at it again with The New Girl.

For those of you that missed the pilot, Jess (Zooey Deschanel) is quite a character. She's quirky, fun, sometimes annoying yet very entertaining. She even creates songs about herself. Who does that?

Partner her up with her three male roommates (Nick - the emotional one, Schmidt - the d-bag/wannabe player, Coach - the athletic guy with no idea how to deal with women) and you have quite the combination. The pilot got great ratings last week so here's to hoping for a repeat performance.

Her week in review

Over the last week, we've said goodbye to Charlie Harper on Two and a Half Men, hello to many new fall shows, and most importantly, started the He vs. She on TV blog! So here comes my very first week in review.

Best use of abs: This one's a tie between Ashton Kutcher and that guy on 2 Broke Girls. Unfortunately, Max (Kat Dennings) breaks up with gorgeous ab-guy with those things on the side by the end of the 2 Broke Girls pilot, so I'm afraid we may not see his again. Fortunately, Ashton aka billionaire Waldon Schmidt's midsection almost distracted me from his ridiculous long hair. Almost. Here's hoping he cuts that pronto. Hair can make or break a show. Just ask Felicity.

How long can they possibly keep this going award:  And the winner is, 2 Broke Girls. I actually thought the writing was clever and laughed a lot during this first episode. But in the final scene we learn Max and Caroline (Beth Behrs) plan to save their waitressing tips to open a cupcake business, and their current tally is shown to us in the last shot. We can only assume that each episode will end with an updated tally, and so I ask, how long can they possibly keep this going? Somewhere in TV land the How I Met Your Mother folks respond: "Well, we're on our 7th season, so, maybe longer than you'd think."

Biggest comeback: Congratulations, Up All Night! You went from a so-so premiere to a pretty decent second episode. Will Arnett's Chris Brinkley just may be my new favorite funny guy. His delivery of such notable quotables as "I said teqweela" and "These pants are tight, but they look great" may keep viewers coming back enough to keep this show off the chopping block.

Most pleasant surprise: I have to admit, I didn't even DVR The Playboy Club out of the gate. But I watched it later in the week On Demand, and I'm glad I did. Eddie Cibrian is extremely likable as Nick Dalton (I see the attraction, Leann Rimes). As is Amber Heard as bunny Maureen. Add to that some very interesting main and side story lines, and this show has been bumped up to DVR worthy for me. I hope enough other people give it a chance and stay tuned that it doesn't become an early casualty in the fall lineup.

Most disappointing: It pains me to say this about the fictional love of my life, but most disappointing of the week goes to Damon's (Ian Somerhalder's) hair on The Vampire Diaries. My sweet Damon, why are you letting those gorgeous locks grow and trickle down the back of your neck? Remember, you're a vampire, not a werewolf.

Quote of the week (that also makes up for the "Most disappointing" award above): In response to The Vampire Diaries' Elena (Nina Dobrev) asking why he needs to hear her say that she cares about him, Damon says: "Because when I drag my brother from the edge and deliver him back to you, I want you to remember the things you felt while he was gone." Suh-woon. Can this character be any more amazing? I can't wait for the inevitable round two of this pair's near-deathbed kiss. Sorry, Stefan. You can suck it.

And those are my highlights of the week! Share your thoughts in the comments.