My Life as Liz

Jane by Design keeps busy balancing fashion job and school. But Jane is just a teenager! Jane Quimby (Erica Dasher from The Lake, Vicariously) is a high school student yet managed to accidently get herself a job with responsibilities as an assistant to a fashion designer, Gray Chandler Murray (Andie MacDowell of At Risk, The Front). Now it's up to Jane to keep up at school and hold down her job. Her parents are gone and her big brother, Ben can't seem to keep a job for long so Jane tries her best to help out with the finances. Ben Quimby (David Clayton Rogers from Sublime, Dark Ride) finally lands a job as athletic assistant in Jane's school. He is Jane's guardian since their father died and mother left. Jane also has a longtime crush on Nick Fadden but her main goal is keep her grades up and maintain her busy job. That's a lot of responsibility on a young girls shoulders! Original show title was What Would Jane Do.

The fact that some time travel is involved in the show, Being Erica, makes it necessary to employ at least one other actress to play the part of Erica Strange. She is sometimes seen as a twelve year old girl and that would be difficult for actress Erin Karpluk to accomplish. Erica is thirty two, Jewish, and still single. Although well educated she appears to be an underachiever who is in therapy and has been for years. Erica's therapist, Dr. Tom Wexlar (portrayed by Michael Riley) works with her though often irritating her with mixed quotations that don't really help her. Erica's friends include Julianne (played by Reagan Pasternak) editor at the publishing company where Erica is most currently employed. The two eventually form a publishing company as co-owners and partners. Forth grade teacher and best friend, Ethan Wakefield, (played by Tyron Leitso) have been close since college. When he moves next door to Erica they become more than just best friends, resulting in his divorce, and complicating the friendship. Gary Strange (John Boylan) is Erica's father, now a rabbi, but formerly a marijuana using hippie. Mom Barbara (Kathleen Laskey) who adds depth and a serious note to the program when she develops breast cancer.

So does that make this a reality show or a TV sitcom with a personal touch? Louis C.K. is well known in comedy circles as an award winning comedian, writer, and producer and that's what he does on his own self titled show, Louie. The show has been named on numerous top ten television show lists for 2010 and garnered Louis C.K. a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series on the Primetime Emmy Awards. Somewhat loosely based on Louis C.K.'s real life as standup comedian, Louie plays father to two girls and has occasional girl friends (referred to as playdate friends) like Pamela who keep life interesting for the world weary Louie. Look for some stand up comedy skits as well as conversations between Louie and his therapist. Not one to be bashful when it comes to treating sensitive material gingerly Louie covers a wide variety of subjects including Catholic guilt, sexual orientation, sex, depression, as well as divorce (which he is very familiar with). A comedian's life is never boring or without complications.

Former Daily Show with Jon Stewart correspondent Stephen Colbert is a political humorist and that means he has a license to poke fun at politicians and just about anybody else that gets in his creative path. It's a stretch but Stephen Colbert plays fictional anchorman Stephen Colbert, or in other words, he portrays himself in a spoof and political pundit filled show that has earned a slew of award nominations. If it's a serious news event you can bet it will show up on the Colbert Report, often with a unique twist. Some stories don't need to be embellished upon because they play out humorous no matter what and that's life. Some times the show has cultural influence as in the case of a bridge being named after Colbert by the Hungarian Ambassador, who presented Colbert with a declaration certificate when a vote declared him the winner. As it turned out Hungary does not name their bridges after living people so it never happened but he did win the vote. It just goes to prove how powerful having a television show with your own name on it can be in the U.S.

Regular viewers of ABC's Wednesday night comedy hit "Cougar Town" will feel their lips curl into wry smiles when they read pre-premiere summaries of the show: The producers and writers originally conceived "Cougar Town" as the life and times of a forty-something divorcee intrepidly devoted to seducing younger men in a small Florida town. The early promos stress the small town's obsession with its high school football team, ironically The Cougars. The football theme arrived still-born, and the entire show might have hit the airwaves DOA except that Courteney Cox and "Scrubs"-creator Bill Lawrence had vision and courage to work a few miracle revisions. The whole "Cougar Town" crew rapidly realized, like Jules surveying a bar-full of mini-skirted matrons, "I know I'm one of them. I just don't feel like one of them." They wisely helped Jules morph into her authentic self. The younger boyfriend disappeared from "Cougar Town" after just a few episodes, and stories coalesced around Cox's character Jules, her teen-aged son Travis, and Jules's extended family"”her neighbours on the cul-de-sac, her co-workers in her real estate office, and her profligate ex-husband. While "Cougar Town" struggled to resolve its identity crisis, Lawrence's innuendo-rich dialogue and Cox's increasingly sophisticated delivery sustained the show. By the end of "Cougar Town's" first season, ratings alone offered ample testimony to "Cougar Town's" radical improvement as it held audiences in the half-hour after "Modern Family"; but the Hollywood Foreign Press sealed the deal, nominating Cox for a 2010 Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Comedy.

Episode by episode, loyal viewers of "How I Met Your Mother" first forget and then cease caring that the stories supposedly are told as flashbacks from some uncertain future when a couple of the characters actually have children. Ted, ostensibly the main character, described by the pitchmen as "architect and eternal romantic, feels the urgency of finding the same true love his best friend Marshall has found with his wife Lily. Marshall is a little dorky, Lily is lovably flaky, and Robin"”Ted's premier love interest"”is gorgeous but better left among the cell numbers of "just friends." Oddball character Barney is the comic centerpiece of the show. Neil Patrick Harris plays Barney"”need anyone say more? Barney, as fiercely opinionated as he is devoted to designer suits for all occasions, specializes in impromptu development of foolproof schemes for meeting and making conquest of women. "How I Met Your Mother" contributes significantly to CBS's domination of Monday night tube, because approximately twenty million viewers agree with the Yahoo! reviewer who wrote, "Good writing and quirky characters played by likeable actors, this one consistently entertains me. NPH has created a classic character in Barney. And with the fabulous Alyson Hannigan on board *sighs*, I just can't stop watching."