Sunday September 12th

The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, awards show from 9-11pm on MTV

– The VMA’s are now synonymous with the infamous Kanye West-Taylor Swift drama that stole the show and sent the rapper into hiding. This year’s host Chelsea Handler has made it her personal goal to see the two of them reconcile. Whether or not she achieves that goal, either on or off the stage, the show will be jam-packed with drama and ridiculous antics as usual. The queen of pop Lady Gaga herself leads the nominations with 13 nods and Kanye is set to perform, as well as Usher and Justin Bieber. Will Kanye redeem himself and make nice with America or will his lack of inhibition get the better of him…again?

Monday September 13th

The Nate Berkus Show, series premiere at 3pm on Syndicated (may vary by local listings)

– After years on Oprah offering advice to viewers, interior designer Nate Berkus has finally landed his own daytime talk show. From celebrity guests to surprise home makeovers to uplifting stories of personal change, Nate covers it all with an infectious exuberance that puts a smile on your face and adds a spark to your day. Guest Dolly Parton joins Nate on Wednesday September 15th for an episode about assembling an essential 911 crate.

90210, season premiere at 8pm on the CW

– The third season welcomes the West Beverly kids to their senior year of high school. It’s the time of college acceptances and lovers’ rejections, the time of prom dates and promises betrayed, the time of spring break, break-ups and make-ups – but as is always the case in Beverly Hills, it all happens in a world of sun and fun, palm trees and warm sea breezes, success and excess. We’ll see the rise of a pop sensation and the fall of a group of friends, the beginning of a new love and the end of a professional dream, the creation of an unlikely family and the demise of another. And that’s just the first week of school.

Gossip Girl, season premiere at 9pm on the CW

– High society and low blows are back as Gossip Girl, a one-hour drama about the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite, returns for its fourth season. Season three ended with a BANG! as a heartbroken Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) lay bleeding in the streets of Prague while Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) and a newly-single Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) jetted off to Paris for a fabulous summer abroad. Meanwhile, Serena’s recent-ex Nate discovered he was going to have to settle down and be a father… to Georgina Sparks’ (Michelle Trachtenberg) baby! The new season will open with a radiant Serena and Blair enjoying their grand and romantic summer in Paris… until Chuck mysteriously arrives in town with a new girlfriend and a new identity! Blair swore off Chuck forever but will this changed man woo Blair into having a change of heart?

Tuesday September 14th

One Tree Hill, season premiere at 8pm on the CW

– The eighth season of the nighttime soap finds Brooke Davis happier than ever. Recently engaged to Julian, her wedding will be the captivating affair one might expect from a young, beautiful, successful fashion designer. As Nathan Scott prepares for his second season in the NBA, the Scott family is expecting their second child and Haley feels as though the baby will be a girl. How will she balance her pregnancy while raising Jamie and pursuing her music career? Also, Quinn and Clay’s lives hang in the balance, the victims of a brutal attack that affects all of their friends and family.

Life Unexpected, season premiere at 9pm on the CW

– Returning for a second season, this coming-of-age family drama centers around 16-year-old Lux who was given up for adoption at birth but never adopted. When she is put back into the custody of her estranged-since-high-school birth parents, radio show host Cate and bartender Baze, the three form an unlikely family, complicated by the fact that Cate is engaged to her co-host, Ryan. Cate and Baze struggle with becoming insta-parents and raising a daughter they are only now getting to know, while Ryan must deal with the fact that Cate’s feelings for Baze aren’t entirely in the past. Lux, meanwhile, tries to reconcile her past with her present, often torn between her old friends from foster care and her new family. When Baze realizes he’s still in love with Cate he tries to stop Cate’s wedding, but when he’s too late, Cate marries Ryan. Heading into next season, our unlikely threesome become a foursome as Ryan joins the family.

Parenthood, season premiere at 10pm on NBC

– Parenthood is a one-hour drama inspired by the box office hit of the same name. This re-imagined and updated production follows the trials and tribulations of the very large, very colorful and imperfect Braverman family. Although each sibling and family has its own share of everyday challenges to grapple with, they still manage to be there for each other in their hours of need. There’s lots of siblings so I’ll try to blow through them quickly: Sarah the single mom struggles with paying the bills and trying to keep her teenage kids in line, all the while trying to find herself a man; Crosby the irresponsible younger brother is helping to raise a 5-year-old son he just found out he had with a one-night stand; Julia the corporate attorney struggles to balance her work schedule and family time with her stay-at-home husband and young daughter; Adam, the eldest of the clan, has his seemingly picture-perfect family turned upside down when his young son is diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. The matriarch and patriarch of the family who hold the together are not without their own marital troubles. Despite a shaky start, the sophomore show has come into it’s own with an undeniable ability to pull at the heartstrings.

Fashion’s Night Out 2010, special at 10pm on CBS

– Neil Patrick Harris must have scored some killer threads in exchange for hosting this special that takes viewers behind the scenes of the world’s largest celebration of fashion that just took place in NYC.

Wednesday September 15th

Survivor: Nicaragua, season premiere at 8pm on CBS

– The 21st season of the reality competition series that invented the genre is set in the Central American country of Nicaragua and airs in a new timeslot on Wednesday. This season the 20 contestants are divided up into two tribes based on their ages. The Espada tribe will feature contestants over the age of 40, and the La Flor tribe will include contestants aged 30 years and younger. Hmm, not sure that’s completely fair…

Outlaw, series premiere at 10pm on NBC

– Emmy Award winner Jimmy Smits (NYPD Blue, The West Wing) stars in this new drama series as (former?) Supreme Court Judge Cyrus Garza. Few jobs are guaranteed for a lifetime, and a Supreme Court appointment is a position that no one ever quits – unless he is Garza. A playboy and a gambler, Justice Garza always adhered to a strict interpretation of the law until he realized the system he believed in was flawed. Now, he’s quit the bench and returned to private practice. Using his inside knowledge of the justice system, Garza and his team will travel across the country taking on today’s biggest and most controversial legal cases. I’m still trying to digest the fact that this series is based on the premise that a Supreme Court Judge would resign to fight for justice as an attorney—tough pill to swallow.

Top Chef Just Desserts, series premiere at 11pm on Bravo

– All you Top Chef fans with a sweet tooth are in luck—Bravo is rolling out a spin-off of the hit cooking competition series that focuses solely on desserts. Celebrated pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini is appointed Head Judge with critically acclaimed chef Hubert Keller and DailyCandy Editor-at-Large Dannielle Kyrillos rounding out the Judges’ Table. Top Chef judge Gail Simmons will host. Each episode of Top Chef: Just Desserts holds two challenges for the pastry chefs: the first is a Quickfire test of their basic abilities and the second is a more involved Elimination Challenge designed to test the versatility and inventiveness of the pastry chefs as they take on unique culinary trials such as working with unusual and exotic ingredients or catering for a range of demanding clients.

Thursday September 16th

The Apprentice, two-hour season premiere at 9pm on NBC

– The original Apprentice is back after a 3-year cancellation during which time NBC went to shit and now is struggling to find put some decent shows on the air. NBC and Donald Trump want to put America back to work. After a long wait, the boardroom will be open again for candidates who have lost their jobs as the network showcases a very NOW version of The Apprentice. Donald Trump offers a second chance to 16 candidates hurt by the recession. These will include talented, qualified, bright prospects who have lost their jobs with no hope in sight, as well as recent college graduates who currently have few, if any, prospects.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, season premiere at 10pm on FX

– The hit comedy series (now in syndication on Comedy Central) follows a group of five alcoholic, depraved underachievers (including Danny DeVito) who run Paddy’s Pub, a run-down bar in South Philadelphia. They are dishonest, selfish, egotistical, ignorant, greedy, rude, unethical, arrogant, and antagonistic, and are often embroiled in controversial issues. Last season saw the gang dabble in failed interventions, the poisoning of frat kids, footwear for kittens, dick towels, and an uncensored Christmas special with a gruesomely-violent claymation sequence. This season watch them tackle gay marriage, fight the class war, battle the high seas on a houseboat, bash rats, get repulsed by the McPoyles, deal with a very mysterious pregnancy and much more. If you really need proof of their depravity, in one epic past episode two of the underachievers became addicted to crack so that they would be useless enough to be able to collect welfare, ‘nough said.

The League, season premiere at 10:30pm on FX

– Fantasy football is supposed to provide an outlet for good-natured competition and camaraderie between friends and colleagues, but that’s not always the case. In this FX original comedy series, deception, one-upmanship and a win-at-all costs mentality rule the day on the virtual gridiron and then extend into personal relationships, marriages and the workplace.

Friday September 17th

Star Wars: The Clone Wars, season premiere at 9pm on Cartoon Network

– This 3D CGI animated Star Wars spin-off takes place in the three-year time period between the films Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Stars Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. No other spin-off has captured the retro, gee-whiz spirit of 1977’s original with as much B-movie flair as Cartoon Network’s series. Season 3 also packs emotional Force with a two-part opener about a rookie squad of clone troopers in a Republic boot camp. You’d have to be a Sith Lord indeed not to be moved by a subplot about an aged clone-reject who’s relegated to working as a janitor.