I realized the other day that a lot of my favorite shows have been WB/UPN/CW programs: Buffy, Angel, Veronica Mars, Gossip Girl, etc. This season I added another one to the list: The Vampire Diaries. At first, I was a little skeptical about the show for two reasons: 1) It’s based on a truly terrible series of books by L.J. Smith, and 2) with all the Twilight mania going on (which I cannot abide), I was concerned that the show might be another teen vampire saga. Plus, I tend to get my fill of vampire TV from True Blood.

Nevertheless, since the show films outside of Atlanta, I opted to give it a try, and it’s surprisingly great. It’s tense, dark and dramatic, and each episode ends with a cliffhanger, but in a suspenseful (and not annoying) way. Kevin Williamson of Scream fame works on the show, and he brings his understanding of teen horror: it’s intense and spooky, but not gruesome.

The program focuses on high school student Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev). We meet her on the first day of school, four months after her parents died in a car accident. Determined to try and be normal, she starts dating the handsome new guy at school, Stefan Salvatore (former model Paul Wesley). But Stefan has several secrets: he’s a vampire; he has an evil vampire brother, Damon (Lost’s Ian Somerhalder); and Elena looks exactly like Katherine, the brothers’ long-lost vampire lover/sire. Stefan has returned to his hometown of Mystic Falls, VA to find out more about Elena, drawn by her uncanny resemblance to his presumed-dead ex-girlfriend. His seemingly evil brother Damon also returns, for reasons unknown, and begins wreaking havoc on the town via murder, bloodshed and mind control. But appearances can be deceiving, and as Elena gets to know the Salvatore brothers, she discovers that Stefan isn’t as good as he seems, nor is Damon entirely the monster she thought him to be.

Despite the seemingly trite love triangle concept, the relationship among the three characters is surprisingly real, and the show is rounded out by a strong supporting cast (including Blue Crush’s Matt Davis, who stars as a vampire-hunting history teacher). In the first 14 episodes, there are several murders, a turning, a character who finds out she is a witch, a possession, an attempted vampire resurrection, an unsolved disappearance, a mysterious adoption story and more. This is an action-packed show, and a fun way to spend an hour on Thursday nights. Check it out.

Jennifer Aniston is one of those women who always seems to get press for the wrong reasons: she’s in her 40s and single, she doesn’t have as many babies as Angelina Jolie (I for one, do not understand Jolie-mania — I don’t find her any more beautiful or talented than the rest of the A-list crowd), she got divorced (gasp!), she keeps making terrible movies, she’s in a style/fashion rut, etc.

I kind of don’t get it. I mean sure, she’s made some bad choices – John Mayer, really? – and her movie success doesn’t seem nearly as great as her TV success (The Bounty Hunter looks awful), but other than that, she seems pretty fabulous. She has an established circle of girlfriends that includes Courteney Cox and Sheryl Crow, a gorgeous home that keeps getting featured in design and architecture magazines, the world’s best hair and gazillions of dollars. She also spends a lot of time at the beach, which must be nice. She gets a lot of flack for her style; fashion blogs often complain that she’s in a rut. But I think she has just found a look that suits her body and her life and sticks with it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. She has perfected a minimalist, beachy, California-cool look that I quite like – if I had her body (and her tan), I would certainly emulate her style.

Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so, because People.com is featuring a slideshow of her 10 style essentials, all of which I quite like. Clean lines, minis, classic jeans (thank goodness she eschews the distressed trend that is taking over the rest of Hollywood), scarves, cool jackets and interesting jewelry. If that’s a rut, then I’m going to start digging my own.

Take a peek at the slideshow and then come back and let me know what you think of Aniston’s fashion choices.

You know what’s fun? Waiting a few years to start watching a great TV show. Then you can cram several seasons worth of viewing into a week (or weekend). I do this all the time — it’s how I watched Charmed, Veronica Mars, the early years of The Simpsons and more. And I recently decided to do this with How I Met Your Mother.

The show had always been on my radar, and I had watched intermittently over the years, but when free time and availability in my Netflix queue opened up at the same time, I decided to take the plunge. And it was totally worth it.

The show is centered around single guy Ted’s (Josh Radnor) search for true love in New York. Along with his best friends Marshall and Lily (the always-hilarious Jason Segel and Buffy/Angel alum Alyson Hannigan, respectively), ex-flame Robin (Cobie Smulders) and his womanizing pal Barney (the legen-wait for it!-dary Neil Patrick Harris), architect Ted struggles through the trials and tribulations of looking for one’s soul mate in the big city. He’s ready to settle down and have kids; unfortunately, he can’t seem to meet a woman who wants the same thing. The show is actually told in reverse; set in 2030, Ted is telling his children the story of how he met their mother, so each episode is part of the story and essentially a flashback.

My husband described the show as Friends 2.0, which is actually pretty accurate: you have the married couple (Marshall and Lily to Friends’ Monica and Chandler), the on-again, off-again friends/couple (Ted and Robin to Friends’ Ross and Rachel) and the happily single man-slut (Barney to Friends’ Joey). HIMYM replaces Central Perk (the Friends coffee shop) with MacLaren’s Bar, and Ted even goes on to become a college professor, much like Ross.

Despite the similarities, HIMYM is definitely its own show, with excellent writing and perfectly crafted performances by all the actors (especially Segel and Harris). Neil Patrick Harris is single-handedly reintroducing the expressions “awesome!” and “legendary” into modern lexicon, and the show has certainly reinvigorated the high-five around my house.

Check out the Season 4 bloopers (but beware, some of the language is NSFW):

After years of ho-hum programming and too many reality shows, I think the current TV season is really hot. Some of my faves are taking off (The Vampire Diaries, Glee), some got canceled (Dollhouse. Boo.) and some are on hiatus (True Blood, I miss you!). And with this hot season have come some really hot men. I might post later about the sexiest ladies on the small screen, but for now, let’s ogle the man candy.

The New Kid: Mark Salling, for making a mohawk hot, as Puck on Glee.

The Steady: David Boreanaz, for stealing hearts as a tortured vampire (on two different shows!), then making them melt as heroic FBI agent Seeley Booth.

(And Speaking of Vampires) Best Vamp: Alexander Skarsgard, as hilarious and twisted Eric Northman on True Blood.

(And Speaking of True Blood) Best Human on True Blood: Ryan Kwanten, who manages to make stupid sexy as Jason Stackhouse.

Best Comeback: Ian Somerhalder, for bouncing back from Lost with his turn as deadly Damon on The Vampire Diaries.

Best Import: Ed Westwick, as Gossip Girl’s resident bad boy Chuck Bass.

Hottest Guy I wish were still on TV: Ryan Reynolds. For obvious reasons.

Now it’s your turn to nominate your favorites. Who did I leave out?