I’ve been having a hard time getting behind this fall’s new TV lineup because so much of it feels old. I realize we live in a time when Hollywood is so out of fresh ideas they’re making movies out of Battleship, Candyland and Asteroids, but still … this season just feels stale. Just take a look:

FlashForward: Short of the spinoffs, this is the worst offender in the bunch because it’s trying to act like it’s not totally ripping off another ABC show, Lost. And yet, the season premiere featured:

• An opening scene where the main male character is wandering through a chaotic disaster with people around him hurt and yelling for help as something then explodes, raining fiery debris down around him.
• An out-of-place animal (In Lost it was the polar bear in the jungle; in FF it’s a kangaroo in the city)
• An overarching mystery that everyone is trying to figure out (i.e. what happened to us?).
• A large set of main characters, including Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) and Sonya Walger (Penny).
• You get to know all of these characters through … oh wait, flash forwards, not flashbacks. You’re right. This is a totally different show. My bad.

Among the others:
Accidentally on Purpose: Saw Knocked Up? Then you’ve seen this.
The Cleveland Show: A spinoff of Family Guy.
Community: A lot like The Breakfast Club, but it’s self-aware enough of this to actually poke fun at the similarities, so I give it a pass.
Eastwick: A show based on a movie based on a book.
The Forgotten: = Cold Case
The Good Wife: OK, this isn’t technically like any other shows, just real life. And I experience enough secondhand embarrassment for the actual spouses of cheating politicians that I don’t want to watch a fake one.
Hank: A show about a man who loses his job and has to work for minimum wage to support his family. Ah yes, nothing like mining an actual near-depression for a comedy. Again, not a ripoff of another show, but still …
Jay Leno: This speaks for itself, I’d say.
NCIS: Los Angeles: In following seasons, I fully expect an NCIS: Chicago, NCIS: Salt Lake City and NCIS: Duluth.
Melrose Place: It’s a reboot just like last year’s 90210.
The Middle: This looks remarkably like Malcolm in the Middle, which is where I assume they also stole the name from.
Trauma, Mercy, Three Rivers: All three are medical dramas hoping to replace ER or recapture the glory days of Grey’s Anatomy.
Vampire Diaries: Based on a set of books, this is really just Dawson’s Creek meets Twilight.

And that’s pretty much your lineup. The few exceptions that show some originality:
Glee: This musical-number-infused show is the best of the bunch and has met with much praise from fans and critics who aren’t Aaron (who apparently hates power ballads and happiness).
Modern Family, Cougar Town: Both of these also show some promise and have fairly new takes on various family dynamics and … well, cougars.