CBS’ series, The Mentalist, is a police drama that debuted in September of 2008. Created by Bruon Heller, the show revolves around Patrick Jane, who is a consultant that uses what some would call “unorthodox” methods of crime investigation. In the show, Jane assists the fictional “California Bureau of Investigation” in their homicide cases. The show was renewed for a third season for 2010-2011.

The Big Bang Theory is a sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Its first episode aired in September of 2007. The show focuses on five characters and takes place in Pasadena, California. The characters include a pair of very geeky roommates who are geniuses (Leonard, an experimental physicist and Sheldon, a theoretical physicist), their equally geeky friends (one an aerospace engineer and the other a particle astrophysicist), and Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment neighbor, an attracive blonde waitress named Penny. Much of the show’s humor revolves around the contrast between the four guys’ geekyness and Penny’s social skills/sensibility.

The Big Bang Theory is produced by Warner Brothers in partnership with Chuck Lorre Productions. It has received numerous awards, including Best Comedy Series in August 2009 at TCA, and a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Comedy in 2010. Some of the show’s actors have also won awards for their roles.

The show has also been extremely successful for CBS, and has received solid ratings throughout its run. CBS announced in early 2011 that it would renew the show for three years, ensuring it will run through the 2013-2014 television season.

The Television Series, Fringe, is a sci-fi television program created by the trio of J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The plot focuses on a fictional “Fringe Division” team of the FBI. The show is portrayed to be in Boston, Massachusetts. It has been renewed for a fourth season for 2011-2012. The first episode aired on Fox in September of 2008.

On the program, the team uses “fringe” scientific methods and investigative strategies in their investigations, which typically involve ghastly occurances that also happen to be related to events in a parallel universe. Although the show can be difficult to describe, some say it is a sort of hybrid of other popular sci-fi shows of the past, such as X-Files, Altered States and The Twilight Zone.

The CBS series, Criminal Minds, is a police drama that premiered in September of 2005. The show revolves around following a fictional team of profilers who work from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Behavioral Analysis Unit. The show is set in Quantico, Virginia, USA. The show is quite unique from many police dramas, in that rather than focusing on the crime, it focuses on the criminal.

Criminal Minds is produced by a partnership with The Mark Gordon Company, CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios. Originally, the title of the show was to be Quantico. The show’s pilot was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Criminal Minds was renewed for a sixth season that commenced in September of 2011. A spin-off premiered mid-season, entitled Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.

Filmed in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Supernatural is a supernatural/horror television show. It was created by Eric Kripke, and made its television debut in September 2005, airing on The WEB. The show is now part of The CW network.

Supernatural stars Jared Padelcki, who plays Sam Winchester, and Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester. The premise of the show focuses on these two brothers, who hunt demons and other supernatural entities.

Few may know that the series was actually in development for almost a decade, as its creator, Eric Kripke, had difficulty in pitching it to television studios. After a very successful pilot and strong ratings on the first four episodes, The WB adopted the series for a full season. The continued success of the series resulted in it being extended to three seasons, and later to five. Although the primary storyline was completed in the fifth season, the show continued into its sixth season, which changed its focus to the Winchester’s relationship with each other. The show has been renewed for a 7th season as of April, 2011.

NCIS was formerly known by a longer title — NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Its genre is that of police procedural drama.

The show’s plot focuses on a fictional team of special agents working for the (United States) Naval Criminal Intelligence Service, the US government agency responsible for criminal investigations that involve members of the US Navy and/or US Marine Corps.

Interestingly, the show’s concept as well as it characters began in another CBS series, JAG. In a pair of episodes late in that show’s eighth season, the primary cast and concept was introduced. The first episode of NCIS followed on September 23, 2003.

NCIS has been very successful; the show has been renewed for a ninth season, with record numbers of viewers in its eight season. Also notable is that the show has entered syndication, with reruns airing on many other networks, including USA Network, Sleuth, and Ion Television. Also notable is that the show’s co-creator and executive producer, Donald Bellisario, has an extensive television history, having also created JAG, Airwolf, Magnum, P.I. and Quantum Leap.

Smallville is a TV series based on the comic character Superman. It is written and produced by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. The show was originally release on the WB in October of 2001, and then eventually moved to the merged WB-UPN network, The CW. To date, The CW still broadcasts the show in the US. The show is now in its final season (its tenth). Most filming of the show is done in and around Vancouver, British Columbia.

The plot revolves around Clark Kent (played by Tom Welling), who lives in the town of Smallville, Kansas. It is placed in the year leading up to Clark becoming Superman. While the original seasons of the show involved Clark and his friends in their highschool years, since its fifth season, the show has involved more adult scenarios. Consistent with the Superman story, in Smallville, Clark has moved into a career working at the Daily Planet newspaper. The show has also introduced some other DC characters.

The show has been critically acclaimed, receiving many awards including Emmy Awards and Teen Choice awards. The show has also resulted in a series of novels, as well as Smallville-related products. The first nine seasons are available on DVD.

The Office is a comedy show that is broadcast on NBC. It was adapted from a BBC series with the same name. Its debut was on March 24, 2005, as a mid-season replacement.

The focus of the show is on the lives of the office employees of a fictional company named the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, which is located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The show is also filmed quite uniquely — in a single-camera setup. This is done to simulate filming a non-fictional documentary.

The show was adapted from the British version by its executive produce, Greg Daniels, of SNL, King of the Hill and The Simpsons fame. Creators of the British series are also been involved in the American program; they are executive producers, and have co-wrote some episodes of the show.

Although show producers had initially indicated the show would end after its seventh season, NBC has renewed it for an eighth.

Bones is a crime drama television season now in its sixth season. It premiered on Fox, with its first show airing on September 13, 2005.

The primary theme of the show revolves around forensics — forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology — with each episode portraying a fictional FBI case involving human remains. As main characters, the show features FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (played by David Boreanaz) as well as forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel).

Although the show is fictional, it is loosely based on reality — in particular, much of the program is inspired by the life of author and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, who happens to be one of the show’s producers. In addition, Dr. Brennan also happens to be named after one of Reichs’ characters in her crime novel series.

Grey’s Anatomy is a long-running medical drama series. It was created by Shonda Rhimes. Unlike many series, it premiered mid-season (as a replacement to Boston Legal) — with its first episode airing on March 27, 2005. It is now in its seventh season. The show’s setting is the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital. The show focuses on the hospital’s interns, residents and mentors — and centers around the difficulties of maintaining their personal lives while simultaneously trying to complete their medical training. Although the show’s setting is Seattle, the show is actually filmed mainly in LA.

A spin-off to Grey’s Anatomy, called Private Practice, started in 2007, and is now in its fourth season. That show focuses around the Grey’s character Addison Montgomery (played by Kate Walsh).

Grey’s Anatomy has been a particularly successful show, both commercially and critically. Strong viewership increased into the second and third seasons. The show won a number of awards, including a Golden Globe for Best TV Series – Drama, and three Emmy awards. The show has also been nominated for a range of other awards.