While many families have been busy enjoying family-friendly activities, vacations and outdoor activities, television programming during the summer months is usually pretty dull.   As another summer season comes to an end and families prepare for the upcoming school year, fall also means the start of a brand new television lineup.

In just a few short weeks, your favorite television series along with some brand new shows will debut.   Whether you prefer drama, action, comedy or reality shows, a new television lineup is heading straight for your big screen TV.  So get out your calendar and get ready to be entertained – the new 2011 Fall Television Lineup is here!

Returning ABC Television Shows

• Handsome hunk Ashton Kutcher replaces Charlie Sheen’s character in this much talked about comedy series, Two and a Half Men, airs September 19, 2011.
• Another season of Castle returns September 19^th
• Modern Family begins another season September 21^st.
• Grey’s Anatomy returns to television on September 22.
• The final season of Desperate Housewives begins September 25^th.

New ABC Shows

• Set in the 60s, Pan Am follows the lives of Pan Am flight attendants.  This new series, starring Christina Ricci, takes off September 25^th.
• Tim Allen returns to television in Last Man Standing, begins October 11, 2011.
• Once Upon a Time is a “fantastical drama” which takes place in Storybrooke, Maine.  The new series begins October 23^rd.

Returning CBS Shows

• Hawaii Five-O kicks off another action-packed season on September 19^th.
• How I Met Your Mother, starring Neil Patrick Harris, starts on September 19^th.
• NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles begins new seasons on September 20^th.
• Another season of CSI premieres Sept 21^st.
• The Big Bang Theory returns to TV on September 22^nd.
• CSI: Miami begins September 25^th.
• The Good Wife begins its new season on September 25^th.

New CBS Shows

• Sitcom 2 Broke Girls, starring Kat Dennings and Beth Berhs, begins September 19^th.
• The remake of Charlie’s Angels starts September 22^nd.
• How to Be a Gentleman is a modern day twist on the old Odd Couple show, begins September 29^th.

Returning to CW

• The new season of 90210 begins September 13^th.
• The Vampire Diaries kicks off another season on September 15^th.
• Nikita begins its new season on September 23.
• The popular Gossip Girl series starts September 26^th

New to CW

• Rachel Bilson stars in the new medical drama series, Hart of Dixie, set to air September 26^th.

Returning Fox TV Shows

• Glee sings and dances to the Fox lineup on September 21^st.   Tune in to find out who will be back and who won’t.
• House returns for another season October 3^rd.
• The new season of Bones doesn’t begin until November 3^rd.

New Fox Shows

• New Girl is a new series starring Zooey Deschanel, premiering September 20^th.
• Jaime Pressly and Katie Finneran play two single moms who are afraid of their spoiled daughters. I Hate My Teenage Daughter begins on November 23^rd.
• They’re baaack!  America’s favorite couple, Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul, return to television September 21^st as judges in the long-awaited reality talent competition, The X Factor, worth a $5 million prize!
• Academy-award winning actress Jessica Lange and Denis O’Hare star in American Horror Story.  The new “psychosexual horror mystery series” premieres October 5^th.

Returning NBC Shows

• Chuck returns to TV October 21^st.
• Another season of Law & Order: SVU begins September 21^st.
• Find out who will replace the irreplaceable Michael Scott on The Office when it returns September 22^nd.
• Parks and Recreation returns to TV on September 22^nd.

New NBC TV Shows

• There is already lots of buzz about The Playboy Club, a new television series that follows a group of Playboy Bunnies.  This new series begins September 25^th.
• Up All Night, a new comedy series starring funny man Will Arnett and the delightful Christina Applegate, will kick off September 14^th.
• Free Agents, starring Hank Azaria and Kathyrn Hahn, also begins September 14^th.

So turn on and tune in.  Time will tell which shows will be hits and which ones will be misses.

Sources:

TV Guide. Returning Fall Shows. Last accessed August 13, 2011.
TV Guide. Fall Schedule: New TV Shows. Last accessed August 14, 2011.