Loosely inspired by Shep and also because i'm too lazy to do full reviews, here's a round up of the season premieres i've been watching recently, as well as, naturally, the subsequent episodes that follow.

Heroes-
Following on from an inspiring and refreshing debut season, let down only by the episodes in the finale, Season 2 of this show has a lot of work to do, both as an enjoyable follow up to that preliminary year of awesome, and additionally, to help rid fans of any lingering nasty thoughts they may still have regarding the finale. Thankfully for the latter this is achieved rather quickly with the second season itself set a full four months on from the events of the previous season finale, allowing for new stories and plots to be created with ease, while still building on many of the themes and character plots established or left dangling the previous year.

Most interestingly, the new episodes present are a nice reminder of the show in simpler inspirational times. Without the obvious menace of a master villain -though, that will presumably follow- the show is back to basics, allowing both the viewer and the character to once again discover the superpower ever relevant to the show itself, achieved primarily with the inclusion of new characters, though, naturally, often with the inability to rival the characters that have already been established. This is noticeable as ever as the show continues to focus very primarily on the Bennett and Petrelli families, the characters seemingly at the centre of the show's mythology, while show-leading geek Hiro resumes a dominant force when it comes to providing flashbacks and an all-manner of time-based confusion. Elsewhere, the other signature theme of Heroes, that of the crossover is also thankfully in place, allowing new pairings to be matched for the first time, and once again, giving the viewer a slight benefit when it comes to watching.

With such a successful debut season both critically and commercially, Heroes now has more fans to continue impressing and astounding on a weekly basis. While the show to some extent still follows the core formula of the first year while changing it only slightly, Season 2 feels new and old, but most of all, exciting.

Prison Break-
Going on vacation for the whole of the previous season with very few scenes actually set in a prison, the show about breaking out of a prison returns for a third year, with, unsurprisingly, a storyline about breaking out of a prison. For all it's moments of drama and tension, it's creative charm and evil yet interesting characters, Prison Break once again defies logic with it's silly over-the-top storyline that would be seemingly impossible in real life. But like LOST and the show a paragraph above, there's no basis for arguing against this show simply because of it's lack of realism.

Changing both setting and tone, the third season of PB is set entirely in Panama, with the Sona Federal Prison acting as a backdrop to both the plot and conspiracy central to the show. As with Season 2 beforehand, the show is remarkably different to the previous year, once again allowing for a different kind of exposition for many of the main characters, and yet again, allowing them to show their different sides. This is evident alone if the defining concept behind the third Season, where the hero, the rapist, the jail guard and FBI Agent are all imprisoned in the same institution. While it once again defies logic, this idea of having four enemies having to work together to survive can prove to be an interesting dynamic, more so if you've followed them from the start of the show. In some respects, it is the best part of it all. As with previous season however, the show continues to feature external storylines and subplots set entirely on the outside. As with the debut season, they provide little satisfaction or excitement, but do keep the show moving as a whole.

As an originally intended miniseries, it is evident in places that Prison Break is jumping the shark, or perhaps, has already performed a double frontflip over the said vicious fish by conception alone. Now in it's third year, Prison Break is beginning to show strain, as well as a seemingly lack of future prospect, this presumably being the final year. Despite this, Prison Break is fun, entertaining and altogether a nice distraction from conventional TV, as long as you're willing to ignore logistics.

House-
With the shock events and subsequent firing of Cameron, Chase and Foreman in the previous season finale, House is alone in the opening episodes of Season 4 with no-one to help with the CSI-esque diagnnostic work, other than the Janitor, early providing the signature light-hearted humour that forms a big part of the show's appeal. The following episode expands on House seeking help, this time with the addition of a lecture room full of medical students old and young, thus beginning an elimination process that looks set to continue for the following episodes. Breaking up structural convention as far as the show is concerned certainly, but providing a solid, episodic storyline, that looks set to run, something notoriously lacking from many past episodes with no clear focus.

The early build-up of something that looks set to redefine the future of both the season and show is a welcome addition, but the doubling back by re-adding characters removed last year (currently for reasons unknown) is a suspicious, irrelevant direction the show seems to be taking once again, suggests that, despite all minor adjustments to the show as a whole, nothing much will change. It is a little unfortunate, especially given the shock-value of the afore-mentioned finale. Still thankfully, the focus as always continues to be House himself- the character never changing despite the surrounding plots and scenarios, making the season finale perhaps even more irrelevant to begin with. That and a weekly patient in dire need of diagnosis means that the show is cemented in it's conventions, but if something ain't broke, why fix it?

Now in it's fourth season, House hasn't changed much, retaining the character and humour/drama mix that made the show so successful to begin with, and despite a reluctance to change itself too much, the show still continues to impress and entertain with it's golden formula, something many shows can only dream of. Three seasons past and only two episodes into the fourth, House looks set to continue it's reign as medical drama king.