What You Need to Know for Tomorrow: House, Chuck, and Castle

SPOILERS: Basic reviews of the last season of House, Chuck, and Castle below the READ MORE line

That's right, it's that time of year again. The time when I've already been in school for ages, and TV networks finally get around to acknowledging that is time for "fall programming." Tomorrow, we've got a killer trio of shows making their return to prime time. Simple intro/review up top, with more last season spoilery info about what you need to know/should remember below the read more line. (Photos courtesy of their respective official pages)

Where/When: Fox, Mondays, 8 p.m.

Summary: Dr. House and his team solve medical mysteries and though it's never lupus, at the end of the day the truth is that no matter the patient, or the doctor, everyone lies.

How excited I am for this season: A

Why you should watch: Some people claim that the show is tiresome. We know House is going to make the correct diagnosis five minutes from the end. Yet the writers of the show still manage to develop compelling and morality-questioning stories for both the patients and the main cast, week after week.

Where/When: NBC, Mondays, 8 p.m.

Summary: Chuck Bartowski was average tech support until the super-secret computer called the Intersect was downloaded into his brain. Now he works with the NSA and CIA, fighting crime as only a geek can.

How excited I am for this season: B+

Why you should watch: Basically, this is the comedic and more widely popular version of Jake 2.0. Still, it's appealing to nerds as well, given their emphasis on casting actors with spy or scifi credentials.

Where/When: ABC, Mondays, 10 p.m.

Summary: Mystery writer and charmingly hilarious playboy Richard Castle teams up with Detective Kate Beckett to solve the truly weird and strange murder cases of NYC.

How excited I am for this season: C-

Why you should watch: The poor grade comes from a terrible finale. But the truth is that it's a refreshing take on a procedural, and Nathan Fillion (Castle) lights up the screen every time he appears.

What you need to know (about last season) to watch ....

House:

• House is clean of Vicodin
• Wilson is dating one of his ex-wives, Sam, and things are going well this time around
• Thirteen is still having lots of identity/terminal illness issues
• Chase and Cameron divorced, and Cameron left the show
• House got incredibly shaken up over a patient he actually bonded with who died after he rescued her during the season finale [right]
• Lucas is out of the picture for Cuddy because .........
• House and Cuddy are together

Chuck

• Chuck and Sarah? Finally an item. No really, they are, finally. For reals.
• Cat's out of the bag: Captain Awesome (a.k.a. Chuck's brother in law), Morgan, and Ellie finally know that he's a spy. And Ellie really wants her little brother to quit. [Above]
• Jayne (Sorry, still think Firefly when I see him) Casey has a daughter. And Morgan likes her. You know, like-likes her.
• Nefarious deeds on the part of The Ring have led to tragedy: Chuck's father, Stephen Bartowski, a.k.a. Orion, a.k.a. the creator of the Intersect was killed in the season finale
• Even more nefarious? It seems Chuck's mother is still alive. And somehow connected to the spy game. 

Castle

• Not much here, actually. Everyone went their separate ways for the summer.
• Beckett was about to make a move on Castle, but...
• He got back together with his ex-wife Gina. Burn. [below]

So that's it! Ready for some new action?

~ Sarah