Fall means many things. It means fall fashion, leaves changing colors, football, and, of course, the new fall TV line up.  With last year’s line-up being best described as disappointing, high hopes have been set on this year’s new shows.  With some ups and some downs, the Marquette Messenger is here to tell you whether some of fall’s most hyped up shows are worth a watch.

New Girl (Fox) – Tuesday, 8 p.m.

This is by far the best new show in this year’s line-up, mainly due Zooey Deschanel’s (500 Days of Summer) leading performance.  Deschanel plays a newly dumped and socially awkward Jess, who is just moving into apartment already inhabited by three bachelors. The three guys wonderfully back up Deschanel’s performance as well and will make you look forward for future episodes, though one of the three guys dropped out due to contract issues.  Hopefully, New Girl will recover from the blow with some well done recasting.

Pan Am (ABC) – Sunday, 9 p.m.

Pan Am takes flight, inspired from the success of other period shows. The show takes viewers back to the 1960s when travel was much more glamorous.  The show follows the lives of a few stewardesses, led by Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow) as they jet set around the world, trying to deal with their personal lives and romances. The show have beautiful costumes and sets, but lacks a little when it comes to writing.  Some of the plot lines come off as unrealistic (a stewardess as an undercover, CIA agent?), and the historical accuracy doesn’t come across to be accurate (where’s the smoking and alcohol?).  It’s definitely worth a watch even if only to be swept up into the sixties.

Terra Nova (Fox) – Monday, 7 p.m.

Quite possibly the most risky and ambitious new show is the Steven Spielberg produced Terra Nova, which is largely reminiscent of Jurassic Park. The main draw for this show is the highly real and highly expensive computer generated dinosaurs.  While the effects do live up to the hype, the story and acting do not.  The premise of the show is a group time travelers leave their environmentally destroyed Earth to go back 85 million years to start a new human colony.  If Terra Nova is going to survive, the acting has to improve, but as some would say, in Spielberg we trust.

Ringer (CW) – Tuesday, 8 p.m.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans will be excited to see Sarah Michelle Gellar back on silver screen in the CW’s latest show.  Gellar plays identical twins – one a rich socialite, the other a stripper. When the wealthy twin disappears, the stripper twin makes the rash decision to become her.  She soon realizes her sisters seemingly perfect life is very flawed.  Gellar leads the pilot strongly, but as of this moment, the show’s plot doesn’t seem to be exceptionally well thought out.  Time will tell us where it’s going.