The only two shows for which I look forward to watching new episodes are Alias and Good Eats. I figure that Alias is a continuation of the grand tradition that began with Diana Rigg in The Avengers and continued with Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, namely that of the ass-whupping female. Add some quick quips and interesting techno, and you've got a hit series. (If you like 'em animated, there's Kim Possible over on the Disney network.)
I agree with BK on how Alias over-uses the pop song as key to emotion gimmick, but what show isn't over-using it these days? Instant cliche, made even worse by the number of shows that tell us during the end credits to buy the CDs, which share subsidiariness to some parent company with the TV series, which makes the use of the music even more bogus.
Alias also has one of the goofiest characters on series television in Marshall, played by Kevin Weisman, who looks and moves like a five-foot-eight dwarf. For all his nerdiness, Marshall is simply endearing, two qualities he shares with Alton Brown on Good Eats, except that Brown isn't playing a character. (Do I really need to tell everyone that der Brucer shares these qualities, as well? Trust me, he's another endearing nerd. I'm hooked on a type.)
By the way, let's not confuse "nerd" with "geek," the way some of my former under-educated co-workers were want to do. A "nerd" is a socially inept person given to intellectual pursuits. A "geek," on the other hand, is a side-show person who bites the heads off of chickens. Aside from qualifiying any geek as an expert on yesterday's TOD, this means that geeks do what they do on purpose. Nerds, in contrast, are quite accidental, almost serendipitous.
I hope this clears up that particular confusion.
