It looks like all the networks are paying attention to the success of fantasy/sci-fi/what-the-heck-is-it ABC hit series Lost. Now, I watched Lost religiously all season, captured by the mystery of it all and trusting in the wisdom of its creator J.J. Abrams, but in the end I realized the show was like Chinese food - enjoyable while you're partaking, but afterwards you're still hungry.

But I was interested by the real plethora of genre shows that the networks are pushing for next season. So here are a few that caught my attention and my thoughts as to which are worth checking out:

(Please note all series descriptions are courtesy of MediaWeek.)

NBC - Monday 8 p.m. - Fathom
In this science-fiction themed hour, a variety of individuals including a family in San Diego, naval officers in the South Antarctic Sea, scientists from the Oceanographic Institute and fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico encounter seemingly innocent creatures living under the sea. The ensemble cast includes Lake Bell (Boston Legal), Jay R. Ferguson (Judging Amy), Rade Serbedzija (Snatch) and Carter Jenkins (CSI: NY).

The WB - Tuesday 9 p.m. - Supernatural
Jared Padalecki (Gilmore Girls) and Jensen Ackles (Smallville) play two young brothers who carry on their missing father's quest to seek out justice and silence the supernatural forces responsible for their mother's murder 20 years earlier.

ABC - Wednesday 10 p.m. - Invasion (lead-in show: Lost)
After a devastating hurricane in Florida, a U.S. Park Ranger (Eddie Cibrian) suspects something may be wrong after is ex-wife is found naked with no memory of what happened during the storm.

ABC - Thursday 9 p.m. - The Night Stalker (lead-in show: Alias)
Cult hit Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which aired on ABC in 1974-75, is back in this update of a crime reporter (Stuart Townsend) who is determined to find the truth behind his wife's mysterious murder.

CBS - Friday 8 p.m. - Ghost Whisperer
Inspired by famed medium James Van Praagh, former Party of Five star Jennifer Love Hewitt plays a young newlywed who discovers she has the ability to communicate with the dead.

CBS - Friday 9 p.m. - Threshold
A team of experts (Carla Gugino, Charles S. Dutton, Brian Van Holt, Robert Patrick and Brent Spiner) are assembled when the U.S. Navy discovers that an extra terrestrial craft has landed in the mid-Atlantic ocean.

Now with a feast of genre shows like this, one would think that I would be diving in like a glutton. Sadly, no. Frankly, the Taken-wannabe series The 4400 which was enjoyable as a limited series and returns this weekend with a second season pretty much filled me up in terms of alien invasion shows. (And of all choices, I'd rather go pick up a DVD of the two V miniseries or rewatch my season one DVD of Roswell - still the classics of the genre.) So that means Fathom, Invasion and Threshhold all leave me cold. And while The WB has come up with some great genre shows like the aforementioned Roswell and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, pretty boys chasing scary things just doesn't appeal to me the way it might have back in the day, so I'm probably going to pass on Supernatural unless I hear some good avance buzz on it, or even more important: some good writers signed onto the staff. But I think I'm getting too old for the WB demos. Ah, well. Then there's CBS' Ghost Whisperer, a desperate attempt to cash in on the success of Medium, which I don't watch either. So, if I don't watch the show it's ripped off from... not likely I want to watch the copy. Which leaves me with the one show I AM very much looking forward to: the reimagined, reinvented, really we have nothing to do with the original series except the title and a reporter lead character - The Night Stalker. And while I fall between the camps of loyal fan of the original, so I should by some rights be horrified by the unrelated remake, and genre fan willing to give the new premise a try, like I did with the new and truly terrific Battlestar Galactica on SciFi Channel, a second season of which begins airing in July, I'm picking this as my main new interest for the season. In no small part due to the casting of the excellent and attractive Stuart Townsend in the lead.

So what's filling my viewing schedule for the upcoming season? I may or may not return to Lost. While I like a lot of the cast, the season finale left me cool and vaguely bored. Not a good sign. As I said, I plan on watching the next season of Battlestar Galactica, and as frustrating as last season's Nip/Tuck was, veering off into wacky plots and losing sight of the characters we fell in love with in the first season, I still do so love Julian McMahon's sad, pathetic, narcissistic and wonderful Dr. Christian Troy, and for him, I will be back.

But surely that's not all? Two or three shows can't satisfy a WriterGroupie, can it? Well, I'll admit, there's a few shows coming out on DVD this summer I'm really looking forward to including Earth 2 and further seasons of The Twilight Zone. But I've come to realize I have a problem and the first step to solving it is admitting you have one. So here it is: I, the WriterGroupie am a reality/unscripted TV addict. From American Idol to The Bachelor to Survivor. But as if that weren't bad enough... I'm addicted to far cheesier fare and with each new show, I'm getting more and more hooked. Just this week, four new reality/unscripted shows debuted this week on four different networks and my understanding is that each did quite well for each network.

The first was FOX's Hell's Kitchen which featured an abusive British chef yelling at wannabe chefs. I don't like abusive or gross reality shows, so I didn't watch it. Second was The WB's Beauty and the Geek which was far more charming than it sounds. Produced and created by Ashton Kutcher (I don't watch his Punk'd, which falls for me into the abusive category). This show features seven nerdy brainy guys (interesting that all were the 'skinny geek' or average sized guys, a couple of whom were not unattractive, but they had nobody overweight) who were matched with a bunch of really dumb pretty girls. Each has to teach the other their skills (in the first episode, the guys teach the girls fifth grade educational material and they still get most of it wrong and the girls teach the guys how to dance). It's actually sweeter and less insulting than it sounds and I plan to keep watching. Third was ABC's Dancing With The Stars, based on the British series Strictly Come Dancing. Now, I love reality shows with cheesy celebrities. I love ballroom dancing (to do and to watch). Yet I managed about ten minutes before turning it off. It was wretched. I'm not planning on watching again and don't know how anyone got through the whole thing - the celebrities were terrible, the dancers were uninteresting and the judges were boring. Next. Fourth was Hit Me Baby One More Time, also based on a British series of the same name, where a bunch of 80's and 90's performers sang their one hit song and a cover version of a current song and the winners got a donation to the charity of their choice. This one I enjoyed. A lot. So some of the singing was flat. The songs were still good, it was fun to see these performers again, and I was singing along so I didn't really care how weak they sounded. Though Tiffany should've won. I will definitely keep watching this one.

Several other reality shows debuted across the various cable networks including the new season of Blow Out on Bravo about a guy who owns a Beverly Hills hair salon (more fun than it sounds), which I plan to watch if I catch it; VH-1's Strip Search - the search by the guy who created 'Thunder From Down Under' male strip revue to create an American version of the troupe (less fun than it sounds) and my favorite new cable reality of the season: VH-1's Jerry Hall's Kept - where the former significant other of Mick Jagger has a dozen pretty boy toys compete to be her 'kept' man. Great fun.