Her Boys, My Life

One of the sleeper hits on cable last summer was a show that really grew on me as its season wore on.

"My Boys" (TBS, 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.), which returns to the air tonight with two new episodes, follows the adventures of P.J. (Jordana Spiro), a woman whose tomboyish nature helps her fit in very well with her platonic male friends but makes it very difficult to date.

P.J. is a baseball writer for The Chicago Sun-Times, and spends much of her evenings drinking and playing poker with the boys.

Being a former sports writer myself, it irked me somewhat that someone with P.J.'s job would have so much free time on her hands, especially at night. Eventually, however, I learned to let go and embrace P.J.'s world - me and my friends play poker a couple of nights a week, and we even had a "My Boys" inspired board game decathlon.

"My Boys" picks up from the twist ending from Season 1, in which P.J. gets romantically involved with one of her gang. They've line Spiro up with a terrific supporting cast, most notably Jim Gaffigan as her totally-whipped brother.

COMIC CON REPORT: Austin Film Festival, Comic Con. Comic Con, Austin Film Festival - next year I'm going to have make a Solomon-like choice.

Meanwhile, I'll just have to be content with reading about it and passing along the highlights. Some of the biggest:

--Zachary Quinto will play the younger Spock in the next "Star Trek" film, but Matt Damon will NOT be playing the young Kirk as some rumors had suggested. Kirk and the others have yet to be cast. (Beyonce as a young Uhura? Hmm...)

--Comics nut and film auteur Kevin Smith will direct an episode of "Heroes" this season, specifically, one of the "Heroes: Origins" spinoff episodes.

--Libby will be returning in some form to "Lost" this season.

--The biggest deal of them all - Joss Whedon is close to bringing his "Buffy" spinoff "Ripper" to fruition. The TV movie would be made by the BBC and have Anthony Stewart Head reprise his role as Buffy's Watcher Rupert "Ripper" Giles. Whedon also announced he wasn't done yet with the character of Melaka Fray, the future slayer from comic books. In quasi-unrelated news, former "Angel" showrunner David Greenwalt is off the "Angel" ripoff "Moonlight."

MONDAY'S BEST BETS: "Saving Grace" (TNT, 10 p.m.) may have gotten uneven reviews from critics, but the ratings were a home run last week. The series, which stars the terrific Holly Hunter as an alcoholic cop who meets her guardian angel, is back tonight as part of an all-new TNT lineup that also features "Heartland" and "The Closer." TNT's lineup may not rank quite up there with FX's in terms of quality, but no one can argue the numbers they are bringing in.

ABC Family is also all-new with "Kyle XY" at 8 p.m. and "Greek" at 9 p.m. "Big Love" (HBO, 9 p.m.) is new and has also been picked up for a third season.

On the networks, you have "Six Degrees of Martina McBride" (ABC, 9 p.m.), which features aspiring singers with vague connections to the country music superstar trying to make their careers.