Now that Entourage (HBO’s series about bromance and the entertainment biz) is over, you might find yourself wondering what to watch instead.  You have no idea how many weeks this writer has spent wondering the same thing.  The fall season lineup has been announced and there are three options that sound especially promising.

This fall I’ll be watching two dramas with retro-clad lovelies and a girl-com (I just made up that word and need to decide whether it means a cast dominated by females or a sitcom enjoyed by girls rather than guys).  Reality TV shows are no longer on trend.

Like most 16-year-old-males, I will happily devote two hours per week to the battle of the Bunnies versus the stewardesses.  I am not ashamed to admit that I can’t wait for the premiers of The Playboy Club and Pan Am.  Will coffee-tea-or-me trump the bombshells? While I have no idea who will win this battle, I can’t wait for sweeps week to find out whether President Kennedy has a layover dalliance with a fly girl or hops into the Chicago Playboy Club.  Both shows seem like a heck of way to be entertained even though they are rip-offs of Mad Men, the award-winning drama about the wicked world of advertising set in the Sixties.  The point is that both dramas, campy plots and all, look like a raucous good time. Bring it on — I’m ready to take trip to an earlier decade.

I’m also looking forward to two new girl-centric sitcoms.  Whitney Cummings, who is a brilliant comedienne, is starring in her own show, Whitney.  From the hilarious ads featuring one-liners like “All marriages end in sweatpants,” it seems the show will be about the ups but mostly downs of marriage.  Classic sitcoms like I Love Lucy celebrated the comedic situations of marriage; will Whitney, mirroring modern relationships, be a hit?  If it’s is anything like it’s star’s appearances on Chelsea Lately, get ready for intelligent deadpan humor.  If not, the peacock network needs another golden egg.

Could all these new promising shows lead to the end of reality TV? If the trend towards hour-long dramas continues, reality shows like Real Housewives may be a thing of the past.

I hope not. Storylines and plots aren’t the only thing worth watching. There’s something about being able to just let go and watch shows in which every other scene follows the lives of confrontational freaks. Sometimes a person just wants something mindless, just staring at the screen as people fight it out or clean up 25 years of trash from their laundry room. Hopefully there will always be a time slot for good reality shows on the big networks.

Here’s an idea: how about non-reality reality TV? Combine The Playboy Club with Pan Aminto a highly hyped, successful and totally fake reality show.  Without a doubt, a show about a bunch of lovelies who are real life stewardesses by day and restaurant hostesses by night would be a success.  Easy for the networks, easy on the viewers. Trying hard should be left to working on coming up with alternative energy sources.