Prison Break
Heroes
Veronica Mars
Friday Night Lights
Lost
Smallville
Supernatural
Ghost Whisperer
I agree with several of your picks. I think Prison Break is the most consistently suspenseful show on the air at the moment. Lost remains frustratingly intriguing. Smallville and Heroes are entertaining.
I'd add:
House - imagine Groucho's Dr. Hackenbush, only not in a comedy
24 - gotta love a show where you can go cold turkey off of heroin within a couple of hours, and get from the Valley to LAX in less time than it takes to book a shuttle.
Doctor Who - the new series boasts impressive special effects and good writing, though it's often tough to keep on top of the dialogue, as the dialects are sometimes very heavy.
Jericho - sort of Lost in the midwest
Daybreak - can't imagine how they'll sustain the premise over the long haul, but off to a promising start
Medium - clever and innovative offering from Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting), just returned. Unfortunately, for some reason, when I went to play the season opener from NBC's HD feed, my DVR had only received the surround audio and none of the main dialogue channel.
Eureka - on hiatus from the Sci-Fi Channel, due back in January, I think. Cleverly written and humorous, with some interesting story arcs.
Psych - also on hiatus (USA Network)until January. Imagine Ferris Bueller as a detective. Often laugh-out-loud funny, with the catchiest theme song in years.
Vanished - moderately interesting, but more than once the show has lived up to its title, and I've missed an episode because of some scheduling shenanigans by the network.
One of my twin daughters is a Medium fan. I watched a couple of times to please her. I thought it was exceedingly boring.
I wouldn't mind trying House or 24, but I'd have to get the DVDs first. I hate to come in in the middle.
I was a Doctor Who fan when Tom Baker played the character. The last couple "evolutions" of the character, I haven't cared for. The new Dr. Who series is very impressive, IMHO. As you said, the
writing is good, and much better special effects.
One must always search out out the good from the dreck on TV, but I think it's always been that way. When we think back, we remember great shows from the past, such as 'Cheers' or 'Mary Tyler Moore'. We forget clunkers (IMHO) such as 'My Favorite Martian' or 'Mr. Ed' (how many times can 'Wiiiilbur' be a funny line?).