Fall has arrived, and with it, a new round of TV shows is upon us.This season’s lineup looks promising. Whether it’s because of the recession, the past writers’ strike or some other unknown factor, TV this fall is the best it’s been in years.Some networks have taken big risks, which have paid off in some great new series. Others played it safe by bringing back old shows. Regardless, TV hasn’t been this entertaining since the Gilded Age of Television.We always hear about all the great TV shows of the past: I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Dallas, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and All in the Family. Some people yearn for those days and say television has significantly declined.But this year network TV is back in full force. This latest round of shows offers a fresh look on entertainment.The best new show has to be Fox’s Glee. The story about a high school glee club teacher trying to beat the odds and transform a glee program of a small school in western Ohio has definitely become the standout of the season.The show is not easily classified. It’s a comedy, drama and musical all rolled into one.Most shows that are ambiguously defined often fail to blend each category well with the other. Glee, however, does this effortlessly. Jane Lynch and Stephen Tobolowsky provide much of the comedic value, while the rest of the cast members — specifically Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele — deliver stunningly good music performances.ABC’s Modern Family is another refreshing show. Revolving around a father and his two children, the show contrasts many of the different family structures found in a modern America.Between the father’s marriage to a much younger woman to the son’s gay relationship, the show brings a fresh storyline to network television.Not only have this season’s new shows been highly entertaining, but past series seem to have improved.Grey’s Anatomy is back for another season, sans T.R. Knight. With the new season, the show has become far more interesting. It has become more grounded and has better developed the plot and characters than the past few seasons.NBC’s The Office is also back in full force. Led by Steve Carell, the show once again delivers extraordinarily funny television.It seems even reality television has stepped up its game. Real Housewives of Atlanta is back on Bravo, and it has proved to be highly entertaining.The show surrounds five Atlanta women going about their lives, basically backstabbing each other the whole way through. The show’s standout star is NeNe Leakes, who dominates the rest of the ladies with her attitude and provides some hilarious moments.Lifetime also brings out the full force of reality TV with Project Runway. Heidi Klum is back with a new set of designers, and the show’s redesign, coupled with a model-centered reality show spinoff, proves to only enhance what was already one of the better reality TV shows.Finally, Bravo’s The Rachel Zoe Project is back for a second season. The show, which follows the hectic career of celeb stylist Rachel Zoe, offers an insider’s look to an industry that dominates the tabloids. It also provides for some great comedic moments, especially when the show highlights Brad Goreski, whose one-liners are some of the best on TV.What all these shows have in common is that they’ve taken a chance. Each one is either completely new or has reinvented itself, and the manifestation of so many shows taking those risks has given American TV viewers a truly great season of television.Stephen Schmitz is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from The Woodlands, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_sschmitz.– – – -Contact Stephen Schmitz at [email protected]