Let’s start with some of the new shows that will certainly be distracting students from their homework.

First of all on Monday nights we have one of the most promising new comedies of the season, “2 Broke Girls.” The show stars Kat Dennings (“Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”) and relative newcomer Beth Behrs. “Girls” tells the story of, well two broke girls living in New York City and working as waitresses. The new comedy will premiere on CBS on Sept. 19.

Monday night also brings NBC’s “The Playboy Club,” a hotly anticipated and highly criticized show based on, you guessed it, the first Playboy Club in Chicago. “Playboy” stars Eddie Cibrian (“CSI: Miami”) and David Krumholtz (“The Santa Clause,” “Numb3rs”) and also premieres Monday Sept. 19.

Shifting gears into cable, and moving into October, the producers of everyone’s favorite high school songfest are at it again, but this time singing a much creepier tune. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck, executive producers of “Glee,” will be premiering their new creepfest, aptly titled “American Horror Story.” If you haven’t seen a promo for this one yet, stop reading this and go find it. Did you watch it? Are you creeped out? Good. “American Horror Story” premieres Wednesday, Oct. 5 on FX.

When it comes to returning shows, this season isn’t hurting for good material.

(Warning! Spoilers!)

CBS’s Monday night comedy block will kick off with “How I Met Your Mother” in a season that will be answering at least one very important question: who will Barney be marrying? This season will also give us a look at a pregnant Lilly, a jealous Robin and Kal Penn’s return to show business after a brief stop at The White House. In true “Mother” style, the show will probably open up just as many questions by seasons end as it will tie up.

Fox is set to bring back “Fringe” to Friday nights to answer the question, “What’s a world without Peter really like?” After last season’s finale, which brought the two universes together in one room, Fringe has many questions to answer, and plenty more things to discover.

Unfortunately, not all the best shows can make it in the first lineup, and a few of them have to be pushed back to spring. This year, two returning shows are waiting until spring to premiere, much to the dismay of loyal fans.

Fans may be shocked to see Emmy award-winning “30 Rock” missing from their TV lineup for quite some time, especially after last year’s bizarre ending with Kenneth on a hill. “Rock” had to postpone production due to the birth of executive producer and star Tina Fey’s second child. When the show returns in the fall, I’m sure we can expect the same kind of wacky antics we’ve come to expect.

Another show that was (unceremoniously) pushed back to the midseason break is “Cougar Town.” ABC seems to be totally mishandling one of their smartest comedies. The show got off to a rocky start due to an awful name and a somewhat gross original concept. Since its premiere though, “Cougar” has really come into its own as a show, and its three female stars–Courtney Cox, Busy Philipps and Christa Miller–have emerged as the funniest threesome on TV. When the show does return, expect plenty of pounding grape, Penny Can and over baring mothering (and if you don’t understand what any of that means, you have plenty of time to catch up!)

This is just a small sample of all the shows that will certainly be distracting you this semester so keep an eye out for new TV this fall.

O’Brien now has a new home with a show simply titled “Conan,” which premiered Nov. 8 on TBS. With the freedom of basic cable, he is able to be his own wacky self without the worry of sponsors and network producers.

His comedy isn’t the standard stand-up delivery, but that’s why he’s so unique. Jay Leno, who replaced O’Brien as “The Tonight Show” host after O’Brien was forced out, can do monologues in his sleep. The inverse of this is that the audience themselves are being put to sleep by weak comedy. O’Brien has much more energy than anything the “Tonight Show” audience can handle, as proven by last season’s conflict.

O’Brien may have lost “The Tonight Show” during the late night war, but he’s better off without it. Sure, “Tonight Show” has the legacy in talk shows, but the red-headed host doesn’t need that brand. Old people turn to the “Tonight Show” when they are about to go to sleep. They want the safety of Leno, who is past his prime. O’Brien doesn’t fill that need for safety. Now without the pressure of the 56-year-old franchise, he has the freedom to do what he wants. Even O’Brien’s sidekick, Andy Richter, seems more relaxed on cable.

O’Brien’s last episode of “The Tonight Show” aired Jan. 22 after a public battle between O’Brien and NBC. NBC was trying to save face after their 10 p.m. talk show experiment, “The Jay Leno Show,” failed to attract viewers and brought down the rest of NBC’s programs. “The Jay Leno Show” was such a bad lead-in that both the news and O’Brien’s “Tonight Show” dropped in ratings.

Although O’Brien may be relying too much on conflict surrounding “The Tonight Show,” there is no doubt in my mind that he will grow as a comedian with his freedom. Even after being off television for the past seven months, he has been keeping his comedy sharp with the “The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour”

The new show has been a winner so far. Its premiere, which was advertised heavily by TBS, beat out all the other late night shows in ratings. Hopefully the ratings won’t take too big a dive after the first week of broadcast. Coco, as his fans affectionately refer to him, has the talent and drive and deserves the win.

“Glee” has already become one of FOX’s most successful primetime shows, causing a media and award show frenzy. But one can only ask, is this FOX’s one-hit wonder?

It is a much tougher world out there for the FOX Network these days, with cable companies offering 147 sports channels and all of the premium movie channels that TV junkies could possibly want. Other channels are staying competitive by featuring their most popular shows all on one night of the week. NBC has its Thursday nights and CBS has its Mondays. Well, now FOX is joining the club and getting a night of its own: Tuesday.

The night will start off with the critically acclaimed fan favorite “Glee” and will be followed by two newcomers: “Raising Hope” and “Running Wilde.”

“Raising Hope” is a witty comedy that follows the Chance family as they find themselves adding an unexpected new member to their household.

Jimmy Chance, played by TV newcomer Lucas Neff, is a 23-year-old whose life is going nowhere. He has a brief romantic encounter with a girl named Lucy, but later finds out she is a wanted felon. Months later, he goes to visit her in prison and she has a big surprise for him: she is pregnant, and he is the father.  He is responsible for taking care of the baby after she is born, and this starts the adventure of raising Hope.

Jimmy’s family is not exactly thrilled about his new found fatherhood and would rather he not keep the baby. Jimmy would have no part of giving the baby away, so the family agrees to raise her in some of the most unconventional ways.

Mary McNamara, television critic for the Los Angeles Times, notes that “There is depth and humor is the surprise-parenthood hook of ‘Raising Hope’.”  “Raising Hope” airs right after “Glee” at 9 p.m.

Airing right after “Raising Hope” at 9:30 p.m. is “Running Wilde,” an off-kilter comedy about filthy rich, immature playboy Steven Wilde (Will Arnett) who has everything he could want out of life. Everything, that is, except for the love of his childhood sweetheart Emmy Kadubic, played by Kerri Russell.

The show is told through the perspective of Emmy’s 12-year-old daughter Puddle (Stefania Owen). Emmy and Puddle have spent a majority of the time in the Amazon rain forest trying to save the world. Wilde Oil, Wilde’s oil company, plans an expansion in the rain forest threatens her adopted tribe, and Emmy decides to attend Steve’s self-thrown “Humanitarian of the Year” award ceremony in hopes to help her cause.

“Running Wilde” is written by Arnett, James Vallely and Mitchell Hurwitz, from the Emmy Award-winning and well-received FOX series “Arrested Development.”

To my surprise, the one show that stood out to me wasn’t Jimmy Kimmel, with his hilarious impersonation of Leno, or David Letterman with his poison-tipped barbs at his former adversary. It was Craig Ferguson, the host of “The Late Late Show.”

When I first started watching his show, I noticed that while following the standard late night formula, it was somehow different. After regular viewings, I came to realize that little is actually scripted. Ferguson improvises most of his monologue, which give it a nice narrative quality. Most late night shows sound so rehearsed and scripted that it makes them boring to watch in comparison.

Another unique quality to Ferguson’s show is substance. Most hosts avoid any real conversation with their guests. Ferguson, however, is not afraid to get personal with those he interviews. Often talking about his own history of drugs, alcoholism and rock ‘n’ roll, Ferguson is able to talk about meaningful things all while keeping the mood light with his natural comedic talents.

One of the most amusing aspects of Ferguson’s show is his willingness to explore the strange and experimental. Can you name another host who is willing to dress as Aquaman and read viewers e-mails? How about one who did an entire episode with puppets? When the lights went out unexpectedly in his studio, Ferguson even did an entire episode holding a flashlight to his face.

The most daring and quite frankly most entertaining experiment Ferguson has performed is when he reverted to a predecessor’s format and did an entire show without an audience, without any gags or segments and simply talked the entire time with his guest. The end result was one of the best hours of a talk show I have ever seen.

In my eyes, Craig Ferguson is the new king of late night.