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Thank heavens it's January. In TV-land, January is always full of hope. And here in Canada, January is the real start to the TV season. CBC and CTV will launch several major dramatic series in the next few months as well as a high-profile reality series, miniseries and movies. In fact, almost every broadcaster is gearing up to launch something new.

This year, January is more important and promising than usual. The writers' strike curtailed the start of the 2008/2009 TV season for U.S. networks and cable channels, so the real surge starts now. And it looks like quality entertainment is coming.

First, the big-ticket new series. CBC is banking on Being Erica (starts Jan. 5), a charming drama, being a hit. It stars Erin Karpluk, familiar to fans of Godiva's, as thirtysomething Erica Strange. Erica is a relentless underachiever who's feeling lost. Then she gets a chance to change her past life, thanks to mercurial therapist Dr. Tom (Michael Riley), who seems to be able to send her back in time. The first episode is wonderful. CTV has The Listener, which has already been sold to NBC (starts in March, probably) and, while rumours about the show's direction abound, it certainly opens strongly. And it makes Toronto look stunningly beautiful. It's about Toby Logan (Craig Olejnik) a 24-year-old paramedic living with a secret: He can read people's minds. The series is thus a telepathic procedural taking viewers into the heart of a tortured hero.

Of the new U.S. network shows, Fox has the standout in Lie to Me (starts Jan. 21) with Tim Roth as a cranky, brilliant guy who can tell when people – especially crime suspects, of course – are lying. And Fox has Joss Whedon's sci-fi thriller Dollhouse (starts Feb. 13), about people – mainly attractive young women, of course – whose minds can be wiped clean.

Then there are the important returning shows. 24 (Fox, Global, Jan. 11, and Monday, Jan. 12) returns after a long absence and Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is facing charges in Washington when, of course, he's called upon to stop a terrorist plot. It remains to be seen if 24 still has zeitgeist allure. Damages, season two (Showcase, Jan. 18) continues to follow, in a twisted manner, the lives of lawyer-manipulator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and her once-ambitious young protégé Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). Murder. Intrigue. Look out, it's all coming.