Ahh, January. New year. New beginnings. New TV shows!

Ditching old shows that have come to annoy you and trying on something brand spanking new is like tackling that closet you’ve thrown everything in for the last five years.

Yes, kids, January is like September with the amount of new programming the networks and cable and premium channels roll out.

Ditching old shows that have come to annoy you and trying on something brand spanking new is like tackling that closet you’ve thrown everything in for the last five years.

Here’s what I’m jazzed about:

Friday, Jan. 8: What Not to Wear (TLC). It’s hard to believe going into the eighth season that I still get a kick out of Clinton and Stacy and Carmindy and Nick working their magic, but I do. And I still am always hoping against hope that someone is secretly filming me for two weeks.

Sunday, Jan. 10: Chuck (NBC). The two-hour opener will follow up the next day in Chuck’s regular Monday night time slot with a third episode. The failure of so many of NBC’s fall shows was good news for Chuck fans, since we not only got extra episodes (almost a full season now), but we also don’t have to wait until after the Olympics. When last we left Chuck, his dad had downloaded new powers into him. The previews look AWESOME.

Tuesday, Jan. 12: American Idol (Fox); Southland (TNT). Idol launches its ninth season with a new judge, Ellen DeGeneres, replacing the irreplaceable Paula Abdul. We won’t see Ellen for a while, though, since they did the cross country trip with a host of fill-ins after Miss Paula bailed right before everything got going. The one I am most looking forward to is the stop with Neil Patrick Harris as a judge. Idol also recently announced that it was going back to a Top 24 instead of last year’s Top 36. Not sure if that means we go back to the boy-girl elimination as well.

Southland was NBC’s promising new cop drama that arrived last winter as a mid-season replacement, started off huge and then quickly devolved into what we will kindly call “not so good.” The ensemble cast was too huge by far, the plots involving the characters were cliched, and the focus on the crime solving was lost. Then, just before it’s fall return for a full season, NBC cancelled it. Between now and March TNT will air the episodes from that first network run. New episodes begin March 2. I hope it refinds its footing.

Wednesday, Jan. 13: ‘Leverage’ (TNT). We ended last season with the annoying dark-haired female grifter (who was played by the annoying bad actress Gina Bellman) leaving the gang and being replaced by the blonde female grifter (played by the annoying bad actress Jeri Ryan). The previews show them both, so I don’t know what’s going on. This show is silly, but it’s one of my guilty winter pleasures. Like Cheez-Its.

 Thursday, Jan. 14: Project Runway (Lifetime). The sixth season was so devastatingly disappointing, but I am hopeful that this one — which returns to New York and reunites us full time with Nina Garcia and Michael Kors — will be better. It certainly can be worse. If it is worse, then I’m done.

Thursday, Jan. 21: Burn Notice (USA). I love this show so much I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant.

Tuesday, Feb. 2: Lost (ABC). I’m cheating here, going into February, but I am so stinking excited for the final season of this show, which had an awesome penultimate season ... I’m just going to need a refresher course in advance.

You can see the full list of January premieres over to your right, up near the top of the blog. What are you looking forward to?