Attention TV Addicts: Come September, assuming you’re still living in the stone-age (translation: unlucky enough to not own a DVR) you’re screwed you’ve got some fairly big decisions ahead of you. CASTLE versus HAWAII FIVE-0! PARENTHOOD versus THE GOOD WIFE! THE BIG BANG THEORY versus COMMUNITY! Suffice to say, it’s the TV Addict equivalent of Sophie’s Choice. And why, as we inch closer and closer to our favorite time of the year (read: Fall TV!) we’ll be spending some time shining the spotlight on a few of the week’s most compelling time-slot showdowns. With today’s focus being on one of the most interesting showdowns to come along since CBS pitted SURVIVOR against FRIENDS, the jam-packed Thursday at 8PM face-off between FOX’s BONES, NBC’s COMMUNITY and new arrival CBS’ THE BIG BANG THEORY.
In BONES’ favor: If this just released sixth season teaser trailer is any indication, the brains behind BONES are not exactly throwing out the proverbial “Welcome Mat” for their new time slot competition. More to the point, by placing Booth and Brennan’s relationship (or lack their-of) front and center, wrangling some fairly high profile guest stars, and crafting “situations” that may-or-may-not be inspired by the cultural zeitgeist du jour, Hart Hanson and Co. are sending a clear message to whatever Team Prady has up their sleeves. That message: Bring it on.
In THE BIG BANG THEORY’s favor: Thanks to a cushy post-TWO AND A HALF MEN timeslot on Mondays (which last season netted the sophomore series double the viewers of BONES and COMMUNITY combined!), and a Emmy-worthy performance by Jim Parsons, THE BIG BANG THEORY is riding a tidal wave of momentum and popularity unseen on Thursday nights since the heyday of NBC’s Must See TV. Also helping THE BIG BANG THEORY’s cause come Fall will be a slew of high profile demo-friendly guest stars including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, STAR TREK alum Wil Wheaton and today’s just announced return of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA’s Katee Sackhoff.
In COMMUNITY’s favor: You mean aside from getting the obligatory ratings-bump that comes with any association to America’s sweetheart Betty White? Well, thanks to a ridiculously stellar second-half of the season, NBC’s little-comedy-that-just-might is enjoying a critical level of fan adoration and buzz usually reserved for shows on AMC. Unfortunately for creator Dan Harmon, it’s also attracting the same paltry number of viewers usually reserved for shows on AMC. Which brings us to…
The Winner: With COMMUNITY eating into THE BIG BANG THEORY’s audience ever-so-slightly and “The Jim Parsons Project” no longer able to rely on TWO AND HALF MEN’s 15 million viewers per-week, expect BONES — thanks in no small part to its fiercely loyal audience — to come out on top. Particularly when the clock strikes 8:30PM and THE BIG BANG gives way to what we have a feeling will be the big bust (Read: The far less funny $#*! MY DAD SAYS.) 
