You may like spring, with flowers blooming and soft breezes blowing.  Or, you may long for autumn, the trees changing colors, the exaggerated use of pumpkin in everything imaginable.  But my favorite season?  New television season!  Having to wait all summer for my favorite shows to crank out new episodes is somewhat excruciating, which is why I love when the new TV season kicks off. It’s like early Christmas cards from my favorite celebs. Plus, it’s always fun to test drive new shows, see which ones will have a permanent place in my repertoire of weekly viewing.  With this year’s season in full swing, some shows are thriving, while others have already bid adieu.

FOX executives have reason to celebrate this year, perhaps with celebratory Christmas cards to one Ms. Zooey Deschanel.  The adorable star from such movies as Elf and (500) Days of Summer is a bona-fide television star with her new hit show, New Girl.  Deschanel stars as Jess, a socially-awkward, yet totally adorable, single girl who moves in with three male roommates.  Deschanel shines as Jess, infusing her with a sweet, bubbly charisma that you can’t help but root for.  Further bragging rights for FOX: New Girlwas the first new show of the season given a full-season pick-up.  Good news for me, because I am totally in love with this show, and can’t bear the thought of it being cancelled.

'New Girl' is a solid comedy hit for FOX. There are so many new shows this season, who knows where to start?

Speaking of cancelled, NBC continues its downward spiral, as two of its new shows have been axed.  The first new show to be yanked off air was the controversial The Playboy Club, based on the infamous Chicago club.  The show failed to capture an audience, especially with protesters lashing out against it before it even premiered.  Even Hugh Hefner commented on the demise of the show, stating that the show may have fared better on a premium network, as opposed to a major network.  I had full intention of checking this show out, going so far as to DVR the first episode.  But alas, I never got around to it; looks like I’ll never have to.

NBC’s other cancelled show was Free Agents, starring Hank Azaria (best known for his voice work on The Simpsons).  The show was about…ummm…secret agents…fighting robots….to free humanity?  Ok honestly I have no idea what this show was about, which goes to show why it was cancelled.  Stick to The Simpsons, Hank.  You guys will be on until the end of time anyway.

Other new shows have popped up with relative success, like CBS’s 2 Broke Girls and ABC’s Revenge (the former I haven’t seen, though I hear it is funny; the latter is my newest guilty pleasure).  I suggest you all stay in and enjoy my favorite season.  Sound off below if you have discovered some new shows worth watching (or rediscovered some old favorites!).

Holiday cards designed by Hank Azaria for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundations

With its canvas, seemingly of white construction paper and a color palette in line with your basic box of Crayola washable markers, a person could easily dismiss Hank Azaria’s holiday cards as horribly amateur for an adult celebrity. Please try to remember that while his resume includes 20 years of voicing cartoons like The Simpsons, it doesn’t list drawing them.

The holiday card that Azaria created for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has childlike simplicity. Multi-colored smiling faces and a scribbled heart with outpouring lines adorn the card and resemble another piece of charitable art from Christmases past, the LP album series, A Very Special Christmas. Azaria’s holiday card design is deliberate though, meant to evoke that most simple of times – childhood during the holiday season.

Children, as you might expect, aren’t well-known for giving lavish or extravagant gifts. Some celebutante, trust-fund babies might give outlandish gifts, but I digress. Instead, children only have a few things to give the people in their lives for the holidays. They give their imagination and talents…and they give simply from the heart. Could there be anything more heartwarming than something handmade from your child? The charming, almost-shy presentation to you is so endearingly filled with their hopes of you loving it after all their hard work… making it personalized just for you.

Hank Azaria

It should be no surprise that Hank Azaria’s holiday cards aren’t about something that doesn’t require assembly by an adult and isn’t a medium-sized pair of slipper-socks without a receipt. Hank Azaria’s holiday card is about something that’s simple and touching…the effortless and kind act of giving both genuinely and generously from the heart.

And although his heart and soul is forever in The Simpsons, Azaria’s live-action roles have been dotted throughout a typically animated career. I (like most people might) recall Hank Azaria’s face as Agador Spartacus in The Birdcage, but the voice-over actor has also been in several other comedic movies of note like the Ben Stiller vehicle, Dodgeball, and Grosse Pointe Blank.

And just as he leaves us smiling after watching him in one of his funny roles, children with HIV/AIDS and their families will be smiling from the help that he brings to them through the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Hank – keep up the good work!