Image Credit: Desperate Housewives: Danny Feld; The Good Wife: CBS

Right after the fall schedule was announced last May, I posted a rundown of the most intriguing time-period battles and who I thought would win. There’s been a lot of buzz and new intel about these shows since then, but I’m keeping my predictions the same — plus adding a several new entries. So here they are, below. Be sure to check the Inside TV blog every morning for the ratings to see how your favorite shows perform (of course, in today’s DVR era, time periods are less important than they were five years ago, but don’t be fooled: The slots still matter — just ask any show that faced off against American Idol, or one that had the pleasure of airing after it):

Who: CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 vs. NBC’s Playboy Club vs. ABC’s Castle
When: Mondays at 10 p.m.
Verdict: Castle pulled off a surprise victory in this slot by the end of last season against the first year of Five-0, gradually conquering a time period that it always lost to CBS when CSI: Miami was there. (Castle was especially aided by Charlie Sheen’s freak out and Two and a Half Men going into repeats — thus weakening CBS’ 9 p.m. hour’s lead into Hawaii.) So this is the rematch, with Hawaii bulking up with a ton of guest stars and adding Terry O’Quinn to the cast. Expectations are modest for Playboy Club. Hawaii will go big tonight when Men returns tonight, but in the coming weeks Castle will probably end up slightly on top. And now on Friday nights, it’s Chuck vs… READ FULL STORY »