More first impressions of the new fall shows.

“The Class” (Mondays, CBS): Premise: To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the day he met his fiancee, a Nice Normal Guy hosts a reunion of their 3rd grade class. Fiancee dumps him at the party; guests at the party reconnect with each other; a sitcom is born. What’s unusual about this one, which stars the uber-likable Jason Ritter as the Nice Normal Guy, is how much focus seems to be placed on the people as characters and not just as punchline delivery systems. In the 22-minute pilot there were several decent laughs and some genuine poignancy, too; kudos to the actors for doing so much with their characters in so little time. TiVo verdict: Season Pass, at least for now.

“Standoff” (Tuesdays, Fox): It’s a drama about FBI hostage negotiators, with the added twist that the two lead negotiators (a man and a woman) are secretly dating each other. The first episode suggests the focus will be on hostage-related crises, not personal ones, and that’s a good choice. Pretty good tension with the standoffs, mild surprises in the way they’re resolved, and the characters are likable enough. I won’t watch it every week, but it seems light and enjoyable enough to catch now and then. TiVo verdict: Low-priority Season Pass, ignored if something more urgent is on.

“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (Mondays, NBC): Never having watched “SportsNight” or “The West Wing,” I was personally unfamiliar with the legendary writing talents of Aaron Sorkin. Now I see what I’ve been missing: sheer genius. My friends, THIS is a TV show! It’s set behind the scenes at a “Saturday Night Live”-style sketch comedy show, focusing on the backstage drama and mayhem that go into working for network TV. The dialogue is fast-paced and snappily written, the energy high, the acting (by Matthew Perry and Amanda Peet, notably) impeccable. It helps that it’s about one of my favorite things — the inner workings of TV — but even if it were something else, I suspect I’d find these characters and situations fascinating, so compelling is the writing and direction of the show. TiVo verdict: Season Pass.

The Online Film Critics Society, in honor of its 10th anniversary, recently held a survey among its members to determine the best 100 movies of the last 10 years. We all worked to produce a list of 400 worthy films from 1996-2005, and then everyone chose their personal top 50. Now those top 50 lists have been used to compile the group’s official Top 100.

(The Top 100 is finished, but it hasn’t been announced yet. I don’t know why.)

Here is my top 50 list. I didn’t spend hours and hours on it, so I don’t know if every single film is exactly where it should be. For instance, is “Kung Fu Hustle” (#33) necessarily better than “The Royal Tenenbaums” (#34)? Or should they be switched? I don’t know. But in general, the order of the list reflects my true opinions.

I count seven animated films, one documentary, six foreign-language movies, three musicals, 10 films that played at Sundance, and three movies with “Lord of the Rings” in the title. I’m surprised there are that many cartoons, not surprised there are that many Sundance movies, surprised there aren’t more foreign films.

What films that aren’t included here would be on your top 50 for 1996-2005?

Eric’s Top 50 Films of the Past 10 Years

1. Fight Club
2. Toy Story 2
3. Waiting for Guffman
4. Memento
5. Requiem for a Dream
6. About a Boy
7. Moulin Rouge
8. Far from Heaven
9. A History of Violence
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
11. Spider-Man 2
12. Run Lola Run
13. Spirited Away
14. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
15. Kill Bill, Volume 2
16. The Incredibles
17. Road to Perdition
18. 28 Days Later
19. About Schmidt
20. Adaptation
21. Billy Elliot
22. The Blair Witch Project
23. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
24. Life is Beautiful
25. L.I.E.
26. The Triplets of Belleville
27. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
28. Sin City
29. The Iron Giant
30. The Sixth Sense
31. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
32. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
33. Kung Fu Hustle
34. The Royal Tenenbaums
35. Being John Malkovich
36. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
37. Brokeback Mountain
38. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
39. Dark City
40. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
41. The Game
42. Kill Bill, Vol. 1
43. Shaun of the Dead
44. The Spanish Prisoner
45. Super Size Me
46. The Sweet Hereafter
47. Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.
48. Nobody Knows
49. The Saddest Music in the World
50. Hedwig and the Angry Inch