The four-month long drought of U.S. TV shows is finally over. Fall is here and that means a returning crop of familiar series and a new batch of TV shows to be debuted.

With so many choices at your fingertips and so little time, how do you know what to sink your valuable time into? The last thing everyone wants is to begin watching a mediocre series, or worse, having the show cancelled when you’re just getting into it.

Out of dozens of returning shows which include perennial favorites like Supernatural, Chuck, House, we’ve come up with a list of the 3 best TV shows that have just returned with new seasons to U.S. TV that guys should watch.

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3. Fringe

A science fiction show with elements of mystery, this is a great bet for anyone who doesn’t have the patience or time to watch through every episode in order. The title Fringe refers to the fringe science that the show deals with, such as teleportation, shape-shifters, psychic abilities, science-created monsters and more.

Beginning its run in 2008, Fringe has already aired 2 seasons and Season 3 has just begun. Fringe was also nominated for a 2008 Writers Guild of America Award for the New Series category and highly praised by various media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, who went as far as naming it as a “a full-blown addiction”.

The characters, FBI agent Oliva Dunham (Anna Torv), brilliant but mentally unstable scientist, Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his genius son, Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) are interesting, multi-faceted and have great chemistry with each other. The unlikely team work together to solve the various mysteries regarding fringe science.

Unlike Lost, Fringe doesn’t have too many mysteries ongoing at once to keep track of and most episodes are self contained. However, there is an season-long story arc that runs through the whole show that builds up slowly episode by episode.

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2. Sons of Anarchy

Another show that debuted in 2008, Sons of Anarchy is also in its third season.

Sons of Anarchy tells the story of the daily lives of members involved in an gun trafficking motorcycle club, the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original (SAMCRO). Based in Charming, a fictional town in California, the show focusses on Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), the vice-president of SAMCRO.

Joining him is a stellar cast, with Ron Perlman as Clay Morrow, Jax’s step-father and president of SAMCRO, Katey Segal as Gemma Teller Morrow, Kim Coates as Alexander “Tig” Trager, Mark Boone Jr. as Robert “Bobby Elvis” Munson.

As expected of such experienced actors, the acting is superb and the script well-written.  The show is also loosely based on the Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the show occasionally references it, such as Morrow calling Gemma his “queen” and Jax being referenced as the “little prince”.

Sons of Anarchy’s shorter season (only 13 episodes to most shows’ 22 episodes) means that every episode is packed with action rather than being padded with meaningless filler.

The only drawback is that the show is incredibly addictive, as The UrbanWire finished watching both seasons within a week.

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1. Dexter

Dexter stars the titular character Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a blood splatter analyst working for the Miami Metro Police.

Oh, and he’s also a serial killer.

However, Morgan is not any ordinary serial killer. He kills only those who deserve it, namely, other serial killers. Dexter chronicles the life of Morgan and his attempts to keep his need to kill under control, as well as evading the suspicion that he is not as he seems.

The first season of Dexter is adapted from a 2004 novel, Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, while subsequent seasons are based on elements from the sequels to the first book.

The oldest show on the list, Dexter premiered in 2006 and already has 4 seasons under its belt.

Dexter has also garnered several awards such as an 2006 AFI award for TV Program of the Year and Michael C. Hall himself has won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor In A Drama Television Series in 2010 for his outstanding portrayal of Dexter Morgan.

One warning though, Dexter occasionally has nudity and large amounts of violence blood, so be prepared.

And that’s The UrbanWire’s pick for tv shows that will appeal most to guys, check back in the next few days for the girl’s edition!