One of the hallmarks of a new year is a resolution to change. We resolve to quit bad habits and pick up good ones, to eat less or work out more.

That desire for change is true in the world of television as well; each January brings us a wealth of new network offerings aimed at trimming the unwatched fat and finding new hits to capture viewers. You never know what's going to stick, but here are some of the fresh attempts TV will be making over the next couple of months to snag your attention.

a fall 2012 TV preview

Being a television executive is much like being a professional gambler: It's a business built around taking huge risks. Sometimes, those risks pay off hugely. More often, they don't. So it is with new network television shows. For every breakout hit, there are half a dozen flops. And that doesn't even count the scores of filmed pilots that ultimately fail to find a home.

Still, hope springs eternal, even in the entertainment business. The network dial is riddled with new offerings this fall. Any one of them could conceivably capture the public's imagination and become a mainstay for the next five years. Of course, that just means the rest of them will be boring, bland and ultimately forgettable assuming they aren't epically terrible. We can probably count on at least one of those as well.

The Travel Channel films a show at the Hermon truck stop

HERMON - Locals all know how tasty the food is at Dysart's truck stop in Hermon, and soon so will the whole country. Last Tuesday, the Travel Channel spent the day filming the restaurant's staff, customers and the creation of the restaurant's pot roast, lobster rolls and blueberry pie for an episode of 'Food Paradise,' a show that zeros in on some of the best eats around the country.

"I've seen bits and pieces of the show," said customer Kristi Buchanan of Hampden.

Buchanan's boyfriend, Dysart's chef Shaun Yazbeck, has been looking forward to the Travel Channel stopping in.

  George Hale in his own words

Everyone at Blueberry Broadcasting will tell you the same thing one of the best parts of our day is when we interact with George Hale. Sometimes he'll cross the hall to visit The Mike and Mike Show and flirt with one of our female guests or rail against the New York Yankees. We still have his famous 2004 'Take that you Yankee bastards!' quote ready to play at any time. Some mornings, I sneak into the GHRT studio, sit on the floor like a little kid and just listen while they do the show.

Even before I sat down to interview George for this story, I knew I wanted to present it as a first-person narrative. Nobody could tell George Hale's story better than George Hale. All I needed to do was ask questions and then step out of the way. With only a few tweaks from me, what follows are highlights in George's words - from two interviews recorded over the last two weeks. This barely scratches the surface we're talking about a man who has been a broadcaster in seven different decades. George's full story could only be told in a book. Mike Dow