It always crushes my soul to see summer give way to fall, but … at least the TV season has kicked off to distract me!

This year, though, has brought a surprise.

There I sat, watching "Cougar Town," when the doorbell rang. On TV.

Penny’s the first up, barking, running toward the front door. Darcy follows, BAR-ROH-ROH-ROH! A few seconds later, their dreams of a visitor dashed, they’re back in the family room lying down by me.

The next morning, Chris and I watched "Modern Family." Naturally, there’s a family gathering. And of course, the doorbell rings as family filters in. TWICE. Awesome. The best part was that Penny and Darcy were juuust re-settled in their napping spots when the second "ding-dong" sent them running, barking, hoping.

This is all pretty cute and I laugh a lot at them, but I’m curious how cute it’ll be when out-of-town family or friends stay with me, they go to bed, I spend "me time" watching "Mad Men" with all its ’60s neighborly politeness and the dogs lose their minds. I’ll find out next month!

I might as well start muting my way through "Desperate Housewives" … a looot of neighbors stop over on that show …