Just as the series finales on our favorite television shows air, the fall lineups are thrust upon us. As the Sopranos bid farewell forever, we are whacked with a dizzying list of competing TV programs, planned returns in new time slots and a slew of "clever" new reality shows.

Trying to follow the looming schedule is like trying to follow pro football drafts,  baseball trades before deadlines and soccer in any form. You need a huge chart for all of these sports world  trading games. And it often happens that you never see the prized draft picks again - wearing any uniform - because they aren’t kept by the team that chose them.

In TV land, we face summer returns, such as Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, Rescue Me and , of course, Big Love, the amazing saga of a Mormon family in Utah that makes presidential candidate Mitt Romney look like an old-fashioned Bible Belt Baptist, not a Mormon.

Along with returns, there are a load of new tryout programs that will likely appear once or twice, bomb and disappear, just like drafted athletes.

Of course we could go outdoors, away from our television sets and enjoy the summer weather. But gas prices are curtailing a lot of family car trips and airline fares are more prohibitive because of their high fuel costs. More important, there's the fear perpetrated by dermatologists warning us to stay out of the sun. That  alone has driven a lot of people back to the glow of the TV screen for summer entertainment.

Now, if the focus on fall television schedules and the September start of the football season aren't enough to project you past the arrival of the lazy days of summer, you might also be checking the fashion scene.

Before you’ve reorganized your wardrobe for the hot days ahead, the fashion industry is showing its own fall lineup of must-have clothing. You’ll be looking at winter boots before you put on your first pair of summer sandals. You’ll see wool instead of cotton and linen in your favorite stores. As you find the summer not quite officially here, you'll see there are now few really flattering  swim suits still in your favorite stores. Of course you aren’t mentally ready yet to try  these skimpy suits on your still wan body. The best of the swimwear is gone. It went on sale in February.

Finally, rushing the season in still another arena  are the two dozen candidates already debating the 2008 presidential election.

I’m not digesting any new TV fall plans because most shows will either be shifted or canceled.   I’ll figure out who’s playing for the NY Giants and my Patriots when the first game rolls around. I’ll wear the same clothes I wore last season. And I’ll decide on my presidential choice in the fall of 2008, certainly not now.

What’s left? We just might go to our car dealership and see the 2008 models. But there’s no assurance even on the car lot that a chosen model won’t be dropped from the lineup. Take it from an old Audi Fox owner (Fox was dropped by Audi) who then bought a Cimmeron (it was dropped by G.M.).

Yes, plan ahead. But expect changes.

Maybe it’s best just to live in the moment.