Friday, December 16, 2005
State of the Television, 2006
Now that we have reached the Holiday lull, I thought I'd let you in on what we watch on a regular basis, on my impressions of our Fall Season.
Monday
Surface
At times annoying cliché, at times nail-biting, Surface is probably the weakest of the aliens-in-the-water shows, but still is compelling. I just wish the government would be seen as having some sort of real agenda - it seems unlikely such a worldwide phenomena could be kept under wraps. I really like the separate storylines of unrelated characters, though I expect them to team up eventually.Medium
Smart, creepy, and a lot of fun. I like how it vacillates from quirky to serious. The husband-and-wife chemistry is perfect; the husband is not too instantly believing of her visions, but has a healthy pessimism that counterbalances her naivete and firmly balances her in the here and now. Plus, the interpretations of her visions to find the truth are varied enough that sometimes the real answer is not apparent until the end, which has becoming increasingly uncommon for me in recent years.Tuesday
Commander-in-Chief
Has some of the sparkle of the early West Wing, but throws family melodrama on it in heaps. At times it feels a little schmaltzy as the President always does what is right at the expense of her political stature. Although that feels good and makes for a character we can applaud for, it also rings as being a little contrived after watching Bartlett sacrifice his principles because he must for several years.House
Take Quincy, remove all the loveable aspects of his character, and you get Greg House. Un-PC to a fault, House is a compelling character study and involving medical drama. Of course, in the real world, House would have been fired ten times over, but that's what makes for great television.SVU
Only watch it on occasion. Feels the same as it ever did, and still comes off as the most successful of the Law and Order franchise. Wish it would finally get an Emmy.
Wednesday
Lost
This is the very definition of an ensemble cast. Every person feels just as important as everyone else, and integral to the show. Which is why it comes as a surprise when anyone is killed. Here’s hoping it stays just as gripping and strong, and does not succumb tot he over-the-top antics that sometime beleaguered Alias during its run.Invasion
Decidedly lower key, but still a fun watch. It does feel at times to be a more-friendly-for-television version of American Gothic, its earlier cousin by the same production theme. Except now they switched the devil for aliens.Thursday
Alias
It’s Sydney’s last season, but what a season. It feels a little tighter now that it did last year, but the show does seem to be fumbling for a plot or some sort of story arc to carry it out. It’ll be hard to end the show on a note better than last year’s finale, which did feel like it could have been a series finale (ending with Vaughan’s revelation would have been AWESOME). I do kind of wish Sydney’s new teammates could get a spin-off, but that’s wishful thinking.Night Stalker
I gave it a shot. I kind of liked it. It was kind of X-Files light, and they stories were adequately spooky, but it did suffer from not having a real skeptic among the crowd. Now that it’s over, I guess I’ll have a TV void on Thursday, since we certainly can’t watch CSI around the kids. That, or I’ll rent the original Kolchak and watch what could have been.
ER
It just keeps going and going. Though the new additions this season, Kirsten Johnson and John Leguizamo, have done nothing to make the show feel boring and a little staid. I’m thinking it might be on its last legs.
Friday
Sci-Fi Friday
Nuff Said. Between a reenergized Stargate, Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica, Sci-Fi Friday has never been better. Sci-Fi is winning the 18-34 demographic in the cable networks for Friday night, and here's hoping that they can keep it up.
Monk
Tony Shalhoub is so underrated; it is great to see that his series is still going strong and that the Emmys have finally noticed. I wasn’t sure about the Sharona replacement at first, especially the disservice the writers did in writing out her character by having her go back to New Jersey and her drunkard boyfriend, but Natalie has proved a good replacement, and possibly better for Adrian in recuperating.
Saturday
Nothing to watch here.
Sunday
Desperate Housewives
Every time I feel this show was much better its first season, it pulls something outrageous enough to get me hooked again. And that cycle has continued over and over again this season. I suppose that’s good drama. At least its funny drama.Grey’s Anatomy
This show took a little while for me to get into, but the characters have become more endearing, and ultimately feel much more real to me that doctors on any other medical show I have ever watched, even the perennial ER. Plus, they are all more or less my age or younger, which makes their angst easier to relate too.Every Day
Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Easily the fiunniest television on, and much more consistent than any other variety comedy hour.
Out of Favor
We stopped watching CSI due to un-acceptable kiddie content due to the kids, and stopped watching Boston Legal as it now feels a little too full of itself and its zaniness. No one feels like a real lawyer on there anymore, and Denny Crane and Alan Shore desperately need a Eugene to balance them.
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