December always brings with it the traditional television season break.
Over the past decade, it’s served more as the mile-marker where half the shows pull off the road and a whole new set get ready to come on. This year, with the writer’s strike going on, there’s more chance than usual that everything on up to this point won’t be coming back.
So far, though, this season has been better than most I can remember. Here’s what I’ve been enjoying.
Kid Nation — Probably the best new reality show I’ve seen in a while. While I was at first worried it would be exploitive, it’s been downright inspirational. It wraps up next week and I really can’t wait to see what they have in store. Heck, I’m even looking forward to a reunion show a decade down the road, some of those kids are going to do amazing things.
Samantha Who? — Of all the new sitcoms, this one has a pedigree that actually paid off. Unlike Back to You (which should have been good, but wasn’t even close), the talents of the cast are utilized fully. Christina Applegate and Jean Smart play the perfect dysfunctional mother-daughter opposite one another and the rest of the cast adds more spice. Applegate is always a trip to watch and this show has given her a chance to actually play a range.
Dirty Sexy Money — I’m not fully caught up with all the episodes I’ve recorded, but this show just keeps getting better. It gets more twisted, more wild and just plain more fun every hour. The screwball family dynamics of the Darlings and the not quite Everyman portrayal by Peter Krause of lawyer Nick George is a near-endless source of entertainment. Granted, I don’t really see the show lasting more than two seasons (if it even gets through a full 22 episode run), but it’s going to be good while it lasts.
Pushing Daisies — I had hoped this show would be as creative, twisted and quirky as everything else Bryan Fuller has been involved in. Those hopes were more than met. The story of the pie-maker, the shady PI, the living dead girl and the cast of characters they encounter has been the most fantastical thing I’ve seen on network TV since Amazing Stories. Without question, the show is beautiful, but it’s fairy tale feel gives it a depth and timelessness few other shows could ever hope to touch.
The Big Bang Theory — When I watched the first episode, I hated this show. Needless to say, it got better. A lot better. As the writers and actors found the characters, Leonard, Sheldon and their gaggle of geeks and dorks (and Penny, the hot neighbor) have come to life and kept me laughing. Sure I’ve cringed a bit, too, but it was always because I started to think “Oh, crap… I’ve had that conversation and seen that happen.”
Journeyman — While the comparisons to Quantum Leap are inevitable, this show has come into its own quite well over the past weeks. While the main character may be jumping around time trying to put things right, he’s got a problem to deal with that Sam never did: he slips without warning and always comes back to his home time, often with odd consequences on both ends of the trip. Things get even more complicated as we meet more people who may be involved in manipulating events and slipping through time. This show got right everything that last season’s Daybreak got wrong.
Bionic Woman — Not quite as strong as I had hoped it would be, but Bionic Woman has still been a fun ride. The last couple of episodes seem to have finally hit their stride, making sharp the dark edge the show has been playing with and crystallizing the characters in more three-dimensional ways than before. Thankfully, they’ve avoided the temptation of camp and stuck to serious (or at least realistic) stories.
Reaper — Sure, it’s not a high-class show. What it is is just plain cotton-candy fun. Ray Wise as the devil, as expected, means you can’t go too wrong. The show is silly, the performances adequate for the stories. It’s low-impact, slightly above average, pure entertainment. Problems only flare up when they hint at darker and deeper sub-plots. Really, the show probably can’t handle that. Things should be OK if they don’t try too hard.
Life — It’s not very often that a truly different cop show comes along. Life is that rare bird. It’s got a hard-core revenge plot line the equal of any Dirty Harry film (though with a lot less shooting), but it’s also got humor and humanity in spades. The only thing it’s kind of light on is proper procedural details. Luckily, it doesn’t bill itself as a procedural—it’s a character driven drama that just happens to be full of cops and criminals. And it’s far from clear which is which most of the time.
Chuck — I still think this show has a limited shelf-life. They’ve only got one or two gags so far and, even though they just added a new (though expected) twist to the mix, I don’t know how they’d sustain it for multiple seasons and keep it as fun and interesting as it’s been. And it has been fun and interesting. The spy intrigue and relationship drama, along with the workplace humor, are all well above average.
As the remaining episodes of the current shows wind down, I’m looking forward to the replacements that are on their way. Until they show up, though, I’m going to keep enjoying what’s left of the good new ones. (And, of course, I’m also enjoying what’s left of all the returning shows I’ve been watching and recording.)
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