Fall TiVo 2005

Over the last year or two, I’ve undergone a considerable aesthetic evolution. My latest stage seems a natural progression after spending a majority of my life enraptured by film before romancing the expanse and scale of fiction. In the past decade, largely spurred on by HBO’s revolutionary Sopranos, dramatic television has replaced film as the premiere source of thoughtful, engrossing entertainment. I struggle to think of any writers in film whose projects I desperately anticipate, but there are more than a dozen writers and producers who have me itching for the beginning of the television season this month. Of course, this is just a thoughtful and verbose way of justifying my transformation into the most passionate of television junkies. God bless DVR or I’d never get out of the house.

For the next nine months or so, this site, while occasionally introducing new inspired essays from yours truly, will feature weekly reviews of a handful of my favorite shows. I consider it my duty to spread the word on what many of you may be missing, and to keep my fellow fans abreast of my own opinions of these shows. Consider me your one-stop watercooler.

Here’s a run-down (in chronological order) of what I’m looking forward to this fall.

Thursday, September 8

The O.C. – A guilty pleasure I discovered on DVD, The O.C. involved a little more guilt and a little less pleasure in its sophomore year. The self-referential humor felt labored and the self-awareness that had allowed grown men like me to stomach the soap opera took a bit of a hiatus. Usually, the second season is the choppiest for break-out hits, so I’m keeping this show on four episode probation. The last several episodes of last season indicated the show might have found its footing again; the stir-the-pot special guests, lesbian dalliances, and place-holder girlfriends and boyfriends went buh-bye in favor of the core foursome of Seth, Summer, Marissa, and Ryan in an operatic conclusion that had its fans – perhaps for the first time all season – raving. (FOX 8 ET)

Tuesday, September 13

House – The success of this show makes little sense on paper. It’s another medical procedural (something we’ve had no shortage of since the Clooney days of ER). Its main protagonist is a blunt, unfriendly doctor who is never meaner than when he’s dealing with his suffering patients. Did I mention he’s a drug addict? Still, break-out star Hugh Laurie embodies the brilliant Doctor Gregory House with just enough humanity and more than enough intelligence to make the character appealing, if not likeable; the performance should get the virtual unknown Laurie an Emmy this year. The plotting of the show follows a predictable pattern, but that only makes it more powerful when it breaks from form – as in the tremendous “Three Stories,” where we learn the impetus for House’s nasty temperament. It was easily in the top three hours of television I saw all year. This was a pleasant dark horse discovery. (FOX 9 ET)

Wednesday, September 21

Lost -- This is the greatest television show I have ever seen, and considering my passion for many shows that have come before it (24, Firefly, Ed) that is no small praise. This show has everything I could want from serial television: epic storytelling, twisted mysteries, morally ambiguous characters, and smart smart SMART writing. There is so much going on in this show that I’m not even going to bother describing it all. Season 1 came out on DVD today. Buy it. Watch it. Join the fanbase. It’s that simple. If you don’t enjoy this show, I won’t disagree with you. But I will pity you. God must have left something out of your framework. (ABC 9 ET)

Veronica Mars -- Let me put this simply. Veronica Mars has all the attributes of my dream girl: disarmingly cute (without being too “movie star”), viciously intelligent with a nasty wit (she gives good sass), and a tender heart beneath a somewhat calloused and defensive front. Played by the effervescent Kristen Bell, this protagonist’s spunk is immediately infectious. Obsessed with the murder of her best friend that subsequently led to her ostracism from schoolmates, her family’s dissolution, and her father public shaming, Veronica relentlessly pursues the truth while dealing with a multitude of complex suspects and characters. As much as the mystery keeps one going from one episode to the next (I watched the entire thing on my computer in a weekend), the heart of this show is in Bell’s nuanced performance. She makes Nancy Drew look like Malibu Barbie. This show desperately deserves an audience (though ironically I will be continuing my online viewing of this show because the UPN affiliate here is so atrocious I might as well use rabbit ears). (UPN 9 ET)

Thursday, September 29

Alias -- TV fans basically fall into two categories: jump-the-sharks and apologists. The first group, while calling themselves fans, are really just rabid cynics waiting for the first trickle of blood in the water that might indicate a show has lost its way. These people are generally grouchy and impatient, entertainment’s version of arm-chair quarterbacks. Lost, while coming off one of the greatest seasons of any show ever, still had its share of “fans” who groused about the mysteries getting deeper and more complex rather than wrapped up in a pretty bow. This show is so good, that I’m almost afraid to find out all the answers, because no resolution could probably live up to this show’s unrivaled set-up. It could go on forever and never tell us another thing for all I care. But this might just betray my status as a J.J. Abrams apologist. It’s not that I believe he can do no wrong (even when his resume includes Felicity, Alias, and Lost), but I firmly believe that even when he isn’t at his best he is still better than most. I repeated this line over and over during Alias’ 2004-2005 season as the show tried to broaden its audience and sacrificed some of the relentless pacing it had maintained in previous years. What is interesting is that Alias took a similar approach to Lost in the pacing of its “reveals.” It didn’t throw its long-established mythology out the window, but instead chose to hold back and give out small, tasty bits of information every now and again. The home-stretch of last season saw Alias return to form, leading up to perhaps the nastiest shock in the history of the program (“First of all, my name’s not Michael Vaughn.”). I’ll accept accusations of my status as a die-hard apologist because even after two below-par seasons for Alias, all was forgiven in that final, punishing moment of season 4. This premiere is a dead-heat with Lost for my most anticipated. And writing this just made me more excited.

Those are the can’t-miss shows I have on my docket. It is worth mentioning that at some point 24 (following its best season ever) and Scrubs will return (in the winter). I also have several new shows that get a chance to join the elite I just mentioned: Prison Break (fascinating, however implausible), Reunion, Bones, Threshold, Invasion, and Supernatural. Also, Smallville, a show with which I have had a contentious relationship for three years, will get one last shot for casting Buffy/Angel’s James Marsters (aka Spike) as Brainiac, though remains on thin ice as one of the most inconsistent shows I still catch find myself coming back to.