drama is king: the 2005 class of network drama. article by alan haber, buhdge.

television buhdge the tube, revisited

"Someone should translate the idea of 15 minutes of fame into a reality show. Now, that kind of thing I would watch, as long as the briefly-famous person went right back into obscurity immediately after his or her segment."-Alan Haber

Drama is King The 2005 class of broadcast network dramas (mostly) rocks, shouts Alan Haber from the formerly-antenna-littered rooftops We have entered yet another golden age of television drama. Just when you thought that there was nothing left to watch on TV except for freaks undergoing geek makeovers and safe-sex wife swapping (in other words, no sex), the television drama, formerly left for dead, has suddenly risen from broadcast purgatory and come on like a house on fire after an old black and white portable set explodes in a fury of utter boredom. You can thank ABC, formerly known as the Can't-Do-Anything-Right network, and now known as the Pretty-Much-Can't-Do-Anything-Wrong network, which has been reborn as the Network That Can. And they do, with Lost and Desperate Housewives' unqualified successes barrellilng over every inch of their time-slot competition with utter abandon. The network has also seen its recently-debuted medical series, Grey's Anatomy, explode into the Sunday night Hall of Fame, thanks, in no small part, to a group of hot young doctors who can always fall back on their looks when scalpels no longer seem fascinating to them. Grey's Anatomy is certainly nothing new, but it brings to the prime time schedule something that ER has been sorely lacking the last couple of years: a sense of humor. Mystifyingly, ER has just been renewed for three more years, a questionable decision at best, especially considering that only one original cast member will be around next year, and that's Sherry Stringfield, whose Dr. Susan Lewis has been a one-dimensional character at best. The ensemble nature of Grey's Anatomy is perhaps the show's greatest strength. As I said, there's nothing new going on here, either relating to story or character, which is not to say that these are doctors I would never let examine me. On the contrary...examine away, and stat! The ensemble cast relate to each other in a genuine, warm way, the chemistry between the actors being consistently strong. The girls, especially, are top notch, particularly the sweet Isobel "Izzy" Stevens, portrayed by the incredibly cute Katherine Heigl; Christina Yang, essayed by the warm and fuzzy Sandra Oh; and Meredith Grey, given life by Ellen Pompeo, whose first big movie was Brad Silberling's touching Moonlight Mile, in which she played the prerequisite love interest. Chemistry plays a big part in ABC's Lost, which features a cast of mostly formerly-known-as-unknowns, some of which really rock the beach, including Jorge Garcia, who plays the nice guy Hurley, who we now know won the lottery and is what can only be described as a guy with a shitpile of money. Dominic Monaghan, best known for being a Hobbit in the Lord of the Rings movies, gives real depth to the troubled Charlie, whose 15 minutes of rock 'n' roll fame came and went just prior to him crash landing on the island of Lost souls. The rest of the cast, particularly Terry O'Quinn, whose complicated John Locke may have had something to do with the trouble being experienced by his fellow survivors, is also quite good. The thing about Lost, though, is that, good as the flashbacks that are the center of every episode are, I really want the writers to get on with it and tell us what's going on. Of course, they're not going to divulge too much, because they want this show to run at least a couple of years. But I think this show would have worked better as a mini-series. Fox's House, which struggled in its early going, but catapulted to top 10 ratings after American Idol premiered as its lead in, continues to distinguish itself each week with witty medical mysteries, a wonderful cast, and a strong, three-dimensional, comically-punctuated performance by the gifted British actor, Hugh Lawrie. The series has just been renewed for a second season. Justice is served... ...but not by Dick Wolf and Company, whose Law and Order: Trial by Jury simply sucks. Bebe Neuwirth is a fine actress, but I don't believe her as an assistant district attorney; really, Sherry J. Wilson was more believable as a prosecutor on Walker, Texas Ranger. Also, showing Jerry Orbach struggling to get through his final scenes in the first two episodes was in bad taste, no matter what Orbach wanted. This was not the image of the man who was Law and Order that I wanted to be left with. It is entirely possible that too much L&O really is too much. Yet, over on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, things are going about as swimmingly as can be; the stories are great and the acting is superb, although Richard Belzer's haircut makes me want to go bald before my time. Over at ABC, the current Network of Champions, Alias has been reborn as it was in its first season, with all of the characters restored to their rightful places. The stories have been excellent, and Jennifer Garner continues to amaze as super-spy Sydney Bristow. We're only moments away from Ron Rifkin's Arvin Sloane revealing his latest, dastardly plan, I'm guessing. And we're blessed with more of Kevin Wiseman's jack-of-all-trades electronics genius, Marshall, who really makes me laugh. Back at Fox, 24 continues to impress with its exciting fourth season, being presented without programming interruptions. The villains are evil (and starting to drop like flies), the good guys are still good, and, with the imminent return of former President David Palmer (if he can break away from those Allstate commercials), most of the old cast will have returned. (Note to the producers: don't worry about bringing back Jack's daughter...there have been no idiot storylines this season, and we'd like to keep it that way.) Bonus points for bringing Tony and his now-ex-wife Michelle back together for some tension-riddled exchanges. The Araz family, particularly Mom Dina and Dad Navi, really knew how to twist the knife, so to speak, particularly Dina; both have sadly gone to their nasty rewards, leaving son Behrooz to carry on in the family tradition...or will he? Hats off to the writers for continuing a level of excellence that is simply breathtaking. NBC's Third Watch, which has had its moments this season, particularly in the season premiere, the first 10 minutes or so of which was a cinematically-worthy ballet of violence not often seen in prime time, has just been cancelled. I still think the show has legs, but it's never been a solid ratings performer and I guess, for the network, the clock had finally run out, as it also recently did for CBS's JAG, which wasn't going to come back with series star David James Elliott (whose salary had apparently risen too high) if it was renewed for next year anyway. For a show that was already cancelled once, it did well over a long stretch (and on two networks, to boot). But its time is over. It will be interesting to see how the latest crop of TV dramas does over the long haul. I haven't mentioned some of the shows that air on the cable networks, such as ShowTime's The L Word, which beyond the titillation factor seems to me to be just another soap opera, or USA's Monk, about which I've written extensively for this site. Maybe next time. Meanwhile, enjoy the final episodes of this season's dramas, and always remember that it can always get better and shouldn't get much worse. April 9, 2005 March 6, 2005
alan haber's pure pop buhdgeblog hot buhdge \| pop buhdge \| buhdge remembers television buhdge \| film buhdge \| books buhdge video buhdge \| buhdge fine print \| links about buhdge \| write for buhdge \| contact home (c) 2004 Alan Haber

Drama is King
The 2005 class of broadcast network dramas (mostly) rocks, shouts Alan Haber from the formerly-antenna-littered rooftops

We have entered yet another golden age of television drama. Just when you thought that there was nothing left to watch on TV except for freaks undergoing geek makeovers and safe-sex wife swapping (in other words, no sex), the television drama, formerly left for dead, has suddenly risen from broadcast purgatory and come on like a house on fire after an old black and white portable set explodes in a fury of utter boredom.

You can thank ABC, formerly known as the Can't-Do-Anything-Right network, and now known as the Pretty-Much-Can't-Do-Anything-Wrong network, which has been reborn as the Network That Can. And they do, with Lost and Desperate Housewives' unqualified successes barrellilng over every inch of their time-slot competition with utter abandon. The network has also seen its recently-debuted medical series, Grey's Anatomy, explode into the Sunday night Hall of Fame, thanks, in no small part, to a group of hot young doctors who can always fall back on their looks when scalpels no longer seem fascinating to them.

Grey's Anatomy is certainly nothing new, but it brings to the prime time schedule something that ER has been sorely lacking the last couple of years: a sense of humor. Mystifyingly, ER has just been renewed for three more years, a questionable decision at best, especially considering that only one original cast member will be around next year, and that's Sherry Stringfield, whose Dr. Susan Lewis has been a one-dimensional character at best.

The ensemble nature of Grey's Anatomy is perhaps the show's greatest strength. As I said, there's nothing new going on here, either relating to story or character, which is not to say that these are doctors I would never let examine me. On the contrary...examine away, and stat! The ensemble cast relate to each other in a genuine, warm way, the chemistry between the actors being consistently strong. The girls, especially, are top notch, particularly the sweet Isobel "Izzy" Stevens, portrayed by the incredibly cute Katherine Heigl; Christina Yang, essayed by the warm and fuzzy Sandra Oh; and Meredith Grey, given life by Ellen Pompeo, whose first big movie was Brad Silberling's touching Moonlight Mile, in which she played the prerequisite love interest.

Chemistry plays a big part in ABC's Lost, which features a cast of mostly formerly-known-as-unknowns, some of which really rock the beach, including Jorge Garcia, who plays the nice guy Hurley, who we now know won the lottery and is what can only be described as a guy with a shitpile of money. Dominic Monaghan, best known for being a Hobbit in the Lord of the Rings movies, gives real depth to the troubled Charlie, whose 15 minutes of rock 'n' roll fame came and went just prior to him crash landing on the island of Lost souls. The rest of the cast, particularly Terry O'Quinn, whose complicated John Locke may have had something to do with the trouble being experienced by his fellow survivors, is also quite good.

The thing about Lost, though, is that, good as the flashbacks that are the center of every episode are, I really want the writers to get on with it and tell us what's going on. Of course, they're not going to divulge too much, because they want this show to run at least a couple of years. But I think this show would have worked better as a mini-series.

Fox's House, which struggled in its early going, but catapulted to top 10 ratings after American Idol premiered as its lead in, continues to distinguish itself each week with witty medical mysteries, a wonderful cast, and a strong, three-dimensional, comically-punctuated performance by the gifted British actor, Hugh Lawrie. The series has just been renewed for a second season. Justice is served...

...but not by Dick Wolf and Company, whose Law and Order: Trial by Jury simply sucks. Bebe Neuwirth is a fine actress, but I don't believe her as an assistant district attorney; really, Sherry J. Wilson was more believable as a prosecutor on Walker, Texas Ranger. Also, showing Jerry Orbach struggling to get through his final scenes in the first two episodes was in bad taste, no matter what Orbach wanted. This was not the image of the man who was Law and Order that I wanted to be left with. It is entirely possible that too much L&O really is too much. Yet, over on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, things are going about as swimmingly as can be; the stories are great and the acting is superb, although Richard Belzer's haircut makes me want to go bald before my time.

Over at ABC, the current Network of Champions, Alias has been reborn as it was in its first season, with all of the characters restored to their rightful places. The stories have been excellent, and Jennifer Garner continues to amaze as super-spy Sydney Bristow. We're only moments away from Ron Rifkin's Arvin Sloane revealing his latest, dastardly plan, I'm guessing. And we're blessed with more of Kevin Wiseman's jack-of-all-trades electronics genius, Marshall, who really makes me laugh.

Back at Fox, 24 continues to impress with its exciting fourth season, being presented without programming interruptions. The villains are evil (and starting to drop like flies), the good guys are still good, and, with the imminent return of former President David Palmer (if he can break away from those Allstate commercials), most of the old cast will have returned. (Note to the producers: don't worry about bringing back Jack's daughter...there have been no idiot storylines this season, and we'd like to keep it that way.) Bonus points for bringing Tony and his now-ex-wife Michelle back together for some tension-riddled exchanges.

The Araz family, particularly Mom Dina and Dad Navi, really knew how to twist the knife, so to speak, particularly Dina; both have sadly gone to their nasty rewards, leaving son Behrooz to carry on in the family tradition...or will he? Hats off to the writers for continuing a level of excellence that is simply breathtaking.

NBC's Third Watch, which has had its moments this season, particularly in the season premiere, the first 10 minutes or so of which was a cinematically-worthy ballet of violence not often seen in prime time, has just been cancelled. I still think the show has legs, but it's never been a solid ratings performer and I guess, for the network, the clock had finally run out, as it also recently did for CBS's JAG, which wasn't going to come back with series star David James Elliott (whose salary had apparently risen too high) if it was renewed for next year anyway. For a show that was already cancelled once, it did well over a long stretch (and on two networks, to boot). But its time is over.

It will be interesting to see how the latest crop of TV dramas does over the long haul. I haven't mentioned some of the shows that air on the cable networks, such as ShowTime's The L Word, which beyond the titillation factor seems to me to be just another soap opera, or USA's Monk, about which I've written extensively for this site. Maybe next time.

Meanwhile, enjoy the final episodes of this season's dramas, and always remember that it can always get better and shouldn't get much worse.

April 9, 2005

March 6, 2005