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television buhdge
the tube, revisited
The fall 2005 TV season. Do it to it, part two.
So, on to ABC and CBS (and Fox), as we continue to take a look at the new (and returning) programs that dot the Fall 2005 TV landscape. No scrolling ahead, now; it’s full steam ahead!
Let’s take things day by day, shall we? Starting with Sunday night, neither of the aforementioned networks have anything new to offer, so a look at what’s back in the day-before-Monday saddle is appropriate. CBS’s 8:00 entry, Cold Case, is still stacked high with the same level of quality stories, well told and acted by a seasoned cast and their star, the tough-as-nails Kathryn Morris. Morris’ Lily Rush is letting her hair down this season—literally, to show that she isn’t all-consumed by her job and can, uh, smile every once in a while. A new addition to the squad, an even tougher female cop with a bit of a past, may or may not stay out her welcome; she hasn’t been made a permanent member of the cast. At least not yet.
Over at ABC, Desperate Housewives continues to be a show whose popularity mystifies me, but there you go, week after week, with the wacky goings-on on Wisteria Lane; hey, they even have a guy being held captive in Alfre Woodard’s basement! That’s something you don’t get to see every day! In the 10 o’clock spot, the hot doctors of Grey’s Anatomy continue to ply their soap-laden trade; the show is always lots of fun, but don’t forget to check your brain at the rapid infuser.
I’ve watched a couple of episodes of Monday night’s CBS misfire How I Met Your Mother, which started off rather fetching and has become exactly what I feared it would become: a show fetched by the CBS dog and buried in the backyard under piles of old bones…uh, I mean shows. The premise is actually cute: Dad, played in voiceover by Bob Saget, tells his kids how he met their Mom.
Now, I know we all have such stories to tell, but this one can’t possibly be that long or interesting…yet, it seemingly is. What unnerved me about the show so early on is that the girl the main character meets and spends time wooing in the first couple of episodes turns out to not be the mother in question; that’s a foul, folks, throwing a red herring out to the audience so early in the game. But the producers have a season (or more) to stretch out the premise, so expect many such potentially smelly herrings. The cast is attractive—particularly Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Allyson Hannigan—but the scripts rely on easy laughs, too often eschewing the endearing angle that would have made this show a must-see.
Tuesday nights on CBS, Mark Harmon and crew continue to solve crimes committed by and against Navy personnel in the always-engaging NCIS. The stories are uniformly excellent, but it’s the cast that makes this show required viewing. Harmon is cool and steely, and endearingly impatient, as the head of the unit, who slaps a mean back of the head, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and old pro David McCallum is fiercely funny as the medical examiner, Dr. Donald Mallard, whom everyone calls “Ducky.” Michael Weatherly is hysterically funny as Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, whose manner is just south of improper. Cote de Pablo, who joined the cast this year and replaced Sasha Alexander, whose Caitlin “Kate” Todd was murdered in last season’s cliffhanger, must be TV’s very first Israeli special agent working in the United States. But don’t bid goodbye to Alexander just yet; she has already reappeared as a ghost (a nice touch) and hopefully will reappear again (hey, that’s what ghosts do, don’t they?).
The Tiffany Network’s 10 pm entry is the new legal drama Close to Home, starring Jennifer Finnegan as prosecutor Annabeth Chase. You may remember Finnegan as one of the co-stars of that stupid sitcom about the woman in whose closet a clown lived. Finnegan was way more appealing in that travesty than in this show, in which she delivers every line as if she’s contending for an Emmy nomination. She also tends to swallow her words, mushing them together for a delectable dish of warmed-over dialogue. CBS should swallow this show before it grows anything resembling legs.
Fox’s Bones, airing opposite NCIS on CBS, is simply okay…no better, no worse than anything else the networks have to offer this fall. Emily Deschanel is fairly solid, if a bit young, to be playing such a renowned forensic anthropologist, but she’s a capable young actress to watch, nonetheless. David Boreanz, late of Angel, made his return to series TV in the role of FBI Special Agent Seely Booth, and he’s just…okay. He was much more persuasive in his last show, I think. The writing is okay, the supporting players are okay (if somewhat central casting-ish)..the show is just okay. Watch NCIS instead, unless Boreanz turns into Angel, and then, well, you may just have a horse race.
House, which follows Bones at 9 pm, continues to be one of TV’s best dramas in years, and maybe one of the best, ever, thanks to a golden supporting cast and, especially, Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, a sarcastic, gloomy, mean medical practitioner who hates his patients, trusts no one, and sucks down a mean Vicadin. Of course, he’s got the always lovely Sela Ward, who plays his ex-girlfriend (and now hospital lawyer) to look at, so there’s hope for him yet.
Wednesdays belong to ABC’s Lost, to no one’s great surprise. While I like this show enormously, I have a sneaking suspicion that they’re making it up as they go along. They’ve told the audience more in the first few episodes this season than they did all last season, but I don’t like being fiddled with, and I think they’re fiddling with me, so cut it out and stop fiddling about, will ya? Rumor has it that one of the female characters is going to be killed off on or about the November 8 episode, which is fine…but why do they have to publicize it? Why can’t it be a surprise?
Alias kicks off ABC’s Thursday night lineup, and it’s still solid enough, but one can’t help get the feeling we’ve been through all of this before, and without Vaughn (who the producers have announced may be back for a couple of episodes later in the season) in the fray, enough of the magic is gone to make me skeptical of things to come. With Jennifer Garner’s pregnancy bulging on camera, the producers have had to bring in new blood to kick bad guy ass: Rachel Nichols, briefly seen on Fox’s terrible “The Inside,” and an actress with a single expression—blank; Balthazar Getty, a quite capable actor who isn’t really given anything to do; and Elodie Buchez, for whom the jury is still out, because she hasn’t really been much of a factor in the show to date (save for last week’s episode). One question: When will Arvin Sloane become evil again? He’s really boring as a good guy. And, besides, good guys don’t have his kind of hair (or lack thereof). And something to think about: When the baby’s born, ditch the baby. Babies get in the way of action chicks kissing ass. And no one wants that.
But then, who cares about hair and babies on TV, anyway? I dunno…maybe, if the hairstyles on these shows were more fetching, the characters wearing those hairstyles would be more fully realized. So many maybes, so little time.
Enjoy (or detest, your choice) the rest of the Fall 2005 TV season, and look forward, as shall I, to the January premiere of 24. Now that’s going to be something to talk about. (And, no, I haven’t forgotten about Monk, also returning in January. And remember, The Sopranos are back next March or April. But they might just go and bring back that show with the clown in the closet, in which case the whole shooting match might just be a draw. Pray for world peace, won’t you?)
Alan Haber
October 30, 2005
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