Fall TV update

[dougo]

Time for an update on the new fall TV shows. In descending order of recommendation:

• Sons of Anarchy: This is the biggest surprise for me—I hadn't heard anything about it other than seeing enigmatic commercials on FX this summer, but I'm really enjoying it. In a nutshell, it's like The Sopranos except it's about motorcycle gangs in rural northern California. It doesn't have the same over-the-top sense of style and wit as The Sopranos, but it has a similar Shakespearean feel in the sweep of events and machinations of the protagonist gang and its rivals. It also has great acting, particularly Ron Perlman as the grizzled leader of the gang and Katey Sagal as his tough-as-nails "old lady", plus a lot of other familiar faces, like Mitch Pileggi from The X Files as the leader of the rival Aryan gang, and yes, Drea de Matteo from The Sopranos as Sagal's son's junkie ex-girlfriend. And also like The Sopranos, it has great writing that doesn't try to explain all the complicated backstory and lingo but lets us gradually figure things out on our own. Definitely check this one out; you can catch up with full episodes on the FX site.
• True Blood: It seemed to be getting negative buzz before it even started, but I am also really enjoying this HBO series based on Charlaine Harris's "Southern Vampires" novels (which I had never heard of before this). The show was created by Alan Ball of Six Feet Under and American Beauty fame, and while it's a bit different from those, being a "genre" show, it does have a similar vibe of exploring the dark sides of everyday life (in this world, vampires have come out of the shadows after the invention of a synthetic substitute for human blood and are trying to fit in with ordinary society, demanding equal rights) while not getting too dark. I always like Anna Paquin, and she's good here too as a blonde waitress naif with psychic abilities who's attracted to the Heathcliff-like vampire who's just moved into town trying to "mainstream". I thought I might get bored of the rural-Louisiana setting, and I do still wish they would show more of the effects of vampire integration on society at large, but the story and characters are textured and involving enough to hold my interest (not to mention the serial-murder mystery that's playing out in the background).
• Gary Unmarried: Staged sitcoms are seeming more and more anachronistic these days, but this is a pretty good one. Jay Mohr is funnier than I expected, Paula Marshall is great (though it's weird seeing her also be a recurring character on Californication), and Ed Begley is an old pro. I don't see this lasting all that long, but it works okay and has potential for improvement.
• Easy Money: This wasn't on ketzl's or my list, but I started watching this after seeing a commercial on The CW and was again pleasantly surprised. It's a serial drama about a family who runs a short-term-loan company in a suburban southwestern town, making somewhat sleazy deals to take advantage of down-on-their-luck locals. It's a well-made show, and I particularly like Laurie Metcalf (who I mainly knew from Norm McDonald's first sitcom) as a white-trash Lady Macbeth, scheming behind her somewhat clueless husband's back for the success of their company. Unfortunately this show was just cancelled, which is a little surprising because I didn't think The CW was a competitive enough network that they would cancel shows in mid-season, but I guess the dull-sounding premise just couldn't find an audience.
• The Ex List: Somewhat of a guilty pleasure, this is a high-concept romantic comedy series about a 30-something beach bunny/flowershop owner who's tracking down her exes one by one because a psychic told her she's already dated the guy who will be her husband. It could have been syrupy and lame, but the writing is smart and funny and the supporting characters are well-drawn. But, sadly, this show was also just cancelled. Oh well.
• My Own Worst Enemy: Christian Slater is a superspy who implanted an alternate personality into his brain to use as cover, but that alternate personality is starting to assert itself at inconvenient times during superspy missions. It's pretty enjoyable, but I'm not sure where they can really go with this premise. And Mädchen Amick is criminally underused as the unsuspecting wife.
• Crash: Another one that wasn't on my radar. It's on the Starz network, which is usually just a movie channel, but I guess they want to be another HBO or Showtime. It's loosely connected to ("inspired by") the Oscar-winning movie, and has the same six-degrees-of-separation-in-LA thing going, but without the atmospheric music and camerawork it doesn't have the same appeal. Not bad, though.
• Valentine: yet another show that I liked but was just cancelled, although it was really borderline for me anyway. It's about Greek gods living in modern-day LA, with Venus trying to assist mortals to connect with their soul mates, with the help of her son Cupid, Hercules, the Oracle of Delphi, and a mortal romance novelist. The episodic matchmaking plots were hit-or-miss, and overall the show felt kind of clunky and amateurish, but there were some flashes of brilliance, and an ongoing plot arc about something unknown causing the gods to gradually become mortal themselves that could have become interesting but was going a bit too slowly.
• Eleventh Hour: Another borderline show for me. It's sort of an X-Files with real science instead of aliens and the supernatural, which mostly works (better than Numbers, at least, which I found to be kind of dreadful), but the protagonist scientist and his FBI sidekick woman are just totally unengaging characters, and the completely episodic nature of the show leaves it feeling kind of hollow. I'll keep watching in the hopes that they'll bring in some sort of backstory or plot arc, but I'm more curious to see the BBC show it was based on, starring Patrick Stewart.
• Life on Mars: Yet another borderline show, and another one based on a BBC series that I expect might have been better. A modern day NYC police detective is hit by a car, falls into a coma, and is transported back to 1973, where he is also a detective but he works with Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli (from the Sopranos) (in a ridiculous 70s mustache), and Gretchen Mol (in a very hot police-lady uniform). Is this all a coma dream (like Tony Soprano's—do you sense a theme?), or is he time-traveling or in a parallel universe or something? Well, the show doesn't really go anywhere with that question, and instead he just goes around solving crimes while discovering just how backwards society was 35 years ago. Again, I'll keep watching to see if it gets any less static, but, enh.
• Starter Wife: And yet another borderline show. The miniseries was enjoyable, but there was a pretty big drop-off in quality after turning it into a regular series, with a few dropped characters and some recasting. And Debra Messing's performance is gradually declining back into Grace Adler, which doesn't really work without a studio audience (and Will).
• Fringe: The pilot was almost good, but it was just a bit too over-the-top sensational, and the music felt a little too much like Lost. (That is, I like it in Lost, but it's such a big part of that show that it doesn't feel right in something else.) The second episode just aggravated me, with the stereotypical mad scientist and the pseudo-science gobbledygook, so I gave up. The mysterious corporation controlling things behind the scenes was interesting, but not enough to keep me watching. Is anyone else still watching this? Did it get any better?
• Worst Week: Main character is a klutz who gets into embarrassing situations with his wife's family over and over again. Not my cup of tea.
• Crusoe: Pretty awful, aimed at 8-year-olds or something. I couldn't make it past the halfway mark of the pilot.
• Knight Rider: I missed the pilot, watched the first few minutes of the second episode, gave up in astonished disgust.

Returning shows, briefly:

• The Unit is still terrific despite the growing contrivances, and I'm thankful it's still on the air even though I don't know anyone else who watches it.
• Entourage continues to capture the craziness of the movie-star life. Very fun.
• Californication is sick but fun, and, surprisingly, emotionally affecting.
• Heroes is still meh but slightly better than last season.
• Survivor Gabon is not the best season for them to switch to HD, but still enjoyable.
• How I Met Your Mother finally wrapped up the wedding plot arc. I'm hoping we will somehow be able to meet the real Your Mother soon without it ending the show.
• South Park and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia continue to outdo each other in a race to the gutter. Wincingly funny.
• Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, 30 Rock, Simpsons, King of the Hill: all still top-notch comedies.

Yes, I watch too much TV.