Why Barack and Not Hillary

I will get back to posting about the Walker family and the goings-on in my other favorite TV worlds after the new year. I promise. Particularly if the strike ever ends.


In the meantime, you should read this piece by David Brooks in today's NYTimes.

More Nervous Than the Players?

I am more nervous than the actual players are. I am even more nervous than Sarah was before Game 5 of this year's ALCS. And that's saying something. I bring you... my boys:

Don't fail us now. Patriots Nation requires that Peyton, and his I'm-on-tv-every-five-minute-smugness be silenced. Here's a sample:

More of that would be good.

My Shortest Season Pass List in Years

Blame it on the Red Sox who want to keep playing. Blame it on lots and lots of football on Sunday and Monday nights with live scoring on my fantasy team. Blame it on the new job. Blame it on having a slightly older kid who stays up a bit later. Whatever it is, my TV watching is seriously lagging this year. I have updated the season pass list at the left of this page to reflect the shows I've actually been watching before they get deleted from my TiVo. All in all, I'm relatively underwhelmed by the new offerings.

• Pushing Daisies was way too much like a Broadway musical for my liking. It's no longer on my season pass list.


• Chuck is probably good, but I has been sitting on my TiVo for weeks without any major urge for me to watch it after the first episode.


• Private Practice is passable, but not outstanding -- what Grey's pulled off as quirkiness, Private Practice pushes to the edge of corniness.


• Cane is good enough to keep me interested, but mostly because I absolutely love Jimmy Smits. In my world, he is currently president after all.


• Gossip Girl is good, but it is hardly Gilmore Girls or the O.C.-- and it never will be.

Brothers & Sisters has risen to the very top of my favorites list. It's exceptionally good and has be crying as some point during nearly every episode. At some point, I think I'll write a post about why I love it so much when TV makes me cry. But not tonight. I'm going to hope that the TV program I'm watching tonight doesn't make anyone in the Nation (i.e. Red Sox Nation) cry.

Shark Jumping in Progress?

Friday Night Lights is definitely still one of my top two favorite shows, but I'm a bit worried. There's this term that's used by TV commentators and bloggers: jumping the shark. Wikipedia explains nicely why it's called that. It happens, in my humble opinion, most often when showrunners are pressured by the network to spice things up a bit by changing something major about the show. Sometimes it works. Often it just spells the beginning of the end. The potential for shark jumping in Dillon, Texas should have been predictable given the skin-of-its-teeth renewal at the end of last season. But it might have been nice if the showrunners could have resisted. Instead, they decided, in their infinite wisdom, to have Landry kill someone and pitch his body off a bridge into the river at the end of the season premier. Not exactly in keeping with the normal course of events in Dillon, and a bit too I Know What You Did Last Summer for my taste. Next week they find the body. Here's hoping it all gets resolved quickly and we can get back to the good old fashioned Friday Night Lights I've invested so much time cheering about.

Sports Guy Sez Save Friday Night Lights

Fibby passed this along and it's so darn good that I'm going to reprint it here in its entirety. Please visit ESPN's website and patronize their advertisers so they don't sue me for copyright infringement, etc.

I recognize that at this point, all ten of my friends who read this blog have either 1) watched FNL and are already addicted or 2) decided not to watch it just on principle. I am unlikely to change any more minds on the show directly, but maybe you all have other friends to whom you can spread the FNL gospel.

Editor's note: This column appears in the September 24 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

If last year's memorable TV phrase was "Save the cheerleader, save the world," I'm declaring this year's to be "Save the show." NBC is damned close to burying Friday Night Lights, which would be a shame on a number of levels, but none more serious than this one: It's the greatest sports-related show ever made. Returning for a second season on Oct. 5, it's a fair bet that FNL will be canceled by Christmas. And when it is, it's going to be because of people like you.

If you're reading this, then you should be watching Friday Night Lights.

Now, I know only about a thousand people, not counting the anonymous folks in my Barely Legal chat rooms. Since almost two million people subscribe to this magazine, there's an overwhelming chance we don't know each other. That said, I feel confident about making the following three generalizations:

No. 1: You're reading this magazine because you like sports.

Okay, maybe you're killing time in a doctor's office, or maybe you stumbled across this issue in an airplane seat pouch, sandwiched between a barf bag and a catalog that sells night-vision goggles. But I'm going with the odds: If you're reading ESPN The Mag right now, there's a 96% chance you like sports, a 3% chance you're killing time -- and a 1% chance you're stoned and think you're reading Rolling Stone.

No. 2: If you like to watch TV, you wouldn't knowingly turn your back on a great show.

I know, I know, that sounds like a quote from Joe Theismann. But most rational TV fans will cave once a show generates enough buzz, either because their curiosity is piqued or because it's on cable with an "N" or an "SSC" in the ratings. Hey, I've been there myself: I held out on The Sopranos and The Wire. I don't like being told what to watch; this dates back to when a fellow fourth-grader made me feel dumb because I wasn't watching Doctor Who reruns, and we ended up fighting to a draw at recess. But when the buzz passed a certain tipping point, I gave in and gave both HBO icons a fair chance. Before long, I realized they're the two most important TV shows of all time, narrowly edging out Beavis and Butt-Head. Point is, you can never know for sure until you watch.

(I know that in certain cases you ignore the buzz simply because you don't give a crap about the subject matter. I feel this way about tennis, a sport I once loved, before it became too fast and impersonal for its own good. You could pull a Biff Tannen and guarantee that Roger Federer and Andy Roddick were about to play the greatest match ever, and I wouldn't tune in. But who doesn't want to get hooked on a good TV show? Well, except those who are homeschooled.)

No. 3: If Nos. 1 and 2 are true, there's an overwhelming chance you'd love FNL -- and a decent chance you aren't watching it. And if that's the case, don't you owe it to yourself to rent Season 1, Disc 1, and try the first four episodes? Look, if FNL doesn't make it, we're just going to get more Grey's Anatomy spin-offs, a CSI for every city and 20 Deal or No Deal clones. Hollywood doesn't like to take chances, and it doesn't like to fail; it figures out what works, bleeds it to death, then flips the corpse and bleeds it some more. Execs don't care that a few million faithful treasure a show, singing its praises like religious fanatics. They care only that 15 to 20 million kinda-sorta-maybe like it. And it doesn't matter who those viewers are or how dumb they might be, either, as long as they keep coming back for more.

Despite what I might have said in the past about jumping on team bandwagons, you shouldn't feel guilty about jumping on this one. I watched the pilot when it originally aired, but I didn't love it: too much puke-cam (the camera stopped moving so much in later episodes) and an unspeakable sports inconsistency (Dillon High completes a game-winning Hail Mary that could have happened only on a 140-yard field). Once the abysmal ratings were announced, I assumed the show was doomed and opted not to waste my time with Episode 2. Networks pull the plug so quickly these days, you can be burned by getting hooked on something no one else is watching. Ask my wife, who's still complaining about never having learned the identity of the murderer on FOX's Reunion.

After FNL garnered its critical groundswell, I decided to wait for the late-summer DVD release to dive back in. My buddy Connor, a man who knows how to get things, refused to accept this, mailing me the Japanese import in June. That's right, I have a friend who loves FNL so much, he actually couldn't deal with my being willing to wait two more months to see it. So he called in some connections and possibly violated U.S.-Japan trade agreements so I could catch up. As he predicted, the Sports Gal and I ripped through all 22 episodes in a week, learning the Japanese words for "play," "stop" and "pause" in the process. Quite simply, FNL is the best date show ever, an improbable cross between The O.C. and every sports show you ever wanted Hollywood to make. It's the first show my wife and I have loved equally, but for different reasons. What can be better than that?

On Aug. 28, NBC released the American DVDs with a "satisfaction guaranteed" gimmick. Now if you continue to ignore FNL, it's only because you're trying to hurt me. If you do give it a shot, let me recommend the impeccable acting, the lively football scenes (although they tend to go overboard on exciting finishes), the risky story lines and especially Coach Taylor's family, the most authentic household in recent TV history. Every nuance is nailed, every hug seems genuine, every fight makes sense, every sarcastic barb and flustered reaction ring true. If there are better TV actors than Kyle Chandler (Coach) and Connie Britton (Mrs. Coach), I haven't TiVoed them. Pay particular attention to the astonishing two-parter in which an older assistant sets off a racial powder keg before a big playoff game. If FNL were Michael Jordan, Lyla Garrity's slam-page episode would be the 63-point game in Boston (the coming-out party), and the two-parter would be the 1991 Finals (the moment considerable potential is realized).

Look, I'm the biggest White Shadow fan on the planet ... and even I concede that FNL is the greatest sports show ever. Shadow died prematurely because the story line called for it to graduate too many key characters at once. I can live with that. FNL is going to die prematurely because five times as many Americans would rather watch an acerbic British guy belittle dreadful singers on a reality show. I can't live with that.

So please, please help me and every other FNL fanatic. Watch the show. Spread the gospel. You won't save the world as they did in Heroes, and you probably won't prevail in the end, but as Coach Taylor once told his team, "Every man at some point in his life is going to lose a battle. He's going to fight, and he's going to lose. But what makes him a man is that in the midst of that battle, he does not lose himself."

I pray we're not sticking that quote on his TV tombstone in two months.

Bill Simmons is a columnist for Page 2 and ESPN The Magazine. His book "Now I Can Die In Peace" is available in paperback.

Dunnest

It's official. I passed.

The bad news: now I can be liable for malpractice.

First Look: Gossip Girl

I downloaded the pilot for Gossip Girl from iTunes on this rainy evening. It's an amusing romp through some sort of cross between The O.C. and 90210. They're going to need to spice up the quippyness of its dialogue a bit, but I think that could happen with Josh Schwartz at the helm. If it does, this could be a good solid WB/CW-style viewing option.

Penn Badgley (right) particularly stole the show in the pilot. He was also great on the short-lived Bedford Diaries, so it's nice to see him back. Kristen Bell's voice-overs were also excellent -- I was never a loyal Veronica Mars fan but I have seen enough episodes to appreciate why many people were. Here, the unseen Kristen adds a bit of star-appeal to the show with her commentaries as Gossip Girl herself.

I look forward to watching this one unfold. Hopefully the CW will stick with it long enough to let it find its voice (and audience).

The Back to School Post

For the last 29 years or so, my life has been lived on a school calendar. Every year since I was about two, I've either begun a new school year or a new job (usually at a school) in late August or early September. At some point, I suppose this will change. At some point, I will have a job that doesn't change schedules and begin a markedly new year in August or September. But, as my one-year clerkship has just begun, it will be a couple more years before that happens.

One of the great thing about living life on the school calendar is seeing all your friends again and making a bunch of new ones when school starts back up again in the fall. Sometimes, you can even manage to arrange things so that the people who made you feel uncomfortable last year aren't around any more or aren't too close by in the new school year. And, inevitably, every year you end up missing a few people who have moved on and don't sit next to you in class anymore.

TV is like this too. (You knew this post was going to get back to TV at some point, didn't you?) Every fall, the some old friends return, a bunch of new ones arrive, and some others go their separate ways. Sure, you have a few friends from summer camp (like the boys and girls from Army Wives, Side Order of Life, Saving Grace, and Mad Men this summer), but you miss your school year friends by the time August rolls around.

This year, I'm looking forward to spending some school nights with the folks from Dillon, Texas, the McHotties at Seattle Grace Hospital, and the Walkers from SoCal. Heck, I'll even be glad to see Denny Crane and Alan Shore and Tony Gates and Neela Rasgotra back on my TiVo again. But in general, this is going to be a year for making new friends. With Star's Hollow closed to tourists, Orange County destroyed by an earthquake, and Studio 60 canceled due to ratings, there are several slots available in my back-to-school social calendar.

Part of the fun of a new school year is the unexpected joy in meeting a really amazing new friend, like last year's Panthers. It's too early at this point to guess at who might play that role this year. Gossip Girl, Chuck and Private Practice will get an audition on my TiVo merely because of their impressive pedigrees. (Gossip Girl and Chuck are from O.C.-creator Josh Schwartz and Private Practice is, of course, the long-awaited Kate Walsh-headed Grey's Anatomy spin-off from Shonda Rhimes.) Pushing Daisies will also get an audition, largely because of the overwhelmingly positive reviews it's getting. I will be minding the buzz and adding a few other try-outs into the TiVo To-Do list as the need arises.

And I promise to post more often once the new school (TV) year begins in a couple weeks. There's just only so many times a girl can post about how good Army Wives is before she decides to just go dark until the school year starts again. In the meantime, I will reiterate my spring posts by reminding my reticent readers that the first season of Friday Night Lights may be streamed for free on-line, Netflix'd, or purchased. You really ought to do that before the October 5th premiere. Really. Even if you hate football.

Ah, to be back in Star's Hollow...

In tiny Brooklin, Maine, just up the road from WoodenBoat Harbor (where the magazine and school of the same name live), there is an inn that will make any faithful Legally Blonde reader have a sad little smile on her face. I bring you: The Dragonflye Inn. Lorelai herself would feel right at home. And Luke would have a place to finally launch his boat. I suppose that Friday night dinners could have been held in Northeast Harbor (near where Martha Stewart's summer home is) so that the senior Gilmores had a tony-enough enclave to call their own. It's not Cape Cod or the Hamptons, but it's darn close. (In this parallel Star's Hollow universe, Richard is already retired, of course.) Maybe Rory would have gone to Bowdoin, which, with a little Hollywood movie magic, could be conveniently relocated to be within a 40 minute drive of both her mother and her grandparents. And while Bowdoin isn't really the same as Yale, Rory certainly could have picked up the likes of Logan (and we do likes Logan, don't we?) there quite easily, secret society and all, I'm guessing. What do you think? Should I send my proposal to Amy Sherman-Palladino and see if she's up for a second go-round, relocated to coastal Maine?

Dunner

Remember a while back when I announced I was done? Well, back then, I lied. Tonight, it is no longer a lie. I am finally not only done, but also dunner. I will not know until October whether I passed. At that point, assuming things do not go horribly wrong, I suppose I will announce that I am dunnest.

A blog redesign is in the works and the tv commentary will recommence after these brief messages (or a two-week sail). In the meantime, go watch Army Wives on Lifetime. No really. Go watch it. Remember when I told you that Friday Night Lights was good? Well Army Wives is officially that kind of good. Go TiVo it for god's sake. Oh, and if, like Craftosaurus, you don't have cable and a tivo box, go get one for god's sake. You graduated from law school and now you have a paycheck. Use it to bring happiness to your living room.

I Take It All Back

A few months ago, I reported the demise of Studio 60 as expected and acceptable. But I'd like to take it all back.

Not every episode was great. But all of them were better than most of the tv shows being produced for next year. And the great ones were truly fantastic. Leave it to Aaron Sorkin to write one of the most satisfying and engrossing series finales I've ever seen. It was a happy ending for everyone, but didn't descend into cheesy montage. The acting was superb (which means the writing was too). Even Sarah Paulson's performance as Harry ceased to grate on me in these past few episodes.

I would like the show back. I know it's not coming back. But I would like it back.

Barring that: please give me another series written by Sorkin and starring Timothy Busfield, Matthew Perry, and Bradley Whitford... oh, and maybe Allison Janney too. Maybe Rob Lowe and Mary-Louise Parker could even drop in from time to time. Would that really be too much to ask? (Perhaps I should just occupy my TiVo by recording reruns of the West Wing...)

Aurora Borealis: A Truly Terrible Movie

In addition to watching the handful of new shows I posted about here, I've been using my Netflix queue a fair bit lately. One of the themes in my queue is Josh Jackson. I've been working my way through his back catalog, not because it's excellent but because I simply enjoy watching him on screen. Americano was surprisingly good, with Dennis Hopper playing an intriguing and more than a little crazy ex-pat who Josh's character meets when he goes to Spain to run with the bulls. Shadows in the Sun matched up Josh's character with a reclusive ex-pat writer played by the ever-brilliant Harvey Keitel. And then, last night I watched Aurora Borealis in which Donald Sutherland played Josh's ailing grandfather (who was a bit of a recluse, though not an ex-pat). Yes, there seems to be a theme here. Put Josh on screen with a talented, distinguished actor and the two of them have a nice time growing Josh's character up for 2 hours. But in each of these movies there also has to be a love interest for Josh's character (of course) who also helps him grow up. In Americano and Shadows, the women were delightful, believable if unremarkable actresses who seemed to have a little chemistry with Josh. Last night, the woman was Juliette Lewis and I thought she was awful! I don't know if it was her voice or something about her mannerisms, but I thought she was the most annoying "leading lady" I've seen on screen in ages. And there was absolutely no chemistry between Josh and Juliette. During the scenes with Donald Sutherland and the talented Louise Fletcher (who played Josh's grandmother), I cared about the characters and enjoyed watching. Whenever Juliette showed up on screen, I thought about turning the darn thing off (and I have a very high tolerance for annoying TV).

The writing was excellent and the story was compelling and I kept thinking how one terrible casting decision could spoil a whole movie. The words were coming out of Juliette's mouth, and they sounded like she was reading the lines that were actually designed for someone else! (I think Keri Russell or Rachel McAdams would have been my choice for the recast, but any number of women would have worked...)

Anyway, this is one you can leave off the Netflix queue!

What I'm Watching this Summer

With almost all my regular appointment viewing on hiatus for the summer (or canceled forever, R.I.P. Star's Hollow), whatever shall I watch? Well, it actually hasn't been too hard to sprinkle my TiVo To Do List with a few summer flings, some of which may actually be good enough to watch during the winter months too (if they're allowed to stick around that long)!

Hidden Palms: Ok, so this little summer fling by Kevin Williamson (Dawson's, Scream) is not the classiest show that ever was. It's not quite as sharp and quippy as the first season of The O.C. But it has a neat undercurrent of mystery that Dawson's and the O.C. never had, so it's got enough that's new to keep me interested. I'm hoping the writing will sharpen a little once we get to know the characters and can deal with a bit less exposition. Only 8 episodes on this one though. And I'll be surprised if the CW picks it up (although they definitely need SOMETHING for their schedule, having canceled Gilmore and Veronica Mars).

Falcon Beach: This is one of the shows I probably should just not admit I'm watching. It's terrible. No really, it's terrible. And I watch it every week during the summer. It's in its second season (Why and how? No idea. But I'm still watching...)

Army Wives: This Lifetime original series is really surprisingly good. It's produced by one of the executive producers from Grey's and really well written. It has a great ensemble cast that clicked with me right from the start. (I love Kim Delaney from her role as Rebecca on The O.C.). It portrays a really nice cross-section of army life on one base (different ages, different ranks, different social classes, even different genders and races -- one of the "wives" is a black man whose wife is an officer.)

The Starter Wife: Oh this show is just plain fun. It's billed as a mini-series: 6 or 8 hours I think with no intention of a pick-up, which is too bad. It has a bit of an Ally McBeal sensibility at times because it's funny and has silly dream/fantasy sequences in places. The entire reason this show works is Debra Messing. She's great. She has all the comedic timing she needs, but also has the dramatic, expressive face to pull off this rather melodramatic role without sounding ridiculous.

Deadliest Catch/After the Catch: Ah, the one show I can watch with my boys. We TiVo it and then enjoy it together on the couch before G's bedtime. He's fascinated. After the Catch is a new series to accompany the original; the captains just sit around with host Mike Rowe in a Seattle bar and swap fish stories. And we're fascinated. My dad asked at dinner the other night why anyone watches this. I'm not really sure, but it's just about the best "reality" TV out there. I think it's good because it really seems real. It's just a long documentary, rather than a contrived social experiment or a game show.

Studio 60: I've said my peace about this show. Last night's episode was fantastic. Last week's was not. The week before that it was good. Who knows what the rest of the run will bring, but I'll be watching to find out.

My Boys: The only half-hour comedy on my TiVo season pass list returns in July for a 9 episode run. Can't wait to see what P.J. and the boys are up to!

... and streaming...

The Bachelor: I didn't watch this season. It's not my favorite reality show (because I find it more than a little distasteful to watch this guy "date" multiple women at the same time). But this year's bachelor is hot and ABC posted the last 4 episodes on their website, so I'll watch them and see who "wins."

Six Degrees: This is one of those shows that everyone forgot about. The last 8 episodes never ran on ABC, but they're streaming on the website, so I'll watch them when nothing else is sitting in my TiVo's Now Playing list for me!

All in all, not a bad summer of TV.

S60: K&R ... wow.

Wow. Just wow. I think I get it now. Studio 60 was never supposed to be a funny story about a comedy show. That's 30 Rock. No, S60 was supposed to be about a world where smart people have to try to write some funny lines in the middle of a not very funny world. The sketches weren't supposed to be funny. The show wasn't supposed to be funny. Sure, there are supposed to be amusing moments (back in the day, how many times did we laugh at something C.J. Cregg said or did -- or sang?), but really the tone of the show should have had much more in common with the West Wing from the very start.

Tonight's episode was perfect. Better than the "Disaster Show" episode that I praised a couple weeks ago. It reminded me of the way that the West Wing did drama. There's something big going on in the world -- there's a war in Afghanistan -- but it's connected to the characters' lives in a bunch of different ways, and we get to see how the characters struggle with that and make sense of it (rather than having Aaron Sorkin preach to us about what's right and wrong -- or struggle to make light of it). The vagaries of network politics and ratings just didn't pack enough punch for those of us who live outside of L.A. to make us care, but tonight there was enough there to make me care.

I loved the montage of Harriet and Matt fighting about religion for 8 years, and then the pay-off when Matt says a little prayer, in his own way, for Jordan at the very end of the episode as he and Harry are headed off to the hospital.

I loved that Jordan asked about the cut and clarity of the ring before she said yes, and then teased Danny about the ring size as they wheeled her off to surgery. Not because these lines were funny (though they were) but because they were human and touching and just plain good writing.

And so I wonder what might have been if the network execs and Sorkin's own demons hadn't run this thing off the tracks.

Here's to hoping that the last couple episodes stay this good and then to watching out for Sorkin's next adventure.

TV Squad blogger Jay Black fervently disagrees, although many of the commenters on his blog agree with me.

From the Blogosphere

I have lots to say about Hidden Palms, which is a summer fling worth a look. (It was created by Kevin Williamson of Dawson's fame and, with full episodes available for streaming on the CW's site, you can tune in whenever the spirit and general dearth of good options on the tube moves you.) But I've been studying all day and don't feel like being coherent for more than a few lines. Instead, a quick hit of interesting links:

• A nice Q&A with Alexis Bledel regarding her new movie and leaving Rory behind.
  
• I definitely want to see Keri Russell's movie about pie (ok, I'm sure it's not really about pie, but the website is). I'll watch Felicity in anything.
• An interesting essay by the show-runner for the best show on TV ... Friday Night Lights of course.
• What I'm reading (when I'm not studying): "The Billion-Dollar Kiss: The Kiss that Saved Dawson's Creek and Other Adventures in TV Writing" by Jeffrey Stepakoff, former staff writer for ER and producer for Dawson's.
  

A New Endeavor

I've started a new blog, which most of the readers of this blog will have no interest in visiting. Nonetheless, it is there. Visit it if you like. When and if you do, please note the disclaimers. You rely on my understanding of the law at your own peril. I am not (yet) a lawyer, nor do a play one on TV. If you too are studying for the bar (and even if you're not, but are feeling particularly argumentative), feel free to leave comments and questions regarding my "napkins."

While I'm on the subject...

Since I've been posting about the West Wing a bunch lately, I got to thinking about how it would have been a perfect show to have a spin off (a la Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice). I guess it was never tried because Aaron Sorkin was likely too looped on coke to be able to run two shows at once. [Rob Lowe did try to be a senator, I think, in a short-lived show called Lyon's Den, but it was no good -- and not a real West Wing spin-off anyway. I think it was on a different network, and I know it was on a different night with no tie in -- and different characters, etc., etc.]

Although the moment for a true spin-off is long dead, I have a modest proposal for the network execs at ABC. You see, network big wigs, you have already sort of created a little mini spin-off, what with Rob Lowe finally getting to play a senator and run for president and get good ratings. And you seem to have a relatively talented bunch of writers. So, I propose that you hire one more former West Wing-er to make the package more complete (and the homage more striking). My suggestion: woo Dulé Hill away from USA Network's Psych and bring him on as a young speech writer for Senator McDreamy. And maybe set him up as a solid, non-sleezy love interest for Emily VanCamp's Rebecca. (Emily has spooky incestuous chemistry with Dave Annable, who of course plays her half-brother... we need to nip that one in the bud, although apparently they are dating in real life.) Or you could go the other way with it and bring in Janel Maloney as, let's say, another attorney in Kevin's office (and have her fall for Justin). I don't know. But I think a little West Wing blood does a show good (witness, last night's S60.)

Did You See It Too?

Fibby poses a question in her comment to my last post that is worth a whole bloggy entry of its own. She writes: "I saw huge parallels between the last episode [of Ugly Betty] and an episode of The West Wing. I wonder if you'll see it too..."

And the funny thing is that I didn't. So I went to Television Without Pity (source of snarky but complete recaplets of all the tv worth watching). And as soon as I saw the headline for the Ugly Betty recap, I figured out the reference. And digging up the details on the West Wing episode was a fun little Google adventure. You really can find any sort of information in about 2 minutes on Google!

It was episode #322, "Posse Comitatus," in which Mark Harmon's Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan had captured the heart of one C.J. Craig (and more than a few audience members at the same time), only to be killed off in a convenience store hold-up while C.J. and the rest of the President's entourage watched an opera . . . just in time for May sweeps.

Santos, we loved you, though we hardly knew you. At least Ugly Betty's telenovela conceit shields it somewhat when the writers pull a soap operatic move like killing off the happy, beautiful minor character the fans love just in time for sweeps. Nonetheless, I'm hoping that with Drive cancelled, Kevin Alejandro (Santos) miraculously survives or is brought back from the dead next season. Hey, if it's going to be a world where characters get shot for ratings, it ought to be a place where they can get revived for ratings too. (And it is: cf. the ridiculous ferry disaster arc on Grey's Anatomy in which Meredith is dead for at least two full episodes and then is cheerily looking gorgeous and back to work in the next one . . . that was February sweeps after all!)

Channelling the West Wing

Tonight Studio 60 returned to burn off the episodes that have already been filmed, despite the show's sealed fate. And a funny thing happened. The show was good. I chuckled throughout. Another funny thing happened: the show was based on the amazing chemistry of Timothy Busfield and the lovely Allison Janney. And another thing: Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry had the night off. Literally, they didn't even make an appearance. And guess what? Timothy Busfield's Cal should have been the main character of the series. The show might have survived. Or maybe I just love the West Wing's Danny so much that the Studio 60 Danny (Bradley Whitford's character) never really had a shot. Still, I kept hoping that Cal would give Allison a goldfish or something. It was that good.

Updated: TV Squad disagrees. They missed Danny and Matt. (And come to think of it, it probably would have been fun to revisit the West Wing chemistry between Bradley and Allison, too.) But that's the thing about S60: no one seems to be able to agree about what's wrong with it, so no one was able to fix it. I'll just be content to watch the last few episodes, secure in the knowledge that my TiVo is not missing anything better when it records the show in this post-sweeps abyss of a tv schedule.

A Happy Little Moment

Watching a rerun of Dawson's Creek the other night, I had a fun little moment . . . and no one to share it with. So here it is: the Capeside crowd was in the college bar that they hung out in, having some typical Dawson's-style discussion and, for some reason, I happened to hear the music playing way in the background (as if on the bar's jukebox). Now, I'm really not a music person, as many readers of this blog will attest. I've got no ear for it, and usually it just blends into the background for me when I watch TV. But on this one occassion, you see, the jukebox was playing "Here We Go" by Dispatch. Once upon a time, Dispatch was called One Fell Swoop (and even before that they were the Wood River Bandits, fondly known by their friends as the Cloud Forest Bunnies), and they played concerts in the dorm lounges at Middlebury and lived on the same hall as my friend Tyler. This summer, they will play three sold out shows at Madison Square Garden as a fundraiser for Zimbabwe. This despite the fact that the band has been broken up for 3 years! In any case, it was really fun to hear their music on an old episode of Dawson's. I sure wish I had tickets to one of their NYC shows this summer, but it seems like a somewhat inappropriate method of bar study.

This Just Takes the Cake

Although N is the love of my life, he is not a TV-watching soul mate. These folks, on the other hand, threw a TiVo themed wedding. The couple that watches Nip/Tuck together stays together? I guess.

Those are their wedding cakes, MOMP! SFGate.com reports: "The groom's TiVo was chocolate with a cream cheese filling and the bride's TiVo was vanilla with a peanut butter filling."

All Caught Up

This one's for you, Fibby! I meant to invite you up here for the Survivor finale, but it snuck up on me (because I haven't been watching). I hope you're going to be watching with friends in Beantown. If not, give me a call. We'll teleconference it!

In any case, it was Mother's Day today, so N miraculously took G out for breakfast at first light, allowing me to wallow around in bed for hours. Because I can no longer actually sleep past 7 am, I whiled away my time by streaming the episodes of Survivor that I missed in favor of Ugly Betty this season. The season finale is tonight, and now I'm all caught up. I'm rooting for Yau Man because he's so damn smart and wily (giving away the truck was pure brilliance), but I think Earl is probably the odds-on favorite. Does anyone know why Cassandra is still around? She must be nice because she has to be the most uncoordinated Survivor ever to make it to the top 5.

Speaking of what they have to say...

Good news today! Twenty-two more chances to fall in love with Friday Night Lights, coming to the small screen near you next fall.

The network up-fronts (when we--the advertisers, actually, but fans too--find out next fall's schedule) are all next week, so lots of renewal news and word on pick-ups of new pilots will be trickling out in the next few days.

Gilmore has been officially canceled already; cause for celebration of the end of an era, in my mind, rather than mourning for the loss. (In fact, we will be celebrating this Tuesday at my house--by eating like a Gilmore (a Lorelai Gilmore, not an Emily Gimore, of course)! There will be tater-tot-topped-frozen-pizza and chicken nugget appetizers . . . and malomars, if I can find them.) After the completely appropriate and satisfying but still utterly sad end of Rory and Logan's relationship last week, I'm ready to say goodbye to the show, and eager to see what projects come next for all involved (particularly Matt Czuchry and Amy Sherman-Palladino).

With Gilmore off the schedule, it sounds like One Tree Hill may actually get a chance at another season--one in which they jump the action forward by 5 or so years. I'm all for it. This week's scene at the prom where the characters all make fun of the melodrama in their lives was priceless. O.C.-style self-aware irony. Love it.

The Day Without Email

N's hosting service has been having server trouble, so I've had an email-free day. A very odd phenomenon indeed. But much more palatable than a day with no Internet . . . or no TV. No email just means they can't reach me. I can still read what they have to say. And I suppose that if I blog, they (you?) can even read what I have to say. Wierd.

Dun. Finis. Finito. Done.

My last law school final exam was turned in at 11:55 this morning. Fellow almost-lawyer CM(L) and I ate celebratory sushi and shopped all afternoon. It was mah-velous. Later in the week there will more shopping ... and then there will be a chick flick on the big screen (starring OC alum Adam Brody). I love being on vacation! Plus it's May sweeps. Pure Legally Blonde heaven.

We interupt your regularly scheduled May sweeps for...

... the first ever edition of G TV on YouTube. Episode 101: the one where G takes his first run on Tote Road.



Now that mom has her very own YouTube identity, more episodes (and hopefully better edited episodes with improved dialogue) will be forthcoming. Unless the network execs decide to cancel us. Let me know in the comments if you have any tips on how to edit videos (my finalcutpro skills are unimpressive). This means you, Burger.

I Dare You

I have made a convert. Fellow almost-lawyer AC told me that she caught a couple eps of Friday Night Lights that her TiVo had "suggested" for her. Since then, she's been streaming them obsessively on her computer. Recently, she was even questioned by a policeman at 2 am about this obsession. (Ok, so the policeman is her boyfriend and he was wondering why she hadn't come to bed, but still...)

All this leads me to my double dog dare of the week. NBC has posted the whole first season of FNL on its site. I double dog dare you to stream and watch two episodes without getting hooked. Go ahead, do it... you know you want to.

News on the Renewal Front...

A new report from Ausiello suggests that the death knell may not yet have sounded for the Stars Hollow gang, but I'll be shocked if this May's season finale doesn't wind up as the last word we have from Lorelei and Rory. It sounds like Rory and Logan are history in any case, and since I think Logan is the only reason I've bothered to watch the show this season, I think I'm ready to let GG head off into the great television heaven in a few weeks.

On the other hand, everyone seems convinced that Friday Night Lights will be back.

And in an amusing, eerily torch-passing coincidence, Lauren Graham was apparently once roommates with FNL's brilliant Connie Britton. Two of the smartest, most talented women on the small screen, in my humble opinion: I would have loved to hang out at that apartment!

Save(d) One Show?

Gilmore Girls . . . and Veronica Mars were both given the nod when Kristin at E! announced the Save One Show results last night. Despite the name of the contest, apparently saving just one show wasn't enough . . . and apparently more than 6 million votes were received this year (which is, of course, not to say that 6 million people voted). Ultimately, the Gilmore fans were the most effective at repeatedly clearing their cache and re-voting. It's probably a good thing that we don't elect our president on-line. And, unfortunately, it sounds like no matter how web-savvy and motivated the GG fans are, Rory and Lorelei are not going to be back next season: the cast and crew "couldn't be reached for comment" on their big SOS win.

In any case, I'm content that, as reported in my last post, Friday Night Lights got an order for 6 more scripts.

Boston Legal was highly amusing this week: a surprise visit from Phyllis Diller (rather than Racquel Welch, whom Denny was trying to conjure up with "The Secret") had Denny reeling and N and I rolling with laughter; it's always fun to see Alan Shore come up with new and creative ways to elicit jury nullification; and Julie Bowen was brilliant (as usual). I'm looking forward to seeing what (if anything) they can do with the film shot last week when she went into real-life labor on-set during filming. BL is generally worth watching, but it's rarely at the top of my TiVo to-do list. I'm not sure why not. It's really quite good.

In other TV amusement, I caught the pilot and first couple eps of The O.C. when it premiered on SoapNet this week. It's fun to go back and revisit those classic scenes -- the scene where Sandy drives Ryan away as Marissa looks on from the end of her driveway, the "welcome to the O.C., bitch" scene, the model home fire ... so many good scenes. And with the benefit of hindsight it's fun to see how some of the later iconic scenes from the show called back those early episodes. I hadn't remembered, for example, the scene from the pilot where Ryan scoops the passed-out Marissa off her driveway and tenderly carries her to the poolhouse. The exact same shot is in the episode where she dies. Kind of cool to have that kind of internal reference (and there are so many more, especially in the music). Makes the show kind of literary in a funny sort of way.

Notes from the Couch

Today, I took a sick day. Of course, I don't have classes on Wednesdays and I still had to be a mom for the afternoon, so it wasn't much of a sick day . . . but I did spend an inordinate amount of time on the couch in my pj's, so I guess it counts. Here's hoping that either 1) tomorrow is a snow day (which is oddly possible despite the calendar) or 2) I can breathe when I wake up in the morning.

Meanwhile . . . Friday Night Lights' season finale tonight was excellent, and the news that NBC has ordered 6 more scripts is encouraging . . . According to this quiz, if I were a Grey's doc, I'd be Miranda . . . N and I finally found a show (other than the-utterly-disappointing-this-season 24) that we can agree on: Deadliest Catch on Discovery: just enough melodrama for me, just enough testosterone mixed with adrenaline for him . . .

TV Ramblings on a Monday Night

A few random TV thoughts:

• Finally no more Theismann on Sunday OR Monday Night Football. Yippeee! I'll be able to watch football without his inane ramblings to muck up the experience. Jaws is so much easier to listen to, and he usually has something mildly intelligent to say. Maybe they'll even let him have some sort of feature where he breaks down game film. There's nothing better than watching Jaws break down film. (See, I have many geeky tendancies ... they aren't just limited to school and serialized tv!)
• The Discovery Channel's new miniseries Planet Earth is good and worth watching ... if you have a 34 inch or larger HD tv. We watched the first episode last night in HD (which incidentally also means without commercials on Discovery's HD Theater channel) and then another episode tonight on our decidedly low-def TiVo. Even the three-and-a-half year old was more distracted during tonight's low-def episode. In general though, it's absolutely a nature show worth plopping down on the couch and watching with your preschooler. Well produced, well narrated (by Sigourney Weaver), well filmed.
  
• According to the Futon Critic, October Road gets good in the third episode. I'll be watching, but with no fresh Grey's as a lead-in will anyone else be watching?
• We'll be watching 24 in real-time again tonight for the HD viewing experience (and because it's the only thing my husband will agree to watch with me out of the whole week -- although he's starting to get hooked on The Amazing Race, of all things!) . . . but watching 24 this season feels a little bit like a chore to me. Not sure why.
• New episodes of One Tree Hill were advertised initially as returning this week. But the CW, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that re-running episodes of The Next Pussycat Doll (seriously?) sells more ads on Wednesday nights than fresh episodes of OTH, so Lucas, Peyton and friends won't return until the first week in MAY! Methinks this is not a good sign for the prospects of renewal. Gilmore's return was also pushed back, but only one week--meaning that fresh episodes will air throughout sweeps.
  

OTH SOS!

Every year, Kristin Veitch from E! has an on-line campaign to save one show from the network ax. She gives an excellent run-down of which shows are most likely safe, which ones are "on the bubble," and which are likely doomed. Then you get to vote. The campaign has, apparently, had an effect on network execs in the past.

So who to vote for this year? Three shows I love are theoretically on the list as in need of Kristin's life raft. They are, in order of affection: 1) Friday Night Lights, 2) Gilmore Girls, and 3) One Tree Hill. But I voted for One Tree Hill. Why? 1) Because I'm confident that FNL is safe -- the NBC network execs apparently see its virtues and will give it another season to build ratings. 2) Because I'm certain that the fate of GG rests exclusively on whether or not Alexis and Lauren will sign on for another season for an amount that the CW is willing to fork over -- and word on the street is that they won't. And 3) because OTH's show runner Mark Schwahn has announced that, if they get a 5th season, he'll jump the story ahead 5 years so that all the characters will have finished college. This is just plain smart: it allows actors who don't want to come back an easy way to bail out of their characters -- and I have a sneaking suspicion that Sophia Bush might not want to come back to work with her cheating ex-husband Chad Michael Murray. It will also line up the ages of the characters much more closely with the age of the actors who play them. So I voted for OTH.

Who's going to win? I'd guess Veronica Mars may well be able to muster the most votes this year (and oddly enough, show runner Rob Thomas has apparently borrowed Mark Schwahn's plan to jump Veronica ahead 5 years to be an FBI agent if she comes back). The winner will be announced April 13.

Bridget's message to Tommy

I'm sitting here watching the triumphant return of Six Degrees, and every time I see Bridget I keep thinking about the baby-Brady in her belly. Her character, Whitney, just delivered the following speech:
"I'm sitting here, watching you, thinking ... I mean I'm angry with you, but I am really angry with myself ..."
"Why, for what?"
"For not listening to my gut, the little voice that kept telling me that I couldn't trust you ... I wanted so desperately to be part of the perfect couple and marry the perfect guy with the perfect job that I just couldn't see, didn't want to see what was so obvious .... I want you to get better, get back on your feet and I will too soon, I hope ... But all I know is that I can't have anything to do with you ... I mean ever."
"I understand."

It's like I got to sit in on the conversation she had with Tommy a few months ago... yikes. Damn you, Tom, for ruining a perfectly good ABC soap for me. I mean, Campbell Scott is no McDreamy, but this show is really not half bad... now if only I could watch without searching Bridget's profile for a baby bump!

Two Redeeming Features

This is the second time this year that I have wanted to (even planned to) really, really love a show and been utterly disappointed. This week's episode of October Road had only two redeeming features: 1) the cat in heat that was meowing outside Nick's window turned out to be Hannah and Sam's cat -- that made me grin -- a relatively clever little detail; 2) the final montage and last scene had GNR's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" playing behind it -- it was fun to hear something other than the brand new indie/small label rock that gets played (and then promo'd) on One Tree Hill and the O.C. (may it rest in peace).

Other than that, the show was utter disappointment. The writing is forced and poorly delivered. The plot is rather predictable and uninspired. I'll give it just one more episode to redeem itself ... and only because I loved Bryan Greenberg as Jake Jieglski on One Tree Hill.

Have I mentioned that you really ought to be watching Friday Night Lights? Oh, and Brothers and Sisters too.

You Ought to Post

Alright already. I know it's been a while since my last post, but I'm simply not inspired at the moment. I ought to post about October Road but it was too disappointing, so I can't bring myself to say much about it. I loved Bryan Greenberg as Jake on One Tree Hill and had high hopes for this show. I'll watch a couple more episodes and see if it starts to work. I ought to post about The Black Donnellys but, honestly, the jury's still out on that one. I'm still watching, but it's definitely not appointment viewing. I actually fell asleep last night, so I'll have to catch the end of it on TiVo.

I ought to post about Barack Obama, who's St. Patty's Day logo was brilliant.

But really I ought to figure out what pages we're supposed to have read for tax and advanced business associations. I think I'd better get on that. Only 5 weeks left of classes... and I suppose I ought to keep plugging along.

Hallelujah for YouTube

No O.C. and no Grey's tonight. So we're driving to Sugarloaf to get snowed in there rather than here. 24 inches predicted again! Yay for winter. In the meantime, here's the clip from the season finale of season 1 of the O.C. that actually drew Nathan out of his office for a look:

The End Is Not Near. It Is Here.

There were a bunch of retrospectives on The O.C. popping up around cyberspace this week as last night's finale approached. I particularly liked this run-down of the top ten episodes and this review of the impact of The O.C. on popular culture.

Lest we all forget though, The O.C. did not, in fact, spawn a brand new genre of TV. Instead, I watched the birth of that genre way back in 1990 with 90210. And yet going back to watch those old Shannon-Doherty-era episodes now, they seem so delightfully naive. The O.C. is so much more clever, ironic, and self-aware. Josh Schwartz consistently used Summer and Marissa's fascination with the teen soap The Valley and Seth's Atomic County comic to remind us that the show didn't take itself too seriously. Then, in last week's episode, we heard Seth and Ryan remark that if they had managed to swap bodies when Ryan received a blood transfusion from Seth, they "could have gotten a couple more years out of it." Brilliant. But this sort of "show-within-a-show" self-awareness in a teen soap did not start with The O.C. Instead, Dawson's Creek really started that trend: the cold open for many of those episodes had some sort of self-aware commentary about how everyone on the show talked too much, and then, of course, film-maker Dawson went on to Hollywood to produce a hit TV show called The Creek.

The other innovation for which The O.C. is getting a lot of credit is its use of the soundtrack to both promote indie bands and reinforce the character and plot development of the show. I'm sure The O.C. was not the first to do this consciously, but it did do it very well. An example: at our old house, N would generally sit in his office playing games on his computer while I watched prime time TV. He pointedly would not sit in the room with me, but he pointedly left the office door open. During Gilmore Girls, I would frequently hear him chuckling to himself. Occasionally over dinner he'd even ask me about plot points that he had trouble following simply by listening to Gilmore. But for the most part, he simply ignored the other shows. That is, until the day that Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah showed up on The O.C. N actually got up out of his chair and came out of his office to find out what I was watching and who was singing. The music was that compelling. I will miss it. For now I'll have to rely on One Tree Hill, which does its soundtrack almost as well as The O.C. did, for my anthematic indie music listening experience.

Last night's episode was a delight. It had appeared that Fox had spoiled the episode with a trailer that gave everything away, but instead the episode was filled with quirky, unexpected twists (like Summer and Seth living together while Taylor had taken off for Paris). The move to Berkeley was not unexpected, but the move back to the house where Sandy and Kirsten had first lived was a great twist on that. I laughed out loud as they moved back in to the house before the gay couple living there had agreed to sell, with Kirsten giving birth in one room, Ryan getting laid in another room, and Julie almost getting married in the back yard. I'm sad to see the end of The O.C. As the montage at the end fast-forwarded through 6 or 7 years, I was disappointed that I won't get to watch the writers and actors play out the stories in between. After a terrible season last year, the writing this season has been smart and funny.

But smart and funny exists on other shows too. Have I mentioned that if you're not watching Friday Night Lights you're missing the best show on TV?

Studio 60 is dead. Long live Aaron Sorkin.

I was a fan of Studio 60 more than a year ago. A friend of mine's got a guy who knows a guy, so last winter I got to read the script for the pilot called Studio 7 (along with lots of other people who found the script leaked on the Internet at about the same time). I loved it. And then I heard the casting news and I was sold. Love Bradley Whitford. Love Timothy Busfield. Turns out I even love Matthew Perry--I was not much of a Friends fan, so that was as big a surprise as liking Calista Flockhart on Brothers and Sisters.

The pilot was great. As the season started, I disagreed vehemently with the naysayers who whined on the Internet about Aaron Sorkin being too self-absorbed and condescending toward his audience. And I still disagree with them. But despite moments of true West Wing-style brilliance, it turns out this show just doesn't work. Turns out a really serious show about a sketch comedy show that has no funny sketches just doesn't really work. In the show's typically self-aware style, we found out tonight that Matt's obsession with Harriet has irreparably hurt the ratings of Studio 60, which goes for both the one that airs on NBS and the one that used air, until tonight, on NBC.

To paraphrase Lorelei's heart-to-heart with Chris last week, Studio 60 was "the [show] I wanted to want." But we maybe jumped into the marriage the shark too soon. Now it's over. Here's hoping that Aaron comes up with another great set-up, writes a brilliant pilot, and knocks it out of the park on the next go 'round.

By the way, have I mentioned how good Friday Night Lights is?

Acting Stupid in Front of Famous People

If I lived in L.A. and worked at Il Sole like the Burger, I would see famous people every day. But I don't. Instead, I go to law school in Maine and occasionally catch a glimpse of a vaguely famous person, like the local TV news anchors who go to my gym.

But last night at RiRa's in Portland, I saw an actual star of an actual show that I watch: Jim Gaffigan who plays P.J.'s older brother Andy on My Boys. He was there most of the night. I spotted him as he walked past us on his way to the men's room at about 10:30 and did a double-take. Two hours later, he walked by again and SL decided we just had to have our photo taken with him. I would have been happy with just a picture of him walking by, but SL was willing to follow him and ask for a picture. I suppose we were a bit obnoxious, tracking him through the crowded bar, but he politely obliged. The woman he was talking with snapped the picture for us and we quickly retreated, terribly pleased with ourselves.

I guess I have mixed feelings about how fans should deal with celebrity sightings. On the one hand, Jim really should have been able to hang out at RiRa's without being interrupted by silly strangers looking for a photo. On the other hand, Jim makes his living because SL and I (and the rest of the My Boys fans out there) watch his show. We were polite and the encounter was brief. So, I suppose, we did ok. It was fun, in any case! Here's hoping that I run into other (preferably hotter) TV stars in Portland soon... like, um, say, the once-and-future-Mainer Patrick McDreamy Dempsey. Then I could really make a fool of myself. (That last link is just for you, Burger!)

Another Pitch for Friday Night Lights

Go watch this interview with actors Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton of Friday Night Lights from this morning's Today Show. Then watch Friday Night Lights tonight. It really is the most under-appreciated new show this year. I was pleased to see NBC promoting it this morning on Today. With a little luck it just might get the second season order it deserves. (For the uninitiated who would like to begin at the beginning, the pilot is available as a free download on iTunes. The most recent 5 episodes can be streamed through NBC's site.)

Studio 60, on the other hand, just needs to be put out of its misery. Better luck next time, Aaron! UPDATE: Funny, looks like I got my wish: one more week of S60 before NBC pulls the plug.

Why I Love Sweeps

What a good week in TV! This is a post for true TV geeks like me.

Since last Sunday, there have been some big doings in my favorite fantasy worlds on the small screen. Some of the highlights:

• Emily Gilmore made me cry. The show has been such a disappointment this season, but this episode was perfect. Simply perfect.
  
• Meredith Grey went for an unexpected swim. Yikes. I love that this twist was never leaked on the spoiler sites. (I know, it would be simpler if I just didn't read the spoiler sites, but what fun would that be.)
  
• Lucas Scott has apparently written a novel. I want to read it. How cheesy is that?
• An earthquake has obliterated Orange County. Has any other show ended its run by literally blowing up the set? Oh, maybe 24, but I think they actually began the season by blowing up the set! With only two episodes left, Josh Schwartz and co. are going all out!
  
• After more than 12 weeks with the tension lurking below the surface, this week's episode was the first to really explore the racial issues in Dillon, Texas: a white assistant coach said way more than he should have to a crafty reporter and the black players walked off the field in disgust. It was a great way to get the conflict between Riggins and Smash to come to a head without either of them really doing anything wrong.
• There's a couch on Survivor!? Really?
• And finally, tonight, Kitty and the Senator kissed (and more)... and he's running for president. This show has really hit its stride with great characters and great writing. Plus, I love Rob Lowe. (And the line about him always liking Demi Moore was hilarious! Did anyone else catch that?)
  

A Sitcom Worth Watching

Has anyone caught My Boys on TBS? There was a marathon on yesterday during the annoying Super Bowl. Now, don't get me wrong: We watched the Super Bowl here. But we watched in HD, so the TiVo was free to record 7 hours of this charming little sitcom.

As a glance at the list on the left of this page will tell you, I don't generally bother with half hour shows. Sure, I've seen enough episodes of Friends to know the general gist of the show, but most of the time I just don't get addicted enough to sitcoms to want to keep them on my season pass list. It's not that I don't like comedy. I do. But it has to be comedy of a certain sort and not the sort based on the notion that one of the main characters is charmingly annoying or fat or dumb (see, e.g., 30 Rock, Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, etc., the list goes on and on). I love Boston Legal which is, quite arguably, a comedy. Ed was great fun while it lasted. But there haven't been very many thiry-minute shows that make my list.

My Boys has a great female lead, P.J., played fabulously by Jordana Spiro. She is a sports-obsessed, pretty-but-tomboyish Cubs beat reporter. She is surrounded by her male friends who play poker and drink at the local corner pub. Despite my general distaste for baseball, the baseball metaphors that set the theme for each episode make some sense to me and don't seem too forced or obtrusive. The show has been compared to Sex in the City, which is probably fair. But this show will, perhaps, appeal to those of us who would rather kick back on the couch and watch the Pats than shop for designer footwear on Newbury Street.

So I'll watch the four episodes on my TiVo that I haven't gotten to yet, and I'll make sure my TiVo is set to catch the new eps when they come around this summer. You should set yours, too!