wolfe’s Growling Musings

There’s so much crap on the networks nowadays. Some gems, but the amount of good content has only doubled or tripled, and the number of channels has grown by 100-fold.

Last year, I tried Desperate Housewives. My girlfriend liked it; what can I say. For a show created by a gay Republican, it was pretty cool. That said, it rapidly descended into soap-opera crap. Though I do think Marcia Cross is pretty hot. And her character? Any woman on prime-time TV that keeps a picture of Ronald Reagan in her front hall can’t be that bad.

Then, again last year, there was Lost. It was OK, but really, it treated the viewer like a child, rapidly doing sharp twists with little or no previous foundation. The casting was superb, but once we’d seen the backstories of the main characters a time or two, it diminished. And got flakey.

The US version of The Office? It looked like a total dud last year, a pale anemic version of the UK hit. This year? Quite different. The writing has stepped up to the plate, and the show works. It’s funny. I give this thing 3 stars (out of 4). It’s worth a try if you liked the UK version and thought last years US effort was crap.

Monk? My perennial favorite. An offbeat detective show shown on the USA cable network, it’s fun. Starring Arab-American (in one of the few non-jihadi roles available for Arabs) Tony Shalhoub [ed. Corrected original misspelling as Sholhoub] as Detective Adrian Monk, it’s crisply written, with some excellent acting. Monk’s character is crippled by doubt and haunted by the death of his beloved wife. Barely able to function, he remains an outstanding Sherlock Holmes style detective. His nurse/assistant pushes him to do things (if only so she can get paid by him!) and the supporting cast is well-played. The mysteries are often done in semi-revealed style, where we see the crime taking place, and even sometimes who did it, but it’s not as complete a reveal as the classic Columbo series.

Corner Gas: This is an off-beat Canadian comedy series now in its third season. If you liked Red Green, you’ll probably love this. If you like good low-key comedy (not US style), then this is a good bet. This is exactly the kind of show that could only be made in Canada or Australia. Set in a small Saskatchewan town that contains a newspaper, a police station, a gas bar and a restaurant — and not much else — the Canadian ensemble delivers time and again.

Battlestar Galactica: Had to have one sci-fi masterpiece. Or not, as the case may be. This show is good. Great? No. Good, yes. The scripting varies almost schizophrenically with an occasional bad episode that had so much promise. Fortunately, most episodes are good episodes that live up to their promise. Impressively, characters that have been around for years continue to play significant roles, albiet generally only as minor characters. This is most unusual for a North American (i.e., US) show.

Oh and the new Dr. Who. Check it out when it premieres.

What are you watching?

-wolfe