Is Prime Time Television A Lost Cause?


I love my television shows. I tend not to think of the tv as the idiot box, nor do I call my viewing habit a guilty pleasure. Yet, I am well aware that what is on offer, especially on a college student budget of non-cable, is well, not great. However, there are shows that give me hope. Hope for prime time television on the big three (ABC, NBC, CBS).

Desperate Housewives, which I cannot help watching, has gone down a bizarre path. Grey’s Anatomy, once favorite, has also gone from witty and sexy to plain painful. Sure, we still get gems like on a recent episode where a new female surgeon rechristens the two hunks known as McDreamy and McSteamy into “pretty and prettier.” Sadly, its one of few from what started out as a self-aware, sarcastic, and groundbreaking show. Instead we are given weekly sexcapades.

Grey's sister show, spinoff Private Practice shows us how the pretty people in LA live. It does manage to tug at the ocassional emotional heartstring, while we watch the successful, beautiful doctors at the practice deal with work and love. But seriously, I am supposed to feel sorry for these guys n gals? I don't think so! Still I keep watching, and the last few weeks have produced some familiar faces as guest stars. Two beloved Gilmore Girls faces (Lane and Christopher) showed up. Will Lorelai or Rory be next? Not likely but I can hope! I miss my Gilmore Girls fix. Its departure at the end of last season means I don't have a reason to watch the CW anymore. I mean I watch Smallville once in a while, but its not one of *my* shows. And not being able to afford the cost of cable and thus without the comfort of ABC Family, I don't get my daily dose of a Gilmore Girls rerun. Sad.

One of the most highly hyped shows of the current season, Pushing Daisies, has me watching and coming back for more each week in a sort of deer caught in the headlights stupor. I am not sure why its getting the attention and rave reviews it has thus far garnered. Lemony Snicket for television; cutesy rather than cute. Worse still, CBS’s Cane registers nothing more than a sigh and “why??!!” from me.

Yet, there are moments of hope and glory. For one, despite its weirdness and hyperactivity, Boston Legal still does it for me: James Spader as Alan Shore and the rhetoric he delivers. The show readily dishes up weekly discussions on current political issues that need to be in the spotlight. Brothers and Sisters in its second season now, has become a pure joy to watch. It simultaneously addresses drug addiction, new baby woes, women’s body issues, being gay, the battle between motherhood/family and working, single parenting, abortion/unwed mothers as well as the war in Iraq in a manner that evokes laughter and creates good drama, while still being realistic, respectful, and consequential. It certainly has my vote for best of season.

Television is dead, long live television…