Let me catch up by not being clever, and not trying so hard to justify my opinions.
- Bionic Woman seems to be an exercise in being as dark and unfun as possible. All the colors are draing to darkness, the secret agency who gives her her bionic parts is a rather questioable group, the very folks she should be able to trust she can’t. No fun. And if all the hero of a piece does is try to survive and protect themselves, they ain’t a hero. I’m slowly working my way through Battlestar Galactica — still somewhere in the first season — and that has much the same tone, but at least seems more intelligent. No, we’re not likely to ever hear the term “fembot” on this show. Can’t see much point to it.
- Dirty Sexy Money has an interesting cast (Jill Clayburgh! Donald Sutherland! Peter Krause!) in service of an over-the-top but unfunny drama of a rich family and the lawyer they keep hopping. They say the target audience is the modern version of the Dallas viewer, and I am not a member of that target.
- I’m only partway through Private Practice, a spin-off of a show that I don’t watch, but my immediate reaction is that it’s more like a show that it shares part of its title with: The Practice. Over the top (if not achieving the degree that the lawyer show does) segmented drama that didn’t really catch me.
And Ugly Betty launched their second season with a horribly weak episode. One funny line, one touching moment that worked, but most of it was desperate, failed attempts at being funny.
So, not a good batch of watching. But that’s fine. The question is never how many bad shows are on TV, it’s are there enough good ones. And with my time growing ever more scarce, I don’t need that many good shows to keep me happy.
