I'll take potpourri for $6,500, Alex

A roundup of links, thoughts and ephemera. Now with no MSG added.

What would have happened on Pushing Daisies had it not been cruelly canceled?

Brilliant, funny baseball "charts." Must see.

Basketball trick shot artist. Starts out interesting, then gets downright unbelievable.

Countdown of the top 50 movie robots.

This football league probably doesn't believe that teh gays are allowed to be starters. And I assume they think football was created 6 years ago.

A look back at the first good dragon movie.

Just who I look to for my 911 conspiracy theories.

Blowjobs are for ugly girls. I think the photographic evidence says it all, really.

10 greatest "false deaths" in movies (SPOILERS AHOY).

EPSN SEC blogger lists his favorite conference stadiums.

15 sci-fi movie sequels that didn't suck.

15 movies that were almost turned into TV shows. (I would have loved a TV version of the mucho underrated Zero Effect or Buckaroo Banzai).

For some reason, this video clip makes me think of the 3rd and 4th Planet of the Apes movies:



80s movie action cliches: the witty retort!

Best spy tips from Burn Notice.

7 Star Wars characters who dropped the ball.

A thoughtful mega essay on how the Battlestar Galactica finale screwed the pooch. Related: all the things the "god" of BSG had to be "responsible" for. Also related: how does Katee Sackhoff feel about her role in the finale? (trivia: Katee auditioned for the female detective role in Castle!)

New Harry Potter movie out today! Here's a list of the Top 25 characters in the series. And sports related, a funny list of Potter lookalikes from the world of sports.

TNRLM Emmy Shortlist: Comedy Series

 

In many ways, TV’s best sitcom is also its most “traditional.” Big Bang Theory is a three camera set up, is only 30 minutes long (as opposed to the hour format of others on this list that are hour long action/fantasy/comedy hybrids), and doesn’t feature hyper-stylized shifts in narrative and time. That, in and of itself, doesn’t make BBT make so good. What does, is that it puts five unique and interesting characters into situational comedy, without sacrificing character integrity, and consistently mines those characters and situations for big laughs. You don’t have to be a big old geek to love BBT (though if you are, you’ll appreciate just how many details they get right about nerd culture); you just have to be a fan of comedy done right.

 

Chuck, like the other hourlongs on this list, is difficult to classify. It’s not a pure drama, though there are life and death stakes and moments of heartbreaking poignancy. It’s not a total action adventure spy romp, though they can stage Bondian capers on a TV budget with ease. It’s not a sci-fi show, though they feature enough gadgets, gizmos, plots for world domination and techy concepts to fit right in with a starship crew. And it’s not a pure comedy, even though Chuck brings the funny each and every week with not only the zany antics of the Buy More crew, but also within the spy realm (what other show would cast Chevy Chase as an evil genius, and have it work so remarkably?). Despite the genre bouillabaisse, Chuck upped its game in its second (and thankfully, not final) season, and consistently put a smile on the face of its devoted fanbase.

 

At this point, do any of us really care about the mother? Sure, it’s the maguffin that keeps the show rolling, but that’s not why we tune in week after week. In fact, even though Ted’s quest for a wife is where the show gets its title, ask any How I Met Your Mother fan to rank their favorite characters, and I’m fairly sure Ted would average out to fifth place. Though that has a bit to do with Ted’s ongoing douchiness, the rest of HIMYM’s cast is so strong and so adept at handling the comedy that it doesn’t hurt to have your ostensibly “central” character be the caboose on the funny train. In addition to the eponymous search, the other notable feature of the HIMYM style is the fractured narrative method of storytelling, circling back on itself not only within one episode, but also going back in time to previous seasons, the college days with bad wigs and forward to the future, with all our characters in old age makeup. Even though “how” they tell the stories is just as amusing as the stories they tell, the technique is never distracting and almost always adds to the payoff of a carefully constructed comedy denouement.

 

For the life of me, I’ll never understand why The Middleman didn’t get more love from critics and audiences. Maybe because it was hopelessly out of place on teen and woman centric ABC Family. Or maybe because it was hard to know what to make of the show at first glance. Was it a superhero show? A sci-fi show? A comedy? An adventure show? A spoof? An homage to the silver age of comics? One of the best written shows on television? The answer to all of these questions is “YES.” The Middleman was like a fusion of the old Batman TV show and Get Smart, if written by Stan Lee and 60s era Woody Allen. It featured a hopelessly square, and square jawed, milk-drinking crimefighter prone to nonsensical exclamations like “Sands of Zanzibar!” and “Hawks of the Luftwaffe!” who teamed with spunky and thoroughly modern partner Wendy Watson to take on threats like flying zombie fish, cursed tubas and vampire puppets. The Middleman had some of the most torturously tangled, and side splittingly funny, dialogue I’ve ever heard (very similar in its construction, if not tone, to the also exquisitely written Pushing Daisies), and it was delivered by a game and winning cast that expertly strode the line between comedy and camp, making the show a true undiscovered gem.

Another show that didn’t get the attention it deserved was the Starz original, Party Down. Created by Veronica Mars mastermind Rob Thomas (along with Paul Rudd, John Enborn and Dan Etheridge), Party Down chronicled the misadventures of an LA catering crew made up of Hollywood wannabes and has-beens, with each episode centering around a particular engagement. The characters were all sharply drawn, strongly written and winningly acted by a very, very talented ensemble. Each of the characters got moments to shine, and they were supported by a murderer’s row of guest actors including Steven Weber, Enrico Colantoni, JK Simmons and Kristen Bell, among others. Party Down has a little something for everyone: the uncomfortable cringe comedy of The Office, broad laughs and sight gags, caustic nerdiness, an improvised shagginess and vibe, romantic travails, and sly commentary on the economic disparity between the haves and have nots. Party Down has already been renewed for a second season, so I can’t wait to see where they take it next year.

 

Pushing Daisies is yet another sweet, rich, wry, wonderfully developed comic universe created by Bryan Fuller (along with Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me) to be canceled well before its time. It’s tragic, really, since nobody on television produces such beautiful little communities inhabited by brilliantly realized characters better than Fuller. While the set design and achingly twee construction of the show’s world set it apart from anything else on the tube, it’s the fitfully intelligent scripts, and the perfectly cast actors that perform them, that make Pushing Daisies a modern masterpiece. If only the piemaker could use his powers to bring this beloved show back.

 

I almost didn’t include 30 Rock on the list (replacing it with Better Off Ted), since this season was so hit and miss. Some ongoing plots, like Liz’s awkward relationship with Jon Hamm’s “so pretty he’s coasting” doctor worked fine, but others, like Jack’s romance with Salma Hayek (who really didn’t have the comic timing for this show) flopped on the beach like a gasping trout. But we don’t necessarily watch 30 Rock for carefully constructed plot arcs and a mirror view of real life. We watch 30 Rock because A) Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy are two of the best comic characters around today, and B) it has the highest ZPM (Zinger Per Minute) ratio of any show on TV, and on that front, even though it wasn’t up to the high points of seasons past, 30 Rock still delivered laughs aplenty. And that’s not such a bad thing.

Emmy Shortlist: Comedy Lead Actors

TNRLM Shortlist: Lead Actor/Comedy

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock: While 30 Rock may be maddeningly inconsistent, Baldwin is most assuredly not. While this season didn’t bring anything as howlingly funny and “instant classic” as Tracy Jordan’s therapy session, Baldwin still did yeoman’s comedy work every episode, including funny pokes at his Malice character and having his “double” show up in a Mexican telenovela.


Matt Keeslar, The Middleman: Last year’s best new show didn’t attract the attention it deserved and got canceled, but Keeslar’s performance as the milk drinking, aw-shucks hero was note perfect. “I’m as serious as a hefty bag full of rottweilers!” when I say Keeslar deserves a nomination.


Zach Levi, Chuck: Chuck’s second season amped up everything, including the emotional stakes, and Levi deftly anchored the show’s evolution from pleasant diversion to must see TV. Who else could motivate the interwebs to run to their local Subway to “save Chuck?”


Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies: Ned had a lot to deal with this year, and Pace expertly handled the complex twists and turns of his relationship with Chuck (and their extended families), all while navigating the poetic dialogue in an endearingly matter of fact deadpan.


Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory: BBT has evolved into TV’s best sitcom, and if there were room, every single player on the show would be nominated. However, Parsons takes a role that could quickly devolve into the “audience whoops when he enters” equivalent of JJ Evans or Cosmo Kramer, and gives him a disarming charm no matter how annoying the character’s behavior is on the surface. Not many people can make knocking on a door (three times in a row, of course) laugh out loud funny, in addition to providing one of the season’s biggest highlights dealing with getting a napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy.

James Roday, Psych: Tony Shaloub got lots of Emmy love (and rightfully so) for his portrayal of Adrian Monk, so how about a little love for the “other” USA Network detective on Friday nights? Since Roday dialed down the “fake psychic” histrionics, his Shawn Spencer has been an 80s pop culture spewing delight, making a know it all oddly likable.

Adam Scott, Party Down: While Party Down is pretty much a true ensemble, Scott’s Henry is the emotional center of the show, and his disillusioned deadpan was an engaging audience counterbalance to some of the broader comic creations around him.




TNRLM Shortlist: Lead Actress/Comedy

Christina Applegate, Samantha Who: The show’s high concept never quite lived up to Applegate’s lead performance, which showcased her innate sweetness and deft comic timing.



Kaley Cuoco, The Big Bang Theory: The writers didn’t really know what to do with Penny in the first season, but the character (and Cuoco) really came into her own this year. Once she started to embrace the geeks next door on their own terms, Penny found a comfortable and welcome place in the storylines, and her situational pairings with Sheldon were comic gold.


Tina Fey, 30 Rock: Liz Lemon’s nerdy desperation never fails to disappoint, and her dysfunctional relationship with Jon Hamm’s Drew gave Liz more to do than just spew hysterical office-based one liners.


Jenna Fischer, The Office: The “Michael Scott Paper Company” plotline was hit and miss, but it certainly gave Fischer’s Pam more to do, and that’s always a good thing. Her “Jerry Maguire” moment with Michael, realization of what she’s done, and growth into a sales position was a nice extended character arc and highlight of The Office’s season.


Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies: Friel gives you faith that sunny optimism and a central lightness can be awesomely appealing without being cloying or saccharine.




Yvonne Strahovski, Chuck: As good as Zach Levi was on Chuck, nobody would invest in the show quite as emotionally if it wasn’t for Strahovski’s shaded performance as his conflicted handler, Sarah Walker. The audience believes that Sarah could fall for the erstwhile Nerd Herder, just as they can believe she can kick some serious ass.

Emmy Shortlist: Comedy Supporting Actors

It’s that time of the year, now that the regular television season is over, when folks start putting together a short list for Emmy Nominations. I’ll do mine in few installments, starting today with supporting performances in a comedy.

TNRLM Shortlist: Supporting Actress/Comedy

Lizzy Caplan, Party Down: Caplan’s Casey, a wannabe stand up comic coming out of a bad long distance relationship, was a great romantic foil for Adam Scott’s Henry, creating one of the most deadpan comic couplings this year (Caplan was also fantastic in True Blood last year, as Jason’s unhinged blood junkie girlfriend).


Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies: A tiny whirlwind of comic charm and spunky sass, with bonus points for glorious singing.



Portia de Rossi, Better Off Ted: Veronica was as icy and buttoned up as Lindsey Funke was scattershot and dimly self aware, and both were played to perfection by de Rossi.



Jane Lynch, Party Down: Lynch is hit or miss for some folks, and I’ll admit that a little of her goes a long way. Party Down used her to great effect as a bawdy former C-level actress.

Cobie Smulders, How I Met Your Mother: Both ladies (including Alyson Hannigan) from HIMYM are worthy, but since Hannigan was sidelined for month or so on maternity leave, let’s give the show’s nomination here to Smulders, who did great work all season, culminating in a terrific finale with Barney.


Jenny Wade, Reaper: Though the plotting in Reaper was as disappointingly unfocused as last year, the performances really stepped up. Wade was a fantastic addition to the cast, giving her “reformed” demon an adorable quirkiness underscored with some not so human menace.



TNRLM Shortlist: Supporting Actor/Comedy

Adam Baldwin, Chuck: First, we have to address the question of whether or not to classify Chuck as a “comedy,” since it’s a little bit of everything (romance, comedy, spy caper, action adventure). Given how loaded the pure “drama” categories are, and how many smiles and chuckles Chuck brings to the party, I think it’s fine to put it here, and nobody does more with less than Baldwin’s Agent Casey. Whether it’s a grunt, a look or a nod, Baldwin is consistently entertaining, funny and badass.

Rick Gonzalez, Reaper: It took me a while to warm up to Gonzalez. I couldn’t stand his performance or his character on Reaper last year, but he completely won me over in the show’s second (and hopefully not final) season. His romance with Jenny Wade’s demon Nina was the heart of the show this year, and his off-kilter and underplayed line readings were appreciably surprising and delightful.

Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother: Harris should be a shoo-in winner in this category. He takes what could be a broad cartoon in a lesser actor’s hands, and infuses the scheming, womanizing Barney with an innate likeability. A masterful creation, masterfully played.

Chi McBride, Pushing Daisies: Reliably exasperated and caustic, McBride handles the labyrinthine plot twists and tangled, brilliant dialogue with aplomb.




Jason Segel, How I Met Your Mother: Marshall and Lily’s relationship is one to envy, in no small part because of Segel’s ability to play endearingly schmoopy. Plus, this last season gave him a chance to show more of a bromance with Barney, a welcome pairing we haven’t seen that often before.

Ray Wise, Reaper: Wise’s grinning, malevolent Prince of Darkness is a consistently terrific comic creation, completely dominating the screen while taking souls, looking for love or running a suburban botox party. If Reaper doesn’t get picked up by another network (or sold into syndication), I’d certainly watch a half hour sitcom with the Devil as a central character. He’s that “good.”

TNRLM's Best of Television 2008

In many ways, 2008 was a down year for television, with the strike disrupting or derailing the continuity of the programming schedule, and "reality" TV continuing its plague-like spread across the airwaves. Yet amidst the chaos, several shows stood out above the rest, and here is the TNRLM Top 10:

(Quick note: two shows that appear on virtually every Top 10 list this year are The Shield and The Wire. For whatever reasons, I never got into either of them, and can't accurately assess their quality. Perhaps that will be a summer DVD Project).

1. Lost. Now that Team Darlton have a confirmed end in site, the show ratcheted up the pace and responded with a stellar season light on the filler and heavy on the drama. The "flash forwards" added a thought-provoking new dimension to the narrative, and the new characters (Faraday, Charlotte, Miles, Lapidus) were all fascinating, well acted and spot on. Plus, Lost gave us the single best hour of television this year with "The Constant."
2. Battlestar Galactica. The sci-fi show for people who don't like sci-fi shows. This gritty, mesmerizing drama features the finest ensemble cast on the tube, and despite being set in a world with robots, spaceships and prophecies, always retains its focus on what matters: the characters.
3. Mad Men. Season 2 refused to push the "action" forward at a breakneck pace, instead languorously taking us through the existential crisis of adman Don Draper, and we were all the better for it. Like Lost and BSG, Mad Men offers a cast with depth and talent to burn, and the stories that didn't focus on Don (Peggy's growth, Pete's realizations, Duck's machinations, Roger's divorce) were just as fascinating.
4. The Middleman. This (sadly) little watched gem on ABC Family pulled off the most difficult high-wire act of the year, straddling the line between cult and camp with a verve, wit and energy I can't recall seeing before. The laugh out loud scripts and wordplay were matched only by the precisely calibrated and endearing performances. "Mutual of Omaha!" "I’m as serious as a hefty bag full of rottweilers " when I say I will buy this baby on DVD the second it comes out.
5. Pushing Daisies. Thanks to my relocation, I missed the boat on this one when it first started, but I quickly caught up and found this quirk-filled beauty a total delight. I was also in love with Bryan Fuller's other fantastical show, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies upped the ante on that show in every conceivable way. The central premise is intriguing enough (a piemaker who can raise the dead, and solves crimes with his just resurrected longtime love and a caustically sarcastic PI), but you compound that with candy-acid set design and cinematography, Emmy-worthy performances, musical interludes and a rich mythos, and you have something truly unique. Despite their radically different settings and concepts, one thing the top 5 shows here all have in common is their uncompromising and brilliant scripting.
6. Chuck. Once you get past the fact that everyone seems to be connected to some espionage organization, you can just sit back and enjoy the easy charms of this action-spy-comedy. The antics at the Buy More are just as entertaining as the main plots that drive the action, and the Chuck / Sara romance takes what could be a cliche and finds equal parts humor and pathos. Plus, any show that saves the world by getting high score on a Missile Command arcade machine is okay in my book.
7. In Treatment. HBO's novel experiment - a five night a week, 30 minute drama, with each episode being one session between a shrink and one of his patients -- delivered the goods with claustrophobic and searing performances. All of the sessions were involving and dramatic, but the ones with damaged gymnast Mia Wasikowska were riveting.
8. CBS Monday Comedy. Okay, I'm cheating here (and on the next one) by combining two shows into one entry. But the one-two punch of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory is a treat on a night crammed with eminently watchable TV. HIMYM continued being one of the best under the radar classic sitcoms ever, and the fractured narratives and pop culture concepts (like "the naked man") never fail to amuse. Season 2 of Big Bang sanded off some of the rough edges, and made all the characters engaging and involved. Now we can laugh with them, instead of at them.
9. NBC Thursday Comedy. Despite an overreliance on guest stars, 30 Rock easily produces the highest laugh / minute ratio of any show on TV. Liz Lemon is a dysfunctional Mary Richards for the modern era, and Alec Baldwin's Jack Donaghy is an inspired comic creation. The Office ventured away from some of the unbelievably stupid (like following a GPS into a lake) antics and found its groove again with Micheal's relationship with the dorktastic Holly.
10. Burn Notice. This burned spy caper show is an easygoing marvel of efficiency. The plots hum along, giving viewers lots of little "how to" insights into the world of spycraft, all while providing a healthy dose of sex appeal, action beats, humor, yogurt and geek deity Bruce Campbell.

Honorable Mention (in no particular order):

• Supernatural. I'm not sure why I didn't latch on to this show when it started, but I just spent the xmas break devouring the first 3 season on DVD, and catching up on TiVo'd season 4. A worthy successor to the Buffy/Angel/X-Files tradition of character-based drama, scares and laughs.
• Law & Order (original recipe). The new cast is the best since the glory years.
• House. House and Wilson are as great as ever, but I don't care about Cuddy's baby (showrunners: please stop adding kids to shows. I tune out. Thanks. TNRLM). And as hot as Olivia Wilde is, I don't care that much about Thirteen. Or Foreman.
• Life on Mars. Intriguing and entertaining. Worth watching for Michael Imperioli's mustache.
• Dexter. Micheal C. Hall is certainly Emmy-worthy (as always), Jimmy Smits was a live-wire foil for the year and Deb is still delightfully profane. But see House above: please stop adding babies.
• The Closer. A by the numbers procedural, anchored by an electric central performance and a talented supporting cast.
• Fringe. Could have easily made it into the Top 10 with a greater sample. Many don't like Anna Torv's Olivia, but I think her stoic performance is right in line with the character (plus, we got to see her lighter side late in the season when she was doing shots). Walter Bishop is the best new character on TV, and his son Peter is delightful snarky.
• Eli Stone. I want to dislike this because of the religiosity and consistently preachy lefty politics, but I can't. It's too well crafted.
• True Blood. It took a while to find its footing, but this deep south vampire show showed considerable promise.
• The Mentalist. TV's highest rated new drama was yet another procedural, but one with a charming and star-making performance from lead Simon Baker.
• Torchwood. Upped the body count this year, and just as kooky, sexy and entertaining as year one.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I'm getting a little tired of the terminator of the week being sent back in time, but the central mysteries, dramatic performances and character conflicts keep me coming back eagerly.
• Bones. A modern Moonlighting for the cadaver set, without the lead actor antipathy. Charisma to burn, and the addition of Sweets was a smart move (and goes a long way to make up for the Zack debacle).
  

Noooooo!!! Yessssssss!!!

ABC's Grim Reaper made the rounds on Thursday, swinging his scythe down on Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone.

Despite the subject matter and the occasional political preachiness, I enjoyed Stone, but the true gut-punch here is the loss of Daisies, which was the most inventive, charming, literate and laugh out loud funny show I've seen in ages. I wasn't on board from the very beginning (fuck you Comcast), but quickly got sucked into the wonderful world of the pie-maker, and watching this delightful and different show was a highlight for the week. Once the DVDs come out, Pushing Daisies will occupy a place of honor on my shelf next to another of Bryan Fuller's brilliant (and canceled too soon) creations, Wonderfalls.

The rumors around the TV watercoolor are that Fuller, if the fate of Daisies was sealed, would move back to Heroes. Lord knows that show could use his deft touch. In fact, if I was NBC, I would give Tim Kring the bum's rush out the fucking door and install Fuller as show-runner ASAP. Did anyone else read about Kring's latest idiotic statements? At a writing conference recently, he asserted that serialized shows are more difficult for people to follow in this era of DVRs. Huh? That's the most counter-intuitive and stupid thing I've ever heard. DVRs make it soooo much EASIER for people to follow Lost and BSG and Dexter and Mad Men and serialized shows now. If you can't make this week's ep in real time to follow the ongoing plotlines...HELLO!.... you can catch up because you have the episodes saved to watch at your leisure. In fact, lots of folks I know save up weeks and weeks of 24 to watch them all unfold back to back. Sheesh. And this guy is running a "flagship" show, albeit into the ground? Put Fuller in charge, like now.

RIP, Daisies. If only HBO or Showtime had the pie-maker's magic touch to bring you back. (If that was the case, and Pushing Daisies remained "alive" for more than 60 seconds, perhaps The Hills and Hannity and Colmes could die in your place to balance the cosmic equation).

But speaking of brilliant, funny shows euthanized before their time, it appears there's life for the Arrested Development movie. Yeeeeahhhh!

I'll take potpourri for $3,600, Alex

Remember my post about my "days in hell?" Well, I forgot to mention this: I also got a letter from the IRS. (Sadly, not the old record label). It seems that both the state of GA and my former mortgage company made errors in reporting. So I had to waste a couple of hours getting that straight with my accountant. Fair Tax, anyone?

A handy list of the most commonly misspelled words. I always have problems with "judgment."

Featurette about the world of Terminator 4.

Good news? An awesome new Dollhouse trailer. Bad news? It appears Joss is getting shafted again by FOX, which just announced their upcoming schedule. Instead of getting a cushy spot on the Monday sched with 24, Dollhouse is now paired with Sarah Connor on Fridays, the TV graveyard. Seems I recall another Whedon show on FOX, a little thing called Firefly, airing on Fridays. We know how that worked out. Fuck. Of course, depending on the expectations and patience of the "new" FOX regime, perhaps there's a silver lining. Maybe TPTB will realize where the stabilized ratings are for T:TSCC, and that will create lowered performance expectations for Dollhouse, and they will accept a non-American Idol number on Fridays, letting both shows breathe and attract a nice geek demo. Optimism, right?

Speaking of Joss, nice interview about Fray. (And how cool has it been to revisit that world in the Buffy Season 8 comics?)

Ray Wise, the delightfully snarky Devil from Reaper, chats here.

Q&A with HIMYM creators.

Joan Holloway (and YoSaffBridge) was in an Everclear video! Yep, she was smoking hot then, with shorter hair. More on the hotness that is Christina Hendricks here.

Unexpected storylines on college football. 4 and 5 are dismaying, of course.

Why Bones is the best procedural on TV. I'm still fond of CSI: Original Recipe too, though. (Thursday's ep, with Lady Heather, didn't disappoint. And did anyone notice that Roger Sterling's new bride showed up in that one also?)

I'm trying to keep an open mind about the Big O, but his whole idea of "fair" makes me want to vomit. FAIR is that people keep what they make, period. FAIR is that nobody gets a free ride, period. FAIR is that people are NOT rewarded for sloth, idiocy or rampant spawning.

Is this where the whole "red" and "blue" designations started? Oh, and Oregon adds yet another uni debacle to their closet.

Did anyone know you're supposed to calculate the tip on the pretax bill?

Why Pushing Daisies is the best show you're not watching. (and probably won't be for much longer. Rumor has it that PD won't get the "back 9" pick up, and Bryan Fuller could head back to try and resuscitate Heroes).

The women of Watchmen. And if Carla Gugino isn't #1 on my "list", I don't know who is.

Is Best! New! Show! of the summer dead? Sigh.

Does anything good ever happen at a Days Inn? Evidently, the Bulldog hubby got pwned just like the team did.

Fall TV Preview: New Shows to Watch

Every fall, I pick a few new shows to add to the "season pass" list. My choices are based on buzz, advanced reviews from critics who have actually seen the pilots, how appealing the set up of the show sounds to me, involvement of writers/producers/actors that I've liked in other offerings and how well the concept of the show meshes with my sensibilities.

Last year, I picked Shark, Heroes, Dexter, Smith, Studio 60 and The Nine. That was kind of a mixed bag. Dexter went on to be come a critical darling and one of my favorite shows of the '06 season. Shark was an entertaining procedural anchored by a scenery-chewing lead performance by James Woods. Heroes was a bit hit and miss, but was a geeky thrill ride that kept me coming back for more. Smith had a fantastic cast, but meandered along and quickly got canceled. I've posted quite a bit about Studio 60, and it will go down as one of the biggest trainwrecks and wastes of talent to hit the screen in some time. The Nine got some solid advance reviews, but by the time I could get around to watching it, it had been canceled.

This year, the pickings for new shows appear to be slimmer. There are only a few that I'm genuinely excited about, and some that I'll casually watch if nothing else is on. Here are the one that make my short list.

Reaper
Tuesdays @ 9, CW. This is about a 20 year old slacker who realizes his parents sold his soul to the devil when he was younger. Now the debt has come due, and the devil wants him to be a bounty hunter to collect evil souls. Ray Wise stars as the devil, and the pilot was directed by geek icon Kevin Smith.

Bionic Woman
Wednesdays @ 9, NBC. A "re-imagining" of the 70s show, this features Brit Michelle Ryan as Jamie Sommers. Other than the potential for nerdy action adventure, this has some other significant plusses: it was created by David Eick, the co-creator and producer of Television's Best Show, Battlestar Galactica. It stars BSG's electric Katee Sackhoff as the first, and slightly unstable, bionic woman. It also stars the always solid Miguel Ferrer, though on the downside, it does feature Grey's Anatomy castoff and pompous asshat Isaiah Washington.

Pushing Daisies
Wednesdays @ 8, ABC. Probably the most critically adored pilot of the fall, it's also the show that stands the greatest chance to die a quick death because it falls into the "quirky" genre. Created by some of the minds behind Heroes and the brilliant (but also canceled) Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies is about a pie-maker whose touch can bring dead things back to life. However, if he touches them again, they die again for good. And if the resurrected stay alive for more than 60 seconds, something else has to die to even the cosmic scale. Sounds like a big mainstream smash, right? However, with the writing and producing pedigree, and a solid cast (Lee Pace, from Wonderfalls, Chi McBride, Harriet Hayes -- er, Kristen Chenowith and others) I'll be tuned in right away.

Those are the three that I'll definitely recommend and be watching in as close to real time as I can.

Others to watch:

Chuck
Tuesdays @ 9, NBC. A computer geek who works for one of those big box "tech squads" downloads an entire database of government secrets directly into his brain, and becomes a reluctant secret agent with the help of a hot, badass partner. From the producer of The OC (which I never got into). It also stars the man called Jayne himself, Adam Baldwin. Could be cute and fun, or could try too hard. Also: Opposite must watches House and Reaper.

Moonlight
Fridays @ 9, CBS. About a centuries old vampire who is also a detective. Wow. Sounds a lot like Angel. They swear it's different, though, which may or may not help it in my book, since I loved Angel it was canceled way too soon. After the initial pilot, which was met with yawns by most critics, they completely retooled it and brought on board a completely new cast (except for the main character), including Veronica Mars vet Jason Dohring. Angel co-creator David Greenwalt was also added as showrunner for a month or so, before departing for "personal reasons." All signs point to derivative, but given the dearth of vamp drama on my screen (at least until Alan Ball's new show hits HBO), I'll check it out.

Women's Murder Club
Fridays @ 9, ABC. Based on the series of James Patterson novels, of which I've read a few, it stars Angie Harmon (my favorite Law and Order ADA) as one of four chick friends who moonlight as crime solvers. Could be a pleasant enough procedural, and I could listen to Harmon's smoky Texas drawl read Tampa Bay Devil Rays box scores.

Dirty Sexy Money
Wednesdays @ 10, ABC. A Dallas or Dynasty like prime time soap anchored by Peter Krause (SportsNight, Six Feet Under) as a lawyer for an insanely rich and perhaps insane family. Barbed, campy fun? Or slogging melodrama?

Sarah Conner Chronicles
Fox, mid-season. Lena Heady takes over from Linda Hamilton as the titular character, with Thomas Dekker (previously Claire's "not gay" pal on Heroes) as savior of the human race John Conner. Takes place between T2 and T3. Might be worth checking out for Firefly and 4400 ingenue Summer Glau as a friendly terminator.

So there you have it. Three definite recommendations, and a few softer suggestions. Maybe it's the lack of multiple Tivos all across my home. Maybe it's because the two things I'm looking most forward to, Lost and Battlestar Galactica, won't be returning until January. But I'm just not as jazzed as I usually am about the fall television season. Perhaps the idiot box will surprise me.