Wednesday, November 10, 2004

TV: Premiere WindUp

While work commitments have intruded, I have had a chance to catch more of the debut shows for new shows this fall. And hallelujah, there is some good stuff worth watching.

Best of the shows I've seen thus far has been Lost. But a close second is UPN's Veronica Mars, starring Kristen Bell as the cute and sassy social outcast daughter of sheriff-turned-PI Enrico Colantoni. Veronica was formerly belle of the ball before her father tried to down the town's leading light for murdering his daughter, Veronica's best friend, Lilly. Money won out and Veronica was soon on the outs with the elite set. That gave her time to become a present-day Nancy Drew. The stories are entertaining and Bell, who reminds me of a spunky geologist I know, is a break-out star.

I wish I was about a generation younger. I'd lust after Veronica Mars but understand life as we know it's cast of characters more. It's all youthful hormones, including the hoary "student's hot for teacher" cliche. And, like Dawson's Creek, said student gets his heart desire. Enough already. But this show is worth watching for one thing, Kelly Osbourne. She's comfortable in her skin and sassy (there's that word again) and a revelation. e.e. cummings' affectations aside, I do think you have to be a certain age for this show not to come off as a waste of time.

The series you HAVE heard about, Desperate Housewives, has a through-line that reminds me of Veronica's "Who Killed Lilly" thread, while populating a street right out of Knots Landing with Twin Peaks wannabes. I can watch Terri Hatcher and Eva Langoria for a long time, but I'm put out with many of the other characters, including Nicolette Sheridan. Say, wasn't she in Knots Landing? Yep, still the man-killer. I know folks have jumped on this show as an ode to the better half, but I have to think this show only goes so far. Flavour of the month feeling. It will fade as soon as Hatcher has her Sam And Diane moment with affable Mike, played by Jamie Denton ... who might not be as friendly as he appears.

Flip the channel. Do it again. Surely, by this time, you've passed some channel showing a poker tournament. Celebrity Poker takes all the game out of Poker and injects it with some truly inane conversation between Hollywood's C List of actors. Fold.

The names and the talent that populate The Centre of the Universe should make for a good show. But when you spend the big bucks for the likes of John Goodman, Jean Smart and Ed Asner, you might be a little tight in the writing budget. Sure shows. Yet another Goodman show that shows he can't front a sitcom. A great character actor, but he needs a bigger light to take the spotlight away.

Well, that's the end of debut season. Time to take a second look at second episodes since I last wrote about the shows. Next entry, promise. And it won't be a month from now, promise.

No comments: