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TV's spring/summer fare a welcomed happening
(June 14, 2010) -- Upfront, I am not unAmerican. I say this because I didn't watch the Winter Olympics back in February -- only the highlights on ESPN. Okay, in a moment of weakness I viewed the curling competition on USA. But that's it. I swear.
During NBC's night-after-night-after-night Olympics run, the other major networks (ABC, CBS, CW and FOX) bowed to NBC's apparent dominance-to-be in the Nielsen ratings and gave us reruns of our favorite shows.
By the time the Olympics were over, those who looked for something else to do other than watch reruns found themselves inundated with "NEW" episodes filling the time grids in their TV Guide. My TV viewing applecart was so upset by the Olympics, I was never able to recover and get back into the groove of watching my favorite procedurals,
I did keep up with "Castle" on ABC and "The Good Wife" and "The Mentalist" on CBS by taping those 10 o'clock shows (Yes, I still use a VCR and I know that is so un21st Century of me.) But I fell way behind on some of my favorites, such as "NCIS," "Criminal Minds," "CSI: New York" and "Numb3rs." (NOTE TO SELF: don't look for "Numb3rs" to be on the 2010-11 schedule. It was canceled by CBS idiots.)
My wife and I discovered "Mercy" on NBC -- and loved it. My favorite character was Chloe (Michelle Trachtenberg), but I loved Veronica (Taylor Schilling) and Sonia (Jaime Lee Kirchner), too. Unfortunately, NBC canceled "Mercy" (what were those idiot execs thinking!). To further display their idiocy, NBC canceled "Law & Order" after a successful 20-year run.
With the usual season a wreck, I welcomed USA's and TNT's returning spring/summer shows. "In Plain Sight," "Burn Notice," "Royal Pains" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" have been on my must-see list. TNT has been showing the last episodes of "Saving Grace" before the end to that series, and promises us that "The Closer" is coming soon. Lifetime has begun new episodes of "Drop Dead Diva" -- a Sunday night fare that leads into "Army Wives."
On the horizon for USA are "Leverage," "White Collar," "Psych" and, if the previews live up to its billing, "Current Affairs." TNT has "Memphis Beat" in the hopper ready for viewers to judge Jason Lee (formerly starring in "My Name is Earl") as a police detective.
Looking back on the just-ended season, "The Good Wife" (starring
Julianna Margulies and Chris Noth) was the break-out drama. Good storylines. Good characters. Good acting. I think Margulies deserves an Emmy when those awards are handed out.
I'll miss "Monk." The series ended with dignity by tying up loose ends. Although Jeff Goldblum and Saffron Burrows are holding their own as major case squad detectives, I miss Eames (Kathryn Erbe) and Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio), the original detectives when the show premiered on Sept. 30, 2001. Eames' and Goren's exit from the show came in the season-opening two-parter. Again, two fine detectives who solved a lot of cases during their airtime left with dignity albeit sadly.
Finally, I tried to keep up with "Flash Forward" on ABC, but found the show to be ponderous at times. Too many red herrings. Too many characters to keep up with. I missed one episode in April and I never did figure out why certain events happened in later episodes. It's my understanding that "Flash Forward" is on ABC's chopping block. Unlike "Mercy" and "Law and Order," I could live with that cancelation.
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