rec.arts.tv Commentary:

MY REVIEW: The '99-'00 Season: The Shows (Wednesday-Saturday):

This article was written, by me, and posted to the 
rec.arts.tv newsgroup on May 31, 2000. 
That original article has been slightly edited by me 
before being placed on the web on January 28, 2001.

THE SHOW REVIEWS (Wednesday-Saturday):

NOTE: See the Discussion Section for the explaination of the Grading scheme for this Review.

Last season (the show's fifth), "Party of Five" had such an atrocious season that I quit watching the show early on in the year, and permanently switched to "Charmed". This spring, with the end of the series fast approaching, I picked up "Party of Five" again near the end of the show's final season. And, you know what? "Party of Five" had gotten better again. In fact, it wasn't half bad near the end. The finale, especially, was rather affecting, and (I thought) was a nice send-off for the show.

Now, was this final season of "Party of Five" anywhere near as good as the show's "heydays" (principally, it's first season, though the 2nd and 3rd seasons were also quite good)? No. But it was gratifying to see that, after the show's ill-concieved debacle of 5th season, it was at least able to rebound some, and regain some of its former glory in its final season.

So, "So long! 'Party of Five'!" I'll actually miss you.

Now, here are some words you probably never thought you here from me, and that I never thought I'd say. But, here goes: "Dawson's Creek" is actually *good* right now... [gulp!]

Believe me, I'm as shocked as you are. When season #3 began, it began so inauspiciously that I had serious doubts that I'd even continue to watch the show! This season began with series creator Kevin Williamson turning his attention elsewhere (and then promptly burning out), and the result? Well, her name was Eve (Brittany Daniels, deserving more than this! after years of toil on "Sweet Valley High"), and it was a storyline so badly done, so completely unbelievable, that it completely shook my (little) faith in this show. Add on to that the incredibly unbelievable way Andie's (Meredith Monroe, needing to move on from this role) "recovery" came about (not that I didn't predict this exactly one year ago), and you had a recipe for disaster.

And then... something happened. The writers grabbed a clue, tied the can to Eve, shoved Andie, *and* Dawson! (James Van Der Beek, better served by his movie performances), into the background, and gave us November Sweeps episodes like "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "Four to Tango". From then on, the writers came up with a couple of ingenious storyarcs:

1. Pacey's (Joshua Jackson, seemingly beloved by women and men alike!) growing attraction to Joey (Katie Holmes, somehow making the "girl next door" overly intellectual and vaguely sexy at the same time; and making the character vaguely sympathetic to me, for the first time!), and
2. Jen's (Michelle Williams, my favorite on the show) fragile, tricky relationship with eager, puppy-dog freshman (Michael Pitt, going for "proto Leo").

Add in some good stuff with Dawson's parents, Joey's sister's bed-and-breakfast, Grams' heart-to-hearts with Jen, and Jack's (Kerr Smith, very sensitive!) fumbling voyage of self-discovery, and, shiver me timbers! you actually have a *good* show!

Of course, "Dawson" is still clunky at times. Andie still (usually) grates. And the show far too often goes to the facile, braindead, sanctimonious liberal/P.C. sloganeering and cheerleading. But when the show has tried for subtlety this season, it has actually managed on several occasions to be surprisingly emotionally affecting.

Now, it's anyone's guess as to how long this will keep up. But, for now anyway, "Dawson" has actually stumbled upon a good, working formula, and is poised to (mercifully!) free us from the perpetually tiresome Dawson/Joey-endless-love saga.

They keep this up, and I may actually start anticipating the "next episode of 'Dawson's Creek'"!

Then again, I blow so hot and cold on this show that it probably won't be long before I'm calling for heads to roll, again! ;p

"Felicity" keeps trying to 'break through' and it keeps coming up just short.

I was no fan of first season "Felicity" (too self-serious, and too gimmicky, for my tastes), and second season "Felicity" was different enough from that disliked first season that I thought I might be able to get into it. (If nothing else, at least they had gotten rid of the horribly over-stark lighting from the first season!)

And, indeed, season #2 started off great! (at least, in my opinion). Early in season #2, Felicity chose Ben over Noel (the correct choice, in my book!), leading to many bitter recriminations between Felicity (Keri Russell, cute enough, but would all these guys really fight over her?!), Ben (Scott Speedman, picking up where Matthew McConnahey left off), Noel (Scott Foley, solidly likable in a pretty goofy role) and Julie (Amy Jo Johnson, becoming increasingly irrelevant to the proceedings). Bitterness and hostility - now this was good stuff!

And then Felicity dumped Ben... and cut her hair! and it was all over! Now, of course, The WB's network goons may be silly enough to blame the "hair", but, in fact, the "hair" shearing just coincided with several ill-conceived storylines, including interminable dragging out the Felicity/Ben/Noel triangle. And it was the poor storylines, *not* the "hair cut" that sunk "Felicity" creatively and in the ratings.

And then, lo and behold! like "Dawson", "Felicity" began to claw its way back (well, somewhat, anyway). However in "Felicity's" case, it hasn't worked out as well. While, "Dawson" has been on a continuous 'uptick' since last Fall, "Felicity's" progress has been more a case of "two steps forward, one and a half steps back" (though it has been getting more consistently better toward the end of the season). "Entertainment Weekly's" Ken Tucker accused "Jack & Jill" of being a "Felicity"-clone. But, I've got to tell you, I *swear* that in the second half of this season, "Felicity" was the one who was ripping-off "Jack & Jill" in the "sweet" romance department! (No wonder the show improved somewhat!)

So, what are the things I have liked from this season of "Felicity"? Ben grabbing a clue that he belongs with Felicity. The character of Ruby (Amy Smart, doing a good job at portraying one of the few truly "nice" girls on TV), who is, unfortunately, on her way off the show. Noel finally escaping the "evol" clutches of Felicity, and getting his own storyline. Felicity's realizations over her parents marriage, and her sessions with her therapist (Amy Aquino, and, man! I wish someone would give this actress a steady gig! She is *that* good!) And the writers finally starting to do something with the character of Meghan (Amanda Foreman, who's not nearly so creepily unattractive in the various other roles I've seen her in), though it took them an entire season to do it.

What are the things I haven't liked about this season of "Felicity"? The "Twilight Zone" homage, which wasn't very well done, and added absolutely nothing to the series as a whole. Felicity's umpteen boyfriends this season, none of whom were even remotely interesting. The lack of Julie doing *anything* that was relevant or interesting! The increasing overuse of Javier. (OK, folks, we can have more than one or two characters who are comedy relief on this show!) The increasing politicization of Felicity. (OK, granted, getting all into being an activist and running for student government is part of the college experience... Well, OK, it's only part of *some* people's college experience, and maybe that's the problem...) The lack of these guys actually going to *class* (except for Noel's TA sessions, we rarely saw the inside of a classroom this season).

Anyway, "Felicity" never consistently builds up a head of steam. Occasionally, it will stumble onto a good storyline (e.g. the bad feelings early in the season, Felicity's parents, the labors of Ruby), only to fritter it away with something less interesting (e.g. usually, Felicity's newest boyfriend) as the follow-up. And how much interest can you generate on just the romantic side of the equation?

So, is "Felicity" watchable? Generally, yes. It's is particularly inspired? Nope. Could it be better? What do you think!

Oy vey! Where to begin... where to begin?... Rather than flogging the dead horse I've been merciless flogging all season on this subject, let me try a slightly different tact this time.

What bugs me most about "Popular" is that it continually *frustrates* ME. (Yes, *me*!) Yeah, sure, on occasion, this show actually musters up a brain cell or two and manages to be funny. Yeah, sometimes, even darn funny. (But not that often...)

But what gets me is that, every so often, you get a glimpse into the kind of show "Popular" *could* be if they actually tried. If they just junked the silliness, the slapstick, the satire, the ridiculous fantasy sequences, and actually tried to really *write* a good show, they could have something good... Maybe even something *really* good, because nearly all of the elements are in place. They've got a premise ("popular" kids vs. self-proclaimed "unpopular" kids). They've got a situation (Queen of the Populars and Psychotic Queen of the Unpopulars are forced together when the former's Dad and the latter's Mom start getting hot and heavy.) And they've got some characters (most promisingly Psycho Spam and Megabitch Nicole). And, yet, they fritter this promise away, EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Now, of course, what this boils down is a difference of opinion... it's "contrary visions". Because you'll find more than a few people who can actually accept "Popular" on its own terms, as a wacky, silly, kind of funky, kind of stupid, satire/farce. And then there are those of us who see "Popular" for what it *could* be, what there are occasional glimpses of: a no-holds-barred, pumped up, harder-core, more melodramatic incarnation of "Dawson's Creek" or "My So-Called Life". *This* show would be a vision of High School as *literal* HELL. (Thus, taking things one step further than early "Buffy".)

And, when we occasionally get *this* show, as we did in "A Popular Christmas", where we see Nicole Julian's (Tammy Lynn Michaels, now being woefully underutilized by the show) hellish life, or in the episodes where Psycho Spam McPhearson (Carly Pope, getting unjustly overlooked as The WB's publicity machine gears up, instead, for co-star Leslie Bibb) gets put through the ringer (e.g. when Sam's friends abandon her or accuse her of virtual crimes against humanity, when Sam catches her Mom and Brooke's Dad in flagrante, when Sam almost cracks amongst the wedding preparations for her Mom's marriage to Brooke's dad, etc.), then, finally! we get a show that I really *want* to watch. *This* is a show that I could get gung-ho about. This show, "Tour of Duty" meets "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", where every week is the absolute *tragedy* of High School - now *this* is a show I could really get into!

What do we get instead? Musical numbers, Miss Glass ("Sir!"), stupid cat fights, Emory Dick, strip clubs, the Tuna sisters, Mary Cherry: Future Serial Killer and the umpteenth variation of "I Get by with a Little Help from My Friends"... [sigh] What a waste.

Man, what I wouldn't give to see that *other* show, that other vision of "Popular" that occasionally peeks out from behind the fog of silliness, irreverence and irrelevance.

Now, *that* is the show that would be "appointment television".

Dan Tropea may not think too much of it, but "Charmed" has got one thing going for it that a lot of other shows should try to emulate: "Charmed" is just darn *fun* to watch!

Is this brain surgery? Heck no! But it doesn't need to be. TV is about *entertainment* (serious issues, drama and conflict need to stoke the entertainment value of a show, *not* the other way around!), and "Charmed" knows that and meets its quota in sterling fashion.

Pretty much every week, you know what you're going to get from an episode of "Charmed": the three Halliwell sisters, oldest Prue (Shannen Doherty, apparently mellowing with age), middle Piper (Holly Marie Combs, cute as a button!), and youngest Phoebe (Alyssa Milano, loveably goofy), will have to go up against [insert warlock/evil witch/demon here] and defeat said enemy with some variant of "The Power of Three". Of course, the perfunctory villain is actually relatively unimportant to the proceedings, because what really makes "Charmed" as entertaining as it is the main characters themselves, and the interplay between the three sisters and whoever else is present (which is usually either Leo "The Whitelighter" (Brian Krause) or Darryl The Cop (Dorian Gregory)). What is perhaps most surprising about "Charmed" is that it does all this with writing that turns out to be far better than you might expect. While not a heavy "storyarc" show, "Charmed" still manages to carry important bits forward through the season, and will occasionally even refer back to more obscure happenings. On occasion, "Charmed" even manages to come up with a profound Skiffy idea, or at least an emotionally moving storyline.

Now having said all that, I'm not quite sure that I'm quite as fond of "Charmed" as I was in its first season. (Perhaps they needed Andy The Cop more than they realized?) And I do feel that there some things "Charmed" could do to improve itself. One change that might improve things is adding one or two semi-recurring villains (Brigid Branaugh's Blair Witch-like character from this season actually would have fit the bill quite nicely) to ratchet up the proceedings. The writers also need to keep better track of the witches' growing powers (or fitting Phoebe's power into episode storylines at all! Phoebe's been pretty short-changed this season!). But, to be fair, the difference in quality between the two seasons is really quite minuscule, and it's hardly worth mentioning.

"Charmed" is never going to win any awards, but, honestly, it doesn't need to. Afterall, it's already The WB's #2 show (and I doubt it'll be long before it overtakes sagging "7th Heaven"). Bottom line: "Charmed" is plain fun. And, believe me, I can think of a lot worse adjectives to describe a TV show than that!

Few (if any!) would dispute that "ER's" previous season (its fifth) was substandard. Everything from the introduction of Lucy Knight to the departure of Doug Ross to various other threads were handled incredibly poorly last season. So bad was the fifth season of "ER" that, at the end of last season, I anointed "ER" (along with "Party of Five") as the show that went through the "Biggest Decline". Wow! What a difference a season makes!

Indeed, "ER's" turnaround this season (and, previously, "Melrose Place's" turnaround in its last season) should hearten anyone who assumes that their "favorite show" is "over" just because it has one bad season. Sure, there are cases like those of "Frasier" where one bad season is just followed up with another bad season (and another, and another...). But, then there are those cases like "ER", where a bad season forces the writers and producers to take stock of their show, determine what isn't working, and then execute whatever changes are necessary to bring the show around. Luckily for the viewers, "ER's" writers and producers seem to have done exactly that.

First, they (mostly intentionally?...) junked a few characters who had run their course (e.g. Gloria Reuben's Jeannie Bloulet, Kellie Martin's Lucy Knight, and eventually Julianna Margulies' Carol Hathaway) and brought in some new, badly needed 'fresh blood' (e.g. Erik Palladino's Dr. Dave, Goran Visnjic's Dr. Kovic, Maura Tierney's Abby, and returning Ming-Na's Deb/Jing-Mei Chen). Then the writers did what all writers for shows like this should do: they shifted the focus somewhat away from the "personal relationship" stuff (no more endless talk of Kerry Weaver's birth mother, thank Ghu!) and back more on the professional/medical stuff.

The results? Great storylines, like: Ramono's and Weaver's virtual coup in taking over as Chief of Staff and Head of the E.R. respectively; Dr. Dave's ridiculous posturing for "hot" cases; Abby's various ethical crises; Kovic navigating the political waters of the "ER" (and bumping heads with Benton at the end of the season!); etc. Added on top of this were a couple of "personal" stories that actually worked, namely Green's very touching time with his terminally-ill father (John Cullum, doing excellent double-duty on "ER" and "Roswell"), a storyline that virtually rehabilitated the Green character (he'd been getting too cranky over the last couple of seasons); and Carter's struggles after the murder of Lucy Knight, a storyline which took some needed shine off Carter's halo.

This season then culminated in what I consider to be three brilliant episodes: the third to last ep., with the death of Green's father (very moving stuff!); the second to last ep., in which Carol Hathaway *finally!* grabbed a clue and reunited with Doug Ross (a final scene that had even me, no big Carol/Doug 'shipper, grinning from ear-to-ear!); and finally, the season finale in which Carter finally melted down under the pressure, only to be rescued by loyal, old mentor Peter Benton.

This season of "ER" just plum *worked* for me. Three cheers to the writers for pulling this show back from the brink and reinvigorating it in season #6! Here's one guy who's looking forward to season #7.

Not much to say on this score. I (occasionally) watch this show mostly because I'm a long-time fan of star Melina Kanakaredes. And, occasional (OK, rarely), it actually manages to transcend its formula, and become somewhat moving (that is, when it's not going for the same kind of clunky slapstick that drags down "Popular" (and "Ally McBeal")). Of course, more often than not, "Providence" is 'Sappy City' and that makes impossible to like this show much. "Providence" is an OK show, a vaguely acceptable way to pass a slow Friday night, but it really is nothing more than that. I guess that'll work for some people. But it doesn't really work for me.

I don't exactly have it out for "Now & Again". Far from it, as I actually like nearly everyone in the cast. In fact, it was the show's *cast* that kicked this show up from a "C" to a "C+" in my book. I'll say it again: I like Eric Close, I like Dennis Haysbert, and I love Margaret Colin! (Gerrit Graham and Heather Matarazzo don't work as well for me, perhaps because it seems to me like their characters are too broadly drawn...)

But, N&A is just a show that has never seemed to "click" with me. It's slow. It ambles. It never seemed to go anywhere. It never really builds up any emotional immediacy. It never seemed to decide on what kind of show it wanted to be (see, also: "Angel"!). Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the fuss over this show. Now, it's probably a little unfair to tag it as the show that I think is the "Most Overrated Show" (a label that I usually reserve for shows I despise, not shows I am simply lukewarm on), but there seems to be a lot of support for this show, and it's difficult for me to see exactly why.

In any case, while this certainly wasn't my favorite show, I in no way wanted to see it cancelled. Which, of course, is exactly what CBS did. I guess fans of this show just couldn't win...

I never have much to say about "Nash". It's got fast cars, lots of shoot-outs, many explosions, Don Johnson, a good supporting cast, (usually) some fine looking women (starting with series regular Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, yet another "Maxim" girl), and writing generally decent enough to construct some passable 'whodunits'. Sounds like a perfect way to relax on a lazy Friday night.

Of course, having said all this, many of my complaints in my Mid-Season Review still hold. The weird, somewhat compelling, but usually just inexplicable, Evan (Jaime Gomez, doing the best with what was given him) "saga" really never made much sense to me (especially in light of the fact that he just got killed in the season finale!). Further, I'm still of the opinion that Yasmine Bleeth's Caitlin Cross added nothing to the show, and in fact took away from it (not that this matters, as Bleeth is now off to do NBC's "Titans"). And I don't feel that "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's recurring John Cage character adds anything positive to the show either (perhaps now with Bleeth gone we'll be spared any more "Cage" episodes!). Finally, I can't for the life of me figure out why they've brought back Nick's (James Gammon, doing solid character acting) Alheizmer's-except-now-its-just-senility storyline.

But it's not all bad. "Nash" is still entertaining as often as not. And I am looking forward to seeing what they do with O'Keefe's Cassidy now that she's going to enter the Police Academy. This could get interesting next season. ;)

And I'm probably being slightly generous with that B-. Still, this is a show I've always liked, and I liked it to the end.

If I do have a complaint about this season (and I *always* have complaints, Dearies!) it's that the Centre stories/storyarcs pretty much collapsed into a dreary mess this season. But do I blame the show's writers for this? Hell No! Why? Because it was NBC, its network goons interfering yet *again* in the development of one their show's, that caused this mess! See, it seems that NBC's network goons found the Centre's 2nd and 3rd season storyarcs and developments "too confusing to the average viewer", and so they ordered the writers to cut the Centre storylines back, simplify them, and make each Centre episode story more "stand alone". So good bye continuity! The result was... well, I'm still not sure what the result was, because the Centre arcs have gone so much back and forth now (Mr. Parker's *evil*! No he's not! Yes he is! And Mr. Lyle's *good*! No he's not, he's a cold-blooded serial killer! No he's not, he just helped Miss Parker on a case! Etc.) that I'm not exactly sure what's going on with the Centre anymore!

However, an expected benefit of all this was that Jarod's stand-alone episode stories actually seemed to improve this season as a result. Maybe it's just me, but there were very view "Jarod" stories this season that didn't totally catch me up in the action. And that generally was not the case in previous seasons.

In any case, NBC has now not only interfered in the show's development, they now have also *cancelled* it (and given us a pretty hopeless series finale, to boot!) and the entire "Thrillogy" along with it. This means 3 things: 1) I'm really going to miss "The Pretender", 2) now it means we'll never get a satisfactory resolution to the Centre storyline or "The Pretender" series, and 3) I guess my Saturday nights are going to be "TV free" nights from now on!

And, you know?, that's probably not a bad thing... ;)

It is vexing to me that, after all this time, "Early Edition" and "The Pretender" are *still* squaring off against each other. Because, it wasn't for that, I'd probably be watching "Early Edition".

I didn't see much of the show this season (for obvious reasons), but whenever I did catch it, I was usually pleasantly surprised. Kyle Chandler was solid (if usually uninspired) as the series lead, and the guest stars were usually first-rate. I don't feel that "Early Edition" ever achieved critical mass to become a "very good" or "great" show. But it was a solidly entertaining, usually heart-warming (without being smarmy), show.

Along with "The Pretender", this show is gone now too. I'll miss it.

I'll just go ahead and mark this down as "The Unexpected Breakout of the Season"; you can also put it down as my pick as the "#5 Best Show for the Season". Even more than "D.C." (another show that pleasantly surpassed my expectations), "The Others" turned out to have a lot more going for it that a nifty premise.

What made this show work was not so much the "freaky", Sci-Fi/fantasy premise. Actually, two things made this show work: 1) creepy atmospherics (the kind of atmosphere that "The X-Files" had early in its run, but lost in subsequent seasons), and 2) great attention to character detail.

See, that was the irony about "The Others": more than anything else, the show actually served as a character study in every episode. Sometimes, the character study was of one of the series regulars (Elmer, Marion, Satori, Dr. Hunk... er, I mean Dr. Mark, and Albert, all got episodes focusing on them), and sometimes it was the guest star that got the treatment (notably (in order of the episode appearances), Christina Haag, Jeanette Broz, Tushka Bergin and James Morrison). But it was actually the attention to character detail, along with some effectively creepy atmospherics, that made this show good.

Of course, this also tended to make this show challenging and, buried in the Saturday night graveyard, it's not surprising that this show never found an audience.

Which is too bad, because I *really* liked this show. I mean, I really, *really* liked it. Which is why it's in my Top 5.

How many ways can I say "Yuck!"?! This series used to be good. But this season, a lead change was all the indication you needed as to where they were going to take this show.

That's right: out was overly serious (but at least she could be *taken* seriously) Ally Walker, and in was sexy, soapy Jamie Luner. Now, I've got nothing against Luner (in fact, I liked her on "Melrose", and liked her a lot on "Savannah"), but it was clear where NBC was going with this when they hired her. Where were they going? Straight to "Soap Land", my friends!

Sure enough, what we saw with this season of "Profiler" was a lot more sex than we'd seen previously (at least among the main cast), and a lot more soapy angst, and interpersonal relationships, and drug addictions, and blah blah blah blah BLAH! Frankly, it was exactly this change in focus away from the job, and toward the 'sudsy', that killed "Homicide" (and nearly killed "ER"). And history just repeated itself here.

So, do yourself a favor folks: when "Profiler" airs in syndication, stick to just the Ally Walker episodes. When the Luner episodes appear? Just skip 'em! You won't be missing a thing.

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