Why Aren't You Watching?

We are now a couple of months into the new television season, and the body count is starting to pile up. NBC's Kidnapped was banished to the graveyard that is Saturday nights, and told to wrap things up in 13 episodes. There is also talk that Twenty Good Years, starring John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor, is also getting the boot. CBS's Smith, starring Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen and Amy Smart was bumped off. Fox's Vanished has also been ordered to wrap things up in 13 episodes. Evidently the CW (the merger of UPN and The WB) had a show called Runaway that has also been killed off. I'm fine with all of these, because I only watched one of them, Vanished, and it wasn't very good. But now there are rumours starting to abound that some of the season's better offerings may be on the chopping block. So I implore you, if you watch television, if you despair over the lack of quality offerings on network (ie non-HBO & Showtime) television, start watching these good shows.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Aaron Sorkin just keeps on churning out great shows. First Sports Night, then The West Wing, and now Studio 60. An hour long drama about the inner workings of a Saturday Night Live-esque show. I swear, Matthew Perry was born to recite Sorkin dialogue. And Bradley Whitford just picks up where he left off with West Wing, delivering great performances. Add in DL Hughley, Sarah Paulson, Nate Corddry, Steven Weber, and Timothy Busfield, and you've got a great cast. Hell, even Amanda Peet manages to do more than flash her sexy toothy smile.
There was a great moment in the first episode where Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford are having a conversation in a half-taxi used for sketches. Their conversation finished, they get up to leave. Perry walks out the front, since there is no front half of the cab, while Whitford opens the door and gets out. Brilliant.
What's even better is that the show discusses issues that need to be discussed, but tend to get lost in the white noise of status quo television. The role, and under-representation of minorities on television. The effect of the growing corporatization of the entertainment industry. The self-censorship created in the culture of fear birthed on 9/11. The growing influence of religious right neo-conservatives. The role of art in a commercial capitalist culture. All this, wrapped up in an entertaining and compelling dramedy.
And I think thats the problem. People aren't used to having network television offer up these issues. They're used to dealing with the issues like the range of grapefruit pulp, or who is sleeping with whom, or any of the other banal minutiae that are typically offered. And don't get me wrong, I like to indulge in mindless escapist entertainment. After all, I'm a wrestling fan, and I watch The Ultimate Fighter. But I also like to be challenged from time to time. Shows like Studio 60 do that.
The other complaint I've heard about Studio 60 is that its too much like another show that NBC offered this year:

30 Rock: I'll be the first to admit it, I have a thing for Tina Fey. For a while, she was the only bright spot on Saturday Night Live, with her place at the Weekend Update newsdesk helping to make the show watchable. Some jackasses at one of those "men's" magazines labelled her as one of the must unattractive women on television, but I think thats because they know she is smarter than them.
This show is brilliant. Alec Baldwin follows up a spectacular performance in The Departed to appear on the show as a GE executive who, after inventing the "trivection" oven, is given command of the "The Girlie Show" presided over by Tina Fey, and starring Jane Krakowski. His first move, to bring in Tracy Morgan, who channels Martin Lawrence in presenting a seriously unbalanced, delusional, often unintentionally hilarious, comedian. While the entire cast is hilarious, as is the writing, the best part of the show is Jack McBrayer, who plays NBC page Kenneth. Overly exuberant, utterly naive Kenneth, of whom Baldwin says, "In twenty years, we'll all either be working for him, or be dead by his hand."
Currently the show is on Wednesdays at 8, but it is said that NBC will be moving the show to Thursdays at 9, followed by Scrubs. This will give NBC a two hour block of great comedies, reminiscent of the good old days when NBC had shows like Cheers, Night Court, Friends, and others in that slot, dominating it for years. But now, Thursdays at 8 is Survivor, and 9 is CSI versus Grey's Anatomy. I haven't watched Grey's Anatomy since ABC moved it, but evidently quite a few people are, as it is winning the battle over CSI.
I implore you people, stop watching Survivor. It is the Terry Schiavo of television. Just let it die already. It had a good run, it helped to lower the bar for television programming for years to come, and paved the way for such mind-numbing treacle as Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, Unan1mous, The Apprentice, and all the other reality shows that continue to pollute the airwaves.
And I'll admit it, I chose to watch Survivor in the past. But today, if given the choice between Survivor (or any other "reality" show) and a well-written, well-acted comedy like My Name is Earl or The Office, I'll take the show that admits to being scripted.
As for CSI, I will also admit to being fascinated by the show in the past. But the lustre has worn off. Issues such as the 'CSI Effect' along with the continuing melodrama that pervades what should be a police procedural have made me sick of CSI. And don't get me started on CSI's bastard children. And I'm just a civilian. If you really want to hear from people who hate CSI, talk to cops who have to deal with the repercussions of the show, and the ridiculous heightened expectations that it creates in the minds of the general public.
So people of the world, I am begging you. Stop watching Survivor and CSI. Break free from the shackles of mediocre comfort television, and embrace shows that are offering something better than the status quo. Studio 60 and 30 Rock are two such shows. But perhaps the best new show this year is:

Friday Night Lights: Film adaptations are a tricky beast. Really, any time you try to capture what worked in one medium and translate it to another, you're going to run into problems. Robert Rodriguez did it successfully with Sin City. Sam Raimi did it with Spiderman. Peter Jackson did it with Lord of the Rings (although I know some fanboys who disagree). Catwoman is an example of a horrendous failure. So too is Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Friday Night Lights is an interesting case, because it is a television show, based on a movie, which was based on a book, which was based on the author's experiences over the span of a year in the town of Odessa, Texas. Obviously, the movie couldn't capture everything from the book. The movie focused on the football team at Permian High, while the book was about the entire town, with the Permian Panthers as the focal point. It raised questions about the priorities of the modern education system, the role of sports in community building, and the economics of small-town America in an increasingly growing global America.
I think the television show will be able to address these issues, if they're given the time. Some of the details from the book have been changed, such as the name of the team. But really, the only complaint I have is that they changed the team colours from black and white to yellow and blue. But its entirely possible that was done for legal reasons. Or because someone at the show is a Michigan fan. But apart from these minor changes, the show has the potential to address the issues raised by the book. The problems of joining and agreeing without question, a problem found not only in small-town football, but in the military, and authoritarian nation-states. The problems of hegemonic masculinity. The problems caused by major paradigm shifts when your world view is too myopic.
Friday Night Lights has the potential to be an important, powerful television show. It has great performances from Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, and a group of young people playing the students. It has smart writing, a universal plot (well, North-Americanal, but that's not a word), and a message. So naturally, nobody is watching.

I'm begging you, good people of North America, take some time to check out these shows. They are smart, they are funny, they are what television is supposed to be.