CHUCK BARNEY: AS SEEN ON TV

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Marlene

Guest
Source Contra Costa Times

Posted on Sun, Dec. 28, 2003

CHUCK BARNEY: AS SEEN ON TV
Cable, not network TV, is where it's happening
By Chuck Barney
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

As the year rushes to a close, I have just one question for the six bigwigs who oversee America's major broadcast networks:

Why does cable so thoroughly kick your butts?

We're not talking ratings, of course. Even though broadcasters continued to see their audiences erode in 2003, they still hold a decisive edge in the Nielsen numbers. And only the networks have the power to deliver massively watched blockbusters such as "American Idol" and "Joe Millionaire."

But in terms of overall water-cooler buzz and creative originality, it was really no contest. Cable unleashed upon the networks in 2003 a brutal beat-down.

It was cable programming that had its thumb on the cultural pulse and had people talking -- even if it wasn't always in glowing terms (i.e.: the Madonna-Britney kiss, Jessica Simpson's IQ, and the narrow-minded war coverage of Fox News).

More importantly, cable was a leader when it came to taking the medium in exciting new creative directions. This year we designed our list to reflect quality programming that hovered on the cutting edge and/or took risks by defying convention. The result? Cable shows occupy seven spots, including the top one, which was a clear-cut no-brainer. As for my selection of the year's five worst new shows? All network efforts.

Here's the rundown:

The best

1. "ANGELS IN AMERICA" (HBO): If this magnificent six-hour production starring Al Pacino and Meryl Streep had appeared in your neighborhood multiplex, we'd be talking Oscars right now. But director Mike Nichols, working with playwright Tony Kushner's brilliant material, stunned skeptics to pull off a cinematic miracle on the small screen. Blessed with a poetic and provocative power, as well as dazzling acting performances all around, this "Angels" absolutely soared. Nichols and company will have to settle for Emmys -- lots of them.

2. "THE WIRE" (HBO): At a time when quick-and-tidy procedural cop dramas are reaching epidemic proportions on broadcast television, this intricately plotted cable series defies the trend, unfolding in novelistic leisure while deftly exploring its flawed characters and pertinent social issues. Quietly engrossing and persistently challenging, "The Wire" may not boast the pop-cult buzz of its flashier HBO series siblings, but it's a rich and rewarding experience.

3. "THE DAILY SHOW" (COMEDY CENTRAL): This irreverent faux news show has been on the air for seven years (the past four with smirky Jon Stewart as host), but it rose to new heights of satirical splendor during the war in Iraq and kept the momentum rolling right up through its very first Emmy triumph. In gleefully skewering society's daily absurdities, Stewart and his agile writers and correspondents preside over the funniest show on television. Eat your heart out, "Saturday Night Live."

4. "ALIAS" (ABC): While "24" was wearing thin, TV's other superspy show, with its lighter, more escapist approach, continued to find thrilling ways to raise the bar. May's electrifying season finale thrust the plucky Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) into one of the wildest, nastiest girl fights ever put to film, and then reached a jaw-dropping crescendo with a cliffhanger like no other. This season, the high-octane action, stunning plot twists and emotional wallops just keep on coming.

5. "ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT" (FOX): The sitcom genre might be mired in a creative slump, but you wouldn't know it from watching this dark and offbeat freshman comedy. Narrated and co-produced by Ron Howard, it tells, in sardonic style, the story of a bizarre family whose fortunes falter when the patriarch (Jeffrey Tambor) is jailed for defrauding investors. The acting is terrific. The writing is clever. The laugh track is blissfully nonexistent.

6. "BOOMTOWN" (NBC): And now we pause to mourn the dearly departed. This short-lived cop show, like "The Wire," dared to be structurally different, presenting intriguing criminal cases from multiple points of view. It was good enough to win a Peabody Award, but not commercially viable enough to win over the Peacock. NBC, displaying a shameful lack of patience, axed it in early fall.

7. "QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY" (BRAVO): Just as the whole makeover TV thing started to seem so five minutes ago, along came this surprising blast of whimsy. Not only did "Queer Eye" bring a hip and hilarious twist to the genre (while teaching us the joys of moisturizing), but it also contributed some positive pop-cultural vibes to a summer in which gays made significant social strides in terms of visibility, equality and acceptance.

8. "NIP/TUCK" (FX): Talk about tapping into the Zeitgeist. This riveting and risky melodrama about plastic surgeons is, in many ways, the perfect show for our image-obsessed times. Though laced with outrageous plots and eww-gross surgery scenes, basic cable's most-watched original series also contains some exemplary performances and delves into provocative psychological issues. Clearly, it's a show that strives to be much more than skin-deep.

9. "THE OFFICE" (BBC AMERICA): Consider this British series the perfect tonic for viewers who have been bored out of their skulls by predictable workplace sitcoms. Set in a deadly dull paper supply company and built around a smug middle manager played with devilish aplomb by Ricky Gervais, this hilarious mockumentary staunchly resisted feel-good humor in much in the way that HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" does.

10. "PLAYMAKERS" (ESPN): Depending on how you look at it, ESPN programmers were either very brave or very stupid when they decided to peg their first drama series to a fictional pro football team with players who beat their wives, pop pills and lie and cheat, among other transgressions. Viewers were intrigued, but the NFL was outraged. The truth obviously hurts.

The worst

1. "ARE YOU HOT?" (ABC): Crass and mean-spirited, it was reality TV at its wretched worst.

2. "COUPLING" (NBC): Overhyped and underdeveloped, this was a wildly ill-conceived attempt to incubate another "Friends."

3. "MY BIG FAT GREEK LIFE" (CBS): TV demonstrates how to take a wildly popular movie and drain every drop of life out of it.

4. "TRISTA & RYAN'S WEDDING" (ABC): Proof that you can spend millions on your big day and still have it turn out oh-so-tacky.

5. "THE NEXT JOE MILLIONAIRE" (FOX): Lousy show. Lousy ratings. Let this be a lesson to the clone-happy networks.
 
4. "ALIAS" (ABC): While "24" was wearing thin, TV's other superspy show, with its lighter, more escapist approach, continued to find thrilling ways to raise the bar. May's electrifying season finale thrust the plucky Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) into one of the wildest, nastiest girl fights ever put to film, and then reached a jaw-dropping crescendo with a cliffhanger like no other. This season, the high-octane action, stunning plot twists and emotional wallops just keep on coming.

well, we are still watching ... and its been great so far ...
 
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