Roush on Top Chef, Damages and Mad Men
Question: Maybe I'm a teensy bit spoiled by the excellent summer programs that sucked me in (like
Top Chef,
Damages,
Mad Men and
Army Wives), but the fall season so far left me feeling kind of blah. There are some mediocre shows (like
Bionic Woman, whose second episode was terrible), some good guilty pleasures (
Gossip Girl and
Dirty Sexy Money) and some downright stinkers. (
Private Practice, anyone? Sorry, I'm not tuning in to watch Addison McBeal ever again.) Even some of my returning faves have gotten off to rough starts.
Heroes is plodding along at a dinosaur's pace.
Ugly Betty has yet to leave me with the warm and fuzzy feeling that it did last year. What gives? Am I doomed to suffer the fall blahs until
Project Runway returns on Nov. 14, or can you suggest some shows that can brighten up my TiVo to-do list? Do you agree that this fall season has been rather lackluster?
— Sean
Matt Roush: I think that's a fair critical consensus of a fall season that hasn't produced a true breakout smash, either critically or in the ratings. (The jury's still out on
Pushing Daisies, my personal fave of the fall crop, which at least bears watching, and I loved the second week of that show, so there's hope.) I've enjoyed the first episodes of
Ugly Betty more than you seem to have done, but if it weren't for the recent episodes of
Damages and
Mad Men, the first weeks of October would have been pretty bleak. Watching most of the new shows a second or third time has really felt like work. Beyond the guilty pleasures you mentioned (and with which I agree: I'll be addressing
Gossip Girl and
Dirty Sexy Money in my Review column this week), I'd also recommend checking out
Daisies, of course, as well as CBS'
The Big Bang Theory,
which has stayed very funny, improving even on the pilot, the CW's
Aliens in America,
Chuck, and, if it can get back to the level of its pilot, maybe
Reaper. And it's never too late to start watching
Friday Night Lights.
