Here's what I'm watching in winter 2009 -- while I'm waiting for the return of Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and In Treatment. (And don't ask what happened to Battlestar Galactica; I'm behind on my Netflix DVDs for that one.)
1. The Big Bang Theory. I've always had time for a roommate sitcom since The Odd Couple. Appropriately for a show about scientists, the character of Leonard seems to be a genetically improved (for comedic purposes) version of Felix Unger and Niles Crane. His apparent Asperger's syndrome allows him to be even more persnickety and demanding than any of his sitcom forefathers, while still being a believable and sympathetic character. But a couple of the supporting characters need to evolve. Producers: Please kill off Howard's mother and let Raj speak in front of women.
2. Big Love. Another show about people having to live under the same roof (or three adjacent roofs) without driving each other crazy. The polygamy premise likely scared off a lot of HBO subscribers, but it's no less realistic than the idea of co-workers constantly falling in and out of love with each other. (ER has required more suspension of belief than Big Love ever could.) The relationships among Bill Hendrickson and his three wives have a lot more dramatic tension than the monogamous pairings that last for two or three episodes on other dramas -- which means that, unless you're a drama queen, this show is not going to make polygamy seem attractive to you. One criticism: cult leader Roman Grant has served his purpose on the show and needs to die or go to prison.
3. Flight of the Conchords. An HBO trifle about a pair of hapless musicians from New Zealand that, unlike Entourage, is funny. It helps that the comedy, while set in New York, happens in its own odd universe. There are no guests playing themselves, thank goodness.
4. Friday Night Lights. There's no way around it; this is an "eat your vegetables" show loved by critics and watched by very few other people. I was a reluctant viewer on the grounds that shows about teenagers, especially on broadcast TV, aren't allowed to be much more than morality plays. But this is the most engrossing high-school series outside of Freaks and Geeks. FNL may be a a lot less funny, but it's not without humor, and here the adults are as fully realized as the kids. I still don't understand the football scenes, but when I substitute "lead in Guys and Dolls" for "quarterback," it all falls into place.
5. House. This is the most formulaic show on the list, and I've kicked it off my VCR more than once over the years. But I keep missing Hugh Laurie's cranky doctor. I'd love to see how his character would react if the other seemingly intelligent doctors solved cases once in a while, but that seems to be a storyline that the producers refuse to contemplate.
6. How I Met Your Mother. This is basically Friends with better plots and less predictable pacing.
7. Life. My token murder mystery on the list, with Damien Lewis as a detective who tries to apply Zen principles to his inevitably quirky cases.
8. Lost. I've come this far, so I've got to find out how they're going to end this thing.
9. The Office. Still hilarious when it's an ensemble comedy, and I can't get enough of secondary characters like Stanley, Phyllis, and Oscar. But I wouldn't mind seeing Steve Carrell leave the show so that Andy could take over the Scranton branch. Carrell's character has become so predictably stupid that he brings out the worst in the show's writers. Does Carrell ever object to anything in the scripts?
10. 30 Rock. The other NBC Thursday night show that is consistently funny but not necessarily a classic. At first, it was compared with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, but Tina Fey's central character lacks the nuance of Mary Richards. I can't help but wonder whether Fey is capable of doing scenes that last more than a minute, or can portray a slow build-up of anger, frustration, or disappointment the way that MTM could. Still, Alec Baldwin is every bit as funny as MTM's Ed Asner.
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