TV's Pride Before the Fall (Season)

It’s no secret that the major television networks have abandoned the Summer months in terms of original programming, offering only competitive reality programs—some of which are guilty pleasures (Big Brother) the others simply guilty (Hell’s Kitchen). However, Summer has become the time when the cable networks, thanks to the lack of real competition, offer up daring original programming that puts some of the big guys’ returning shows to shame.

Here are a few of the stand-out shows that have helped me get through the past few months:

AMC’s Mad Men (Thursdays @ 9 CST) is a dark comedy that rarely has any jokes, but instead utilizes its setting and characters in such natural ways that direct comparison to our own culture is unavoidable (and hilarious.) Set in the early 1960s, the show is named after a group of Madison Avenue advertising executives who drink in their offices, smoke incessantly, make sexist/racist/etc. comments without a second thought and then go home to their (supposedly) perfect lives and wives with dinner waiting for them. Each character holds a secret-or a dozen-and each episode contains a ‘Holy S#!+!” moment where the plot goes in a completely different direction than you’d think. The show is cast with faces both fresh and familiar (Ed’s John Slatterly, Firefly’s Christina Hendricks) and, with the exception of maybe a couple of actors who try too hard to talk like they’re in a movie of the era, superbly acted. Even the commercial breaks of this show are entertaining, as AMC has bumpers between the ads with interesting facts and quotes about advertising (well, interesting to someone who works in advertising, at least.)

With a rather erratic (quality-wise) movie selection, AMC has become something of a joke in recent years, but I’ll forgive them all the airings of Blues Brothers 2000 and Catwoman (two American Movie Classics if there’s ever been one) from now until the end of time as long as they keep this show on the air.

There are dozens of legal dramas on the air at any given time, but it’s the rare one that makes the decision to never set foot in a courtroom. FX’s Damages (Tuesdays @ 9 CST) is a serialized thriller that just happens to be about lawyers. Evil, backstabbing, psychotic lawyers. There are many words one could use to describe Glenn Close’s Patty Hewes, but each episode would have you guessing as to whether they fit anymore with whatever new information you’re given. This is either the sign of a complex character or a show’s writers not really knowing what they’re doing-besides throwing twists at the audience, that is. Either way, I’m hooked. Rose Byrne (Wicker Park) plays a young lawyer who is brought under the wing of Close’s Hewest in a The Devil Wears Prada type of mentorship, that is, if Meryl Streep’s character was a lawyer…and, in fact, Satan.

Okay, Patty Hewes may not be that evil-but she has hidden motives that have their own hidden motives that are secret from the first motives. She’s sneaky and manipulative and a joy to watch. Rounding out the excellent cast is Tate Donovan as Hearst’s loyal underling and Ted Danson as the defendant in the season-long case/mystery. Danson gets to play evil (or is he?) and is so creepy you catch yourself going ‘This guy was Sam Malone?!?!?!’

The show’s twists and turns have kept me guessing to which side I should be on since it debuted a month ago---FX will eventually run a marathon or two and I highly recommend you check it out.

Approaching the end of its fourth season, USA’s The 4400 (Sundays @ 8 CST) has proven to be the third best science fiction show on all of television year-round (for those keeping count in your head, yes I just said its better than Heroes…and I’m sticking with that.) Fans of super-powers, abduction stories, time-travel, and government agents should feel right at home with a program that follows 4400 abductees from various time periods that return all at once in modern day Seattle, complete with newfound abilities. Why were they taken? Why were they sent back? What does the government do with a few thousand super humans?

I don’t want to write too much about the current state the show is in as it’s best to come in at the ground level (and yes, I am more than willing to loan out my DVDs to anyone who wants to get in on the action), but I will say that the program has established a rich mythology that manages to offer large revelations while deepening the original mystery.

The show does have problems-its taken a while for some of the cast members to grow into their roles and the production values often suffer from what must be a relatively small budget. However, the quality of the writing often distracts from these issues.

Again, get caught up so you can join me next Summer!