Firefly, Robbery Homicide Division, Birds of Prey, Dante Culpepper. Just kidding about the last, of course, but he’s having an incredibly miserable first half against the Dolphins this morning. Two interceptions in the end zone, three fumbles. The Dolphins haven’t done much to take advantage and only lead 7-3 as they walk into the clubhouse. Saturday NFL football is great, as long as the Niners win this afternoon.
I think the saddest of these choices is Firefly. Not the easiest show to love but surely one of the more creative. A western set in a strange post-futuristic Civil War ‘verse from Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel), the show follows a ragged band of bad guys with hearts of gold traipsing through human-settled space. Other than Ron Glass (you remember him as the snazzy detective with the ‘fro from Barney Miller) and Adam Baldwin (a personal fav from My Bodyguard all those years ago), who aren’t exactly major stars, the other regulars are new to primetime. A taste from one of the show’s writer/directors, Tim Minear, can also be had.
Fox, I think, made a very poor choice by not showing the two hour pilot Whedon made right up front; for some reason they held it off and only burned it off last night after the cancellation (it will be replaced by relocating Fastlane from Wednesdays). The key plot line driving the episodes this year is River and Simon’s attempt to stay free of a government that has done strange, unexplained work to River’s brain; the pilot episode opens this up like a present unwrapped on Xmas morning and makes so much of what was perviously shown clear. Firefly’s complexity works against it with an audience that prefers simple straightforward shows like CSI, which I can’t stand, but Fox only made it worse.
Fox plans a major overhaul of the Wednesday night schedule beginning the week after New Years. That ’70s Show scoots over from Tuesday, followed by a half hour of the second American Idol, and Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer take half of the 9:00 hour each. The two comics are probably better suited to the later time periods anyway. American Idol will take the whole 8:00 hour on Tuesday nights.
Robbery Homicide Division is a more traditional series, focusing on the police work of an elite Los Angeles PD unit led by Tom Sizemore (Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan). But this show has Sizemore, a much more interesting actor than William Peterson or David Caruso, and writers who got better and better as the episodes went by. A recent episode where RHD went undercover against an Asian gang was typical: Sizemore fell in love with the gang leader’s wife, slept with her, dreamed of taking the relationship past the bust, only to have her die during the climactic gun battle. A new show, called Queens Supreme, will debut on Jan. 10 to carry CBS’ hopes. Stars Oliver Platt and Annabella Sciorra as judges on the Queens (NY) Supreme Court. In New York state, the local courts rather than the highest court, are called supreme courts.
Bird of Prey never really met its potential, and viewers recognized this as the ratings went down week after week. The premise was there for another success on the level of Smallville (from the same producers) though I think the cast never gelled–a particular Smallville strength. Beautiful, heroic women and dark villains but the writers didn’t do enough in the way of dramatic tension. Whedon’s Angel will move over from Sundays to this timeslot.
The second half just started in Minneapolis, b the way, and the Vikings scored a TD to go up 10-7. Randy Moss is more or less invisible except for when he’s dropping passes. Update: Dolphins put up seven points on the next drive, then Randy Moss woke himself up by catching a 60 yarder from Culpepper and throwing a 13 yard touchdown pass to Bates. Dolphins managed a field goal to tie things up but the Vikings made South Florida cry with a Gary Anderson field goal to win the game with only seconds left on the clock. Probably the best outcome for the Raiders, which is the only reason I am the least bit interested.
And at least Friends will be coming back next year, after telling us for months we’re watching the last one, for a tenth season. NBC couldn’t not to pay the price, which is a huge $9 million per half hour, and the six pals probably said to each other “Hey, our movie careers aren’t going all that well and the $22 million each will be handy when we’re old.” Except Jennifer Aniston, who will probably make some decent money in films and in any case is set because her hubby Brad makes $20 million for one movie.
BillSaysThis 