Late June is an odd time to be getting new television, but this is the new millenium, baby, and TV has changed. Summer’s not just for snoozing any more as people more and more decide that the beautiful weather is no reason to tear their eyes away from the tube. Personally, Summer has never been an excuse not to watch but rather a time to catch shows missed during the original runs. And catch the occasional cool, mislaid original like Northern Exposure
So this weekend brings us the first new episodes of the year from Monk (tonight at 10 on USA) and Sex and the City (Sunday at 9 on HBO), both of which will split their runs of original shows into two parts in blatant attempts to milk the ratings. The NY Times gives us an elaborate, insightful review of the latter. This is the last season for our four sexual adventurers and the producers know it, so I expect to see Carrie and Crew go out on a high note. Lots of laughs, lots of sex (Samantha targets a hot waiter in the opener), and a few poignant turns on the dance floor of life.
Monk, on the other hand, is just in its second year and after winning surprisingly high ratings last season has been rewarded with a significant uptick in budget. Which means more location shooting in San Francisco and interior work in Los Angeles where last year as much as possible (including all interiors) was done in Canada. If you missed Tony Shalhoub’s excellent performance as the titular detective, don’t skip it now. The show is as much–more?–about exploring his character, in a highly comic way, as it is about solving the week’s mystery.
And what a character Monk is: a top detective with the San Francisco Police Department, he simply cratered after his wife died (four years before this series began) and all the little things that most of us are able to push aside in daily life became magnified a hundred or more times for him. We’re not talking about keeping clean but a fear of germs so deep he won’t shake hands and seals his clothes and toiletries in plastic when packing for a trip. Behavioral quirks: Monk counts all the parking meters he passes walking city streets.
Plus, he has a sidekick, wonderfully played by Bitty Schram, who is paid to be Monk’s, well, caretaker, to help him past all the little hurdles his near-insanity puts in front of him. Of course, Schram also serves as Watson to his Holmes and has a good share of subplots mainly focusing on how the job impacts her personal life.
The other new show I’m watching is Last Comic Standing. The first three episodes have already aired, which were the regional roundups and the Vegas semi-finals, and now the 10 finalists have moved into a house together in the Hollywood Hills. Prize is pretty big for this crowd of aspiring standups: a special on Comedy Central and an “exclusive talent contract” with NBC. Original episodes air Tuesdays on NBC and then repeat on Saturday on Comedy Central.
In general, I’d never found a reality or talent competition show enjoyable until catching an episode of Last Comic Standing, which has enough performers that each one only gets, at most, the best 60 seconds of material on the air, and has very little off-stage, get to know them crap. I mean, it does have a little of that but not for every single contestant and then only brief clips. Also, I think the judges selected a pretty good group for the final 10 though starting this week the show opens up the voting to the public, not a feature I like. The use of well-known comics like Buddy Hackett, Joy Behar, and Colin Quinn to give feedback to the performers but not vote (I guess this is how the American Idol trio of bigmouths works too) adds to the show because the ‘scouts’ are all actually capable of being funny on the spot.
Plus, The Wire, which I think anyone who has HBO has to watch even though the first three episodes have already aired, it’s just that good. And starting Sunday it’s on right after Sex and the City, an odd combination of high quality TV.
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