Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2007 > October > 29 > Entry
Fall TV winners + Owen Wilson
With the finale of the summer season’s finest achievement — Glenn Close’s “Damages” — out of the way, full attention can move to the fall season already long underway. (Thanks to TiVo, almost all is possible, including playbacks of a summer guilty pleasure, “Burn Notice,” with compulsively watchable Jeffrey Donovan.)
Last fall’s three breakaways were “Ugly Betty,” “Heroes” and “Friday Night Lights.” Despite some ratings and plot disruptions along the way, they remain on track for Season 2, at least until the writer’s strike destroys the lot.
Unlike uneven “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Brothers and Sisters” and “Desperate Housewives,” recorded but not aways actually seen, the Big 3 from 2006 have joined permanent TiVo selections of the Keller Barnes household, such as “House,” “Law & Order,” “Without a Trace,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Life on the D List,” “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report.”
The Big 3 so far this season, for quality, not ratings quantity: “Chuck,” the lovable comedy about a computer geek turned accidental spy, “Bionic Woman,” which updates the campy classic with “Galactica” savvy, and “Pushing Daisies,” which combines elements from “Six Feet Under,” “My Name is Earl,” “Ed” ” and “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.” The supporting cast on “Daisies” is so potent, it must be restrained from outshining the show’s stars, including Lee Pace (pictured right).
The jury is still out on “Dirty Sexy Money,” which benefits from the skills of Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh and some playful subplots, but suffers from writing and art direction far below the standards set by the marginally similar “Damages.”
As those among you who have followed the Owen Wilson post-trauma trauma already know, his “first interview” with Wes Anderson on MySpace turned out to be a collection of clips featuring the frequent Austin visitor talking about anything but his reported suicide attempt. He’s well, that’s all that matters, and appeared to have a great time in Austin a couple of weeks ago. At least no paparazzi lying in ambush here. Since reporting Wilson’s hospitalization in August, Out & About has treated this subject with utmost sensitivity, trying to balance the readers’ self-evident interest against the star’s privacy. That will continue.
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Comments
By Adan Lerma
October 30, 2007 12:33 PM | Link to this
i'd recommend adding "mad men" to the list of top shows alongside "damages"
then, to your big 3 (of which "pushing daisies" and "chuck" are my favorites of the 3; haven't seen "bionic woman" yet), i'd add "gossip girl" and "samantha who", each it seems with the potential to blow out either of two ways, to very good or crumbled away :-)
and i gotta agree, "desparate housewifes" and "greys anatomy" have gotten so uneven i can't even watch them anymore; "brothers and sisters" is definitely uneven, i wish it luck though 'cause i like some of the people in it so much, but it's gonna be a tough go
but all and all, so much good tv it's hard to keep up and have room on the dvr for what's missed