Best TV of Summer 2007

Well, quite honestly, I didn't do much of value this summer. I did, however, watch an awful lot of television, so I figure I might as well handicap it down to a nice little "Best Of" list. Here goes:

Best Reality Show:
So You Think You Can Dance -- For the second straight summer, I've been captivated by this show's great dancers with fun personalities who hip hop, mambo, waltz, quick step, krump, cha cha, swing, jazz, and contemporary (ok, I realize those last two aren't really verbs) their way into our hearts. My Season 3 highlights: Pasha, Sara, Pasha and Sara's West Coast Swing, Pasha and Lauren's Transformers hip hop, Neil and Sabra's table jazz dance, Danny and Lacey's mambo, Pasha and Lacey's mannequin hip hop, and of course the two guys swing dancing during the auditions.

Best New Show and Best Drama:
Damages -- Yea for FX giving us a show this intelligent and this exciting and this well-made in the summer! The great thing about this show is the characters keep getting smarter and more willing to do absolutely anything to get their way. The stakes have been ratcheted up so high that the audience feels like it's all about to hit the fan at any moment. Patty Hewes steals the show (she is being portrayed by Glenn Close, after all), but many of the other characters are amazingly fascinating--and amazing flawed--from Frobisher to Katie to Gregory to Tom to Fisk.

Funnest New Show:
Greek -- It's not the smartest show and it's probably not going to change the world, but Greek is pretty darn fun and there's nothing wrong with that. The characters are varied, interesting, and mostly likable (and many seem like people you'd actually find on any college campus). Greek is funnier than you'd expect and, on occasion, actually shows physics geeks discussing physics.

Best Show I Now Realize I Should Have Been Watching All Along:
Burn Notice -- After catching a few reruns last week, I now regret not being on the Burn Notice bandwagon all summer. The show has the "fun spy" feel of Alias and its well-utilized, often comedic voice-over smacks of Veronica Mars. Congrats to USA for finally finding Jeffrey Donovan a vehicle that showcases his talent and total hotness. And I love that this USA series is doing a season-long story arc (unlike Monk and Psych which have become terminally serial).

New Show That I Totally Respect Yet Have No Desire To Watch For Any Extended Period Of Time:

Mad Men -- Something about watching this show makes me feel yucky...which is exactly what they are going for. It's intricate, sneaky, and gorgeous. And the whole thing makes me feel fantastically uneasy, much like I imagine actually having to spend time in an ad agency in the 1950s would.

Best Character:
Cliff, Hidden Palms -- While Hidden Palms was nothing to write home about (and had possibly the worst main title sequence ever), the character of Cliff was a revelation. Michael Cassidy masterfully walked the line between devastatingly charming and possibly dangerous in a tour de force performance that transcended the series. It turned out that Cliff wasn't as nefarious as we originally were led to believe, but still, he had a knack for making bad look very appealing.

Funniest Lines of the Summer:

Cappie, Greek: "We may be puking, but the Omega Chis are not used to running on puke like we are."

Gus, Psych: "Some people are just born evil...like the kid from The Omen, the Children of the Corn, Chad Michael Murray."

Ellen, Damages: "Emily Dickinson. That bitch will say anything."

Pawn Shop Guy, Kyle XY: "Ok, easy, Veronica Mars!"

Best Unintentionally Funny Moment:

"I Don't Dance" baseball number, High School Musical 2. Ok, in my opinion, there wasn't much to redeem HSM2. Trite, sappy, rather poorly acted, etc., etc. But, I am more than willing to declare the "I Don't Dance" baseball song and dance number an instant classic. Because, I mean, what makes more sense than a boy adamantly claiming that he doesn't dance while dancing his way through a baseball game? Factor in some strong, if unintended, homoerotic overtones and this scene ranks as one of the funniest moments of the summer.

Stand-out episodes:
"Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan" Monk -- In my favorite episode of Monk this season, Sarah Silverman (who I don't always enjoy) guest stars as Monk's obsessed fan and shows us her Monk-centric dioramas complete with a Troll doll serving as Natalie. And, yes, those are Monk's pants she's wearing...

(more to come)

Pain and Suffering

Damages:

Woohoo! After my third try at watching a new cable show this summer (well, in fairness, I only watched the first five minutes of Saving Grace), I've found one I really, really like! What is impressive is that Damages not only provided one great hour of thrilling television, but it also helped me erase the negative connotations that the word "damages" has for me, which stem from a very late night in the stairwell of Sussex Hall reading a very long book about the very botched delivery of twins and the very drawn out legal aftermath. Helping me forget about that is no small feat.

But anyway: There was so much to like about this show. It started off great with some very sexy (in a judicial sort of way) opening credits. The opening scene was fan-freaking-tastic with the orchestral, movie-esque music contrasting the eventual appearance of a bloody, disoriented Ellen.

Glenn Close was great--so smart and yet so, so creepy! And she's married to Summer Roberts' dad (and Uncle Saul's almost boyfriend) of all people! Of course, any show with Jimmy Cooper (Tate Donovan) in it gets a thumbs up in my book. Well, except for that frawful (freakin awful) astronaut episode of Law & Order: CI.

But, let's be honest, what I really loved about this show was that it's Alias, but with lawyers instead of spies. Actually, I think some of it was so much like Alias that it was encroaching on plagiarism, but ripped off Alias is better than living in an Alias-less world.

Another thing I liked was that I felt smart while watching it. Like any other self-respecting Alias addict, I saw the dead-fiance-in-the-bathtub coming a mile away (that poor guy literally was Danny Hecht without the Australian accent). But I was really impressed with myself that I figured out that Patty didn't really fire Jimmy Cooper. Come on, he's Jimmy Cooper! You wouldn't fire someone that adorable! (Well, maybe if he embezzled several million dollars from you, but that was a different show.) If they were impressed with Ellen's ability to see through bull shit, and I did a better job of it than she did, does that mean that I have a job waiting for me at Patty's firm? Though after watching this hour of television, I think I'll pass on that job.

And I'll admit I enjoyed the extra swearing that basic cable allows in their shows. It just made it seem more authentic.

Highlight:

Patty: "'Hope' is the thing with feathers."

Ellen: Emily Dickinson. That bitch will say anything.

I loved that it ended with Ellen saying, "Get me a lawyer." Unfortunately, it looks like lawyers are what got her into this mess in the first place...

Another wacky similarity to the Alias pilot was that it was presented commercial free. This time, though, I have Cadillac to thank for me having to go to the bathroom and not being able to for 45 minutes.

P.S. Damages has quite a swanky official website.