My favorite fall TV shows: What have they done for me lately?

One of the occupational traps a TV critic falls into is reviewing the latest -- even if it isn't the greatest. So for this week's column I returned to several of the shows I reviewed in my fall TV preview to find out how they were holding up. Below, I'll return to "Worst Week," "Privileged" and "Chuck" but first ...

Of all the programs I enjoyed the first time around, "Fringe" (8 p.m. CT Tuesday, Fox 4) was the one I had my fingers crossed for as I watched the next episode. The most ambitious fall show of the season, I knew it was taking a big chance trying to reinvent the "X-Files" intrigue-horror genre by adding CBS procedural elements to it. (Yes, I realize CBS has one of those shows as well, but "Eleventh Hour" isn't doing much for me so far.)

After watching three hours of "Fringe," I'm happy to report that it's doing just fine. It's predictably unpredictable, it's out there, it's got a great cast and most surprisingly, it's a hoot.

The idea behind "Fringe" is that weird things are happening all around the world and only the U.S. government has the wherewithal to connect the dots. Not exactly virgin turf. But the stakes have been ramped up from the backwater incidents that were the stuff of "X-Files." An airplane wiped out, a scientist with electrically supercharged zombies roving the Earth -- and somehow, the show hints to us constantly, they're all connected. (It helps to have a strong stomach when watching "Fringe," as innocents are maimed and killed left and right.)

What's more, in the midst of all this Special Agent Olivia (Anna Torv) is sharing her brain with her dead ex-lover Special Agent John (Mark Valley). John's brain is helping her solve cases, but it's also turning her into a basket case.

Making this all hold together while creating a novel television experience is a pretty tall order for any show. So far, though, "Fringe" is pulling it off. The writers are avoiding most of the genre cliches, mainly by the use of bizarro humor.

And the cast, about which I had my doubts, really works well. For instance, I wasn't initially sure if having a newly deinstitutionalized, B-movie mad scientist as a regular on the show was a good idea. But Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) is just sane enough to deliver most of the miracle scientific breakthroughs seen on "Fringe." And having his son Charlie (Josh Jackson) by his side to roll his eyes whenever he says something truly looney helps humanize him.

Lance Reddick is still trying to find extra dimensions as Olivia's Homeland Security boss. But as was true on "The Wire," he wears extremely well. Even the minor roles on "Fringe" work (and give the show some much-needed racial diversity, otherwise you'd swear the show was set in Edmonton, not Boston).

When "Fringe" gets you under its spell, you find yourself thinking, "Say, maybe you really can train homing pigeons to find people with excess voltage!"

Less ambitious than "Fringe," the slapstick comedy "Worst Week" (8:30 p.m. CT Monday, CBS, KCTV-5) nonetheless faced an equally daunting task: keep delivering half hours that were as riotously funny as the first.

That episode, a speeded-up version of the movie "Meet the Parents," set the bar high, as Sam (Kyle Bornheimer) and his girlfriend Mel (Erinn Hayes) tried to break the news of her pregnancy and their engagement to her starchy and suspicious folks with increasingly calamitous results.

Whether Sam was showing up three hours late for dessert wearing only a discreetly placed baggie, or announcing the death of his future father-in-law to the family a bit prematurely, or saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person, his week was so bad that I had to wonder: How do you possibly top this next week?

The answer: You don't. "Worst Week" keeps doing the same thing every week ... and keeps making me laugh. This violates every tenet a TV critic is supposed to hold dear. The show is predictable and one-dimensional. Then again, so are cartoons in the New Yorker.

You can spot almost every train wreck a mile off. When a phone rings, you know the call will end with a grave misunderstanding. Every impulsive decision made here will sets off a domino chain to disaster. Every joke Sam tells will offend somebody. Does any of this ruin the fun for me? It does not.

Mel's dad Dick (Kurtwood Smith) is forever impossible to please, mother Angela (Nancy Lenehan) is always Pollyanna cheerful and Mel is endlessly forgiving of Sam's endlessly idiotic bumbles. Does that have me yearning for a very special episode where Dick battles prostate cancer? It does not.

It helps that "Worst Week" episodes so far have ended with a satisfying, over-the-top payoff at the end. And every so often the writers throw a hard inside curve that hits me right on the funny bone. Like at the end of the scene where Sam destroyed the coffee maker (a minor infraction by this show's standards) and in the ensuing chaos, Mel abruptly ended a phone call with her mom.

"That's strange," Angela said as she hung up. "It sounded like she was hitting him."

Not looking up from his newspaper, Dick said simply, "Good."

The CW network is barely operational at this point, but it did launch a number of new shows in September, which is more than I can say of NBC or ABC. Unfortunately, even on a second look it's hard to recommend such overhyped rich-kid series as "Gossip Girl" or "90210."

However, I did take another gander at "Privileged," based on the Zoey Dean novel How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls (8 p.m. Tuesday, KCWE). And I have to say, it's not like the others.

That's because even though the show is set on a fancy West Palm Beach estate, and involves many stock characters I have seen on many WB/CW shows over the years, "Privileged" is told from a humbler point of view: that of Megan (JoAnna Garcia), an underemployed and overeducated journalist who finds herself hired to be the live-in tutor for spoiled teens Sage (Ashley Newbrough) and Rose (Lucy Kate Hale).

Garcia saves this show, with a little help from sidekicks Marco (Allan Louis) and Charlie (Michael Cassidy). She's a kind of hybrid of Amanda Bynes and Keri Russell: a plucky character played by a likeable comedic actress who would stop traffic anywhere else but on this show, where her hair and clothes are toned down and her co-stars are smoking hot.

Finally, my prize for the best sophomore show of the year goes to NBC's "Chuck" (7 p.m. Monday, KSHB), the geek-spy action comedy that just gets better and better, even if its ratings don't. If you haven't been watching this, please do; don't worry, all you need to know is that the government's biggest secrets are all stored in the brain of a $12-an-hour tech support guy named Chuck (Zachary Levi).

This season, Chuck has fallen in love with his handler, agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), and has more people after the information in his skull than ever before. Last week featured a kick fight in the women's showers between Sarah and a baddie played by, of all people, Nicole Richie. A kick fight shower scene! With Nicole Richie! Priceless.

To paraphrase the late great Don LaFontaine: In a world hopelessly filled with spy-movie sendups, one man can still offer hope.

Comments

[Editor K]

Heck, I was just glad to see "Pushing Daisies" come back.

So many shows which were faves of mine seem to be placed directly opposite other favorite shows - and then the hour(s) directly after show up as barren nothings.

I think Tivo lobbied for this.

[JimBo]

Aaron--

Sorry, you're wrong again. Fringe faltered fast, frenetically fumbling for far-out plots. (The p-word... how'd that get into that sentence?) The problem? Plausibility. Doesn't have to be even remotely realistic, just plausible. And Fringe drops the ball, hugely, on that score. The pigeons finding the guy with extra juice was a perfect example. Heck, there are gadgets electricians use now that can sense the electricity behind a wall, so why not some plausible derivation of that? And that's the problem with this show -- like Lost, it's so laughable that it's more of a comedy than anything else. That said, Noble does and admirable job -- which has to be difficult with his predictably wacko dialogue. Torv and Reddick are really good. But Pacey continues to pull everything toward the nearest black hole -- and you know there's gotta be one somewhere nearby on this show.

Worst Week went from a slowly building but ultimately hilarious premiere episode to a mildly amusing show. And who's got time for that?

JoAnna Garcia turns out to be a real find in Privileged. Hope she gets a job on something I'd like to watch. (I had to TiVo an episode of Reba just to see if it was really the same person who was on there. She looks much better in her Amy Adams guise.)

But you're dead on about Chuck. It continues to amuse, without having any grandiose ambitions about trying to do anything more. (Btw, got to wander around the WB lot a bit a few months ago and stumbled onto the Buy More set, which is so perfect that I managed to grab, and now have a -- non-working I'm afraid -- Buy More gift card, because they had them sitting right there beside the registers and, well, who could resist that?)

[thorswitch]

Chuck = MUCH love!
Fringe, too.

I've also found myself totally hooked on Valentine. It's quirky and somewhat formulaic, but the play on the Greek Gods living in LA is great, and the characters are all pretty well defined and fun to watch. And it requires almost no brainpower to watch, understand or enjoy, so it makes for great escapist fare :)

[Ron Ozer]

Agreed on Chuck. Fringe was not at all fun for me, it feels like Alias, but much less fun. Worst week was funny at first, but tiresome now. Many shows are dying that I used to love. Daisies, Heroes, Ugly Betty...all suck now!

Dirty Sexy Money has been fun. Mad Men was simply amazing, the Finale the best episode of maybe any show ever last night. The office stays wonderful. Kath and Kim unwatchable. SNL update had great openings. Ex List is ok, still trying. Own Worst Enemy showed promise, but I killed the season pass after ep 2. Sarah Connor remains better than most. The Shield is kick ass as usual. This past week's was the best of the season so far. Grey's Anatomy is back and as good as ever. Nothing else jumps to mind (Gavin and Stacey on BBC is among the best shows on also).

[Chris]

What about Life on Mars? The BBC original kills; and the ABC version is good. Fringe is freaky and geeky. Love it. I like LIFE on NBC as well. I also enjoy you sparring with Chip Franklin on KOGO in Sandy Eggo. See YOU on the radio!

[matt stechel]

I too have been enjoying the heck outta Fringe so far. When i saw the pilot, my reaction was surprisingly fun, but how the heck can they possibly come up with non-sensical scientific things every week that'll somehow make sense as well as speed the plot along...well they do...and the show keeps being suspenseful right along with it. I'm right with you on the characters too. Walter kinda annoyed me during the first one--just seemed too obvious as the source of comedic one liners, but his lines, his delivery of those lines (and reactions to him by the others) are pretty infectious. this is the real winner of the brand spankin' new shows.

Runner up though might just be Life On Mars though, as I've been really enjoying the show. I still don't know how long they can stretch out the concept of him not believing he's in the 70's..but i'm with it, that pilot was good, AND the subsequent eps have been just as good which is a very good sign that they're doing it right.

I'd also like to say you were right about Kath and Kim---the pilot wasn't so great exactly, but the two eps that have aired since then were good enough (and i would say has shown some improvement in making them more likable) that the show's growing on me, and i'll keep watching it so long as its right between Earl and The Office. It helps if you like Molly Shannon tho. and that Higgins is rock solid. (i'd still prefer Scrubs be there, but this is a loot better then i'd feared from the ads.)

11th hour is awful tho Aaron. i can't believe cbs is just gonna let it sit there after csi all season long....at least move it to fridays in place of the ex list, use that slot for something worthier. i rarely ever dislike a tv show enough to abandon it after the first watch, and even in this case, i gave it a 2nd shot, but it pretty much screamed generic mystery to me, but not even in that i'd watch that/somewhat entertaining mode of the CSI spinoffs or even Crim Minds, which I'm not a huge fan of, but i'm all right with.... the proceedurals they have on that i like very much tho(NCIS,Without A Trace, Numbers, Cold Case, even fraking Cold Case is more involving then this show!!!) were all good from the get go which makes me think that this thing'll never get any better. Good thing they have The Mentalist this year, as I'm quite enjoying it. and as long as were on cbs hour long shows---VIVA THE UNIT---i have no idea how ratings are for it on Sunday nights---but man do i love that show. love it.

as for Worst Week and here i'm gonna ramble a lot here so bear with me please while i suss out my feelings towards it--

i liked the first ep just fine, huge laughs at the end there well earned, but i strongly feel the show's been getting steadily worse. I've kept watching and have seen each one thus far, but between the week where they introduced David, and the one where they go to the sonogram taking Dick's car. I find myself not caring about these people or they're various problems. That's a huge gap to overcome. I don;t care about how sam's wacky shenanigans are gonna come back to bite his butt in the end,

(specific for the ep with the sonogram---) i didn't care that Dick would be angry about his car, I didn't care about how Dick would react to the news that his daughter's pregnent. I kinda shrug my shoulders and go ...and then what? what else you have for me? oh...the car engine was left running and it exploded. all right then. as for Kurtwood Smith he's just doing Red Foreman again. Sure it works, but give him some characterization to play aside from just pissed off and grumpy. Red was a developed character at the beginning of that 70's show. he had reasons for why he felt the way he felt. Dick's life seems good, so why is he so hostile?

all that aside i admit i'm glad the writers at least attempted to skip ahead somewhat in the very last ep aired and make Dick not just tolerent of Sam but actively trying to include him in things --and eventually schemeing with him because of a misunderstanding--its nice to see them trying to play with the formula so far, and despite everything i said in the last paragraph, i know i'm gonna keep watching it just to see where they take it. its just one of those shows i'm there for till they yank it. BUT I DO find myself switching over to Samantha Who? now that that's back (a show whose characters i actually care about) and usually just popping a tape in the ol vcr for Worst week, and getting to it later on. its that kind of show to me--curious enough to keep up with it, but not really bowled over by it that i'd miss it if it were yanked.

Getting back to "characters" and feeling attached to them, I think I feel more towards Jay Mohy and Paula Marshall on Garry Unmarried which has been surprisingly decent (sitcommy and mindless yes, but pleasingly sitcommy and mindless in that old school way i;ve been missing these last couple of years..hell even Ed Beagley Jr. has been amusing during his scenes on that show. ) i'm not saying its the greatest thing on, but its actually proven chuckle worthy to me here and there, and you know what? i dare say the characterizations of the two leads and Beagley have been better drawn then Worst Week's characters.

Takes a breath
LAST THING I PROMISE

AS much as i love Chuck (and I've been relishing Chuck from the pilot onwards last year---there's a show with characters you can care about) I dare say Life is having as good a second season. I'm very heartened to see NBC move it back to Weds (as i'm sure all of its fans are) but I'm also quite happy with the way they've been contiuing to develop Crews and the way they've been continuing on with the mythology there (his investigation into Reese, etc.) and even the cases i think have been stronger then they were this time last year (or maybe that's just my imagination cause i'm really digging the show.) Either way I'm almost glad NBC is sorta not hitting it out of the park cause its really allowed them the leeweigh to go to bat for this one, and i couldn't be happier for that.

Need to finally check out Privaledged. I've heard nothing but good things, I liked Garcia even in that shrug your shoulders Welcome To The Captain show (oh Jeffery Tambor.) up against Fringe and Mentalist--i'd been completely overlooking it. VIVA LA TELEVICCION!

[shara says]

I'm right with you on everything except Gossip Girl - as a loyal viewer, this is one of the most consistently entertaining, well-acted, well-written shows on TV right now. The first 2 episodes of the first season weren't great, but it picked up around episode 4 season 1 and has built up continuous steam ever since.