Just what I need, another addictive TV show. I'm a little late in the game on this one, I realize, but I was making effort to avoid TV when the show quietly started topping ratings charts. Maybe I've been harboring a deeply seated wish for MacGuyver re-runs or something-- you know, from the first few seasons when it was all about the science and nothing about the stupid characters or boy scout morals. (Did I mention I once had a suede leather jacket just like one Mac wore in an episode? Quite the coincidence that that jacket was in the stores about the same time that episode aired... But I digress.)

TV is at its best when it acknowledges its limitations. The good shows seem to be those that realize a television writing and shooting schedule can rarely support full-bodied characters and plots, so they delight in a framework of gimmicks in form and style. This is hardly rare, of course: the basic idea of the crime show format is to tell the stories of the crimes, and use the main characters as storytelling tools and background. I guess it's just refreshing to see C.S.I. spend so much storytelling effort on the crimes and so little on anything else. Seems like other dramas have mistakenly followed ER down the path of a developed backstory-- but that just leads to wedding after wedding after wedding until someone mercifully pulls the plug. But I guess it's early in the series for C.S.I., they still have games they can play.

Then there are those who just don't take themselves seriously at all, which are probably the most refreshing. I guess I'm just looking for an opportunity to mention that I like Nash Bridges. The writers seem to be uniquely aware that there's no way they can get me to care about anything that happens in the show, so they don't try to make me, and I can just enjoy it. I think a main character was killed recently, I can't remember.

Exceptions abounds for any rule of thumb, of course. Despite how they treat their female characters, The West Wing consistently exceeds my expectations. But enough people like WW that I probably don't need to mention it. (Any Republican readers feel alienated by the show?)

And Stargate SG1 is just plain crap, but I like it. Same with Seven Days. I'm done.