Tuesday would seem to be a somewhat random night for quality programming, but remember that for a long time NBC’s Thursdays were brimming with excellence — the overflow had to land somewhere. As a result, this is a rather strong night of TV, so let’s get right into it.
8:00-8:30 I already have a few of these shows in my lineup — The A-Team on Friday, Quantum Leap on Wednesday, and Mad About You on Sunday. Father Murphy had characters with names like Ephram … could have been about Biblical times just as much as the Old West. Matlock was defense counsel for another generation, I’ll Fly Away gave Sam Waterston his legal chops, Saved by the Bell: The College Years was like keeping your uncle’s corpse in the house because you refused to let go, and Wings went right over my head (get it?). As a huge Seinfeld fan, I hate saying that The Michael Richards Show was a failure … let’s say it’s just not the winner in this hour. Plenty of comedians tried to make us laugh here, in one form or another — Whoopi (scripted fare), The Tracy Morgan Show (worse scripted fare), Last Comic Standing — but the most offensive unintentional comedy may have come from inside the kitchen on Emeril. In-Laws was so cliched, it’s hard to understand how the show was so unfunny, and I never saw the quality in Friday Night Lights that others do. And The Biggest Loser, Most Outrageous Moments, and The Singing Bee are reality competitions and clip shows that we could all do without. I was thinking of slotting Just Shoot Me! here, because it’s always enjoyable to catch in reruns, or whenever. But you know what? On its merits, I don’t know that I’d ever pick it as one of my best. It would win this timeslot right now, but that doesn’t make it deserving of longevity. Free Play.
8:30-9:00 We’ve already covered In-Laws, Just Shoot Me!, Whoopi, and The Biggest Loser. Getting By had a hard time doing even that, The Martin Short Show starred a comic who was never funny, Something So Right was oh so wrong, and Encore! Encore! cast Nathan Lane as an opera singer. NewsRadio can be good for a laugh but gets painful too often, Three Sisters took in-law jokes to a whole new level, and Happy Family was another ill-attempt by the network to lock John Larroquette down. I’m one of those few people who kept on watching Joey; loyalty goes a long way with me. And I never thought the show was good in the first place, so why would Saturday Night Live: The Best of Various People hold any interest for me? Here I’m going to go with a show I decided to pass over on a different night; upon reflection, it’s worth at least a slot in round one. Everybody enjoy some 3rd Rock from the Sun.
9:00-9:30 We’ve covered Just Shoot Me!, and I already scheduled The John Larroquette Show on Wednesday. Bret Maverick was the Western’s last stubborn kick, Remington Steele is not how I’d choose to think of Pierce Brosnan or Doris Roberts, and Riptide looks cool, but a bit dated for me. Crime Story was too narrowly focused to succeed, J.J. Starbuck sounds like a bad movie gone on too long, In the Heat of the Night was a winner for Carroll O’Connor but not for me, and Reasonable Doubts wasted Mark Harmon and Marlee Matlin. Father of the Pride was cute, but as for longevity…. Scrubs makes me laugh, but not enough, My Name Is Earl never found its voice, and I’m an SVU man; Law & Order: Criminal Intent isn’t for me. This is actually the obvious spot for Frasier, but for scheduling nonsense that no one cares about, I had to already slot that one on Thursdays … to make room for Will & Grace here. Yep, a little odd for purists, but trust me when I say it’s all for a greater purpose.
9:30-10:00 The Pursuit of Happiness will forever only be a great movie to me, Caroline in the City a fuzzy memory of a drawing board, and Committed an unintelligible pilot. Working was Fred Savage taking a desperate stab at staying on TV, The Mike O’Malley Show was pre-Judd Apatow arrested development, and DAG was a secret service series that could have been cool. Watching Ellie sucked for both Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Steve Carell, Good Morning, Miami had a still-trying-to-find-his-footing Mark Feuerstein, and Teachers tried to mine laughs from the people who mold our children … not so wise. I’m going to throw off some more purists here with my selection — it’s The Office. Trust me, it’s better off here for the next round. I’ll leave it at that.
10:00-11:00 We’ve already covered Remington Steele and Crime Story, and like I said above, SVU is the only Law & Order for me. Flamingo Road played better on the printed page, St. Elsewhere was one of the original primetime soaps, but still good for a laugh at a way young Denzel Washington, Bay City Blues tried to find entertainment in minor league baseball, and Midnight Caller needed us to believe that Gary Cole had once been a cop. This slot has only one rightful owner; it belongs to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Rock on Mariska!
Kick back and enjoy a great night of TV, and a look back at a time when NBC was mighty. How about you? What does your dream Tuesday night on NBC look like?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Apr 02, 2010 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
