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12.27.2001 13:56
A dramatic look back at popular music and television in 2001
Both real life
and art were
done well on TV
BY ANDY SMITH
Journal Television Writer
Like the rest of 2001, the year in TV was dominated by Sept. 11.
It was television that showed us the indelible moment of the year: the two great buildings, blazing and then crumpling to the ground.
And for a few days, at least, the medium rose to a momentous occasion. For once, TV's round-the-clock transmission of information actually served a vital national purpose.
Even Mr. Late-Night Irony himself, David Letterman, switched gears with his extraordinary return to the airwaves, beginning with a laugh-free monologue that movingly echoed the grief, anger and bewilderment shared by most of the country.
But TV is also an entertainment vehicle. So beyond the coverage of Sept. 11 and its aftermath, here are my choices for the top 10 TV shows of the year, in no special order:
THE SOPRANOS:
(HBO) Not the most consistent season, but even an off episode of
The Sopranos
towers over almost everything else on TV.
Creator David Chase resisted any temptation to make Tony more likable, and the show's brutality, particularly toward women, became downright unsettling. As it should be.
The finest episodes -- Paulie and Christopher bungling a hit in the Jersey Pine Barrens, Carmela coming to grips with the reality of her marriage -- were extraordinary.
24:
(Fox, Tuesday, 9 p.m.) An intriguing concept, well-executed. Twenty-four hours, 24 episodes, with a digital clock ticking away the seconds. (Even the commercials are accounted for.)
Lots of twists, turns and split-screen action as Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer simultaneously tries to stop an assassination and rescue his kidnapped daughter. No wonder he spends so much time on the cell phone.
THE TICK:
(Fox, Thursday, 8:30) I think this superhero spoof is very, very funny. And isn't that the bottom line when it comes to comedy? The Tick's expressive antenna deserve billing all their own. And when a character called The Immortal died while having sex with Captain Liberty . . . well, it makes me laugh just thinking about it.
THE AMAZING RACE:
The so-called "reality" genre went into free-fall this year. About time, too. (And I'm deeply grateful there are no Rhode Islanders on the current edition of Survivor.
) But this slick, entertaining show was the exception to the rule.
Whether riding camels in the Sahara, grocery shopping in Peking or dog sledding in Alaska, there was always something to watch as
The Amazing Race
teams raced around the world.
More importantly, astute casting meant there were distinctive characters you could root for -- or against. Even though my favorites, the hilarious Kevin and Drew, were eliminated, the show was a winner.
SIX FEET UNDER:
(HBO) An addictive pleasure from HBO. Although it might seem a comedy from its premise -- a dysfunctional family operating a funeral home -- it was actually a drama with macabre comic elements, including a corpse with a mysterious missing foot. The complexities of the characters unfolded nicely as the season progressed.
CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION:
(CBS., Thursday, 9 p.m.) Who would have thought watching lab techs plucking hair fibers, checking for blood traces and examining maggots would be so much fun? Well, it was, thanks to inventive camera work, bizarre plots and the steely resolve of leads William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger.
ONCE AND AGAIN:
(ABC, Friday, moving to 9 p.m.) True, Sela Ward and Billy Campbell are ridiculously good looking. Heck, almost everyone on the show is ridiculously good looking. But that's TV. Once you get past that, this is a precisely honed look at the frictions and rewards of marriage the second time around.
But the show goes deeper than that, expanding its storylines to embrace children, other relatives, even the ex-spouses. There are no throwaway roles on
Once and Again.
UNDECLARED:
(Fox, Tuesdays, 8:30 p.m.) A sprightly new comedy from the creators of the late, great
Freaks and Geeks
, this time moving from high school to college. More laughs than
F&G
, but the same sense of affection toward its characters. A special tip of the hat to Loudon Wainwright III as the newly separated dad whose new role in life is to mortify his son.
MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE / THE BERNIE MAC SHOW
(tie): (Malcolm on Fox, Sundays, 8:30 p.m.; Bernie Mac on Fox, Wednesdays, 9:30 p.m.) Okay, so I'm cheating a little.
Malcolm
is still hilarious, even if Malcolm himself (Frankie Muniz) has grown about a foot since last season. Worth watching just for Jane Kaczmarkek's don-t-stand-in-my-way performance as Malcolm's mom. And it's obvious the show's look and tone have been profoundly influential on half the other sitcoms on the air.
Bernie Mac
is one of them, and that's okay. Mac is a pleasure as the tough-talking macho man, constantly threatening grievous bodily harm to the kids he's suddenly saddled with. The same way we knew Ralph was never really going to send Alice "to the moon," we know Bernie is never going to touch the kids. But its fun to hear the bluster.
THE EDUCATION OF MAX BICKFORD:
(CBS, Sunday, 8 p.m.) Sometimes this show tries to pack a little too much into an hour -- family problems, campus careerism, politics both past and present. But at least it's aiming high, and the acting -- led by Oscar winners Richard Dreyfuss and Marcia Gay Harden -- is first-rate.
VERY, VERY CLOSE DEPARTMENT:
There were plenty of shows that could have easily been on the list if there was just a little more room:
Sex In the City, Oz, Friends, Gilmore Girls, Ed, Enterprise, Everybody Loves Raymond, Smallville.
ONE TIME ONLY:
Many of TV's best moments took place outside the regular shows.
• Anne Frank's tragic story has been told many times. What gave ABC's mini-series added poignancy is that it went beyond Anne's capture by the Germans to show her death at Bergen-Belsen in all its harrowing detail.
• One great performance is rare enough. To have two is a gift from the TV gods, who were obviously smiling on
Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows
. Between them, Tammy Blanchard, as the young Garland losing her innocence, and Judy Davis, playing the mature Garland as a scary combination of iron will and desperate need, created an indelible portrait.
• HBO's 10-part epic
Band of Brothers
wasn't perfect -- it was too long, and it was often difficult to keep the characters straight. But the best episodes, particularly those set in the snowy woods around Bastogne, were brilliant evocations of life under fire.
THE WORST:
Lord, where to begin?
Anyone remember the XFL?
Chains of Love?
Fear Factor?
Connie Chung's interview with a bobbing, weaving Gary Condit?
I'll just mention a few things, because I don't want this to be too painful:
WHAT ABOUT JOAN?
I'm a big fan of Joan Cusack, who steals almost every movie she's in. So how did she get involved in such a bad sitcom?
BOB PATTERSON:
The post-
Seinfeld
curse continues, as Jason Alexander got trapped in this bow-wow of a comedy.
EMERIL:
No doubt Fall River native Emeril Lagasse is a fine chef. As a comic actor, he's still a fine chef.
WEST WING
POST-TERRORISM EPISODE:
I'm mostly still a fan of Aaron Sorkin's White House drama, even though it's seemed a little dated this season. But the earnest, stilted civics lesson Sorkin delivered after the attacks of Sept. 11 deserves a place on the worst list, partly because there was so much hype around it.
AND ONE MORE THING:
Finally, I feel compelled to mention at least one more ridiculous moment from TV 2001, taken from a show on my Best list,
Once and Again.
When the relationship between Lily (Sela Ward) and Rick (Billy Campbell) temporarily bogged down in the mundane details of family and work, their sex life lost some of its zing.
One night Lily is feeling amorous, and starts nibbling on Rick's neck. He's reading
John Adams,
the best-selling bio by David McCullough. Wait a sec, Rick tells Lily. He just wants to finish this chapter.
All right, hold everything! I happen to be reading
John Adams
right now. And I can assure you, even if you've been married for 1,000 years, when Sela Ward wants to get frisky,
John Adams
will never, ever be a deterrent.
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