Dying Networks Show Signs of Vitality By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

December 20, 2009
Dying Networks Show Signs of Vitality By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

CABLE channels, premium and plain, are supposedly siphoning creativity — and viewers — from the big four broadcast networks, yet some of the best series of 2009 were on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Call it a renaissance or a last-gasp rally; either way the 2009 network surge is working.

PARKS AND RECREATION on NBC outshone "The Office," and even "30 Rock." Amy Poehler is irresistible as a screwball civil servant in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Ind. So is the supporting cast, which includes Aziz Ansari as a sleazy co-worker; Nick Offerman as the sleepy, disheartened boss; and Aubrey Plaza as an inexpressive, monosyllabic intern. Review | Excerpt

THE GOOD WIFE starring Julianna Margulies and Chris Noth, may be the one CBS hit that doesn't follow the Bruckheimer procedural formula (cutesy cast and gruesome murders) and is all the better for it. The Spitzerian scandal at its core complicates and enlivens what would otherwise be a conventional courtroom drama. It's "The Practice" with a jolt of Politico.com. Review | Excerpt

GLEE on Fox is a silly, smart and delicious parody of all high school movies, including "High School Musical," with charming musical numbers and two standouts: Jane Lynch as the totalitarian cheerleading coach and Lea Michele as the talented and monstrously ambitious self-promoting star singer of the glee club. Review | Excerpt

MODERN FAMILY on ABC takes the mock-documentary conceit out of "The Office" to send up the classic family sitcom. It's a gentler version of "Arrested Development" but with its own satirical edge: Ty Burell is hilarious as an overeager dad who yearns to be considered cool, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet are delightful as a domesticated gay couple with an adopted Vietnamese baby. Review | Excerpt

FRINGE on Fox had some stiff competition from an excellent new ABC sci-fi mystery, "FlashForward," starring Joseph Fiennes, but this odd update of "The X-Files" was still very good, less because of the spooky paranormal science than the lasting chemistry of its three stars, Anna Torv as an F.B.I. agent, Joshua Jackson as her freelance sidekick and John Noble as his father, a nutty fringe science professor. Review | Excerpt

Similarly, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE on CBS could have been shunted aside by "Cougar Town," which is written by Bill Lawrence ("Scrubs") and has a more modern, satirical tone. Instead, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is far funnier and more appealing than Courteney Cox in the role of a slightly desperate divorcée. That, and Wanda Sykes as a dyspeptic sidekick, keeps this CBS sitcom on top. Excerpt

BORED TO DEATH on HBO proves that premium cable still has an edge. This new comedy had to follow in the footsteps of a mock "Seinfeld" reunion subplot on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," as well as compete with raunchy, misanthropic comedies like "The League" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" on FX. But this bitingly funny series about a Craigslist Philip Marlowe had a disarming sweetness to its humor. That and a cast led by Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson. Review

IN TREATMENT on HBO moved the troubled psychoanalyst played by Gabriel Byrne from suburban Maryland to New York, and to great effect: this second season of a series adapted from an Israeli drama was in some ways better than the first, thanks to Mr. Byrne and also a whole new crop of patients, including Hope Davis as Mia. Review

OCCUPATION, a drama about three British soldiers in Iraq, on BBC America, wasn't a classic "Band of Brothers" tale of bravery and bonding under fire. It put a contemporary twist on the 1946 classic "The Best Years of Our Lives" — ordinary men who survived an extraordinary experience find reasons to return to the combat zone, not all of them good. Review

DROP DEAD DIVA, on Lifetime, offered an unlikely premise for comedy: a slender shallow model dies and is reborn in the body of a brilliant, plus-size lawyer. But the series turned out to be a lighthearted romantic comedy with a body image lesson for viewers. It worked, thanks to the charisma and charm of its star, Brooke Elliott. Review
Those Dying Networks Show Signs of Intelligent Life - NYTimes.com (28 December 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/arts/television/20stanley.html?ref=arts&pagewanted=print
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