Before the Return of the Comeback

The TV gods have been good this year. They didn’t leave us high and dry, completely paralyzed and totally incapacitated — such that couch potatoes don’t know where to turn, what to watch, and what to download during this “in-between” season. Yes, I’m talking about the excruciating wait period before the fall season when our favorite shows go on a three-month hiatus.

They say time flies swiftly when you’re having fun. Fortunately, we had way too much fun with all the bankable network “in-betweeners” such that hit shows like 90210, Gossip Girl, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, and Survivor are apparently just around the corner. Oh, look! It’s finally September! But before we push forward through another season of mind-boggling mayhem and anticipate hot new shows, let’s look back at the TV gems that made us laugh, bawl, and kept us literally and figuratively burning holes through our seats.

Hung. So here’s a chap named Ray Decker, played by Thomas Jane, a history teacher and a basketball coach who was left by his wife Jessica, played by Anne Heche. He’s the definition of the American middle class, neither here nor there — but unlike most suburban simpletons, he seems largely unhappy with his life, like there’s something “bigger” out there waiting for him. When his house burns down, forcing him to live in a tent beside his scorched residence, he takes to a moneymaking seminar where he meets the awkward Tanya, played by Jane Adams. “What is your biggest asset?” says the resource speaker. When Ray stops looking outside and starts looking down towards his nether regions, Jane is able to connect the mischievous dots and they become the most unlikely, dysfunctional pairing of mama san and middle-aged prostitute, marketed as “Happiness Consultants.” The HBO 30-minute show is witty and formidable, poking fun yet portraying a very vulnerable side to recession-saturated America. Talk about realism and surrealism at its damned finest.

True Blood. Apparently, it’s not spelled Silky Stackhouse despite what you thought you heard throughout Season One. It’s Sookie Stackhouse. But that’s just part of the campy, Southern charm of the hit show, True Blood. Southern accents aside, Season Two proves even sexier, campier, creepier and more addictive than the offbeat love affair between Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin, and vampire Bill, played by her real-life beau Stephen Moyer. For Season Two, the protagonists and their merry band of misfits composed of Jason (Ryan Kwanten), Tara (Rutina Wesley), Sam (Sam Trammel) and Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) play it up with creepier and more sinister denizens of the fictitious town of Bon Temps. There’s the enigmatic “social worker” Maryann, played by Michelle Forbes, who was introduced in Season One as bailing out Tara and housing her in a doubtful paradise home, the Dallas-based Fellowship of the Sun led by Reverend Steve Newlin (Michael McMillian) and his Stepford wife that Jason gets involved with, and the ever-brooding Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) who takes the cast to Dallas for a matter concerning his maker, leaving Bon Temps vulnerable to the orchestrations of what threatens to be a deadlier force than the guy who killed off vampire lovers from Season One. True Blood proves to be steamier and more watchable than ever. No wonder it’s America’s top cable show.

10 Things I Hate About You. You heard that right. The movie that starred the late Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles is back as a half-hour ABC family sitcom, scooped up with interesting characters, tried and tested high school stereotypes, campus 101, and leitmotifs that are geriatric but perpetually relevant to teenagers allover. What’s the winning combination? The show is spontaneous, heartwarmingly predictable and has witty, well-written dialogue that elicits props rather than raised eyebrows from its viewers. The comedy stars Stratford sisters Bianca and Kat, played by Meaghan Martin and Lindsey Shaw respectively — stark opposites, preoccupied with their own high school predilections. Bianca is ditzy, and wants to make it big with the cheerleading squad led by the fundamentally annoying head cheerleader Chastity (Dana Davis). Kat is cynical and holier-than-thou and is caught in a perpetual I-can-say-a-wittier-line-than-you contest with the mysterious Patrick Verona played by Ethan Peck. 10 Things I Hate About You makes for some light, brainless viewing that will have you hooked before you know it.

Drop Dead Diva. The premise is out of this world, literally, as an aspiring model Deb Dobson is killed in a car crash while simultaneously, a corpulent, intelligent lawyer by the name of Jane Bingham is shot. Produced by Sony Pictures Television and shown on the Lifetime network, the show is everything but predictable — giving a new twist to the conventional courtroom drama that deals with those hard-hitting matters. As Deb is being interviewed for admission in heaven by her guardian angel Fred (Ben Feldman), she presses a button that sends her back to Earth, but in the body of the supposedly deceased Jane Bingham, played by the charming Brooke Elliott. Elliott is definitely the lifeblood of the show, effortless, confident, and believable in switching up between ditzy, dumb blonde with best friend Stacy Barnett (April Bowlby) who is the only person she tells of her supernatural situation, and top lawyer Jane, who is assisted by the comical Margaret Cho. Each episode features court cases that are both zany yet substantial, and situations that put Deb, a.k.a. Jane Bingham, face to face with her past, especially since Jane is also workmates with Deb’s fiancée Grayson as played by Jackson Hurst.

Let’s not forget to mention Top Chef Masters that pitted America’s culinary greats in competition for charity; Entourage, the Mark Wahlberg-produced show that just keeps getting better; the return of Dirty Sexy Money; the recently concluded So You Think You Can Dance that got so big, their finale was held at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles in American Idol standards; and The Fashion Show, Project Runway’s replacement in Bravo TV before essentially switching to Lifetime channel. Good things really do come to those who wait.

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