TV Eye
Seasons' Greetings
By Belinda Acosta, Fri., June 9, 2006
Summertime, and the viewing is sleazy: Reality TV is in full swing. To be fair, some shows are better than others, and even I confess to watching with sanctimonious glee. But there's more to the season than crap. For those of us with computers two operating systems past their prime and unable to check out what's online, here are a few things worth looking into on TV:
The Closer: Kyra Sedgwick returns for a second season as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on this TNT series. Ordinarily, I don't care for police dramas, but Sedgwick is so droll as a Southern woman transplanted in gritty L.A., it's delicious. Whether she's solving grisly crimes or keeping ornery detectives in check, she does so with a gentility that veers from charming to withering in nothing flat. This season, the marvelous Frances Sternhagen (Sex and the City) joins the cast as Sedgwick's fussy, formerly disembodied mother. These phone calls – only heard on Johnson's end – often lightened the mood of the moment. Let's hope putting a face and a body to Mother Johnson doesn't squelch some of that spirit. A marathon of The Closer's first season airs on Sunday, June 11, starting at 9am. The new season launches commercial-free on Monday, June 12, at 8pm.
Saved: "Sometimes the toughest life to save is your own." Okay, sure, I confess to being underwhelmed by the press materials, but the preview screener is not bad, in a Grey's Anatomy kind of way. Yes, this is another dramedy wherein charming, sexy adults (who save lives) have the emotional wisdom of junior high kids. Tom Everett Scott plays Wyatt Cole, a "slacker hero," working as a paramedic, saving lives, and trashing his own through uncontrolled gambling and being the family underachiever (he dropped out of medical school to his father's horror). Cole's love interest is Alice Alden (Elizabeth Reaser), a woman he was involved with in medical school. While she went on to become a "real" doctor, he dropped out of med school, to cultivate the adrenaline rush. Omari Hardwick plays John "Sack" Hallon, Cole's paramedic partner, the calm and sensible yin to Cole's capricious yang. As TV buddies, Scott and Hardwick have a great chemistry that (for once) doesn't rely on windy banter but smartly makes use of those guy silences where men seem to communicate best. Tracy Vilar is better than bitchy as Angela de la Cruz, a seasoned paramedic who rides with Harper Sims (Michael McMillian), a painfully green newbie who can't help but get on her last nerve. Saved premieres Monday, June 12, at 9pm (after The Closer), commercial-free.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John: Filmmaker Taggart Siegel adroitly studies the history of the American family farm, life in the great Midwest, and the price of living life off-center in this Independent Lens feature. The Farmer John in the title is John Peterson, a lifelong Illinois farmer who inherited his family farm, only to run it into bankruptcy. Demoralized and ostracized by neighbors for his supposedly peculiar lifestyle, Farmer John hits rock bottom. Seeking solace in Mexico, he has an epiphany. He returns home, rolls up his sleeves, and tries again, this time turning his back on conventional farming. From this fresh start, he creates what has become the largest organic Community Supported Agriculture farm, Angelic Organics. By sharing the sowing to growing and the reaping to eating experience with a collective, Angelic Organics joins the larger eat-local movement. Peterson's ideas about food and consumption are sensible, progressive, and inspiring. Peterson is a true American hero, a man who refuses to be bowed by convention and defined by failure. Not to be missed, The Real Dirt on Farmer John airs June 13 at 9pm on PBS.
And finally, the return of The 4400. Having developed something of a cult following, the second season returns on Sunday. The basic story follows the lives of several key members of the 4,400: the number of individuals from all over the world who were abducted by a supernatural force, and returned in one fell swoop. The individual storylines are too tangled to get into. To fill in the gaps of what happened last season, see www.the4400.com or try and catch the season-one recap that periodically airs on NBC and USA. Check local listings. The second season of The 4400 starts Sunday, June 11, at 8pm on USA.
As always, stay tuned.
