TV Eye

The writers' strike earlier this year set the traditional fall TV premiere season off course. The bulk of the new fall TV series on broadcast TV launches the week of Sept. 22. But a few are trickling out now – some on cable, some on Fox (which only a short time ago was heralding a break from the pack by ignoring the traditional fall season and doing its own thing), others on the still-fledgling CW. So if you're going to come out of the box early, it seems like you'd want to start with something bright, new, and extra shiny, right? Instead, TNT comes out with Raising the Bar. Just what we need, I yawned: another legal drama.

For those who just can't get enough of this kind of thing, Raising the Bar blends the soapiness of Grey's Anatomy with the earnest (though limited) discussion of law and human rights sometimes found in Law & Order. Oh, I know this new series by TV titan Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues, LA Law, NYPD Blue) should create more of a stir, but I just can't find the energy.

All the elements are there in Raising the Bar. On one side, the young public defenders railing against the system led by an often teary-eyed Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved by the Bell) as Jerry Kellerman. On the other side, the ruthless district attorneys eager to chalk up wins, led by Currie Graham as Nick Balco. Representing justice, a hard-line judge who skews a little odd, ably represented by Jane Kaczmarek as Judge Trudy Kessler. Here, Kaczmarek is a well-pressed, less frazzled version of her Lois in Malcolm in the Middle. The most interesting thing about her is her curious, potentially dangerous relationship with her young law clerk, Charlie Salansky (Jonathan Scarfe), who leverages both sides of the field to his advantage. The defendants range from baldly guilty to victims of their own human foibles. Unless you develop a liking for any of these characters (there are others – all forgettable), there's really nothing to suck you into the series. I watched the first three episodes and found my attention easily drawn to other things but was still able to jump back into the episode with very little effort.

Raising the Bar airs Mondays at 9pm on TNT.

Other notable series premieres: True Blood, 8pm Sunday on HBO... Fringe, 7pm Tuesday on Fox... Privileged, 8pm Tuesday on the CW... Do Not Disturb, 8:30pm Wednesday on Fox. Notable series returns: Entourage, 9pm Sunday on HBO... Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 7pm Monday on Fox... Saturday Night Live (with Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps as guest host) 10:30pm Saturday, Sept. 13, on NBC.

The More You Ask, the Less You Know

The ongoing saga at ME Television has made me wonder: What's going to happen to that city-owned broadcast real estate should ME TV not be able to pull itself out of its financial straits? When I directed these questions to various city officials, the answers ranged from a very polite, "E-mail your questions, and someone will get back to you," to a very bureaucratic sounding, "I don't know; we just do what we're told." I didn't get any lucid answers by press time, but this small bone was thrown to me last week just before the three-day weekend. The response was to the question: If ME TV has an agreement with the city to operate on Channel 15, are they out of compliance with the agreement if they are not solvent? If so, what's the recourse? Here's the response from Amber King, a senior public information specialist for the city of Austin, in an e-mail dated Aug. 28:

"I checked on your question about whether financial assurance is required in the agreement. The answer is yes. Austin Music Partners [which owns ME TV] submits a report semi-annually that indicates whether sufficient working capital is available for the Channel's budget for the next six-month period."

That didn't completely answer my question, nor did it address a list of other questions:

Is there any possibility that the city may intervene to get ME TV back to business as usual?

Should ME TV fold up, what will become of Channel 15? Will it remain a city-owned channel? If not, why not?

Questions, questions, questions. If new information comes my way, I'll post it at the Chronicle Screens blog, Picture in Picture, austinchronicle.com/pip.

As always, stay tuned.