I Want My Crime TV

A year ago, I dropped the premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime) from my cable package to cut my overall budget. I figured I would catch up on premium cable's most popular shows on DVD. With the ever-increasing number of unscripted "reality" shows replacing scripted dramas, I find myself wishing I could see shows like HBO"s writer-turned-P.I. comedy Bored to Death sooner. This season, NBC went so far as to let Jay Leno fill their 10:00-11:00 PM weeknight timeslot. Still, some new shows on broadcast TV and basic cable have caught my interest this fall.

As a longtime fan of NCIS , I wasn't sure it needed the spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles (Tuesdays 9:00PM, following NCIS), but I was also curious how the new show would be executed. Picking up from last season's NCIS two-parter "Legend", Special Agent Callen (Chris O'Donnell) returns to the newly relocated Office of Special Projects. NCIS: Los Angeles emphasizes more surveillance technology and undercover work with a cast of younger actors led by O'Donnell and L.L. Cool J.

Hoping to duplicate the chemistry of its parent show, NCIS: Los Angeles lacks the instant recognizability of a Mark Harmon and David McCallum. The plots so far resemble early episodes of JAG and NCIS, but the show is watchable enough, and the new characters are beginning to distinguish themselves. CBS has ordered a 24-episode first season.

The Good Wife (Tuesdays 10PM, CBS) stars Juliana Margulies as Alicia Florrick, wife of Chicago Attorney General Peter Florrick (guest star Chris Noth), who resigned in disgrace after a sex scandal resembling that of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. To support her family, Alicia joins a law firm eight years after her last time in a courtroom. The show strikes me as a flipped version of Marguiles's canceled FOX series Canterbury's Law , with Margulies playing a more sympathetic character. I can't deny that I do prefer The Good Wife to Canterbury 's Law.

Wednesdays at 10PM, ABC's Eastwick is based on The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike and the 1987 film starring Cher , Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Jack Nicholson. Taking their places on TV are Rebecca Romijn, Lindsay Price, Jaime Ray Newman, and Paul Gross. I like all the actors involved, but I find the show an odd mix of fanciful fluff and near-sexual violence. This is the one scripted show that Jay Leno's new show has routinely beaten in the ratings.

ABC's FlashForward (Thursdays 8:00PM), based on the 2000 novel by Robert Sawyer, focuses on a worldwide loss of consciousness for two minutes, seventeen seconds, during which most people got a glimpse of their lives six months into the future. Some endeavor to make their futures happen while others try to prevent theirs from happening. The novel questions the concept of free will. Veteran science fiction producers David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga (2005's canceled Threshold ) have tried to attract viewers to this philosophical musing by populating the show with popular actors, mainly Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, and Courtney B. Vance as FBI agents investigating the cause of the flashforward. I don't know that the show would hold my interest for a full season, especially after reading a synopsis of the book. With the amount of star power involved, it feels more like a special event mini-series than one that could go for several seasons.

Lastly, USA Network's White Collar (Fridays 10PM) was heavily promoted over the summer, and I'm happy to say it continues in the charismatic character-driven tradition of Monk, Psych, and Burn Notice. Matt Bomer, seen lately as dashing spy Bryce Larkin on NBC's Chuck, stars as gentleman thief Neal Caffrey, who abruptly escapes from prison with little time left on a four-year sentence. Recaptured, he agrees to help the FBI catch other white collar criminals. Bomer's looks and Templeton Peck-like charm are apparent. What I didn't expect was the vulnerability he brought to Neal Caffrey, who, for all his confidence, is tormented by a lost love.

Tim DeKay co-stars as Peter Burke, the hard-working but not too hard-nosed FBI agent who finally caught Caffrey and now supervises Caffrey's work for the Bureau. As a duo, they have the unique understanding and respect for each other only the best rivals can. Also lending the show character is its actual New York City setting.

Looking back at my Spring '09 column, I owe you more detailed thoughts on Dollhouse and Castle . I'm sorry to say Dollhouse never hooked me. Its premise of programmable interchangeable personalities left me with no one to root for week to week. Its renewal last season was called "a bet on Joss Whedon," but Season 2's ratings are abysmal, and the show has been pulled for the all-important November sweeps.

Castle, meanwhile, struck me as not realistic enough at first. Case in point: the M.E. played by model Tamala Jones. I watched when I could, and bought the Season 1 DVD set out of Firefly loyalty to Nathan Fillion. Watching the show with extras and commentary, I have a better sense of its tone, neither too playful nor too grim. The chemistry between Fillion and Stana Katic is believable, and has improved in Season 2.

TV is cyclical, so I hope more imaginative crime dramas return to broadcast networks someday. Stay tuned.