These are television shows that I currently watch, but I can’t say I’m proud of it. I’ll defend my viewing of The Big Bang Theory loudly and at length. These shows? Not so much.
These are not terrible shows. But they’re also not great shows. I watch them regularly because there’s something interesting about them but each of these shows isn’t nearly as good as it ought to be.
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Life reminds me a lot of Touching Evil, the series that Jeffrey Donovan did for USA before Burn Notice. Both shows are about police detectives who go through traumatic experiences that make them better detectives, but also isolate them from humanity. Life‘s mysteries are usually decent, but the backstory of Charlie Crews trying to find out who got him locked up hasn’t been evolving very satisfactorily and the show never seems to know what to do with Adam Arkin’s character Ted Earley, a jailed financier.
Private Practice is Shonda Rhimes’ other medical show (after Grey’s Anatomy). There’s an interesting core to a show that explores what it’s like to work in private practice in an environment that encourages treating patients in a more humane fashion, but the show never really seems to dig deep there. Instead, they focus on the soap opera elements; unfortunately, the hi-jinks that seem charming when committed by interns seem childish when done by full-grown adult professionals.
I like Trust Me because I enjoy any show that shows me how a profession really works, especially when it’s anything other than cops and doctors. Why should they get all the glory? This behind-the-scenes glimpse of a Chicago ad agency is entertaining. Problem #1: Who would have thought that Tom Cavanagh would prove to be so much more annoying than Eric McCormack? Problem #2: Eric McCormack’s home life is ridiculous; Mason & Erin McGuire are officially the world’s worst TV parents.
Psych is an oddball detective show, following Monk, a superior oddball detective show. After two seasons of swearing I was going to stop watching, I finally did. Naturally, they picked the third season to finally improve and the season finale was pretty good. In particular, Season 2 was just too silly and goofy, which meant you had no stakes in the characters. Shawn Spencer is kind of jerk, constantly getting away with selfish behavior. That said, the way he solves crimes through observation is kind of clever and, based on the one episode I’ve seen, might have provided some inspiration for The Mentalist.