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Judging Amy
The Gazette - September 19, 1999
By Warren Epstein/The Gazette
Story editor Susan Edmondson
Warm up those remote controls.
The TV season is revving toward us with a record 42 new shows on seven networks. A few already have premiered, while others will come out later this month or next.
As usual, most of the shows are bland or just plain bad.
But you can't write off a season that produces a series as strong as "The West Wing." NBC's new behind-the-scenes-of-the-White-House dramedy is nothing less than a reason to watch TV
again.
I can't remember the last time I saw a series that had this much momentum right out of the gate.
Several others, if not Must See, at least fall in the Might See category. They include the new "Law & Order" spinoff - "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" - plus
"Judging Amy," "Once and Again," "Now and Again" (two very different shows that are sure to be confused), and "Freaks and Geeks."
Among the pack are plenty of lawyers, cops, sexually charged Gen Xers and overly angsty high-school students.
Taking a cue from cable, the new network offerings are slicker, cruder and edgier than ever. Jokes that a couple of years ago would have had "butt" in the punchline now have
"ass." And although we've seen derrieres before on "NYPD Blue," the romantic comedy "Cold Feet" creates a new wrinkle by adding a long-stemmed rose to the picture (I
sure hope the thorns were removed!).
The new Hollywood-parody sitcom "Action" is so full of profanity and nudity, it needs bleeps and digitized distortions to make it past the censors.
If you want family programming, look to the new mini-network Pax on Century's channel 20. I'll tell you more about the offerings on Pax, WB and UPN in an upcoming issue. Colorado Springs will be
getting a new UPN station in late October and a WB in the late fall or early winter.
If you want diversity, go to cable. Even though early criticisms that the new season is a "whitewash" prompted the networks to add minorities in minor roles, the TV landscape still looks
more white than Colorado Springs.
But, hey, if you want reality, you have no business watching television.
Here's a roundup of the Big 4 networks' fall season, from best to worst, divided into categories to help you find the ones you'll like best:
IF YOU LIKE "PROVIDENCE"
"Judging Amy" (9 p.m. Tuesdays on CBS, premiering today at 7 p.m.) - This is a juicy but modest family drama disguised as another law show. The ultra-sexy Amy Brenneman stars as an
insecure single mom starting work as a juvenile court judge.
But in the pilot, which is being reshot before airing, she spent more time working out conflicts with her mother (Tyne Daly), a retired Superior Court judge, than doling out justice in the
courtroom.
Copyright © 1999 The Gazette (Colorado Springs). All rights reserved.
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