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Must-tape TV: Tuesday has more must-see
shows than Thursday ever did
Star-Telegram - October 16, 1999
By Ken Parish Perkins
We've been hearing about the breakdown of NBC's steamroller Thursday-night lineup for a while now, the rap being
that it's tired, it's repetitive, it has outlived its brash usefulness. True, all of it. We are far along enough in
the new season to note that although ER has returned to its blood-gushing glory, Thursday has, as Anthony Edwards'
Dr. Greene might put it, slipped into a state of creative paralysis.
Such dismal news would otherwise prove immensely frustrating for those of us who set aside at least one night for
tube vegetation. But there's an alternative to Thursday-night blahs: Tuesday.
Really.
Once the bastion of highly rated but lackluster comedies like Home Improvement and screaming newsmagazines we simply
tolerated until 9 p.m., when you, me, everyone, clicked on NYPD Blue and exhaled, Tuesday has become what Thursday
used to be: a night so singularly devoted to sophisticated television that the promo slogan "Must-See TV"
wasn't followed by a "yeah, right."
Even more convincing: Tuesday offers something Thursday rarely did. Choices. Sure, I remember when a superior
Chicago Hope was opposite ER (it returned there this season), and when ABC offered the fine alternatives Nothing
Sacred and Cracker. But they turned out to be offerings for slaughter.
Few venture away from NBC on Thursdays. This devotion has always baffled me. Why viewers stayed with Union Square a
few seasons back, Veronica's Closet and Jesse last season, and appear willing to do the same this year with the new
Neil Patrick Harris series Stark Raving Mad (it drew 17 million viewers last week to rank No. 7) would make for an
interesting psychological inquiry.
That's hardly the scene on Tuesday. And if my emails are legitimate, this is causing the most frustration viewers
have felt since we were forced to choose among Fox's Costello, NBC's Encore! Encore!, UPN's Clueless and the off
button.
This came to mind recently after I plopped in front of the set at 7 p.m. to catch Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the
WB, only to be politely reminded by the JAG fan in my household that the engaging military drama was about to begin
over on CBS. I was already taping the still-surging sitcom Just Shoot Me on NBC, while wondering if ABC's Heather
Locklear-laden Spin City would provide more enjoyment or whether it was worth catching the new half-hour Ally, the
funny episode in which Ally (Calista Flockhart) attacks that woman in the supermarket over the last bag of chips.
The malaise one may feel during the 7 p.m. hour can't be ascribed to that time period alone, however: The entire
Tuesday-night lineup, hour by hour, show by show, network by network, has become a lose-lose proposition. Taping one
program to watch another still means you're missing something.
ABC's 8 p.m. adult comedy, Dharma & Greg, has always prided itself on supplying a fast-moving half-hour full of
quick-witted one-liners and Jenna Elfman, but the same could be said of the just-as-adorable Will & Grace on
NBC. Fact is, in its second season, Will & Grace, a bubbly buddy comedy noted originally for having a gay lead
character, is now merely a good sitcom with quick pacing, sharp writing and a crack supporting cast that's as good
as any series on network or cable.
Also at 8 p.m. is Party of Five, the Fox drama that's showing its age but is aggressively sharpening the thorns on
its prickly characters, including that never-satisfied Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt, who is primed to
leave for her new show with a bang, playing out a sexaholic story line on poor, tired Scott Wolf's Bailey.
Meanwhile, 60 Minutes II is on CBS, and Angel follows Buffy on the WB. Watching either eliminates Sports Night,
airing at 8:30 on ABC.
I know some of you have reservations about Sports Night -- I've got the email to prove it. But I renew my admiration
for the comedy series that is snappy and gratifyingly complicated. William H. Macy, introduced last week as a stodgy
and so far rather humorless (and therefore funny) consultant hired to improve the late-night cable show's ratings,
could be just the thing the series needs to bolster its own Nielsen numbers. (I can't imagine ABC holding onto this
low-rated series even if it matches last year's audience levels, though.)
If there's a weak link here, it's at 7:30 p.m., where choices include a creatively faltering It's like, you know . .
. on ABC, Fox's `That '70s Show,' NBC's worn-out 3rd Rock From the Sun and the silly UPN rookie Shasta McNasty. But
that's fine. Just stick with the hour-long JAG or Buffy.
All of which leads us to 9 p.m. and the disheartening head-to-head battle between the romantic drama Once and Again
on ABC and the courtroom/family series Judging Amy on CBS. Both of these female-skewing dramas have high production
values; fresh, lively characters; and so many reasons to live.
While `Once and Again' was the series I initially watched while taping Judging Amy for later, I've since
flip-flopped, but not because subsequent episodes of Once and Again have proved disappointing.
Judging Amy has simply been so intoxicating, so entertaining, so intellectually satisfying, so Tyne Daly sassy --
its cases involving children's rights through the eyes of the courts, parents, law enforcement agencies and
children's services have been eye-opening -- that I want to see it right then and there.
Seems you agree: Judging Amy has surged past Once and Again in the Nielsens, ranking No. 10 last week, with 11
million viewers. O and A ranked No. 24, with 9.4 million.
Next month, Once and Again may or may not make room for the time slot's permanent tenant NYPD Blue, (it's been
reported that ABC wants to keep Once and Again right where it is). If `NYPD Blue' does return there, it should prove
interesting for Judging Amy star Amy Brenneman. She was last seen on `Blue' as a mob-influenced cop and love
interest of David Caruso.
Hmmm. I'll give NYPD Blue a few episodes to win back my loyalty. But I'm taping it.
Copyright © 1999 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas. All rights reserved.
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