Tuesday
The best and worst of the 2008 TV season
By Frank Pittarese90210 (CW, 8 pm) is a continuation/spinoff of the semi-classic Beverly Hills 90210. Like the original, this one is full of pretty "teenagers" dealing with their "problems." This one girl doesn't want her parents to divorce, so she whines about it a lot while wearing clothes from the Crackhead School of Fashion. This other girl has an alcoholic mother and is homeless for all of five minutes before moving in with her sister, Kelly Taylor, from the original series. The one black kid (diversity calling!) has trouble fitting in because he was adopted by a white family. It's like that. There's an illusion that the show is edgier than it is, but honestly, is is not at all edgy. It's engaging, for sure, but not engrossing. As a casual viewer of Beverly Hills 90210, I find that I only really connect with the show when the original castmembers are on screen. Here's hoping 90210 finds itself and becomes a truly addictive primetime soap.
Fringe (Fox, 9 pm). Remember X-Files? It's back. This sci-fi offering comes to us courtesy of J.J. Abrams (creator of Lost and Alias). Before I go any further, let me say that the show is a hit. But please hear me: It is a boring and dull experience. I know that's redundant, but I need both words to make my point. Boring. And dull. Lead actress Anna Torv, our Dana Scully, if you will, has all the personality of a soggy dishtowel. She and her castmates poke around, investigating strange phenomena (all of which are connected via some vague conspiracy), and getting answers by using fringe science. The term has actual meaning in the real world, but on this show, fringe science is defined as "making whatever shit up." Need to talk to a dead guy? Just mind-meld with his brain. Want to know what some dead chick saw before she died? Just lift the image from her freakin' eyeball. Don't be intrigued. It's much more plodding in execution. The only signs of life are Joshua Jackson, playing the role of Pacey Witter but using a totally different name, and the old dude who plays his dad. But otherwise? Meh.
The Mentalist (CBS, 9 pm) stars Simon Baker as a guy who uses his people-reading skills to pose as a psychic and solve crimes. Um...doesn't that show air on USA Network? It's called Psych. Shame, shame, CBS.
Predictions: 90210 and Fringe have both been picked up for full seasons, so get comfortable with them. In fact, Fringe, seems to be an honest-to-god hit. Way to have high standards, America. The Mentalist got a full season pickup, as well. It'll probably be like that other Simon Baker show, The Guardian, which ran for three years but was not watched by a living soul.
Recommendations: For my sake, please support 90210, because I'm convinced its success will lead to the return of Melrose Place and I really need that to happen. Beyond that, Tuesday nights are a bit of a TV wasteland. While entire herds of fat people try to be skinny on The Biggest Loser: Families (NBC, 8 pm), and the energetic Eli Stone (ABC, 10 pm) returns for another season of trying too hard, you should just use the night to catch up on your recorded shows.
