Best of TV What was worth watching (and was not) on the boob tube

BYLINE: Michael Shannon Friedman --
It is a bit ridiculous to even discuss television in terms of quality. The fundamental weirdness of so much current programming is just too overwhelming to describe, much less evaluate. No criticism could begin to capture the creepy hypocrisy of someone like Darva Conger, who agreed to marry a total stranger live on camera (although she knew, at least, he was a "millionaire"), then backed out of the deal, then paraded herself on dozens of talk shows demanding the return of her "privacy."

With an allure stronger than sex and drugs, television has the power to alter and to turn ordinary people into venal cartoons of themselves. Ask someone to eat a rat, they will likely turn and run; offer to let them do it on TV, and they will beg, plead, stand in line, sell their souls.

But as strange as TV has gotten, so-called reality programs are still no match for real life. No live police show could match the surreal drama of OJ Simpson's Bronco chase; the most creative network executives couldn't have come up with a monthlong, 24/7 program about hanging chads and missing postmarks, starring armies of lawyers who made the connivings and manipulations of the "Survivor" cast look like a Cub Scout meeting.

In a sense, television has become appropriately democratic. Talk shows, for instance, offer a stunning variety of personalites and intelligence quotients. Anyone can have her or his own show, be they insightful (Ted Koppel's "Nightline"), or insipid (Regis Philbin; the babbling bubbleheads on "The View").

Yet television can do things that other, more prestigious art forms (movies, theater) cannot do. The serial form allows us to witness characters for extended periods of time.

Here were a few reasons to stay tuned in 2000:

Worth Watching

- "ONCE AND AGAIN" (ABC, originally on Tuesdays at 10 p.m., it moves to Wednesdays this winter)

This show is worthy for its poignant, witty portrayal of two 40-ish divorcees (played by the pensive but passionate Billy Campell and the buoyant, luscious Sela Ward) trying to find a few minutes to make out amid their hectic work and family obligations.

While the Campell and Ward relationship remains the focal point, the show has shown, with sensitivity but not sappiness, how that relationship wears on their children. And although Campbell and Ward are great actors, much of the credit must go to the younger performers. Both Evan Rachel Wood, who plays Rick's daughter Jessie, and Julia Whelan, who plays Lily's daughter Grace, have some of the shy complexity that made Claire Danes (of "My So-Called Life") such an intriguing, intelligent presence.

(snipped" the discussion of the other two positive mentions: The Sopranos and Late Night with David Letterman.)

Disappointments

While a "worst of" list would be far too long, here are a few shows which have failed to live up to their initial promise.

- "LAW AND ORDER" (NBC, Wednesdays at 10)

For years, this was one of the best-acted, best-written shows on television, but like "Homicide" before it, too many cast changes have blunted its once razor-sharp edge. Sam Waterston's Assistant D.A. Jack McCoy and Jerry Orbach's Detective Briscoe are still consistently interesting, but Angie Harmon (as McCoy's partner) is a woefully miscast piece of eye candy. And with the departure of Steven Hill (as the world-weary D.A. Adam Schiff), the show lost its resident sage and guiding moral spirit.

(rest of the article "snipped")__The Charleston Gazette (January 4, 2001)