COMMENTARY - Reserved thanks for TV - There's much to be grateful for with shows like 'Damages' and '30 Rock.' But lame offerings may be ahead.
NEW YORK — Here we are again at that topsy-turvy time of year. It's a holiday season we enter by professing thankfulness for all we have, only to do an abrupt about-face so we can concentrate on the season's main theme: "What we have isn't enough and we've got to get more."
I'm feeling this even as a TV critic. I was going to mark Thanksgiving by mentioning a few of the things about TV that I feel grateful for. But now I realize my gratitude comes full of reservations.
I'm grateful for TV, but it isn't enough and I want more.
One thing I'm definitely thankful for: the recent news that "Damages" will be back for two more years. In its just-concluded freshman season, this FX legal thriller was as crafty and addictive as anything on the air. But not enough viewers took the plunge, and there was reason to fear anemic ratings would spell the series' doom. FX renewed it anyway.
I'm also thankful for NBC's comedies "30 Rock" and "The Office." And for the virtuosic skill of Hugh Laurie in the title role on Fox's medical drama "House." And for Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, each of whom provides a reality check on current events, along with the laughs.
I'm thankful for ABC's "Lost" during those intermittent stretches when it rose to the level of its towering ambition (like the handful of episodes that brought last season to a haunting close). And for the weekly tapestry of color and design on "Pushing Daisies."
I must say I'm thankful for TV's drama and comedy writers, who are conspicuous in their absence -- or soon will be, as the writers strike leaves no new scripts to shoot. I've got an urgent Christmas wish: That the networks and studios stop playing Scrooge and work out a deal that demonstrates they're as thankful for their writers as they should be.
In the meantime, I'm filled with misgivings about what might be ahead for viewers in the next weeks or months: current series stuck in repeat mode, joined by spur-of-the-moment reality fare with formulaic premises that, by comparison, make the stalest scripted series seem lily fresh.
More dancing and singing contests. Stunt challenges. Do-gooders. Dating shows and a mother-and-daughter beauty pageant. Contestants answering questions while strapped to a lie detector. Thankful for this?!
Fortunately, we can feel thankful for TV in ways that exist apart from its content. Like the delights of TV hardware, certain cool gadgetry that catches our eye and dares us to resist.
