TV is the New Reading

TV to be thankful for

This year I find that I’m thankful for many things, and I figured this was a good time to talk about at least some of them.

First, I’m thankful to the producers of “24” that they took some risks and took the additional time they needed to make “Day Seven” come together better than it might have. Longtime fans were hungry for television’s most action-packed hour, focused on Keifer Sutherland as counterterrorist superhero Jack Bauer doing what he can to thwart the dark machinations of terrorist plots on American soil. There were a couple of ridiculous plot twists and a few dramatic missteps, but most of the show worked pretty well and focused on some of the intrigues in our own back yard.

I have another reason to be thankful for “24.” Kim Raver played Jack’s girlfriend Audrey Raines in three seasons of the production, which built her acting intensity and raised her profile sufficiently to be a perfect fit as Dr. Teddy Altman, old flame of Dr. Owen Hunt from their time in the Iraq war, in the cast of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

I’ve been in love with Raver since she first appeared in “24” and her scene with Kevin McKidd as Dr. Hunt in last week’s holiday episode just drove that home for me. She’s beautiful, expressive, sharp, and has an amazing onscreen presence. More Kim, please!

While we’re in Seattle Grace, here, the recent lumpiness in my mashed potatoes has been James Pickens Jr.’s presentation of Chief Webber as an alcoholic in denial. Obviously this is something that happens all the time (especially on television), and chief of surgery at a hospital in transition is an extraordinarily stressful post to hold. Which is why his wife, Adele, along with resident Dr. Miranda Bailey and Meredith Grey herself have each been talking to him about changes they’re noticing with him.

Intervention

Shows like “Grey’s” almost always have an intervention of some sort or another but really, what more does he need? He’s past the age of retirement, his marriage has all but collapsed at least once, his distracted driving caused an accident that landed him in Mercy West, he botched a person’s surgery and he was sufficiently drunk at the Emerald City Bar for Joe the Bartender to call Meredith to have him poured into a cab and carted home.

What I’m saying is that everyone’s covering for him, but instead of standing up, committing to sobriety and facing the pressure and being just the best darn chief of surgery he can be, why not just let the character step down, tend to his health and rebuild his home life? Surely post-merger, someone could be brought in to be a much more compelling chief of surgery than the cuddly, erratic, otherwise “super-mentor” Chief Webber has become.

Back to things I’m thankful for, I’m thankful for the networks’ decisions to close out their canceled series over the summer. In the past, canceled meant canceled. This season, networks approached them as “found” money, original programming they’d already bought and paid for which they could package as original and sell for at least a reduced ad buy.

Along with a strategy to recoup at least some of the costs, the decision to air them gave us viewers a little more time to grieve these shows and characters we enjoyed, and gave the shows a better shot at some closure. The last two minutes of the series closeout of “Pushing Daisies,” for instance, was some of the most uplifting schmaltz I’ve seen in years. Between burning off the unaired episodes of canceled series and some relatively strong entries among cable dramas, our summer wasn’t the media wasteland it sometimes becomes.

Generally, I’m thankful for the continued presence of strong writing and great storytelling in scripted television. It’s not all worth it, but a lot of it still is, and especially since we’re heading into a winter hiatus of original programming, it’s nice to have some things to look forward to as well.