'Tis Lousy to Have Loved and Lost... : 2006-2007's TV Casualties Part 2

DAY BREAK

Synopsis: Taye Diggs ("Rent") plays as renowned Los Angeles cop who is framed for the death of an assistant district attorney. Catch is: he is reliving the same day over-and-over, "Groundhog Day" style, until he can uncover the conspiracy and figure out why he is being given this repeated chance to clear his name.

What Worked: Pretty damn near everything. This was a show for the ages, a taut, imaginative thriller with a supernatural twist that greatly rewarded attentive viewers with small details that grew into a whole lot of fun. Never taking itself too seriously, this loopy premise worked wonders by keeping it set strictly in a real world (no "Quantum Leap" madness) that didn't give the Diggs character, or the audience, any chance to breath. It was a fast-paced, violent, intelligent and entertaining mindfuck of the highest order, helped along by the fact that it was designed to begin and end its entire story within a 13-episode miniseries.

The show dealt with the constant struggle to not only prove his innocence, but also save the lives of many of those around him, including girlfriend Moon Bloodgood ("Pathfinder"), his ex-partner Adam Baldwin ("Firefly"), his sister's family and his informant. There were multiple plot strands threatening to collapse at any moment, but the show was savvy enough to juggle them effortlessly.

Not only was it a blast to see Diggs have to continually learn new tricks in order to survive and take information he gathered the day before and use them to his advantage the next day, but also deal with the bizarre fact that, unlike in Bill Murray's situation, injuries he garnered one day would continue onto the next, therefore making death in any day an endgame.

What Didn't Work: Absolutely nothing, save for the fact that this 13-episode miniseries, designed to cover up the "Lost" hiatus on ABC, was canceled after the sixth episode, making this a major blue balls network decision. Why it couldn't play out is beyond me. The remaining episodes are available on ABC.com, but I'll wait for the DVD set to devour with my mother.

Why Not Enough People Watched: We come back to the whole "serialized series are risky" explanation, especially when it comes to a midseason replacement. At this point, viewers were already juggling "Heroes," "Lost" and even recent casualty "Jericho," so a new series, one with such a batshit crazy premise, was lost on the casual viewer. It was too smart and too sly for its own good.

Taye Diggs has also not proven to be a draw, either on the big or small screen. His last show, "Kevin Hill," didn't make it past its first season, and it's hard to carry a show when nobody really cares. He is a charismatic actor and I wish the best for him, but network TV may not be the answer. Try HBO.

Overall Series: 9.5 (out of 10)

Final 2006-2007 Neilsen Rating: #85 (6.6 million viewers)

Fun Fact: Adam Baldwin is another show killer, having been in the cult classic series flop "Firefly" (which, of course, spun-off to the mini-flop of a film "Serenity") as well as the summer burnoff show from 2005 "The Inside." "The Visitor" and "The Cape," both from the mid-to-late 90s, also lasted only one season, and the fact that I hadn't heard of either is definitely a bad sign.

Fall TV Wrap-Up (just in time for Chanukkah!)

As the new title of this site suggests, I am indeed a media whore. Since I started using Comcast's DVR near the end of last summer, I have, of course, been able to watch basically a shit-ton of television. I started off with my regular shows (which completely unintentionally had a FOX bias after I counted the number of shows I truly truly watch on the Big Four), but I didn't feel satisfied. I started building an interest in more and more shows, and that took on the form of mostly new shows to the 2005-2006 season. This way, I deduced, I could get the most out of each show since I was with each and every one for the very beginning and didn't have to join in a show already in progress, which would defeat the purpose of my personal TV-watching habits. When February 2006 rolled around, I found that I had literally watched every single new damn show on the major networks (yes, even Courting Alex) and had suddenly become a connoisseur and student of what worked with the general American public and what failed to last from one season to another (or less!).

There are, of course, certain exceptions. I found myself perturbed by what was making it and, more importantly, what was not. (Sons and Daughters, I will rue your demise for years.) On the flip side, there were shows introduced last season that I decided to discontinue on my Season Pass Manager, the most notable of which would be CBS' genuine hit military show The Unit (although I did record the most recent episode as the teaser tickled my fancy).

When I moved back up to the Bay Area, and now using DirecTV's precious TiVo machine, I took it upon myself to do the very same thing with the 2006-2007 television season, this time starting with every single new show right from the get-go. This excludes the two new CW shows (Runaway, which is already cancelled, and The Game) and one FOX game show that lasted all of one episode (The Rich List).

Now that it's nearly Christmas, I thought I'd weigh in very briefly on the shows and what I think of them. This does not involve talking about which are "On the Bubble" and which are in trouble or even cancelled, but merely a ranking of each of the 26 new shows I watched this season. With the exception of allegedly four episodes of 'Til Death that I missed, I have literally watched every episode of these shows that were available on network television. (This excludes the burn-off online episodes of such shows as Kidnapped and Vanished, two shows that just happened to be about the exact same damn thing. It also excludes two very very good cable shows, the fresh TBS sitcom My Boys and the terrifying Showtime serial killer show Dexter, both of which I highly recommend.)

I will say this about the new season: there is only one show that I consider absolutely unwatchable. Luckily, it's on "ABC Hiatus." (For those not in the know, an "ABC Hiatus" almost never ever ever ends.) There are few true stand-outs, but I'm still greatly impressed.

Without any further ado. (Note the tie for first place.)

Rankings for New Shows 2006-2007

1. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
1. Heroes
3. Day Break *
4. 30 Rock
5. Help Me Help You *
6. Friday Night Lights
7. Show Me The Money *
8. Justice *
9. Six Degrees *
10. Ugly Betty
11. Men in Trees
12. Jericho
13. Shark
14. Happy Hour *
15. Vanished *
16. Big Day
17. The Class
18. Smith *
19. Kidnapped *
20. 1 vs. 100
21. Standoff
22. Brothers and Sisters
23. 'Til Death
24. 3 Lbs. *
25. 20 Good Years *
26. The Nine *

* indicates either a cancelled show or one on "hiatus"