Meanwhile, I've also been watching Dirty Sexy Money, which suffers from the problem of having flat characters. They have zero depth: good guy, bad guy, the divorcee daughter, the spoiled twins. What motivates each character is abundantly clear, which doesn't leave a lot of room for potential surprises. The main crux of the "plot" is that the main character is looking to find out who killed his father and why. But that plotline is flawed from the beginning: here's a guy who was treated abominably by the father who walked out on him and his mother to have an affair with his boss' wife; he hasn't seen or spoken to his father in years, but somehow he cares that his father was murdered and wants to know whodunnit? Seems a bit odd, to me. So I watch each passing episode with, I think, hope that the series (or the characters or someone) will get a little bit of depth. Or make sense. Details.

Same deal with Samantha Who?. It is supposed to be a comedy but isn't all that funny; I keep watching, though, because it has an interesting premise: horrible girl gets into a car accident, wakes up from a coma with total amnesia and has to try to put her life back together. Interesting enough for me to keep watching; my guess is it won't be picked up for next season. I've also been tuning in to Kid Nation; it's been entertaining, but I'm pretty much ready for it to be over. 'Nuff said about that.

The shows I'm really enjoying this season are Bionic Woman, Pushing Daisies and Men in Trees, which is one of last fall's new shows. Although it occasionally goes over the top, I like (most of) the characters and the story lines keep me guessing. Pushing Daisies is delightful: whimsical and absurd and yet somehow it all works and ends up being a great murder-mystery/solve the crime show.

I started watching Bionic Woman this year out of pure sentimentality: I remember watching Lindsay Wagner in the earlier version when I was a kid, and I was rather fond of Max, the bionic dog. (I wonder what Rennie would be like as a bionic dog?) There is no bionic dog in this version (which is unfortunate) but the episodes are interesting and action-filled, and the characters are mysterious and slightly opaque: you never know quite where they're coming from or what they're going to do next. It's sort of like 24, only with a woman kicking the serious ass.

So that's what I'm watching these days (plus, of course, my dearest love, Masterpiece Theater) - what's on your tube? Opinions, ideas, thoughts?