In search of this year’s “30 Rock”

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 23:01:00 +0000

Let's just admit that we're spoiled right now and get it over with. When the smallest ripple throws off our experience -- the dryer breaks down, the sink backs up, the transmission locks up, the baby gets croup -- we lament the enormous inconvenience of it with the same grim tones of Air Force officers warning of aliens who seem to have a special interest in nuclear weaponry.

We're so far removed from life without six-cylinder engines and five-speed chiming large-capacity appliances that our schedules unravel at the slightest failure of technology. "Then I had to actually call the repairman and wait for him to show up!" we whine to our spouses and friends in paroxysms of learned helplessness, surrounded by machinery we can't service ourselves.

No wonder the aliens lost interest in us back in the late '60s. Like dimwitted teenagers with bad impulse control, we're a little too pathetic to bother monitoring us very closely. I'm sure the lizard demons of Zambular in the Galaxy of Termitrax are up to far worse.

Don’t miss these 9 new TV shows

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:01:00 +0000

Terrorists, assassins, superheroes, zombies, lizard-gnomes, filthy rich oil moguls and hapless marketing executives -- the fall TV lineup has them all! Don't let anyone give you the impression that you're in for the same old game of cops and lawyers this year. Sure, there are tons of shoot'em-ups and legal dramas on the horizon, too, but if you cast aside new spins on the same old formulas (Lawyers ... in Las Vegas! Detectives ... who used to be neurosurgeons!), you'll find a wealth of odd entertainments in store for you, from a mysterious prep school policed by hideous reptiles (Cartoon Network's "Tower Prep") to the real zombified housewives of Atlanta ("The Walking Dead").

Will any of these comedies and dramas be worth watching over the long haul? We'll put our money on the shows on this list with a grade A or better. The rest, we'll leave to the fickle whims of fate, merciless network executives, fatigued TV writers and huddled masses of viewers yearning to watch "Glee."

Salon.com > Running Wilde

In search of this year’s “30 Rock”

Don’t miss these 9 new TV shows