No More Going 'Over There.' Plus, a Sweeps-Filled Edition of Primetime Pass!

As I told you yesterday, FX announced that it is not renewing the Iraqi War fictional drama Over There. With the end of the show, I thought I'd go ahead and give some final thoughts on its 13-episode run this Summer and Fall. Overall, I found the show ambitious and well done, but I didn't see the need to extend the show further. Sure, the writers could have come up with more storylines to fill another season, but they covered so much in the one season that I was satisfied with just having the 13 excellent episodes. There were some character arcs left unfinished, but overall, the show ended on an upbeat note that led you to believe that these characters were going to work through the personal problems that the distance of war had caused.

The show had the groundbreaking distinction of being the first television program to focus on an ongoing war, but Over There wasn't just about gun battles, roadside bombs, terrorists and surprise attacks. The heart of the show was the characters, both over there and back home, and their daily struggles. There was Dim who dealt with his inner conflict over whether he was doing the right thing by fighting in the war and his outer one with his alcoholic wife who cheated on him back home. Sergeant Scream was ready to return home after serving his time in Iraq until he was sent on a mission to evict a French woman and her orphanage because the new Iraqi government needed the building. He fell in love with the kids and the woman running it, so he traded his trip home for more time in Iraq and a promise that the orphanage was off limits to the new government. Back on the home front, soldier Bo Ryder struggled to regain his former self after losing his leg to a roadside bomb. Determined to return to his unit and help his fellow soldiers, Bo became proficient with his prosthesis and in the finale, he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. These were just a few of the well written character stories, but there were also the more tragic and difficult stories. A terrorist organization kidnapped an embedded journalist after one of the soldiers shot and killed a young boy in a village. The boy had pretended to throw an explosive device at the soldiers and they fired back in defense. The terrorist group beheaded the journalist and the show did not shy away from showing the audience exactly what happened. It definitely had its hard-to-watch moments, but they were much farther and few between than I had expected. Overall, a strong character-heavy show with well written, directed and executed episodes. I can understand why FX president John Landgraf said he was proud to have aired the show.

About Last Night... A processing error at Nielsen delayed Tuesday's ratings and it is also delaying Wednesday's ratings. I will bring you last night's ratings in tomorrow's edition. For now, here's Tuesday's overnights. CBS easily won the first hour of the night with NCIS, followed by The Biggest Loser on NBC and ABC's comedy block of According to Jim and Rodney, although Fox's Bones had a slight edge in total viewers for the hour. At 9, ABC's Commander In Chief took the hour, followed by Fox's House and CBS's The Amazing Race. The final hour of the night easily went to NBC's Law & Order: SVU, followed by Boston Legal on ABC and Close to Home on CBS. For more on Tuesday's ratings, visit Zap2it.

~Primetime Pass~ (Tonight is the first night of sweeps, so it's a jam-packed evening)
@8 p.m. - Chris gets left in charge after a flighty babysitter leaves him with his siblings on UPN's Everybody Hates Chris. Over at Fox, The O.C. is back with a new episode tonight. Ryan makes a life-changing decision, Marissa turns to her public school friends for help and Summer and Seth go on a crusade to uncover Dean Hess's secret. Joey goes on Celebrity Poker after Alex teaches him Texas Hold 'Em on NBC's Joey. Tom Wopat joins his former Dukes of Hazzard co-star John Schneider for a guest spot on WB's Smallville.

@9 p.m. - Nina suggests that Andy and Jake seek counseling, Ephram learns that Amy might be seeing someone new and Harold helps Rose deal with her mayoral race loss on WB's Everwood. The CSIs work to determine whether a young mother's death was suicide or the result of foul play on CSI on CBS. Fox's Reunion returns tonight with the year 1989. A wedding brings out old rivalries as Samantha chooses between Craig and Will.

@10 p.m. - Jack and Danny travel to Mexico to search for a missing American tourist whose wife (guest star Alex Kingston) witnessed the abduction on CBS's Without A Trace. Clemente, Abby and Neela secretly tend to a VIP patient while Dubenko tortures the staff from home with a robotic television camera on NBC's ER.


QUICK CUTS

*Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson is getting back in the TV business after a string of movie projects. UPN has given him a pilot commitment for a new spec script he wrote about a troubled teen who moves to Palm Springs and finds that there are plenty of secrets lurking around. The show will join UPN's critically acclaimed Everybody Hates Chris and Veronica Mars, the latter of which Williamson called his favorite show on the air. He will serve as executive producer on the project.

*CBS is entering the cable sports arena with its purchase of CSTV (College Sports Television). Chairman of CBS and Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Viacom Inc. Leslie Moonves made the announcement about the network's acquisition of the all college athletics cable entity. The acquisition will include a digital cable network featuring 30 men's and women's college sports events, regional college sports networks that will launch in 2006 and online properties featuring 250 official college athletics web sites. The purchase is expected to go through in January of next year.

*And finally, the delayed (on my part, not Nielsen's) weekly ratings are in and it was another win for CBS in total viewers and the 18-49 year old group. The eye network was led by a repeat of CSI (#1), Without A Trace (#2), CSI: Miami (#4), NCIS (#5), Survivor (#6) and Two and a Half Men (#7). Fox's MLB coverage landed two spots in the top 10 (#3, #9). Over at ABC, Grey's Anatomy was the only show to land a top 10 spot (#8). For more on last week's ratings, visit USA Today.

That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for Everwood (how will Ephram take the news about Amy? And how hilarious does that therapy scene with Jake and Andy look?), Everybody Hates Chris (no Alias tonight, so I'll be watching this awesome comedy) and Without A Trace (yeah, I'm choosing to watch this tonight and save CSI for the weekend because this episode sounds Danny-centric and I'm all excited!). Plus, all the latest television news!

What Happens 'Over There'? Plus the Sudsy Side of Procedurals

Okay, how many of you are watching FX's Iraqi War drama Over There? Hopefully, many of you. I know what you're thinking, why would I want to watch a television show for entertainment that focuses on a real-life conflict that is ongoing? The answer is because this show is gripping, informative, beautifully shot, well written, and not at all what you're thinking. I had my hesitations before I tuned in to the premiere a few weeks ago, but they were quickly cast aside. The amazing thing about this show is that the pilot was the weakest outing so far because it was too war-focused. Since then, the show has shifted to the day-to-day (or in this case hour-to-hour) work that these men and women do over in Iraq while also giving us interesting characters that continue to develop. Sure, there are the conflicts that arise, but they are dealt with in an even and well-balanced manner. These soldiers strategize and they deal with the guilt and pain that comes with each loss of life on both sides. The show manages to paint the soldiers and the Iraqis as human beings, something that seems to be lacking in the constant media coverage. A recent episode focused on an Iraqi prisoner who seemed ready to risk everything (including causing the death of an older couple) just to carry out his cause, but when the Americans brought in his sister, he quickly changed and told them the whereabouts of the missing missiles. In last night's episode "I Want My Toilets," one of the soldiers wrestled with the idea that he was ordered to assassinate a man who they believed was guilty of signaling the mortar attacks that prevented supplies from reaching the camp. After he took the man out, he was shown with a tear rolling down his cheek. In the end, the man was guilty and the soldier's action allowed the tracker-trailer trucks to bring the necessary supplies through the town and into the camp.

But Over There is not just about what happens over there. Take the story of soldier Bo Ryder, a high school football stand-out that was headed to college on an athletic scholarship. In the pilot, he was wounded when the vehicle he was riding in rode over a land mind. He lost the lower part of his leg, his chance at football, and most likely the chance to finish what he started in Iraq. The last realization seems to have hit him the hardest, as he struggles with his wife and the base doctors in Germany over whether he'll return to combat or not. Bo insists that he will some day, while his wife and doctors assure him he will not. Back in the U.S., there are the family members left behind. One wife is cheating on her husband nightly while drinking and neglecting her son, another is readying her base housing for her husband's new handicap status by installing ramps and hoping he returns soon, and there's the husband who joins the base support group only to learn that he is the only husband in the group. It seems that everyone has their battles, whether on the front in Iraq or back at home. Over There has its flaws, but for the most part it's a well executed drama that, at its core, is about the characters and not the political sides of the current conflict, a feat in itself.

Shifting gears a bit to the soapy storylines that seem to be invading your favorite procedural. Without A Trace spent most of its third season tied down with these storylines. Sam (Poppy Montgomery) and Martin (Eric Close) were in a secret relationship together that became complicated by Jack's (Anthony LaPaglia) divorce, which in itself was triggered by Jack's affair with Sam. Once Jack was a free man, he went back to Sam, but she was with Martin. Then, there was the saga of Jack's divorce. An entire episode ("Malone Vs. Malone") was devoted to the legal meetings between Jack and his now ex-wife. Sounds like you're reading about a night time soap, right? But instead, it's a procedural crime drama, which begs the question, do soapy storylines belong on procedurals? Without A Trace has always been a more character driven procedural that the Law & Order franchise or CSI, but I'm not a fan of personal storylines getting in the way of solving the crimes. For me, season three of Trace was its weakest. Back in the first season (pre-soap), the missing persons cases were fascinating and the sense of urgency of racing the clock kept me at the edge of my seat, but lately the show has been slow and the cases underdeveloped. Perhaps pushing the personal relationship stories overtook the cases.

I like it better when shows hint at attractions ala CSI and Law & Order: SVU. It's a case of what you don't say, says more than what you do. Now, I like my procedural with a little personal thrown in. We need to learn about the characters in order to understand them better. I need to know why Lilly Rush seems colder than the cases she solves or why Olivia Benson sympathizes with rape victims so well, but I don't need interoffice affairs. I understand the need for conflict, and clearly it's not hurting Trace's numbers as the show had its most watched season so far and finally overtook perennial timeslot winner ER, but I'm not so sure about the soapy edge that some shows have taken. Well, with a new season brings new possibilities, so I'm hopeful that Without A Trace and others can shift their focus back onto their core - the excellent and moving cases they're there to solve.

QUICK CUTS

*NBC has confirmed that Joey's getting a new friend. Miguel A. Nunez Jr is joining the cast of the Thursday night comedy. He'll play a fellow actor and friend to Joey (Matt LeBlanc) who has a knack for getting them both into trouble. Joey premieres on September 22nd.

*Bravo kicks off the sixth tournament of their popular Celebrity Poker Showdown tonight. Players this time around include Rosie O'Donnell, Michael Vartan, Kathryn Morris, Penny Marshall, Amber Tamblyn, and Caroline Rhea. The first round airs tonight at 8 p.m. eastern with a reality star theme.

*If you're looking for an early look at CBS's new line-up, here's your chance. The Eye Network is airing a thirty minute special with clips from their new shows. Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, all from Two and A Half Men, will host the September 14th special.

*UPN released information on the contestants competing to be America's Next Top Model. They include a delivery driver from Arizona, a Dairy Queen manager from Michigan, and a criminal defense investigator from Florida. The new season starts September 28th.

*And finally, NBC released information on the poor souls (I mean, contestants) competing on Martha Stewart Apprentice. The ten woman and six men include an internet company owner from Missouri, a television newscaster from Michigan, and a natural foods chef from New York. You can see all sixteen contestants when the show premieres September 21st.

That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a look at the network comedy. Is it a dying breed? Plus, all the day's latest entertainment news. And, I'll be announcing a special theme for next week.