The Year in TV

Hits and the missus -- Soprano and Osbourne, that is

[AP photo: ] A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL: The Osbournes patriarch Ozzy, left, and his clan — wife Sharon, daughter Kelly and son Jack — returned for a second season with new resident Robert Marcato, upper left, the son of a neighbor who died of cancer.

© St. Petersburg Times
published December 29, 2002

First, a little advice: Turn to another list if all you want is a roster of TV shows that worked or didn't. This year, this critic's year-end picks are more about the Big Picture.

Still struggling to recover from a Sept. 11-induced hangover, the TV industry in 2002 stumbled its way through another uneven year -- tripping over its successes with the same random luck that also brought its biggest gaffes.

All the theater made for interesting observations, though, as TV types strained to figure out what Sept. 11 really taught them. In the end, it wasn't much, as programmers retreated to a modified mix of reality TV, cop dramas and one-note comedies that, in some ways, felt more like a step back to the days of S.W.A.T., Three's Company and That's Incredible.

In that context, here's What I Loved and What I Hated on TV in 2002.

Loved it

THE OSBOURNES: It was a comedy with no laugh track, a reality show whose most humiliated participant -- burned-out rocker Ozzy Osbourne -- didn't seem to realize he was the butt of nearly every joke. MTV's verite look at Osbourne's family life unfolded like a real-life Simpsons episode, exposing them all as a cursing, ill-tempered lot with wicked wits who somehow still managed to love each other.

THE WIRE: Complex, ambiguous, conflicted and dense, HBO's drama about a drawn-out police investigation to bring down a major Baltimore drug dealer oozed the kind of gritty realism fairy tales such as NYPD Blue and The Shield would never attempt. In this world, cops put their careers before cases and streetwise dealers take community college economics courses just before capping a competitor. By the time the investigation is prematurely concluded (to keep cops from following the dealer's money to well-placed political contributions), you know you've seen a drama more realistically depressing than any CSI episode.

LOCAL TV INVESTIGATIONS: Whoever said local TV doesn't do in-depth journalism well wasn't watching Tampa Bay area TV news outlets during November sweeps. The roster was impressive: WFTS-Ch. 28's look at men wrongfully accused of crimes, possibly due to errors made by a former Pinellas County medical examiner; WFLA-Ch. 8's investigation of car dealers who regularly rip off elderly customers, and its report on a judge who may be soft on DUI offenders; WTSP-Ch. 10's look at a couple who saw state officials take custody of their foster child because they loved the child too much. Sure, there was the occasional embarrassment -- a story on butt implants, WFTS? -- but viewers got good journalism at a time when stations are tempted to resort to flashy irrelevance.

[Publicity photo] THE BOSS’ WIFE: Edie Falco gets the award for bringing strength of character to her role as Carmela Soprano in the HBO hit The Sopranos.

EDIE FALCO AND SHARON OSBOURNE: TV women who rock. Forget all the critical gushing over ABC's impenetrable spy fantasy Alias or the aimless Buffy the Vampire Slayer. TV's most empowered women this year were The Sopranos' Falco and The Osbournes' matriarch. Falco almost single-handedly turned the wandering Mob drama's finale into an unflinching look at a self-destructing couple, portraying Carmela Soprano's conflicting emotions as she at last cut her philandering husband Tony loose. Osbourne seemed the only family member who could handle news of her colon cancer, deflecting morose thoughts with a brash, brave humor that steadied her family in an unexpected way. Beautiful in middle age, intelligent and strong as tempered steel, these are the women Buffy and Alias' Sydney Bristow should want to be when they grow up.

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM AND EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: The two poles of great TV comedy. Curb, HBOs semi-improvised comedy based on the life of Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, finds side-splitting humor in David's knack for fumbling the simplest of social interactions (my fave moment: David's sister-in-law declaring, "You ate our Lord and savior!" after he scarfed down a baby Jesus cookie she made for a Nativity scene). Raymond is as conventional as Curb isn't, spinning a typical family comedy into comedic gold through the strongest characters on series television.

Hated it

HUMILIATION TV: Yes, they were wildly successful. But at their core, Fox's American Idol and Celebrity Boxing, ABC's The Bachelor and E!'s The Anna Nicole Show were about one thing: serving the public's taste for televised humiliation. Once upon a time, decadent Romans fed people to vicious lions. Now clueless singers are fed to acerbic Idol judge Simon Cowell, who pretends his insults are for the contestants' own good. If only he'd look in the mirror once in a while.

SUCCESS IN MEDIOCRITY: Network TV played it safe this fall, advancing conventional comedies such as ABC's 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, spin-off cop dramas such as CSI: Miami and cop dramas that might as well be spinoffs (CBS's Without a Trace). Viewers responded, ensuring that lukewarm stuff such as ABC's According to Jim, Less than Perfect and Life with Bonnie (love star Bonnie Hunt, can't stand her show) become the newest, lowered standard for TV success.

THE DIVA INTERVIEW: Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston all tried combating their negative press with overhyped interviews timed to promote their latest projects. Of course, these commercials thinly disguised as journalism didn't produce much besides self-serving headlines and ratings spikes.

BAD COMMERCIALS: The nonsensical Old Navy ads that make Morgan Fairchild look neither cute nor kitschy; a haggish Kirstie Alley tearing through Pier 1 Imports; the Mitsubishi ads featuring a woman who seems to be having a seizure in time with a throbbing dance beat. It's almost enough to make you wish they'd show the guy dancing to the silly music in his boxer shorts. Almost.

BREATHLESS CABLE NEWS COVERAGE: Yes, we needed regular updates on the Washington, D.C. sniper, the Arab medical students detained on Alligator Alley and the spate of child abductions in California and elsewhere. What we didn't need was an endless stream of pundits offering empty theories and breathless speculation. It's a dangerous overindulgence found across the board -- on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and beyond -- driven by a thirst for ratings and fear of missing the Big Story. It also might cost cable news its credibility if producers don't rein it in, and soon.

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