Catch Up With Joan of Arcadia Tonight

Although it's a repeat, Joan of Arcadia at 8pm on CBS should start out your primetime viewing this evening, and especially so if you haven't caught the series yet. This terrific show, which easily pleases on a number of levels, was recently honored by the AFI as one of its ten best TV shows of this year, and you'll understand why.


Rethinking The Simple Life

Even though I was kind to the show a couple of days ago here, after watching last night's two episodes those two girls are bugging me like a couple of annoying children kicking the back of my seat in a movie theater. Just plain bad behavior isn't nearly as cute the fourth or fifth time out, and somebody really needs to slap the hell out of them, especially Paris. Any volunteers?

 
Take Jake!

Unless you want to celebrate a very early New Year's with the spoiled kids over on Fox's The O.C., or feel the need to watch Barbara Walters on ABC introduce her 10 Most Fascinating People of 2003 (and let's assume that "fascinating" means horribly overexposed, since those Queer Eye guys are part of the 10 -- I'm thinking they count as one), UPN's charming, underrated, but highly watchable Jake 2.0 should get your attention at 9pm tonight. Far too few viewers have made it into the zippy adventure hour's camp so far, and as I've said before, it's a shame.

Tonight, our nanite-enhanced hero Jake gets the chance to work alongside a legendary former agent, played by none other than legendary former TV adventure star Lee Majors. Majors, the ex-Six Million Dollar Man and the titular Fall Guy, while never quite achieving the cult status or embracing the wry take on past fame as, say, Adam West, still should bring a nice blast from the past as he guests on one of the most entertaining genre shows on anybody's schedule. Charisma goes a long way in making us love a superhero, even a reluctant one, and Christopher Gorham as Jake has it, and how. Become a fan!


Check out UPN's Jake 2.0 website if you need to play catch up.

Here's a nice fansite for The Six Million Dollar Man, which incidentally is being remade as a movie starring Jim Carrey.

 
Don't Forget About Line of Fire Tonight, Too

Though it's not exactly a show that gives you the warm and fuzzies, ABC's Line of Fire, 10pm tonight, continues to be a tough and different enough look at the cops and robbers biz. Best thing about it is David Paymer's portrayal as an erudite crime boss, as articulate as he is ruthless.

The Line of Fire website is a little skimpy but at least you'll know who's playing what.

 
Give Them The Simper Life

I'm not sure I'd recommend that anybody watch Fox's The Simple Life, but, at least in the couple of episodes I've seen, the folks from the heartland seem to emerge with dignity intact, something that can't be said for those bobble-head big-city heiresses. After the episode where Paris and Nicole had a hard days work at the local dairy, I promise you won't look at your next half-gallon of skim milk the same way. Not because the cows are ooky or stinky, but because we all take everything for granted and have no idea how food finds its way into our local market. It starts with people, real people like the Arkansas Leding family in The Simple Life, and they're what makes the show worth watching.

You can undoubtedly go to your local mall and see young tartlets parade around as skimpily dressed or acting as petulantly as Ms. Ritchie or Ms. Hilton. That's nothing new. Take the opportunity to view The Simple Life as a window into a lifestyle that most of us, not just spoiled rich kids, haven't a clue about.

On Fox tonight, if the idea of direct transition from Paris Hilton at 8:30pm to the sublime delights of 24 at 9pm is a little bit too jarring, hold off till Thursday night where you can catch up on episodes 3 & 4 at 9pm.


Visit Fox's The Simple Life website for background info and liberal use of rooster crowing as background sound.