John's Top 10 Summer 2007 TV Shows

The lazy (and brutally humid in central Florida) summer season has been in full swing for a few months. One of the things I miss most (other than being able to walk from my car into any building without needing a bottle of water for hydration) is writing about my favorite TV shows on a weekly basis.

Sure, I've been able to do some fun movie reviews, and it's nice to take a break from trying to come up with creative ways to express how much Sanjaya sucks, but overall I've missed it.

The reason I haven't been recapping any summer shows is because, historically, the ones that aren't in reruns suck. Still, particularly because of the emergence of more quality original programming on cable, there ARE a few show currently airing that are worth damn. Here are some of my favorites:

Honorable Mentions: Weeds (this show would definitely be on the list, but it hasn't actually started airing yet this summer…I LOVE me some Mary Louise Parker), The Closer (the commercials always look good, and I caught a scene last night and it was compelling…I'll have to actually check out an entire episode one time.)

10. Burn Notice (Thursdays 10 p.m.,USA) Jeffrey Donovan stars as spy who was recently "burned" by the U.S. government, meaning he's been marked as a dangerous agent and completely abandoned. He sets up shop in his hometown of Miami and works as a private investigator to make money as he tries to find out why he was "burned"…or something. I only saw one episode with my dad, so I don't have a great grasp of what's going on.

All I know is that Donovan is a very solid lead (his narration is a highlight), Gabrielle Anwar (pictured, left with Donovan)is tons of fun as his borderline psychotic ex-girlfriend/partner, and the great Bruce Campbell pops up occasionally to lend a hand. Most importantly, I thought I was gonna spend the entire hour saying "Oh, burn!!!!" but the show was engaging enough for me to only do that once or twice.

9. Top Chef (Wednesdays 10 p.m., Bravo) It's a classier Hell's Kitchen. It's from the producers of "Project Runway", but not quite as entertaining as that show. Still, I love to cook, cooking shows are hot right now, and this is one of the better executed ones. The show's current location (Miami) is good, but I'd like to see them go outside the country.

8. Monk (Fridays 9 p.m., USA) Ok, so I rarely watch this one when it's on, but it's the perfect show to catch Saturday or Sunday morning when I'm trying to roll out of bed. Although I criticize him to death for continuing to get nominated for and winning Emmys, Tony Shalhoub is very good as obsessive compulsive detective Adrian Monk, they have fun guest stars (like Sarah Silverman in this season's premiere) and the show is consistently entertaining. Still, if he wins the Emmy over Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) or Steve Carell (The Office) I'm never watching again.

7. The Bronx is Burning (Tuesdays 10 p.m., ESPN) It's about the summer of 1977 in New York City and it follows the Yankees (yay!) on their march toward *spoiler alert* the World Series title. The series' protagonists are newish owner George Steinbrenner (Oliver Platt), manager Billy Martin (John Turturro in ridonkulous ears) and newly arrived star Reggie Jackson (Daniel Sunjata, pictured) and all three leads are pretty impressive. The show also intermingles other events of that summer (including the Son of Sam murders), but I prefer when it sticks to the baseball stuff.

Sure some of it is over the top (ok, a LOT of it is over the top), but the show somehow remains extremely watchable. I get a kick out of watching a piece of history on my favorite team, as well as those groovy 70s fashions. I wonder if I could pull that stuff off.

6. So You Think You Can Dance (Wednesdays and Thursdays 9 p.m., Fox) It's from the producers of "American Idol", only all of this competition's contestants are insanely talented (and those dancer outfits are HOT). There are no Sanjaya's in this bunch, and the judges (or "jidges" as British host Cat Deeley pronounces it) have input on who goes home during the first half of the competition. Still, some of the routines (especially the contemporary stuff) go WAY over my head, and I can't always tell who's doing a really good job…and I dance! Also, the judges stop being a factor in the top 10, which puts the dancers fates in the hands of America…which makes it a bit too much like that other show.

5. Damages (Tuesdays 10 p.m., FX) Its second episode just aired last night, but I think I'm already in for the rest of the season. The pilot started with young lawyer Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) running through New York streets half naked and bloodied and ended with the revelation that her fiancée is dead in a tub. The story unfolds through flashbacks as we see what happened in the six months leading up to the bloody opening sequence. Oh yeah, there's also the terrific Glenn Close as the powerful litigator Ellen goes to work for at the start of the series and is trying a case against a wealthy businessman played by Ted Danson, who I'm enjoying a lot.

You know how I'm always saying the best stuff being done right now is on TV and not in the movies, despite the fact that everyone seems to aspire to do movies and some actors think TV is beneath them? Well, Glenn Close is so impressive, that I sometimes get the feeling her performance is too good for TV…I feel fortunate that she's gracing TV with her presence. In fact, it's probably a little too good for this show, which is certainly flawed and implausible at certain points, but still entertaining.

4. Scott Baio is 45…and Single (Sundays 10:30 p.m., VH1) It's the rare, non-competitive reality show that seems to be about something. Also, the subject seems to be refreshingly real (imagine THAT on reality TV) about his flaws. The show follows former Happy Days/Charles in Charge star Scott Baio as he consults with life coach Doc Ali and tries to find out why he's never been able to commit to a woman. For some reason, his life coach tells him to not see his fiancée and be celibate for eight weeks and encourages him to seek out some of his exes for answers.

Two things about this show: 1.) Scott Baio got an unbelievable amount of tail in his time (and probably still would if he wanted to). The guy looks good for his age, and he was HUGE in his time, but it was still a little surprising to me for some reason. 2. Johnny V., the member of his entourage (which also oddly enough includes "Wonder Years" star Jason Hervey) who I cannot stand. It's kinda funny seeing the older brother from the Wonder Years now and makes me imagine a bunch of 80s and 90s sitcom actors hanging around playing golf and smoking cigars.

Anyway, back to Johnny V. (pictured, left) This guy is the most pathetic figure on TV right now. He's rooting against Scott to succeed (and be happy) because is Scott is married than Johnny V. won't get any Scott's leftovers or castoffs. He bet $5,000 that Scott wouldn't remain celibate for more than four weeks and, when he was about to lose hired a hooker to try to win the bet. I hate Johnny V. I'm getting mad just writing about him. Moving on!

3. Rescue Me (Wednesdays 10 p.m., FX) I recently gobbled up seasons 1-3 on DVD in less than two weeks (they were on special at Best Buy!) and got caught up in time for Season 4, which started off slowly, but has gotten better with each episode. The show still follows firefighter Tommy Gavin (Emmy nominee Denis Leary) and the rest of his crew as they deal with the various crises in their lives. The show has veered into melodrama a bit too much this year, and there's not a female character on the show who isn't a depicted as a crazy she-beast(though to be fair, the men don't fair much better as far as looking good goes). Still, this is one best dark comedies on TV with one of the best ensembles on TV. Actors like Steven Pasquale (Garrity), John Scurti (Lou) and Callie Thorpe (Sheila) don't get nearly the recognition they deserve.

2. Entourage (Sundays 10 p.m., HBO) This is just one of those shows that's insanely addictive, but it's really not THAT great. The plots are fairly straightforward every week, the characters are pretty predictable, but somehow this show manages to be a lot less obnoxious and endearing than it should be and I can sit down and watch like 5 episodes at a time, no problem. That's probably because of the great chemistry between the four leads (Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon and Jerry Ferrara) and maybe it IS because the show doesn't try to do too much, and just entertains. That's probably why it's cool.


Oh yeah, like I was gonna get through a writeup on "Entourage" without mentioning the GREAT Jeremy Piven, who is genius as superagent Ari Gold. His interactions with assistant Lloyd (Rex Lee, pictured, right with Piven) and Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves) have been more consistently entertaining this season (the show's fourth) than the neverending "Medellin" saga.

1. Hell's Kitchen (Mondays 9 p.m., Fox) Now I'm not saying this is a better show than "Entourage" or "Rescue Me" (though both those shows aren't exactly hitting great highs), but HK is just a fantastic summer show. It comes in at the beginning of July, does its job and gets out before the fall shows start. This is the first time I've watched HK, so it's all new to me.

Unlike its classier counterpart "Top Chef", HK is loud, over the top, and edited in a way that it's about 15 times more fun. This suits this type of show, particularly during the kitchen service sequences which have an appropriately intense edge to them. Then there's Chef Gordon Ramsay (pictured, left). This is my first exposure to the guy beyond commercials for the show on FOX, and I'm loving the guy. He's inspired me to wanna go out and call incompetent people in my life "donkey!" or "doughnut!" Still, he has his softer side, as with the way developed genuine affection for Waffle House cook Julia which was displayed during her elimination. Also, it was funny seeing him act all sheepish this past week as he trained the remaining contestants on how to chew/curse him out.

By the way, I've got Rock winning the whole thing next week over Bonnie. I have no idea how Bonnie made it this far. Bonnie's problem is that Bonnie seems to have no idea how she made it this far.

That's my list. Any summer shows you're watching that I'm missing out on?