Shook the Spot

Since shaking to Somerville, Shook's television access has been restricted to the Big Three, but there was plenty to watch this week, and I watched most of it. Observations and guidance . . .

MONDAY

Deal or No Deal (NBC, 8 p.m.) — Two-hour premiere of the most inane yet addictive show on the networks. This shit's been all nearly every day this week, with the top prize, normally a humdrum million, growing to $6 million by week's end. The irritating hype that already permeated Deal has increased accordingly. Best moment of Monday's episode: The high-school football coach who brought his entire team to cheer him on, and said he wanted to win money to buy them new equipment. Not the most endearing, but certainly the loudest, charity cheering section in a long time.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC, 10 p.m.) — Best premiere of the week. Yes, Studio 60 is to television what The West Wing was to politics. Yes, it's romantic to a fault. But you can't beat Aaron Sorkin at his best. The first segment featured a performance by Three 6 Mafia. The second segment featured Matthew Perry, in his first appearance, stoned out his mind on painkillers. (Drug abuse, by the way, will clearly be a recurring theme—one that Sorkin, of course, knows a lot about. Bradley Whitford plays a somewhat recovered coke addict. And it's about television, after all.) Anyway, Studio 60 is clearly "the can't-miss show of the season."

Unfortunately, Studio 60 runs against CSI: Miami, which Yo, It's . . . reports was actually in Brazil this week. Go figure.

TUESDAY

Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC, 9 p.m.) — Great copycat-serial-killer story, with a twist, of course. But after all this time, I still can't picture Vincent D'Onofrio as anything other than the alien from Men in Black.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC, 10 p.m.) — Look, it's a good franchise. This was another solid premiere, though the eco-terrorists were funnier than they were scary.

Missed Friday Night Lights (NBC, 8 p.m.), but intend to catch it next week.

WEDNESDAY

The Biggest Loser (NBC, 9 p.m.) — Can't get into this.

Kidnapped (NBC, 10 p.m.) — Very promising. Jeremy Sisto (Billy from Six Feet Under) was great in the premiere. Interested to see how it plays as a serial narrative. Better character development in one episode than 24 has achieved in several seasons.

Two disappointments: Missed 30 Rock (NBC, 8 p.m.) and then stupidly chose Loser over Lost (ABC, 9 p.m.), which I intend to try next week.

THURSDAY

The Office (NBC, 8:30 p.m.) — There was too much actual plot to deal with after last season's cliffhanger, but it's still the best comedy on the networks. Michael outs Oscar, and they end up kissing in an emergency office meeting as Michael yells, "Burn this image into your brain." Done and done. After the kiss, Michael declares, "I'm still here."

Grey's Anatomy (ABC, 9 p.m.) — My most anticipated premiere turned out to be most disappointing. The show's always been something of a downer, but this took it to a new level. Last season's finale seemed like rock-bottom for most of the case, so it was only natural to expect a turnaround for some of them. Nope. Throw in a few cringe-inducing lines of narrative from Meredith, and you've got me consdering a switch to CSI.

Six Degrees (ABC, 10 p.m.) — On the other hand, my least anticipated premiere turned out to be the most surprising. Encouraged by a good review by Heffernan in the Times, I picked Degrees over Shark, the promising new legal drama on CBS, and yet another season of ER. That turned out to be a wise move, especially after the soul-crushing Anatomy premiere. Degrees is hokey enough for its own good, and the stories — at least in its first hour — were more engaging than much of what I saw on TV this week. Always great to find an unexpected gem.

Would have liked to have seen Shark, but really, Degrees was just that good.

FRIDAY

Well, it ain't Friday night yet, and I'll be missing primetime anyway. Would like to catch new ADA Alana De La Garza (CSI: Miami) on Law & Order (NBC, 10 p.m.)