I thought that ‘L&O: CI’ was kind of gay …

I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy, so I don’t know off-hand who T.R. Knight is. The AP report of his coming out mentioned he appeared in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which I do watch.

So I looked up the episode in which he appeared and realized which criminal he played. Knight played a computer programmer with a very desperate need to get his writing partner to focus on finishing the sequel of their hit game.

The final scene in that episode kind of struck me as gay. Det. Goren, of course, is summarizing the crime and getting the criminal (Knight) to incriminate himself. I don’t know if Knight intentionally telegraphed a gay vibe to the desperation his character felt to maintain the distracted attention of his partner, but I rather liked that subtext.

It felt more human. And Knight looked kind of hot in glasses.

‘Eureka’ earns 2nd season

This news is more than a week old, but Eureka has been picked up for a second season.

I really liked the original shows that aired over the summer. The Closer does terrific things with the crime procedural, while the chemistry between James Roday and Dulé Hill made Psych the most watchable comedy of the summer.

It’s tough to put a superlative to the comedy of either Psych or Eureka — they’re humorous in their individual ways.

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Candidate for Brilliant But Cancelled: Friday Night Lights

I didn’t read the book, and I didn’t watch the movie with Billy Bob Thorton.

I live in Texas, and while I’ll largely ambivalent to the culture of high school football in Texas, I know it’s out there. Despite that pedigree, I’ve become a fan of Friday Night Lights after two episodes. That makes me one of the nearly one million viewers who didn’t ditch after the series premiere.

Two more scripts have been ordered for the show, but given the competition with Dancing with the Stars and, perhaps, Gilmore Girls, I’m not sure critical acclaim and a small fan base are enough.

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Dark

I just watched the most wrenching two-hours of television so far this fall season.

When producers said the new season of Battlestar Galactica would be dark, they weren’t mincing their words. I haven’t felt such a dark mood after watching a television show since renting Oz many years back.

This show does nothing to bolster your faith in humanity. And oh is it so, so good.

This season premiere used the Lost season premiere to wipe the floor. I know I shouldn’t really compare the two shows, but there’s a very human core to all the mystery and science surrounding both shows. And Battlestar Galactica is far more willing to put the ugliness of humanity in plain view.

I love this show.

Season premieres, part the first

I’ve already written about my impressions of new shows — what about my returning favorites?

Truthfully, the old favorites have been a bit waylaid by the new shows. With TiVo making it too convenient to catch a lot of stuff, I found myself last weekend inundated with catch-up viewing.

I didn’t even take in any of the Law & Order shows.

So Thursday night, I went on a TiVo binge. Man, I hope to write off some of these new shows soon, just to make my viewing schedule a bit more sane.

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Progress report

I just watched a good six hours of TV today. Here’s the thing I’ve discovered about TiVo — it lets you have something of a life during the week, but let things pile up and your weekend gets eaten up.

I spent Saturday catching up with The Daily Show and The Colbert Report while I did housework. And today, I watched two new pilots and some second episodes of new shows.

So how are things shaping up? Let’s count the ways.

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