What I've been watching this summer (Part 1)

It took me weeks to notice, but the only stuff I've been watching regularly this summer has been on cable. I am not watching one single broadcast network, except for sports, for more than 5 minutes at a time. But let's look at what I have been following on cable:

Louie: Let's start with the best: "Louie" is the best thing on TV right now (except maybe "Comedy Shop" rerurns on RTV). It's funny, sad, serious, thoughtful, and it surprises week to week while entertaining. You can't ask for much more than the ambition Louis C.K. demonstrates with this show, especially when it's so well executed. I mean, I knew the guy was funny, but as far as his ability to so often make me FEEL something while watching his TV show...who knew? This is so good, I'm tempted to revisit "Pootie Tang."

Wilfred: This FX comedy might suffer if you compare it to the show it precedes on Thursday nights, but it is pretty good in its own right. Elijah Wood interacts with his neighbor's dog, played by a guy in a dog suit, and of course Wood's character, Ryan, is the only one who can do this. The premise is funky, but the show itself if is really, really twisted, with Wilfred and Ryan engaging in scenarios involving drugs, humping stuffed animals, and sundry dirty deeds. Something about it just works. Since the show dropped, or at least downplayed, the unrequited love angle between Ryan and Wilfred's owner Jenna, an angle that was dragging things, it has become funnier and more poignant. Yeah, there's the humping, but there's also thoughtful explorations of human existence. But, yeah, there's humping.

Rescue Me: I quit on the show last season, fed up by the ludicrous and repetitive yet inconsistent writing. It seemed the show had pretty much said all it had to say. Then I experienced some hunger pangs, so I watched the season finale before jumping on for this final set of episodes now airing.

Only I got tired of the show and jumped back off. It wasn't that "Rescue Me" got off to a particularly bad start; though it seemed each episode had one scene that was over the top, it was more like it had settled into a kind of drab mediocrity. But it was bringing back Maura Tierney's annoying character that pushed me away a bit. "Where is this going?" I thought. Then I saw a preview that indicated where it was going, and even if it was misleading, it was enough of a prod to get me the rest of the way off the train. It's a shame, too, because in its prime, "Rescue Me" was one of my favorite things on television.