I Love Tim Daly

Seriously, look at that face--how could you not. I remember when Wings first aired, I was all hot and bothered over Steven Weber. He played the younger brother, wild and unpredictable. But by episode three, I started realizing he wasn't doing it for me. Like most bad boys, the initial attraction wore off after a short period and I started looking for something with more substance. My attention gravitated towards the steady older brother, the responsible one, the one who took the weight of the business on his shoulders and carried it whether he wanted to or not. I began to realize there was much more of an interesting story behind his character than the younger brother.

Skip forward a handful of years. The Fugitive. Tim Daly on the run and looking hot. There's something in those eyes, an expression that just pulls at you. I was hooked. And then despondent when it was taken off the schedule.

My hope was revived when he showed up late season last year...or the year before...whatever. A private investigator. Hmm...still hot. This guy ages well. I was stuck to the screen once again. Then it too disappeared. Too bad. It was a good show.

Then I saw the new Fall season. The Nine. Aside from the fact that the premise of this show sounded fabulous, the thing that caught me was the cast. Namely, you guessed it, Tim Daly. I swear I would watch this guy recite names from the phone book and still be thoroughly entertained, but I appreciate the fact that the show's writers decided to give him more to do than that. No one can play a damaged, flawed hero better. And, much to my everlasting relief, it looks like The Nine has longevity. Oh happy day...

This should help make up for the fact that Smith was cancelled and I no longer get my weekly dose of Simon Baker.

Which brings me to what I had actually meant to write about today. The new Fall TV season. Now, I admit, I'm a TV junkie, but as much as I like TV, I won't watch just anything. Crappy TV can grate on my last nerve and have me yelling at the television as if the producers can actually hear me take them to task for clogging the airwaves with such drivel. Give me my hour long dramas, give me substance, make me care about these characters.

But over the summer I stopped watching television. Not an abnormal occurrence, I usually curtail the TV viewing during repeat season. But without my extended cable which meant no A&E, no TLC, no Life Network, no Showcase--there was nothing to watch. And don't even get me started on my Stacey & Clinton withdrawal of which I'm still suffering through.

So when it came time to check out the new shows I felt a bit...ambivalent. Even shows that normally held me riveted I had trouble getting back into. Prison Break for instance, I'm finding I couldn't really care less about these characters. Alias was gone. West Wing was gone. I needed replacements. I needed something that excited me, that I looked forward to each week, that fueled my imagination.

I checked out Smith because of Simon Baker, and had he not been in it, I probably wouldn't have tuned in each week. Now that's gone. Considered checking out Kidnapped, but didn't which is just as well because apparently it's going to run for what's been filmed and then go the way of the dodo bird as well. Being a big West Wing fan there was no way I'd miss Studio 60 with Matthew Perry and Bradford Whitley. A keeper. Love it. I watched Brothers & Sisters. Good, but I didn't tune in after the first show. Not sure why. Men in Trees didn't interest me because I can't stand Anne Hesche, but damn if it doesn't have one super hot guy in it, James Tupper. Now that might get me tuning in. I caught about 15 minutes of the last episode and he really impressed me.

The show that surprised me most--given that I don't have even the smallest bit of interest in football--was Friday Night Lights. I checked it out because I'm a big Kyle Chandler fan from back in the Homefront days. I kept tuning in because it turned out to be a well written show with great characters.

And then came The Nine. Loved it. From the first scene to the last. The whole idea gripped me. And of course it has Tim Daly. Which brings us back to the beginning. Because I love Tim Daly.