Wasted Life

I'm really tempted to give this one a shot, based solely on Damian Lewis, who was REALLY fantastic in Band of Brothers. And I agree (based on clips) that this looks like a cop-version of House, although replace House's acerbity with Lewis's Zen beliefs (which fits, because House's meanness is in contrast to the "bedside manner" we expect from doctors, while Lewis's Zen-like calmness would be contrary to the tough cop routine we all expect).

I'll check it out tonight based on Lewis's strong acting abilities....I guess I can swallow crime procedurals if there's something to the characters (hence why I follow Bones and CSI, but not the L&O franchise, which is far too case-of-the-week driven), and I'm hoping Life works in that sense.

This raises a whole other point, by the way James....

If not a cop drama, a legal drama or a hospital drama (or, now, a story about superheroes/people with powers) - what do you do for drama? (Or, alternatively, where do you set your drama?)

High school/teen dramas can work (Friday Night Lights), but the "growing up" thing means cast turnover.

What I'd REALLY like to see is a journalism drama - something about investigative journalists for a paper. Think "The Paper" (highly underrated Ron Howard film) but into a weekly series. Combines cop-show mysteries, legal show cases/coverage, and pretty much anything else (sports, entertainment, business, etc.). You have the stress of deadlines, the personalities of different types of reporters, competition amongst journalists....pretty much perfect for a show. Why have there has been few (if any) excellent dramas about journalism? (And don't say because your life as a journalist is boring - trust me, all lawyers will tell you their life is nothing like LA Law or Boston Legal, but it doesn't stop those shows from being entertaining. If journalism is not an exciting profession, that doesn't mean you can't fictionalize it into something interesting.)

Accounting Drama, Chaddog. It would be epic.

@chaddogg: For me, it's less about setting than execution. I don't mind more police shows; I do mind more slight variations on police procedurals.

I think people in the biz (and TV critics) make too big a deal about what settings "work" and which don't. A drama about advertising would be really boring, right? Who likes advertising? Or a drama set in the White House? You could never do that on a big network.

As for journalism, we'll get a taste of that in the next season of The Wire. If there's one person I'd want to see do a journalism series, it's be David Simon. Or Perez Hilton.

@Karma,

Andy Barker! Well, it was a comedy...and he actually ended up doing more PI work than CPA. Those of us who thought it would be epic were overruled. Sigh.

I would like to see a new TV show about a blogger who uses his blog to expose corrupt and and menacing corporations that plot to do evil to people.

Bloggerman. Night Blogger. I Blog. Superblogger. The Blogger. Smokey and the Blogger. This show will be in development for some time since just coming up with a title is difficult.

Is it just me or does Lewis bear a resemblance to Steve McQueen? I've always thought that since the first time I saw him. Something in the facial shape, mouth, eyes and mannerisms.