One recent episode, in which a pizza maker is tempted to give up the successful restaurant he inherited after his father's death for a musical career, dealt fairly realistically with the risks inherent in such a choice. And while the ending was a little too pat — the guy decides to stick with the pizzeria, while continuing as a songwriter rather than a performer — it still offered the conflict resolution with surprising insight. Like I said, it's not 24 Hour Party People, but it's no Throb, the short-lived '80s series with Diana Canova and a pre-Frazier Jane Leeves, either. And you can't beat the Odds' great theme song, the perfectly named "Someone Who's Cool."

Gripe of the Week

Even though I've toiled in front of a computer screen for nearly 20 years, I've never worn glasses, except for that brief period as a high school senior when I purposely flunked my eye exam so I could wear round wire-rim spectacles like John Lennon. So, imagine how I felt when my arms suddenly became too short to read the newspaper, and I was forced to don drugstore-variety reading glasses.

Relying on an appendage for something as elemental as seeing the fine print is just one more sign of one's encroaching mortality. And, it's especially annoying if you leave them home and have to borrow your wife's rhinestone-studded pair just to read the menu.