Finding My Own Worst Enemy

So, we're now about a month into the "official" TV season. Two shows have been canceled (Do Not Disturb, which no one did, and Opportunity Knocks, which didn't). Some shows have gotten full season pick-ups (90210 and, most recently, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles). But, there's really no massive breakout phenomenal success. Personally, I blame that on my being out of town for two weeks and not getting to preach the gospel of some brilliant new series.

Right, sure, that's the ticket, I wield that much power.

Seriously though, there is no massive, earth-shattering, new series. But, I have one or two new things that I'm really enjoying. Right now, and I know that it's only aired one episode, my top pick would be My Own Worst Enemy. I sat down to watch the premiere and was absolutely riveted by it. Maybe it's just the dearth of new goodness that led me to be so happy with the series, but maybe, just maybe, it's something more.

For those of you who are unaware about which series I'm discussing, it's the new Christian Slater one, the one where he's two guys in the same body, the one where he's working for some secret government organization and volunteered to have this other identity created so that he could have a great cover. Yeah, okay, it's a weird, way out there premise, but the first episode was tons of fun. This poor guy, Henry (Slater), learns that he's actually Edward (Slater). Henry was created several years back, but his entire birth, adolescence, and early adulthood is naught but a fiction. Then, he's made to forget the truth, then, he learns it again and beats the guys who were after Edward… or him… or both.

Weird. Just plain weird.

But, despite his not having had the most solid of careers, Slater is always a guy I've really liked. Heck, I was the guy who went to see Alone in the Dark in the theaters. That was me, I was the one person to plunk down cash for the ticket (to be fair though, I went on a Wednesday afternoon to an AMC theater, which meant I paid a matinee price and got a free popcorn). So, naturally, I was attracted to this new show, and I really thought it delivered in the opening episode. It had everything a solid spy story should have – explosions, double-crosses, twists, surprises, and there are several solid avenues of exploration for the future. The cast, led by Slater and Alfre Woodard, is a decent one, and I ended the hour wondering what was going to happen in the future. What more could you want than that?

In the end, the people I feel bad for with the show are NBC. They simply can't seem to attract a big audience. They have a really solid Monday night – Chuck, Heroes, and My Own Worst Enemy – but it gets buried amidst people's love of Dancing with the Stars, Charlie Sheen, CSI: Miami, and goodness knows what else. Monday night, as I've lamented already, is just chock-a-block with shows I want to watch. I thought My Own Worst Enemy was really fun, and yet I probably won't get the chance to watch tonight's this evening. I'll be TiVoing it, but there's just a ton of other stuff on my list.

Maybe once Boston Legal finishes its run My Own Worst Enemy can make my Monday night viewing instead of my later-in-the-week viewing. Hopefully NBC lets it last that long.