Letters to the Editor
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Soap operas instead of social commentary
Where's the real subversiveness? Guys like Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry created their shows because they wanted to get social messages past the censors, and most TV writers of the age wanted to "say something" in what they did. Who today is using drama for subversive social commentary? Is anyone using their drama to take a shot at the futility of the Iraq war the way Star Trek did about Vietnam (the episode "A Private Little War" among others) in 1967? Today's shallow focus on relationships and such continuing storylines detracts from stories about larger social themes. Not to say there isn't such a place on TV for terrific relationship-driven drama -- I really enjoy The Sopranos -- it just dominates today except for Law & Order.
So often it seems like the new shows I love (Freaks and Geeks) die an early death anyway.
P.S. Deadwood? I don't care if it's supposed to be more realistic language for the time, I still can't watch the show without being distracted by it. It plays like the world's easiest drinking game -- take a shot for every obscenity and you won't last five minutes into the episode.