TV Guide: Part 3

And so, the final part of our network round-up is here. After this we'll look at some of our favourite shows in a lot more detail, but here are the last few networks that we're looking at.

Showtime
Sex, violence, swearing?: Oh yes. Showtime is a cable network.
Past programmes: An interesting mix. Stargate started here, and they co-financed The Outer Limits. Bryan Fuller's Dead Like Me had two troubled seasons, as did Masters of Horror. More conventional dramas include Huff, The L Word, Brotherhood, and Sleeper Cell.
On the air: Showtime boast three of the most popular cable shows. There's Jenji Kohan's Weeds, starring Mary-Louise Parker as a suburban single mom who starts dealing drugs, which is about to start it's sixth, increasingly dark, season. There's David Duchovny-starring Californication, about the sexual misadventures of a writer, which is going into its fourth season. The biggest hitter is Dexter, starring Michael C. Hall as the mild-mannered blood-spatter analyst who moonlights as a serial killer. Darkly funny and gripping, Dexter will soon be starting its fifth season. Other shows include Nurse Jackie, starring Edie Falco as a pill-popping nurse, Diablo Cody's The United States of Tara, starring Toni Collette as a the mother with multiple personalities, and The Tudors.
Upcoming: Laura Linney stars as a suburban mom with cancer in The Big C, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will produce an as-yet untitled comedy about friends who run a porno store, Neil Jordan will produce Tudors-alike drama The Borgias, and there's a sci-fi series about synthetic people called Syns.
Must-see TV?: Yes, absolutely. Dexter is superb, recovering from a couple of wobbles during season three for an excellent fourth season. Diablo Cody has promised a better season two for United States of Tara, and Weeds and Californication are generally pretty solid.

Syfy
Sex, violence, swearing?: Frak no!
Past programmes: The network that used to be called Sci-Fi is, of course, best known for it's science fictions shows. Andromeda, Stargate and it's various spin-offs, Sliders, Farscape, and the best of the bunch, Battlestar Galactica. They also were responsible for the awful revamps of Flash Gordon and The Bionic Woman, Mystery Science Theatre 3000, Tremors, and The Invisible Man. Mini-series include the excellent The Lost Room, starring Peter Krause and Julianna Marguiles, the bizarre Tin Man, and the Battlestar Galactica mini-series that kick-started the full reboot.
On the air: Battlestar spin-off Caprica is getting great reviews, while Eureka is more of a niche-appeal show. Sanctuary, starring Stargate's Amanda Tapping, gets good viewing figures, as does Buffy writer Jane Espenson's Warehouse 13. There's also Stargate: Universe, which stars Robert Carlyle. The network also owns the rights to several shows that originally aired on other networks, such as Firefly, Dead Like Me, Lost, and many, many others. Syfy is making the unpleasant move into more reality programming, but the quality of their original programming is impressive.
Upcoming: The only upcoming show on their schedule is a live-action Star Wars series, with minor characters from the movies. George Lucas' lust for money continues unabated. Mostly, however, Syfy is just renewing their shows for more seasons.
Must-see?: Depends on your tastes. While Battlestar Galactica remains one of the best things to have happened to TV in the last decade at least, the rest of their shows are entertaining but not essential. Only Caprica seems to be on the verge of becoming something special.


TNT
Sex, violence, swearing?: No.
Past programmes: TNT has only started making their own programmes very recently, previously focusing on sports. Series to have only lasted one season include Heartland, starring Treat Williams, and Saved, starring Tom Everett Scott. Their high-point was the recently cancelled Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter. They did have some success with miniseries, such as Spielberg-produced Into the West, and Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes
On the air: A bit better here. Leverage, starring Timothy Hutton, Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf, is a fun series about master criminals robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. The Closer features Kyra Sedgwick yelling at criminals, while Dark Blue features Dylan McDermott as an undercover cop. TNT picked up cancelled NBC drama Southland for its second season, but its future is unclear. Comedy-wise, Men of a Certain Age, starring Scott Bakula, Andre Braugher, and Ray Romano, has been getting solid reviews
Upcoming: Another cop show called Bunker Hill, starring Bridget Moynahan and Donnie Wahlberg, and Alien Invasion, produced by Steven Spielberg, which we assume will do exactly what it says on the tin.
Must-see TV?: Not particularly. Leverage is good fun but aside from that there's nothing here that you'd miss.


USA
Sex, violence, swearing?: No.
Past programmes: Like TNT, USA has only started making shows fairly recently, but they've all been really quite popular. The Dead Zone ran for five years, and The 4400 got solid viewing figures. Their biggest hit was Monk, starring Tony Shalhoub as the obsessive compulsive detective.
On the air: Psych, starring The West Wing's Dulé Hill, plows the same ground as Monk with entertaining quirkiness. There's medical drama Royal Pains, In Plain Sight, which stars Mary McCormack as a US Marshal, and White Collar, about a con man who helps the FBI. Their flagship show is the very entertaining Burn Notice, which stars Jeffrey Donovan as a fired spy living in Miami trying to figure out who screwed him over. It has the not insignificant added bonus of featuring Bruce Campbell as one of the main cast.
Upcoming: Nothing very inspiring. Medical drama Operating Instructions, CIA drama Covert Affairs, and lawyer drama Facing Kate. Seriously, were these the best titles they could come up with? More interesting is Stiffs, which will be about a single dad juggling his commitment to his daughter with his job in a mortuary.
Must-see TV?: Not particularly. Like TNT, there's one good show (Burn Notice), then a lot of filler.


The CW
Sex, violence, swearing?: No. Although, after the watershed, they're not afraid of a bit of blood.
Past programmes: The CW has swallowed up The WB and UPN, taking it's programmes with it. This means that they broadcast Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls, Reba, Everybody Hates Chris, and Reaper.
On the air: Somehow young Superman show Smallville is still going on. Gossip Girl, 90210, The Vampire Diaries, and One Tree Hill all focus heavily on the teen market, and are not within our realm of interest. Supernatural can be a lot of fun, or it can be terrible. It's a 50/50 shot, but it's popular enough to have been renewed for a sixth season.
Upcoming: There's an "Untitled Robert De Niro" drama in development, and something called Bitches in Britches, which we doubt will be as witty as its title.
Must-see TV?: Veronica Mars was great, but was cancelled after three seasons. Basically, Supernatural is the only thing worth watching here.


Well, the last three networks weren't great, were they? But anyway, that concludes our overview of TV networks. Soon we'll look at our favourite shows in more detail.