I am – Hercules!!


The print edition of TV Guide says tonight MyNetworkTV offers a two-hour George Michael concert. It’s a lie.

My TiVo says what’s really on is the first two hours of “Damages,” which originally aired on cable’s FX over the last two Tuesdays.

Broadcast networks occasionally repurposing newish cable fare is nothing new, but “Damages” is at the moment vying with “John From Cincinnati” as my favorite new show of this summer, so I thought I’d alert readers to this semi-secret opportunity to catch the show from the beginning.

Some reviews for those who missed them:

USA Today gives it three and a half stars (out of four) and says:

… From her opening appearance as Patty Hewes, New York's toughest, smartest, most famous attorney, Close makes it fabulously clear that the star and the material are perfectly aligned. Outmaneuvering an opponent and then parrying his insult with a far more devastating reply, Close needs only a few moments to convey her character and hook you into her. …

TV Guide says:

… Close, who spent a memorable season on The Shield, is in top form in Damages, a classic FX melodrama that frames its dark story in a sinister Hitchcockian mystery involving ambitious law-school grad Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), whom we first see emerging bloody from an elevator. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… Great dialogue, perfect delivery. Close is a big old-fashioned American movie star (thank heavens there are a few of them left), and in "Damages" she proves that genus is just as flexible as its British cousin. Like Helen Mirren and Judi Dench, her performance illuminates rather than outshines with its high wattage. …

The Washington Post says:

"Damages," making a sensational premiere tonight on the FX network, thoroughly justifies adding yet another high-powered law firm to the prime-time population. The firm is not only high-powered but it's also "high-stakes," we keep being told -- and so is the show. "Damages" is also emphatically, and almost torturously, high-tension, and the pilot script is one of the most artfully crafted since the debut back in the 20th century of "The Sopranos." ...

The Houston Chronicle says:

… FX has landed the next in a continuous line of can't-miss shows. Based on the first two episodes, Damages may be the best of a ballyhooed bunch that includes The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me and The Riches. …

The Seattle Post-Intellingencer says:

… could be the most meticulous and calculating show on television, constructed from perennially appealing television elements … The co-creators and writers, Todd and Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman, obviously have a talent for marrying challenging story to the high-level aesthetics of superior television, like artful cinematography and its enthralling plot. … "Damages" may be the best series in what's shaping up to be a bumper crop of high quality cable, and that's not a light statement. No piece is out of place here; the writing, the plotting, everything is in tune. …

The Portland Oregonian says:

… "Damages" promises to be long, complex and dark with bleak, absurd comedy.…

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says:

The idea of Glenn Close facing off against Ted Danson in a drama series - she as an aggressive litigator, he as the corrupt tycoon she's determined to bring down - sounded so intriguing that I couldn't wait to see "Damages." By the end of the second episode, the two hadn't even met. But this FX cable series is so suspenseful, twisted and sometimes downright terrifying that I barely noticed. …

The Orlando Sentinel says:

… the most striking thing is this vehicle's frame. Here's a legal thriller with the depth and structure of an engrossing novel. You probably wouldn't want to live in this dark, nasty world. But it's a fascinating place to visit …

Variety says:

… despite smart dialogue and foreshadowing of conflict, there are doubts as to whether this is just another fictionalized legal show where the behavior is so unethical everybody should be disbarred by episode three.…

“Damages”: 8 p.m. Wednesday. MyNet.
“American Inventor” 9 p.m. Wednesday. ABC.
“Last Comic Standing”: 9 p.m. Wednesday. NBC.
“The Nine”: 10 p.m. Wednesday. ABC.
“The Real World Sydney”: 10 p.m. Wednesday. MTV.
“Rescue Me”: 10 p.m. Wednesday. FX.