Sometimes fantasy still bites. Jane Kaczmarek, as ferocious, loyal Lois, is not just a mom but the life force. A charming story of a happily unwed mom and a brainy teen whose life isn't defined by boys, it shows that feminism and family values aren't mutually exclusive. After TV fumbled its Florida projections, it landed a tailor-made story. At last, a story that cable couldn't blow out of proportion.
TV loves shootings and heart attacks but has ignored mental illness.
The best medical show in years went inside a psychiatric hospital with clear-eyed compassion and depth. Two ill-rated airings later, ABC, like society, chose to look the other way again. Green took his gross-out comedy to a new level on an unflinching show that took quite a pair to make. The addicts and pushers in this miniseries would have been anonymous, two-dimensional perps and problems on a cop drama, but here they swelled to life fully realized and unromanticized. Khandi Alexander gave TV's performance of the year.