Todd Vanderwerff

So you say that now that The Bachelor chose the girl no one thought he should choose there’s nothing on for you to watch?

Blather and hoo-ha!

That’s right! There’s plenty of good television on, and I can promise you none of it conflicts with your weekly diet of Friends, Law and Order and Iron Chef.

I mean, yes, you should study and those sorts of things, but that’s what the hours of midnight to 6 a.m. are for!

There are several shows on all around the TV dial that are in dire need of your viewership, lest they be cancelled and fall into the inky black pit of memory.

The show most in need of your help is the second best new show of this young television season, Firefly (Fox, Fridays at 7 p.m.).

I will be the first to admit that this show will not be everyone’s cup of tea. A neo-futuristic science fiction western with a healthy dollop of pure adrenaline and a teaspoon of soap opera seems like it would be trying too hard to please everyone all of the time, after all.

And to be fair, perhaps you sampled Firefly early in its run and found it too bizarre and confusing for your tastes. Again, it didn’t start well and its first two or three episodes made no sense, on account of the geniuses at Fox airing the series’ second episode as its first episode, thereby throwing off the show’s continuity.

However, if you tune in to Firefly now, you’ll find a ferocious young show out to prove itself with some of the most action-packed and humorous television in recent memory. All of its regular characters are finely sketched real people whom you would like to get to know if they lived in Binnewies instead of 500 years in the future.

Firefly, perhaps, is most remarkable for being a show that simultaneously possesses numerous science fiction elements while seemingly not possessing them at all. It has the requisite spaceships and techno-jargon for the fan-boys, but it also has tight scripts, genius direction and amusing acting for the rest of us.

Unfortunately, Fox seems ready to cancel this show. However, they’re giving it another chance in the month of December. You should make an attempt to give the show a shot, especially on Dec. 20, when Fox finally broadcasts the series’s first episode.

Don’t miss your last chance to catch what may end up being the best science fiction series since the heyday of The X-Files.

Of course, I’ll grant you that science fiction doesn’t float everyone’s boat. However, who doesn’t love a good cop show?

Apparently, quite a few of you, as the best new show of the season, Boomtown (NBC, Sundays at 9 p.m.), is floundering in the ratings.

Boomtown is not your typical cop show and that may be what’s diverting you. It’s an elaborate puzzle, allowing you to see one crime from every perspective and put the pieces together.

Boomtown also offers you rich insight into its troubled cops’ lives. This lets you gradually come to understand things about them as people-their flaws, their strengths and what makes them who they are.

All in all, Boomtown is a challenging and provocative piece worth your time.

And hey, one of the cast members is former New Kid Donnie Wahlberg!

Write Todd VanDerWerff at [email protected].