Not to be Standoffish...

... but... OK, look. I'm extremely honest when I post here. But I also have a tendency to purposefully, though usually subconsciously act too cool for the room.

The reason I tell you this is that I want you to know that I know that I recognize both of these extremes before I say what I'm going to say, because what I'm going to say may set a few people off (considering the number of responses I've gotten in the last week or so to a post from about three weeks ago).

What's funny is the only Standoff mention in the post was that it's been canceled -- which it has for all intents and purposes. Then a few people from some message board or Web site somewhere found it and started singing the show's praises and campaigning for my three or four readers to watch it and save it. Of that I'm glad -- I've probably gotten more hits in the past week than I have since starting in January. I wish more people would come here to discuss TV. I think I've set up a fairly welcoming abode.

Anyway, that's why I'm dedicating these few grafs to Standoff, which returns on Fox tonight at 9 p.m. (after a Bones rerun) to burn off the remaining episodes the network paid for but really doesn't trust with serious, important time slots. Nah, Fox has shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Hell's Kitchen to save those posh 8 p.m. weeknight time slots for.

When you can't even get a weeknight spot in the summertime, well... that's a bad sign. Much like my beloved and underappreciated Studio 60 (which, since I'm on the subject, was awesome again this week), Standoff got a bad time slot even post-sweeps.

See, I like Standoff fine, but -- and I fully encourage disagreement here -- it's nothing spectacular and it's gone.

Get over it.

Seriously, it's a procedural show, same as CSI, Law & Order and House. Standoff IS A PROCEDURAL SHOW. It's masked as a romantic comedy, but that's all it is.

I give it credit for being funny and entertaining; I give it credit for having some amiable characters; I give it credit for keeping my interest. But it's far from being as good as other new shows this season like Heroes and Ugly Betty. Heck, new shows that got canned, like Six Degrees, Jericho* and Studio 60, topped it. Fox just doesn't make good original content. And why should it? No one watches good original content. They watch American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and Shark (couldn't resist my chance to take another swing at that piece of junk).

If you've read this far, it's probably time for me to tell you I'm going to be watching Standoff tonight. I DO enjoy the show. Thoroughly. And I'm sad it's going away. I would love for 30 million people to watch it tonight and the network eat its words and pick the show up again. Or maybe to have all the Internet fans come up with a clever campaign like the Jericho thing. But it won't happen. But that won't happen when the show's on at 9 p.m. on a Friday. I'll be at work putting out the paper for Saturday morning. And if I wasn't, I'd be at a bar on the boardwalk. I'm just being honest about the big picture here.

Standoff is fun and entertaining and cool, but it's really nothing original and there'll be another procedural that can campaign on how it's slightly different than all the rest and how its overall story is better than House's drug problems or Grissom, Mac or Horatio's leadership skills. It's only three months away. Two and a half, really. Unless you're only watching Fox. Then you have to wait until baseball's over.

* I contend Jericho counts in this argument. If you disagree... well... don't disagree.