Post-apocalypse series premieres on Showtime

FRAZIER MOORE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

At least since the film "Mad Max," the post-apocalyptic world has had a strange appeal.

Now comes Showtime's new series "Jeremiah: The Long Road," with its version of the world after the Big Death, a mysterious pandemic that claimed the lives of everyone above the age of puberty. The story picks up 15 years later, when the adult Jeremiah has a mystery to untangle and people to help.

Playing him is Luke Perry, who has traveled a long road of his own since "Beverly Hills 90210" -- most recently, he played a jailed televangelist on HBO's prison drama "Oz" and, clad in fishnet stockings and a garter belt, starred on Broadway in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Things are a lot more serious where he is now. Make that grim. But "Jeremiah" is a visual treat with an intriguing tale. Co-starring Malcolm-Jamal Warner, it premieres at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Other shows to watch for:

-"Six Feet Under," HBO's drama about a funeral home and the family that runs it, returns for a second season at 9 p.m. Sunday. Having proved itself last year, it gets better and better with the new episodes, which find older son Nate (Peter Krause) fearful of his own mortality and mom Ruth (Frances Conroy) asserting newfound independence. It's touching, alarming, funny and -- go figure -- ultimately hopeful.

-Multitalented Wayne Brady, who breathed new life into the variety genre last summer, is back for a too-brief run (and only a half-hour in length!) boasting music, improv and sketch comedy, plus dancers and orchestra. Catch "The Wayne Brady Show" while you can at 8:30 p.m. Monday on ABC.

-Skip the premiere of "As If" Tuesday at 9 p.m., but tune in at 9:30 for UPN's companion comedy "Random Years," which is unexpectedly fresh and funny. How can that be, you might ask on learning that its none-too-fresh concept gathers three grade-school friends, now in their 20s, to share a Chinatown loft. (Say, do they know those creeps who populate WB's awful "Off Centre"?) Ironic banter, misadventures and sexual yearnings ensue -- especially in the company of new gal-pal Casey, who, as the kids say nowadays, is hot. But in spite of itself, "Random Years" is affable and laughable.

-Maybe you caught "State of Grace" during its first-season run on Fox Family last summer. Probably not. Now you get another chance, as this charming comedy continues in its second season on ABC Family (same cable channel, different name) at 8 p.m. March 8. It's set in North Carolina in the mid-1960s, focusing on two young friends: Hannah, a nice Jewish girl whose overprotective family has moved into a world of Southern WASPs, and her Catholic-school chum Grace, a bright local girl with plenty of money and even more spunk. This show is as fun as a sleepover with your best friend.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

back to main South Sound Living index