Formula telly (1)

There's not a lot on the box these days, so I end up watching stuff and then wondering why. Nashville, for instance. I can remember greeting it when it started, with excited amazement that it sustained the trick of Altman's Nashville film, combining politics and country music. Well, the music's still there, and it's great, and maybe that's what keeps me watching. some of the acting is terrific, and there's characters with a bit of depth and interest. But the longer it goes on the harder it is for them to find permutations of the plot which will feed these perpetual cliffhangers - tension, emotional crisis, heartbreaking discovery. So it gets less likely by the minute. There's no normal, no steady accumulation of realistic detail - it's maximum impact, again and again. What else should I expect of a soap?cos that's all it it, even if the magic name of T bone burnett suggests I should be hoping for more.