Surprises from cable's far corners

Rosemarie DeWitt, Ian Bohen, and Jon Hamm in "Mad Men," AMC's 1960 period piece about Madison Avenue ad men. (Carin baer/amc)

In the future, 2007 TV may be defined by the writers' strike. Since it began on Nov. 5, the action by the Writers Guild of America has left networks, cable channels, and millions of viewers obsessing over the near future of their shows, counting the last of the already-filmed episodes like Fagin with his stash of jewels, and bracing for a 2008 filled with quickly glued-together reality series.

Before the strike, though, 2007 was shaping up as a year of excellent scripted TV, if mostly cruising on fuel from previous years. At any given moment, you could put together a week containing four or five really good, well-written hours of drama and comedy. And that doesn't include the hours and hours spent on the addictive, Paula-tastic contest known as "American Idol."

After heavily influencing a decade of TV drama, HBO's "The Sopranos" departed in June with a strong set of episodes and a dazzlingly abrupt finale. But it left a bunch of still-vital older series ("House," "Big Love," "Dexter," "Lost," "Brotherhood," "Friday Night Lights," "The Closer," "The Shield") and a few new ones ("Mad Men," "Damages," "The Riches") to fill the void. And despite cries of "the death of TV comedy," we had "The Office," "30 Rock," and "How I Met Your Mother" to love, along with a gang of fringe-coms including "The Sarah Silverman Program," "Flight of the Conchords," and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

All of these noteworthy shows were narratively ambitious and smart, even CBS's old-style laugh-tracked sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," which toyed endlessly and cleverly with time scheme and perspective.

I got enormous pleasure watching the second season of "Dexter," which has led Showtime's surge to be "the new HBO." On one level, round two of "Dexter" was a beautifully stylized neo-noir thriller about a serial killer dodging detection. It was tense, tightly plotted, and brimming with strong performances by Michael C. Hall as the childlike vigilante, Jennifer Carpenter as his fiery sister, and Jaime Murray as his borderline AA sponsor-lover. On another level, "Dexter" was a psychological inquiry about early childhood trauma, addiction, and our ability to change.

And on its finest level, "Dexter" was a test of our moral thinking, taking the mantle from "The Sopranos" as it gave us a murdering hero, made him sympathetic, and asked us if we really wanted him to die. Rooting for Dexter was even stranger than rooting for Tony Soprano, given Dexter's extreme premeditation.

NBC, struggling to regain Nielsen footing this year, was responsible for a few bright spots, if not ratings grabbers. "30 Rock," which won the Emmy for outstanding comedy, continued to reveal how a satire can 1) sell out, 2) be about selling out, 3) make fun of selling out, and 4) seem not to be selling out by being so knowing.

So much of the product placement and NBC-plugging in "30 Rock" had quotations around it and exclamation points after it. The show was a brilliantly newfangled send-up of corporate-minded media while being a product of it. And the cast - Tina Fey, so dear as the semi-frumpy lead, Alec Baldwin as the honcho without a center, Tracy Morgan as the wild-child star, and Jack McBrayer as the innocent intern - rocked.

NBC's "Friday Night Lights" also continued to charm, but in the opposite manner from "30 Rock." This small-town drama dripped with sincerity, and even at its weakest moments - during a misguided murder plot - it evoked the bittersweet heroism of everyday life for teenagers who don't live in big American cities and who don't cultivate hipness. NBC has kept this textured series alive despite low ratings, which almost makes up for the network's insistence on airing bloated, hourlong episodes of the otherwise sharp "The Office" and allowing "Heroes" to fall apart so spectacularly in its second season.

While "Heroes" failed, "Lost" regained its uncanny ability to confound and entice this year as it raced toward May's mind-blowing season finale. Fox's "House," meanwhile, continued to provide a window onto the twisted psyche of Hugh Laurie's medical Sherlock; "Curb Your Enthusiasm" still amused; and TNT's "The Closer" and Kyra Sedgwick upheld their high standard of serio-comic crime drama.

The best surprise of the year was "Mad Men," a 1960 period piece created by "Sopranos" alum Matthew Weiner. Hidden away on AMC, this new drama about a crew of hard-selling Madison Avenue ad men was exquisitely designed, but more importantly, exquisitely told. The stories of these hollow men and frustrated wives and secretaries were fascinating, emblematic, and, finally, moving. As Don Draper, on the run from past shame, Jon Hamm was a brilliant lead. He was ice cold and yet, secretly, burning up. Like FX's entertaining "The Riches," about a family of con artists in suburbia, "Mad Men" took on the American Dream in all its fraudulence and materialism.

Showtime's "Californication" was another welcome new surprise. Despite a slow start, the black comedy evolved into a rich portrait of a man - David Duchovny's sex-addicted novelist Hank Moody - looking for redemption. After selling his soul to Hollywood, Hank tries to get it back so that he can write and love again. There may not have been many compelling new network series in 2007 - only the guilty pleasures of "Dirty Sexy Money" and the admirably bold strokes of "Pushing Daisies" - but cable did manage to give us "Californication," "Mad Men," "The Riches," "Flight of the Conchords," and an almost campily amusing performance by Glenn Close in "Damages."

If the strike stretches on much longer, of course, it will more thoroughly define 2008. Scripted series will run out of material, new shows will not go into production for next fall, the center will not hold. By comparison, 2007 will appear downright normal.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog/.