Damages’ writers Glenn Kessler, Todd A. Kessler, and Daniel Zelman put together one of the year’s most sharply written, well acted, and generally engrossing drama series that hides under the veil of being a litigation-like series instead borrowing heavily from series like Prison Break with a lightning fast story that throws enough twists and turns at the viewer to make them think twice, trust no one, and question everything. It’s almost as if The X-Files were reincarnated into Law & Order.

The overall story arch of the season concerns an Enron-like white collar business man, Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) having his employees invest heavily the company before the bottom drops out, with him selling all his shares prior. The employees of the company hire Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) to represent them, and along with new associate Ellen Parsons (Rose Bynre) things start off clean and smooth and eventually flip you so upside down by the end of the first hour you’re clamoring for more.

The show is actually told in flashback; with the present day events the big mystery of the show as Ellen appears in a police station bloodied and not talking (this is all provided in the on-air promos, so no spoiler warnings here). Still, there’s so much to the series, and its serialized nature that the viewer will be coming back week after week for extra servings.

While the story is the aspect of the pilot that may get the most attention, the acting is top-notch as well, providing a memorable canvas to bring the written word to the screen. Glenn Close brings her A-game once again to the small screen after her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Captain Monica Rawlings on fellow FX series The Shield in 2005.

Rounding out the top billed cast is a sliver-haired Ted Danson who has come a long way from Three Men and a Baby. Danson really sinks into the roll of the corrupt business man doing what ever it takes to avoid a trial and huge settlement with Frobisher and his lawyer Ray Fiske (Zeljko Ivanek) in a game of words and actions with Hewes, with the viewer left guessing who has the upper hand at any given time.

The rest of the line-up in no way plays second fiddle to Close’s Hewes, but it’s so hard to escape from the shadow of the character. Rose Bynre, late of theatrical 28 Weeks Later, shows that she has the cockles to stand up to Hewes by turning down her initial interview, only to have Hewes show up, at a wedding she wasn’t invited to, with a glass of bourbon and a purpose.

The series itself is deadly serious, but there are times of laugh out loud bickering between characters, one happens early in the pilot on the courthouse steps, that certainly shows aspects of Hewes’ character. She can go from happy-go-lucky to firing an employee back to asking if you like sushi in ten seconds flat, and that makes her a character to watch, because her unpredictability makes her more than some cliché “strong-woman-bitch” character you see spread around the industry. She has everyone in the palm of her hand, and a plan for everything that she does.

Damages is easily one of, if not the best drama premiere this year, cable or otherwise. Even after only seeing the pilot the potential of the series and its intricate network of characters and their interaction leaves the door wide open for more than a few twists and viewers guessing which way is up.

Occupational reality series appear to be a dime a dozen these days, with the recently launched Ice Road Truckers, veteran Deadliest Catch, and now newcomers like Confessions of a Matchmaker, A&E’s new series which follows the workings of “America’s Toughest Matchmaker,” Patti Novak, as she turns the city of lonely hearts aka Buffalo, NY around.

The episodes provided for review featured a 50-year-old bar-hoping party mom, a thirty-something poet (and not a very good one) and a middle aged woman with a full page list of criteria any guy must meet. The latter produces some of worst cringe moments in recent TV history as her 1981 hairstyle and sexual jokes make you sick to your stomach.

Still, this is good entertainment in the reality field as the normal are predictably boring and the more outlandish the client is and the worse they act with the cameras rolling the better your ratings.

Novak is described as the Simon Cowell of the dating world, and that can be seen in most episodes of the show. She tells it like it is, instructing customers how to act, and what to say on their dates to mixed results.

The series plays out like a non-syndicated version of Blind Date with a judging panel rating how well you did on your date, all that was missing was sly little graphics and pop up tips to complete the emulation package. Its an entertaining show, just not a completely original premise, and it remains to be seen how many people will jump in to something that will most likely be less risqué than its syndicated cousin.