Damaged goods

There are a lot of good shows that air on Monday night. The 10 p.m. time slot is jammed packed so it's a freaking juggling act that has me up well past 3 a.m. to catch shows on second run. And I'm getting sloppy with my recording skills. I set my recorder to only tape 4 minutes of "24," so I'll have to watch that online. But I guarantee you it wasn't as good as ...

"Damages" (FX, 10:00): Since I didn't get a chance to blog about last week's episode, let me bring you up to speed:

Patty Hewes, played by Glenn Close (above), has been appointed by the government to recover billions of dollars in stolen assets from the largest investment fraud in U.S. history. Pause it: Think Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme times 5. Patty's former protege/victim Ellen is now working for the District Attorney's office, but she and Patty are still working the same case. The common goal is to bring down the Madoffs ... er, Tobin family and recoup the money for thousands of families.

We already know that Patty's recently appointed partner Tom Shayes is this season's mystery death. It's the who and the why that they haven't revealed yet. We also know the he was a victim of Tobin's Ponzi scheme and that his family lost everything. Tom is still in touch with Ellen, but it's not clear if they are romantically involved. I tend to think not. Tom doesn't seem like the type.

The other mystery is who was behind the wheel of the car that crashed into Patty. This show goes back and forth in time so much that I can hardly tell when we're six months later or in the present. The car is registered to Tom, but I don't really care who was driving it. It was just great to see Patty shaken for once.

I'm loving how they are using a current event as the basis of this season's plot. Most ripped-from-the-headlines shows are poorly done *cough "Law & Order" cough*, but "Damages" has turned Ponzi into a psychological thriller. Who's loving this season? Who's on your short list for Tom's murder?

Great line I heard on "Damages": "You're only as happy as your saddest child." Think on that.


CHANNEL SURFING

• "Men of a Certain Age" (TNT, 10:00): I was happy to see that Joe is still dating Dori. They make a cute couple. I had to laugh at Owen sneaking into the kitchen to eat in the middle of the night because I eat like that too. At least he can blame his sweet tooth on being a diabetic. Mine? I just like to eat.
• On "Hoarders" (A&E, 10:00), one of the subjects was a Houston firefighter. He should have just burned his own house down and started over. And I understand the brotherhood of firemen, so seeing them all willing to help clean was touching, but if I were in that situation I would definitely NOT have my coworkers helping me clean out my place. "Resa, why are you hanging on to this size 8 when you know you're a ..." The horror!!!
• WOW!!! Ryan, played by Jonathan Togo, on "CSI: Miami" (CBS, 10:00) has packed on a few pounds. He looks like he's entering his second trimester.
• "Fantasia for Real" (VH1, 10:00) I don't know who's more useless: Teeny for having no motivation to find a real job, or Fantasia for enabling him to have no motivation to find a job.