FX Renews Motorcycle Gang Drama

We were surprised recently when on vacation in South Carolina we met a guy who, during a brief conversation about television, asked if we watched the FX drama Sons of Anarchy-surprised, because we worried that we might be the only ones who did! Well, not so, and we're happy to hear that the cable network just picked up a second season of the show about a motorcycle gang in a small California town.

The tough stuff -there are beatings and weapons and drugs and bad doings, of course-is less what hooks us as the basic appeal of two of the main characters: Charlie Hunnam's Jax, and Katey Sagal's Gemma, Jax's mom. We've loved Mr. Hunnam since his turn on the underwatched Apatow sitcom Undeclared. And Ms. Sagal (best known as Peggy Bundy on Married with Children) gives a fabulous performance here as a sneaky, devious mother hen who will do just about anything to protect what's hers. Check it out. It's better than most of what else is on.