Overrated / Underrated

UNDERRATED

Relatively Clean Rivers: We’ve been intrigued by this obscure band’s self-titled 1975 release since it was name-checked by Wilco in advance of the album “Sky Blue Sky.” After finally tracking down a copy, we not only hear its easygoing guitars in Wilco and Blitzen Trapper, but there’s something about its woozy, rural psychedelia that sounds like nothing else. Start with the song “Hello Sunshine” and watch your Indian Summer get a little sunnier.

Ted Danson on ‘Bored to Death’: Right down to its Brooklyn setting, this HBO series couldn’t be hipper with Wes Anderson favorite Jason Schwartzman starring as writer-series creater Jonathan Ames. But tune in for the wily veteran Danson, who with his rabbit-white hair appears to be having the time of his life as a drink-and-drug-addled magazine editor. It can’t be easy for Danson to out-goofy costar Zach Galifianakis, yet somehow he does.

OVERRATED

Movies ‘of our time’: Rewatching the enjoyable but flawed “Up in the Air” recently, we were reminded of the heaps of praise the film enjoyed in its Oscar ramp-up as defining the era. Now it seems all but forgotten. “The Social Network” has arrived with similar claims, and we say “enough.” Can’t a movie be about modern times without being asked to define them? And aren’t such tags better left for people to decide 10 years later?

Searches for the new ‘Lost’: The departure of a hit show always starts a search for the next one, but few programs have defied imitation quite as well as “Lost.” Bear in mind, we’re not among those who felt the show did no wrong, but its emphasis on building characters right along with a baffling mystery is why it transcends “The Event,” “The Nine” and so many others that just haven’t proved themselves as suitable candidates.