"John Doe" (Fox, 9 p.m. Friday), is about a guy who has a Bourne Identity-sized case of amnesia. Mr. Doe knows the answer to every question in the world ... except who he is.

First, the premise of the show: John Doe is not his real name, but it's what he's chosen for himself until he can find out who he is. He's got a sever case of amnesia when come to himself, but quite the opposite when it comes to anything else. His first memory is waking up naked in a mysterious clearing on an island off the coast of Seattle. He doesn't know how he got there, or how what - if anything - a rather strange symbol on his shoulder (that looks like a brand of some sort) means.

But while he doesn't know what his favorite color is, he DOES know just every piece of information available in the world, from the ingredients elevation of a mountain village in Tibet to the precise model number of a brand of washing machines used in the 1940s. While this oddity does disturb him, he realizes it comes with perks. Like being able to figure out the stock market well enough to turn some change into a fortune - allowing him to pursue his hobby of ... finding himself.

He also realizes he can help others with his "gift/curse". While he searches for his identity, he makes his way to Seattle, teams up with the police and manages to solve the occasional crime or two. The all-too-human police officer and a troubled teenager help him learn to become a little more social and less like Data(tm).

Reviews I've read so far have savaged the show. And to be honest, there are a lot of cliches at work in the underpinnings of the story-lines. I don't much care about some of the other characters too much - they do come across as kind of two-dimensional and cliched a lot. There's also a lot of the feel of the X-files, especially around the mystery of Doe's identity. All around, it borrows a lot from a number of sources.

But I *like* Doe. Dominic Purcell gives this guy such a sweet, intelligently gifted but socially inept persona that is rather endearing. He gives him some unique mannerisms and a healthy dose of unfettered optimism and idealism that makes him so very socially naive and yet *friendly* instead of an ass.

I hope it survives. I'm tired of watching shows I like vanish from the face of television for crap like "Survivor" and "The Bachelor."

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