Mad Men

I am finally caught up with Mad Men this season. It is one of the few shows that B wants to watch with me, so when we have obstacles to watching TV together, as we have since Mad Men aired, we get extremely behind. Very frustrating!

And what a season Mad Men is having this year! I've heard a few complaints about how slow the show is this year, but I guess when you watch two or three episodes in a row, that complaint doesn't hold water.

Obviously I can't recap the past episodes, but I do think that I'll write a few comments on the characters:

Betty - Betty is a beautiful woman who has yet to understand that just because something is beautiful on the surface doesn't mean it is on the inside. She's clearly bored with raising children, and poor Sally has borne the brunt of that this season. But what we've learned the most about Betty is that she hasn't grown up. She's still a girl, waiting for her father or her husband to rescue her from her problems. I'll be honest here: I understand Betty, and I sympathize, but I don't really like her. She's too selfish and shallow.

Don - Don still has the wandering eye, which focuses on stewardesses and teachers alike. But he lost his independence in this past episode, and possibly a friend, as he signed away three years of his life to Sterling Cooper to capture an account. The episode in which Don takes care of Sally is touching - thank goodness that someone in her family is trying to understand her. I'm concerned that Don's relationship with Peggy is suffering because of her bad timing - the relationship between the two is a highlight of the show for me.

Joan - Poor Joan. Joan is easily my favorite character in the show, and this season has been extremely hard on her. First of all, too bad she actually married that loser who raped her last year. However, I did feel bad for him when he didn't get the chief resident position. But worse, she has to keep working. Sadly, she had already quit Sterling Cooper. And how valuable she was at Sterling Cooper - on her last day her quick thinking probably helped save the Brit's life. Go Joan. Her parting kiss with Don was fraught with many layers of meaning. I hope that she ends up back at Sterling Cooper, but it will take a big bite of her pride to do so.

Peggy - Wow - who thought of Peggy and Duck? I've always thought of Peggy as extremely lonely, and she must be to have fallen in bed with him. She knows she's betraying Don, but at the same time, there is quite a bit of unresolved anger between the two. Peggy has suppressed her feminine side to succeed in her career, but she still finds life empty. I don't think Duck will fill that hole. And by the way, I totally don't trust Duck's interest in her. I think his goal is to twist a knife in Don.

Pete - I laughed my head off when Pete discovered that he and Ken Cosgrove had both been promoted to the same position. He appears to be over the narcissistic injury, but not before he took his anger out on Ken. Like Peggy, Pete is being wooed by Duck to abandon Sterling Cooper for Duck's new firm. Unlike Peggy, Pete clearly doesn't trust Duck's motives. How interesting to watch Pete and Peggy this season! They are both clearly connected, even if neither wants to admit it. And I don't necessarily mean romantically.

Roger - Did anyone else squirm like I did when Roger serenaded his bride in black-face? Roger Sterling continues to get the best lines, but he's truly been in pain this season. First his daughter asks him to leave his child-bride at home for her wedding, then the new overlords of Sterling Cooper leave him off the organization chart. And the relationship between Don and Roger is possibly permanently fractured. I would miss that bro-mance!

The season is around half-way over. How's it been for you so far?

FlashForward

I have also put FlashForward on a season pass, but I was not as blown away by the premiere episode as I had thought I might be. Yes, it feels very Lostish, with it's intense opening scene, its random animal in the fray, and the mixture of science fiction, adventure, and mystery. But a lot seemed to move awfully fast, including the jumping to a number of conclusions that fortunately for the characters are quite correct. We don't know and love the characters yet, but hopefully that will change as the season progresses.

Mark Benford is a recovering alcoholic who loves his wife and daughter. His wife likes to leave him little hate notes, telling him she hopes she never sees him or such like. His daughter is young, and a babysitter watches her during the day. Mark is an FBI agent, while his wife, Olivia, is a doctor. Mark's day starts with an AA meeting, followed by a stakeout with his partner, Demetri Noh. They are in luck - the suspects they have been following are ready to be arrested! But in the dangerous pursuit, the flash forward occurs. All humans the world around black out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Many see flashes, that don't feel like an hallucination or a dream. Some don't see flashes.

During the black out, car crashes, plane crashes, and other disasters occurred. What would happen if everyone blacked out for that length of time? I was a little surprised that 700 planes crashed, figuring that they would be okay for the short period of time, but perhaps the pilots were too disoriented to right their planes upon coming to. I am assuming that no one on the planes had flashes of the future since they died. Mark wakes up to find his car has crashed, and the highway in chaos. People are justifiably freaked out, including Mark and Demetri. They snap back to reality when they see their suspects' van, but the only occupant alive is an unknown female.

I'm a little confused about this, but I think Mark makes a slow-motion run to the hospital where his wife works, since cell phones are inoperative. During his run he sees looting and a kangaroo, which hops on by. I think that the Benfords must have connected by phone at this point, because I don't really remember seeing them together until that night.

At the FBI, the agents quickly figure out thanks to Mark's remarkable memory of his flash that it was actually a flash forward, as well as the exact date of the flash. Mark and Demetri develop the wall o' notes that Mark saw in his vision since they are put in charge of the investigation. They also decide to develop a database of flash forwards, which I really think is a good idea.

Meanwhile, in other happenings, Olivia's colleague Bryce is saved from suicide by his flash, which apparently promises a much better future than he expected. He joins Olivia at the hospital as they work to save those injured during the black out. One of the victims is a small boy who happens to know Olivia's name, even though they had never met, in the past.

We learned something of the flashes experienced by the characters we've met. Mark flashed on his office in the FBI, where he had resumed drinking and was a hunted man for knowing too much (I really hate it when that happens). Olivia, meanwhile, flashed that she was having an affair with a man she didn't know. Charlie, their daughter, told her babysitter that all the good days were gone. The babysitter did not reveal her own flash, but apparently something bad happened in it, something for which she wishes to atone for in the past (I think my nose just bled). Demetri, on the other hand, had no flash, and he is clearly concerned this means he is dead six months in the future.

The actors all did a fine job. Joseph Fiennes is appropriately heroic as Mark, and Sonya Walger believable as the caring doctor. It's always a pleasure to see Courtney B. Vance and Alex Kingston. John Cho also did a good job as Mark's partner with no future. And a lot of us were surprised by Seth McFarlane as an agent - apparently he'll make future cameos this season.

Some thoughts on the mystery:

• What did Charlie see? Will she be like Maia Rutledge from The 4400, wise beyond her years, or just a child confused by her flash?
• What's with the kangaroo?
• I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought that the man at the baseball game who appears to be the only one who didn't black out looks like he could be the father of the little boy who knew Olivia. We also learned that the father of the little boy is the man that Olivia has an affair with in her flash.
• Some commentators have thought that Demetri might be the man at the baseball game, based on the fact that he had no flash and was not in the car with Mark when the black out ended.

Lost fan alert: Sonya Walger, who plays Olivia in FlashForward, is, of course, Penny Widmore Hume from Lost. Did the producers purposely give Olivia's child the same name as Penny's child on Lost? Also note that Dominic Monaghan, Charlie Pace, will be appearing soon.

The Good Wife

I continue to be behind in my television watching and my posting. Perhaps I will never catch up, but I'm pretty darn close right now.

I watched the season premiere of The Good Wife, and I liked it enough that I am putting it on a season pass. I suspect it will be a procedural with Alicia Florrick's family drama as a backdrop. But as you know, I'm not always against procedurals, as long as they are well-written and interesting, as this one is.

Julianna Margulies stars as Alicia Florrick, the good wife of the Cook County State's Attorney who resigns in disgrace after a sex scandal. Six months later, Florrick, played by Chris Noth, is in jail after a jury found him guilty of using his office to secure sexual favors from young prostitutes (pretty darn quick trial!). Alicia and her children have lost their home, their savings, and their security, and for the first time in twelve years, she is returning to work as an attorney. Although she graduated at the top of her class from Georgetown, she is now a junior attorney for a downtown firm in which a friend from law school, played by Josh Charles, is a partner.

The firm has a new class action law suit, which requires shuffling of all the cases the firm currently has. Alicia thus has a pro bono case that had been tried by the firm's queen bee partner, Diane Lockhart, played by Christine Baranski. With the assistance of a dedicated investigator, Alicia manages to get the client off, but not without ruffling the queen bee's feathers. Do queen bees have feathers?

Throughout the episode, reminders of Alicia's turbulent family issues abound, from her daughter asking if Florrick slept with teenaged prostitutes, to a colleague loudly playing a video of the press conference, to the prosecutor attempting to use Alicia's last name to win points in a case. This is clearly painful to Alicia, but she doesn't let it stop her.

The episode had a lot of exposition, as expected, but it was well interspersed with the drama. I suspect that anyone who wanted to saw the opening scene, in which a brittle Alicia stands by her husband in the press conference where he announces his resignation. Margulies is in fine form as Alicia, of course, as is Charles, as her friend from law school who might have a history with Alicia. No one does ice queen better than Baranski. Even the children are good, and the show is so far avoiding the stereotypical troubled teenager trap. So, go see it!

Lost fan alert: Titus Welliver plays the State's Attorney who replaces Florick. Lost fans will recognize him as the Man in Black, or Esau, who successfully killed Jacob in the season finale of Lost.

The Emmy Awards

I had hoped to have a pre-Emmy post with my comments on the nominees, who I thought would win and who should win. But I guess I missed my chance. Instead, I'll report on who won, what I liked, and what ticked me off - or just plain bored me.

But before I talk about the winners, I think I must say how impressed I was by Neil Patrick Harris as host? Award shows are old-fashioned events, and Harris was an old-fashioned host, singing and dancing and cracking jokes. But he also felt up-to-date, with modern humor and sensibilities. He made fun of how long the show usually is, and made a joke of his own loss for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. And the show only ran 5 minutes late. I also liked how the awards were divided into their categories - comedy, reality, variety, and drama. The only sour note was The Family Guy "skit" in which a baby beat a dog. That produced more cringes than laughter from me.

And a caveat - I didn't keep track of everything, especially the parts of the show and awards that relate to reality shows. I only paid attention to parts of the variety awards that are noted below. And I suspect that I have the names of the awards slightly wrong. Oh well.

First, the comedy awards. As you know, I rarely watch comedies, with 30 Rock and now Community as exceptions. And sadly, I'm behind on my 30 Rock - we've quite a few on our DVR. Of course, some shows are labeled comedies that I don't think of as comedies, such as Pushing Daisies, which was sadly cancelled last year. I was also surprised that actresses from Saturday Night Live were nominated under comedy instead of variety show.

The first award of the night was fabulous! The award was for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Kristin Chenowith, Olive Snook on Pushing Daisies, won over the SNL comedians and Vanessa Williams. Olive Snook was the one character that really broke out from a cast of quirky characters. Olive could easily have become a one-note character, but in Chenowith's capable hands, she was a delight. I could never take my eyes off her.

The award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series was a joke, and not the funny kind. Kevin Dillon of Entourage, Harris from How I Met Your Mother, Rainn Wilson from The Office, and Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan, both of 30 Rock, all lost to Jon Cryer of that comedy classic, Two and a Half Men. It is not that I don't appreciate Cryer's talents - I think that they are manifold. It's just that, first of all, he's a Lead Actor, not a Supporting Actor, and that Two and a Half Men suck.

Toni Collette won Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her series on HBO (I can't believe I can't remember the name of it!), upsetting the expected favorite, Tina Fey of 30 Rock. Fey's co-lead, Alec Baldwin, won in his category - a well-deserved win if you ask me.

Baldwin makes the show with his zany performance of an ambitious executive.

No surprise that 30 Rock won for Outstanding Comedy Series.

The only reason I pay attention to the variety awards is to see if The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and/or The Colbert Report win. This year, it was The Daily Show's time to win - again, for writing and series. Go Stewart!

The drama awards started with the best victory of the night for me - Michael Emerson won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama for his role as Benjamin Linus in Lost! As you all may know, I love Lost, and the character of Benjamin Linus is one of the best crafted and acted in a well-acted show. Another deserving win.

Cherry Jones won the corresponding Supporting Actress for her performance in 24, and a director of ER won for Outstanding Direction.

The remaining award-winners were fairly predictable. Mad Men won for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Drama Series, Glenn Close won for Outstanding Lead Actress for her work in Damages, and Bryan Cranston repeated his win last year for Outstanding Lead Actor for Breaking Bad.

So, now the Emmys are over, and we can all go back to living our lives. In the meantime, what did y'all think?

Thursday Update

I've been more than a little frustrated this month. A number of events have led to my being behind on a number of my shows, including Mad Men and Glee, and a semi-work event on Thursday night led to my missing the Thursday night shows completely. Thank goodness for DVR.

And what a night of riches for a television watcher Thursday presents. I had on tap Bones, Fringe, Community, and Project Runway, all waiting for me this weekend. Next Thursday, FlashForward will be thrown into this mix.

Bones

As many of you know, I was not as disappointed by the Bones season finale as most everyone I read was. I thought it was a nice little fantasy, and I didn't feel cheated that Brennan and Booth didn't really have sex. In the season premiere, we learn that Brennan read Booth her now-deleted book which confused Booth when he finally woke up from his coma. He thought they really were married and about to become parents together (sadly, we did not get to see that discussion!).

Six weeks have passed, and Brennan is back from Guatemala or some such place and Booth has just been cleared to return to duty. Although there was a mystery to be solved, the mystery was just a vehicle to get Cyndi Lauper's psychic to talk about what's going on between Booth and Brennan. Cam and Dr. Sweets both figure out that Booth believes himself to be in love with Brennan, and both warn him to be careful with her. However, Sweets is concerned that Booth's feelings for Brennan might be more related to his recovery from brain surgery than a real feeling, a belief that Booth doesn't dismiss after being amused rather than homicidal by a clown's antics. So, instead of admitting his romantic love, his admits his brotherly love for her. Which she reciprocates.

I enjoyed the episode, and I appreciated the fact that Cam and Sweets were both very protective of Brennan. But I was somewhat annoyed by Sweets. Hadn't he already figured out that Booth is attracted to Brennan? What am I missing?

Fringe

Along with The Dollhouse, Fringe was my most anticipated returning show. And this episode was not disappointing. Yes, I was annoyed that Nimoy's William Bell was no where to be seen, but I know better than to expect the producers to have him show up in the premiere episode. I guess I'll just have to get over it.

This episode seemed to focus more on Peter than usual, which is just fine by me. Of all people, it is Peter who saves the Fringe division, at threat from a budget panel who wants to see results. But we also watched Peter as he realized how much he cared for Olivia when everyone believed she was dying. Yes, Olivia's crazy sister told Peter that Olivia "likes" him (what did that mean, anyway?), but that wasn't explored much in the episode, thank goodness. We also watched Peter with his father, Walter, who is determined to prepare custard for Peter's birthday, even though Peter doesn't like it. Well, Peter, there was once a version of you that did like it. I don't think it will be pretty when you learn that part of your history.

The "mystery" of the week focuses on a shapeshifter who crashed into Olivia to prevent her meeting William Bell. Because he was not successful, he was ordered to determine what information Bell gave her and then kill her. Needless to say, the shapeshifter, a soldier in some kind of army, fails in his objective, but manages to take over the body of Olivia's partner, Charlie Francis. Francis is dead, but no one else knows but us. RIP Francis.

Project Runway

We still don't have Nina Garcia or Michael Kors judging, but the episode was fine. The designers are all beginning to become a little catty, especially Irina and Nicolas. The challenge this week was to create an outfit inspired by and made of newspaper, with a few tools to help with the support of the outfit. One of the designers, Johnny, created an origami dress which Tim panned. After trashing the dress (literally), Johnny told his model and the judges that his dress was actually ruined by an iron spitting too much steam. To their credit, the judges didn't believe him and he was auf'd. Bye bye Johnny. We won't miss you.

Community

First, I must say that any show that includes John Oliver from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart already has many plus signs in front of it. Beyond his presence, I found the show quirky, farcical and interesting, and I will be giving it a second look.

What did you think? Did you catch up on Grey's Anatomy?

Project Runway

I have to watch Project Runway when B isn't home, because the designers always annoy him. I missed the show for the past year while Bravo was suing Lifetime. I don't really know how that worked out, but Project Runway is now on Lifetime.

There have been few changes in the program due to the switch in networks. Tim Gunn still encourages the designers to "Make it work!" Heidi Klum still kisses the losers as she tells them "auf Wiedersehen". The designers are still neurotic drama queeens. And sometimes, the winning outfit makes me say, "Hunh?"

But there are two changes this season that are probably connected. The first change is the location; the show is now situated in Los Angeles instead of New York. This change doesn't mean much to me, since the designers are usually in the design room trying to create their outfits. It's no more sunny in the LA design room than it is in the NY one. However, Michael Kors has been absent as a judge for the past three weeks. Nina Garcia was absent this week. Frankly, I enjoy the judging of Klum, Kors, Garcia, and the judge-of-the-week. They have chemistry. One of the judge's in this week's episode insulted one of the models! Not cool.

Was LA too far away for the New York City-based Kors and Garcia? I don't know, but I do hope that Kors and Garcia are in future episodes. Their absence is greatly missed.

After Project Runway runs a show that can only be called a guilty pleasure: Models of the Runway. As everyone knows. the models are in competition as well, and whoever models for the winning designer gets a magazine spread. We get to watch the models' reactions as designers are eliminated as well as their own elimination. We also see their interactions with each other and the designers. Catfights will occur, that I can assure you. I read somewhere that Models of the Runway is a little hard to watch, because the models pretty much have no control over their fate on this show. And that's true. The designers were switching their choices of models for a while, but as the weeks progress, they are likely to stick with the same model from here on out. Designers design, the models strut. The eliminations are based on designs, not strutting. Either way, I'm pretty sure that I lose millions of brain cells every time I watch.

PS. I have to be careful when searching the web about Project Runway. This season was taped a year ago or so. The winner has already been declared. I don't want to know!

Heroes No More

When Heroes premiered in 2006, I watched with interest. It's not a big surprise that I, the geek, would be interested in a show about comic book characters. The first episode was mildly entertaining, but I remember telling my husband that the show was a mess. But as the season progressed, I became entranced and couldn't stop myself from watching. There were a few reasons. The most obvious reason was the character, Hiro. Hiro was a young Japanese drone and ultimate geek who embraced the new powers that he developed. The actor, Masi Oka, is delightful and charismatic and made Hiro a fun character to watch. Hiro also had Ando, the best sidekick ever.

The other compelling character was HRG, who we later learned was named Noah Bennet. HRG was a company man whose mission in life was to monitor humans with powers and imprison them if necessary. His work life was hidden from his wife and children, one of whom was an adopted daughter upon whom HRG doted. The daughter, of course, was the cheerleader, who had to be saved so that the world could be saved. Jack Coleman did a great job of showing us the complications in HRG's life, as well as what he suffered for the choices he made.

But that wasn't all; the themes of Heroes was interesting. What is the meaning of family? Of loyalty? What is destiny? What is survival?

There were two things that sealed the deal for me. George Takei's role as Hiro's dad was fun and well-done. I laughed with joy when he pulled out a sword in full Sulu-style. The other deal-maker was The Company Man, an episode that focused on HRG's motivations.

The first season was far from perfect. Sylar was an interesting villain, but he was too evil. Was he an interesting villain because the actor was so good? And the big finale wasn't all that big.

It was downhill from there on out. Claire was whiny, Sylar was evil, and some Latina cried killer tears. Suresh was desparate to get powers and Hiro was stuck in medieval Japan. Nothing was believable and the characters were mangled beyond recognition. Characters would die, but would be brought back, perhaps as someone's twin! Every break, the producers would declare that they had messed up and the next chapter would bring Heroes back to what it was. Only, it never happened. It just turned into a bigger mess.

The producers are again promising that Heroes will be back, better than ever. But I don't believe them. I've already deleted the show from my DVR. Will I regret this? I doubt it.

Shows I Don't Watch

There are a few returning shows I don’t watch but I totally get that others do. Some I do watch, but only when there’s nothing on and B isn’t around. As you know, he hates pretty much every show I watch. There are other shows that I once got why they used to be on people’s list, but I’ve heard have gotten so bad that I just don’t get it. Here’s a summary of them all.

Shows I Don’t Watch, But Sometimes Wish I Did

When Supernatural came out, all I heard was that it was a vehicle for young girls to crush on a pair of pretty boys who were supposedly battling evil. I was shocked (shocked!) when it was renewed. All I heard was how awful the show is! But I haven’t heard that refrain since its first year. There are some diehard fans who have pretty much convinced me that I would probably enjoy the show. After all, it has a lot going for it, including mythology, and two young lust-worthy men. What, I can’t be superficial?

I knew that I wasn’t going to watch Gossip Girl, even though it came out to a lot of buzz and has Kirsten Bell providing the voice of the Gossip Girl. Sadly, it had Heroes on opposite it (I think), and at that time I was still hoping that Heroes was going to be good. But Gossip Girl is also one of those shows that became the victim of my self-editing. I can’t watch everything, especially with such an opinionated husband. And there were a lot of other shows that came out that year that I could justify to B, such as Pushing Daisies and Chuck. Funny story – one time I was at home and just happened to have Gossip Girl on while I was doing something on the computer. B came home, sat in front of the TV, and ten minutes later, admitted the show was “compelling”. He then changed the channel.

The Big Bang Theory came out to mixed reviews. The naysayers changed their tune, however, and this show is now a critical favorite. Many of those critics nearly peed on themselves when Jim Parsons was nominated for an Emmy this year. From what I’ve heard, it is a good comedy with a lot of heart.

The other comedy on this short list is How I Met Your Mother. As I’ve noted elsewhere, I’m not really into comedy, but when this came out, I was intrigued. Allyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris? A fun premise, HIMYM promised to be the next Friends. But the few episodes I saw displayed some boring, trite comedy, and I just couldn’t justify keeping it on the watch list. I’m thrilled for Hannigan and especially Harris for their work and the fact that they’ve another successful show under their belts.

I almost watched Castle just because of the presence of the charming Nathan Fillion. In case you’re not a total geek, Fillion was Captain Mal Reynolds in Firefly and Serenity, as well as Caleb, the evil preacher, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Since he burnished his geek-god cred, he has been in Desperate Housewives and other series that were less successful. In Castle, Fillion plays a roguish crime writer, shadowing a by-the-book female cop on the job. To her surprise, he’s actually helpful. The premise totally puts me off. But I’ve seen parts of a few episodes and Fillion does make it work somehow.

The last procedural is The Mentalist. I was immediately attracted to The Mentalist because of Simon Baker, whose smile can light up a room from across the continent. Baker stars as a former fake psychic who uses his enhanced observational skills to solve crimes. But he has a dark past as well – he became a crime solver so he could find the serial killer who murdered his wife and child. The camera unfortunately follows Bakers eyes so by the time he reveals what he observed, the audience already knows. And it’s hard to understand why the other professional cops don’t have good observational skills themselves. Don’t they teach that in police academy? Baker is great and watchable in the show, but unlike in The Closer, the rest of the ensemble is pure vanilla.

Other Procedurals

There are a lot of procedurals on TV right now. We have to accept that because they rerun well, unlike the shows I enjoy whose arcs make rerunning difficult. Sadly, the networks are in the business of selling advertising, not just putting on a good show. Two procedurals have spawned spin-offs. Law & Order is doing its level best to become the longest running show ever. The show has had its lulls, but was recently revitalized by a cast shake-up. I find it slightly more watchable now, when I’m really bored or too sick to care. I used to love Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but I grew tired of Olivia and Elliot quickly. These two should have been fired long ago, and I really hate their self-righteousness sometimes. I still like Munch and Cragin, though. Law & Order: Criminal Intent no longer has its first run on a network – the episodes are aired first on USA. Sometimes I’ve forgotten what the crime was by the time Goren gets his confession.

The other procedurals are the CSIs. The first, CSI, had a cast shake-up, with the death of Warrick, the retirement of Grissom, and the hiring of Langston, played by Laurence Fishburne. I’ve heard that the transition between William Petersen and Fishburne has not been as smooth as hoped, and the ratings have suffered. This season they are bringing back Jorja Fox’s extremely annoying, self-righteous Sara Sidle for a number of episodes. CSI: Miami is completely unwatchable with the hammy acting of David Caruso, but it continues to get great ratings. Lastly is CSI: NY with Gary Sinise. I’ve never seen it.

Shows I Can’t Believe People Are Still Watching

Grey’s Anatomy always got great press, and it was certainly the water cooler show of the season when it came out. But the show has really struggled since Isaiah Washington demonstrated his homophobia in public. Since Washington’s firing, the plotlines have gone from outrageous to ludicrous. First, the Izzie and George affair that was completely unbelievable. This year Izzie had sex with a ghost. George disappeared, only to be killed off in the final episode. Izzie is annoying; George was not. Katherine Heigl appears desperate to get out of her contract. Apparently T.R. Knight wanted out more.

As I’ve noted on another blog, the year Lost came out, I made a conscious decision to watch Desperate Housewives instead. There were many good reasons for this at the time, the first being that I wasn’t in class on Sunday nights. I’ve long been a fan of Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman, so I thought I’d give it a try. And I found it to be a quality show. Just not for me. Hatcher’s character annoyed me, as did Huffman’s. I couldn’t justify watching a show that annoyed me so much. The show has struggled a great deal, but seemed to pick up when it added Dana Delaney to the roster. But they never really had a full successful season after the first year. Last year, the storyline took a five-year jump. It seemed to revitalize the show, but it didn’t last.

I’m a little more mixed about Brothers & Sisters, a show I’ve watched off and on. Another “delicious” soap opera that is well-acted, with the likes of Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin, and Patricia Wettig, the show depicts a complicated family dealing with the death of the patriarch who left an unusual legacy: an illegitimate daughter and her mother. But it turns out the bastard daughter is not related to the Brothers & Sisters (thus allowing her affair with one of the Brothers to proceed with minimal ickiness) but there is another bastard out there. Who pretends to be nice. But isn’t. And so on. Apparently plot development is plot-driven, not character, and you know how I feel about that.

Well, have I insulted you now? Do you want to tell me off? Did I forget a show you think should be on my radar? Let me know.

New Shows I'm Looking Forward To

Every year, I eagerly look forward to the Fall Preview issue of TV Guide. And I got my greedy little hands on this year's today. It's already read and processed. What surprises me is that I only have two new shows I definitely plan on watching. They are:

V - starting Tuesday, November 3 on ABC. I'll definitely have to give this show a try. Let's just start with the cast: Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet on Lost), Scott Wolf (Bailey on Party of Five), Morena Baccarin (Inara on Firefly and Serenity), and Joel Gretsch (Tom Baldwin on The 4400). Then, of course, the premise - aliens fly in, promising to solve all the problems of the world. You just know there has to be more to them than that. Let's add that this is a remake from a classic mini-series that was turned into a cheesy series in the 1980s. Of course I'm going to be watching.

Flashforward - starting Thursday, September 24 on ABC. This show is my must-see for the new season. A normal day in LA is interrupted by a "freakish surge" that causes all of humanity to black out for over 2 minutes. Many die and cities are destroyed. Those who survive have visions of their lives six months in the future. The first season focuses on the struggle to survive and figure out what happened. And let's not forget the cast: Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger (Penny on Lost), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie on Lost), Jon Cho (Harold and Sulu in the movies), and Courtney B. Vance (ADA Ron Carver on Law and Order: Criminal Intent).

But I also have a few shows I'll give a try. They are:

The Good Wife - starts Tuesday, September 22 on CBS. How many times have we seen the long-suffering wife standing next her public-official/high profile husband as he apologizes to the world for his sexual indiscretions? Here we'll get to see what happens behind the cameras. The premise alone isn't enough to interest me; let's be honest, if Juliana Margulies wasn't starring as the main character, I wouldn't be tuning in. She was the best part of ER, and that's enough to get my attention.

Glee - starts Wednesday, September 9 on FOX. There is nothing on paper that really interests me about this show, but too many critics I respect have raved about this show. That alone means I'll be giving it a try.

Community - starts Thursday, September 17, on NBC. I am rarely interested in comedies. The only one even on my current schedule is 30 Rock. But Community stars Chevy Chase, and it's gotten some good reviews. Why not give it a try?

So that's five I'll be checking out. I'll be curious to hear what shows y'all will be trying out?

The Closer - Season Wrap Up

The Closer happens to be one of my most favorite television shows, period. Not just on cable. Not just during the summer.

Why do I like this show so much? Kyra Sedgwick's performance as Brenda Leigh Johnson, for one. I'm from the South, and I know a fake Southern accent- they make me grit my teeth. But I would have sworn that Sedgwick was a real Southerner. Put money on it. Turns out, she's from New York. Wow.

But beyond the accent, Sedgwick has brought to life a fully complex, interesting woman who's really good at what she does. She's believable. Most of the time.

However, if it were just Sedgwick, the show would still not be my favorite. It's also the ensemble behind her. For the most part, they are all as fully developed as Johnson is. Provenza and Flynn are comic gold, and Sanchez and Gabriel are pretty awesome too. I even like their medical examiner. But my favorite is Lt. Tao. How can I not love him? Take an interaction between Sanchez and Tao in the season finale:

Sanchez: What do you know about ninjas?
Tao: What, I'm Asian-American so I'm supposed to know about ninjas?
Sanchez: Uh, yeah.

Tao then starts a detailed lecture on ninjas. Actually, Tao, it's not because you're Asian-American, it's because you are a geek.

This season was a little different from previous seasons, in the introduction of Brenda's niece, Charley (not Charlene), played by Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon's daughter, Sosie Bacon. Honestly, I'm a little tired of the annoying, troubled teen. For once I'd like to see a teenager on TV not fit that stereotype. Sadly, Charley fit the stereotype, and never grew on me.

Brenda also lost a member of her team - Lt. Daniels, the forensic accountant. She left because the team couldn't handle the continuing conflict between Daniels and Gabriel. Love gone wrong. I didn't miss her at all. Unlike the other characters, Daniels had far less personality - not the fault of the actress but the writers.

And finally, a memoriam on Kitty - the cat of Brenda and Fritz. Kitty became ill this season, and Brenda and Fritz had the unenviable task of deciding whether to put her down or not. Brenda denied that Kitty could be sick, but eventually, she realized that keeping Kitty alive too long would not be fair to the cat. So, Kitty was put to sleep. I was heartbroken - it was reminiscent of having to put my own cat to sleep two years ago. So well done.