OOTlander

I don't have Starz. It's pretty much the only premium cable channel that I don't have. And boy, have I really regretted not having it this year; the main reason being that I haven't been able to watch "Outlander" the series this season.
I got to watch the premiere episode of this season on the Starz website where they let non-subscribers watch for free. My friends John and Dan have Starz, and I got to see the second episode, but beyond that, besides resorting to illegal downloading methods - which I refuse to do, I'm going to have to wait months before I'll be able to watch this full series, and I'm pissed about it.

I even tried to buy the full season on iTunes and guess what? It's not for sale! Will it ever be? Other premium cable channels sell their shows, why not Starz? Maybe they're waiting for the full season to be over, which would mean that I would have to wait for some time. Grrrrr...

Meanwhile, the "mid-season" finale just happened this past weekend, and we had this scene:

VERY intense. In other news, Sam Heughan is effing hot!

2014 Fall TV Season Preview - NEW SHOWS aka "what will clog up my DVR next" Edition

How can it already be time for the Fall TV season? Last year around this time I was excited for a lot of shows, and only ended up sticking with like two, maybe. Let's see what sticks this time around. 

My poor poor DVRs...

MONDAYS

Gotham
Fox, 8 p.m. (Sept. 22)
Holy prequel, Batman! Ben McKenzie (oh, how I love and have missed you Ben! Sorry I didn’t watch Southland!) stars as young, pre commissioner Jim Gordon, navigating a city teeming with DC Comics vigilantes and villains, including Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney, a sadistic gangster boss and nightclub owner. Also Donal Logue is in it, so you know, AWESOME.

State of Affairs
NBC, 10 p.m. (Nov. 17)
All you Katherine Heigl haters out there can suck it. I love Katherine Heigl and thinks she gets a bad rap. She plays a maverick (of course!) CIA officer turned daily briefer to the president, played by Alfre Woodard. SOLD!

TUESDAYS

NCIS: New Orleans

CBS, 9 p.m. (Sept.23)

The few times that I’ve watched NCIS has been with my father, or with Sharon & Vince Villa (surrogate parents) so basically you know that this show , despite having Mark Harmon in it, is NOT for me. What’s going to get me to tune into this new spin-off of the NCIS juggernaut? Two things – the setting of New Orleans which is almost always a good thing,  and Scott Bakula, who makes anything and everything better!

Forever
ABC, 10 p.m. (Sept. 23)
I got so excited when I first heard about this show. Then I actually read the description and became instantly disappointed.

See, back in 2008, Fox adapted one of my favorite books by Peter Hamill, into a series starring the tremendously hot Nikolaj Coster-Waldau called New Amsterdam. Of course this was way before “Game of Thrones” so nobody knew who Nikolaj was and Fox being Fox cancelled the show before the season was finished, despite it actually being great and a nice adaptation of the book. So I was jazzed that ABC was going to take a crack at it, using the actual title of Hamill’s book. Surprise! It’s not the same story…just almost exactly? The plot is about  a New York crime-scene examiner, Dr. Henry Morgan, played by Ioan Gruffudd who happens to be immortal as long as he’s submerged in water after “dying”. I don’t know you guys. I love Gruffudd though and have enjoyed most of the stuff from Matt Miller (Chuck, 666 Park Avenue).

Selfie
ABC, 8 p.m. (Sept. 30)
Plot summary: A vacuous social-media star (Karen Gillan) hires a brand consultant (John Cho) to repair her damaged insta-celebrity after a compromising video goes viral. This sounds pretty awful, but recently I’ve read articles from critics that I respect that are saying that the show is actually funny and clever. So I’m giving it a shot, although if I love it ABC is guaranteed to cancel it.

The Flash
CW, 9 p.m. (Oct. 7)
Grant Gustin stars as that speedy young super-hottie. This is another show that’s gotten great buzz and has been recommended by a bunch of people that I trust. Also, I’m a sucker for CW sci-fi/fantasy shows.

Marry Me
NBC, 9 p.m. (Oct. 14)
A sitcom starring two of my fave comedians whose cancelled shows I’m still mourning. What could be better?! Well?...the show’s description sounds fucking awful and stupid – “A welcome return to TV for two offbeat comedians, Casey Wilson (Happy Endings) and Ken Marino (Party Down), who play a lovesick couple determined to stage the perfect proposal. Expect mayhem, gay dads (Tim Meadows), and aggressive karaoke.” YIKES right? But you guys, it’s Casey Wilson and Ken Marino! These two are very smart along with being very funny; they wouldn’t be involved in something that wasn’t worth watching. Right? I’ll watch until NBC inevitably cancels it.

WEDNESDAYS

Red Band Society
Fox, 9 p.m. (Sept. 17)
This show proposes the following - What if you set a drama in the pediatric cancer ward of a hospital and focused the story on a bunch of the kids there and the shenanigans they get into, sort of like The Breakfast Club meets The Fault In Our Stars, thus combining two of my favorite teen things. The story is narrated by a young man in a coma who can hear everything going on around him which is a nice twist. It stars Octavia Spencer who is cool and I’ve missed. The commercials for this show keep showing this one kid in a wheelchair and his bald-cap is SO awful, that it may be the only thing that keeps me from enjoying this show.  

Black-ish
ABC, 9:30 p.m. (Sept. 24)
Anthony Anderson stars in this assimilation farce that asks: How do you teach your kids how to be black when they grow up in a mostly white suburb? It’s gotten really good reviews and I don’t want to do the same thing that I did last year with The Goldbergs where I started watching half-way through the season after hearing how great it was. I’ll watch at least the first couple of eps and decide.

Stalker
CBS, 10 p.m. (Oct. 1)
One of my fave show-runners Kevin Williamson, doing a crime procedural about law enforcement officers that find/fight stalkers (?) that stars Dylan McDermott and the always cool Maggie Q. I’ll give it a couple of episodes; at least to see if McDermott (or Maggie for that matter) takes his shirt off.

Kingdom
DirecTV, 9 p.m. (Oct. 8)
Description: “Nick Jonas buffs up and hopes to finally shed his Disney Channel origins in this roid-o-rama MMA drama. “ Um…Nick Jonas, who I have VERY inappropriate feelings towards, is going to be shirtless and sweaty a lot. Attention all friends with DirecTV (I’m looking at you Larry Ahrens) I am coming over to watch this. I don’t care how awful it sounds. LA LA LA I can’t hear you shirtless Nick Jonas!!!!

THURSDAYS

How to Get Away With Murder
ABC, 10 p.m. (Sept. 25)
All aboard for the next Shonda Rhimes Thursday-night-on-ABC show!!! A crime thriller, starring Viola Davis as a law professor. This has gotten rave reviews from the TCAs and up-fronts.

A to Z
NBC, 9:30 p.m. (Oct. 2)
I love Ben Feldman. LOVE him. He played Ginsberg on Mad Men and was an angel on the first couple of seasons of Drop Dead Diva (don’t ask). In this he is an internet-dating executive and Cristin Milioti (How I Met Your Mother’s mother) plays an attorney who he starts dating. I was not impressed with her on HIMYM but most folks liked her, so maybe she’ll be good on this? I don’t care. BEN FELDMAN. Remember, I called dibs on him first!

Gracepoint
Fox, 9 p.m. (Oct. 2)
Okay. Here we go. A big rant is coming; deep breath. THIS SHOW ALREADY EXISTED! It was called Broadchurch and it was a British show that aired on BBCAmerica last year!  DAVID TENNANT, yes, that David Tennant, STARRED IN THE ORIGINAL AND IS REPRISING THE EXACT SAME ROLE BUT WITH A HORRIBLE AMERICAN ACCENT!! And I mean HORRIBLE. This new U.S. version appears to be A SCENE FOR SCENE REMAKE WITH NO CHANGES TO THE STORY! NOT EVEN TO DIALOG! WHAT IN THE FUCK?! Millions of Americans already watched and loved the original, and KNOW HOW IT ENDS; why would Fox and the producers think that it’s okay to remake the show exactly like the original? Listen, I get why U.S. production companies like to remake shows from other countries; they have a proven entity that they know they can run with. And in many instances I find American redos to be great – The Bridge, The Killing, Homeland, In Treatment, for crissakes even Devious Maids are all remakes that I’ve loved. But the difference with these shows is that they took the concept of the original, and either put it in a different setting, or changed the story but kept the setting etc. But they definitely made it their own. Another difference is that unlike the shows I just listed, Broadchurch wasn’t some random Estonian production seen by 3 people here; it was on a major cable network and got a ton of publicity and promotion. And was on Netflix streaming! The whole idea of a to-the-letter remake is infuriating.

And yet…David Tennant, bad American accent or no, is awesome and the rest of the Gracepoint cast reads like my dream cast list – Anna Gunn, Josh Charles, Jacki Weaver (!!!) NICK NOLTE(!!!!!!) – The cast has guaranteed that I’m going to watch the whole damn thing, even though I will know what happens at every turn.

The McCarthys
CBS, 9:30 p.m. (Oct. 30)
This comedy based on actor Brian Gallivan’s  own life, is about a gay, athletically challenged son who becomes his basketball-coach dad’s assistant. It sounds truly awful. But it stars Laurie Metcalf and Jack McGee who I love, and my friend Vance, who is a gay entertainment critic, said he wanted to hate it but ended up loving the first two episodes. So I’m going to begrudgingly give it a shot.

FRIDAYS

Constantine
NBC, 10 p.m. (Oct. 24)
An adaptation of one of my favorite comics, with Matt Ryan as John Constantine. Should pair nicely with Grimm on Friday nights.

SUNDAYS

PBS stuff:

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
PBS, 8 p.m. (Sept. 14–20)
Ken Burns’s latest, this time with a focus on Theodore, Franklin, Eleanor, et al.

Death Comes to Pemberley-  Masterpiece Classic
PBS, 9 p.m. (Oct. 26 and Nov. 2)
The BBC mini-series version of P. D. James’s murder-mystery sequel to Pride and Prejudice comes to PBS, starring Matthew Rhys as Mr. Darcy. I LOVED this book so much and I am beyond excited about this.

Worricker: Turks & Caicos – Masterpiece Contemporary
Masterpiece on PBS, 9 p.m. (Nov. 9)
Playwright David Hare writes and directs an all-star cast — Christopher Walken, Winona Ryder(!), Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes(!!), and Bill Nighy as the titular MI5 spy. Cannot wait!

Other stuff:

The Affair

Showtime, 9 p.m. (Oct.19)

Dominic West back on my tv screen. I don't care what it's about! Here - watch the trailer!

Mulaney
Fox, 9:30 p.m. (Oct. 5)
John Mulaney  is one of my favorite comedians and writers. They’ve finally given him his own Seinfeld-ian show, playing a stand-up comic with a day job writing material for a “legendary” game-show host played by Martin Short. The problem I have with this seemingly okay sounding premise, is that the commercials for this series are fucking horrible. It’s a studio-audience multi-cam show, but still seems to have a laugh track? Every scene they’ve shown with Martin Short is beyond unfunny. I am so so worried. But John Mulaney  is a great writer, and Julie Klausner is also a contributing writer for the show so it should it be amazing! And yet…those ads…so bad. John Mulaney deserves better than this.

Misc Streaming Stuff:

• The Killing's last hurrah on Netflix
• Amazon Prime's new Whit Stillman comedy. This description below should be enough to make you want to drop everything to watch it!

The Cosmopolitans: It's a Whit Stillman show set in Paris, starring Adam Brody and Chloë Sevigny (among others) as American expats who drink wine and go to parties and lament things. It's very much how you'd think, which is to say: Mannered and tiny in scope; nostalgic, almost, even though it's set in the present day; and also sharply funny and a little dreamy.

Here are some links that you might find helpful to narrow down your own Fall TV choices -

Vulture's primetime schedule list

The Wire's predictions of how fast 2014 new shows will be canceled

Summer TV round-up

It's been a good summer for me. Not only did I take most of the month of July off to relax on various beaches and beside numerous pools, I also got to watch several new television shows that I really enjoyed, along with a couple of others who had good sophomore seasons. And of course my summertime beloved - So You Think You Can Dance.

My top 3 summer shows were all newbies, and two of them are clearly geared towards a teen demographic, but you know what? I don't care. And I know I wasn't the only audience member in their childless 40s watching them!

• Chasing Life - an ABCFamily drama about a young woman in her 20s dealing with her father's death and her recent diagnosis of leukemia. The main reason I fell in love with this show is that Scott Michael Foster is one of the leads and I love him lots. Especially now that he's not on "Greek" so has ditched the long hair and pukka shell necklaces. HOT. The main character is played by Italia Ricci, who is a lovely actress that I'm surprised I haven't seen in anything else. This show also let Steven Weber return to television and that is a blessing.
• Finding Carter - Oh MTV, first you gave me my new favorite mid-season show Faking It (coming back in late September woo!!), and now you give me the gift of Alex Saxon (and his glorious hair) as Max, the best dude you'd ever want as your friend, boyfriend, brother, or son. The main plot involves a girl (the titular Carter) finding out at 16 that she was actually kidnapped away from her real family 13 years previously and raised a few hours north by a crazy lady who Carter has believed is her cool single mom Lori. Carter then has to adapt to having not only a twin sister and a little brother, but also parents, Elizabeth a police detective and David a writer who became famous when he wrote a true-crime book about the kidnapping, whom Carter is wary of and angry at for taking her away from her "real mom". I'm not going to lie, most of time you want to punch Carter in the face for being so bratty and obnoxious, but I don't really watch the show for her, I watch it for MAX. 

Dear Alex Saxon, I love you and your beautiful hair. Marry me, please! I first fell in love with Saxon on another teen drama that I love, the excellent ABCFamily show The Fosters. On that show he plays Wyatt, recently dumped boyfriend of the lead character Callie. I was at first very upset over the prospect of Wyatt being written off the show, because I love Saxon's portrayal of him so much. But then Alex Saxon showed up in the very first minutes of Finding Carter, playing the role of Max, who is not very different from Wyatt (a little older, a little dumber, a little more stoned), but better in all ways because of how sweet his dynamic with the Wilson family is on "Finding Carter". Also his hair! HIS BEAUTIFUL HAIR!

• The Leftovers - Oh man, this show. I loved the heck out of Tom Perrotta's book that this HBO downer drama is based from. Although the television show is in ways very different from the book, I felt the stories were in good hands because Perrota has written or has supervised the writing of all of the episodes of this first season. One of the major differences between the book and TV show is the tone. Yes, the book was sad; there was a lightness or a feeling of hope infused in the writing however. The show, especially the first 4 episodes, is unrelentingly dire. And this makes it sometimes very hard to watch. What keeps me liking it and watching it are the performances from the actors. Holy crap, give Amy Brenneman her Emmy now! She conveys so damn much without uttering a word. Also cool to see good ol' Justin Theroux getting some recognition. DC boy made good.

Nashville - Season 1 finale

Just got around to watching the first season finale of Nashville, and all I can say is - HOLY. FUCK. I'm so glad ABC had the smarts to bring this show (and Connie Britton's glorious hair) back for another season.
Also, the addition of Chris Carmack as Will was a brilliant move on the part of the writers/producers etc. Please make him a major character next season.
Also also, I know I'm the only person besides Jonathan Jackson's parents that love the character of Avery, but seriously, I really like how they've handled the season story arc of his character. Keep on keepin' on son!

Fall 2012 TV Season Review & Round-up

So far, this has been one of the most promising and satisfying autumns in years. Coming off a fairly good late summer crop of shows, almost all of the fall tv premieres that I've seen have been great; further feeding my television-obsessed brain.

But before we talk about the Good Things, let's get the bad stuff out of the way first.

New shows that I'm not impressed with:

• Revolution - In theory and on paper, everything about this show should appeal to me. At the top of that list is JJ Abrams; have I ever not loved anything he's had a hand in? It's about a dystopian future with a kick-ass young girl, which is the kind of shit I eat up; it has Billy Burke in it; it sort of has a clever premise about the world no longer having electricity. But boy did I not dig this show. I gave it a 3 episode chance (well, really 2.5 because I couldn't with last week's ep) but it's not getting any better. There SO MANY implausible and unexplained plot holes; it drives me crazy! I'm surprised that it's so popular; maybe one of these days (years) I'll catch up with it on Netflix but not now when I have so much other finer tv to watch.
• Partners - Ugh. I hate this show so much. I really like Max Mutchnick and David Kohan as people (their CBS Sunday Morning profile was hilarious and touching), and I've enjoyed most of the tv shows they've done before, but this one, based on their real-life friendship and relationships, is uncomfortably awful. I just feel really bad for the talented Michael Urie, Dave Krumholz, and poor Brandon Routh. This is another show that has been trashed by the critics but is doing fairly well in the ratings, so we'll see what becomes of it.
• The Mindy Project - 

I LOVE Mindy Kaling. I love Chris Messina. I should love this show. But oy, is it not good. But sort of, maybe, has potential? I don't know. I hated the first 2 episodes, but then last week's entry where the clinic staff all go to "Da' Club" was pretty hilarious. So maybe things are looking up? I hope so. I haven't totally given up on this yet, but only because of my solidarity with Kaling.

DVR Breakups:

• How I Met Your Mother - Sorry NPH and Jason Segal; my love for you guys can no longer sustain a relationship with this dumb, and exceedingly frustrating show. I may tune in whenever the hell they finally reveal who the stupid gawdamn "mother" is, and if there are any more Slap Bet songs, or Robyn Sparkle videos, I'll catch those online, but otherwise SAYONARA.
• Law & Order:SVU - this break-up has been very hard on me y'all. But if I'm being honest, Chris Meloni leaving the show had a bigger effect on me than I thought. I still love all of the characters (and actors) on this last remaining L&O franchise, but in the past several months each time I finally get around to watching one of the numerous eps clogging my Tivo, I end up being so bored. It really breaks my heart because Law & Order has been such a big part of my TV life. Watching occasional reruns of Law & Order:UK and Original Recipe L&O (Waterson/Harmon especially) will have to suffice.

Fall 2012 Television LOVES:

• Last Resort - Love it. Love it. LOVE IT. Scott motherf*ckin' Speedman (#1 all-time TV boyfriend) is back in my tv life, and he's kick-in it with perennial all-star Andre Braugher! And the show is well-written, well acted, suspenseful, and action-packed. God Bless America!

• Homeland - It's back and Season 2 is even more high stakes and kick ass than the first one was. And my love of Mandy Patinkin couldn't possibly grow any stronger. I just...you guys, I just love his portrayal of Saul so damn much.

• American Horror Story: Asylum - Coming off a much-deserved Emmy win, Jessica Lange is back in the second season of this creepy show, that is starting with an entirely new story set in a psychiatric hospital. I really like the approach that Ryan Murphy et al are taking with this show by keeping each season a separate stand-alone story capsule. 

AHS:Asylum also features the return of Zachary Quinto and has added Mark Consuelos (yes!) and Chloe Sevigny to the mix, among others. Good times ahead.

• Nashville - I love Every. Amazing. Thing about this show. Period.
• Revenge - Having Gabriel Mann as Nolan Ross (with a funky new haircut!) on my television again is heaven on earth!
• Call The Midwife - Who knew a PBS drama about British mid-wives in 1950s East-End London could be so poignant, funny, and awesome?! Oh yeah, me of course.

All the rest:

• BBCAmerica's Copper has had a fantastic season and I can't wait to see how this season ends. I'm already anticipating season 2.
• Vegas has been a pleasant surprise of awesomeness. Dennis Quaid and Jason O'Mara are the sexiest brothers on tv right now.
• I don't care what anyone says - I'm enjoying the hell out of the latest Sherlock Holmes offering Elementary. And yes, Jonny Lee Miller can still get it!

Just have sex already!!

Can you tell that I finally got around to watching the Season 3 finale of Justified? I love Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder, in equal amounts, to distraction.

Favorite wardrobe props? For Boyd it's that little fitted, black pea coat that he's so fond of wearing. For Raylan? It's the hat, DUH.

When does season 4 start? And hey, they better be bringing that Karen Sisco Goodall character and Carla Cugino back to play her in the fourth season or I'll be mad.

You guys? Downton Abbey you guys! It was INTENSE last night. Am I right?

SPOILER ALERT: Poor Matthew!!!! And even more so - POOR WILLIAM! I feel only pity for dumb dumb Ethel.

Season 8 of So You Think You Can Dance

I've been lame and haven't posted anything on this latest season of So You Think You Can Dance. Dearest Vance over at Tapeworthy wrote up a great summary about the show last week that showcased our season 8 Top 20 dancers that I encourage everyone to read.

But I'm going to try and end my writing hiatus now by briefly talking about the top 20, and five of the finalists that I'm excited to see perform tonight. In general I'm impressed by every single contestant this year, which might be a first for me. So far I've really enjoyed everyone's performance. Although I'm a little concerned that I may grow tired of some of the dancers and their annoying personalities (I'm looking at you Robert and Ricky!), and fear that I'm already weary of Jess' schtick and that thin line he rides right on the edge of arrogance.
I'm super excited that they've brought back a top 20, and can't wait to see who they pair up together. And then once it's down to a top 10 this season the All-Stars are back!! They showed Allison, Twitch, and Kathryn in the audience of the LA auditions which made me think they're coming back, and we got Pasha(!) on the top 20 reveal last week, but will the rest of last season's All-Stars be returning? As much as I love him, I could do without Dominic and maybe see Legacy in his place. And I'd really love to have Jakob on my screen again beyond the 2 seconds they showed him doing some of the choreography at the auditions. MarK Kanemura is on tour with Gaga again I believe so I'm not sure if he's available. Maybe we could get Will!

Anyway, here are the dancers that caught my eye last week that I'm excited to see tonight. I'm not saying that they're my favorites yet, just that they stood out the most and left me wanting to see more. True favorites probably won't emerge until after tonight or next week.

Clarice - She's just so pretty. And I love her jazz style. I don't remember her original audition if we saw it, but she was a shining star in Vegas.

Marko - I think this is the dude with the bullet in his shoulder? Anyway, he's kind of great. I remember his audition in NY or wherever and his lyrical jazz style surprised me but on last week's ep he was amazing. Can't wait to see who he's paired up with.

Melanie - My #1 choice to win this whole thing. Her smile and joy is infectious. How can you not love her? Also? She's a fawking AWESOME dancer. Totally kickass.

Nick - Hmmm, I didn't really like this kid in his initial audition. And I don't remember them showing him in Vegas at all. But then all of a sudden he comes out on stage last week and totally wowed me; both in the Broadway routine with Jess and in the boys "hip-hop" routine. I won't lie; I am hot for him.

Tadd - I saw this guy for the first time in last week's Vegas semi-final eps. I haven't liked a b-boy this much since Legacy, and Tadd seems to have a real knack for other styles of dance. Whenever he was on stage during the top 20 reveal episode I couldn't take my eyes off him. I am completely intrigued.

Things and things - 3rd week of April 2011 edition

Things I'm excited about this week:

• Amazon announced that they're changing/updating the Kindle formatting to allow users to download e-books from public libraries. HALELUJAH!!!!!!!!
• Gossip Girl returned this week and made me realize how much I missed it.

• I haven't talked about the new season of America's Best Dance Crew yet, but so far season 6 is shaping up nicely. I'm already totally in the bag for the Footworkingz crew, and who the hell could guess that D-Trix (aka Dominic Sandoval from Season 3/7 of So You Think You Can Dance) would make such a great judge. He gives constructive and intelligent feedback, can really come from a different place than Lil' Mama and JC because he was an ABDC contestant and winner as part of the Season 3 champs Quest Crew, and seems genuinely excited to be there (ahem Omarion) and not at all condescending (Omarion). And D-Trix so far isn't nearly as spazzy and annoying as he can be when he's hammed it up on SYTYCD in the past. If I can't have my Shane Sparks back, I'll settle for Dom. Other improvements this season have been that so far there's been NO Layla Kayleigh. I never understood her role or the need for another semi-host on this show. This sixth season is the "season of the superstar" or some nonsense, and will focus each week on a different artist's music (instead of also including dance styles like in previous seasons?). For the first 2 episodes the artists themselves introduced the song packages and while they were both kind of wacky (seriously, are Lil' Wayne and Ke$ha on drugs ALL the time?), having the musicians there via videotape made a lot more sense than Layla Kayleigh and her annoying British accent.

• Justified kind of ROCKED MY WORLD this week. My boyfriend Timothy Olyphant was superb as usual as Deputy Raylan Givens, but this week also featured the underappreciated Deputy Tim as a major part of the A plot. After the attempt on Raylan and Winona's lives, Chief Mullen assigns Tim to be Raylan's bodyguard. Of course with halirious results. On any other show, Jacob Pitts would be a star; he infuses Tim with such a laconic, wry dependability. But thems the breaks I guess. When you have the hotness of Olyphant to compete with, you can't help but fade to the background. Last night's ep was totally torn from the pages of my fantasy slash fanfic. See also: Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder. Hubba hubba...

Things that intrigued me this week (for good or bad):

• James Frey is going back on Oprah?! I was one of the few folks out there that were always in Frey's corner when it came to the debacle over the validity of his memoir A Million Little Pieces and the subsequent dressing down and humiliation that he was subjected to by Oprah back in 2006 (geez, was that really 5 years ago?!). Winfrey's patronizing, holier-than-thou attitude and anger towards Frey was the beginning of my now strong hatred of Oprah. Even after hearing that she later apologized to Frey, I couldn't forgive her for being such a pretentious ass to him. Here's hoping that this final appearance for him on her show will be enlightening and triumphant for Frey. He kind of deserves it. He's had a shitty couple of years.

• The horrifying news on April 20th of the deaths of journalists Tim Hetherington (pictured above) and Chris Hondros and this article on NPR.org have been on my mind. If you haven't seen the Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo, that Hetherington co-directed with Sebastian Junger please rent it or stream it today.

Things that made me want to punch something/one:

This kid -

Seriously. Stop singing country songs. Stop being the smarmiest smarm that ever smarmed; you're only 17 for crissakes! Stop holding the microphone like a flute with both hands. JUST STOP everything. And America, stop fawking voting for this douchebag.

This huge asshole -

I do not f*cking understand what is wrong with so many damn people in this country. Why on Earth would you ever listen to anything this fawkwad would have to say about running the United States of America? WTF?! He is so ridiculous and enraging. One can only hope that everything indeed plays out as many pundits are predicting, that this whole Trump 2012 campaign nonsense will blow over soon. When even Karl fawking Rove lambasts you, you have to know something's wrong.

Revamped Law & Order: Los Angeles

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who watches the latest sprouting from Dick Wolf's Law & Order franchise machine - L&O: Los Angeles or "LOLA" as NBC is trying to brand it.

I started watching it because Alfred Molina and my boyfriend Skeet Ulrich were going to be on it, and because I was mourning the loss of original recipe L&O. I stayed for new boyfriend Corey Stoll and his character, Detective TJ Jaruszalski's magnificent moustache, and the LA-centric storylines.

Sure, the new show had it's problems, like the somewhat bloated cast on the DA side of things, Terrence Howard and his scenery chewing, and the sometimes silly "Hollyweird" stuff, but in general I really liked what they'd come up with. And did I mention the hotness of Corey Stoll and his moustache? Sigh.

So then came the news a couple of months ago when the show went on hiatus that when it returned in April 2011, it would have a new streamlined cast and more focused storylines. And then the commercials for last night's return started running on NBC a few weeks ago and they hinted that Skeet Ulrich's character, Detective Rex Winters was going to be killed. What?! I was totally unhappy with this development. So far I haven't found any interview with Skeet to hear what happened from his side, but I saw an E! interview with Terrence Howard where they asked him about the cast shake-up and he basically said that he missed Skeet and the others that weren't there anymore but that he was just happy to still have a job (hinting at his firing from Iron Man 2 I guess?).

Anyway, last night's return episode(s) was 2 hours of pretty riveting television. Skeet was killed off fairly early on in the first ep and the rest of the hour was spent trying to prosecute his killer. It ended with the guy getting away with it - something that I've always LOVED about L&O - they don't make everything a happy ending. Oftentimes cases just kind of fall apart and the bad guys often win. Just like real life. It's strangely satisfying.

The second hour had Alfred Molina's DA Morales so fed up with the politics and corruption of the Prosecutor's and State government offices that he decides to go back to being a cop, and guess what? He pulls strings to be Jaruszalski's new partner.

As far-fetched as this plot twist is, Stoll and Molina actually have great chemistry. So I'm excited about how the Jaruszalski/Morales partnership plays out. But GAWDDAMMIT!!! Corey Stoll shaved off the moustache! Unforgiveable!

The other change that we see in the second hour is that Assistant D.A. Connie Rubirosa from L&O: Original Recipe is now Deputy D.A. and working with Howard's DA character Joe Decker, after having moved out west to be with her sick mother. Junior D.D.A.s Evelyn Price and Lauren Stanton (Regina Hall and Megan Boone) are out. I'm totally onboard for this change. I like Alana De La Garza as an actress way more than Hall and Boone, and now just having 2 people on the DA side to focus on is so much better for the show, even if one of those people is fawking Terrence Howard.

But Corey baby, please grow the 'stache back! Smooches! xoxo

Damn you Ryan Murphy! - Glee Season 2 Episode 6

For making me LOVE a gawddam Katy Perry song! I watched the "Teenage Dream" performance on tonight's episode of Glee about 23 times in a row. And how 'bout that Darren Criss kid? He charmed the pants off of me as Blaine. He's adorable!



Keep it up Murphy & Co.

Edited to add - Everyone should go read Tom and Lorenzo's recap of this episode. It made me cry. At 9:30 AM. At work.

"Book 'em, Dano!"

Sadly, James MacArthur passed away yesterday. Did you know that he was the adopted son of acting legend Helen Hayes?! I had no idea until last night. He also was an accomplished flamenco guitar player. Who knew? Well Dano, you will be missed. Scott Caan is doing a great job walking in your shoes however.







Also, this gives me an excuse to post my favorite picture of Jack Lord, who passed away over 12(!) years ago -

Now tell me, who else do you know that could ROCK a pink-banded panama hat? Thank you.

TV week in review - Early October 2010

Thoughts on TV this week...

Showtime Shows:
Dexter - Wow, season 5 has really started out strong. Considering season 4 kicked all sorts of ass and there's pretty much no way to live up to it, they're doing an admirable job so far. You can't even tell that much that Michael Hall is wearing a hair piece (because he was undergoing cancer treatment for most of this season's shoot). But seriously, Hall and his real-life wife Jennifer Carpenter who plays his on-screen sister Deb, have been acting the HELL out of the writing they've been given. They both deserve Emmys this year, no question. I'm not even minding nosy ol' Quinn who is bound and determined to fuck Dexter up in some way. I'm intrigued to see how this season's story lines all play out. And hee hee, every time they show Dexter carrying Harrison in his little car seat to all of these weird places to do his forensic dirty work, I get a big kick out of it. Dexter is still the sexiest killer on television.

The Big C - My appreciation for this show has been growing steadily since it started in August. Right from the beginning I loved Phyllis Somerville's Marlene and the great John Benjamin Hickey as Sean, but it took awhile for me to warm up to Laura Linney and the rest of the cast, as well as the story. But after the last two episodes I've really learned to love this new series. Could it be hot hot Idris Elba as Lenny that's making me feel this way? Could be. As we near the end of this first season, I'm hoping for a second one.

Modern Family: I saved up the first 3 eps of this second season so that I could enjoy a nice amount of quality time with my favorite TV family. The show is definitely proving that they deserved that Best Comedy Emmy. I didn't think it was possible to love Phil Dunphy or Cam Tucker (or the actors that portray them, Ty Burrell and Eric Stonestreet) any more than I did in the first season but I was wrong. And I loved the way the writers chose to handle the (TOTALLY STUPID and IRRITATING) brouhaha that's been swirling for the past year over the fact that Cam and Mitchell never kiss on the show.

Cougar Town: First, I love that the producers/writers are totally in on the joke, and have been making fun of the increasingly ridiculous title of this show in their credits each week. Nicely done! So far this show isn't having the sophomore slump that I predicted, which is such a pleasant surprise.

I was sad to hear this week about Courtney and David's marriage split; they seemed like good partners.

Glee: The past few weeks I've read a lot of negative reviews and hateful comments over this second season of Glee. As usual I totally don't understand why people take this show so seriously and can't appreciate it for what it is. Anyway, even the most critical watchers have been saying good things about last night's "Duets" episode. From the snarky mention of Grease 2, to the fantabulous Mercedes/Santana performance of "River Deep, Mountain High", the hilarious way that all of the kids were SO into the fictional Breadsticks restaurant, to the amazing duet between Rachel (Babs) and Kurt (Judy) of the classic "Happy Days/Get Happy", this episode was really excellent.

"The Challenge" aka Real World/Road Rules Challenge aka Freaks on Parade:

Tivo didn't want me to watch this newest season of my favorite televised crack addiction. Even though I shamefully have several different "wishlist" season pass ticklers for this craptastic show, Bunim/Murray have evidently fiddled around with the title so much that my little dvr isn't catching on (it's apparently called The Challenge:Cutthroat this season). So it was with surprise that I was randomly switching channels last Wednesday night and came upon TJ Lavin's stoned mug and immediately squealed "NEW CHALLENGE SEASON!", waking up the dog and cat on my lap and almost dumping an entire mug of tea on myself. I quickly set the dvr to record the 11pm rerun and booted up the lap top to see which drunken losers contestants are gracing this season. I am excited about Abram and Bananas (but not about their unfortunate heads of hair), but was appalled to see Fresh Meat II's Theresa and Laurel back. And contrary to many people, I kind of miss my pasty Canuck Evan and my boyfriend Kenny.

Low Resolution's Joe had a wonderful discussion about this show with the two Sarahs that needs to be shared with all who love this stupid thing.

Fall TV 2010 - New Shows and Season Premieres Part 1

Dexter - Ooh boy. What a great season opener. Especially after the heart-wrenching finale last season. I love Bryan Cranston and all, but dammit, if Michael C. Hall doesn't get an Emmy next year I'll be pissed.

Amazing Race 17 - Watermelon face girl! I was happy to see that this famous viral internet clip happened in this episode, even if CBS chose not to show the melon actually exploding on the woman's noggin. I guess the FCC didn't want to scare the children? Anyway, it was a fairly enjoyable premier, from the start in Gloucester, MA to the aforementioned watermelon noggining. I was surely disappointed to see Team Wiz eliminated first though. I'm holding my judgement on this new "express pass" until after it's used. Does this mean that there won't be a Fast Forward?

Hawaii 5-0 - I went in with pretty low expectations, especially considering that Alex O'Showkiller was starring. But my love for Scott Caan is so strong, I thought I'd get through it anyway. And I was right - Caan is the best part about the new 5-0; but he's not the only good part. I really enjoyed the premier and am looking forward to the whole season. And I was so happy that they kept the original theme song.

Grey's Anatomy - A pretty flat season premier; especially considering how awesome and adreneline-filled last season's finale was. The was a bunch of good set-up for some story lines that could be pretty great though.

Bored To Death - gawd I love this quirky, whacked-out show so much.

Undercovers - Eh. I'll watch it because I like cheesy spy shows, JJ Abrams, and hot boys like Boris Kodjoe. But I think I was expecting something a little darker and heavier; the premier at least was a little too Nick&Nora frothy for me. But then again we got to see Boris shirtless which is NEVER a bad thing.

Glee - The 2nd season premier had the funniest opening 3 minutes of any tv show I've seen in quite some time. Way to make fun of yourselves and turn the negative criticism into your advantage Ryan Murphy and crew! I love the addition of Coach Bieste, and am looking forward to my boyfriend John Stamos showing up in the coming eps. I like this new kid played by Chord Overstreet; and I hope that's not the last we'll see of Charice or Cheyenne Jackson. Also, anytime you have a performance of one of my favorite guilty pleasure jams in the first 15 minutes you've kind of won me over for the season. Take note other shows that have disappointed me - all you need to do to win me back is to sing "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.

Nikita - I'm a sucker for anything connected to the awesome French film La Femme Nikita. I even loved the Bridget Fonda remake; and I LOVED the Peta Wilson tv show of the same name that ran for 5 seasons on USA. So I was going to watch this new remake of the television show anyway. I like the new Nikita (Maggie Q - seriously, what's wrong with your real last name Quigley?), and it's nice to see Xander Berkeley working again, but there's a lot to this new version that I hate. Like Shane West as Michael. Why does this dude bug me so much? With the exception of maybe half a season on ER, I have pretty much hated everything that West has ever done. Anyway, I'm in for the long haul because again I like cheesy spy shows and their ilk.
Law & Order: LA - Y'all know I love Skeet Ulrich. And Alred Molina. And the Law & Order franchise. So why don't I love this new show? Yet. I'm going with yet. I'm definitely going to give it a chance to grow on me; much like Corey Stoll's mustache. Terrance Howard continues his scenery chewing acting methods which I usually find amusing but not so much here. I miss Sam Waterson. I also don't understand why this series is so heavily weighted on the "Order" side? Do we really need 4 of the 6 main characters to be DAs or ADAs? No, no we do not.

TV Round Up - September season finale edition

Remember that True Blood season 3 finale I was so jazzed about? Well boy, was I disappointed. I've been complaining this whole season about the way the show's writers have chosen to interpret destroy change the character of Calvin Norris, one of the best people in the books, but last night's finale really took the cake. I won't spoil it for those who haven't watched yet, but Alan Ball and Co. really screwed the pooch with the whole "Hot Shot" storyline. Jason as inbred hillbilly messiah? PLEASE spare me.

Other parts of the third season ender that irked me?
The continuation of the destruction of Sam Merlotte. Would he really shoot his brother? C'mon now.
The lame way they've introduced the Faeries, and the cheeseball last scene with Sookie and Claudine (and where the hell is Claude?!).
The fact that Alcide didn't remove any clothing in the episode. Not even his shirt. The hell?
The True Blood finale wasn't a total wash; there were some intriguing parts to it. I was wondering how they were going to introduce the whole witch story arc, which is a major part of the books. And even though they've hinted about it for the past several episodes, the reveal of Jesus as a witch was a surprise to me, and kind of perfect. I'm looking forward to the adventures that he and Lafayette will have next season.
I liked the way they set up Sookie finally finding out about Bill and all of his big lame secrets. And I also liked that they didn't leave Eric in cement all hiatus - and Pam didn't get hurt (hooray!).
Finally I loved that they allowed Hoyt and Jessica to be happy for at least 5 minutes. That creepy old, gross baby doll foreshadows trouble ahead for these too I suspect. As does Mrs. Fortenberry buying that big ol' rifle.
So long True Blood, see you next Spring/Summer. Bring on Dexter!

The Closer -
A very well done season ender. Kyra Sedgwick is truly phenomenal as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson. She deserves every Emmy and Golden Globes nomination she gets.
The TNT shows are strange because they have these summer and winter mini-seasons. Sometimes it's hard to build momentum up to a big cliffhanger in such a short time. This summer the main focus was on who would become Chief of Police. Would it be Pope, who wanted it so bad? Or would Brenda succumb to peer pressure and finally admit that she wanted the job? I wasn't sure that they would actually wrap this up in the finale, but they did, and in a great way by giving the job to Chief Delt, played by the awesome Courtney B. Vance. So now we're left wondering what's to become of the major crimes unit. Fans don't have to wait long - the new season starts in December.

The Choir - Watch it!

Stop the presses! This anglophile has a new TV crush - Gareth Malone, the young choir director for the London Symphony Orchestra who back in 2007 (damn America for getting BBC productions so far after the fact) decided that he wanted to bring choral and classical music back into schools and working class areas of Britain - specifically lower middle class schools where children are especially disadvantaged when it comes to music programs.

On The Choir, the exuberant and amazingly positive Malone, goes to areas where there's no tradition of choral singing and starts new choirs. Over the 13 episodes BBC America will air, which began last week and airs on Wednesdays on BBC America, he starts one at a coed high school, one at a boys' school, and one in a fairly beat-down town with a reputation as kind of one big bad neighborhood.

Gareth Malone has some serious hypnotic power; his energy is so happy and infectious that these kids and people who would never consider enjoying singing choral music, end up having the time of their lives.

I seriously just want to hug Gareth and keep him in my pocket to give me encouragement whenever I need it. He's completely adorkable. The lives he touches and changes for the better, especially the children, also makes for compelling television. Do yourself a favor and watch The Choir and feel uplifted.