Thursday TV Roundup

I think we can almost call Thursday nights "Badass Bitches" nights these days. Or maybe we’ll call Jane Timoney the "Badass Bitch" and the 'Angels' as the "kickass ladies". Either way, they all seem to fit in the same "have gun : will kick your ass" club – you know, the one that includes Jane Rizzoli, Ziva David, Gemma Teller, Catherine Willows, Nikita, Helen Magnus, Sam Carter, Lindsay Boxer, Grace Hanadarko, Annie Frost, Olivia Benson, and even Harriet Korn, who’s not afraid to pull a gun out of the drawer on a whim - although her best 'gun' is probably her sarcasm.

1. The third go-round for Charlie’s Angels premiered tonight. It was an interesting beginning with one of the ‘Angels’ being killed off within the first 10 minutes. Enter a new rogue badass, who decides to take the ‘high road’ and become an "Angel for Justice" instead of "Angel for Revenge" (is there really a difference?)

I was expecting to see Dina Meyer in this episode, but I guess she’ll be in the next one instead. Bummer.

The one thing that really bugs me is the younger, more suave Bosley (teeny-bopper bait) instead of the more curmudgeonly Bosley that they had in the original series. However, it was cute when they first mention Bosley and we see a brief glimpse of a David Doyle lookalike. A bit of an homage to DD maybe?

In all, it might be a nice addition to my weekly tv lineup. Seeing some of the reviews & tweets as the show was airing, it looks like ladies like the show & guys hate it. (yeah. go figure)

2. Person of Interest with James Caviezel took over the regular CSI Thursday night time slot. I really gave it a shot. Seriously. But 15 minutes was all I could take of this drab, lifeless drivel before I turned the channel to catch the rest of The Secret Circle. Maybe I’ll try again next week, but I’m not hopeful that P.o.I. will continue on my list.

As for The Secret Circle – as expected the episode didn’t have nearly as much Ashley Crow as the pilot did last week (just a tiny bit at the beginning, and at the Sea Fair). I really should dig out my old vhs tapes of "Champs" or even the dvd of "Little Big League". She was great with Timothy Busfield in both. There was even a guest appearance by Tom Butler. I was even telling the tv – "Hey, it’s Trofsky from Stargate SG1"

There was also a bit of a new Uh Huh Her song in this episode. I can’t wait to hear the new album.


3. The evening wrapped up with the premiere of the Prime Suspect reboot, starring Maria Bello as Jane Timoney. Yes, they went quite overboard on the “woman in a man’s world” stereotype in this, but I’ve heard that’s going to be toned down quite a bit in coming episodes.

Jane Timoney rocks. She’s kind of a cross between Jane Rizzoli, Grace Hanadarko and Ziva David. I loved how she ran after a suspect, then got the crap beaten out of her by that suspect until a fellow cop arrived. They didn’t make her a superhero and all of a sudden come back and beat the guy. They allowed her to be vulnerable. They also allowed her to come back to the apartment later on, crying and asking her boyfriend (or is it hubby?), for some comfort: “I know you’re still mad at me, and you can be mad at me again tomorrow, but can you talk to me for a minute, please?” and have him envelop her into a hug while lying on the bed. Awwww.

It was great to see the scene with Jane & her dad. She lugged all of her rifles to his house. The greatest scene in this episode was Jane with the kid, Caleb, and talking about guns, even pulling out hers, clearing it, and putting it on the table for him to touch. Caleb said he would like to kill the man with her gun, and Jane says "I would help you." That. Was. Damn. Cool.

What had me reeling most with this show is all of the recognizable faces that I wasn’t expecting. Yes, I knew Aidan Quinn and Kirk Acevedo would be part of the main cast. I always identify Aidan as the cop with Madeleine Stowe’s blind witness in “Blink”, and Kirk has been in many shows. I mainly know him from Oz . Another Oz alum here was Brian O’Byrne as Duffy. Tim Griffin was on Women’s Murder Club, NCIS and ER; Kenny Johnson has been on CSI, Sons of Anarchy and Saving Grace, while James Martin Kelly was on NYPD Blue back in the day. The one face that I recognized the most is the one that I also couldn’t remember the name for, until I looked in the opening credits – Jason Beghe. He was on CSI, for goodness sake, and I still couldn’t place him. He was also in a great tv movie with the incredible Maureen O’Hara back in 1998 called "Cab to Canada". If you haven’t seen that one, I encourage you to check it out.

In all, I’m hoping that Prime Suspect can help ease my need for a Rizzoli & Isles fix these days. It doesn’t have the humor of R&I, but it certainly has the ‘badass cop’ part of it.


So that brings a wrap to the Thursday lineup.

Friday seems to be an even lighter schedule (thank goodness!) with the season premiere of Nikita and series premiere of A gifted Man.

I was trying to play catch-up and didn’t get very far, but did get a glimpse of the premiere of Revenge, with Madeleine Stowe. Kind of looks intriguing, but it’s probably a bit too soap opera-ish for me at this time. I guess we’ll see when I get a chance to watch the whole thing.

There are still two more weeks until the return of Sanctuary for season 4. After seeing all of the behind-the-scenes tweets & pics while filming, I’m anxious for this show to return.