Tuesday This N That

The Terrible Tuesday TV schedule is back again for another week.

1. Tonight’s schedule begins with an excellent NCIS episode, featuring guest star Lily Tomlin as Tim McGee’s grandmother, Penny.

After watching the episode, I’ll say that the two have a great story to tell. I’ve mentioned numerous times that this show always gets the greatest guest stars as family members to the main cast – Ralph Waite as Jethro’s dad, Gena Rowlands as his ex mother-in-law; Michael Nouri as Ziva’s father; Robert Wagner as Tony’s dad; and now Lily as Tim’s grandmother. The best part about having these great guest stars is that this show knows how to use them well and let them shine. This episode was no different. Lily Tomlin and the Penny/Tim relationship were enjoyable to watch.

2. Back for a third week is the new drama, Unforgettable, with Poppy Montgomery. This show developed nicely last week, coming off the somewhat cluttered pilot. However, it’s not to the point where it’s overtaken Body of Proof as my first show to watch in that time slot – yet. And speaking of “nicely developed”, this show has grown nicely in its second season, bringing out more of the other characters, which helps take the entire focus off Megan. That, in turn, helps to lighten up the show a bit. As I mentioned previously, I think this show has taken its cue from Rizzoli & Isles that the right amount of “interesting” humor can do wonders to brighten up a show. That’s not to say that I don’t adore the bitchy Megan/Kate catfights & make-up sessions like we got last week – cuz they were totally adorable.

3. I’m still waiting for Parenthood to bring me a decent Camille storyline – or even a Zeke/Camille storyline would be good. Anything to bring more screen time for Bonnie Bedelia. I was rewatching Bonnie’s CSI episode the other day and it made me wish she could be featured in some new project. Has anyone seen her in “heart like a wheel” or her previous pairing with Craig T Nelson on “The fire next time”? I really need to track down some full episodes of “The Division” that aired on Lifetime a number of years ago.

4. It seems that Sons of Anarchy has brought up the rear for the past two weeks in this overcrowded time slot. I missed the late rerun on FX last week, so I hope I will have a chance to watch late tonight.

5. Backing up for a moment – I was only able to watch a little bit of Terra Nova, Hart of Dixie and 2 Broke Girls episodes last night. I need to go back and watch all three again without interruptions. Somehow, I don’t seem to be doing real well on the multitasking for this fall tv season. I’m thinking it’s a real good thing that CSI moved to Wednesdays, because it makes it much easier for my work schedule. Anyway, 2 Broke Girls still gives me visions of what an updated version of Jo & Blair from the Facts of Life would be like. The small glimpse I got of last night’s Hart of Dixie has me definitely interested to go back and pick up the parts I missed. As for Terra Nova – I guess it would be a decent scifi show if it hadn’t come with enormous expectations to begin with. Considering that it includes the Spielberg name, expectations for many were high before the show even aired. I, however, stuck with my Catherine Willows Theory and decided not to expect too much, thus I wasn’t totally disappointed, but definitely not pleasantly surprised, either.

6. One show that always seems to outdo my high expectations is Sanctuary. Season 4 begins this Friday night. They just released one hell of a teaser yesterday for the season premiere where Helen (whom we last saw ending up back in Victorian Era England) gets to beat the crap out of longtime on-again/off-again lover, Jack-the-Ripper (aka John Druitt) from that era. ( check out the video here )That’s what I love about this show. They don’t hide things from the fans. They give us kick-ass, action-packed previews, instead of boring dialogue scene previews like some other shows I watch *cough*CSI*cough*. Their stars, writers, and even crew members bring us fun behind-the-scenes stuff as well. It’s apparent that Martin, Amanda, & Damian (M.A.D.) are in charge of this show and they know how to treat their fans well. In return, the fans reward that preferential treatment by attending the cons, charitable events, and donating to related charities – like Sanctuary For Kids. I’ve only been an actual scifi fan for a couple years, but it’s hard not to notice the difference in the actor/show/fan relationship compared to other genres. SciFi genre actors seem much more in tune to their fans than the rest.

Okay, I’ve been down that road enough for now.

7. I need to shift gears again for a minute – back to last week’s episode of SVU. I finally got a chance to watch it over the weekend. What an excellent episode. I love the addition of Kelli Giddish. I’m not so sure about the new guy they added for this episode yet. I do love how they have Liv struggling with her emotions over the whole Elliot situation. Having scenes like that with character emotion over a longtime partner who has left the team is what was missing from CSI when Gil left. We didn’t get to see Catherine struggle with his absence the way Liv did with Elliot. However, the ending scene from last week’s CSI episode reminded me of the great Cath/Gil scenes from seasons past that were in Gil’s office. Seeing Cath walk out so DB could answer the phone call from his wife, and the emotions on her face had me thinking that she was also reliving (and missing) the many times she and Gil would have their quiet moments after wrapping up a case, and how things weren’t the same with the ‘new guy’.

Speaking of the “new guy” on CSI – I had to laugh at the new press release for an upcoming CSI episode where Morgan is hijacked/kidnapped on a Medivac helicopter. Yep, there are two new CSI’s on the team now – both of whom have not yet had their CSI-in-Peril story lines, so of course, that needed to be rectified very quickly. Those of you who know me, realize how many times my eyes rolled when reading that synopsis. I’m guessing the DB-in-Peril story line won’t be far behind. I can guarantee it. It’ll be here soon.

8. A few other This N That notes : I saw today that there will be a season 2 of the Canadian crime drama, King, that stars Amy Price-Francis. It’s a pretty decent show. I also saw that The Listener, with Lauren Lee Smith, will finally be getting a US distributor. However, it’s going to be on ION TV, a channel which I don’t get. Yes, that’s the story of my life.