This N That rambles

Wow. Where have I been? It seems forever since the last BS session.

I guess time flies when you’re bombarded with March Madness, a bad case of spring fever, and nothing to watch on tv.

Plus, we lost an hour last weekend as well with Daylight Saving Time.

So, let’s play catch-up. Or how about we just play catch?

Yes, baseball spring training is underway. I can only hope my MN Twins can improve upon their 99-loss season from last year. Then again, with 99 losses, there really is only one way to go, right? I hope.

Was anyone paying attention to the hubbub last week about the solar flares? All I could think of is that it would be cool to have a working stargate so I could go through the wormhole during the solar flare and go back in time 30 years. (Stargate SG1’s “1969” episode is one of my favorites) Yes, watching Stargate has turned me into a geek, I guess.

On the tv front –
I just fast-forwarded through last week’s episode of “Awake” and watched the Laura Innes parts. Some of her appearance reminded me of Bonnie Bedelia’s Kate McCafferty on “The Division”. I hope she has more screen time as the series continues.

Louise Lombard just tweeted last night that she’s got a role in an upcoming pilot for FOX and her character will be a spy. I can only cross my fingers & toes that it gets picked up. It would be great to see her back on tv regularly again.

Some NCIS news from last week –
I heard that Karina Lombard will be making an upcoming appearance on the show. She was so good on the L Word. I think the last time I saw her was on CSI’s “A la cart” from season 8.

Also coming up on NCIS, Paula Newsome returns as Jackie Vance on the March 27th episode. I’m not usually a fan of Director Vance but them having Paula play his wife actually makes me like the character more.

Thinking of Paula reminds me yet again how much I miss Women’s Murder Club, which in turn reminds me of how similar Rizzoli & Isles is to that show.

I mean, seriously, did James Patterson & Tess Gerritsen take the same story but just make different character names? Or maybe instead of Tess, I should say Janet Tamaro, since the R&I books are much different than the tv show. Let’s take a look at the similarities in the two shows:

- Lindsay Boxer/Jane Rizzoli – yes, they’re both played by Angie Harmon, but the characters themselves are almost identical as well.

- Both Lindsay & Jane ended up acquiring a dog in the pilot episode.

- Both rely on their best friends to solve cases (Jane/Maura and Lindsay/Claire/Jill/Cindy)

- both Lindsay & Jane had personal issues with their new lieutenants - Lindsay with her ex, Tom, and Jane with her childhood friend/nemesis Joey Grant.

- both series included Jane/Lindsay haunted by a serial killer.

- let’s match up the other characters as well:
*Korsak vs Jacoby – both grizzled, three times divorced, and both were passed over for the Lieutenant’s position early in the series. (Korsak wins this match-up just because it’s Bruce McGill)

*Maura vs Claire – both M.E.’s, patient, science-oriented. (This one’s a toss-up.)

*Frost vs Jill/Cindy – Frost & Cindy are computer oriented, good at digging up ‘dirt’. Frost also does a lot of the legal stuff (warrants, etc), which is handled by Jill on WMC. (the girls win this one)

*Tom/Heather/Marty vs the Rizzolis – on WMC, Lindsay has the family baggage of her ex & his new wife, plus her estranged father –whose life was left hanging in the balance at the end of the show. On R&I, Jane has the baggage of her entire crazy family, plus the intrigue of a mobster biodad for Maura, as well as the rich woman/poor woman issue. (No contest – the Rizzoli/Isles/Doyle drama wins. Hands down)

While I think I like the WMC team of Lindsay/Claire/Jill/Cindy better (even though the Jane/Maura interaction is cute), I do enjoy the Rizzoli family more than the Lindsay/ex-husband stuff – although I must say that one of my all-time favorite episodes is the one on WMC where we get the backstory of Lindsay’s miscarriage (“Maybe Baby”). And I actually did like the way they started to evolve the Lindsay/Heather relationship – going from frosty to amiable. I can’t help but chuckle every time I rewatch the R&I ep “Living Proof” - where Ever Carradine is a baddie – and think about Lindsay/Heather.

The detriment for WMC is that it only had 13 episodes (14 if you include the unaired pilot – which was extremely different from the series) to bring us that character evolvement, where R&I has had two seasons & counting.

And finally, did you notice that the episode titles for both shows are usually made up of clichés?

On your calendar:
Coming up this Friday – Fairly Legal & In Plain Sight both return on USA Network – and they’re even back-to-back, which is nice.

It’s sad to remember that this is the final season for IPS. I’ve enjoyed four seasons of Mary & Marshall snark. I’m going to miss that. This season should be fun with the baby & all.

Also premiering this week is the new Ashley Judd show, Missing.

I’m not sure why, but whenever I see a premise for a kidnapping series, my thoughts go back to the pilot Marg did back in the mid-90s called “Keys”, with Gary Dourdan, Brett Cullen, and Ralph Waite. I really wish that had been picked up so the story of her search for her son could have continued. For anyone who’s seen that pilot… wasn’t that true foreshadowing of what was to come for Marg on CSI? Her character, Kick, did a lot of CSI-type sleuthing in “Keys”.

Speaking of CSI – did anyone ever picture David Hodges’ mother as being Jaclyn Smith?