This n That

Wow! Where does the time go? Who’s in charge of that stopwatch? We need to hit the ‘pause’ button a little more often. Can you believe that we’ve gone through 1/24th of 2013 already?

Where to begin in the game of ‘tv catch-up’?

I was sad to have The Mob Doctor come to an end, but I was glad that they brought the storylines do a definite conclusion – with Grace’s mom getting killed, having Grace find out that she’s actually Constantine’s daughter, Grace killing Constantine and fleeing to Mexico with Franco. I liked how Dr White basically knew Grace had connections to Constantine and knew what she had been doing for him, but still giving her the leeway to operate as she did. I really liked the show overall, but didn’t think there would be enough in the way of varied storylines to keep it interesting for future seasons. I did love Wendy Makkena as Grace’s mom. Of course, I know her best as shy Sister Mary Robert in “Sister Act.” And can’t forget her recurring role on NCIS as Kate’s sister, Dr Rachel Cranston.

Chicago Fire is a show that has really grown on me. This week, NBC replayed the pilot episode and I was reminded of just how far the show has come since then. However, I don’t like them portraying Dawson as the station slut. Gabriela Dawson is my favorite character. I love her scenes with Shay (that’s the Shawson ‘ship), both while on ambulance calls as well as just watching out for each other off duty. I wasn’t so crazy about Dawson & Casey (Cason), mainly because he was going through the breakup with Haillie, and has all of the other family baggage weighing on him. I do really like Dawson & Mills (Millson), but just wish they had hooked up before she got involved with Casey.  I still find the Shay/Severide relationship to be the strangest, yet most endearing. They’re like sister/brother, but Kelly needs to realize there need to be boundaries set where he doesn’t even think about sleeping with women that she's interested in. Totally not cool, buddy. Another of my favorites is Hermann. The poor guy just can’t catch a break, and now kid #5 is on the way.

And then there’s NCIS. This show has been so steady, and so, so good, but now it’s killing me. I mean, the stupid writers now seem to be killing off all of their great recurring guest stars – which is what made the show so good to begin with. They killed off Jenny Shepherd. Then they kill off Mike Franks. Now they kill off Eli David (Michael Nouri) as well as Jackie Vance (Paula Newsome). This is one time where I wouldn’t mind having them do the “Dallas/Bobby Ewing thing” – you know, “it’s all just a dream”. Or maybe they’ve actually faked Eli’s death so he can live in peace back in Israel. I hate that Jackie’s gone, though. It was great to have Paula on my tv screen occasionally. I miss her & the other girls from Women’s Murder Club. Paula, Laura & Aubrey need to rejoin with Angie on Rizzoli and Isles soon. I just saw a promo pic with Abby as a BINGO caller. It’s about time that we’d finally get to see a few things that Abby does when she’s not at work. Back to the topic of Eli’s death, I was hoping for Ziva to go into kick-ass vengeful mode in the last episode, but we saw nothing but a sorrowful, grieving daughter. I guess they were trying to show us how much she’s grown since her arrival at NCIS. I did love the sweet Tiva moments as well – especially the hug.

Yes, I still haven’t given up totally on CSI, but only occasionally watch. Strangely enough, it’s gotten back to being pretty good again. But of course, the stupid writers have to mess that all up with the icky GSR (Gil/Sara) marriage angst these days now. Gil phones, Sara ignores it. Gil phones, Sara stares at the phone longingly, then ignores it. Gil phones, Sara is encouraged by her co-worker to answer, she ignores it. Gil phones, Sara is encouraged by her co-worker to answer, and she finally does. Really? Did we really need those stupid reminders of all of the years of crappy storylines of Sara and her ‘daddy complex’ fixation on her boss, and then the ‘oh surprise, they’re actually together’/ ‘hideous Hawaiian shirt on the bed’ reveal?  Can we just get to the divorce already? Or, how about a phone call from Catherine to one of the guys? I wouldn’t mind a Catherine mention sometime soon. I believe next week’s episode is the tennis-themed one with Chris Evert. I’m kind of looking forward to that one. And then there’s supposed to be the big Sara’s mother arc. I can only hope that doesn’t turn into a GSR-fest again as well.  Then again, the CSI writers always do the opposite of what I want anyway. Why should it be any different now?

Season 3 of Downton Abbey has started here now in the US. I’ve already had a chance to see the episodes when they aired in the UK. Watching the season from the beginning again has reminded me of how well the season started off – with the addition of Shirley MacLaine as Cora’s mother, and how everything went downhill from there – especially with killing off some of the favorite characters.  I’m not amused.

I had the chance to watch Chris Vance in his series, Transporter: The Series. Yes, it’s basically the movie in a weekly version. As nice as it is to see Chris getting the recognition and screen time, the series gets kind of boring after a few episodes as it’s basically just a recurring cycle of pick up the package, have a car chase, avoid bad guys, deliver package, and start again. It’s kind of the same problem I had with Mob Doctor, where there’s really not much room to branch out from the ‘same old’ every time.

Bunheads has started back up again on ABC Family. It’s great to have my fill of Michelle & Fanny snarkasm again.

Amanda Tapping is still appearing in episodes of Supernatural. She was in a few scenes of the episode this week. I don’t watch the series. I tried. The first week that Amanda was on the show, I actually watched the full show. Sorry to say, that is the most bored I’ve been with a show in a long time. As you have probably guessed, my tv viewing normally gravitates to shows that have a strong female presence. This show definitely does not. It didn’t help that Amanda’s appearance was in the very last scene of the episode. Since then, I’ve relied on the kindness of those who watch the show and clip off Amanda’s scenes for us to view. Thank you, kind people.

That brings me to what’s upcoming.

Amanda’s former Stargate co-star, Ben Browder, will be on next week’s episode of Arrow.

Next week also brings us the return of Necessary Roughness on USA. I’m not a real big fan of the show, but occasionally catch an episode or two – especially if Liz Vassey makes an appearance.

Season 2 of Dallas will begin on Monday, January 28th on TNT. It’ll be quite a different show, especially with the emotions that will be shown as they incorporate Larry Hagman’s death into the storyline and have a funeral for J.R.

I also saw just recently that ABC has pushed the season premiere of Body of Proof back to February 19th instead of February 5th. It’s a good move, because the State of the Union address is on February 12th, which means that BoP would be pre-empted anyway. So it would have had the premiere, gone for a week, then back for episode 2. With the revised schedule, the show can air on consecutive weeks without skipping.

Arctic Air has begun season 2 in Canada. I’ve got the first two episodes, but haven’t had a chance to watch them yet.

I also had a chance to see the preview trailer for the movie, RED2, with Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren & Mary Louise Parker. I loved the original movie, and can’t wait to see Helen Mirren play with the big guns again.

There are some new shows that will be starting up in February, but I’ll get to them later.