Wednesday's TV roundup

The Wednesday premiere night was thankfully a little lighter than Tuesday.

1. Harry’s Law started off the second season with immediately noticeable changes. The first change being that there is a very crowded office now with lots of new people. The second change is the addition of Mark Valley as lawyer Ollie Richard. He convinces Harry to take the case of a man accused of viciously killing his wife. Tommy Jefferson continues as his annoying, but wonderful… annoying self.

Harry’s funny sarcasm is fast at work as well. “Ollie, if you’re about to charm the pants off me, it won’t be pretty” and “I’d hug you, but… you smell.” And even the accused wife killer comes up with the most eye-rolling line: “OJ got off. Casey Anthony got off. Guilty people get off all the time.”

The season 2 premiere also included the ever-wonderful Jean Smart. It’s great to see her facing off with Kathy Bates. A bitchy Jean Smart with a sarcastic Kathy Bates makes the wonderful world go round.

2. The season 12 premiere of CSI brings the introduction of Ted Danson as the new Grave Shift supervisor, DB Russell. That, of course, brings a bit of tension with former supervisor Cath, as well as tension between Catherine & Nick.

The main crime scene is on a tram, with two dead, a couple injured (including a kid). Nick comes back from 3 weeks in Hawaii and meets DB for the first time at the Tram crime scene. DB seems to be a bit eccentric, as he’s lying on the tram floor, as if impersonating his initials (dead body)

DB is apparently still learning the ropes of leading his new team, as he gets a call about a new crime scene asks Catherine if it’s a two-person job? Feisty Cath replies, “what do I think? You’re the boss. I think you should stop asking me what I think.” Sara is standing a couple steps away and is following their conversation. She steps in and says she’ll take the case. DB tells her to take “Saunders” with her. That would be Sanders. Greg Sanders, you know.

Okay, there’s my 5 seconds of Cath/Sara for the rest of the episode. That’s the end of the excitement until the very end, it seems.

The rest is Nick/DB getting better acquainted at the crime scene. (Yawn) Hodges, David & DB talking about octopus porn and “octopsies”. (Oy!) And the obligatory reference to Ray’s disappearance as Brass & Al give a small update that he seemingly went back to his ex-wife, Gloria. (yada yada. Hopefully that’s the last of it.)

Cath, Nick & Dead Body are recreating the scene in the tram. They have the various colors of string & lasers marking the paths of the shots (that brings back memories to season 1). Dead Body gets a call from his wife, asking about a farmers market. Cath & Nick look at him like he’s nuts. (he sure seems to be)
We see that Dead Body now has Nick’s office. Nick is pissed at Cath about that change. Morgan arrives and Nick introduces her to Greg, who was standing nearby in the hallway.
The banter between the two reminds me of Greg/Riley a few seasons ago.
M: You don’t look like a history nerd.
G: neither do you… I mean the ‘nerd’ part... not that you are a nerd… or that there’s anything wrong with being a nerd.
M: right.

Dead Body & Ecklie are in the viewing room watching Nick interview the dead guy’s brother, whom they found still alive in a hotel bathtub with a plastic bag over his head, but insisting he didn’t kill his brother.
DB: He’s not playing “good cop” right now, is he?
Ecklie: No, that’s what I’m talking about. They all think they are social workers.
DB: They are good, though.
Ecklie: yeah, but that’s not the point.
DB: I know.

Sara & Greg’s case is basically a guy who got ‘antlered’ trying to inflate a dead deer, then used the air compressor to clean his puncture wound, but ended up inflating himself. (remember, filling yourself with air is not a good thing - even if you have that 'spare tire' around the middle!)

Ecklie is in his office with his estranged daughter, Morgan, who is transferring to the Vegas Crime lab after the Raskell fallout.
Ecklie: So, uh…what was it this time?
Morgan: I think you know…Langston fallout…it had a far reach.
Ecklie: there are hundreds of other crime labs in this country.
Morgan: this one’s the best…it’s your call.

I guess I understand the need to establish DB in this episode, but can anyone say “overkill”? I’d much rather see more of Morgan’s introduction. This is way too reminiscent of the Ray & Riley introductions in season 9. The focus was on Ray. Riley got left in the dust. In this case, it seems the entire focus is on Dead Body and Nick bonding, while Cath, Sara, Greg, and the rest are left in the dust. Oh, by the way, was a second case really needed? If you’re going to have Sara & Greg on another case, at least let them actually do something other than view the body, get a quick autopsy report, look at some video, and then have a friend of the deceased spill his guts right away. Sheesh.

Now, to the best scene this show has had in the last few seasons.
The Feisty Catherine Volcano eruption:
C: Brass picked up Krick. Genius still had the blood money on him.
N: that’s real smart. Yeah, I called Jimmy’s probation officer, I tried to get him to cut Jimmy a little slack. This will be his third strike.
C: call him back.
N: What do you mean?
C: I mean that we are doing things by the book now.
N: What book, Catherine? I’m just trying to help the guy out.
C: You’re not listening, Nick. There are no more under-the-table deals, no more going rogue, no more personal vendettas, no more L.A.
N: now what does this have to do with L.A.? I wouldn’t change anything about what I did there.
C: I would. I’m not in charge anymore because this is our problem. We lead with our hearts instead of our heads, and then we justify it after the fact.
N: Why are you so pissed off?
C: I got demoted, Nick. I got demoted! I mean, you’re setting up shop here in the break room, and D.B…Moonbeam is running the show. And you know what? Maybe he’s just what this team needed. (Greg, Sara, Hodges & others walk out of their labs to see what the commotion is about)
N: I disagree. It’s not what this team needs. It’s what Ecklie & the Sheriff…
(DB comes out of his office talking on the phone to his wife. “Hey sweetheart, I’m just leaving… yeah. How was your day”)
C: See, Nick, this is what I’m talking about. You always blame other people for what you’re responsible for. Stop with the excuses.
N: Don’t give me that, Catherine. It’s a bunch of people who have no idea how this team really works.
(DB on phone “think the team is really starting to…uh, starting to gel.”)
C: Well, you can add me to that list.
(DB “honey, I’m gonna, I’m gonna go. I need another hour.”)
N: Come on, Catherine.
C: It’s been a long 19 years. Yeah, 19 years is a very long time to be doing this job.
N: What are you trying to say?
C: what am I trying to say? I’m saying that this team has to move on. We’ve gotta get back to what we do best and if you can’t handle that, then you know, there’s the door.
N: I know where the door is, I’ve used it a couple times.
Everyone’s phones beep with a text from DB. “Breakfast. On Me. Russell.”

All I can say is…that’s my girl! Welcome back! It’s been a long 10 years. Feisty Catherine Volcano eruptions are classic. Although, I must say that Cath/Nick bickering just doesn’t have the same punch that Cath/Sara eruptions do. Nick just doesn’t give it back to her as forcefully as Sara does.

The title of the episode is "73 seconds". Up to that final scene, that might just be the amount of screen time for Cath, Sara, Greg, Morgan and Ecklie – who are about the only ones I’m mainly interested in anymore anyway.

If there's one thing that the addition of the DB Russell character brings to this show, it's the fact that "Supervisor Cath" can go back to doing what she does best, whether it be just "CSI Cath", "Bitchy Cath", "feisty Cath" or "big-hearted Cath". She can finally get out of the stuffy (but very warm) office and sink her chops into something a bit juicier.

3. Law & Order SVU returns tonight with a few casting changes as well. I’m not a regular watcher of this show, but I had to check it out with the addition of Kelli Giddish. (yes, I really still miss “Chase”) It was cute how Olivia thought that Amanda transferred in from Dallas instead of Atlanta. (a subtle “chase” reference?) I still chuckle at her character’s name, Amanda Rollins, considering KG just worked with Rose Rollins on her last project. It’s kind of like on Rizzoli & Isles where they have Angie Harmon’s tv mom named “Angela”.

Anywho…Kelli & Mariska would make a great team. Add Alex to the mix with Amanda & Liv and… oh yeah, there are guys on this show too, right? Guess I wasn’t paying attention now that Chris Meloni isn’t around to bring me the hunky male eye candy. I love Liv’s stance on them wanting Elliot to have a psych eval – “tell them to go to hell”. I just wish I could watch the show on a regular basis, but I’m not a fan of the subject matter (sex crimes), and too much of the boring “law” stuff. Also the fact that it’s on at the same time as CSI. Not a good combo, people, at least until Marg leaves, then I just might turn into a regular SVU watcher. Who knows. At least they’re moving in the right direction with the addition of Kelli. I just hope they bring Chris back for a moment of closure with Liv & Elliot.


4. Yes, it’s another night with multiple shows on at the same time. Tonight it was CSI, SVU, and the new ABC series, Revenge all in the late time slot. Revenge was the odd one out tonight. That will have to be my “catch up” show (along with last night’s Parenthood episode) on my weekend watch list. I hope Madeleine Stowe can reel me in as a regular watcher, because I don’t know any of the rest of the cast.

So that brings us to the Thursday lineup. What’s on tap?
It’s Maria, baby! Maria Bello, a little bit of Dina Meyer, and the CSI replacement.

Maria Bello stars in the American version of Prime Suspect as NYC detective Jane Timoney. Others may detest it, but I LOVE the hat! I also LOVE the attitude.

Dina Meyer is in the pilot episode of Charlie’s Angels on Thursday night. I can’t wait to see her onscreen again. I just wish she was one of the Angels and had a regular role. As it is, I’m not too optimistic that I’ll be watching regularly. And what’s with Bosley being a suave, good looking, young guy? Come on! That’s not Bosley. Bosley is supposed to be an older curmudgeon who hangs around the Angels. Sheesh. Talk about trying to get the younger audience.

I’m not sure about the replacement in the regular CSI Thursday night time slot, Person of Interest, featuring James Caviezel. I guess I’ll check it out to begin with, but as usual, any show that gets my attention will usually include a strong female presence. Taraji Henson just ain’t gonna make the grade on that. And besides, the sidekick in the promos, Michael Emerson, really freaks me out for some reason.