Mid-week This N That

I have a love/hate relationship with holidays and vacations. I love the time off, but I hate the first day back to work. Even if it’s only one extra day, why does it feel like the workload multiplies five times more than normal when you return? The good part about a Monday holiday is that when you get back to work the next day, you’ve already bypassed the dreaded Monday.

The new issue of TV Guide featured some of the finales that just wrapped up, and a guess at what’s ahead. Do you notice that they actually don’t say anything about anything?

NCIS



This one looks the most intriguing. The way it sounds, they’re going to have Ducky in a different capacity, rather than the Chief Medical Examiner. For some reason, that makes me think of the Maura/Dr Pike scenario on Rizzoli & Isles, where Pike was quite incompetent & Maura had to keep him on his toes. What I’d love is for Torri Higginson’s character, Dr Jordan Hampton to take over that role. She would be a familiar face that regular viewers would remember. Maybe they’ll promote Jimmy Palmer and just have Ducky around to be a supervisor.

Speaking of NCIS, I noticed yesterday that there’s already a 2013 NCIS wall calendar available. Looks like I’ll be grabbing that, since I didn’t have anything new for this year - no CSI, Sanctuary or Stargate (bummer)

CSI


Drama, drama, drama. First of all, it was announced before the season finale that George Eads has already re-signed for season 13, so there goes any suspense as to whether Nick leaves or not. Then there’s DB’s kidnapped granddaughter, and someone trying to kill Julie. Can you say ‘overkill’? Do the CSI writers even know how to write a story that doesn’t include a CSI-in-peril? I have to admit, all of the over-the-top drama really makes me think I just might not even decide to watch season 13.

Rizzoli And Isles

The new season of Rizzoli & Isles begins next Tuesday. Can we please just skip ahead to episode two where the girls finally kiss (okay, not literally - unfortunately) and make up? I really don’t like my girls angry with each other.




Saving Hope


A new show to look forward to is Saving Hope, featuring Stargate SG-1 alum, Michael Shanks.

Continuum

Speaking of Stargate alums – I had a chance to finally watch the pilot episode of Continuum. After just a couple of minutes, I was totally hooked. The main lady reminded me of Clarice Starling (from Silence of the Lambs), and it was great to see some other familiar faces – like Tony Amendola and Lexa Doig. Another familiar face was Erik Knudsen, whom I remember from both Saw II and the tv show, Jericho. The only bad part is that Tony was only a brief guest star to begin the show.


Looking further ahead to the fall shows, I just saw today that Robert Patrick has been promoted to 'series regular' on the upcoming "Last Resort" on ABC. That might make it more agreeable for me to watch

Coming in just over a week, Hallmark has what looks like a great movie on the way

Hannah’s Law features Danny Glover, Billy Zane, Kimberly Elise, John Pyper-Ferguson, and more








The synopsis for the movie:
A frontier town is fueled by crime and corruption until a strong-willed heroine and her friends, including legendary lawman Wyatt Earp and gunfighter Doc Holliday, take a stand for justice. “Hannah’s Law,” premieres on Hallmark Movie Channel Saturday, June 9th.

Finally, on a music note –
I had a chance to take my first listen to Brandi Carlile’s new album, Bear Creek, which will be released next Tuesday. It may be a bit folksier than some of her previous stuff, but I love it. I could have used a couple more folk-rock tunes, though. “Raise Hell,” “hard way home,” and “keep your heart young” are amongst the highlights. Be sure to check it out.

Thursday This N That

Yes, I’m still quite bummed about the cancellation of Sanctuary this week. Let’s just hope that my jinx of having my favorite shows canceled isn’t coming back in full force.

One of those shows that has no thoughts of cancellation is Rizzoli & Isles, which is returning for Season 3 on Tuesday, June 5th (my mom’s birthday). Why does it seem that all of my favorite shows end up on Tuesdays now?


Just a FYI – the season 2 dvd collection of Rizzoli & Isles was just released this week as well. Be sure to grab yourself a copy.

On a related note – yesterday was National Turtle Day. Yes, that also includes tortoises like Bass Isles.

Speaking of turtles & tortoises, I had to chuckle as I recently re-watched CSI 9x19 Descent of Man for the first time in a long time. At the very end, Cath & Ray are talking in Cath’s office.
C: Seems like a lot of things keep falling out of the sky, right? Poison, people, turtles
R: tortoises
C: whatever

That was so reminiscent of Jane & Maura’s continuous turtle/tortoise banter about the label of Bass’ proper species – which started right from the pilot episode.
J: what? You have a turtle
M: tortoise
J: whatever

And just because I seem to be on a turtle/tortoise kick for some reason – I noticed this article today in Science Daily.

Cath’s previous comment about things ‘falling out of the sky’ also reminds me of the return of Falling Skies on TNT, June 17th for a 2-hour premiere. I think I really need to go back & have a marathon of Season 1, because I think I missed a bunch of stuff during the season. Time for a refresher, I think.



One show promo that I found myself totally shaking my head at is the new series, Men at work, which starts tonight on TBS. Notice the difference in promotion? The “crude” version was in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. The more ‘family friendly’ version was in In Touch Weekly. Either way, I can’t imagine that I’ll be watching the show.


Other upcoming projects to take note of:

Hatfields & McCoys – the mini-series with Kevin Costner on History Channel is next Monday, May 28th.
Longmire with Katee Sackhoff & Lou Diamond Phillips premieres on A&E Sunday, June 3rd
Necessary Roughness returns to USA on Wednesday, June 6th, and yes, Liz Vassey will also make a re-appearance in the new season.
Saving Hope, a new series with Stargate SG-1’s Michael Shanks premieres on NBC Thursday, June 7th
Dallas begins its new over-hyped show on Wednesday, June 13th on TNT
Burn Notice returns to USA on Thursday, June 14th
I’m still not sure if Perception with Eric McCormack is interesting or not. Guess I’ll have to check out the pilot.



I also need to mention that I’m actually enjoying Common Law (Friday nights on USA) a lot more than I thought I would. That’s strange, considering that it really doesn’t have much of a female presence, which is usually my deciding factor in liking a show. However, I really like Warren Kole. He had been a guest star in Season 1 of Rizzoli & Isles (as Sumner Fairfield – the brother of Maura’s ex-boyfriend.) I kind of categorize Common Law as the male equivalent of Rizzoli & Isles. Instead of Jane & Maura’s LLBFF relationship on R&I, Common Law has Wes & Travis as an “oil & water” bickering detective duo, who also attend ‘couples therapy’ sessions together. They also have Jack McGee as their captain. He was also a R&I alum, playing a bartender.


Common Law, of course, has taken over the timeslot that had been filled by another bickering duo, Mary & Marshall on In Plain Sight. I still miss that show. However, the lead-in show to that time slot on USA has Sarah Shahi in Fairly Legal. That has also become one of my favorite shows.

I’m starting to see a pattern here --- Jane & Maura, Mary & Marshall, Kate-Ben/Kate-Justin/Kate-Lauren/Kate-Leo, and Wes & Travis --- Maybe bickering duo shows are now my go-to thing, in place of the procedural shows that I’ve enjoyed throughout the years. Oh, and can’t forget Max/Caroline from 2 Broke Girls, another bickering duo that I’ve come to enjoy. Maybe you could even include McGee/Ziva/Tony and Gibbs/Dr Ryan from NCIS in all that bickering as well. And then there’s Kensi/Deeks from NCIS:LA – a show which has really started to grow on me, mainly because of that bickering duo. Like I said, maybe things have changed and I’ve had a yearn for something a little spicier. That’s probably why I got bored with CSI for the past few seasons. Oh wait, that probably had more to do with dry & dull Ray Langston than anything else I guess.

May there be Sanctuary for all, and to all a good night.

In the words of the nearly-immortal Dr Helen Magnus – “BLOODY HELL”
I was doing so well lately with my shows, almost getting to the point where I could start to think that my jinx of having my favorite shows canceled was finally disappearing.

Yeah, I somehow knew that it was too good to be true.

After four adventure-filled seasons of following Dr Helen Magnus on her journey to help abnormals, fend off enemies, and even bring us a touch of time travel, Syfy has pulled the plug on Sanctuary.

Therefore, we have no more adventures for the 273-year old Helen (Doctor of Ass Kicking) Magnus and the gang. We have no more stories about Helen and the rest of The Five – which included John Druitt (aka Jack-the-Ripper, and Helen’s one true love), Nikola Tesla (vampire genius), Dr James Watson (aka Sherlock Holmes), and Nigel Griffin (aka the Invisible Man). There are no more stories about the hijinks in the Sanctuary with Bigfoot, Henry, Kate or Will, or what goes on when the boss lady is away. We have no more insight as to what the latest abnormal is and how it can be caught or protected.



On the bright side (yes, there actually is such a thing) – we can be assured that Helen, Will, Tesla, Henry, Kate and hopefully all of our other beloved Sanctuarians (because I refuse to believe that any of them are actually dead, since it is sci-fi after all) are happy in their new (and much brighter) Sanctuary home after the total destruction of the old, dark place they used to call “home”. I’m glad to know that it was Helen herself who activated the self-destruct on the old Sanctuary, and pushed the button to make what had taken her over a century to build, crumble to the ground – with her standing in the middle of it, no less. It’s also great to know that she trusted the F.O.S.S.S. shield built by Henry, whom she had raised since he was a child, to save her life.



THAT’S why I am able to say farewell to this wonderful show with a smile on my face, because I can imagine a new Sanctuary world where the usual hijinks will continue (they always will when you live & work with abnormals) and our heroes are still fighting the good fight.

A big THANK YOU to Amanda Tapping, Damian Kindler and Martin Wood for bringing us these adventures. Thank you for being the “little web series” that had enough promise & vision to end up on my tv screen for four marvelous years. Thank you for introducing me to some great actors that I wouldn’t have otherwise been aware of – like Agam Darshi, Robert Lawrenson, Jonathon Young, Ryan Robbins, Emilie Ullerup, Pascale Hutton, Robin Dunne, and the many, many guest stars as well, to go along with those other familiar faces that crossed over from Stargate, like Christopher Heyerdahl and Peter Wingfield. And thanks to all of those with the show who brought us all of the "extras" - like the behind-the-scenes pics, videos and tweets to make us all feel like part of the Sanctuary family.

There is also a much brighter side to this Sanctuary experience as well. It’s a “brighter side” that will continue to shine, despite the cancellation of the show. I’m talking about Sanctuary For Kids, the charity that helps kids all around the world. Yes, the show may be over, but the legacy of what the show was about – helping others – will continue through S4K. You can find out how you can make a difference at SanctuaryForKids.org.