Monday This n That

Let the fall tv madness begin.

A few shows have begun their fall tv seasons, but this week, many of them arrive in full force. I’m not too crazy about where some of my favorite shows have been rescheduled to – specifically, Chicago Fire moving from Wednesday night to Tuesday night. Tuesday nights are always busy nights at work and I usually don’t get the chance to do more than casually glance at the shows as they’re airing. Yet, most of my favorite shows seem to end up on Tuesday nights. Damn!

Tonight brings the return of 2 Broke Girls and Castle. I haven’t really been much of a fan of Castle, but have been watching a few reruns lately on TNT. I guess it’s one of those shows that if it’s on my tv screen, I’ll probably watch. It used to be that I’d just change the channel if it was on, so I guess that’s progress, right? I consider myself a ‘casual’ watcher of 2BG and if I remember that it’s on, I’ll watch, just to get my fix of Max snarkasm. However, since it’s a comedy, I don’t really get too invested in the show. For some reason, comedies just can’t keep my interest.

Tonight also brings two new shows that I’m interested to check out – Hostages and The Blacklist.

 

As luck would have it, they’re both on at the same time. Of course.  Sleepy Hollow premiered last week. It wasn’t too bad, but I’m hoping there are a few less head-choppings as the show continues.

Tomorrow brings the season 11 premiere of NCIS



 I know this show is going to destroy me. I’ve heard the first two episodes of the season deal with Ziva’s departure, and I’m just not ready to deal with that. From what I’ve heard about the various characters who will come & go until they settle with Ziva’s eventual replacement, Bishop, I just may have to ‘let go’ of this show for a little while. 

The season 2 premiere of Chicago Fire is tomorrow as well. I’m glad to have this show back, after we left season 1 with a bunch of different storylines – Mills not making squad and going to the Police Academy for an application (I wouldn’t mind him leaving for the PA. He started out as a sweet, naïve newbie, but they turned him into a whiny, grumbly pain in the ass), Severide & Shay running into a pregnant Renee, a big sports bar starting up right down the block from Molly’s, Dawson consoling Casey after the loss of Hallie, Mouch meeting his online girlfriend, and the birth of Kenny Hermann.

There are a few new shows that premiere tomorrow that are on my radar. I’ve watched the pilots for two of them – The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife – and predictably, I didn’t get past the first five minutes of either of them before giving up. Two other new shows – Lucky 7 and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – I have yet to see. However, I’m guessing I’ll probably like MAOS since it’s on at the same time as NCIS, because that’s just how my luck runs.

Revolution returns on Wednesday. However, this might be a show that gets crossed off my list, considering that they killed off the main reason I watched this show – Daneilla Alonso’s character, Nora. 

Other returning shows on Wednesday include SVU and CSI. SVU returns with Liv in the clutches of a monster. And CSI…well, I guess I never did watch last season’s finale, but I know that there’s apparently a ‘significant’ character that ends up in a coffin in the season premiere. Since Chicago Fire isn’t on at the same time as CSI this season, maybe I’ll catch a few more eps. Then again, probably not. The only CSI episode on my radar is the 300^th, which brings back Marg as Catherine Willows.

A new show starting up this Wednesday that I had on my ‘to watch’ schedule was Back in the Game. I wasn’t impressed after watching the pilot, but hopefully things will improve as I do kind of like some of the cast. It feels like a crass version of “Bad News Bears.”

As usual, shows on the ‘to watch’ list for the rest of the week are pretty slim. Parenthood returns on Thursday night. I didn’t really watch much of that show last season. They just never have enough Bonnie Bedelia screen time for my liking. I’m not sure yet about Robin Williams and The Crazy Ones yet, but I’ll check it out on Thursday night. 

Thursday This N That

Where, oh where does the time go? In my part of the universe, time seems to be forgotten as it’s nearing the end of April and Mother Nature still has not brought us spring. As I’ve learned from Sam Carter and Stargate SG-1, time is relative. Funny how I never really learned that in my high school science classes back in the day, but when it’s said by Sam, I seem to remember things easier. Go figure.

I’ve been pretty much spending my time lately with Twitter, which is usually much easier to ramble in 140 characters or less than typing up sensible blog posts (are any of them really ‘sensible’ to begin with anyway?). 

Anyway…back to the topic at hand – which would be tv shows.

Many of the fall/winter shows will be wrapping up their seasons shortly.

That includes NCIS, and from what I’ve seen, it sounds like probably a cliffhanger (which I absolutely hate!), but at least we’re going to get a bit of Tiva goodness in the eps leading up to the finale. I know they won’t give us much, but I’m grateful for the bits & pieces that we’ve gotten over the years.

I watched the NCIS:Red pilots that were part of the NCIS:LA episodes, and they were pretty good. I actually liked them until they brought in John Corbett as an antagonist/ex-lover for Kim Raver’s character. Why do the main characters usually have to be spurned lovers with a history? Oy! I liked the premise of an NCIS ‘mobile’ team that wasn’t stuck in one place for too long.

Chicago Fire has only a few more episodes to go. Unfortunately, it seems that bad-cop Voight is out of jail again and will be in the thick of the plot to end the season. That is SO annoying. I’m also not too thrilled with the Mills/Dawson/Casey love triangle thing. Hopefully with the return of Hallie, things might cool off with that. (doubtful) I also don’t like how they’re using every lesbian cliché they can think of when it comes to Shay. So annoying. All they need to do is bring me episodes with a bunch of call-outs and emergency rescues and I’ll be happy.

Revolution is into its second half of the season now. I’m not too pleased with some of the storylines, and I really could use more Nora. Since they’ve got Daniella Alonso on the show, which means she can’t get back on Rizzoli and Isles any time soon, they’d better give the woman some more damn screen time to make it worth my while. After all, she’s the only reason I’m watching this show.

Speaking of R&I, I saw the new promo pic for season 4 with Jane and Maura handcuffed together, and both in bright red outfits.

Nope. There’s nothing remotely lesbian about that pic, right? Didn’t think so. Haha. I have to wonder, though, why they have June 16^th as the premiere date, when 1) that’s a Sunday, not a Tuesday 2) the premiere date is actually June 25^th. Somebody in the PR department needs to be arrested by Jane and charged with ‘false advertisement’.  I do love that season 4 will bring us through Paddy Doyle’s trial, and of course, Hope will be there too. Now, if we could only get Constance to come back, and it would be nice to see the elusive Mr Isles. Whatever they do, there had better be no Jane/Maura angst this season like the beginning of last season. I don’t think my heart can handle that again.

A few new shows are getting underway now.

I watched the first couple episodes of Bates Motel (based on the movie, Psycho), but it was a bit too dull for my tastes. I’ll probably catch an episode here or there down the road when I remember that it’s on. I struggled through the premiere of Hannibal a couple weeks ago. I liked the visualization of Will Graham being ‘in the moment’ at the scenes and the way they shot them. However, the presence of Laurence Fishburne killed any enthusiasm I had of making this a regularly watched show. He’s just way too dull. All I could think about is that it’s Ray Langston incarnate, and that made me remember the bad-old-days of CSI. The show about Hannibal Lecter also made me yearn for a Jodie Foster appearance – or at least someone named Clarice Starling. This Lecter seemed much slimier than the highly-intelligent Doctor that Anthony Hopkins played.

One series premiere that I greatly enjoyed was Defiance, shown earlier this week.

 
I instantly fell in love with Doc Yewll. It may have been because of her witty sarcasm & one-liners – “good human,” and “if you rush me, we all go boom. If you yell at me, we all go boom. Now you know how I’m doing up here.” And how can you not love a new show that basically starts out with two main characters singing along with Johnny & June on “Jackson”?! That made me smile from ear to ear. One thing that kind of annoys me is that they occasionally talk in a different language. However, there’s one Castithan word that will easily stick with me: Shtako (translation = the 4-letter “S” word, crap, poo, doo doo, etc). Why are the curse words always the easiest to remember? LOL

There will be a few more shows starting soon, including Warehouse 13 Season 4.5 returning April 29^th on Syfy. 

Wednesday This N That

I’m not sure who has garnered more of my ire lately – Mother Nature or the tv schedulers.

Last week, Mother Nature blessed us with a couple inches of snow. Yes, SNOW – in the first week of October, for goodness sake. Thankfully, it melted in a day, but temps are still a bit cooler than normal around here. I’m not amused.

Another thing that doesn’t amuse me is the current tv schedule. I thought my Tuesday schedule was bad enough with Parenthood and Sons of Anarchy airing at the same time (not to mention TNT airing Rizzoli and Isles reruns at that time as well. UGH). Beginning tonight, the Wednesday tv schedule is unamusingly jam-packed and stuffed-to-the-gills in the 9pm hour here (Central Time).  Yes, that’s the normal time slot for CSI, which isn’t a major concern for me these days because I’ve lost quite a bit of interest in the show and have only become a ‘casual’ watcher lately. The problem comes with the two new shows that premiere tonight in that time slot – Chicago Fire on NBC and Nashville on ABC.

I’ve watched the pilot episode for Chicago Fire and loved it. It reminded me a lot of LA Firefighters, a short-lived show from 1996 with Jerrod Emick, Christine Elise, Alexandra Hedison, and Brian Smiar, and even had a few of the same storylines (colleague’s death, blaming co-workers, taking care of the widow, etc) as well as Emergency (from the 1970s) as it follows both the firefighters and paramedics. The character I was most intrigued with is Monica Raymund as paramedic Gabriela Dawson. She has a great storyline in the pilot episode where it’s her actions vs consequences. And of course, Taylor Kinney (Rizzoli and Isles fans may know him as evil baseball player Jesse Wade) and Jesse Spencer are some nice eye candy. I guess stories/shows about firefighters always intrigue me. Back in the mid-80s, a relative of mine was a volunteer firefighter in a small town, and was killed after falling off a fire truck when responding to a call. How appropriate that Chicago Fire premieres during National Fire Prevention Week.

As for Nashville, I guess I’m not expecting to enjoy the show. All of the promos have made it seem too soapy instead of about the music and the struggle to "become a name." I’m hoping to be proven wrong. I'm hoping that it turns out to be something like the movie, "The Thing Called Love" with River Phoenix, Samantha Mathis, Sandra Bullock and Dermot Mulroney. But I'm not holding my breath on that. However, the absence of Nashville from my over-cluttered schedule would probably be a relief. That would leave only Chicago Fire and CSI in that time slot.

Speaking of CSI – I had a brilliant thought last night that a perfect role for Marg as a guest star would be on Rizzoli and Isles as one of Korsak’s ex-wives. We’ve already seen one of them (Lolita Davidovich as Melody) and during the upcoming winter episodes of season 3, we get to meet another of his ex’s. That leaves one more available, and it would be great to have Marg & Bruce McGill reunited again.

Lest I forget – ‘Arrow’ also premieres tonight on CW. Thankfully, not in the same timeslot as the others. However, I’m not putting much hope into keeping this on my ‘to watch’ list, but I will at least check it out.

Strangely enough, I’ve still got three shows on my Monday night schedule. Of course, two of them have to overlap as well – 2 Broke Girls & The Mob Doctor. 2BG is basically the only comedy show that I actually still watch. I seem to like Mob Doc more every week. I like how Grace seems to learn how to ‘play the game’ more each week, but that also means she’s getting herself deeper into debt as well. How long will Constantine let her keep playing both sides?

Revolution keeps growing on me as well. I actually didn’t mind that they killed off Maggie this week. I can only hope that would mean more screen time for Nora (I love Daniella Alonso) but I have my doubts. I’m guessing it just means more screen time for Elizabeth Mitchell’s character, with whom I’m not impressed.

And finally, there’s Downton Abbey. God, I love this show. There are so many different subplots, that it’s hard to keep up with everything, but they somehow manage to keep it all so intertwined and flowing smoothly. Bates/Anna is so heartbreaking to watch. Matthew Crawley, you’re really going to open a big can of worms now, aren’t you. Yikes. However, I’m not so keen on having them bring Ethel back into the storyline.

I’ve also realized that NCIS:LA can be a great show if there’s enough Kensi/Deeks banter throughout. Those two have such an old-married couple vibe, with a bit of brother/sister one-upmanship.

There will be no new episode of Elementary this week because of the political debate crap that will pre-empt regular programming. As if politicians weren’t high enough on my ‘avoid at all costs’ list, they have to take away more of my regular shows as well?  Assholes.

Now that we’ve caught up on the current tv stuff, let’s take you back a couple decades to some great movies – starting with one of my favorites – Eric Stoltz & Mary Stuart Masterson as Keith & Watts in Some Kind of Wonderful – such a great love story.

And a little bit of insight to A League of Their Own with Penny & Gena.

Wednesday This N That

Am I really going to do this?

One half of my brain says “absolutely not.” The other half says… “maybe just a little bit.”

Can you believe that this internal head-butting dilemma is all because of a… *gasp* reality show?

Yes, in my world, that would make headline news because, seriously, I just don’t do reality shows. Ever.

Okay, that’s a lie. I did watch (and very much enjoyed) the “Police Women of…” series on TLC (PWO Broward County was my favorite), but that was really just a documentary or docu-drama and not a ‘reality’ series…right? (Please say ‘yes’!)

And there was that one time where I watched a small part of a show (I think it was Big Brother) just because Sheryl Crow was singing on it. But that doesn’t count because I wasn’t really watching the show itself, I was watching Sheryl…right?

So there, I don’t watch reality shows. I think reality shows have become the main reason for the downfall of morals & values in society. They’ve made us think that greed, backstabbing, whining and over-inflated egos are a suitable replacement for kindness, selflessness and charity.

So, why the internal ‘reality show’ dilemma?

Blame it on Lisa Whelchel.

Does the name ring a bell? If not, maybe I should say “Blair Warner” or “Facts of Life” or maybe just sing “you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the Facts of Life.”

Yes, THAT Lisa Whelchel. And Lisa Whelchel is going to be on the new season of “Survivor” which begins tonight.

So, the ever-present question: can I really force myself to watch? Maybe this is one time where my VCRs will come in very handy. Record the episode, and just clip off any parts that include her. I’m thinking that might be acceptable.

But that doesn’t mean that I’m actually going to be ‘watching’ a reality show…right?

Okay, enough about reality shows. I’m going to break out in hives just thinking about the ickiness of them. Let’s move on.

Speaking of forcing myself to watch shows because of certain actors…

It looks like I need to check out a few episodes of Supernatural during this upcoming season 8. The ever-wonderful Amanda Tapping will be making a few appearances. Damn that woman for being so charming & lovable that I’d watch anything she does. I even watched the independent film “Stuck” because of her. Usually a film that takes place entirely in an elevator wouldn’t be something I’d watch. I blame Amanda.

I also should make mention that I heard Leisha Hailey will be guesting on The New Normal in an upcoming episode as one half of a lesbian couple with Constance Zimmer. (typecasting much? Lol)

Anyway…

Next week, most of my shows are back in full force, starting with 2 Broke Girls on Monday. I’m looking forward to more of the wild & zany with Max & Caroline & their cupcakes.


But why, oh why, does CBS have to move 2BG back another 1/2 hour this season? Now it conflicts with one of my new shows, The Mob Doctor, which premiered this week. I enjoyed the show. It’s kind of like ER meets Goodfellas, or just Nurse Jackie seriously flipped on its ass. I wonder if Lorraine Bracco will make a guest appearance on the show. She’s been in every ‘mob’ movie or show ever made, right? Haha. Anyway, considering that most of the reviews I saw leading up to the premiere called it one of the worst shows of the season, I’m going to guess that my TV jinx is going to come back in full force this fall season, but I hope this show is able to keep a decent audience. It would be another ‘feather in the hat’ for a female-led show.



Tuesday brings the return of NCIS and the aftermath of last season’s explosive ending – Ducky’s heart attack on the beach, Gibbs covering Abby, Tiva in the elevator, McGee in the bullpen. I think I will enjoy seeing Jimmy Palmer a bit more in the spotlight.


Tuesday also has the premiere of the comedy, Ben & Kate. I watched the pilot for this show and realized that for some reason, I just can’t get into comedies, unless it’s something really special (or maybe snarky is the correct word) like 2 Broke Girls or Bunheads.


The new show, Vegas, premieres on Tuesday as well on CBS. I can only hope that it will live up to its hype, which is mainly due to the high-profiled cast – Dennis Quaid, Michael Chiklis, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc. Wouldn’t it be cool if they’d incorporate Sam Braun (CSI) into the show? Now, this is why I would have loved to have had CSI leave Catherine with the exit line of going back to run the casinos instead of joining the FBI. Yes, I know the show is set in the ‘old’ days of Vegas, but Sam/Lily and young Catherine would be viable characters, right?


Speaking of Catherine… Marg, I miss your lovely face on my tv screen. Please find a guest-starring gig real soon. At least the mags haven’t forgotten her.


Moving up to Wednesday, CSI returns for season 13. Does anyone really care about this show anymore? If anyone knows when good Sara or Greg-centric episodes are coming up, please give me a heads-up so I can tune in. Otherwise, I think I’m done with the show. However, I was sad to hear of George’s loss of both his father as well as Maverick. The dog even made an appearance in the episode, “Burked” from season 2. I can’t believe the show has remembered the word “continuity.” That’s usually the one word the show never could remember. Bringing back the Warrick storyline is a good start.


Does anyone still make video clips of the Sara scenes?

SVU also returns on Wednesday with a 2-hour premiere. What’s up with that? Why the need for overkill to start the season?


Thursday of next week brings the premieres of two new shows – Elementary and Last Resort. I’ve watched the premieres for both of them, and give Elementary a hearty 2 thumbs-up (Jonny Lee Miller & Lucy Liu are great as Holmes & Watson), while just a so-so rating for Last Resort (it might get better once they stay off the sub and don’t make me feel claustrophobic).


Since it looks like the Friday tv viewing schedule is as dull as a board, I think I’ll try getting into Blue Bloods this season…maybe. Don’t hold your breath.

I saw this short story on Penny Marshall in the latest issue of People. I had to chuckle at her comment on how she’d like to direct a tv show now, because “The movie business is in the toilet. All they want is vampires & car chases.” ROFL that is so true.



Before I end for this time around, I need to make mention of Kathy Bates and how inspiring she is for everything that she’s gone through recently – the latest being her double mastectomy. I saw a quote where she said she missed being on Harry’s Law more than she missed her breasts. How can you not absolutely adore the lady for that?