Friday This N That

It’s been a while since there’s been a This n That update. I guess there really hasn’t been much to gab about this summer, even though it’s been quite busy.

Last night’s episode of Saving Hope had me blubbering like a baby as Alex & Dawn fought over the decision to take Charlie off life support, as he had signed a DNR. I’m going to take a guess and say that Charlie will continue to breathe without the life support – at least he’d better, because if there’s no Charlie, there’s no reason for me to watch the show. The only reason I started watching was because of Michael Shanks. Without him and the character’s ‘ghostly spirit’ watching over things in the hospital, the show would be just another “ER.” Maybe they’ll have Charlie wake up and still be able to see/talk to the ghostly spirits. I loved seeing Brian Markinson on last night’s episode as well. (Remember him from Sanctuary, The L Word, and more) He just has just a wonderful screen presence in everything he does.

Michael just tweeted yesterday that he’s going to play hockey great, Gordie Howe, in an upcoming CBC tele-movie. It was cute how his former Stargate SG-1 co-star Amanda Tapping tweeted him to say that she had played Colleen Howe earlier in her career. Wouldn’t Michael & Amanda make a wonderful couple? I saw the trailer for Amanda’s new tv movie, Taken Back, that will be on Lifetime on August 11th. Be sure to check it out here. She really needs to be on a new series again, because I really miss her weekly on my tv screen.

Speaking of Amanda – I finally got the Season 4 dvd set of Sanctuary yesterday. It’s such a downer to remember that this wonderful series has ended. I’m glad they gave us over 1 1/2 hours of “extras”, however, I really would have liked more audio commentaries from Amanda. “Nice over-the-boob shot, Martin.” LOL and when she talks about her dad being on set & bringing her tea. That’s always the best part. I really did enjoy the commentary from writer Gillian Horvath on “the depths.” It was fun to learn that the Stargate action figures were there on Henry’s desk as he was testing his F.O.S.S.S. vest. So cute. I loved that they included all of the deleted scenes, especially a drunk Tesla. How could they not keep drunk Tesla in the original episode? And the “New York, 1901” scene really should have been left in, because that gave us a mention of the “Peruvian deep water cave” that was a gateway to Hollow Earth. That would have been a nice clue to the ending revelation of the brand new Sanctuary.


I caught most of “Silence of the Lambs” last night on Syfy. I hadn’t watched that in a long time. It made me remember what a great (but very strange) “relationship” that Hannibal Lecter & Clarice Starling had. It was strangely romantic.

On that note, I heard yesterday that they’ve cast Laurence Fishburne in the upcoming “Hannibal” tv series as Jack Crawford. I can now cross that show off my list of ones to watch. Seriously, Fish? He’s the one who really turned me off CSI, and even Marg couldn’t muster up much chemistry with him – which is quite unusual, because she could even find a way to have a bit of chemistry with David Caruso and Michael Beihn. Maybe the overly dark subject matter of “Hannibal” will be a better fit for Fish. I can’t imagine that I’m going to watch more than the pilot.

One show that I really have enjoyed, even though I’ve missed a few episodes is Longmire. Why does the show have to be on a weekend? Many times, I don’t even turn on my tv on weekends. Thank goodness for A&E’s numerous reruns of this show.


Another show caught in the “weekend” syndrome is Falling Skies. I only caught a few minutes of the season 2 premiere so far this season. I really need to get more into this show, because I love Colin Cunningham and I love Noah Wyle.


One show I never miss, is Rizzoli and Isles. Angie & Sasha are just so great together (even when they’re not together) and I’ve fallen in love with the rest of the cast as well. Now, if they could quit putting their good guest stars as “baddies” so we could have them on the show again. I guess that’s called the “CSI syndrome” as many of my favorites who guested on the show were either dead bodies or baddies, so they couldn’t come back in a recurring role.


My only beef with the show is that they’re not airing a new episode on August 7th, but having the summer finale air on the 14th. Unfortunately, I won’t be home that night, and probably won’t get to watch it until days later (unless I can catch the re-run at the hotel later that night on TNT.)


One show I can’t wait to return is Downton Abbey. I’m so pleased to see that it finally gets the Emmy recognition that it deserves. I think we need a season 3 slogan of “FREE BATES” because I really want to see Bates & Anna together on a regular basis, not with bars between them.


One thing I really don’t understand is promoting a series that doesn’t start until the next year. They did that last year with the reboot of Dallas. Now it seems they’re doing it with “Defiance.” Is it really that bad of a show that you need to promote it that far in advance? Sheesh.


On a final note for this edition of This N That –

I was so sad to hear of the passing of Sherman Hemsley earlier this week. He was a tv icon as George Jefferson, so much so that he never really got over that stereotype. Most of his other characters were just like that, including Deacon Frye on “Amen.” I also saw him in an 80s ‘campy’ movie, “Stewardess School.” He was one of a kind. Rest in peace, Sherman. It’s time to “Move on up to the East side, to that deluxe apartment in the sky” with Weezy.

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.

Tuesday This N That

Happy May Day!

Wow. Things have really been quiet lately, haven't they?

It seems strange that we went through the last half of April with a lot of the network shows bringing us reruns. What's up with that? Now that we've moved to May, it's time to get down to the final few episodes leading to season finales.

NCIS is on tonight, with just two more weeks left of the season after tonight. It was great to see that David McCallum has re-signed for two more years as Ducky. It would be hard to imagine the show without him & his bow ties.

On a sad note, this Friday marks the end of the wild & snarky adventures of Mary & Marshall on In Plain Sight. I'm still not sure how I feel about the show ending. On one hand, I'll miss the Mary/Marshall fun. On the other hand, I haven't been fond of the whole baby situation that was written in this season.

Last week's Fairly Legal episode was one of the best of the series so far. I love the episodes that have Kate & Lauren working together. This one was good because the two aren't as snarky with each other as they were in season 1. They've thankfully smoothed both of the characters' rough edges a bit, which has been nice. As for the other part of the story, the Justin/Ben 'bromace' was kind of cute, but I don't think I'd want that on a regular basis. However, if the 'bromance' brings me more Kate/Lauren, I'll take it.

It was interesting to hear Amanda Tapping's comments from last weekend's Calgary Con about how Sanctuary isn't dead -- "It's not that Sanctuary is dead but it's just lying there with its eyes closed & you can see its chest rising and falling". At least that gives me a little tiny bit of a reason to hold out hope.

Looking ahead to summer shows:
They've been promoting the reboot of Dallas for the past year, and it's getting kind of annoying.

I have a feeling that it's going to be quite overhyped (as most things are these days). The only thing it's really got going for it is the return of some of the originals, and the cute young'uns to bring in the tweenies.


Speaking of cute -
The new issue of People featured the 'beautiful ladies' edition. It was great to see some of my faves, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Lorraine Bracco, Morena Baccarin, Sheryl Crow & Dana Delany.

Mid-Week This n That

The end of February is nearing. Is there any way we can just skip ahead to the end of March now and avoid March Madness? It definitely gets to be ‘madness’ at work for at least the first couple weeks of March. Talk about sports overload.

Last weekend, I finished watching the first two seasons of Downton Abbey. Strangely enough, I spent 9 hours sitting on my bed watching it…with my MOTHER. I swear that had to be the weirdest day of my life. Anyway, by the end of season 2, I think I finally had learned all of the characters’ names. I mean, seriously, that show has so darn many characters – and it keeps going so fast - that it’s hard to remember who’s who. I just want to give Anna a real big hug. I don't know how they're going to get Bates out of his predicament. And I was clapping for Matthew & Mary at the end.

Last night brought another lovely episode of NCIS, and last night’s appearance by Jamie Lee Curtis just strengthened my belief that this show ALWAYS gets the best guest stars. Unlike some shows, that shall remain nameless (CSI), this show has always found a way to use those characters to their fullest, and usually doesn’t waste the performances of great guest actors. It’s good to see that JLC’s character, Dr Ryan, wasn’t the baddie and she will be back later (as confirmed by Pauley P). The only recurring character that semi-annoys me is Kate’s sister, as they had her on again last night.

I also caught most of last night’s Body of Proof. I had to chuckle at the very cliché “body found in the wall” scenario. That must be a prerequisite for each & every crime show that there has to be a “corpse in the wall” episode. As always, I enjoyed the lovely (but short) Kate/Megan moments. I loved Megan’s reaction when Kate said she was demoted – a “let me go give them a piece of my mind” declaration. I also have to mention the great song they played at the end of the episode – Diane Birch’s “rewind”. One thing this show is really good at is having some great music.

I also watched NCIS:LA last night, as I heard it was going to be centered on Kensi. The only bad part is that she was a suspect and really didn’t get to do much other than look concerned. Hopefully the continuation next week will have her kicking some butt, as long as they don’t have her stuck in a hospital bed now that she took a bullet to end the ep. WHY do they do that to me? UGH.


Looking ahead to the rest of this week:

Jeff Kober is on tonight’s episode of CSI. Too bad they couldn’t get him on before Marg left. They never worked together the first time he was on the show, either. I might just get the urge to go back & rewatch China Beach episodes, and maybe even the not-so-great “Gold Coast”. Oh, that reminds me – I still haven’t watched his appearance in New Girl last week. I caught the promo for tonight’s CSI episode last night. At least Jorja’s in it, so there’ll be at least some reason to watch. I’m still not sure about Elisabeth Shue’s character – especially if they continue with the too-sugary, flirty, annoying, cliché banter with Finn & Dieberkorn. Otherwise, I liked her presence & strength of character. I enjoyed her scenes with Greg.

Speaking of CSI – Louise Lombard will be on tomorrow’s episode of The Mentalist. It’ll be great to see her again. I wonder if she’ll have her regular accent. And a toothpick would be nice too. I can’t remember if she has the dark hair or the blonde hair for this one. The always-evil, but ever-wonderful Malcolm McDowell is in this one as well.

Also tomorrow night on Fox, Peta Wilson will be on The Finder. I’ve never seen the show. I hope she has a decent part. It’ll probably give me the urge to go back & watch all five seasons of La Femme Nikita again. I really miss that Nikita. I’ve pretty much stopped watching the new incarnation of Nikita – even though Melinda Clarke’s Amanda is in charge. The whole show just turned into something totally different than what it started as. Sometimes that can be a good thing (like Sanctuary, for instance), but for this show, it just made me lost interest.


If you’re keeping track of upcoming dvd releases, here are a few:
April 17th: Eight is Enough S1
May 15th: Hell on Wheels S1
May 22nd: Rizzoli & Isles S2

I was looking through TV Guide’s listings of upcoming pilots for the Fall 2012 tv season. I noticed Aubrey Dollar was set to co-star in an untitled Hilary Winston project for NBC. It would be great if she can get on a regular show again. She was great in her recent appearance on Blue Bloods, even though I thought the episode itself was just so-so.

Another familiar name that popped up as I was browsing through the lists was Sanctuary’s Agam Darshi. She’s to be in a pilot (“County”) about an LA hospital.

Speaking of Sanctuary – are they EVER going to let us know about season 5? If it’s a “yes”, I’ll be jumping for joy. If it’s a “no”, then I’ll be sulky & moody, but for goodness sake, just LET US KNOW THE DECISION SOON.

Thursday This N That

It’s time for another round of This n That – ramblings from a quirky, pessimistic, unstable mind.

That reminds me – I saw an article that said disrupted sleep can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Oy. I’m so doomed if that’s the case.

Anyway, let’s get to what’s become a weekly tv roundup.

- Last Friday, I watched my first episode of Blue Bloods, since Aubrey Dollar was on. She didn’t have a real big part, but it was nice to see her on screen again. It makes me miss Women’s Murder Club all the more. As for the episode itself, I found it kind of a standard, boring cop show. Speaking of Blue Bloods, I just got next week’s issue of TV Guide in today’s mail, and it had a little feature on Donnie Wahlberg.

As much as I’m glad to see Donnie having success with Blue Bloods, I really wish he’d return to Rizzoli & Isles as Jane’s boss/love interest Joey Grant. Then they could get rid of Dickhead Dean. And that would reunite him with Aubrey Dollar’s WMC co-star, Angie Harmon. See, it’s all about that one degree of separation.

- It’s strange to say, but after last week’s wonderful 200th episode of NCIS, I was kind of disappointed with this week’s show. Maybe it has to do with the obvious eye-rolling ‘superheroes’, or maybe it has to do with Tony’s ex-fiancee acting more like she should have been Gibbs’ ex instead. Either way, I was kind of disappointed. That doesn’t happen very often with this show. TV Guide had a little bit with Pauley Perrette doing the voice of Lois Lane.


- Tuesday also brought us a new episode of Body of Proof. This one was fun because it had Robert Picardo as a main guest star. It was great to see Bob & Dana back together again. All that was missing was KC from KC. (you know who I mean) Yes, it was also a Star Trek reunion with Jeri Ryan & Bob P, but I was never a Trekkie, so that didn’t mean anything to me. Now we just need Bob P on Sanctuary (are they EVER going to give us news of a renewal?) and Rizzoli & Isles and then the Picardo quadrangle reunion would be complete. (Dana = China Beach & BoP; Jeri = Star Trek & BoP; Amanda Tapping = SG1/Atlantis & Sanctuary; Angie Harmon = WMC & R&I)

- Speaking of KC from KC, last night’s CSI brought the introduction of Elisabeth Shue as blood expert Julie Finlay, and the first episode without sight nor mention of Catherine Willows. That was quite depressing. While I do like the spunk & energy of the new character, I really hope they don’t continue the flirty backstory with her and DB – or do we make that Dieberkorn now? I much rather prefer Moonbeam Russell.







There was also some nice Sara moments on last night’s show, including some lovely Sara/Greg screen time. I always love seeing those two together. And I can't forget to mention the appearance of Mary Page Keller. My mom used to watch Another World back in the day, and I remember her from that.









As for the episode itself, too much of my least-favorite character made it just a so-so episode. It was really nice to see Lou Vartann getting some decent screen time, however, that also made me miss Jim Brass even more. Where’s the happy medium? Or just bring me back Sofia and I won’t be complaining about any of that.

- I missed SVU last night. From the previews, it was to be a good Kelli Giddish episode. I really need to get caught up with that episode this weekend. TV Guide had a mini interview with HCJ about his guest appearances on the show.


- There were also a few previews & posters for some new shows, including Awake (the preview I saw a while ago has me only so-so on this show) and GCB. As much as I love Annie Potts, I’m hesitant with this show.


- speaking of promos/previews, this ad for House Hunters had me chuckling. By looking at this promo, you’d never know the show wasn’t a full-blown comedy


- I got the new issue of Ladies Home Journal today and was pleased to see a photoshoot with Beth Behrs from 2 Broke Girls




- on a final note, I see that Morena Baccarin is to be on The Mentalist again tonight. At least that means there’s something to watch