Pi Day This n That

It’s 3-14, and you know what that means. Yep, it’s Pi Day! Pi, as in 3.14159. It’s strange, the things I remember from tv shows that I could never remember in science class back in the day. I remember Pi because it was used as a riddle in an episode of Stargate SG-1. There are many other scientific stuff that I’ve learned from Stargate, CSI, NCIS, Rizzoli & Isles, and more. Oh, the power of television. 

Apparently, it's also National Potato Chip Day today as well. So that means a celebration with both pie and potato chips - and for me, that's the sour cream & onion variety.

Anyway, back to the task at hand.

So, we’ve already had the time jump to Daylight Saving time, and we’re in the middle of March Madness, so the only thing I’m waiting for right now is…spring. Has anyone seen it? It sure hasn’t come to the Upper Midwest yet. Mother Nature really needs a new battery in her weather calendar.

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about This n That on television, so let’s play catch-up.

* March Madness (aka the NCAA basketball tournaments) are here. All I will say on that is…Go Lady Vols!! Other than that, I really don’t pay much attention to it. The only thing it really does is screw up the tv viewing schedule for my regular shows – many of which are coming down to their season finales shortly.

My main shows at the moment include:

- NCIS … in which we’ll get to finally meet McGee’s father (an Admiral, no less). We’ve gotten a bit of closure on the death of Jackie Vance with Leon coming back to work, but have they already forgotten that Ziva lost her father as well? (or did she?) I’d like to see some continuation on that subject. Will she really go back to business-as-usual with no change in demeanor after something of that magnitude?

- Chicago Fire … are they really going to continue with this Shay/baby thing? Really? Please end that soon. Ugh! Such a cliched story line. I kind of like the Milson hookup (Peter/Gabriela), but please let them stay professional at work. The kiss in the middle of the hallway was SO not who those two are. I’m not really crazy about the whole mess that was brought up at the end of the last episode, with the whole Chief Boden/Mills Family saga, and now having Gabriela seemingly in the middle of it. The biggest question I have is – are we ever going to get story lines for Capp & Hadley? We see them on the fire runs & rescues, but they rarely get speaking parts, let alone actual story lines. I’ll admit that having Pouch the pooch is a nice addition. I just hope they don’t do what Rizzoli & Isles did with Bass & Jo Friday, where the pets become AWOL for a long time. (more on R&I in a little bit)

- SVU … a couple weeks ago, I watched what I consider to be one of the greatest episodes of the show. It centered on Amanda and her conniving sister, Kim, who set her up to be arrested for a murder. It was a great episode for Kelli Giddish, as well as the woman who played her sister. My only complaint of that episode is why it had to be Amaro who is the one to eventually ‘save the day.’ Seriously. Why not Liv? Why not Finn? Why is it always my least-favorite character on a show that always ends up being the hero? (think: CSI/Langston or Nick) It’s annoying.

- speaking of CSI … I need to give big kudos to Jorja Fox for bringing us a great episode a few weeks ago. It was an episode where Sara was framed for murder by Ronald Basderic (a suspect in a previous episode earlier this season). Sara gets to show her BAMF side (in confronting him & proving her innocence); her vulnerable side (celebrating her birthday alone at a restaurant & talking about her personal life with her co-workers); and her loving daughter side (as we finally get to meet her mother). Oh, and did I mention the revelation that Grissom/Sara (GSR) are separated? Hallelujah! (I know it’s too good to be true in the long run, but I’ll celebrate for the moment anyway) However, the episode made me miss the presence of Catherine, considering the subject of failed relationships and being a target.

* Since I mentioned Catherine, let’s talk about new opportunities for a couple of CSI alumni. Details continue to be released (almost daily, it seems) for upcoming pilots (new shows) to be shot.

- Marg has been cast in the CBS drama, Intelligence, which also features Josh Holloway. The logline states that the show “Centers of US Cyber Command, a unit that has been created around one agent with a very special gift: a microchip that has been implanted in his brain that allows him to access the entire electromagnetic spectrum.” While I was trying to make sense of what that actually means, it made me wonder if that’s like the character, Gary, on the Syfy show, Being Human, where he could visualize audio & visual signals.  I can only hope that Marg isn’t relegated to “second fiddle” status like she was on the later seasons of CSI.

- Marg’s former CSI co-star, Louise Lombard, has also been tabbed for a new show. It’s a drama for CW titled, The Selection. The logline states: “Set 300 years in the future, the drama is an epic romance centering on a working-class young woman chosen by lottery to participate in a competition with 25 other women for the Royal Prince’s hand to become the nations’ next queen. Balancing her loyalty to family, true love and the kingdom, she must attempt to remain true to herself as she navigates the cutthroat competition and palace intrigue, all while a budding rebellion threatens to topple the crown.” I saw that Louise garnered the role of the current queen.

- I saw the new trailer for the upcoming show, Hannibal, which stars another former CSI alum, Laurence Fishburne. I’d love to watch a series that features Hannibal Lecter, however, in watching the trailer, I came to the conclusion that there will be way too much of Laurence in this show for my tastes. It brought back memories of what I call the “bad years” of CSI – the ones that featured Ray Langston (aka Fishburne). So, I guess I won’t be glued to my seat for this new series.

- another movie-to-tv series (beginning shortly) is Bates Motel on A&E (based loosely on the movie, Psycho). I’ve seen some of the previews, and I guess it looked a bit boring, but we’ll see.

- NBC is trying its luck at resurrecting an old classic (which means it’s sure to be a flop), with a remake of Ironside – the crime/drama that featured Raymond Burr as a detective in a wheelchair. The updated version features Blair Underwood in that role. Why do they do this to the old classics? WHY? Ugh!

- NBC is also bringing to life a present-day version of Hatfields & McCoys. I guess that means another Dallas-esque show about backstabbing, jealousy, and greed.

- CBS is doing its usual “since-it-ain’t-broke, add-another-spinoff” theory to the NCIS franchise. Yes, a third series, NCIS: Red, will be coming your way, with a ‘back-door pilot’ to air as an episode of NCIS:LA this spring. Thankfully, this one is a bit different as it follows a mobile team of agents as they solve crimes all across the country, thus they’re not stuck in a particular town/setting, which I think is the only way a third series could survive – by being more original. (remember what having a third CSI show with the same concept did to the franchise? Adios, Miami!)

- in looking at some of the names attached to a few other pilots, I’m intrigued by a small handful of them, including:

Killer women (Tricia Helfer), Murder in Manhattan (Annie Potts), Anatomy of Violence (Skeet Ulrich), The Crazy Ones (Robin Williams),Westside (Jennifer Beals, Dean Winters), Boomerang (Felicity Huffman, Anthony LaPaglia), as well as looking at the loglines for The Wild Blue (a mix of ER, The West Wing & Top Gun – about those working on a US Aircraft Carrier), and Sleepy Hollow (yes, as in “the legend of…”), as well as The Sixth Gun (a supernatural Western).

* moving on to my current favorite show, Rizzoli & Isles, which is currently filming season 4, I’m excited to see that they’ve got both Paddy Doyle and Hope Martin (Maura’s bio dad & mom) as the trial against Paddy gets underway, and even the return of Bass & Jo Friday (I call them, “the kids”). 

* news from another of my favorite shows – Downton Abbey – is not as pleasant, however, as I heard that Siobhan Finneran (Ms. O’Brien) did not renew her contract for season 4. So, along with the losses of Sybil and Matthew, we’re also going to lose O’Brien. Oy.

* speaking of departures – this one is of the very sad variety. Earlier this week, I watched the episode of Dallas, which featured J.R.’s funeral (precipitated by the death of Larry Hagman). While it was great to see some of the Knots Landing characters back to pay their respects, the most heartwarming (or maybe I should say heartbreaking) part of the episode was Sue Ellen’s speech – first saying that J.R. was the reason she drank, then admitting she was still a bit drunk as she was talking, reading J.R.’s letter to her about wanting to make amends and get together for dinner, and finally sobbing her reply, “YES.” I had to chuckle, though, at how they’re continuing the saga of “who shot J.R.?”  If they had to re-use a story line from the original, at least they went with that instead of Bobby-in-the-shower/it’s-all-a-dream.  LOL

* Earlier this week, I got the new issue of TV Guide, which included a list of the 60 Sexiest Couples Of All Time.

1.        Doug & Carol (ER) – I watched that one a little bit, I guess.

2.        Rob & Laura (The Dick Van Dyke Show) – my mom watched that one.

3.        Angel & Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) – didn’t watch it.

4.        Eric & Tami (Friday Night Lights) – didn’t watch it.

5.        Ross & Rachel (Friends) – that show was ANNOYING!

6.        Mulder & Scully (The X Files) – now there we go! Awesome couple.

7.        Sam & Diane (Cheers) – they were okay, but would get annoying.

8.        Mr Big & Carrie (Sex & the City) – didn’t watch it.

9.        David & Maggie (Moonlighting) – funny, hilarious, and almost slapstick-like.

10.     J.R. & Sue Ellen (Dallas) – backstabbing & manipulation … from both sides. What could be better?

The other 50 were listed by show & not numbered. Here are a few of my favorites:

-          Gomez & Morticia (The Addams Family) – so sweet.

-          Darrin & Samantha (Bewitched) – I loved the 1^st Darrin better.

-          Matthew & Mary (Downton Abbey) – did they really have to kill him off? Couldn’t they have him away somewhere, doing something? Ugh.

-          Tony & Jeannie (I dream of Jeannie) – loved these two. They were much like Darrin & Samantha from Bewitched.

-          Ricky & Lucy (I Love Lucy) – I think Lucy/Ethel were a better couple than Ricky/Lucy. Lucy/Ethel remind me of Jane/Maura on Rizzoli & Isles. But, I guess the criteria is “sexiest” couple, so…I still don’t see Ricky/Lucy on that list.

-          Greg & Paige (Knots Landing) – really? If you’re going to have a “sexiest” couple from Knots, how does it not include Abby? Seriously.  In comparison, Nicolette Sheridan was a bonfire, but Donna Mills was an inferno.

-          Shane & Carmen (The L Word) – Absolutely. I loved those two.

-          Tony & Ziva (NCIS) – TIVA rules! I love how Ziva can kick Tony’s ass at any given time…and he knows it.

-          Bobby & Diane (NYPD Blue) – loved these two. I also loved how they tried their best to be so professional at work, but still kept it hot & spicy. I’ll also say that Andy/Sylvia were pretty hot as well. The pairing I never did understand was Andy/Connie.

-          Beecher & Keller (Oz) – I’m so glad they included these two. Any couple that includes Chris Meloni is tops in my book. I just wish they would have found a way to include Elliot/Liv from SVU – even though they weren’t ‘technically’ a couple, they were still sexy & hot as partners.

-          Remington & Laura (Remington Steele) – yeah, that was a hot couple from back in the day.

-          Castle & Beckett (Castle) – only watch the show occasionally. They’re okay, I guess.

-          Booth & Bones (Bones) – I’ve only seen a couple shows. Didn’t see enough spark to make them ‘sexy’.

Couples that should have been included:

-          Michael & Nikita (La Femme Nikita) – a deadly (and sexy) combination. Roy Dupuis & Peta Wilson were HOT together!

-          Jonathan & Jennifer Hart (Hart to Hart) sexy, with class

-          K.C. & Boonie (China Beach) – hello! Sparks flying.

-          Bo & Hope (Days of our Lives) – I haven’t watched the show in almost 20 years, but I remember seeing the sparks fly even back then.

-          Sam & Jack (Stargate SG-1) – okay, so they technically weren’t a couple (at least until season 9, and then it was offscreen), but the eye-sex those two had for all of those years could burn holes hotter than a Goa’uld staff weapon.

-          Doug & Karen (ER) – George Clooney + Marg Helgenberger, anyone? That totally blew Doug/Carol out of the water.

-          Helen & John (Sanctuary) – Dr Helen Magnus + Jack-the-ripper. Perfect.

-          Matt & Kitty (Gunsmoke) – don’t tell me they didn’t ever hook up.

-          Olivia & Elliot (SVU) – as I mentioned previously, totally sexy & hot together as partners

-          Jane & Maura (Rizzoli & Isles) – Don’t say it. This is my world here, and these two are totally together. 

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.

Wednesday This N That

The latest issue of TV Guide arrived today.
One of the segments included a look back at some of the season finales that just wrapped up and what’s in store for the next season, including CSI & NCIS


For CSI, I’m not really sure that I care for the synopsis of discord amongst the team. I’m getting quite sick of the soap opera that the show has turned into instead of the forensics, crime-solving show that I loved to begin with. All I can hope for is that Marg actually does decide to leave and not continue with the half-season stuff that we’re going to see next fall. I also hope this nauseas Raskell fallout isn’t the reason for her leaving. I’d really love to have original storyline of her leaving to be part of the Sam Braun empire.

For NCIS, it was quite an underwhelming season finale. I wasn’t impressed with the ending of “Who will Tony be spying on next season?” Which begs the question – why does every show need to have a season-long story arc these days? Can’t we just have great stand-alone episodes where you don’t need to know all of the past information?

On a brighter note, last weekend I found a great ad in The Hollywood Reporter congratulating Jorja Fox on 15 consecutive years on Prime Time TV.



TV Guide also had a bunch of ads promoting the returning summer shows – including Burn Notice and Covert Affairs.


I’m still not totally into BN, as my favorites are Sam (Bruce Campbell) & Madeline (Sharon Gless), with my least favorite being the main characters, Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) and Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Weston (he’s kind of “okay”)

As for Covert Affairs, I basically quit watching midway through the first season. I might try to get back into the show this summer – maybe.

It’s still a month & a half before the return of Rizzoli & Isles, but it’s been fun seeing some of the tweets & pics from Angie & Sasha during filming. I can only imagine Jane grumbling about being dragged to the spa for a mud bath. I wonder if there was a mud fight?


A new summer show that I might check out to begin with is Necessary Roughness. I see that Craig Bierko & Concetta Tomei are scheduled for recurring roles. That may be the only thing to keep me watching.


There’s still buzzing about the new fall shows. I’m excited to see Maria Bello in the remake of Prime Suspect, however, will the whole “woman in a man’s job” theme become too outdated for this day & age? Will it eventually have to turn into just another “cop” show? At any rate, it’ll be great to see Maria on tv regularly. She’s the main reason I actually tuned into ER for a while.


I also saw a small update with Stevie Nicks in the new issue of More


on a final note - are we FINALLY done with Oprah? Am I the only one to say "Who cares?" when it comes to her?

Don't forget to check out my latest rambles at KayLyne's Place, including the latest - Did CBS have an inkling?