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(S06E18) "You should never trust family photos. They are designed to be deceiving." - Mary Alice when describing the Van De Kamp's photos Last week's episode set a lot of storylines in motion: Preston and Irina's upcoming wedding, Sam becoming a part of Bree's life, Katherine and Robin potentially becoming a couple, and Patrick eventually finding the Bolens. This week, these four storylines continued to be developed and questions were raised as we fast approach the final episodes of this season of 'Desperate Housewives.' Before I comment on these four storylines and the fact that Preston still has the worst fake mustache in TV history, I must warn you that the next new episode will air on April 18. That means we will have to wait close to a month before getting new dish on our favorite Wisteria Lane residents!

Continue reading 'Desperate Housewives' - 'My Two Young Men' Recap

 

Filed under: Desperate Housewives, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

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@danielletbd That was hilarious. Just reading your tweet about it made me laugh.

@BigTVFan Partly. Partly out of boredom.

@MisfitsTamara It's too ridiculous looking for my taste.

@rural_juror @danielletbd Um, what ever happened to different colored shirts? Or how about from the scene they're in?

(S16E06) I realize, for the most part, sometimes the folks on the West Coast are envious of us in the East. After all, we get to watch our favorite shows three hours earlier than they do! Sure, we can give breaking news on spoilers like "Phil was at the welcome mat with a mime." But there's a huge drawback to viewing our favorite shows here in the New York City area. It's called sports. It doesn't matter what sport either. Sooner or later, golf, basketball, football, baseball or another fan-driven game with its overpaid pseudo-celebrities delay our favorite reality shows with their own pseudo-celebs. Tonight, 'The Amazing Race' was delayed nearly an hour due to March Madness. That's aptly named as I get mad every March at basketball.

Continue reading 'The Amazing Race' - 'Cathy Drone?' Recap

 

Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race, Episode Reviews

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From earlier, my write-up of #amazingrace: RT @LATshowtracker: 'The Amazing Race': Champagne wishes http://bit.ly/axzLy8 #TAR

From the department of I Watched So You Didn't Have to, "Celebrity Apprentice" division:

When it came to the competition between Team Rocksolid and Team Tenacity on Sunday's edition of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," there was really no contest. It was clear early on in the Kodak challenge that Sinbad wasn't leading his team and delegating tasks in an effective way.

It's also clear that Cyndi Lauper is something of a wild card, to put it mildly. She does pitch in and work hard, but if Tenacity ever finds itself in the boardroom again, I wouldn't be surprised if her team members throw the ditzy but lovable singer under the bus. She didn't exactly help her cause with her constant conversational non-sequiturs and the way she asked Kodak executives to show her how to use a camera in the middle of a strategy session.

Overall, however, the women had their act together for the challenge, which involved setting up a photo-opportunity event to promote photographic products and services. Tenacity's event ran pretty smoothly, despite some power outages and a few other hitches. The men, however, scrambled to get their event organized and at one point, Bret Michaels walked off in a huff when he though team leader Sinbad was ignoring him.

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich didn't contribute much to the effort -- at one point he went off on his own to take a call that presumably concerned his present legal problems. It's not possible to convey much of what he said in the call, considering most of it was bleeped out. There was something about a betrayal and a comment about those legendary tapes -- that's all we could gather. It must have been bleepin' golden.

It wasn't a shock when Rocksolid lost the challenge and went to the board room, nor was it a surprise when Sinbad was booted. The only real shocker in the competition was the very strange hat worn by Tenacity team leader Maria Kanellis. It looked as though a jelly doughnut had exploded on her head.

Biggest surprise: A passer-by on the streets of New York mistaking Blago for Donny Osmond. Donny Osmond?!

Biggest non-surprise: A rock star had a hissy fit when no one paid attention to him.

Best Blago-ism: Another passerby told Blago "Enjoy prison." Blago's weak reply: "None of that's true."
Note: Comments may take longer than normal to appear, given that Mo is on vacation. Also, commenters should not attack other commenters here, and the tone must remain civil or the comment area will be shut down.

Forgive me. I rarely watch Desperate Housewives. So why is one of the twins wearing the world's most ridiculous fake mustache?

(S03E01) The return of 'Breaking Bad' is a reason to celebrate. No, it's not that Walter White is the kind of character you cheer for and enjoy watching. Rather, it's that the ongoing story of Walt, the very act of his breaking bad, is the most compelling television currently on the air. There are elements of 'Breaking Bad' that are simply unmatched on any other drama series. This return picks up precisely where the last season ended, albeit a few days later, but the tone, the time and the emotional dynamite is firmly intact. Be prepared for the ride of your life in the weeks ahead.

Continue reading 'Breaking Bad' - 'No Mas' Recap (Season Premiere)

 

Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free

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@Memles @iamwesley Thanks! He sure is making the rounds. I heard about the Greek spot, but I didn't know he was going to be on DH too.

Is that Joan's jackass of a husband from Mad Men on Desperate Housewives?

Rosie O’Donnell is said to be working with Dick Robertson and Scott Carlin, who were formerly executives at Warner Brothers.

The Big Bang Theory Braces for a Big Break-Up - http://bit.ly/dzXbam

@marisaroffman Any week with that much SPN sounds like a perfect week to me.

Hitting the reset button is a time-honored tradition in TV. Even the most ambitious dramas occasionally feel the need to shake off some baggage and simplify the story.

I don't want to give away too much about the second season of "Nurse Jackie" (9 p.m. Central Monday, Showtime; three stars), but if you're expecting radical changes in Jackie Peyton's life, you may come away disappointed, at least the show hits its mid-season stride.

Truth be told, I wish the final scene of Season 1 hadn't been such a cliffhanger. It showed ER nurse Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) apparently overdosing on some illicitly obtained prescription medication; there were implications that some of her carefully cultivated secrets could be revealed and her easy access to her drugs of choice could be curtailed.

I experienced a mild but undeniable sense of letdown during the first few episodes of Season 2. If "Jackie" is just meant to be a low-key character study about an addicted nurse with a lot of secrets, that's probably OK (though I find myself enjoying the forward movement that does occur and usually want more than "Jackie" doles out).

However, even though there are the usual array of things to enjoy in this tightly wound comedy-drama, if "Jackie" uses cliffhangers in the future, it should probably pay them off in a more substantial way. There are a few story threads that are developed and then dropped in a somewhat sudden manner as the second season progresses. It's just hard to invest in the dramatic momentum when it does start building, given that it may just melt away again. 

Then again, like most addicts, Jackie finds it easy to make promises and just as easy to break them. At least Jackie's too self-aware to let herself off the hook for all her mistakes, and that's what makes her pitiable -- and in a weird way, admirable -- rather than detestable.

Falco gives the harried nurse and mother a core of essential goodness shot through with well-concealed pain: No doubt Jackie would be good to the neediest, nicest patients no matter what, but there's also the sense that she's trying to assuage her guilt over how she treats her friends and family by being kind to total strangers.

Falco is, of course, a master at conveying multiple levels of emotions in the fewest possible words and gestures; her knitted brow and soulful eyes often express everything Jackie can't bring herself to say. As her friend, Dr. Eleanor O'Hara, Eve Best matches Falco's subtlety, despite having a somewhat more flamboyant role as the hospital's wittiest, best-dressed doctor.

At one point, there's a great scene of the characters discussing O'Hara's complicated love life; both women are facing the camera, looking at one of All Saints Hospital's religious statues. Best barely says a word, but O'Hara's emotional turmoil is apparent. Like Falco, Best has learned the art of radiating a character's pain without telegraphing it too obviously.

There are changes in the show's ensemble, some of which work, some of which take getting used to and some of which seem a little clunky. The good news is that hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith) is much more layered and effective than the one-dimensional character we saw in Season 1.

Last season, Zoe Barkow (Merritt Wever), a goofball trainee nurse, ended up providing some of the funniest moments. However in Season 2, everything about Zoe feels more mannered and the character verges on irritating at times. It would appear that Zoe is trying to imitate Jackie but one Jackie is enough. I frankly miss the goofier, more naive Zoe of Season 1.

One of Jackie's fellow nurses, Momo de la Cruz (Haaz Sleiman), is gone this season, replaced by Sam (Arjun Gupta), the doped-up nurse from Season 1 who returns to All Saints sober and convinced that Jackie is on the hard stuff herself. Sam doesn't provide the same comedic value that other All Saints staffers do, but Thor (Stephen Wallem) more than takes up the slack. His scenes aren't long but he always makes the most of them.

Another thing I miss this season are the scenes between pharmacist Eddie (Paul Schulze) and Dr. Fitch Cooper (Peter Facinelli). I can't complain too much in this regard, because Eddie's situation does change in Season 2, and I'm the one who allegedly wants forward movement for the characters. But Eddie's grounded nature is always a great contrast to Coop's weird combination of arrogance, petulance and innocence.

How are things between Eddie and Jackie? Well, few relationships on this show are easy (one of Jackie's daughters experiences crippling anxiety, and it's not hard to see why). Eddie's attempts to stay in Jackie's life are meant to throw her off her game -- and more often than not, they do.

Jackie's long-suffering husband, Kevin (Dominic Fumosa), shows signs of getting tired of his wife's excuses. Quite rightly, he starts to view her workaholic behavior as a selfish means of avoiding her own life, not an expression of a desire to help people. When things begin to get heated between Jackie and Kevin, the show catches fire in a meaningful and resonant way, and Kevin becomes more than just a good-looking guy whose name I have trouble remembering. 

At its best, "Nurse Jackie" feels like a really good one-act play about people trying to keep a lid on difficult emotions. Season 1's high point had a tour-de-force from Judith Ivey as a dying nurse; this season, in Episode 8, Harvey Fierstein gives a brilliant performance as the husband of a dying man.

The moments in which Jackie and the people in her ER find common ground -- that's when this show achieves liftoff. Those restrained yet truthful scenes respect and delineate suffering in a way that few shows do. If nothing else, that makes "Jackie" one of a kind.

Photos: Paul Schulze, Merritt Wever, Edie Falco, Eve Best, Anna Deavere Smith and Peter Facinelli; Best, Falco and Stephen Wallem; Falco and Facinelli.

RT @THR: Conan-Fox talks resume amid 'Idol' offer http://bit.ly/afmZcF

After a two-week stall, Fox and Conan O'Brien have resumed talks about a potential late-night talk show... Full story at The Live Feed

RT @seat42f: Casting News : ABC Drama Pilot No Ordinary Family books Tate Donovan. #GreatCasting #TheOC #Damages

@MisfitsTamara He was fine, although a little too fawny, but Elisabeth has got to go.