NURSE JACKIE: I loved the season opener because a) it reminded us of where we’ve been with Jackie and b) it showed that she’s still covering up her drug use, even after the morphine episode at the end of last season. Now Jackie is trying to strengthen her relationship with her husband and avoiding Eddie is part of that effort. She’s also got a new nemesis at work in the form of Sam, the temp nurse Jackie busted and fired last season when he was high on the job. Sam is back and he’s twelve-stepping in a big way and trying to get Jackie to admit she has a problem, which irritates the s**t out of her. Edie Falco continues to dominate the show even though the cast boasts the very talented Anna Deavere Smith as tough administrator Mrs. Akilitis and Eve Best as the boozy, often drugged Dr. O’Hara. I can’t stop admiring how Falco plays Jackie’s anger: it’s always there like an underlying current but it doesn’t overwhelm her performance. The show is full of women who each have a different kind of force and I think that’s one of the main reasons I love the show as much as I do. Of the show’s men, I love that Peter Facinelli as Dr. Cooper (Coop) is so willing to play the fool and I had to smile when Jackie yelled at Coop for tweeting during work hours.
UNITED STATES OF TARA: The season opener started with a literal bang as Tara & Max’s next door neighbor committed suicide by shooting himself. A macabre scene with all the neighbors congregating in front of the death house followed but I didn’t buy that Tara could be so light-hearted about it. A better scene was the one that had Tara & Max hosting their neighbors – the gay couple they met after the shooting. Toni Collette won me again when Tara started to do the Jai Ho dance from “Slumdog” as the rest of the group looked on, some amused, and her sister’s boyfriend wondering if Tara was having an episode.
The scene I didn’t buy at all: Tara going to the newly deceased neighbor’s house by herself. They set Tara up as doing well on her meds and they’ve set her up as someone who is very aware of what triggers her transitions. I don’t buy for a minute that she would decide to go into the house where a man killed himself all by herself. At the very least, she’d take Max with her as some kind of safeguard. Which leads me to the biggest continuing problem I have with this show: it’s a gimmick and that gimmick is repeated over and over and over again. While I applaud Toni Collette for her performance, the gimmick got old during the first season so I really don’t see a way to keep the show fresh if Tara is going to keep transitioning. We’re just back on the same hamster wheel. There should be more to the show. Or is it just me?
BREAKING BAD: The first ten minutes of the season opener were so unusual and vivid that I wasn’t sure what they were doing. I was relieved that the opening episode immediately dove into the elephant that’s been in the room for some time: Walt telling his wife Skyler what he really did for a living and then having to deal with the fallout which was swift and harsh. I’ll be watching the next couple of episodes to see if they keep moving the story forward; my biggest problem with the show the past two seasons has been the very slow pacing and the fact that it was a very tough show to watch on Sunday night and then wake up without feeling like I wanted to shoot myself.
JUSTIFIED: Are you watching? Are you liking the show? Are you loving the Tim Olyphant/Walton Goggins of it as much as I am?
LOST: I loved Nestor Carbonell’s performance in last night’s episode but the episode as a whole didn’t affect me nearly as much as I thought it would. I was especially torqued up to learn Richard Alpert’s backstory and at the end of the hour and six minutes, I felt more like, “Huh, well, ok.”
The scenes I loved most were the ones with Jacob and the Man in Black (I’m especially enjoying Titus Welliver as the MiB but Mark Pellegrino continues to impress as Jacob too) because it’s their endless back and forth that’s the island’s reason for being. That little talk involving the carafe of wine and the island being the cork that holds back all the evil pretty much summed it up. My question now: as Hurley “translated” the words of Richard’s dead wife Isabella, I wondered what Hurley’s role going forward is going to be. Is he the new protector? Is he the new Richard Alpert?
ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME: I clicked through the ceremony show quickly because I wanted to see the segments honoring The Hollies and the Brill Building songwriters. The performances I liked best: Chris Isaak’s cover of “Don’t Be Cruel,” Eric Burdon and Paul Schaffer’s Late Show band doing “We Gotta Get Outta This Place,” and Fefe Dobson’s show closer “River Deep, Mountain High”:
http://popdirt.com/fefe-dobson-covers-river-deep-mountain-high-by-ike-tina-turner/78345/
R.I.P. ROBERT CULP: Culp passed away today at age 79 after taking a fall in his neighborhood. Culp was best known for his roles in I SPY and THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO and as one of the starts of the film BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE. Recently, he guested on EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND as Ray’s father-in-law. Culp did it all: comedy, drama, TV, film.
TODAY’S SURF WRITTEN WHILE LISTENING TO: The undeniably catchy Justin Bieber tune, “Baby.” I don’t quite have Bieber fever but I get why he’s a sensation: he’s a mini-Zac Efron but don’t hold that against him – the kid’s got talent and at the tender age of 16, he knows how to work a stage. Here’s a clip of him on Letterman last night:
http://showhype.com/video/justin-bieber-baby-david-letterman-live/
And Raaaaaaanday has something to say about The Bieb stealing his material:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/d47751f7a0/raaaaaaaandy-declares-war-on-justin-bieber
Tonight’s rundown:
ABC: Modern Family (repeat), The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Ugly Betty
BEST GUEST STAR ALERT: The irrepressibly funny Amy Sedaris guests in tonight’s episode of THE MIDDLE as a hardcore motivational consultant. Sedaris is always worth watching, no matter the show.
Cam and Sofia go out to dinner to see who can tolerate spicier food on MODERN FAMILY.
Less great guest star alert: Sheryl Crow guests in tonight’s COUGAR TOWN episode
On UGLY BETTY: Betty gets her braces off.
CBS: Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (special time period), Criminal Minds (repeat), CSI: NY (repeat)
NBC: Mercy, Law & Order: SVU (repeat), Law & Order: SVU
Jill Scott guests in tonight’s new episode of SVU.
FOX: Human Target, American Idol (results show)
CW: America’s Next Top Model, Fly Girls (series debut), High Society
FLY GIRLS is about Virgin Airlines flight attendants.
A&E: Dog the Bounty Hunter, Billy the Examiner
BBCA: 930pm: The Inbetweeners
BRAVO: Shear Genius
Comedy Central: 10pm: South Park, 1030pm: Ugly Americans
I haven’t watched the new animated show UGLY AMERICANS yet.
D101: Underbelly
Discovery: Mythbusters (season premiere), Is It Possible? (series debut)
Fuse: Hip Hop Shop
G4: Web Soup
History: MonsterQuest
ID: Prison Wives
Logo: The Robert Verdi Show Starring Robert Verdi
MTV: The Real World, The Real World: The Sh*t They Should Have Shown (special)
Showtime: Inside NASCAR
Soapnet: Being Erica
Style: Clean House
Syfy: Ghost Hunters, Destination Truth
TBS: The Tyler Perry Show: Why Did I Get Married Too (1-hr, special – obviously promoting the film)
TLC: Addicted
Toon: Dude, What Would Happen, Destroy Build Destroy
truTV: Most Daring: Sudden Terror 4, Most Shocking: Fights and Wild Riots 6
TV Land: First Love, Second Chance
WeTV: The Locator
That’s a wrap for now.
