PARENTHOOD: I watched last week’s episode titled “Whassup?” and I could not believe how many cliches were crammed into 44 minutes. I officially feel bad for Peter Krause now because he deserves better. I usually like Dax Shepherd but his character here is just flat. The piece of the show that makes me saddest: Lauren Graham’s strident, almost b**chy character – even Graham can’t make her likable. The show veers way too readily toward sap and maudlin and they make it worse with the soundtrack. There are some very good writers working on the show (Jeff Greenstein, Jason Katims, and Becky Hartman-Edwards to name a few) and I would think they’d know better than to resort to this technique. If you’re a parent, tell me, do you like the show?
NURSE JACKIE: I loved this week’s episode a) for Dr. O’Hara blasted out of her mind on Ecstasy and showing up to work with her party hangover and b) the oddly moving story of Jackie & Kevin dealing with Grace’s increasing anxiety which took the form of Grace wanting to buy the best smoke detector on the market. The Eddie story is becoming even more creepy with him showing up at the bar to buddy up to Kevin. I am completely absorbed in this show and the half hour flies by incredibly fast. I have to give a cheer for Paul Feig as he directed a chunk of JACKIE episodes this season. I was hooked last season but it’s clear that Jackie is going to deal with some serious consequences of her actions and that time is coming fast.
UNITED STATES OF TARA: I’ll be catching up with this week’s TARA today or tomorrow. A note for the rest of the week: I have family in town so I’ll be playing catch-up most of the week.
HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA: There are only a couple of episodes left in this first season and I wish I could say I cared about these guys but I still don’t. I was disappointed at how they wrote Lake Bell’s character Rachel when she got drunk and turned up on Ben’s stoop. It was so easy and unimaginative. I’m disappointed that they didn’t find a better way to use Jason Pendergraft; he’s a good actor but his role as Darren is bland. What kills me is that Bryan Greenburg has serious TV star potential but all he gets to do in this show is mope around and spout d-bag dialogue. Wrong wrong wrong.
It’s really odd that the most interesting character is Luis Guzman’s Rene – the only scene I DID love in this week’s episode was when Rene had to take his parole officer with him to meet with the CEO of Rasta Monsta and he found out the CEO was an ex-con too.
Are you watching HOW TO MAKE IT? What do you think? Am I wrong to expect more than just a great soundtrack?
CHUCK: Loved last night’s episode and the reveal of the devastating info Agent Shaw learned plus the tense set-up it provides for next week’s episode. Still love seeing Chuck in full spy mode. If they would just settle the Chuck/Sarah story once and for all and let them both move forward, I’d like that too because they’re just repeating the lovesick Chuck note and that’s getting old. I’m also hoping Casey will be reinstated because he and Chuck are actually a great team and very funny together.
V RETURNS TONIGHT!: My favorite new aliens are back to stir things up and I hear there ARE echoes back to the 1980s miniseries this new incarnation is based upon. For an lengthy interview with showrunner Skeeter Rosenbaum, check out Mo Ryan’s recent column:
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2010/03/v-abc-aliens-1.html#more
TODAY’S SURF WRITTEN WHILE LISTENING TO: “Bad Time” as covered by The Jayhawks:
Tonight’s rundown:
ABC: Dancing With the Stars, Lost, V (spring premiere)
On LOST: In “The Package” – Sun and Jin continue to search for each other; Locke confronts his enemy.
CBS: NCIS (repeat), NCIS: Los Angeles (repeat), The Good Wife (repeat)
NBC: Biggest Loser: Couples (2-hrs), Parenthood
FOX: American Idol (2-hrs)
The Top 10 Finalists perform live. I hear there’s a special performance at the start of tonight’s show.
CW: 90210, Melrose Place
PBS: Frontline, Independent Lens
Animal Planet: Madman of the Sea
BBCA: Survivors
BRAVO: 10pm: Millionaire Matchmaker
FX: 10pm: Justified
Tonight’s episode is “Fixer” – “In tracking a vanished confidential informant, Raylan goes against a pair of violent ex-cons who are just dying for a showdown with “the Kentucky Cowboy.”
I’ve watched the first four episodes of JUSTIFIED and it’s like taking a trip across the Mason-Dixon Line every time I watch and listen to Tim Olyphant’s soft drawl. I’m still taken with Raylan’s directness and manliness. He’s not a simple man but there’s a great simplicity to how he conducts himself that is so magnetic. I guess he’s just my kind of lawman.
HGTV: Marriage Under Construction
History: The Real Face of Jesus? (2-hrs, special)
MTV: 16 & Pregnant
Oxygen: Love Games: Bad Girls Need Love Too
Planet Green: Future Food (series debut), Future Food
Spike: Blue Mountain State (season finale), Players
Syfy: WWE NXT
TLC: My First Home (season premiere), My First Home, 19 Kids and Counting, Little Chocolatiers (series debut)
TNT: 10pm: Southland
Tonight’s episode is “What Makes Sammy Run?”: “Gangsters open fire in a crowded club and kill two bangers, one of whom has a connection to an officer. Meanwhile, tensions rise between Sal and Gil on the gang task force. And Sammy confronts his wife, Tammi, after discovering that she has been out photographing gang members.”
SOUTHLAND gets better and better with each episode and while I love the show, it makes me sad because I don’t think any new episodes will be produced. I’m keeping my ear to the ground and hoping I’m wrong about that.
Travel: Food Wars
USA: 10pm: Law & Order: Criminal Intent (season premiere)
Both Vincent D’Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe are leaving the show. Jeff Goldblum’s character Det. Nichols gets a new partner played by the always interesting Saffron Burrows. I absolutely love Goldblum in this show and started watching it again when he joined the cast. Mary Elizabeth Mastroantonio also joins the cast.
WE: Little Miss Perfect
That’s a wrap for now.
