Best Television Shows

Archive for June, 2009

Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(S05E04) After an intense, heavy-duty The Closer last week, it was probably a wise move to roll out a lighter episode. That’s what this show was, a change of pace with some insight into the delicate dance that makes Fritz and Brenda’s relationship work.

The decision to not work together since they’re not married was news to me. But Fritz had an ulterior motive in getting Major Crimes into the case of missing person Austin Blair. The motive was not just to distract Brenda Leigh from her grief of losing Kitty, but at first that seemed to be his intent.

Continue reading The Closer: Walking Back the Cat

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Shot from the waist up, ABC Channel 7 reporter Jim Dolan reports from Michael Jackson’s Hollywood Walk of Fame shrine without pants.

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It’s only week two and “Cancun” already has its villain.

Below are two clips from this Wednesday’s all-new episode. In the first clip, the pranks are all fun and games when Bronne proves he’s the jokester of the house by spooning a sleeping CJ. But in the second clip, one of the “Real World”er crosses the line when he spits in Ayiiia’s food.

Uh uh, not cool. Watch below.

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Whatever happened to Joanna Pacitti?

The “American Idol” wannabe, who was never popular with fans last season, took to her blog to answer that question – even if no one is asking it.

“I can’t help but be sad right now,” writes Pacitti on her Myspace blog. “‘Idol’ was an amazing experience for me… but I truly wish I was there longer – I think I deserved it.”

Pacitti, 24, who fans labeled a “ringer” because of her professional past on Broadway’s “Annie” and in the recording studio for her A&M album, took the opportunity to address her critics.

“I do it for you guys. And if I can make a difference in your life and make you feel something … than I have done my job,” says Pacitti, who says she is currently writing songs and working on her music.

Pacitti got the boot before the round of 36 semi-finalists when “Idol” discovered her close relationship with two of the show’s producers and determined her “ineligible” to continue. Read the full post after the jump.

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How to get your 15 seconds of fame.

“America’s Next Top Model”
Season 14 of young women clawing at each other to become the next Tyra. Survive that, you could nab a modeling contract. Closest auditions are in the Providence area.
When: July 2, 4 to 7 p.m.
Where: Emerald Square Mall, 999 South Washington St., North Attleboro, Mass.
For more info: Click on cwtv.com.

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Judging a new tv series based on the pilot is as premature and fruitless as judging a Woody Allen film by the introductory voiceover, so I’ll reserve any serious judgment of HBO’s new show Hung until we’re a few episodes in. But that being said, last night’s pilot was, for lack of an accurate term without an obviously negative connotation, pretty boring.

Rather than drone on with a bunch of paragraphs I don’t even feel particularly strong about (plus I’m not sure what the title of this post means, just sounded appropriate), here are my random thoughts about last night’s Hung premiere — feel free to leave your own in the comments:

– An HBO show about a male prostitute premieres without a single boob in the pilot?? I’m assuming HBO used up its ’09 “Shoehorning Boobs In There” budget on True Blood and the next Entourage season.

– Thomas Jane was fine, although — and I know I’ve said this before and it’s becoming less and less of a joke each time — I’d almost rather actually watch the series Homeless Dad. Jane’s character actually did lose custody of his kids in the Hung pilot, but resisted the temptation to throw us a bone with one little fourth-wall-breaking “I just want my kids back” line.

– For a reputed comedy, there weren’t really a lot of jokes in the first episode. I don’t mean the show elicited any “What, you call that a joke?? NOT FUNNY” reactions, just that it literally didn’t seem to really be much of a comedy. I’ll chalk that up to pilot-syndrome, because the show sure had a lot of exposition to cover, but I laughed through the entire Eastbound and Down premiere and that was also full of at least three seconds of non-joking setup.

– A friend of mine pointed out the semi-datedness of the parent-goth kid theme and the even more datedness of physically waiting in line for concert tickets; coupled with the fact that Jane’s character deals in magazines and classifieds and only briefly on some dated-looking search engine, my friend hypothesized that the pilot was written a handful of years ago and was never updated. I don’t recall them ever mentioning a specific date in the show, but everything seemed just vaguely dated. That and the fact that they kept using 1-800-CALL-ATT.

– There’s just no way to cram the title of a tv show into the show dialogue without it sounding deliberately awkward. “You used to be smart, driven, popular, HUNG… but now, you’re just HUNG.”

– I’m genuinely intrigued to see how long this premise can possibly sustain itself with new, non-repetitive dilemmas. Once Thomas Jane shows up to a client who turns out to be a student at his school, and he tries to keep the news from leaking out, I’m not sure where the show will go from there. I assume this will happen three seconds into Episode Two.

So yeah, in general, it was a super pilot-y pilot that didn’t really convince me definitively whether or not it’ll be worth watching, and it’s still HBO, so I guess I’ll have to continue DVRing it. Because God forbid, with no network shows running and most sports done for the season, I may actually go out and enjoy my summer in an active and productive manner. [SHUDDER]
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In a trend that just refuses to end or stop being funny, another fast food customer was arrested this week for abusing 9-1-1 after calling the emergency service and belligerently demanding justice after a McDonald’s only gave him two burgers for a ten dollar bill.

People, we need to calm down — an order mix-up at McDonald’s is not an emergency. Popeye’s running out of chicken on the other hand…

Embedded video from CNN Video
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This band Cobra Starship released a music video today featuring Leighton Meester, hot off her recent sex tape scandal. I have never really watched Gossip Girl (except, you know, every episode at least seven times), but I assume they wanted this video to look like a scene from the show. I was really caught me off guard when, in the middle of the loose music video storyline, the pretty girl character played by Ms. Meester starts SINGING! I mean, Alicia Silverstone didn’t start singing in the middle of the “Crazy” video. Ben Affleck didn’t start singing in the middle of the “Jenny from the Block” video. What gives, Cobra Starship???

I can’t really put down Leighton’s singing ability. She’s sure as hell better than Heidi Montag. But if she really does launch a singing career, it totally kills my plan to start a band called “The Leighton Meesters” with my friend Kenny in Boston. I really liked that name. Looks like we’re going with “The Blake Livelies” after all, Kenn.
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Fraudster Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in prison, setting up a prime opportunity for a combination super-judgmental, super-punny New York Post headline. Our headline suggestions:

OOOOH, BERN!

BERNIE GAY(SEX)DOFF, FOR THE NEXT 150 YEARS

Tom G adds:

7800 WEEKENDS AT BERNIE’S JAIL CELL

JUDGE TO BERNIE: CELL CELL CELL!

Leave your Madoff Post headlines in the comments; the more judgmental/ridiculous, the better (and more likely to be correct)
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When I turned my TV on around 7:54pm last night, I could have sworn I was watching some new fashion critique show on Bravo hosted by Andy Rooney. Turns out it was just 60 Minutes. During his regular segment, the Roon-man pulled some long unworn items from his closet and judged with that classic Andy wit. He coined some fierce new catch phrases like:

“Can anyone tell me why this is something I thought I’d wear??”

“It makes me look as though I’d own a PAWN shop!”

And my personal favorite:

“Can you imagine me wearing THIS to a Giants game??”

He shouldn’t be so quick to knock that silk jacket he got from the owner of the restaurant ‘The Gilded Giraffe.’ It make Andy looks like the dreamy captain of the football team. Plus, it’s got the letters ‘OG’ stitched on the front, which I can only assume stands for ‘Original Gangsta’ and not ‘Ornery Grandpa.’ I hope CBS never follows Andy’s own advice and puts these segments “back in the closet, where they belong.”

Note: Last night’s segment was actually from last summer, but Andy’s fashion advice is timeless.
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