Bones (Fox, Wednesdays at 8 pm. 3 seasons on DVD.) is an effort to young-down the procedural genre and is mindlessly entertaining, even with NPR references thrown in. In its 1st season I put this on my HUNK 'O' METER for David Boreanaz, from Angel, but I got caught up in his banter as “Seely Booth” with co-star Emily Deschanel as “Temperance Brennan” who somehow is both a forensic anthropologist who volunteers around the world in ethnic cleansing civil wars as well as consulting for the FBI and writing best-selling mystery novels, as inspired by the life of Kathy Reichs (yeah, I just may have to start reading her books about a character named “Temperance Brennan”). While she wears the best earrings and necklaces on any woman on TV from her travels, her obliviousness to popular and informal culture is like all those android/alien characters from sci fi shows. I was disappointed that producer Hart Hanson dumped her sweet romance with another FBI agent (played by Eddie McClintock) which he described in 1/29/2007 TV Guide as “funny, charming and cute, and they have a wildly passionate relationship”, just to pacify shippers who want “Bones” with “Booth”, even as he has no chemistry with the other colleague he’s having an affair with, let alone the finally finished pairing of “Angela” and “Hodgins” (Michaela Conlin and T.J. Thyne) also have no chemistry. (updated 1/27/2009))
The Closer (Monday nights on TNT and repeats, On Demand and streaming online free. 3 seasons on DVD with unaired scenes.) American TV has finally produced a worthy knock-off of Prime Suspect! Why did it take so many years? I've watched the dramas that executive producer/writer James Duff wrote for over the years, but his work wasn't as quirky or stand-out as this. From TV Is Now Interactive, Minus Images, on the Web By Maria Aspan, in The New York Times, July 8, 2006: "Mr. Duff, who sometimes writes a blog about The Closer for TVGuide.com, said he focused primarily on the production, rather than on the specific episodes or storylines. 'I'm not using my blog to supplement the program,' Mr. Duff said in an interview. 'If you have to explain what you said in a television program, then you've left some stuff out.'"
And she and Jon Tenney as a cooperative old pal FBI agent "Fritz Howard" have a charged courtship. Like when she calls him for a dinner date - but really needs his car for tailing a serial murderer suspect, and this debate from "The Big Picture" (written by Nancy Miller and directed by Elodie Keene) (thanks to George Reed for the transcription):
In "Fantasy Date" by story editor Roger Wolfson, she calls "Fritz" late in a surprising, shakey breakdown -- after being nearly raped. Just kinda a rough evening. . .I thought if you were up and all. . . She pulls herself together to watch the interrogation then is surprised to find him waiting for her in the garage. After a protective night on her sofa, he checks up on her. She explains: I guess I sort of felt like I needed someone there. His gentlemanly response: Being needed. That's the next best thing to being wanted. Isn't it? Which of course gives her a clue for her next interrogation. This is the episode Kyra submitted for Emmy consideration and secured her nom. She explained her selection in TV Guide July 31, 2006: "I wanted something that had a sense of humor, her fragility as well as her strength. It was the vibe I got from everyone. This was special, so I went for it."
In "Batter Up" by producer James Duff, "Fritz" even rescues a lost bedding item from her mama: My pillows thank you. He: What about the rest of you? More of her philosophy when the rest of the team is convinced the murder is solved: I want to go to sleep at night knowing we buried the killer, not the crime. The running jokes about the cat and then kittens who share her murder scene house are funny plays on stereotypes of spinsters. And I'm vibratin' took on a whole new meaning when her pager interrupts their necking - into his lap.
"L.A. Woman" by Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny had a marvelous closing to encapsulate why this is such a delicious series with a terrific actress. From her opening riposte to a condescending FBI agent's "Trust me": I stopped believing boys who said 'Trust me' when I was 16,, she is grieved at proving that the Iranian immigrant wife masterminded her husband's murder to prevent him "sending me back to the 17th century" as she comments to "Fritz" When she could have just filed for divorce. I can't think of a single culture where that's the right way for a woman to gain her independence. but is just as upset at the FBI hustling her off under the Patriot Act. While they both acknowledge having "deep feelings" for each other, "Fritz" commiserates: You know what would make me upset? If this whole working together thing screws up our other thing. She shortly asks him how the case is going, forcefully inserting her y'all that he had been impatient with earlier. He gentlemanly holds out her pink coat. She eyes it, backs up and takes it away from him, crisply saying: Fine. Let's go to dinner. They head to the office door. She hesitates. He reaches out and opens it for her. She raises an eyebrow and says throatily But you're payin'.
I love how one by one she won over the hard-boiled guys assigned to her team by sticking up for them. And she could have had her very own continuing serial killer stalker in Jason O'Mara (who BBC A fans recall fondly from Monarch of the Glen), and with his ABC show gone maybe he can kill here again).
Season 2 opened with the executive producer pouring on "Brenda"s personal quirks and romantic complications that we love so well, to garner the highest ratings of the series, and beating the broadcast networks as well. On The Tavis Smiley Show in June 2006, Tenney beamed that this was the first show he'd been on that had even been renewed for a 2nd season. While he rationalized that his character shows how flummoxed "Brenda" is in her personal life compared to her professionalism, he grinned that he realizes that he's really there "as the love interest." In "Blue Blood" by Duff and Mike Berchem, she pounces on her staff for eating candy around her: Since I gave up all that crap I have more energy and I'm sleeping better. (Which leads to a droll comment from Denison about whether his salty nuts can stay. There's another double entendre stab later before a tense interrogation about playing ball with other cops-- that the other Chief can take his balls and go.)
Though "Fritz"s U-Haul had to sit out front for over a week when Mama (a marvelous Frances Sternhagen – who lobbied for the role) came a-callin' for a family funeral in "Slippin'" by John Coveny and Hunt Baldwin and directed by one of my favorites Elodie Keene. Mama melts when she overhears "Brenda" sympathize with a neglected murdering matriarch - I would never treat my Mama like that. I love my Mama. (That's from my memory, not a direct transcription.) So Mama, using "Brenda"-like skills deduces that "Fritz", who has been assiduously courting favor with her, had been about to move in (the very male touch of his baseball collection was already on display) and "Brenda" confesses why she hid it from her: I didn't want you to be disappointed in me. Mama wryly responds: It's too late for that. And they both agree not to tell Daddy - Oh Lord, no! This is the episode Kyra chose to submit for her 2007 Emmy nom.
In "Aftertaste" by Steven Kane, "Brenda" has been stirred up by her 40th birthday, and the big bouquet "Fritz" sent with a loving card. When the squad gives her a big chocolate birthday cake she coyly responds: This is just y'all's way to get sugar back in the murder room. But "Fritz" is there to assure her: See, 40 isn't so bad. You just have to see the glass as half full instead of half empty. She teases back: What glass? He laughs: That's my girl. And she has the sense to hide from him back into her desk the unopened birthday present she got from her ex, what with the murder case she just solved turning on jealousy (she called the victim's sleeping with other men to further her chef husband's career her unconventional business plan). And, of course, she lets herself luxuriate in a piece of cake.
"Out of Focus" by John Coveny and Hunt Baldwin opened with a deliciously ambiguous meeting of "Brenda" and her ex at a hotel and into the elevator where he finally figures out he should press the button first, clearly recalling memories for them both. Flashbulbs go off - then we find out it's a ritzy crime scene. She's yelling instructions to her team and he has to apologize for her: She sometimes forgets there are other people - in the world.. Her overhearing a call to "Fritzie" from a woman colleague-- that she covers up while standing soaking wet in a towel How long do I have to stand here half-naked before you notice? when he comes in from a long work night Mind if I take a nap first? until later she admits as she's off to work I'm late and I'm jealous-- of course leads her to solve her case (even though the plot was almost identical to a recent British mystery on PBS). I don't like Tenney's new short hair cut!
"Head Over Heels" by producer Wendy West found "Brenda" again linking her personal and professional lives. While her crew is titillated by a porn star's macabre death and faked HIV test, she's haunted by his children, with the baby's rattle left in her office, and the pregnancy test she's carrying around -- that she doesn't know "Fritz" has found even as she turns down wine. Leading to an unusually frank exchange with her ex-lover and now boss:
Kyra's Emmy nom brought this appreciation in The New York Times on July 10, 2006, The Closer's' Kyra Sedgwick, a Study in Nuance by Virginia Heffernan (and congrats on getting the 2007 Golden Globe!):
Damages (On FX Tuesdays at 10 pm, repeated frequently, runs as much as 6 minutes over the hour. 1st season on DVD. Renewed for a 2nd season.) I almost moved The Shield over to this category the year Glenn Close was the Captain over there. But don’t take your eyes off her here –she one-up’s Meryl’s Prada Evil Boss, though the story line is really convoluted. I watched the Season 1 finale 3X and I’m still not sure I followed it all.. (updated 1/29/2008)
Desperate Housewives (on ABC, Sunday nights at 9 pm and each week streaming online with minimal ads. 4 seasons on DVD. Soundtrack out. According to Hollywood Reporter 4/10/2006: "Lifetime to air the show as a strip . . .in September 2008, with the time period yet to be determined. . .In addition, the network will begin airing the first season of Housewives on a weekly basis in August, followed by Season 2. From September 2007, the network will start airing Season 3, followed by Season 4, on a weekly basis. Lifetime hasn't determined what day the show will air, but . . .the terms of the deal prohibit the cable network from airing it on Sundays. . .In September 2008, Lifetime will air Season 5 concurrently with ABC, but with a 14-day delay." 7th season to be it’s last, in 2011.) is a campy satire of beautiful suburbanites written, yet again, by what The New York Times quaintly described as "a bachelor" but in The Mercury News of 10/3/2004 creator Marc Cherry explained his focus on female characters: “I truly think as a guy who's got a mom and two sisters and many female friends I have a lot to say about what I've observed and what I've been learning” about women, he says. “And I'm gay, so that helps too. Plus, if you've ever seen me write men, you know I don't do that so well. But this was like falling off a log.” On The Charlie Rose Show (1/4/2005) he expanded on how being a gay man led him to be a good observer as an outsider, and particularly of women as he wasn't hanging out with the guys. Cherry told AP Television News on July 16, 2005 at a panel on "Queer is Just a Frame of Mind on Wisteria Lane" part of Outfest 2005 - the 23rd Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival: “I think any time you get four or five really strong women doing desperate, dastardly things, I think gay men get a big kick out of it.” Cherry told The New York Times 9/24/2005: “It's satire, some earnest drama, different tonalities. . . At its core, our show is about what it means to be a wife and mother. It's about the millions of women leading lives of quiet desperation.” [Felicity] Huffman added, in an interview: “I don't know how a 42-year-old gay guy got into the mind-set of the mother I play on the show - before it really was in the zeitgeist, the true madness that is motherhood. But he did it, which is why I wanted to do the show.” Writer Jeff Greenstein, who comes out of sitcoms, described the series’ writing process at the 2008 Banff International TV Festival:
Greek (ABC Family, Tuesday nights at 9 pm, repeated Tuesdays at midnight, and streaming online erratically. 2 seasons –chapter they're called—out on DVD.) This is college as almost as old-fashioned as Disney’s High School Musical, which OK I admit I haven’t seen, (though they sometimes stick in contemporary music like the Plain White T’s at a frat party), but it’s head and shoulders above The N’s The Best Years, and has a slight tip of the hat to Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons and Philip Roth’s Goodbye Columbus. There’s cute references to other TV shows, like a graduating senior being surprised that to be a doctor with a busy sex life like on Grey's Anatomy one actually has to take science courses – Try the drama department. sardonically suggests her advisor. I’m primarily watching for the surprising spunkiness of Spencer Grammar as “Casey”, yeah, a sorority girl but a bright one with decency and ambition, who could be Reese Witherspoon’s younger sister. As adorable as her typically dorky brother Rusty (Jacob Zachar) is (and he got laid way too early in freshmen year to be believable), I’m really watching to see what happens between “Casey” and her rogue-ishly charming frat boy son-of-hippies ex “Cappie” (Scott Michael Foster – who is equally charming among the hunks and confused young women on Quarterlife, though I only caught up with that charming series when NBC burned it off on Bravo in hour-long compilations of the webisodes.). (updated 12/29/2008)
Grey's Anatomy (on ABC Thursdays at 9 pm, streaming online with minimal ads. 2 soundtracks out. 4 seasons on DVD. Renewed for another season. Lifetime airing Season 1 once a week, then daily in fall 2009 any time of day. Weekend off-network syndication will start in 14 of the top 15 markets as of fall 2009) has primarily female medical residents, including "Dr. Model" living down how she earned her tuition, and the incomparable Sandra Oh, so delightfully comedic on Arli$$ now getting to dramatically develop her model minority character - heck she even gets to be sexy with a hunk. She not only deserved her 2nd season Emmy but she's sure to get re-nommed for the 3rd season's "Staring at the Sun" episode for her very complex portrait of intertwined guilt, love, ethics and ambition. But while the romances with the attending physicians are full of dynamic chemistry, they are completely inappropriate -- and kudos to the non-sylph African-American resident "Nazi", played by Chandra Wilson, who calls them on it -- (though I was kind of relieved to read bios in TV Guide that they are all in fact around the same age in real life). And they are much to nice to be believable as surgeons. More complex is "Dr. Grey"s relationship with her now-Alzheimered, then late, Super Dr. Mom.
From From McBeal to McDreamy By Maureen Dowd in The New York Times, May 17, 2006:
Lifetime: Is this Television for Women? As Lifetime keeps adding more series, I can't just applaud that they're hiring women, including not-teens, but whether these shows are any good. (Their slow web site erratically streams the series online):
Lincoln Heights (ABC Family, Tuesday nights at 8 pm, repeated overnight, and streaming online erratically.) It took me all of the 1st season to decide if I liked this show. It doesn’t hit the heights of QUALITY TELEVISION that it seeks, with an excellent team of guest stars (hey it’s always nice to see the likes of Alex Carter, Michael Warren and Richard Roundtree in recurring roles), producers, writers and directors. It is the best showcase of African-American women characters in a family since Soul Food, with mom the nurse and two teen-age daughters facing usual adolescence, plus the strains of being striving working class, as they got a deal on their house in their dad’s old inner city neighborhood due to a “resident cop” program. I am curious to see how the interracial romance works out. (updated 12/3/2007)
Medium (on NBC Sundays at 10 pm in 2009 and streaming online for free with limited ads. 4 seasons on DVD. Earlier season repeats on Lifetime Sundays at 11 pm.) Writers are finding ways to humanize the dominant procedural genre, this time by combining it with The X Files. But what makes this work is the family drama element, as Patricia Arquette looks and acts like a real mom of three, struggling with work and kids and day care, and she even has some body fat on her. Her character has marvelous rapport, in dialogue and sexiness, with her husband, played delightfully by Jake Weber way more appealing than he was in HBO's Mind of the Married Man and minus his Brit accent -- though his extreme supportiveness may be the most supernatural element. (The imitation shows Closer to Home and Ghost Whisperer haven't figured out how to similarly incorporate overly supportive hunks Christian Kane and David Conrad, respectively, so they didn't last long.) But they've already used the term golem wrong twice.
The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman (on IFC, Sunday nights and repeated several times a week and overnights; 1st season on DVD.) While it's not 100% original in its depiction of women and movie-making in Hollywood (Sarah Silverman's Pilot Season was very similar about TV) and it simply fictionalizes a lot of what we saw about indie films in the Project Greenlight- 1st Season, again in the 2nd Season, and yet again in the 3rd Season, let alone the quasi-fictional HBO's Unscripted, the relationship between best friends Laura Kightlinger, the co-creator, and ditzy Nicholle Tom is fun, in a kind of femme take on Entourage. But the series didn't really take off until the woebegone graphic novelist showed up and humanized "Jackie"s sarcasm, though I can't figure out who the adorable actor is. And he never came back and she’s back to being nasty to everyone. (updated 9/27/2007)
My Boys (on TBS, Summer Thursdays at 9:30 pm, repeated frequently, On Demand and streaming online. Renewed for 3rd season.) I don't usually watch sitcoms, but Jordana Spiro as a tomboy Chicago sportswriter more comfortable with her guy buddies than with chicks is a charmer. Created by Betsy Thomas, the scripts alternate between male and female writers. I even get a kick out of the baseball metaphor narration. And I too love Wrigley Field. Will we find out what her nomenclature of P.J. is for? It looks like she will really just stay friends with cute "Bobby Newman" (played by Kyle Howard), the colleague she slept with on an away trip. Let alone after sharing a kiss with “Sexiest Bachelor Brendan”. What a cliffhanger in the 2nd season– so who did she take to Italy? Hmm, which guy did I want her to take – the globe-trotting ex, or the botanist or the traded Cub? (updated 10/7/2008)
Samantha Who (on ABC, Monday nights at 9 pm and each week streaming online with minimal ads. Renewed for another season.) I watch very few sit comes, but Christian Applegate is really a riot here as an ex-bitch amnesiac convinced she can be a kinder, gentle person in starting her life over again (including re-discovering sex, courtesy of hunky Eddie Cibrian on only 2 episodes). But this strong estrogen-fest she’s also surrounded by 3 hilarious women – Jean Smart as her mom, X of several failed shows as the selfish best friend at work who is the devil on her shoulder, and X as the put-upon angel on her shoulder childhood friend. A bonus is Barry Watson as her ex-boyfriend. (updated 5/20/2008)
Saving Grace (on TNT, Mondays at 10 pm, repeated Tuesdays at 11 and streaming online free a week later. 1st season on DVD. Renewed for a 3rd season.) I’m watching for Holly Hunter as “Grace” when she’s VERY sexy and wise-cracking, especially with her married partner “Ham” (Kenneth Johnson, late of The Shield), among other conquests, like the other cowboy on her team “Butch Ada” (Bailey Chase). While I enjoy Angel “Earl” (Leon Rippy late of Deadwood), I just roll my eyes at the redemption talk talk talk, and the crime-solving is too incidental to the characters. (updated 9/18/2008)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (on Fox, Mondays at 8 pm. 1st season on DVD.) I was a late-comer to the Terminator movies, seeing the first two not-on-the-big-screen before seeing Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines. But what pulled me in was the Mother of All Mothers and her relationships, so I got into the TV show immediately, even if I’m having a bit of trouble integrating the story line. Bringing in Brian Austin Green as the brother-in-law was icing on the cake. Somehow such strong women characters are more acceptable to male audiences in sci fi shows, whether the buffed up Linda Hamilton in the films for 300’s Spartan wife Lena Headey here. I got a kick out of the comparison in “Heavy Metal” by John Enbom of the Terminator with the Golem legend, as well as the return of Summer Glau fromFirefly, who turns on a dime from high school innocent to assassin, in a new twist on a “Data”-like android, somewhat like a Valley Girl take on Sean Young in Blade Runner (having just seen part of the new director’s cut). I didn’t even recognize the heart-throbbing Thomas Dekker as being the equally adorable “Zach” from Heroes, but I sure welcomed Brian Austin Green as his uncle, so the tough mom has a worthy son and romance, in a show that is much better written than the revived Bionic Woman that started with flare and burned out. Nice to see, too, that Toni Graphia came in to produce; I’ve been admiring her work in the strong-woman sci fi genre since V.R. 5. (updated 8/23/2008)
Ugly Betty (on ABC Thursday at 8 pm and streaming online free with minimal ads. 2 seasons on DVD.) I'll almost forgive them for filming in L.A. as the jokes about Queens are funny, let alone about Latina and fashionista stereotypes, despite bloopers like referring to Roosevelt Boulevard. And they are at least admitting they are stealing from The Devil Wears Prada as much as from the original Colombian telenovela (which has already been satirized in several movies). America Ferrera lives up to her promise in both indie (Real Women Have Curves) and Hollywood (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) flicks with great spirit and atypical chemistry with hunky Eric Mabius (getting to be more uncritically hetero than in The L Word) as her insecure scion playboy boss. Executive producer Salma Hayek was a marvelously sexy feminist Sweeps Weeks foil for him. In "Lose the Boss?" by Oliver Goldstick he was particularly sweet and supportive in dealing with “Betty”s obviously gay brother “Justin” (despite ABC's official denials about such a young kid), defending his artistic skills and perspective (check the TWOP recap of the touching scene) to the kid's macho uneasy father, “Santos” played by the very hunky Kevin Alejandro (only slightly less threatening but just as sexily charming as in Sleeper Cell and a prime reason I watched another quickly cancelled Tim Minear drama Drive on Fox that I hope wasn’t the reason he was killed off in the first season finale) then the reason to watch the 2nd season of CBS’s Shark where he was a tough suited lawyer – and I think his odd haircut at the end doomed that show, so hopefully they’ll let him grow it out again as a cop in NBC’s LAPD - whoops got distracted from the Dames theme here.). His acceptance, and defense, of his son came through the absolutely marvelous “Derailed” by Cameron Litvack, when the son excitedly entertains the stalled subway car with excerpts from Hairspray. No wonder it got a 2007 Peabody Award for: “This Americanized version defies category. It`s part comedy, part drama, part soap opera, part fashion-industry satire – but is unmistakably graced with wry intelligence and heart. Vanessa L. Williams is having a ball as the one-note villain, though without Meryl's soul. They seem to be keeping up the humor and the heart, let alone the anti-anorexia bravura. As good as America Ferrera is, Ashley Jensen and her brogue are wonderful (she even got a bit of romance with an ex, the equally Scot-sounding Derek Riddell) -- in HBO’s Extras she will doubtless go down in history as the only woman to turn down a flirtatious Orlando Bloom.(updated 9/14/2008)
Weeds (on Showtime, Monday nights and repeated frequently and On Demand. 3 seasons on DVD and soundtrack out. Renewed for 5th and 6th seasons. The early episodes seemed a lot like Desperate Housewives crossed with Arrested Development with the frankness of premium TV. But what raises this above one joke are the performances by Mary Louis Parker, as the marijuana dealing widow, and Elizabeth Perkins as her uber nemesis who treats suburban motherhood like a CEO bully broad -- though in the second season she unfortunately turned into what her daughter calls Vol De Mort (as in Harry Potter) such that everyone is justified in hating her. At least the show had premium TV guts to have a sympathetic teen-age girl have an abortion (the deaf girlfriend was scrumptiously intentionally knocked up by the older son). Both of the central women have had Jewish husbands (as is supposed to be brother-in-law very hunky looking Justin Kirk, playing his first straight guy since guilty pleasure Jack and Jill I think as the show ramps up the premium TV required sex quotient - see my discussion of his ribald relationship with a Jewish woman character in the 2nd season). Zooey Deschanel as his crazy ex is a riot. There haven't been many unveilings shown on TV and this one may have been the funniest.(updated 7/17/2008)
The Pot Is Metaphorical, the Hair Revelatory By Ned Martel from The New York Times, October 9, 2005
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: WATCH FOR REPEATS ON CABLE OR DVD/VIDEO
Alias (All 5 seasons out on DVD. Rerunning on TNT and in syndication on broadcast channels) I resisted adding this paler, blatant La Femme Nikita imitation: first, out of loyalty, and second, out of disgust with the ridiculous plots more like James Bond movies than terrorists etc. out there today (aw come on -- Evil Guys want a secret weapon developed by a Da Vinci cohort?) But Jennifer Garner -- her seriousness and her outfit changes-- won me over (and, uh, the two hunks vying for her attention in the two parts of her life). The mythology is now almost as complex as The X Files and the plot turns, even the romance twists (ah, after SO many longing looks we got a real nice long clincher kiss after the Super Bowl that was probably the best kiss on TV ever, and certainly rivals the kiss in the original Thomas Crown Affair) so now how many ways will the writers find to keep them apart again?), are direct steals from Nikita -- and with real terror going on in the world do they have to do these really silly conspiracies? Lena Olin was way cool as her Mom, but contract negotiations broke down to bring her back, so we'll get "Syd's" aunt instead -- the intriguing Isabella Rosselini. What a wallop of a 2nd season ending cliffhanger -- and "Vaughan" has some explaining to do! And just when the actor and actress started dating in real life. And, whoa, did she really stick it to him in fury at the 3rd season premiere, and then literally with a knife a few episodes on, saying what every woman in every shopping mall and take-out joint in the U.S. has been saying to the actor all summer long - you bet she would have stayed loyal to him, despite any ole DNA evidence, and now he's proven he wouldn't have been worth it! Ah, but we all knew that wife was up to no good! And that "Sark", handsome devil returned! And what a put down by the last season replacement of her one-night stand with him -- Remember - you're the one who wanted to cuddle!
Any Day Now (Lifetime will probably keep the repeats on for awhile, on overnights now.) The past is never past as two friends in Birmingham keep flashing back to parallel parts of their lives growing up in the '60's. Best women's friendship show since Cagney & Lacey plus intelligent dealing of parental involvement with teens. Very frank discussions of race, but here's yet another show where somehow young women never seem to get abortions and I'm not crazy about watching teenagers with babies.
Arli$$ (Originally on HBO; repeated now on an ESPN Channel. "Best of" out on DVD.) A much funnier and more biting sports satire than Sports Night (which gets repeated on Comedy Central sometimes) and I know zilch about sports, though towards the end it got far more sentimental, perhaps in a misguided effort to appeal more to women. But the real point to watch for is Sandra Oh, who I've loved since her starring role in the Canadian indie drama Double Happiness. She gets to really throw herself into comedy here as Arliss's scheming, fashion obsessed assistant. HBO is also starting to use her in other shows as well. Why didn't this woman get an Emmy nom? (updated 5/13/2006)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (repeats on FX weeknights and in syndication on weekends. 7 seasons on video/DVD. 3 soundtrack albums out, one is of the classic musical episode.) The FTC was in a tizzy because this "kids" show was being used to advertise "R" rated movies. Hey I was not the only adult watching this very sophisticated satire of adolescence, young adulthood, the movies, and our inner fears made corporeal through demons and monsters. The only unbelievable element was the negligible clothes "Buffy" wore, which has started an unfortunate teen style sensation. But then I didn't mind when her boyfriend "Riley" wore few clothes! (though I seem to have been in a minority of fans who miss him). Too bad the Jewish sidekick I wrote about in Lilith magazine is now not only a powerful Wiccan, but is wearing crosses. Executive Producer Joss Whedon kept finding new ways to grab us -- from silence, to a musical, to a Hitchcock homage, etc. -- demonstrating the creative potential of long-form television series over time as it tackles serious issues metaphorically. I seem to be the only fan who liked The Dark Season. Terrific news at The Cross and Stake. For a music listing by episode. Cute references to what "Buffy's" doing now throughout it's off--shoot Angel Whedon is continuing the series in up to 30 Dark Horse Comics graphic novels, "starting several months after the Hellmouth's destruction, the eradication of Sunnydale and the empowerment of the potential slayers", per the 12/4/2006 TV Guide, Whedon will write at least 8 with faves from Buffy and Angel, as well as new slayers and villains, but "no matter how bad things get, they're still a bunch of dweebs.
Charmed (weekdays on TNT, some episodes streaming free online, and on TNT digital cable On Demand. All 8 seasons on DVD.) I took this guilty pleasure off my recommended list at one point, but it heated up again, as the Power-of-3 Sisterhood of Witches developed complicated love lives with adorable hunks from heaven (though it can get boring when your lover/husband is literally your guardian angel) to hell (or when your still-in-lover/ex-husband is literally a demon-- and it turns out Julian MacMahon is another Ozzie so I'm consistent in my hunk radar as he was given a whole lot more to do here than in Profiler -- though he was finally killed off over fan protests). Just when I was getting bored in terms of romance-deficit, they brought in Eric Dane for "Phoebe"'s delectation, whew, but then he was mostly gone; then we found out the truth about the cute mysterious new White Lighter "Chris" works out which opened up a new story arc. Welcome to Kerr Smith! Ah, and in a hetereo role for a change. But didn't anyone notice that the adorable kid playing him in the past had big blue eyes vs. Kerr's brown before he died and Ivan Sergei wooed her? Whew, thank goodness Nick Lachey is gone, yuck, but hello Billy Zane! Whoops bye to that demon and hello to "Coop" as in Cupid. I don't miss Doherty, as I'm far more a fan of the Other Two and their love lives and I didn't have a problem accepting Rose McGowan and she's gotten more and more confident in the role. The clothes that the fetching Charmed Ones wear while protecting Innocents is even skimpier, belly-baring, and clingier than ever, and frequently just plain ugly, but if that got guys to watch too, OK, so I support NOW in claiming this a feminist show. Though even executive producer Brad Kern finds the supernatural arbitrary and confusing, as he had a nonplussed character ask: "Who makes up these cockimame rules?" Pretty good fan site. In January 2006, this show officially passed Laverne & Shirley as the longest-running show with female leads. Fans are hoping for a spin-off series called Charmed Sons featuring Chris (Drew Fuller) and Wyatt (Wes Ramsey) Halliwell, which would less female empowering but sure to qualify for the HUNK 'O' METER. (updated 9/16/2007)
Dark Angel (Being rerun on the Sci Fi Channel. Out on DVD/video, plus an atypically hip hop soundtrack album.) This was totally a guilty pleasure with high gloss sci fi production values, but darn it, the chemistry between pouty Jessica Alba as a genetically-enhanced kick-asser and her mostly wheel-chair-bound or otherwise disabled scruffy brainy mentor "Logan Cale" is alluring (and they were supposedly engaged off-screen, though best not to dwell on the fact that he was really 32 and she was 19 -- and will their romance didn't survive this show and her move on to pin-up princess and his to TV's NCIS) as they take on the the military-industrial complex and an evil breeding cult of the future. Just as he got over his macho hang-ups over her super-abilities (and his exo-skeleton did make things a bit less interesting), she was implanted with a him-specific contagious virus is how they kept the sexual tension going. They never did find a lasting cure, other than a Sweeps Week abeyance. And then a torturous break-up. The Transgenics didn't survive their war with Fox. (Birds of Prey was such a weak rip-off!) There's a thorough episode guide and a whole lot more at the best and still loyal fan site.(updated 7/7/2006)
Earth: Final Conflict (reruns on Sci Fi Channel) The second sci fi show I've moved from the HUNK 'O' METER to the "Hall of Dames" because this is the first sci fi TV show that concluded with two women leads! Probably inspired by the closing seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, and I guess in the future alien hunters have to wear skimpy clothes, but the feminist dialog the last season was a hoot -- did anyone guess that the serial murderer forensic pathologist who could figure out how to kill the Atavus would be a woman? (updated 1/31/2004)
Falcon Beach (ABC Family, was on Monday nights, repeated Tuesday nights at midnight, gee right after The 700 Club, and streaming online erratically. 1st season on DVD.) I originally put this on my HUNK 'O' METER as mostly worth watching for Steve Byers as "Jason" --he actually said in the episode "Reckless Love" by Elizabeth Stewart to his water boarding coach What am I - the dumb blond? er, yeah -- and the Doc (unusual realistic that he's an appropriately aged med student resident), among other cute guys. But one of the young women stuffing a bikini vying for his charms has a brain as well as gorgeous hair, “Paige Bradshaw” played by Jennifer Kydd, who is supposedly going for a Harvard MBA and does have her cheatin’, embezzzlin’ dad’s head for business, though the back stories on the characters are pretty inconsistent. I also like her mom’s growing independence. Kudos to the series for having a young woman who unusually for TV is of Lebanese Maronite Christian heritage, even if her teen pregnancy was dumb. Cool Canadian music. But the way the end of the 2nd season was dumped into overnights, as the confusing season ended off into the sunset, I think that’s the direction of the series too.(updated 12/7/2007)
Farscape (Now in syndication on superstations WGN and WWOR. 4 seasons available on DVD - chintzily with only 2 episodes per disk. But now they're putting out something called "Starbust Editions" with all kinds of extras, through the 4.2 seasons in a space-saving single volume with 2 2-sided discs and additional footage. Final mini-series on DVD. Soundtrack album out. SCI FI Channel is reviving Farscape as a Web-based series of short films on SCIFI.COM's SCI FI Pulse broadband network. SCI FI has ordered 10 webisodes, to be produced by Brian Henson and Robert Halmi Jr. through The Jim Henson Co. The series will expand the Farscape universe.) I had just taken this show off this list when I thought I had witnessed the death of the primo sci fi Dame "Aeryn Sun", but whew, her funeral was premature. Figures that one of the classiest woman warriors on TV isn't just Australian but not even human-- her journey of understanding humanity through her relationship with astronaut "John Crichton" is well worth joining. I primarily watch this show for her and her character development. And her very complex interaction with John. And his clone. The episode when she mourned the clone, "The Choosing", and painfully resolved to get on with her life as before was one of the most moving on TV all season (and I managed to screw up the re-taping of it so now I'll have to wait and wait and wait for it to come around on reruns again); too bad sci fi gets ignored come Emmy time. All so much more interesting than most long-running shows with lead characters' attraction-- probably because she is so much more complex than he is -- but his devotion is sure part of his appeal. The writers kept coming up with interesting ways to get them together -- then pull them apart. The humor and creativity is very much worth the long ride. The 4th season had an almost all-female cast of heroines and villains, as the most seductive of the latter pointed out: "Would you have a weapon in your armoury and leave it unused?" "Aeryn" could be the coolest wife and mother in any galaxy! At least Claudia Black has been brought on occasional board Stargate: SG1 as another feisty alien on Sci Fi Shows. Thorough episode guide, interviews with the cast and producers at the official site. (updated 7/27/2007)
La Femme Nikita (streaming online). All 5 seasons out on DVD, with some unaired scenes. Soundtrack available.) Its premise of "a covert anti-terrorism agency" now seems eerily realistic (and needed!) and is weakly imitated by ABC's Alias. One-word title indicates you've caught a first season episode, 2-word, 2nd season, etc. until the last 5th season. You'll need that information to follow the Oxygen schedule, as they are showing it in order but in several different streaming schedules by days and time of the week so the confusing relationships will be even more confusing if you're trying to watch it daily. The sexiest couple on TV try to keep their humanity, let alone their ever-changing relationship, amidst the politics and paranoia of battling worldwide terrorism in an Orwellian environment. The world sure could use their expertise now! No Moonlighting syndrome here as the producers kept finding creative ways to put the lovers together, pull them apart, let them escape and force them back in with enthralling suspense. And all that tight black leather and gorgeous hair. The music was cool too. As creator Joel Surnow (who is now using what he learned here on 24) says on the video of the first episode: "We were trying to see if music would work on the show the way we had worked it into Miami Vice. Miami Vice was kind of cops and rock 'n' roll, and we were spy and alternative." (But I'm not sure if the repeats have the full, original music selections due to rights issues.) And oh yeah Peta Wilson is a very friendly neighbor of Russell Crowe's Down Under.(updated 10/16/2006)
Gilmore Girls (cancelled from the CW Tuesdays, soundtrack album out. 7 seasons out on DVD. Repeats weekdays on ABC Family.) While it suspiciously came out of the Family Friendly Programming Forum, a script development advertisers' coalition [though by 6/20/2005 they were describing their goals to The Hollywood Reporter as "programs that have multigenerational appeal, are appropriate in theme, content and language for a broad family audience and may include difficult, real-life issues and problems as long as they are resolved in a responsible manner"], producer Amy Sherman-Palladino had created a witty set of eccentric characters circling around a perhaps too-close-to-be-believable mom and daughter Lauren Graham and Alexis Bleidel, particularly Kelly Bishop as the Grandmother from Hell. Really snappy multi-generational dialogue, even if Six Feet Under savaged the mother/daughter bonding satirically. And who wouldn't enjoy watching the two hunks vying for the daughter? Singer-songwriter Grant Lee Philips is a clever inside musical joke as a troubadour. Terrific teen triangle - first I sighed for Dean, but who could resist bad boy "Jess"? (They return when their spin-off shows or other guest appearances don't pan out. Back and gone, back and gone) And even the best friend --in an unusual Korean-American girl's role on TV though watchdog groups don't seem to notice her -- found a guitar player! (who literally moved out to California in The O.C.) In Season #4 the Palladinos finally found Lorelei a boyfriend who can talk the talk in "Jason" (played by Chris Eigeman) -- then, AW, he's out, that's it. But, whew, Scott Patterson is a much sexier boyfriend than I expected "Luke" to become. At least "Rory" is finally meeting some cute guys at Yale. I'm enjoying the irony of how the Palladinos are handling the dysfunctional family conflicts of her dating when there even isn't any class or ethnic conflict in her choices. Nice to see the Palladinos bring back our cousin Alan Blumenfeld for a recurring role as the wise-cracking rabbi, which is a nice change from the sleazy lawyers or accountants he usually gets cast as. I've decided I want to hire the Palladinos to write the dialogue of my life - I talk that fast all the time anyway. The final season without them is talking the talk but not walking the walk - it's all speed dialog but the situations are tired: Back with the high school sweetheart? Preggers after the disastrous wedding night a la 7th Heaven? Still rebelling against Mom? It's like the tired past its sell date of Remington Steele.
Holly Oaks I got hooked on this First Soap Opera I Have Ever Watched when it was on BBC America prime time, then it moved to overnight, then to web only, with a fresh episode posted each week day – and then after 260 episodes they abruptly stopped streaming it. The accents and Brit slang are so thick that I sometimes have trouble following, so it’s practically anthropological research. Though knowing Brit slang helps for the subtitles of all those foreign-language films that don’t bother to get separate English translations for Americans. The guys aren’t particularly hunky, mostly pale and scrawny, the women common-looking but give as good as they get, the huge families of incongruous siblings are mostly unemployed if they don’t work in bars, the students mostly cut classes. But the class issues are much more explicit than on U.S. TV. I was still trying to keep track of the bed-hopping, sexual orientations, who is in and out of jail, who owes money to whom for why, and who is responsible for killing or whatever whose relative. So I either now have a half-hour free in my life each day – or I can look all over the web to find out where else it is streaming. I’m choosing to spend that time trying to keep these web pages updated instead. (updated 6/12/2008)
Malcolm in the Middle (Soundtrack album out. Earlier seasons on DVD. In syndication on local channels.) Jane Kaczmarek is the most realistic sitcom Mom on TV since Roseanne. Equal parts maternal and jailor. A perfect match for Marge Simpson. And it gave me my first opportunity to LOL after September 11. (updated 4/4/2005)
Once and Again (Lifetime repeats it overnights. 2 seasons out on DVD.) Sela Ward and Billy Campbell are not only gorgeous, the story lines are not only grab-a-tissue romantic, but the writing, acting and directing from the 30something and My So-Called Life alumni are superb, including the teens. It makes a raw look at divorce and step-families and the impact on families beautifully watchable. The side-stories on the sister and ex-wife are also well-done, though I don't quite get why they keep breaking up with the hunks in their lives. Caveat: No way do teens have such heavy hearts-to-hearts with parents. I always tell friends contemplating parenthood: "You're not having a baby. You've having a sullen teenager." (updated 8/22/2003)
Over There (full season on DVD.) Amidst this testosterone-fest of soldiers talking and fighting a blue streak in Iraq in an updated Band of Brothers, what kept me watching was actually the women, whether fighting at home, abroad or in a V.A. hospital, whether standing by their man or not. These young actresses get to shine in dramatic roles they haven't had a shot at before as they show the range of complexities for the genders in today's Army, so the carping in the blogosphere about unrealistic weapons, helicopters and fighting strategies is irrelevant to me. This is more like an updated China Beach for me. I bought the was-it-there-for-titillation lezzie interlude more than I bought that the AWOL soldier has retained her sit-on blonde hair through service in Iraq -- so I wasn't surprised when she cut it upon return. The encounter between "Sergeant Scream" and "Strident Frog" (for once a credible, committed beautiful activist) in "Orphans" by Joel Fields, was surprisingly involving -- and you do know that he can't return to her without risking her death. (updated 3/20/2006)
The Pretender (repeats of series episodes on Hallmark Channel overnights, original follow-up movies out on DVD. 4 seasons on DVD.) Miss Parker is the coolest dame on TV just about since Mrs. Peel on The Avengers. In leather trenchcoats and high heels with an impeccable coif, she changed over the series from a cold-blooded assassin into a complex victim of "The Centre." Best season was when she got a charming boyfriend, but her quest to understand what happened to her mother was almost as touching. (updated 3/12/2007)
Prime Suspect (all 7 seasons available on video/DVD. PBS was rerunning all of them, but the reruns moved over to BBC America --they don't seem to be censoring or cutting it like PBS did, even with the commercials. I've put off actually wawtching #7 because it is the final episode) The welcome new #6 was a jolting reminder not only how groundbreaking this series was and how superior it still is, but just how iconic Dame Helen Mirren's "DCI Jane Tennant" is. While the sexism she faces may not be as explicit as in #1, she is facing the glass ceiling a tough, competent woman pushes up against. Mirren said on Charlie Rose that the series succeeded because it was the first policewoman procedural, not focusing as much on personal lives like Cagney and Lacey did. No, Dame, this ranks with Cracker and Homicide as the top cop shows ever. Only the new The Closer has successfully captured this zeitgeist for American TV. (Nathalie Baye in the French film Le Petit Lieutenant steals a lot of Mirren too.) So much is Mirren's performance -- all we need is a look and an eyebrow from her to reflect sexual tension. The silent scene in one episode where "Tennant" makes the decision to have an abortion was the most poignant treatment of this subject than any wordy debate ever held on TV. And her hidden little victory smiles to herself as she constitutes her own cheering section are priceless. The Dame is also surrounded by superb ensembles -- I'd forgotten that Tom Wilkinson played her early boyfriend, Ralph Fiennes exploded his career with his small role in #1, and Liam Cunningham sexually charged an investigation in #6, among many other men who Mirren clearly challenged to do their best. (updated 9/17/2007)
Sex and the City (HBO will doubtless keep repeating all the seasons -- why watch the bawdlerized version on TBS that edits Samantha's behavior? All 6 seasons available on DVD/video. Soundtrack album out.) Watch for the scripts written (and directed) by women as these tend to be the ones that aren't nasty about women and intelligently criticize men with humor (oy, come on, another episode about size issues? - invariably written by a male, and usually a gay male at that) The 2nd to last season the friends started to get more realistic about getting older - though they were wearing clown make-up to look younger. The last season has them each with more interesting significant others (including TIVO to watch BBC America) that has brought out more humaneness as the real world entered their lives. I finally found a newspaper critic who admitted that "Carrie Bradshaw and company enjoyed a turnover of partners that seemed more appropriate to gay culture, and those women discussed the tawdry details of their escapades in gay-worthy repartee. The writers even winked to the connection by naming Carrie's most eligible prospect after a gay-pornography legend." - Ned Martel in The New York Times August 6, 2005 in An End to Notches on the Headboard, a review of the finale of Queer as Folk.
Star Trek: Voyager (Will doubtless be repeated into infinity and beyond in syndication and cable. 7 seasons out on DVD.) Until recently Kate Mulgrew was the only mature woman leading a TV show and deserves kudos for that, even if 7 of 9 upstaged her the last few seasons in those tight outfits and high heels. And Be'lanna Torres' and Tom Paris' much-anticipated-by-me marriage was of the 24th century feminist variety. The next in the series Star Trek: Enterprise (on UPN Fridays at 8 pm, repeated in NYC at Sundays at 7 pm) is literally from an earlier, less feminist time period. (updated 12/20/2004
State of Grace (sometimes on ABC Family on weekday afternoons) Wonder Years meets Any Day Now when young best girlfriends in 1965 North Carolina learn about each other's very different families and lifestyles, a rich WASP and a child of a Holocaust survivor. Funny, some shards of truth, and sentimental, but I'm a sucker for this partly for the nostalgia of what it was like to grow up with a Gramma with a Yiddish accent. Best though is Frances McDormand's voice-over as grown-up Hannah. More of my review is in the Fall '01 issue of LILITH Magazine.(updated 12/4/2002)
Veronica Mars (cancelled from CW, streaming free online. 3 seasons on DVD with deleted scenes. The last season DVD includes: Pitching Season 4: An in-depth interview with creator Rob Thomas discussing a new direction for the series presented to network executives that picks up years later, with Veronica as a rookie FBI agent , Going Undercover with Rob Thomas: Thomas walks us through some of the most memorable moments from Season 3, Webisode gallery with cast interviews and various set tours, Unaired scenes with introductions by Rob Thomas, Gag reel. Soundtrack out.) Has a very similar intriguing and appealing tone as Smallville, with noir replacing the sci fi angle (though the titular teen not only looks very much like Clark Kent's friend "Chloe" but she does almost identical too-grown-up-for-high-school investigations -- the actress is capable of more; she did a notable deviously dramatic arc on Deadwood). Creator Rob Thomas also tries to mix in some high school social satire grittiness, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer also already did the William S. Paley Television Festival panel: "Thomas, who spent five years as a high school journalism teacher offers both his own defense and a bit of advice for the tin-eared purveyors of teen dialogue. 'If you want to write teenage girls, advise a high school yearbook for five years,' he says." At least the cast is a bit more racially and social class diverse than these other series. The dangerous appeal of "Logan" the rich bad boy from the very dysfunctional family is thrilling, as he goes from appealingly good to bad again and vulnerable then mean and all the time cute, especially when heart-broken. Loved the episode when he meets her father for the first time and has such longing for that warm paternal touch, but now that they're in college their relationship has gotten really intense about trust issues, as he says in the very moving "Spit and Eggs" episode written and directed by Thomas: I don't think I quite measure up to the person you want me to be, and I just can't take feeling like a disappointment anymore. he cries to her, so unexpectedly, so non-stereotypically as our "Veronica" can't change, even as she has demanded that he do so and she just can’t trust him. You have to really pay attention the last 5 minutes of each episode, whew. Joss Whedon is a fan! Scroll down to July 17, 2006 for Rob Thomas's strategy for Season 3. (updated 10/28/2007)
The X Files (in broadcast syndication at odd times on the weekends, on TNT wee hours of Wednesday/Thursday overnight and the Sci Fi Channel various overnights. All 9 seasons out on DVD, separately and in culled theme sets. One movie out on video/DVD; second movie rumored.) Gillian Anderson provided the most serious discussion of religious beliefs on TV -- and wearing the best-looking, serious business suits. Creator Chris Carter did seem to tie up the mythology in a neat package -- I'm not even sure what he left for follow-up movies. But the post-9/11 investigations of the FBI show that Mulder was right! The agency wasn't structured for prevention of attacks (OK, not alien OR terrorists). The earlier seasons are absolutely worth watching for the subtle development of Scully and Mulder's silently smoldering relationship, and then for Agents Reyes' and Doggett's more conventional development. Not enough credit is also given to Mark Snow's atmospheric music, that the soundtrack Songs in the Key of X doesn't begin to do justice to. Here's a thorough episode guide. (updated 8/1/2005)
BRING 'EM BACK THEY WAY THEY WAS AND NEVER WERE: A PLEA FOR RE-RUNS/FIRST RUNS
Karen Sisco (Being rerun on Sleuth TV - will they be showing the episodes that never aired on ABC as it wasn't clear to me that USA ever showed those?) The provenance pointed to the weakness of a copy of a copy, from an Elmore Leonard short story that inspired the J Lo movie Out of Sight. Surprise - -this is stylish replay of one of my favorite cancelled "Dame" shows of all time Under Suspicion -- and wouldn't Karen Sillas make a great guest star at the least? While Gugino's U.S. Marshall outfits are almost as revealing and high-heeled as The Charmed Ones and have probably have as much relation to reality as Ally McBeal's did to lawyers, at least she is based in hot Miami so is justifiably sweaty a lot, and maybe it will get guys to watch as she tries unsuccessfully to figure out where to hide her gun. Lucky in sex but unlucky in love, she somehow keeps trying - set up amusingly by her very caring, ex-cop dad, magnificently played by Robert Forster, and his ex-con poker buddies. Saturated cinematography and wonderful music -- a key plot clue in "The One That Got Away" was a Leonard Cohen song. But the suits thought the villains weren't evil and guilty enough -- boo, the charming and many times white collar criminals were far more interesting. Hey, at least burn off the ones that got away from us that we never got to see!(updated 1/30/2006)
life as we know it (cancelled from ABC - DVD of complete series includes two episodes not aired) Why wouldn't I consider a show about adolescent men and teens more suitable for the HUNK 'O' METER (especially due to the absolutely adorable Sean Faris, let alone D.B. Sweeney)? Based on a very funny, touching, insightful Brit book Doing It by Melvin Burgess that wonderfully zeroes in on the difference between love and lust in the hormone-fueled world of teenagers, these clueless guys are led around by their dicks by the grounded women in their lives (though the book makes clear that the teacher having the affair with one of the kids clearly has problems), especially as brilliantly written by women. For example producer Allison Adler's scripts for "The Best Laid Plans" and "With A Kiss, I Die." Leilia Gerstein's script for "A Little Problem" was a perfect example of women writers subverting a male-oriented genre - no guy would write a scene where a teen boy breaks down in tears of frustration when the girl of his dreams doesn't understand how he couldn't extricate himself from the affair, such that she responds with tears about the modest truth of her own sexual history. And a kid beset with terrors about impotence is counseled by Peter Dinklage. Aw, if Faris's "Dino" (who does seem to be heading to learning his lesson about being honest with females about feelings as he admitted to his mom I was a jerk. which softens the acerbic source material) doesn't end up in the arms of Melissa Peregrym's "Jackie" (and she is SO much a better actress than Mischa Barton in The O.C.) before the series is cancelled I'll be miserable as they have dynamite chemistry together -- they could be the first teen series to explore getting to each base from the girl and boy view, as the book most amusingly does. Aw heck, who didn't tear up when she admitted she couldn't just burn away her feelings for him in a symbolic BBQ? No wonder his best friend's brother retorts to the friend: You sound like a chick when he argues that sex involves feelings too. These are younger versions of the firefighters seen in Rescue Me or the guys in the series BBCAmerica re-runs at various times, Manchild (first season out on DVD) which frankly pokes fun at four 50-something men-friends. Showtime was developing an American version, but it seems like ABC’s awful Big Shots is it, with very attractive men and limp satire. (updated 10/7/2007)
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These Web pages obviously aren't joining the campaign to boycott Yahoo, but shame, shame, shame:
“Suppose that Anne Frank had maintained an e-mail account while in hiding in 1944, and that the Nazis had asked Yahoo for cooperation in tracking her down. It seems, based on Yahoo's behavior in China, that it might have complied. . . .( Representative Chris Smith . . . drew the Anne Frank analogy.) . . . Chinese court documents . . . say that Yahoo handed over information that was used to help convict [dissidents]. We have no idea how many more dissidents are also in prison because of Yahoo. . .Yahoo sold its soul and is a national disgrace.”
From China's Cyberdissidents and the Yahoos at Yahoo by Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, February 19, 2006