Month: January 2006 (Page 4 of 22)

Vic Mackey, meet Jon Kavanaugh. Let the games begin.

January 25, 2006 /

If season five of “The Shield” were any more like its debut season, Michael Chiklis will be polishing his new Golden Globe about this time next year. I mentioned in a past blog that I thought the show had gotten back to the basics, and if last nights episode was any indication, I was right on the money. The Strike Team is back to kicking ass and taking names, albeit at a low enough level so that Lem’s wiretap doesn’t pick it up. All four guys know about Kavanaugh now and it looks like their going to walk the straight and narrow until they can figure out how to get rid of the monkey on their backs. It’s true that they have to watch what they say when they’re out in the field, but if they’re just lounging around in the Barn, typing in Microsoft Word seems to do the trick.

And for the first time this season, the filler cases used to pad the major plotlines were actually interesting. While the Strike Team track down an underage Mexican slave trade with the help of newbie cop Tina’s undercover work, Dutch and Claudette are forced to reopen a case involving the wrongful imprisonment of a suspect in the school shootings. So, Dutch, was wrong… big deal. If he would have had Claudette’s full attention on day one, maybe they wouldn’t have made that mistake. More interesting, though, is the fact that Super Detective Dutch couldn’t figure out that the “face reader” specialist was more into him than the case at hand. Is Dutch really losing his edge, or is his Gaydar just a little fuzzy?

Meanwhile, the countdown to Vic and Kavanugh’s first face-to-face begins when Corrine runs to Vic about a man who’s approached her numerous times at the school. Vic knows right away that it’s Kavanaugh, confirming Corrine’s statement with a newspaper photo Ronnie dug up in the archives while searching for dirt on the IAD agent. Seems that Kavanaugh is worse than they thought, going so far as turning in his own partner while on the job years before. That really shouldn’t be surprising considering the level of determination (desperation?) that his character has shown thus far this season, but it’ll certainly play a part down the road.

All queries about Kavanaugh aside, why in God’s name would Shane mention his work problems to Mara again? Doesn’t he realize that this is the same psycho bitch who botched up the money train two years ago? I doubt Shane would ever give Lem up to save his ass, especially since Lem is in this trouble precisely because of Shane, but I wouldn’t give Mara those same odds. She’ll do anything to keep her husband out of prison, and screwing over the other three guys is probably on the top of her list.

The Shield, TV

Holy crap! Chris Penn died!

January 24, 2006 /

I just saw it posted on Ain’t It Cool News. (Here’s the link to the link they provided.) I am totally floored. I mean, in truth, he’s looked rather bloated for awhile, but, still, the guy was only 43 years old.

He might’ve been a lesser Penn brother, but I will always remember him for “Footloose,” “Reservoir Dogs” and, perhaps more importantly, “The Wild Life.”

It’s casual.

It sure is.

Rest in peace, Chris.

Actors, News

American Idol Greensboro

January 24, 2006 /

So American Idol took its show on the road to Greensboro, North Carolina tonight. They said at the beginning of the show that the Southeast has brought us AI alum such as Clay Aiken, Fantasia, and Bo Bice. But for the two days in Greensboro, not that many made it to Hollywood.

Let’s start with the talent that did make it to Hollywood….Kellie, a 19 year old cute blonde whose mom left her when she was 2 and whose dad is in prison, turned out to be very pleasant and have a monster voice. Hallicia was told by Simon that she was a “natural” and even got to plant a wet one on Simon….right on the lips! Ewwwww. Sgt. Steven had the hots for Paula and even slow danced with her to the delight of Randy and Simon. But the best part is we found out he had a wife who was waiting outside the door. He then said to his wife, “It’s okay, it’s Paula Abdul, she can join in too.” I bet Randy and Simon would pay to watch that. Chase, a large feminine dude who resembled Big Gay Al from “Southpark” amazingly got through to the next round. Paris, a singer with a famous grandmother, gave judges and my wife the chills….I didn’t get chills but predict she is a top 12 finalist. And then we found out Simon had a heart when, as the deciding vote on Jordan, the dude dressed as a firefigher, gave him the green light to Hollywood.

The bad ones tonight were worse than usual….a couple of them claimed that they thought they had good voices because they could sing in the shower or when no one was listening. Uh, not good to put yourself into this situation then right off the bat. Shawn, the dude dressed like a waiter, was awful when he tried to sing standards, but the funniest part was his little brother was mouthing off to the camera about how everyone would be sorry. No doubt Shawn has found his agent. Chonna, who was dressed like a stripper and said that her mom used to be a stripper, was awful as well. Other lowlights were Jimmy Crabtree, who Simon said had the “personality of a hippo”……Sammy, the limp-wristed fat dude who sang Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” while shaking his mighty large ass….Ronda, who had a cute speaking voice but looked ridiculous in her pink cowboy hat and then said she wants this “more than a bag of gummy bears”…..Richard, whose ventriloquist dummy had more talent than he did…..Marcus, who said he learned how to sing watching his Randy Jackson/Paula Abdul instructional DVD, then after getting rejected promptly destroyed the DVD right there on national TV….and finally, Ronetta, who was dressed like a hooker and sang like, I don’t know, a hooker? She certainly didn’t sing like a singer, and she took it out on Paula.

The show ended with a “Fame” montage, and everything about that was painful to watch. Again, did this show really have to be two hours long? Tomorrow night they are in San Francisco, and I can only imagine what kinds of characters will be on display. Good night all….

American Idol, TV

WB, UPN end Mexican standoff

January 24, 2006 /

Each tired of waiting for the other to surrender, UPN and the WB have agreed to join forces. Take one half-baked network struggling to find an audience for anything that doesn’t star Tyra Banks or a large man in tights, mix it with an only slightly more baked network struggling to broaden its audience beyond its core fan base of teens and young adults…and what do you get? The CW, a new joint venture between CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment that is poised (both companies hope) to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of its parent networks.

The new network will schedule 13 hours of primetime programming each week, which means that less successful shows on both UPN and the WB can be sent packing. Who will go, and who gets to stay? No word yet, but smart money says Veronica Mars and Superman needn’t worry about packing up their trailers…but Fran Drescher might want to dust off her resume and practice charming casting directors with that godawful laugh of hers.

News, TV

Hiding in plain sight

January 24, 2006 /

The second that I heard Resident White House Weasel Walt Cummings say to Resident Terrorist Weasel, “It’s okay, I have someone on the inside,” Buffybot and I instantly thought, “Naaaaaah, it can’t be Spenser For Hire.” (Curiously enough, he even spells his name the same way, thus making the nickname perfect.) That’s too easy, we thought. And the producers of “24” were clearly banking on that, because almost instantly, Spenser For Hire turned out to be the bad guy. Or so we thought.

Actually, I have to give the producers props; it was a clever way to make Spenser For Hire a bad guy without actually making him a bad guy, since he thought he was working for Internal Affairs and didn’t know he was actually aiding and abetting a terrorist cell. But now that we’re talking about that terrorist cell…

…does it seem like the endgame has absolutely nothing to do with hurting the US? There was that line about Mother Russia being sorry they ever did such and such. Are they really just using the US as a middleman to traffic in nerve gas? Oh, the irony. Pretty frightening thought, if you choose to think about it. But it’s only Hour Five, so there is still lots and lots of time for this story to twist and crawl, twist and crawl, twist and crawl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl Bang! (All six of the English Beat fans out there just laughed their asses off, and the rest of you just felt sorry for me, admit it.)

The most maddening part so far is that Mike Novick, who normally knows treachery when he sees it, clearly thinks Walt is on the up and up, because he continues to involve Walt in every confidential discussion he has with the President. Maybe he has to; I’m not that up on my Oval Office chain-of-command stuff. But if “The West Wing” has taught me anything, it’s that every White House staff member eventually has their time to talk to the president in private. The way that Walt seems to be at all places at all times is just a little too convenient. Novick would have to know about Walt’s blackmailing of Evelyn somehow, someway. And, as one rather astute new watcher of “24” had noticed, is Walt really taking calls from some terrorist organization on his cell phone? Wouldn’t those calls be monitored? I’m going to assume so, which is why I am going to give Walt the benefit of the doubt, and presume that he has a Good cell phone and an Evil cell phone, and they both look exactly the same. We’ll see if there soon comes a point where he has to answer both of them at the same time.

But never mind that: Jack Bauer is still alive. Won’t the Chinese be calling for his head any second now? After all, the President told them Bauer was dead. How long is it before President Buck Buck Brawwwwwwck puts his legacy ahead of national security, especially when his wife is “nuts,” and hands Bauer over on a platter with the Wisconsin meats and cheeses I mentioned a couple weeks ago? After all, that would feed into Walt’s plans perfectly, yes? I would venture to say that he’s banking on his Commander in Chief to do just that.

After questioning Spenser For Hire for about 30 seconds, Jack almost instantly caught on that Walt was the mole, which means that there are at least two or three twists along the way. And that, selfishly, lends credence to my far-fetched Wayne Palmer theory. I’m telling you, that boy is up to no good. I don’t care if he was a good guy on “Buffy”; he has ulterior motives now. IMDb has the cast listings for the entire season online now, but I won’t look at them out of sequence, and anyone who posts a spoiler will be deleted. Well, except for the spoilers that I’ve already posted, that is.

24, TV, TV Action

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