For a change on last night’s episode of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” there was a happy ending. No gameplay, no formed alliances or ulterior motives…only the opportunity and the inspiration of having to all work together. And now that the contestants have scored a victory, as Mrs. Mike pointed out, the producers are going to find a way to mess with them again. What do I mean? Well, read on….
Two days after “Mad Men” wins its second straight Emmy for Best Drama and “Sons of Anarchy” opens the episode with Luanne shooting a porn parody. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I can’t help but think that Kurt Sutter planned for the expected win. Of course, the opening minutes also featured Bobby performing as Elvis at a Bar mitzvah, and it’s apparently beginning to take a toll on him. His time in prison has resulted in a pile of bills, and in an attempt to reward him for his services to the club, Clay assigns him to go take care of the bookkeeping at Luanne’s studio. She’s not at all happy with the idea of SAMCRO taking an even bigger bite out of her business, but as it turns out, Luanne also has something to hide. It doesn’t take long for Bobby to discover that Luanne has been skimming off the top over the last six years, and when he threatens to report it to the club, Luanne makes him an offer he can’t refuse. If Otto ever finds out about it, however, Bobby is as good as dead.
The same can be said of Ethan Zobelle and his gang of Neo-Nazis once Clay finally realizes what’s really going on with Gemma. Personally, I can’t believe three weeks have already passed, because Gemma is acting way too fragile for Clay not to be a little more suspicious. Their fight in the parking lot outside the porn studio seemed to be more about Clay not getting laid than Gemma not acting like herself. Wayne suggests that Gemma attend an out-of-town support group for sexual abuse survivors, but she quickly shoots down that idea – and just in time, too, since Tig was apparently just around the corner. I don’t think he heard anything, though, because he would have told Clay right away.
The meat of the episode this week revolved around Ethan Zobelle’s latest plan to force the Sons of Anarchy out of Charming, and it all hinders on convincing Deputy Chief Hale to join the witch hunt. Hale doesn’t like Zobelle’s idea of purposely bringing drugs into the town – thereby discrediting SAMCRO’s worth and Chief Wayne’s ability to control crime – but that doesn’t stop him from doing it anyway. When Opie and Half Sack catch a dealer selling meth at the mill (with Nords in tow), they go back to the club to get re-enforcements before beating the information out of him.
When they learn where Darby has set up his meth lab, Jax gives Hale the location to see if he can be trusted. Clay, meanwhile, tells Wayne all about their little test to keep him in the loop. It looks as if Hale is going to pass after he visits Darby’s base of operations (albeit without a warrant), but after speaking with Ethan about his reasoning for wanting the Sons out of Charming, his outlook suddenly changes and he lies to Jax about there ever being a meth lab. Not that it really matters, since SAMCRO just blows it up themselves, but I can’t believe that Hale would do business with Zobelle. Isn’t he supposed to be all about doing things by the books? Now that he’s resorted to his own crooked methods, however, there’s no going back. Oh yeah, and he just sided with the wrong bad guys.
Most television shows start off hot and then get increasingly…um…less satisfying as time goes on. This is not the case with “Supernatural.” The series started off with a definite “freak of the week” vibe and didn’t spend much time on its season-long story arcs. While it has always had its quirky sense of humor and excellent chemistry between its two stars (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) the show didn’t thrive in its first season — it survived. But over the course of its second, third and now fourth seasons, “Supernatural” just keeps getting better and better.
This 22-episode season picks up as Dean (Ackles) is rescued from the unspeakable torture of Hell by an angel. He and Sam (Padalecki) are told that they have to stop a mega-powerful demon from breaking the seals that will bring about the Apocalypse (and the arrival of Lucifer). While they do go off on various weekly adventures, this season-long storyline is hanging over their heads the entire time. The pressure gets to Sam, who is tempted by the tremendous power growing inside of him, and this begins to divide the brothers. The season is as good as it sounds.
Special features include a three-part featurette that explores the mythology of the series, creator commentary (Eric Kripke, Jeremy Carver, Sera Gamble and Robert Singer) on three key episodes, extended/unaired scenes, and a gag reel.
One thing I’ve always loved and admired about “House” is its ability to reinvent itself season after season, tweaking the formula just enough to keep things interesting. With the premiere of Season 6, however, what we’re given is a two-hour episode that throws away the format, offers only the briefest appearance by any other cast member, and is not only strong enough to warrant giving Hugh Laurie an Emmy nomination no matter what else he may do on the show during the course of the season’s subsequent episodes, but, indeed, could’ve been released as a theatrical film during the summer, a la “The X-Files: Fight the Future” from back in the day.
Seriously, it’s that good.
Season 6 of “House” kicks off where Season 5 of “House” left off: with its title character, Dr. Gregory House, within the walls of the Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital. The decision to enter Mayfield came via House himself, however, so as anyone who’s watched their fair share of medical dramas knows, that allows him the option to check himself out at any time…which, following an appropriately harsh opening sequence (set to Radiohead’s “No Surprises”) that details what he’s suffered through duriing his cleansing process, is exactly what he attempts to do.
Well, I’ll say this for tonight’s episode of “Mad Men”: it might have had to suffer the indignity of airing opposite the Emmy Awards (where the series ultimately took home its second win for Outstanding Drama Series, thank you very much), but that didn’t mean that it had to offer up a throwaway episode. Not that anyone would’ve expected Matthew Weiner to turn in anything less than another outstanding chapter in this season’s stellar saga of the folks at Sterling-Cooper, but, wow, I don’t think anyone could’ve anticipated the turn of events that we ended up getting. There was so much going on in this episode that I know I’ll end up missing some of it, but here goes…
Things started and ended this evening with Sally Draper. The addition of a new child to a household is always difficult for the existing siblings, but it was definitely a bit different for Sally. First, she was afraid of what was to happen when Don turned off her light, but as the episode progressed, she basically began to believe that perhaps she was being haunted by the spirit of her late grandpa. You can kind of understand her concern, given that -as she observed – the new baby is named Gene, sleeps in Grandpa’s old room, and even looks a little bit like him. Fortunately, Don got her all straightened out by episode’s end…with virtually no help from Betty! Seriously, if she’s not one of the worst mothers in TV history, she’s got to be right up there. How anyone can have three kids and still end up as cold and detached from them as she always seems to be is beyond me.
Let’s be honest, though: Sally’s story, while serving as a very nice way of book-ending the episode, paled in significance to the shake-up within the offices of Sterling-Cooper this week.
First, there was the big meeting of all Sterling-Cooper employees, so that the announcement could be made that the board of directors from Putnam Powell Lowe would be arriving for a friendly chat and to evaluate the office’s performance, with the added bonus that their visit would be totally screwing up everyone’s 4th of July holiday, not to mention putting a wrench in the plans for Joan’s last day at the office. John Hooker got in a good joke at Paul’s expense, telling him that he’d be expected to shave his beard, thereby resulting in an indignant Mr. Kinsey demanding to know, “Who the hell are you people?” Settle down, Paul, settle down. Despite Sterling’s suspicions that the Brits might be flying across the ocean for the sole purpose of getting their knobs polished, Cooper’s theory is that they’re coming to see Don in an attempt to study him and determine his specific American genius, and Cooper floats the idea that they’re going to offer Don a dual position in both New York and London. It’s a tempting enough concept for Don to ask Betty what she thinks of the idea of living in London, so you can imagine his disappointment when it later turns out that Cooper’s just had an overactive imagination.
© 2026 Premium Hollywood
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
