Category: TV Dramas (Page 66 of 235)

A Chat with Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey, and Lenora Crichlow of “Being Human”

One of the most consistent pleasures of the TCA Press Tour for an Anglophile such as myself is the opportunity to get the scoop on the latest UK imports to arrive on BBC America. In 2007, I was introduced to “Jekyll” and “Torchwood,” and in 2008, I very quickly fell in love with “Gavin and Stacey” and “Primeval.” This time around, the picks to click were “The InBetweeners” and “Being Human,” and although I’ll be waiting a bit to offer up my conversation with the folks from the former, I’m running a bit late in posting my chat with the cast of the latter. “Being Human” actually made its BBC America debut when I was still in Pasadena, but now that I’m playing catch-up, I wanted to share with you the lovely courtyard conversation that I had with the show’s trio of stars: Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey, and Lenora Crichlow.

Join us now as we embark upon…

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Mad Men 3.2 – The Sky Was Falling, Heaven Was Calling

Okay, before we really get rolling on this week’s “Mad Men” blog, I really think we should start things off in much the same way that tonight’s episode did: by reminding the world just how incredibly hot Ann-Marget was in the early ’60s.

I mean, seriously, was she smoking or what?

It’s no wonder that Peggy immediately slid into catfight mode with that comment about how, if the client was looking for someone like Kim McAfee (Ann-Margret’s character from “Bye Bye Birdie”), they were looking for someone who’s 25 but acts 14. It was a hilariously bitchy line, almost as funny as Sal’s character-perfect reaction when the clip ended. This obviously isn’t the first time Peggy’s been so annoyed by the goings-on within Sterling-Cooper that she’s stepped out of her comfort zone and tried to be someone that she really isn’t, but, wow, her attempts to duplicate Ms. Margret’s moves and vocal stylings made for some highly uncomfortable viewing. Nonetheless, she at least ended up feeling sufficiently empowered to go out for a one-night stand with a hyper-excited college boy.

Mad Men - Peggy Olson

No surprise, though, that she slowed down his base-running – as well she should have, since he was clearly headin’ for home plate at a fast clip – in order to avoid a possible repeat of the Pete Campbell situation. As she slipped out of bed in a failed attempt to avoid a walk of shame, I couldn’t help but notice just how much more attractive Peggy looks when she’s out of her work clothes…but, then again, you could probably say that about most women.

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True Blood 2.10: New World in My View

All hell has broken loose in Bon Temps. Quite literally, from the looks of things. As Jason so eloquently put it, “This is fuckin’ fucked up!” Agreed.

It amazed me how nonchalantly Sookie and Bill walked into Sookie’s house (or what used to be her house) after seeing the sacrificial offering erected in her front yard. At the very least, wouldn’t Bill lead the way instead of letting Sookie walk in first? Sure enough, Maryann comes in shortly thereafter and, once pleasantries have been exchanged and Sookie pulls her patented Tough Chick act, Maryann slams her up against the wall. Bill to the rescue! In the split second before Bill sunk his teeth into Maryann’s neck, I wondered how her blood would affect him. Yeah, not good. Well, not good for Bill, anyway, but judging by Maryann’s cries of “yes, ravage me!” it looks like she enjoyed it plenty. She also enjoyed the little laser light show that shot out of Sookie’s hand. “What are you?” Maryann asked several times following that incident, a look of amazed curiosity on her face. Sam may be Maryann’s priority right now, but Maryann is so utterly fascinated by Sookie after their encounter that I’m guessing she will be Maryann’s primary target before the season is over. That’s not to say that Maryann will give up on Sam – she seems pretty intent on tracking him down, to say the least – but like Eric before her, Maryann has eyes for Sookie.

Speaking of eyes, just about everyone in town has those utterly creepy, dead, black eyes, including Miss Tara Mae. To quote last week’s post from esteemed blogger Will Harris, whose shoes I hope to be at least serviceably filling tonight: “While I’m sure there have been less successful interventions than the one by Lafayette and Tara’s mama, *I* haven’t seen one.” Well, Lafayette would seem to agree with Will when, after trying prayer, pleading and a vicious slap across the face, he uttered, “This has to be the worst motherfucking intervention in history.” A little later, Lafayette’s invitation to Bill provided another highlight in an episode full of great moments. Some of those moments were funny — Eggs cheerfully asking Maryann, “You want us to kill something, so it’s extra fresh?” — while some were of the more disturbing variety, like Tara promising, “He’s on his way and he’s going to kill us all.” I’m telling you, those eyes give me the willies!

So now that Bill and Sookie were able to team up and pull Tara out of her trance, I wonder just how easily she can fall back into it. Lord knows Lafayette will do everything in his power to keep Tara away from Maryann, but you just know she’ll try to go rescue Eggs at some point. Maryann didn’t seem overly concerned about Tara leaving last week when Lafayette and Tara’s mama rescued her from Sookie’s house, but maybe that’s because she knew Tara would be back soon enough. Hey, everyone digs Maryann’s parties!

In fact, when I say “everyone,” I mean damn near everyone, since just about the entire town is now in Maryann’s employ as she hunts Sam down. Has there ever been a more formidable duo than Sam Merlotte and Andy Bellefleur? Okay, don’t answer that, but at least Andy provided some good laughs tonight, most notably after Sam told him that Maryann probably wanted to cut out his heart in front of a bunch of naked people. “And people thought I was crazy for seein’ a pig.” Poor Andy, although he doesn’t look so crazy now. One wonders whether Andy or Jason came up with the idea to trick the townies into thinking that Jason was Dionysus (or whomever the hell they’re all waiting for), but it worked like a charm, thanks in no small part to Sam’s disappearing act. Andy’s and Jason’s reaction to that was perfect, and the bare-ass-apron shot was a great touch. It’s great to see Jason taking charge in the wake of his L.O.D.I. training, and it looks like he’ll be on the frontlines when this all comes to a head over the final two episodes.

Admittedly, there is plenty that I’m missing here (Terry was awesome tonight as the commander of the townie brigade, as was Hoyt’s batshit crazy mom), but I’ll wrap it up with a comment about last week’s blog entry from fellow PH blogger John Paulsen: “One thing this show does better than just about any other I’ve seen is end each episode with a bang…usually some sort of revelation/cliffhanger that keeps the audience wanting more.” True to form, I sure as hell want to know who the Queen is and why she has a horde of Mr. Smiths surrounding her house. At first I thought Bill might be going to see Lorena, but that doesn’t make much sense. Either way, it’s looking like the Queen will be playing a pivotal role in the war that’s about to go down in Bon Temps. I’m just wondering who’s going to survive, and who won’t.

Bullz-Eye’s TCA 2009 Summer Press Tour Wrap-Up: Cougars, Muppets, Vampires, and Gordon Ramsay, Too!

God bless the TCA Press Tour, where the television industry gives critics from throughout North America the opportunity to play with the folks who live and work in Hollywood. The tour allows us a remarkable amount of access to the stars, producers, directors, and writers of the various shows currently taking up residence on the various cable and broadcast networks. Yes, while I may spend 48 weeks out of the year feeling like a nobody, for those four weeks – two in the summer, two in the winter – which are taken up by the tour, I’m at least made to feel like I’m a somebody. (Really, though, I’m not anybody.)

This was the first time the summer tour had been held after Comic-Con rather than before, so there was a certain amount of grumbling about the fact that the fans were getting a certain amount of information that would’ve ordinarily gone to the critics first, but it must be said that the networks did a pretty good job of pacifying us. And, besides, aren’t the fans supposed to come first, anyway?

Although the content that I managed to accrue during the course of the tour will continue to come your way for quite some time to come, what you see before you is a summary of the highs and lows of the event, mixing stories you may have already read on Premium Hollywood with many that I simply haven’t had a chance to discuss yet. As ever, it was a heck of a good time, full of the kind of moments that leave me grateful that I managed to get that journalism degree from Averett College back in 1992, pleased as punch that Bullz-Eye and Premium Hollywood have given me the opportunity to cover the tour, and, most of all, that there are lot of great readers out there who seem to enjoy the tales I bring back from these strange TCA adventures that I’ve embarked upon.

Let’s get started, shall we?

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Mad Men 3.1 – On your mark, get set, get out of town

Welcome back to the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency…and, yet, although this is the premiere of the third season of “Mad Men,” it’s actually the first time that Premium Hollywood has gotten around to blogging the series. It’s certainly not that we haven’t been watching (the series did, after all, end Season 2 at the top of Bullz-Eye’s TV Power Rankings), but…well, the reasons why we haven’t done it before now are moot. We’re here now, so let’s get cracking, shall we?

I have to admit: the opening flashback sequence left me uncertain at first, and I wasn’t entirely sure if we were supposed to infer if it was Don’s own birth or not, but, yes, it does indeed appear that not only does Don have someone else’s identity, but it’s highly possible that he’s never really known who he was. Well, that would make it easier to escape into someone else’s life. As it turns out, not nearly as much time has passed as we might have expected: Betty is still in the final stages of the pregnancy we learned about in the season finale, so we haven’t even moved forward nine months. As ever, though, series creator Matthew Weiner managed to tease us a little bit about the timeline by having us presume that Don was warming formula for the new baby when he was, in fact, just getting Betty a bit of warm milk to help her get to sleep.

Time to jump over to the offices of Sterling Cooper, where there’s clearly been a bit of a British invasion since we were last around. John Hooker could be an interesting character, given the way he’s carving his niche as an assistant rather than a secretary. Could a relationship with Joan be in the cards? Too soon to tell. Based on the comments around the office, some firings have clearly been taking place (clearly, it’s not the least bit coincidental that the conversations about job loss, medical insurance, and taxes echo just as strongly now as they did in the 1960s), but I can’t imagine any of the others have been nearly as entertaining as Burt Peterson’s. It’s always good to see Michael Gaston’s face – I still think of him as Gray Anderson from “Jericho” – and he made a great explosive show of Burt’s departure. Burt’s screaming behind the closed door of his office was hilarious, but I think the biggest laugh came from Roger Sterling’s late arrival to Burt’s farewell. (“Oh, it’s that meeting.”) By the way, after all of the intense discussion last season over the meaning of the painting in Bertram Cooper’s office, I enjoyed a chuckle when Cooper’s premiere appearance involved a discussion about new pieces of artwork.

Vincent Kartheiser never fails to impress me with his work as Pete Campbell, running through the gamut of emotions this episode. First, he’s scared shitless that he’s destined to suffer the same fate as Burt, only to have his nervous twitching turn into a full fledged dance of glee when he gets the news that he’s being given the title of Head of Accounts. Then, when he learns that Ken has gotten the same news and that the higher-ups are basically playing the two of them against each other, he develops a stone face that would put the heads on Mount Rushmore to shame. And just as you think he’s going to go whine to Don (as he’s already done to his wife), he’s put in a situation where he has a chance to toady up to both Sterling and Cooper simultaneously, which you can bet he takes advantage of. You probably wouldn’t want to watch an entire series revolving around Pete, but for my money, he’s arguably an even more deep and complex character than Don is. I know Kartheiser has gotten recognition through the Screen Actors Guild, but it’d be nice if the Emmys threw a little love his way next year.

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