Category: TV (Page 586 of 595)

A very special episode

November 22, 2005 /

Hats off to Grey’s Anatomy for handling a character’s coming-out scene as an afterthought rather than an after-school special. Guy’s guy Joe the bartender (who bears no small resemblance to Ken Hudson Campbell, aka the Lust character from “Herman’s Head”) arrives at Izzie’s Thanksgiving celebration with his hot Asian boy toy in tow, and is met at the door by high-strung Cristina (Sandra Oh).

Joe: “Hi. This is my…boyfriend.”
Cristina: “Whatever. You got any liquor?”

That’s it. No fanfare, no soul-searching, no agonizing over just the right moment to drop the bomb. Just a slightly overweight, hetero-looking guy casually revealing that women don’t float his boat. Joe and Cristina might has well have been discussing the weather, for all the gravity of their conversation.

Kudos to the writers for recognizing that there doesn’t have to be a “very special episode” for every gay character on television. And extra props for instead emphasizing another issue that is all too real for many Americans, gay and straight alike: the importance of having alcohol on hand during the holidays.

TV

Here comes her 19th nervous breakdown

November 21, 2005 /

Well, it’s a day that ends in ‘y’, and that means it’s time for another woman named Mayer to abandon any semblance of rational behavior. This week, for once, it’s not Susan who’s embroiled in an embarrassing and public divorce from her sanity…it’s Susan’s mother.

Ms. Mayer the elder chooses the least likely, least opportune, and most unfortunate possible time to reveal the deepest of family secrets: during her own toast, at her own wedding reception. In front of the hundred-odd guests who only came to enjoy a nice party, some free booze, and perhaps a little wagering on how long marriage #4 will last, Mommy Mayer announces that Susan’s supposedly long-dead, war-hero father is alive and well — and living just across town.

Susan runs out in tears, Julie follows her, and everyone watching suddenly decides that Vincent D’Onofrio’s histrionics maybe aren’t quite as annoying as they had initially thought, and changes channels to watch “Criminal Intent.”

In equally improbable developments further down Wisteria Lane, Lynette undermines her husband’s childrearing efforts for the flimsiest of reasons; George manhandles a guy twice his size (and sets fire to the guy’s Porsche after conveniently finding his valet stub); and elderly, ailing Mrs. McCluskey gets medieval on supposed prowlers with a Taser.

The episode’s sole bright spot is a cameo by Danny Trejo, whose battle-scarred face and bad-guy image are put to delightful use as a man who appears to be a threat to Gabrielle, but has in fact been hired by Carlos to help her deal with her grief over her miscarriage. Danny’s best line? “If I were going to kill you, I wouldn’t use a balloon. It would take too long.”

The episode closes with the arrest of the mysterious Caleb. “Is this the man who broke into your house?” Gabrielle is asked, and she nods her head. Technically, though, that’s not true: original Caleb Page Kennedy was fired for “inappropriate behavior” (translation: he allegedly flashed his mice and manhood to unappreciative crew members), and has been replaced by a new actor. Thus, it’s new Caleb Nashawn Kearse who gets loaded into the squad car, while the junk-dangler remains scot-free.

And once again, in a mostly white neighborhood, an innocent black man gets hauled downtown. Heck, maybe this show isn’t so implausible after all…

Desperate Housewives, Gossip, TV

Servilia pulls the strings

November 21, 2005 /

After last week’s blog entry, a reader wrote in wondering why I didn’t discuss the violent arena scene in more detail. My answer: I don’t know. The scene certainly deserves mention as it was one of the goriest scenes HBO has broadcast, and it almost makes up for the awful strobe-filled “battle scene” we saw in episode 7. But the best thing about the scene was the great display of the brotherly love that Lucius and Titus have for each other.

On to this week’s episode, which is also the season finale. Like another HBO franchise, “The Sopranos,” this series isn’t afraid to kill off a main character. Okay, everyone knew that Caesar was going to bite it soon, but who would have guessed that Niobe would take a header off a balcony? I’ll admit – that caught me by surprise. Servilia was the key that tied both storylines together. With the news of Niobe’s illegitimate son, she pulled Lucius away from Caesar’s side so that he wouldn’t be there to protect Caesar when the Senators made their move. It was actually quite brilliant.

Even more surprising than Niobe’s suicide was Titus’ former slavegirl pulling a 180 and grabbing the big man’s hand at the end of the episode. You would think that killing a girl’s boyfriend wouldn’t be the way to her heart, but apparently, you’d be wrong. The girl’s ex has to be rolling over in his grave at the thought of his murderer tapping his love, but there isn’t much he can do about it anymore. Darwinism, at its finest.

Looking forward to next season, it should be interesting to see how the new Republic moves forward and how Lucius deals with a boy that is not his own. Servilia’s threats towards Atia should provide material for another compelling storyline. Despite losing the considerable presence of Julius Caesar, the series is actually setting up pretty well for a second season.

Rome, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

Not-quaman

November 21, 2005 /

Last week, Herc at Ain’t It Cool News revealed that, after the character Arthur Curry made an appearance on “Smallville” a few weeks ago, The WB is now in talks to put together an “Aquaman” pilot. Except that they won’t be calling it “Aquaman,” the character of Arthur Curry won’t know Lois and Clark (even though they clearly just met on “Smallville”), and he will apparently have absolutely nothing in common with the character on which he’s more or less based. Instead of having a mother from Atlantis and a father who’s a lighthouse keeper, Curry will be an environmentalist based near the Bermuda Triangle, where his mom disappeared. Exposure to water will give him superstrength, and he’ll be able to breathe water as well. You don’t really have to be a comic geek to know that, when you’ve got about fifty years worth of established mythos for a character and you opt to throw all of it out the window to make things match up to whatever the demographic research says is the way to go, it’s probably going to suck. Criminey, people, have we learned nothing from “Catwoman“?

Gossip, TV, TV Dramas

There’s a new boy in the neighborhood…

November 21, 2005 /

Further proof that there’s little or no quality control to what TV series are being released on DVD. I guarantee that anyone who buys this for the kitsch value will watch 5 minutes of it and either instantly create a drinking game so that they can get their money’s worth out of it or heft a large object in the direction of the TV screen. Still, gotta love that theme song…

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4544

Charles in Charge started on CBS in 1984 as college student Charles (Happy Days’ Scott Baio) moves in with the Pembroke family (Julie Cobb as “Jill”, James Widdoes as “Stan”, April Lerman as “Lila”, Jonathan Ward as “Douglas”, and Michael Pearlman as “Jason”). Charles agrees to watch the three kids, ages 10-14, in exchange for free room and board while he’s not in class on campus. His best friend, Buddy (Eight Is Enough’s Willie Aames), was always on hand to add to the hilarity, and of course there’s a pretty lady for Charles to pursue in the form of schoolmate Gwendolyn (played by Jennifer Runyon). CBS would end the show’s network run after a single 22-episode season, but after being on hiatus a year the show would return for a first-run syndication plan that successfully lasted for four more seasons. The returning version of the show kept Charles, Buddy, the house, and the concept, but everything else changed as the Pembrokes moved away, subletting their home to the Powell family (including Nicole Eggert as daughter Jamie). But we’ll talk more about that, including Ellen Travolta’s addition to the cast, later on when the second season comes to DVD.

For now, though, fans of Charles In Charge have a lot to cheer about this morning (or perhaps “give thanks for” is appropriate during this week), as Universal has just announced this morning Charles In Charge – The Complete 1st Season on DVD. Valentine’s Day is the date to mark on your calendar, as February 14th is the street date for this long-anticipated set. Expect 22 half-hour episodes on 3 single-sided DVDs. Running time is 547 minutes, video is 1.33:1 full frame, and audio is English Mono. Subtitles are on board in English, French, and Spanish. You won’t get charged too much for this set, either, since the cost is a mere $34.98 SRP. We’ll be back later on with full-sized cover art plus any extras that might get announced, so stay tuned.

TV, TV Comedies, TV DVDs

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