Tag: Burn Notice (Page 1 of 2)

2010 Year End TV Review: Jason Zingale

December 13, 2010 /

It was an especially transformative year of television, at least for me, as my TV viewing diet underwent a bit of restructuring. Once-favorite shows began collecting dust on the DVR (sorry “Burn Notice,” but you’re losing your sizzle), and in the case of a few (like “Chuck”), were deleted altogether. Consequently, NBC’s “Community,” which spent most of its freshman season on the fringe of receiving similar treatment, is now the highlight of my Thursday nights. That’s because while shows like “Burn Notice” and “Chuck” are pretty much running on dead fumes at this point, “Community” has just begun to hit its groove. “How I Met Your Mother” also bounced back from an off-year with some of its funniest episodes to date, “Glee” and “Castle” continue to be as guilty as they are pleasurable, and the new season of “Top Chef” might just be the best yet. But none were able to crack my Top 5, which goes to prove that while there might have been a few misses this year, the hits were a lot more memorable.

year_end_terriers

1. Terriers

Clever, funny, dark and provocative, “Terriers” may have wowed critics with its flawed characters and rich storytelling, but that didn’t change John Landgraf’s recent decision not to renew it for a second season. I don’t blame the FX President for the low ratings (most networks would have given up after only a few weeks), but I do blame the rest of America for failing to tune in to the best new show of the season. Yes, you heard right. Although I enjoyed “The Walking Dead” and the overrated “Boardwalk Empire,” the buddy detective drama delivered better acting and writing week in and week out. Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James had unparalleled chemistry as the scrappy private investigators (the titular terriers, if you will) caught in the middle of the case of a lifetime, so it’s a shame that we won’t get to tag along on any of their further adventures – especially since the season finale left things wide open. Another brilliant but cancelled television show that, ten years from now, will still be missed.

year_end_modern_family

2. Modern Family

It hasn’t even completed its second season, but “Modern Family” already seems destined to become a comedy classic. It’s that good, and anyone who says otherwise should get an X-ray to see if their funny bone is broken. Of course, considering that it’s one of the most-watched shows on TV, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t agree. But for those who still haven’t experienced the funniest half-hour of television, it’s about time that you do, because there isn’t a single show that even comes close to matching the number of laughs in an average episode. And although the writing staff certainly deserves some credit, it’s cast members like Ty Burrell, Ed O’Neill and Sofia Vergara who make every joke that much funnier. Even the kids are funny, and that’s saying a lot from someone who isn’t particularly fond of child actors. It’s almost unbelievable the way the show fires on all cylinders so consistently, but that’s what separates a great show from a good one, and “Modern Family” is nothing if not that.

year_end_sons_of_anarchy

3. Sons of Anarchy

The third season of FX’s outlaw biker drama may not have been its best, but after a sluggish start, the series redeemed itself by getting back to the kind of top-notch storytelling that fans have come to expect. Many of those fans were quick to criticize the ambitious Ireland subplot that dominated most of the season, but along with fleshing out some of the club’s back story, it also set the stage for what turned out to be a killer finale. Many of the supporting players got lost in the background this year, but Charlie Hunnam gave the performance of his career, guest stars Paula Malcomson and James Cosmo proved themselves worthy additions to the cast, and Ally Walker put the finishing touches on what might just be the best TV villain in quite some time. The show may have stumbled a bit along the way, but no matter how you felt about the season as a whole, those who stuck around for the long haul were given plenty of incentive to come back next fall.

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Actors, Actresses, External TV, Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, TV, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, Year in Review

The 2010 Primetime Emmy nominations are in!

July 8, 2010 /

Bright and early this morning…by which we mean 8:40 AM EST / 5:40 AM PST…the nominees for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards were announced by Joel McHale (“Community,” “The Soup”) and Sofia Vergara (“Modern Family”). It ended up being a worthwhile gig for one of them, at least, with Vergara pulling in a Supporting Actress nod for “Modern Family.” Maybe that’s why McHale seemed so stone-faced. (Seriously, did someone tell McHale that he wasn’t getting paid if he didn’t keep his smart-assery in line ’til after the nominees were read? The only time he cracked anything approaching a joke was when he preempted Vergara’s mangling of Mariska Hargitay’s last name.) Anyway, here’s a list of who got the glory…and, in the case of Best Actress in a Drama, who got the shaft.

Outstanding Comedy Series:

* Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
* Glee (Fox)
* Modern Family (ABC)
* Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
* The Office (NBC)
* 30 Rock (NBC)

My Pick: “Modern Family.” There’s no question that “Glee” is award-worthy, but not necessarily as a comedy, which is also where “Nurse Jackie” falters in this category. I feel like “The Office” and “30 Rock” coasted in on their past merits this year, but “Curb” got a huge boost from the “Seinfeld” storyline, so it’s the only real competition here. Still, the buzz on “Modern Family” is all over the place. I can’t imagine it won’t bring home the glory.

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Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, News, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

My Name Is Bruce

February 5, 2009 /

Bruce Campbell has never received the attention he deserves as a character actor. After two failed TV series and a lifetime of riding on Sam Raimi’s coattails, you’d think that he’d run into a bit of luck eventually, but the closest that he’s come to success is a supporting role on the USA drama “Burn Notice.” Sometimes, when you need something done, you’ve got to do it yourself, and though Campbell’s first trip behind the camera (the Sci-Fi Channel movie, “The Man with the Screaming Brain”) was ultra-campy, his latest effort is a big improvement. A self-proclaimed Bob Hope movie with decapitations, “My Name Is Bruce” isn’t the actor’s finest hour, but it’s a nice bit of fan service that will please his loyal following.

My Name Is Bruce

In it, Campbell stars as a fictional version of himself, a B-movie action star who’s recruited by a small mining town to stop the recently resurrected Chinese God of War, Guan-di. What follows is the kind of goofy, slapstick comedy that fans have come to expect from the actor over the years, and it’s littered with familiar faces like Ellen Sandweiss (“The Evil Dead”), Dan Hicks (“Evil Dead 2”), Timothy Patrick Quill (“Army of Darkness”), and Ted Raimi. Those expecting anything other than B-movie quality are bound to be disappointed, but if that’s the case, they’re probably not real Bruce Campbell fans either. “My Name Is Bruce” is the ultimate fan experience, and though it will probably never rank among the actor’s best work, it’s still a must-see. In fact, the vast collection of extras included on the Blu-ray release (like the audio commentary by Campbell and the making-of featurette, “Heart of Dorkness”) is worth the price of admission alone.

Click to buy “My Name Is Bruce”

Actors, Movie Comedies, Movie DVD Quicktakes, Movie DVDs, Movies

Fiona Glenanne of “Burn Notice,” dissected

February 3, 2009 /

Look, I like Gabrielle Anwar’s character, the gun-toting Fionia Glenanne, as much as the next red-blooded American male, but I never thought someone (other than maybe a few of the “Burn Notice” writers) could put together 650+ words on what she represents in a post-feminist world. But Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times did just that.

Fiona is a character with no memorable precedent: a genius joke-take on girls with gun lust, the joke being that above all else she is every woman who needs to be sent a copy of “He’s Just Not That Into You,” next-day delivery. In the show’s back story Michael broke up with Fiona years ago, disappearing without explanation. (I imagine this to have been like Berger dumping Carrie with a Post-it note on “Sex and the City,” except it occurred three feet from a terrorist cell.)

Fiona has never been able to get over Michael despite his persistent and explicit reminders that he is not made of the ordinary stuff of human need. Still, she keeps pushing for the dream, dating other people solely to try to make Michael jealous, interrupting stakeouts and shooting sprees and manhunts to ask for a key to his apartment or to tell him that what she would really like for her birthday is a teddy.

While reading the piece, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop — for Bellafante to criticize Anwar’s character for continuing to pine over her ex-boyfriend even after all these years. But that shoe never dropped. Bellafante genuinely admires Fiona and what she represents. Good stuff.

On a side note, anyone else remember the pilot episode where Fiona spoke with an Irish accent (which made sense because she used to be a member of the Irish Republican Army)? I thought they should have stuck with it, though the creators apparently thought otherwise.

External Entertainment, External TV, News, Reviews, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

It’s time to set your TiVos… (part 2)

January 19, 2009 /

A couple of weeks ago, we provided a list of shows that were debuting soon so that you’d have a chance to set your TiVos. Well, 14 days have past and, since that’s the amount of program data that TiVo can carry, it’s time to do it again.

Here is a list of the scripted shows that premiere in the next two weeks (through Feb. 2):

LOST (ABC)
1/21/09 at 9:00 PM
Two-hour 5th season premiere

LIE TO ME (FOX)
1/21/09 at 9:03 PM
(from FOX’s press release, September 2008) FOX has given a series commitment to LIE TO ME, a compelling new drama from Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox Television. Tim Roth (“The Incredible Hulk”) and Kelli Williams (“The Practice”) star in this fascinating character drama inspired by a real-life specialist who can read clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to expose the truth behind the lies in criminal investigations. LIE TO ME is scheduled to premiere midseason. When you scratch your chin, wring your hands, wrinkle your nose or swallow too much, Dr. Cal Lightman (Roth) knows you’re lying. He doesn’t just think so he knows so. As the foremost deception expert in the country, Dr. Lightman can uncover the deepest secrets and crack the hardest cases. More accurate than any polygraph, he knows whether those in front of him be they family, friends, criminals or complete strangers are honest or not. Dr. Lightman heads up The Lightman Group, a private agency contracted by the FBI, local police, law firms, corporations and private individuals when they hit roadblocks in their searches for the truth. Joining him at the agency are a variety of experts in the field of behavioral evaluation: Dr. Gillian Foster (Williams) is a gifted psychologist and Lightman’s professional partner, a woman whose guidance he needs whether he knows it or not; Will Loker (Brendan Hines) is Lightman’s lead researcher who practices “radical honesty” at all times; and Ria Torres (Monica Raymund) is the newest member of the team, selected for her innate ability to read body language and catch certain clues that her colleagues may miss.

BURN NOTICE (USA)
1/22/09 at 10:00 PM
2nd season winter premiere

THE LAST TEMPLAR (NBC)
1/25/09 at 9:00 PM
(from NBC’s press release) In this four-hour miniseries, Oscar winner Mira Sorvino (“Mighty Aphrodite”) stars in an epic action-adventure tale about the greatest mystery of our time. At the New york Metropolitan Museum, four horsemen dressed as 12th century knights storm the gala opening of an exhibition of Vatican treasures and steal an arcane medieval decoder. For archaeologist Tess Chaykin (Sorvino) and FBI agent Sean Daly (Scott Foley, “The Unit”), this is just the start of a suspenseful game of cat and mouse as they race across three continents in search of the enemy — and the lost secret of the Knights Templar. The miniseries is produced by MUSE Entertainment Enterprises. Victor Garber (“Alias”) and Omar Sharif (“Doctor Zhivago”) also star. Emmy Award-winning television impresario Robert Halmi Sr. (“Tin Man,” “Gulliver’s Travels”), Robert Halmi, Jr. (“The Poseidon Adventure,” “The Christmas Card”), and Michael Prupas (“Human Trafficking”) will executive-produce the miniseries.

LOVING LEAH (CBS)
1/25/09 at 9:00 PM
(from CBS’s press release) Emmy Award nominee Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under”) and Adam Kaufman (“Without a Trace”) star in LOVING LEAH, a new “Hallmark Hall of Fame” presentation to be broadcast Sunday, Jan. 25 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. This quirky love story revolves around the unexpected wedding and unconventional married life of a 26-year-old widow and her late husband’s brother, a handsome 30-year-old cardiologist. Susie Essman (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Ricki Lake (“Hairspray,” “China Beach”), Natasha Lyonne (“American Pie”) and Academy Award and Golden Globe Award winner Mercedes Ruehl (“The Fisher King”) also star. Jake Lever (Kaufman), a successful, 30-year-old Washington, D.C. doctor who seems to be living his dream, is stunned to learn of the death of his older brother, Benjamin. Jake and his mother, Janice (Ruehl), who are not religious, drifted apart from Benjamin after he moved away to become a rabbi and chose to devote nearly all of his time to his rabbinical duties and his faith. As a result, Jake and Janice are virtual strangers to Benjamin’s young widow, Leah (Ambrose), and the other mourners in Benjamin’s close-knit Hasidic community in Brooklyn, N.Y. Already ill-at-ease in Benjamin’s world, Jake is shocked when he is asked to honor an ancient Levirate marriage law. As a single man, he’s expected to marry the childless Leah to carry on Benjamin’s name…or else deny his brother’s existence in a ceremony that will release them from this generally un-enforced Jewish law. Despite his serious relationship with a beautiful surgeon, Carol (Christy Pusz), Jake finds it unthinkable to deny his brother’s existence and impulsively suggests he and Leah marry and maintain a secretly platonic relationship in Washington, D.C. Leah gladly accepts as a means of finally pursuing her own dreams without offending her very traditional and domineering mother, Malka (Essman). Jake and Leah’s oversimplified plan to live separate lives out of Jake’s two-bedroom apartment proves to be more challenging than anticipated, especially when Leah’s suspicious mother shows up unexpectedly. The harder they work to disguise their “pretend” marriage, the more their real love for each other grows. Ricki Lake portrays Gerry, the first female rabbi Leah has ever met, who invites Leah to join her temple in Washington, D.C. Natasha Lyonne plays Leah’s sister, Esther.

THE CLOSER (TNT)
1/26/09 at 9:00 PM
4th season winter premiere

TRUST ME (TNT)
1/26/09 at 10:00 PM
(from TNT’s press release, April 2008) TNT has greenlit TRUTH IN ADVERTISING, a new drama series starring Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) and Tom Cavanagh (Ed) and executive-produced by the creators of ad-supported cable’s #1 series of all time, The Closer. The drama centers on two highly creative ad executives whose professional partnership and friendship are put to the test when one is named creative director of their firm. Monica Potter (Boston Legal), Griffin Dunne (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Sarah Clarke (24), Mike Damus (Lost in Yonkers) and Geoffrey Arend (Garden State) also star in the series, which comes to TNT from Warner Horizon Television. Greer Shephard and Michael M. Robin (The Closer) serve as executive producers, along with The Closer writers Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny. Robin also directed the pilot. TNT has ordered 13 episodes of the series, which is slated to premiere on the network in 2009. “TRUTH IN ADVERTISING takes place in the high-pressure world of advertising, but it’s really a story of friendship and values and how those things are strained by the often conflicting demands of work and family,” said Michael Wright, senior vice president in charge of the Content Creation Group for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies. “Eric and Tom play two fascinating, compelling and always interesting men whose unique friendship and working relationship is the core of the show. We are thrilled to be working on this superb drama with the creative talents who brought us The Closer. And we are especially happy to have such a stellar cast, led by Eric and Tom.” TRUTH IN ADVERTISING takes place in the offices of multi-million dollar Chicago advertising agency Rothman, Greene & Mohr, where Mason McGuire (McCormack) and Conner (Cavanagh) are the top creatives. Family man Mason is a nice guy navigating the politics of an increasingly competitive corporate world. When he is promoted to creative director, he must learn to cultivate his inner shark in order to survive. Conner, on the other hand, is highly emotional from the get-go. As Mason’s partner, friend and copywriter, he gets that advertising is a business, but he’s always looking for ways to mix in plenty of pleasure on the way. Meanwhile, RG&M is on the verge of its IPO and huge advertising accounts are on the line, creating internecine battles among the company’s creative teams and additional pressures on Mason and Conner’s working relationship and friendship. As they desperately try to keep things in check, they risk having the rug upon which they park their Prada-covered feet pulled out from under them. In the take-no-prisoners world of advertising, the order of the day includes pressure, selling, fear, envy, competition and big, big money. But for Mason and Conner, it’s the friendship and loyalty of the people behind the scenes that spell the difference between success and failure.

BALDWIN HILLS (BET)
1/27/09 at 10:00 PM
3rd season premiere

LISA LAMPANELLI: LONG LIVE THE QUEEN (HBO)
1/31/09 at 10:00 PM

MEDIUM (NBC)
2/2/09 at 10:00 PM
5th season premiere

Geez, y’think some of these press release descriptions are long enough?

External Entertainment, External TV, Lost, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

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