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For Dan Bishop, the South Pasadena-based production designer of “Mad Men,” every frame of TV that we absorb in a post-work haze on our couches has the potential to be beautiful photography.
One of Bishop’s favorite examples in “Mad Men” happens near the end of the ninth episode. Betty Draper sits in her kitchen smoking a cigarette. Minutes later, she steps outside in her nightgown with a BB gun and shoots her neighbor’s pigeons.
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Sometimes, as Meredith would say, you just need a break. Just take one look at the characters of "Grey’s Anatomy" assembled in the season premiere, all fresh and familiar in their lab coats with the irritated hopelessness of last season melted away. After months of fallout from Isaiah Washington’s dismissal and Kate Walsh’s spinoff, after Patrick Dempsey’s twins and Katherine Heigl's Emmy, it was nice to get back to business.
This year will be different, we tell ourselves with the hopeful conviction of fifth-graders. Even the voice-over didn’t seem so bothersome, maybe because it seemed to be speaking to us about the show as much as anything else. Change, we were told, is difficult but necessary, though sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. Perhaps not the most earthshaking news around, but for a season premiere with not one but three important characters MIA (Washington’s Dr. Burke, Walsh’s Dr. Addison and Kate Burton as Meredith’s mother), it was reassuring nonetheless.
Creator Shonda Rhimes wisely decided to give her characters a bit of a break too. So in Thursday’s episode, we met up with the gang 17 days after Burke left Cristina (Sandra Oh) at the altar, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek (Dempsey) may or may not have broken up and George was going to dump Callie Sara Ramirez) for Izzie (Heigl) until he found out he was going to have to repeat his internship. Vacations have been taken — Meredith went with Cristina on her almost honeymoon, Alex drove up to find his former patient Ava (now Rebecca). But no one apparently has cellphones (have you noticed this about "Grey’s"? It’s quite endearing) because Cristina still hasn’t spoken to Burke, nor Meredith to Derek, nor George to Izzie. So there’s a lot of catching up needed to be done. In stairwells and operating theaters, medical supply closets and X-ray rooms.
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Are “Cavemen” headed for extinction?
 ABC’s new sitcom, inspired by the Geico insurance ads, is scheduled to debut at 8 p.m. Tuesday, but advance copies haven’t been made available to critics, leading some to suspect the show is DOA.
Not true, says an ABC spokesman. Copies haven’t gone out because they’re not done. “They’re not ready,” the spokesman said. “They want the finishing touches” completed before critics take a peek, and that won’t happen before the premiere. “That’s all there is to it.”
The show revolves around a clutch of hairy, prehistoric men who struggle to be understood in the modern world. It got a cool reception at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Beverly Hills this summer for playing too much like a clunky racial allegory. Since then, one of the leads has been recast and the pilot reshot. New writers and consultants have also been brought on board.
ABC will find out soon enough whether the revisions work. Working heavily in the show’s favor: No other new program has such instant recognizability thanks to those TiVo-defying Geico ads.
The ABC spokesman has seen a rough cut, and admits to being biased, but says that naysayers may be surprised: “I think it’s funny.”
--Rene Lynch
(Photo courtesy ABC)
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 For a show that originally plumbed for laughs the doldrums that make up the average American office, a lot is going on at "The Office's" Dunder Mifflin. Romances, rabies, car accidents, nudity, fun runs: Judging from the fourth season's premiere, it seems like the show is heading into a new direction that focuses on tumultuous relationships and what they tend to call "situational comedy."
The writers had a lot of material to work with from the season finale: Ryan (B.J. Novak) went from being Michael's (Steve Carell) "protege" to being his boss; Jim (John Krasinski) apparently dumped Karen (Rashida Jones) in New York and began a relationship with longtime crush Pam (Jenna Fischer); and Michael's girlfriend, Jan (Melora Hardin), underwent a complete emotional breakdown, surrendering all the control that had defined her in previous seasons.
Since the BBC version of "The Office" lasted only two seasons, the third and fourth seasons of the U.S. incarnation were and are going to be definitive in terms of determining where the show will go. In many ways, this premiere purposefully demonstrated that the series is going to head in new directions, obviously with the displacement of Ryan and, yes, the romance between Pam and Jim (go ahead and take your victory lap, JAM-ers, while you can). But in larger ways, too, the writers seem to be attempting to evolve the show. For instance, the premiere opened not at or even near the office but in Michael's home. Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Angela's (Angela Kinsey) relationship, while still secret to the office, is now public to the cameras. And perhaps most unusual, the faux "fourth wall" was broken down as the cameramen showed Pam and Jim footage of a secret rendezvous, forcing them to admit their relationship. Very infrequently have the cameras in the U.S. version of "The Office" been acknowledged -- it's about high time they did, because perhaps the most unrealistic part of the show is not Michael's increasingly ridiculous behavior but that the characters never seem to mention the footage of them that apparently is being aired somewhere, or questioning where it is going.
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We'll get this out of the way. Everyone's had their pre-show opinions. Lots of people (including the Times) reviewed it, some even calling it "creepily unpleasant." And the ratings showed a solid, but not spectacular, beginning for a reality TV show (a 3.1 rating/9 share in adults ages 18-49 and 9.38 million viewers). "Kid Nation" is what sensible folk thought it would be: Lots of kids having what they think is a tough time making "a life" for themselves in the desert without adults. Except for the host, who never seems very far away. And the cameramen who chronicle (and I believe) guide some of the action. And whatever crew is there to set up the challenges, the outhouses and the giant blow-up slide that was displayed in the latest episode. Yep, no adults except them (and the set child psychologists and ...).
So on to the show. First episode: The short of it is that the take-charge 14-year-old fast-talking Florida native Sophia got the first gold star and $20,000, while homesick 8-year-old Jimmy -- who, while on the bus, exclaimed, "I think I'm gonna die out here" -- decided not to chance it and went home. The long of it was a lot of setup done by creating a social structure and .. I'll just be lazy and let CBS tell you. So, the most 'inflammatory' thing about the second episode of "Kid Nation" this week was a pop-up disclaimer before Greg, the oldest Kid Nationer, beheaded a couple of chickens.
"The following scene may be too intense for younger viewers."
Like the ones watching it live in Bonanza City?!? This could've done without the warning. The image may have been a bit jarring, but anyone watching the show knew it was going to happen. And that includes little Emilie, who protested but was eventually pushed aside by the chicken-soup craving horde.
Most of these kids are cute beyond reason (8-year-old Mallory helped start a stuffed-animal daycare center), and they're one-liner machines. Every time the camera is on Jared, just be ready.
A few lines from Episode 2:
- Savannah (talking about the yellow team): "They're just as lazy as a sack of potatoes."
- Jared (while holding a dead chicken): "It's the natural order of life!"
- Not sure if it was Emilie, but one of the kids who tried to protect the chickens: "[They're going to] gang up on us like they did Saddam Hussein!"
- Greg (foreshadowing trouble after he didn't win the gold star): "I thought it was pretty disrespectful, and I'm going to do something about it."
It's worth it to check out some of the bios that the kids created on CBS' site. There are so many that some get lost, and this gives you more insight into what types of kids are trying to build this town. More to come ...
-- Jevon Phillips
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Is Tyra warming up her political chops for Barack Obama's appearance on her talk show Oct. 1? Because Wednesday night's "Top Model" took on one issue after another -- from the environment to smoking to people with disabilities to, shudder, shopping at discount stores. I mean, my God, has the woman no shame?
The models will be carted around in a biodiesel limo bus this year, which is seemingly an invitation for jokes about the vehicle running on more food than the girls. (Not that you'll read a joke like that here, oh no.)
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What was that?
No, not the unsurprising elimination of model Josie Maran from "Dancing With the Stars." What was up with that strangely entertaining results show?
DWTS episodes pack a lot of fun but tend to include a lot of filler as well, with the results show typically being the guiltiest culprits with unnecessary recaps, interviews, jokey sketches and a drawn-out elimination process. And during the season premiere week, when the show was padded with an extra day and an extra hour, it seemed inevitable that Wednesday's results show would be just as overlong as ever. But out of nowhere came a results show actually filled with entertainment, a little contemporary flavor, drama and some funny writing to boot.
Make no mistake about it, it was still longer than it needed to be, unless, of course, viewers had missed Monday and Tuesday nights and were only able to tune in for the results show (which in that case would actually be quite a neat little boiled-down version of the week's events.) And the show did not get off to a promising start as Marie Osmond and Albert Reed looked around and smiled nervously at the cameras, clearly not yet enrolled in the Dancing with the Stars Mugging University that Joey Fatone graduated magna cum laude from last season. But as the judges noted, dance-wise, Monday and Tuesday nights were the best start to any season of the show, and the rest of the results episode followed in in suit.
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 The season premiere of “House” opened big — with a guy talking to his girlfriend on the cellphone just as the building she’s in collapses right before his very eyes. But for some of us, the opening credits were a much bigger source of tension. So it is with great pleasure that I can report that while last season ended with Drs. Foreman (Omar Epps), Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Chase (Jesse Spencer) being fired, there they are cycling through the opening credits and scuttling along House’s peripheral vision like so many ghosts of cases past.
House (Hugh Laurie, in case you have forgotten, which really isn’t possible since he has been on the cover of every magazine in America lately), meanwhile, is determined that he will not hire another team. He won’t, He Won’t, HE WON’T, not if he has to hold his breath ’til he turns blue or use a passing janitor as a sounding board. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) reacts the way he always does, by fondly psychoanalyzing House. (Really, either Wilson is in the wrong profession or he’s in lurve — and wouldn’t that be a great very special episode?) He diagnoses abandonment issues — House cared about his people, they left, so House will never put himself in that position again. Sniff.
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 On Monday night's episode, the new ladies of "Dancing With the Stars" gave surprisingly competent performances but not too much else. Sabrina Bryan and Mel B bring a little sass, but on DWTS, it's typically been the gentlemen who deliver the yuks, often to make up for a lack of talent (like Billy Ray Cyrus last season). However, this season the guys have got spark and a surprising amount of talent: While Josie Maran delivered the one dud performance Monday, none of the guys fell on their faces in their debuts.
First out of the gate was soap star Cameron Mathison, taking the role of the "not too old but not too young" male dancer (think Harry Hamlin) and also the first to warn everyone that he's got an injury of some sort -- what's with these guys? He, Mark Cuban and Helio Castroneves are so fragile.
Featuring the "professional athlete with natural dancing ability" (reprising Emmitt Smith's role), boxer Floyd Mayweather's segment included the first argument between a star and a pro, trash talk and a strangely edited version of Outkast's "The Way You Move" -- is the word "eargasm" one you can't use on TV?
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 I like to think of myself as a fairly astute television viewer -- it's my job, after all. But it dawned on me while watching Tuesday night's "Damages" that I had no idea who perpetrated the central crime. Who killed David?
Let's go over who I consider the suspects. First, there's Ellen. I'll eliminate her because she's the most obvious choice, and the show is too craftily written to go for the easy answer. Second, Patty. But the blood and guts element of it all doesn't seem like her style -- she had a henchman kill a dog, after all. Third, Tom. He is a big enough guy to whack someone, but his loyalty to Patty is suspect, and therefore so is his motive. Fourth, Gregory. His hinted-at relationship with Ray adds a dangerous, dirty little element to the puzzle. And fifth, there's Lila. Sure, she's wee ... but she's a schemey lil' lady.
The most recent episode tipped the evidence in favor of Patty -- that was quite the wigout she had at the beach house -- but still didn't give any definitive answers. I trolled around some message boards to find other theories, which, in the name of avoiding unintentional spoilerage, I'll reveal after the jump.
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You'd think from the past several months of television lineups that we are a country with no concerns about war, terrorism, the housing market or anything else. Because what we really like to do is dance, dance, dance!
Fans of televised dance competitions must be exhausted after watching the wrap-up of the fourth season of "Dancing With the Stars" at the start of summer, followed by Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," only to be countered with the fifth season of "DWTS." But now ABC is taking no prisoners. How else to explain not one, not two but THREE nights of the show? It's draining, but the show must go on, and on and on. In this spirit, season two champion Drew Lachey stood in as co-host for Samantha Harris, who just gave birth to a baby girl. Despite many digs by host Tom Bergeron, Drew did a more than passable job: You'd better watch your back, Samantha!
Last night, the ladies of the fifth season strutted their stuff, and since one of them will be eliminated on Wednesday night's show, it's only fair to give each of them their due.
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 It seems like we've been waiting longer than 'Four Months Later' -- the name of the second season's premiere episode. But since the finale, the stars of "Heroes" have made, and continue to make, news. Hayden Panettiere, the cheerleader, turned 18 and suddenly her life is everywhere, including her threat to kill a journalist. Our resident "Resident Evil" star, Ali Larter, a.k.a. Niki/Jessica Sanders a.k.a. Claire Redfield had her movie (OK, so it's also Milla Jovovich's) open in the top spot. The evil that is Sylar (Zachary Quinto) will be the logic that is Spock in the new "Star Trek." Masi Oka seemed like he was everywhere. And he, plus the whole group, got within a hair's breadth (I'd like to think) of an Emmy (with Larter even doing her own hair!). With People's Choice, Teen Choice, the Television Critics Assn. and TV Land awards, the show is getting much praise from the masses. And I got a "Heroes" pop tart! Yeah, it's been an eventful summer.
So, the show. There's lots to update:
-- Officer Parkman survived getting shot, made it on the NYPD and has taken over caring for Molly, the locator girl, who now has dreams of an oncoming evil guy.
-- Hiro is in feudal Japan (1671) and has met his hero, Takezo Kensei, who turns out to be an Englishman and a drunk. His dad and his best friend, Anzo, (who I saw on an episode of Jury Duty) dutifully await his return, until someone gets pushed off a building (gasp!).
-- Suresh is on the lecture circuit but is invited to join what looks to be the same evil corporation the cheerleader's dad worked for. And we later find that this is all part of the plan.
-- Meanwhile, the cheerleader and her dad (with the fam) have relocated to Cali. Poor Claire enrolls in another angsty high school, complete with snotty cheerleaders and a mysterious flying kid.
-- The Petrellis are in turmoil, with Nathan on the sauce, Mom lurking around trying to pull strings and Peter ending up in the last scene handcuffed inside a shipping container in Ireland with no memory!
The elders (as I call the previous generation of Heroes) are being hunted. By what/whom will probably be the focal point of the season. All of that and no mention of Niki, D.L., Micah or Sylar. Plus the introduction of Maya and Alejandro -- two kids running from the law, and from Maya's inexplicable powers, which leave a truck full of migrants dead with bleeding eyes! And there you go.
 Kristen Bell and Dana Davis haven't been intro'd yet! The show has gotten big. Really big. EW cover big (where the image of Bell came from). Product placement big. Claire's Nissan Rogue drop was pretty prominent.
I was hoping that with the group getting together in New York at the end of last season, it would turn into some sort of Justice League. Far-fetched? A bit, but in the backs of the minds of "Heroes" fans, I think the collaboration was always anticipated. When it happened, it was fun and exciting. Despite the splintered story lines, sooner or later, the group will come back.
For a bit more insight, Greg Beeman, who directs many of the "Heroes" episodes, has again started up his blog, quoting influences from "Zatoichi" to "A Mighty Heart." It's always interesting to see what's on the minds of those who are behind the scenes shaping what we see.
-- Jevon Phillips
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Yep. This week was a rerun.
Zzzzz…
But wait!
In the next few weeks, I’ll be featuring interviews with important members of the show. I know I already want to interview production designer Dan Bishop. Why? Well, I really have a sweet spot for '60s modern, for one thing, and I figure he'll know where to get the best boomerang coffee table in L.A.
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Oh, "Top Model," how I've missed you! It's been several long months since Cycle 8 wrapped up, and how I've been pining for tales of $25 weaves, hysterical crying at the sight of famous people, "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert"-inspired stage shows and the answer to the burning question: Is she a plus-sized model or a skinny girl with some pudge?
And all that was in the first 15 minutes.
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 Perhaps it’s the “Ugly Betty” influence on television. Or maybe the producers of “24” just couldn’t get enough of Laura Spencer’s brief return to “General Hospital” last year.
When “24” has its seventh season premiere on Jan. 13, Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) will somehow be miraculously resurrected. We use the term “miraculously” because, even though executive producer Howard Gordon declared in a Fox news release today that Tony’s fate was “uncertain,” we’re pretty certain we saw Tony taking his last breath in Jack Bauer’s arms in Season 5.
This belief was further reinforced when we interviewed Gordon, Bernard and star Kiefer Sutherland, and they all expressed how sad they were that Jack no longer had his running buddy. But they all agreed that it was in the service of telling a good story.
What could that good story be now? According to Fox, the season opens with Jack on trial in Washington, D.C., for his actions in the pursuit of justice. CTU no longer exists and there is a woman, played by Cherry Jones, running the White House. The only thing stated about Tony’s return is that it is “shocking.”
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 Call it "The Sopranos" rule: When a sketchy guy starts looking at real estate, it's probably not the place where he wants to build his dream house.
Frobisher takes center stage this week, as some of his machinations start unraveling -- and others build up steam. Larry, his contact with disgruntled employees, transfers to Patty's side. But Bad Hat Guy? Turns out to be a crony of Frobisher's from the SEC, and it's implied that he's smoothed over the government's case.
And Gregory Malina? Still missing. Maybe dead. (And could he be taking a dirt nap on the property Frobisher is suddenly interested in?)
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At Episode 9, “Mad Men” is purring along like Draper’s Buick. I’m enjoying the ride, but I’m eager for our destination. Where will the season finale take us? So many plot developments: Draper and Betty; Draper and Rachel Mencken (don’t think for a moment she won’t reemerge draped or feathered in something fabulous); Pete and Peggy; the barely closeted Salvatore and office vixen Joan … where will they be a mere handful of weeks from now? The only storyline we know the end to is Nixon’s. The “Mad Men” characters should count on a better fate, but then again, who understands the whims of TV writers?
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 Another season finale, another death in the Gavin family.
At least that's what I'm guessing happened. For all we know Tommy's dad just fell asleep at the minor league baseball game. Enduring the show's fourth season could do that to anybody.
It's disappointing to think of losing Charles Durning as a recurring part of the "Rescue Me" world. He was always good for an amusing line or two (especially when the writers extracted him from the painful Korean wife story line). In a brief moment of nostalgia at the game he even made Tommy smile — what a jarring but welcome moment that was for the perpetual cynic.
But given the state of the show, it doesn't matter much. After the abuse "Rescue Me" has inflicted on the fans all season long, it would be difficult for a single hour to make much difference.
I went over all of that last week, and with the finale behind us, it's time to move on. All we can do now is see how Denis Leary and Peter Tolan react to the widespread frustration with this season.
They're in a tough situation. Serial drama is easy enough to criticize but remarkably difficult to execute well. These guys have done it in the past, but can they do it again?
And an even more important question, will you be there to watch it?
-- Geoff Berkshire
(Photo courtesy FX)
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Well, we have what appears to be the first hookup of the Sydney season, as KellyAnne and Cohutta moved beyond flirting into something physical, which the roommates fear (and producers doubtless hope) could develop into something disastrous. (Take all this with a grain of salt -- it sure did look like they were taking things to the next level, but who can tell with editing, really? Next week we could have earnest KellyAnne in front of the camera professing that they just cuddled and fell asleep together.)
Earlier in the day, KellyAnne received a honkin' bouquet of flowers from Carey, a guy she met at a bar who asked her out. He seemed perfectly nice -- although his fashion sense was a tragic indication that Eurotrash has made it Down Under. (A white wide-pinstripe blazer, a ripped-collar shirt, jeans and white tennis shoes. When did collars become the enemy?) He took KellyAnne to an expensive restaurant on the water, and then later asked if he could kiss her.
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 Early on in the run of "Damages," Patty gave her protege, Ellen, a level-headed stare and told her to "trust no one." (No, she isn't an "X-Files" fan.) In Tuesday's episode, however, it finally became clear that Ellen -- as wide-eyed and naive as she sometimes appears -- has taken her advice to heart.
In present-day time, it's revealed that Ellen spent the night at Patty's house after she and David had a fight. Patty -- gone for the weekend -- was the only one who knew she was staying there, which may make her complicit in the attack on Ellen by a mystery man.
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One minute and fifty-two seconds. That is how long Jason's much-hyped appearance lasted during Monday's episode of "The Hills."
Jason had just come from his morning group meeting. We assumed he meant AA or rehab. He and Lauren, who apparently had not communicated since the breakup that kicked off Season 2, exchanged small talk before Jason, in his own way, cut to the chase and lamented the end.
"It was hard. It was weird. I was out of control. I had some bad habits," he said. Yeah. Tell us about it. "It's just hard to get over."
"I know," Lauren said.
And, for now, that was it.
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The season finale of "My Boys" was cleverly titled "Rome, If You Want To" (after the B-52's song "Roam"), but maybe it should have been called "The One That's Like 'Friends' and 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.' "
Perhaps it was inevitable that the Chicago-set sitcom would feature an homage to the 1986 John Hughes film, and in a way it paid off in a Chicago Tourism Board sense. The exterior shots of the Art Institute, Sears Tower and Lake Michigan were all beautiful. But occasionally the writing on "My Boys" shoehorns in the Windy City, and this was one of those times. Why only now would P.J. (Jordana Spiro) and her friends decide to take in the sights? So often on "My Boys" the Chicago references are knowing and winking, but this time they seemed like they came from someone who had spent a weekend in the town but had seen "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" 50 times.
The main plot point of the finale began with a promising story line that the show has explored before: P.J.'s new boyfriend Evan (Michael Landes) finds it difficult to break into the group of guys she constantly surrounds herself with. This was an issue left unresolved last season, with the apparent solution in the finale to have P.J. hook up in-group with her friend Brendan (Reid Scott).
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A TV interview, perhaps — but what Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman engaged in Monday was really more a corporate merger of celebrity.
Winfrey, kicking off her 22nd season in New York, sat down with Letterman in the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden for 35 minutes of mutual basking in each other’s public selves — his depressive-seeming and privacy-guarding, hers as empathic as it is monolithic.
This version of “When Dave Met Oprah” was a quid pro quo from 2005, when Winfrey dropped in on “The Late Show With David Letterman,” a media event that ended a supposed 16-year feud between the two.
In a ceremonial exchanging of bits, Letterman brought the “Oprah Log” notebook he’d kept for six months, chronicling each day that passed without an invitation onto her show, and she cued the Super Bowl commercial in which Dave and Oprah cuddled on a sofa.
All of it conspired to prevent a conversation from actually breaking out. Of course, in Winfrey’s hands, a question like, “So, Dave, people don’t know anything about you” is actually a segue to more about Oprah — in this case, a clip of the photo of Oprah and Dave together that rests on a mantle in her office alongside Oprah with Desmond Tutu and Oprah with Elie Wiesel.
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And then there were five.
 Comedian Sherri Shepherd officially joined ABC’s “The View” on Monday, filling the seat vacated by Star Jones Reynolds last year.
“Well, this is the worst-kept secret,” said Barbara Walters, the daytime talk show’s co-executive producer, as she introduced Shepherd to the cheering audience.
“Oh my gosh, I’m actually one the girls!” exclaimed a beaming Shepherd, who has been a guest host on the program nearly two dozen times.
Shepherd, a former legal secretary, is a stand-up comic who most recently appeared in the movie “Who’s Your Caddy?” She’s had ongoing roles on television sitcoms such as “Friends,” “Suddenly Susan” and “Less Than Perfect.”
“People who don’t know who Sherri Shepherd is, I’m the black girl on all the white shows,” she quipped.
With the addition of Shepherd and moderator Whoopi Goldberg this season, “The View” has a full complement of panelists for the first time since the spring of 2006.
-- Matea Gold
(Photo courtesy ABC)
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Don’t you love it when the TV universe grants your wishes? I’ve been cheering for “Mad Men” since that first, full-lunged pull on Draper’s Lucky Strike, but I’ve also been demanding rewards for my loyal viewership. In no particular order, I asked for more sexy scenes sans girdles, more sassy ‘60s humor, less wretched sexism, and will you finally please get the whole “Salvatore is gay” plotline up and running because that thing’s been lingering so long it’s starting to smell.
Shiny presents were torn open on all three points, and ribbons strewn around the most powerful of “Mad Men” themes: Everyone’s identity is mutable. Nothing is what it seems. We love our masks, and if you try to rip them off, or even move them aside to see a little bit of our real lips, our real teeth, we might scratch your eyes out. Or at least deliver a tear-jerking swipe at the nose.
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So here we are. The second-to-last episode in the fourth season of "Rescue Me" has aired. And I'm speechless. Slightly confused. Maybe even a little bit depressed.
What went so wrong? How did this scrappy, frequently underappreciated little show turn into such a rambling mess? The storylines this season were alternately dull (Janet's depression; Tommy hates his daughter's boyfriend), ridiculous (the nympho nun), tiresome (every woman Tommy meets wants to sleep with him; Sheila's still crazy), extraneous (Uncle Teddy) and insulting (Tommy "seriously" considers killing the new baby). And all of them were drastically undercooked. I'm still waiting for the show to do something interesting with the new probie, "Black Sean" (Larenz Tate), and there's only one episode left.
Just last season, "Rescue Me" was riding high with smart arcs for great guest stars (Marisa Tomei and Susan Sarandon), a credible bout of sibling rivalry (Tommy and his dearly departed brother, Johnny), fresh and funny romantic developments (Franco fell in love, and Sean wooed Maggie) and provocative storylines (the infamous "rape").
This season we've endured countless scenes of the guys playing hockey. Just to mix it up, they played basketball.
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Jay Leno, once a great stand-up comedian, made a political choice when he became host of “The Tonight Show”: He made himself non-threatening and folksy. Fred Thompson, who officially announced his candidacy for president on Leno’s show Wednesday night, is a different breed: Folksy but threatening.
Thompson, speaking like this was the second act of a “Law & Order” episode, called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “a fellow who is not put together well upstairs.” He also said: “The enemy is ruthless. Al Qaeda is here in this country. National intelligence estimates tell us that. They are strong. They're trying to get their hands on nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.”
As you can see, there was none of that Schwarzenegger joie de vivre in his sullen trip to Jayville to make a previously announced surprise political announcement.
Rather, this was just the first official stop in what Thompson exudes as the enormous chore of running for the highest office in the land. Forget about all the months of waiting; by the time Thompson said those eight words — “I’m running for president of the United States” — you’d already had to sit through a segment of “Jaywalking.”
Should he have been in New Hampshire, rumbling in debate with his GOP opponents? Thompson is banking on the nation’s indifference to the cacophony, playing both sides of the cynicism fence — refusing to engage in the media circus of a TV debate on the same night he uses an entertainment show to join the circus.
The appearance coincided with the release of a video on Thompson’s campaign website, www.Fred08.com, in which Thompson appears to be standing in the library of his estate in the wilds of either Tennessee or Bel-Air.
There you can see on display the world-weary, been-there, done-that plain-spokenness that Thompson has fine-tuned in TV and movies playing government heavies and in real life as, um, a government heavy.
Say this, Thompson no doubt spoke to a bigger TV audience Wednesday than his GOP opponents did. And while Thompson was cooling his jets in Jay’s green room, his opponents were in New Hampshire debating — or, more accurately, trying to swat away — Ron Paul.
“We’ve dug a hole for ourselves and we’ve dug a hole for our party!” Paul yelled about staying the course in Iraq. “We’re losing elections and we’re going down next year if we don’t change it, and it has all to do with foreign policy, and we have to wake up to this fact.”
Meanwhile, in Burbank, Thompson shook Leno’s hand and walked offstage, toward Iowa.
-- Paul Brownfield
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“The View” table is going to be back at full capacity Monday.
Less than a week after Whoopi Goldberg’s debut, the ABC daytime chatfest plans to introduce a fifth co-host. Barbara Walters, the program’s grand dame and co-executive producer, said Wednesday that another panelist will officially be named to fill the seat that was vacated by Star Jones Reynolds in 2006.
“It’s been empty for a year, but this Monday, Sept. 10, if you tune in, you will find that we have somebody else joining the panel permanently,” Walters said during the program’s Hot Topics segment.
“I was only here a day, you replacing me already?” exclaimed Goldberg, who succeeded Rosie O’Donnell as the show’s moderator this season. “Oh my God, oh my God!”
“I should have said, ‘not instead of, but in addition to,’” Walters responded.
Since Jones Reynolds’ acrimonious departure, the position has been filled by a series of guest hosts, including comedian Sherri Shepherd, widely viewed as the front-runner for the job. Earlier this summer, ABC was in talks with the "Who's Your Caddy” actress to join the show.
Shepherd did not immediately respond to an e-mail for comment, but on her personal website, she suggests fans e-mail Walters and executive producer Bill Geddie “to let them know that you'd like to see me more on The View (hint hint).”
-- Matea Gold
(Photo courtesy ABC)
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 As if there wasn't enough happening on "Damages," what with the Frobisher case, creepy Patty and David and Ellen's awkward engagement and his murder. We know it's all leading up to (deep breath) ... but it turns out that three of the newer faces are complicating matters even more.
First there is Gregory Malina, the consultant who had something to do with the Frobisher stock dump, although it's not clear what. Despite leaking information intended to clear Frobisher and burn Katie, he still seems to have a lot of enemies -- one of Patty's henchmen gunned down a babe/assassin right before she tried to kill Gregory. Panicked, he ran to ... Ray, Fr |
Let's just say it -- it's been a pretty lackluster season for "The Real World." Two of the female roommates
are interchangeable, one of the men has had zero screen time, and the biggest dramas have been of the "Well, do you like him or like him like him?" second-grade variety. But all that changed Wednesday night. When the history of "The Real World: Sydney" is written, what I'm going to deem the Twister Incident may prove to be the most hilarious thing on the show in a while.
