Everybody Loves Saturday Night

Summer TV.

Ugh.  As someone whose ENTIRE LIFE revolves around TV (if that's all there is, then that's all there is), summer is obviously a tough time.  And hello stupid SciFi channel, THANKS SO MUCH for choosing to postpone the second half of the last season ever of BSG until next January.  Thanks for going that extra mile and helping me out here.

SO, what will you be watching?

Well, I'll definitely be watching The Closer.  I don't think it's the greatest show, certainly not to the level of its hype, and I ALWAYS think the season opener is very weak (they always go a bit too far in dumbing down the team and making Brenda the only person who can figure anything out in that episode, every season so far), but I really enjoy the different relationships among the team, the "camaraderie" (whether it be snarky and mean or sweet, depending on the participants), and I LOVE Fritz.  So there's that.  And it's definitely willing to operate on a goofier fun level than other cop shows.  (And I know Michelle would not let me get away without mentioning J.K. Simmons!) Somehow that all makes it possible for me to get past the grating Southern accent.

I'll also be watching Burn Notice, the Eggplant's favorite show. I just don't get why everyone on earth thinks the lead dude is so charming (seriously, every article you read), because ALL I can think about when I see him is the mean nasty dude he played in Hitch.  Seriously.  And the voiceover, while being somewhat self deprecating and amusing, is always said in this smarmy self satisfied voice that makes me CRAZY and contributes even further to me thinking of him as the mean nasty dude he played in Hitch.  That said, I love Sam and Fiona, and there is a lot of humor on this show, and hello this season "Smokin #6" as my Dad calls her (Tricia Helfer to the rest of us) will be in multiple episodes.  So there are certainly enough reasons to watch.

I won't watch Saving Grace on purpose, but given it comes on right after The Closer, chances are I'll wind up seeing it.  It's not the God stuff that bugs me (because frankly it's NOT about "saving grace because she's a drunken ho" although you would have to assume that from the previews), it's just that so many of the characters are one dimensional dead ends and while Bailey Chase (who you may remember from Buffy, he played one of Riley's military cohorts) is yummy, his character is kinda...dumb.  It is fun to see Angela Chase's dad again (he plays one of Grace's brothers) and Laura San Giacomo is playing so much against type here (the nerdy best friend) that it really cracks me up.

I was considering watching The Cleaner because (BSG obsession again) Boomer/ Athena/ Sharon/ #8 is on it...but it's getting BAD reviews, like rubbing your face in kitty litter bad.

And....what else is out there?  I believe Damages won't be on until 2009 (or so I've heard).  I HATED the episode or two of Mad Men I watched last year and hello that show is sooooo overhyped, I'm out hunting for reviews of other people who didn't like it and I just can't find any!!!  I may try it out again (maybe...if I'm really really desperate and lying on the floor doing nothing and staring at the ceiling is somehow not an option that night) but I doubt it.  I just have no interest in that women-repressing time period and that's ALL I could think about when I watched it.

Got any other suggestions for me?  Because it's looking very desert-like at this point....

Damages: Promising. Very promising

So Carolyn and Michelle watched the premiere of Damages on FX last week, and here's what they have to say about it:

Carolyn: Glenn Close: amazing. i thought she was super. totally makes you both hate her AND want to be her!

Michelle: Glenn Close was the reason I wanted to watch this show. And I was not disappointed. The whole episode is set up to have you believe that her character is decent and compassionate at heart, but a killer in the courtroom. Then you find out...she's really a killer. My question is: will this work for Close as it did for Gandolfini?

Carolyn: I also thought Tate Donovan was good, he's one of those actors who's just been floating around forever and never does anything that memorable. But he's a great "straight man" especially once you find out he's not so straight!!

But the girl playing Ellen?  I agree with EW. She's weirdly BLANK.  And that moment when Glenn Close said "there's always something going on in there" was exactly when I thought There is NOTHING going on in there!!

Michelle: I heart Tate Donovan. I don't really have an opinion of Rose Byrne yet. I don't think I saw the blankness in her, really--I saw someone trying very hard to not look scared. But I may have been projecting.

Two things, however, that bugged me about how she gets hired to work with Patty Hewes (another "Veronica Mars"--you have to say both her names, apparantly): 1. wouldn't someone right out of law school, who is supposedly that smart, already HAVE a job lined up, like before she graduated?;  2. Would she really not know what her starting salary would be (and would it really be $150,000??)...ok, there're three things that bugged me: 3. Would an entry-level person really be thrown into the firm's biggest case ever? I mean, that to me just screamed "something's up here" way before the whole fiance's sister thing popped up. The 4th thing that bugged me--that Patty Hewes would show up at this wedding and hire Ellen on the spot--made more sense after the fiance's sister thing became clear, but still--that should've been Ellen's first red flag. Honestly.

Carolyn: Plot wise:  wow, they threw a lot of curveballs at you in one episode!!! The  "six months from now she's running down the street bloody and her fiance is found butchered" and now we are flashing back to see what happened worries me a bit, I mean that's a premise that has bitten the dust a number of times ("The Nine" anyone?).  And it seemed a little like there were sooooo many reveals in episode one - how can they possibly keep up the pace?  But it definitely kept me interested and had many different scenarios rushing through my head.

The supposed dog lover having the other dog killed?  Holy crap that was harsh!!

Michelle: I agree that it's a premise that's been done, but what I picked up was that Ellen comes out of Patty's apartment--her fiance is at theirs. So...huh? I liked the "I have been warned" thing. I liked the obvious "you're fired!" fake firing (because I didn't start thinking it was fake until Ellen goes to see Tate Donovan, but now I see that it's totally fake).

The script was a little corny, but I am definitely intrigued.

Carolyn: some final thoughts: the chef/her fiance's sister: i thought she was cool but she had a
weird lisp or something that kept distracting me

i thought the fiance was oddly good looking for a super straight up
boy next door type

i want to know who else is in on it at Hewes & assoc.  is it JUST
patty & the tate donovan character?  what about those other two
associates or whatever they are that are working on the case. do they
know?

are patty et al going to find out about how the grey haired dude had
the secret meeting with ted danson?