By: Vlada Gelman
Summer is typically a quiet time for TV watchers, but thanks to the proliferation of cable shows and broadcast networks burning off episodes, this summer was not without entertainment and some surprises. Below are the moments, actors, shows and realizations that surprised me this summer.
The supporting cast of NURSE JACKIE: Yes, Edie Falco is fabulous, but for me, it’s the people surrounding Jackie who make the series, especially Merritt Wever, Eve Best and Peter Facinelli. Each one adds something unique and unexpected to the show. Wever is absolutely hilarious. Best, who has the most amazing laugh, is the perfect juxtaposition to Jackie. Facinelli takes what could have been a jackass character and makes him a lovable doofus. I’m surprised and delighted that NURSE JACKIE has introduced me to Wever and Best. In a way, it feels like I’m also discovering Facinelli for the first time. I’ve seen and enjoyed him before in different movies and TV shows, but I’m pretty sure his shirtless chest did most of the acting in Fox’s short-lived FASTLANE.
Read the rest of this entry »
INSIDER AMERICAN AIRLINES: A WEEK IN THE LIFE (9PM CNBC)
Peter Greenberg chronicles a week in the operation of American Airlines which include: its obsessive efforts to save fuel and how ticket prices are determined. Not included: the search for the TV Addict’s luggage, circa 2002.
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (8PM FX)
Yup, nothing puts the ‘last’ nail into a successful trilogy’s coffin like hiring director Brett Ratner to helm. We’re just sayin’
NURSE JACKIE (10:30PM Showtime, 10PM TMN in Canada)
Is a movie critic (played by special guest star Victor Garber) really in a coma due to an incorrect dosage of painkillers? Or, after a summer filled with Transformers 2 and GI JOE had he simply had enough?
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING:
GREEK (8PM ABC Family)
For those old school BEVERLY HILLS 90210 fans fretting over the outcome of tonight’s big Cappie/Max dilemma, we’ve got some good news for you. Casey does not pull a “Kelly Taylor” by choosing herself!
WEEDS (10PM Showtime)
Silas and Doug second-guess their latest pot growing scheme. Which considering how well things have worked out for the Botwin clan as of late, probably isn’t the worst idea in the world.
NURSE JACKIE (10:30PM Showtime)
In a plot that will undoubtedly send the pulse of real-life nurses racing, Jackie substitutes the artificial sweetener in the hospital administrator’s coffee with a narcotic.
Read the rest of this entry »
Frankly, NURSE JACKIE shouldn’t work.
The new Showtime series is, on paper, little more than a collection of cliches. The drugged-out nurse who knows more than the uncaring doctors she works with. The gay best friend. The annoying chatterbox of a nursing student. The opening and closing voiceovers.
Despite — or perhaps, in some weird way, because of — this seemingly flawed foundation, NURSE JACKIE proves to be yet another feather in Showtime’s almost tackily-over-ornamented cap. Like THE TUDORS, DEXTER and WEEDS, this is another show built around a wildly dysfunctional central character, yet never fear, as she is completely original thanks in equal parts to brilliant writing and a “give-her-the-Emmy-now-and-stop-wasting-everyone’s-time” performance from Edie Falco.
Carmela who?
Read the rest of this entry »
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING:
GREEK (8PM ABC Family)
If BEVERLY HILLS 90210’s Emily Valentine taught us anything, it’s that “homecoming week float competition” and “heats up” should never be used in the same sentence. We’re just sayin’
WEEDS (10PM Showtime)
Picking up where season four left-off, a now knocked up Nancy Botwin continues to make life-altering decisions that make JON & KATE PLUS 8’s Kate look like mother of the year.
NURSE JACKIE (10:30PM Showtime)
If star Edie Falco’s Nurse Jackie thinks juggling patients, co-workers and a personal substance abuse problem is tricky, just wait until she has to RSVP to all those Emmy and Golden Globe ceremonies. Those dresses aren’t gonna pick themselves!
NEW & NOTABLE:
KATHY GRIFFIN (10PM Bravo)
Further evidence that there’s absolutely nothing real about reality television comes courtesy of Kathy Griffin — who after two Emmy wins and one Grammy nomination is still pretending she’s on the D-List.
Read the rest of this entry »
By: Aleks Chan
Summer television is all about the girl. Correction: all about the cable girls. Yes, cable has found itself a reliable refuge for film actresses to find work that is ostensibly of the caliber they are used to – thus Holly Hunter as a spry, hedonistic Oklahoma City detective, Kyra Sedgwick as a master interrogator, and Mary-Louise Parker as a suburban pot dealing widow. This month Edie Falco – whose film career is outsized by the grandeur of her work on THE SOPRANOS – and Jada Pinkett Smith – wife of Will and of The Matrix trilogy – join the throes as nurses predisposed to be snappy and impassioned to help their patients.
Our attention is first turned to simply suthun’ Kyra Sedgwick on THE CLOSER (returns tonight at 9 pm est on TNT), where she plays “Depewty Cheef Brendalee Johnson,” of the LAPD. If hadn’t already been implied, her character is from the south, which somehow demands such a drawl that half of what she says can hardly be taken seriously. Twice as befuddling is how Brenda is venerated for her ability to elicit a confession that holds up in court, because the cases are so easy, a children’s program with slimmer plot workings would be more challenging. In the fifth season premiere, the humdinger of a homicide hinges on street addresses. Other plot points of the season include Brenda’s cat falling ill, Lt. Provenza (G.W. Bailey) gets a girlfriend, and Mary McDonnell guest stars as a internal affairs officer. It has thankfully scaled back Brenda’s junk food addiction (I couldn’t handle another sensuous bite into a Ho-Ho), but by a fifth season, you’d think it would’ve have progressed to something more than outline of an actual TV show.
Read the rest of this entry »
Summer reruns and reality already getting you down? Meet NURSE JACKIE; Your guaranteed cure for the post-May season finale blues.
But don’t take our word for it, you be the critic by checking out the season premiere of JACKIE prior to its June 8th bow on Showtime. (After the jump) 
Read the rest of this entry »
Loading ...
