I’ve been going on and on lately about how much ABC’s Eli Stone has grown on me, especially in the last few weeks—ironically, the show finding its truest voice around the time it lost new episodes of Lost as a lead-in, par for the course in this frustrating strike-warped midseason. Tonight, Eli signs off after its 13-episode tryout, and if you can watch it unmoved, maybe this really isn’t the show for you.Last week, Eli (the charming Jonny Lee Miller) shook everyone’s world by correctly predicting an earthquake. This week, his own world is shaken when he decides to risk dangerous surgery to remove his aneurism (which could be the cause of his quirky and often musical visions). Eli isn’t so much worried about living or dying. “The something in-between is what scares me,” he says, and he’s not talking about the show being on the proverbial “bubble” for renewal. (I’m glad my pal Michael Ausiello shares my high hopes of the sho...
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Question: Please give me some scoop on The West Wing.
Answer: We're going to see Toby (Richard Schiff) again right before the big election — on Halloween, to be exact — when he returns home to take his son, Huck, trick-or-treating. Oh, and the show isn't returning next year. Nothing official from NBC yet, but reliable sources tell me it's all over in May.
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Question: Wow. The West Wing's Nov. 23 episode just ended and I'm still in shock. I think that was probably the best episode written by someone other than Aaron Sorkin. It was tension-filled and kept me glued to the television. It was very similar in that regard to the "17 People" episode from The West Wing, the first era. (BTW, we're currently in the second era of The West Wing, better known as the we-no-longer-care-about-the-Bartlet-Administration-and-only-care-about-the-campaign era). It would definitely have been better if the entire hour had been dedicated to the White House, but it was still great. What were your thoughts? Also, is this the end for Richard Schiff? I have not heard that he is leaving the show and it would be perfectly reasonable for the investigation-indictment-prosecution process to take three months, which is about what is left until Election Day, according to the show's time line. I will be very sad to see him go if it is. It would also contribute to my growing ...
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Well, the theme of tonight's episode is "housecleaning," I guess. First, the Santos campaign decides to fire some staffers (sorry, Ted/Ned), then it's time to bid farewell to one of the show's best characters. Godspeed, Toby Ziegler. Not only was Toby the moral compass of the Bartlet administration for seven years, actor Richard Schiff was brilliant as the often sullen, occasionally sanctimonious, but always lovable Toby. Frankly, I'm a little disappointed with his departure. America's favorite liberal lion not named Kennedy went out like a bit of a lamb. I really expected more of a full-throated defense of leaking the shuttle info. The whole episode was more of a whimper than a bang until Toby headed into the Oval Office. Now, we knew the meeting with the president was going to be brutal, but wow! I half-expected Bartlet to rip off
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Ranking the Labor Day weekend's summer-season finales:
Entourage (HBO): Highest marks. What a brilliant second season this show had, primarily because there finally was such a juicy story to tell. Ari, ousted from his plush office in the superb next-to-last episode, takes a client meeting — who knew Richard Schiff yearned to be a tough guy? — at a Coffee Bean shop. (What, Starbucks was too common?) Speaking of common, what a riot that Johnny Drama's louse of an agent — the kid who helped get Ari fired — is such a bottom-runger that when Johnny barges into his office, he's taking a meeting with the execrable Pauly Shore. Eric, as usual, is in way over his head, taking a meeting with Ari's supersmarmy boss Terence, who advises the kid to become an agent and "invest without emotion," as if clients were commodities like stocks.
Which is why Ari's final-appeal meeting with Eric was so well-timed. Ari
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