With the long Memorial Day holiday this weekend, let's have some fun and play a game!We've actually played this game before, last October. I had a different blog back then, called "DVD Guy", and I called the game "Today's Stars...Yesterday!" We all had a great deal of fun, and lots of readers chimed in with their own examples of big-name celebs they've seen "in smaller roles, during leaner times".The way to play is very simple: Think of hot "new" stars that you see in any current TV show, and try to think of where you've spotted them on DVDs of older programs. Probably only slightly older shows, but there's absolutely no limit. Let's just have a blast with it! I'll give us several examples, just to get us started:• Grey's Anatomy wrapped their fourth season last night, and the younger Dr. Grey wrapped her first full season in the show. Chyler Leigh's straight-laced turn as "Lexi" might not make her recognizable, though, to the few of us who saw her as punk-rockin', spike-m...
read more
Question: Don't you think that maybe there's way too much hype for Private Practice? Every time I see a show get this much hype, it falls on its face. I've got to tell you, I'm not real impressed with the cast, and at least for me, Kate Walsh was a weak link on Grey's Anatomy. Your thoughts?
Answer: I actually grew to like Kate Walsh as Addison on Grey's. My problem with Private Practice is that this show is turning Addison into a blithering Ally McBeal clone, obsessing on workplace kisses with Tim Daly and dancing around the house naked. If there's a strength to the show, it's the very telegenic ensemble, if they're ever given grown-up material to play. As for the hype element: What, you expected ABC to underpromote this one? A lot is riding on ABC's all-new Wednesday lineup, and if Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money (both getting large promotional campaigns as well) can benefit from the presold nature of a Grey's spin-off, that would be a plus. On the other hand, you're entirely
...
read more
Question: I'm probably one of many writing in about this, but you'll have to suffer through one more. I've seen only a few episodes of Boston Legal, enough to know that I didn't really enjoy the show but can see how people would like the characters. I even respect James Spader's work. He was excellent on The Practice way back when, and I'm assuming he's carried at least some of that over to the spin-off. But really, Emmy-worthy? This is even his second win, isn't it? I just don't understand it. Never mind the fantastic competition (Kyle Chandler and Matthew Fox off the top of my head) that weren't even nominated, but what could the voters have possibly seen to give him the award instead of their last chance to honor James Gandolfini for what will certainly go down as one of the more legendary roles in television history? Is it because the show is on HBO? Is it because it's a fundamentally flawed voting process and most of the voters never even watched Tony Soprano's work the final ...
read more
Question: OK, I know it's not your channel or your kind of show (it is a chick thing!), but I was wondering: Have you previewed any episodes of Lifetime's Side Order of Life? Though it's a little cheesy, with its Ally McBeal-esque antics (not done half as well...), the heart of this show is very sweet and genuine. Diana-Maria Riva is absolutely amazing as Vivy. The way she makes me laugh and cry, portraying a woman striving to live a normal life despite having cancer, is a prime example of why I love TV and come back for more each week!
Answer: Message received. My initial reaction to reviewing this pilot was to cut it some slack. I agree with the remark about it being cheesy, but I also found it harmless and likable and, most important, very much in keeping with the Lifetime brand (and I don't mean to be patronizing here). By comparison, despite a strong performance by Lili Taylor, I thought its companion show, State of Mind, was an annoyingly over-the-top attempt to bring an FX-like
...
read more
Watching Thursday night's underwhelming, overly frenetic "backdoor pilot" setup for the seemingly inevitable Grey's Anatomy spin-off, I was reminded how blown away I wasn't by the original Grey's pilot as well. The Grey's pilot had its problems, but this glossy new twist on the formula seems much more problematic.When Grey's first appeared, with the pilot held for mid-season in a year when Lost and Desperate Housewives exploded on the scene and turned ABC's fortunes around, my initial thoughts were: Loved the cast. Liked the characters. But at first look, the reliance on heavy-handed voice-over (since dialed back a bit) and woe-is-me, life-as-an-intern-is-hard whining obscured many of the charms that would soon emerge, and it felt a bit generic.By the end of that first half-season, though, I was hooked. The heightened mix of hospital drama and romantic comedy, lathered in torrid and twisty soap operatics, was infectious, and the wonderfully blended (by sex and race) cast pulled it o...
read more
