bruce.fretts

Cheers & Jeers: Rescue Me's Explosive Cliff-hanger

Cheers to Rescue Me for setting up a scorching summer finale.Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine.Denis Leary's FX firefighter dramedy ended its penultimate 2010 episode with two men down: Lou (John Scurti, TV's most underrated actor), whose heart problems caused a warehouse fire to worsen, and probie Damien (Michael Zegen, who's come into his own this season). Tommy Gavin's godson, who's run hot and cold on the idea of following in his late father's FDNY bootsteps, literally had the ceiling fall in on him.The question is: Can either be rescued...

Wed, Aug 25, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Rescue Me's Explosive Cliff-hanger

Cheers & Jeers: Minute to Win It FTW!

Cheers to Minute to Win It for finding a winning formula.Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine.NBC's sleeper-hit summer game show takes the network's current penny-pinching ethos and turns it into a virtue: The show's stars (aside from chef-turned-host Guy Fieri, who adds just the right amount of extra cheese) are cheap, common household objects like Kleenex boxes, paper clips and water bottles. They're used in challenges that must be completed in 60 seconds for players to advance towards the $1 million jackpot....

Tue, Aug 24, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Old Timers' Day on USA

Cheers to Psych and Royal Pains for paying respect to their elders.Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!The hit USA Network dramedies brought back a trio of well-seasoned character actors in showcase roles. First, on Psych, William Devane (Knots Landing, 24) and Carl Weathers (aka Apollo Creed from the Rocky movies and "Carl Weathers" in Arrested Development) sparkled as Peters and Boone, a pair of old-school San Diego ex-cops who managed to stay one Bruno Magli loafer's step ahead of Shawn...

Mon, Aug 23, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Burn Notice Hits Fever Pitch

Cheers to Burn Notice for saving the best for next-to-last.Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!The USA Network ...

Fri, Aug 20, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Burn Notice Hits Fever Pitch

Cheers & Jeers: Hard Knocks Throws the F-Bomb

Jeers to Tony Dungy for knocking Rex Ryan for his rough language on Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets.Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!The Colts' coach-turned-NBC-commentator criticized the Jets' head coach for repeatedly ...

Thu, Aug 19, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Hard Knocks Throws the F-Bomb

Cheers & Jeers: A Big Waste of Chris Parnell

Jeers to Big Lake for achieving the impossible: making Chris Parnell unfunny.Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine.During his 1999-2006 tenure at SNL, he was like the second coming of Phil Hartman, a chameleon who held sketches together with dead-on deadpan timing. Parnell finally went viral with the digital short "Lazy Sunday," then exited SNL to explore greener prime time pastures. His outlandish cameos...

Wed, Aug 18, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: A Big Waste of Chris Parnell

Cheers & Jeers: The Big C's Oliver Twist

Cheers to Oliver Platt for continuing to defy typecasting on The Big C.Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine.The enormously versatile character actor reunites with Kinsey costar Laura Linney (and director Bill Condon) on Showtime's new cancer comedy as her immature estranged husband. And while you wouldn't necessarily picture the pudgy Platt and the still-smokin' Linney together, his impish charm helps him pull it off...

Tue, Aug 17, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: The Big C's Oliver Twist

Cheers & Jeers: Dark Blue Lightens Up

Jeers to Dark Blue for blowing it in Season 2. Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine. When it debuted last year, TNT's LAPD drama felt like a poor man's Shield, with Dylan McDermott leading a team of gonzo undercover cops who weren't afraid to cross the line to nail the bad guys...

Thu, Aug 5, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Got Milky J? Jimmy Fallon Does!

Cheers to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon for creating the freshest new character on TV: Milky J.

Wed, Aug 4, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Got Milky J? Jimmy Fallon Does!

Cheers & Jeers: The Closer's License to Kyle

Cheers to The Closer for letting Kyle Secor cross over to the wrong side of the law. Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine. The seemingly ageless actor spent six seasons interrogating suspects in "the box" on NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street. But this time he took the heat on TNT's hit crime drama as an airline pilot grilled by Kyra Sedgwick's Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson about his involvement with drugs, murder and flight attendants—not necessarily in that order...

Tue, Aug 3, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: The Closer's License to Kyle

Cheers & Jeers: Friday Night Lights' Incredible Jurnee

Cheers to Jurnee Smollett for completing a tricky arc on Friday Night Lights. When the TGIF alum (who costarred with five of her siblings in the 1994-5 sitcom On Our Own) joined FNL at the start of Season 4 ...

Mon, Aug 2, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Friday Night Lights' Incredible Jurnee

Cheers & Jeers: Jersey Shore Washes Out

Jeers to Jersey Shore for losing touch with its Garden State roots. As has been noted by Gov. Chris Christie, among others, much of the cast of MTV's watercooler smash doesn't hail from New Jersey. At least Season 1 was shot in Seaside Heights, but in a rush to get the show back on the air before Snooki & Co.'s 15 minutes of infamy run out, Season 2 opens with the gang fleeing the snowy Northeast for Miami Beach (or "the MIA," which, as the Situation helpfully explains, "means Miami")...

Fri, Jul 30, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: A Plus-Sized Project Runway

Cheers to Project Runway for letting out the seams. The eighth season of Heidi Klum's Emmy-nominated reality show debuts on Lifetime July 29 at 9/8c in a new, 90-minute format. Unlike the heavily padded Bachelorette or Biggest Loser, this is one unscripted franchise that benefits from an extended running time. The opener allows plenty of room to meet the 17 new contestants, who include...

Thu, Jul 29, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: A Plus-Sized Project Runway

Cheers & Jeers: Austin & Santino --- No Plain Janes

Cheers to On the Road with Austin & Santino for giving the makeover show a much-needed makeover.One needs only to watch The CW's Plain Jane (debuting July 28 at 9/8c) to see how tired ...

Wed, Jul 28, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Austin & Santino --- No Plain Janes

Cheers & Jeers: Tony Robbins? Gimme a Break!

Jeers to NBC for turning over an hour of primetime to a glorified infomercial. The Peacock has flirted with the equivalent of self-help ads (The Biggest Loser, Losing It With Jillian), but the net has truly crossed the line with Breakthrough with Tony Robbins, an hourlong series debuting July 27 at 8/7c. That's right, "author, strategist and coach" Robbins—who was mocked as a charlatan nearly 20 years ago on The Ben Stiller Show ("I hypnotize you with my teeth, and you pay me money!")—is now a network-TV star...

Tue, Jul 27, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Tony Robbins? Gimme a Break!

Cheers & Jeers: (James) Badge (Dale) of Honor

Cheers to James Badge Dale for pulling a double shift on a pair of top-rank cable dramas. Having recently wrapped his run as PFC Robert Leckie in HBO's stirring World War II miniseries The Pacific, Badge Dale has reported for duty as intelligence analyst Will Travers on AMC's intriguing new headscratcher Rubicon. As a widower still grieving over the loss of his wife and child in 9/11, he brings warmth to a series that could be a chilly homage to paranoid '70s thrillers like The Conversation and The Parallax View.

Mon, Jul 26, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: (James) Badge (Dale) of Honor

Cheers & Jeers: Rescue Me Finds Redemption

Cheers to Rescue Me for a remarkable run of episodes. If you've drifted away from Denis Leary's FX firefighting dramedy, make sure to tune back in for the next three episodes (airing July 27, August 3 and August 10). Tellingly entitled "Blackout," "Sanctuary" and "Forgiven," they could just as easily be called "The Last Temptation of Tommy Gavin." The raging alcoholic finally, truly hits rock bottom...

Fri, Jul 23, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Rescue Me Finds Redemption

Cheers & Jeers: My Boys Don't Cry!

Cheers to My Boys for weathering the loss of one of their own. TBS' endearing-underdog sitcom has always coasted on the chemistry of its ensemble, so the news that the reliably hilarious Jim Gaffigan wouldn't return for Season 4 as Jordana Spiro's droll brother gave fans cause for concern...

Thu, Jul 22, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Louie the 14th (To Do the Same Old Jokes)

Jeers to Louie for trafficking in clichés and ugly stereotypes. Louis CK's FX "comedy" has been praised for its edgy style, but when you look past the gritty-indie camerawork and ooh-aren't-we-daring? use of politically incorrect epithets (including the n-word in a repugnant vignette about how African-Americans allegedly don't leave tips), it's as boringly conventional as TV gets...

Wed, Jul 21, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Louie the 14th (To Do the Same Old Jokes)

Cheers & Jeers: Rizzoli & Isles Cops Out

Jeers to Rizzoli & Isles for criminally neglecting its high-caliber supporting cast.Per its title, the hit TNT crime drama follows the cutesy exploits of Beantown galpals Det. Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and medical examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander). The wildly overqualified and underutilized ensemble includes Emmy nominee Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos) and Oscar nominee Chazz Palminteri (Bullets Over Broadway) as Rizzoli's stereotypically squabbling mom and dad ...

Mon, Jul 19, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Rizzoli & Isles Cops Out

Cheers & Jeers: John Schneider Country-Rocks Leverage

Cheers to John Schneider for getting back in touch with his rural roots on Leverage. The impressively well-preserved actor (who was actually born in Mt. Kisco, New York) has been passing himself off as a country boy ever since he guzzled beer and claimed he was from Snellville, Georgia while auditioning for his breakthrough role as Bo Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard.

Mon, Jul 19, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: John Schneider Country-Rocks Leverage

Cheers & Jeers: Steve Harris Lights up Friday Night

Cheers to Friday Night Lights for putting a spotlight on Steve Harris.The Emmy-nominated actor has been largely invisible on the small screen since wrapping his run as lawyer Eugene Young on The Practice in 2004. He's quietly reemerged on the superlative fourth season of FNL as Vernon Merriweather...

Fri, Jul 16, 2010

Cheers & Jeers: Steve Harris Lights up Friday Night