You Kill Me

I finally got around to watching this episode of CSI. Yeah, I know. I'm a little late on this one. I just have to say it was one of the most enjoyable episodes of the series ever. Watching the actors acting all out of character was a riot - especially Catherine. For some reason I found her especially funny.

Can the producers please make Liz Vassey a series regular? She's my favorite character on the show right now. Her reactions and snarky comments made this episode. I especially loved her response to finding out she was the latest victim in Hodges little murder game. "That's a little passive aggressive, don't you think?" When Wendy mentioned she was considering taking the CSI field test I felt a surge of hope that the producers were finally getting wise to the potential they have with the character. Here's hoping we'll see her in the credits soon.

Now I just need to catch up with this week's episode which I'm hearing is something to behold - visually at least.

Crowned

The CW rolled out an impressively long promo for their new reality series "Crowned" last night. OMG. I can't stand watching beauty pageants but I'm going to have to check out the first episode of this train wreck. This might just be my new guilty - very guilty - pleasure.

The Bones Kiss!

So if you saw last week's episode of Bones you know Booth and Brennan finally, finally kissed. However the moment seemed rather tame. Well check out this behind the scenes footage. You'll see the tameness was a product of editing.

Leftovers

So the family was in for a whole week for Thanksgiving. That means I saw absolutely zero TV - for a week. A whole week. Do you know how hard it is to avoid being spoilt on your favorite shows for a week? Makes me tired just thinking about it.

I'm giving my effusive praise for Women's Murder Club a rest this post. Not because I didn't think it was good. You have the local ABC affiliate's freaking "Circle of Lights" special to thank for screwing up my DVR on that one. Bastards.

Catching up has been a slow process. I have checked out the latest episodes of Law & Order SVU, CSI: NY, Grey's Anatomy, Bionic Woman and Life. Apparently most of the networks were saving their best episodes of sweeps until last.

Starting with SVU. My DVR always cuts off the promos for this show so I had no idea Olivia and Kathy were going to be in a car accident. You could kind of feel it coming but it was still jarring. I'm a shipper when it comes to Liv and Elliott so I'm not thrilled with the whole baby story, but I was glad it didn't end tragically. That would have been too over the top. And the hug at the end... about time. I was about to yell at my TV when Elliott started past Liv. I mean she saved his wife and child for crying out loud. At least give her a hug! Glad he did. ;-) SVU logged in a much improved episode over last week's episode with virtually no Stabler and absolutely no Olivia. I know the actors need a break, but I'm just not digging the new guy. I want Fin and Munch back.

Grey's was back to the soapy episodes of old... and that's a good thing. The paramedics were just gut wrenching. I remember a similar storyline on China Beach where they knew the soldier was going to bleed out. The main difference was that the soldier knew it was going to happen. And Meredith realizing the impact she'd had on the paramedic's wife was some nice writing. And God love Bailey. I hear she's going to take over the voice over narration for an up coming episode. You know the reason behind it won't be good, but you can bet Chandra Wilson's acting will be. One last note... can Izzie and George just be over already?

Life continues to surprise me. When I first started writing this blog I didn't give it much of a chance. I thought it was quirky and had appealing characters but I really didn't think it would last. Shows what I know. It just got a full season pickup along with Chuck. The moment when the suspect swallowed the evidence was the best. The look on Danni's face was priceless. Also a nice touch having Danni give Crues back his knife. These two are very layered characters and the actors are playing those layers beautifully. I'm also really digging their captain. I hope she doesn't turn out to be one of the bad guys, but I'm loving the ambiguity they're writing for the character.

CSI: NY was probably the best episode of the series I've seen. Starting the show with the majority of the cast being sealed in a runaway subway is certainly a way to get my attention. They tied up a bunch of threads that had been spooling out over the entire season. It was nicely done and everyone had something to do. I'm wondering if we're going to see more of Detective Brennan (?), however. I've just got a feeling we haven't seen the last of Erin Daniels in that role.

As for Bionic Woman... I really don't know what to say. The episode was not awful. Not at all. It's just that I keep waiting for it to rise up to something resembling the level of Battlestar. That's probably not fair. Truthfully, I hope the show does get picked up and has a chance to find it's legs. Michelle Ryan deserves a chance to get some decent dialogue for her character. They've really started playing up the bionics, even giving us a neat little noise in a recent episode. That sound made the whole episode for me and I missed it this week. Yeah, I'm a child of the 70s... had both bionic dolls. The bionic "sound" is a must in my book.

So now I need to catch up on Bones, Stargate Atlantis, CSI, Samantha Who, and Chuck among others. And Heroes if I can find the energy to care about watching it.

Later.

Loving the "Club"...

I was drawn to Women's Murder Club for the same reason I had to check out Bones when it premiered. I read the books both series are based on. Unlike Bones, however, Women's Murder Club is far more faithful to the novels. There was a very big plot point regarding the character of Lindsey Boxer in the first book in the series and I couldn't help but wonder when, and if, we'd see it crop up on the show. I apparently got my answer Friday night.

Don't read any further unless I might inadvertently spoil an upcoming plot or two...

You were warned.

In Friday's episode Lindsey was under the weather. She and Claire worried she might be pregnant. The test turned up negative by the end of the episode. Plot resolved, right? Maybe not. In the first book, Lindsey discovers that she's very ill. As I recall (it's been awhile since I read it) she has some sort of blood disease - perhaps it was even cancer. I thought when the series launched that this would be an interesting story to explore. If Friday's fatigue was a sign of Lindsey's onset of symptoms then get ready to watch the Women's Murder Club come together in a whole new way. And I suspect Cindy will have to make Lindsey laugh a lot because the chips will most certainly be down.

I have to admit this show is in my top three now. There is nothing I like better than good dialogue and great chemistry and this show has both in spades. Last week we got not one but TWO new episodes which felt like a nice early Christmas gift from ABC. The show even held it's own against ER Thursday night. Not bad for a newbie.

Like Bones and Grey's Anatomy there is a simple pleasure to be had watching a cast work so well together. I'm loving Claire. Her reaction to hearing Lindsey might be pregnant made me laugh out loud. And when she casually asked if there were any other tests she should run while the club was examining some evidence was a hoot. Most of the laughs come courtesy of Cindy and Lindsey's budding friendship, however. You can tell Cindy idolizes Lindsey and Lindsey obviously finds Cindy to be like a little sister - a sister she likes to tease unmercifully. When Lindsey starts drilling the reporter on the whereabouts of a suspect, Cindy gets the best line of the night... "A girl gets a little flustered and you start whipping out the charges!"

Thursday's nice tip of the hat to Harmon's marriage to football player Jason Seahorn (sp?) was pretty cute. "Why can't I go out on a blind date with him?" she whines. "He's married," her partner informs her. Lucky girl...

I can only wonder why ABC hasn't given this one the full season pickup, yet. Hopefully we'll get that as an early turkey day gift.

The U-Verse...

No. That's not a typo. I'm talking about AT&T's U-verse DVR. You can record up to four shows on it at once. Awesome right?

Yeah. When it actually records. Or when it records and actually lets you watch what it recorded. Even better when the audio isn't completely mangled.

So Tuesday night the damn thing worked (mostly). Wednesday morning... not so much. I couldn't even watch TV AT ALL. All I got was a blue screen that said U-Verse guide... and nothing else. All my recorded programs were MIA. Needless to say I was not a happy camper.

I tried everything to get it working to no avail. Thursday morning I unplugged the whole contraption which killed my internet as well. I had painters coming in to do the living room and had to move the entertainment center. After they left last night I plugged it back in. For no reason the freaking thing was working again! I even had my recorded programs back. The stupid thing actually recorded additional shows while it sat in blue screen limbo. Go figure.

So I'm behind on my TV viewing again (thanks AT&T). I do have to weigh in on last Friday's Women's Murder Club and Stargate Atlantis. Both were fun hours of TV. Atlantis featured the best show I'd seen all season. If you liked the movie Memento you would have loved this episode. It rocked. I especially loved watching the three smartest people running around the city together - not knowing that they were the three smartest people in the city. Or that they were even smart for that matter. Women's Murder Club continues to be a blast. This show has one of the best casts on TV when it comes to chemistry. The four leads gel nicely and are believable as friends. I hope this one gets a full season pick up soon.

I haven't seen CSI: Miami in 2 weeks. You can thank AT&T for that one, too. I feel like CSI: NY is having their best season, yet. I haven't watched the crossover with CSI and Without a Trace so don't spoil it for me. That's on tap for the weekend. I have to say that the bit about Wendy being in a slasher flick in last week's episode was cute. I especially like Hodges comment when she mentioned that she had medium sized breasts. "They're perfect," he chimed in. "ly adequate," he finished when everyone stared at him.

I'm also behind on Grey's Anatomy. Last week's episode was a nice return to form, however. I even liked the bit with George and Izzie at the end. "Did you only shave on leg?" I hate these two as a couple but Katherine Heigel really is an awesome actress. Sister show Private Practice continues to improve as well. I think there is hope for both of them.

I'm thinking Bionic Woman is in serious trouble with me. I've wanted to like this show. I've tried to like this show. Honestly, though, I could care less about watching Wednesday's episode. That's not a good sign.

All for now. I'll try to be a more timely poster over the next few weeks. Of course if the writer strike continues we'll be out of new shows before too much longer. Make sure you surf the web to see why these folks are on strike. You would be too if you were in their shoes.

The laugh of the day

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