White Collar’s charming audacity
I’ll be the first person to admit and agree that television doesn’t need another buddy comedy. Especially another male buddy comedy. However, that hasn’t stopped me from watching and enjoying USA Network’s delicious new White Collar.
Matt Bomer (Neal Caffrey) is so good looking, there should be a law against walking around with a face like that. I’m sure USA counted on that fact to lure in viewers like me. Then they lined up the show with a terrific ensemble of characters that kept me coming back for more. (I’m not going to watch a show week-after-week if the lead is an idiot and the ensemble is vapid, no matter how good he looks). Read the rest of this entry »
Euthanasia. We all do it (on House).
This week’s House is the first episode of the series I’ve enjoyed in a long time. And not just because it hasn’t aired in three weeks because of baseball. “Known Unknowns” was reminiscent of House at its finest, early in the series. Unlike some episodes that seem like filler, this episode moved the characters forward instead of keeping them spinning in the perpetuity of their Princeton Hospital hamster wheel.
There were a lot of beautiful small moments to appreciate: Cameron sitting at House’s desk opening his mail; the jokes about Cuddy’s breasts being like Selma and Patty from the Simpsons.
“Why would you name them after somebody’s aunts?”
“Well, they’re always smoking.” Read the rest of this entry »
House – Is it ever okay to kill a patient?
Is it ever okay to kill a patient? As House says, “I don’t think we’ll be dealing with any more genocidal dictators,” when Chase asks if he will be fired. But maybe they will deal with someone else loathsome? At some point, does it become easier to take a life? How far does the line slide? And what about the Hippocratic Oath?
Cameron killed Darth Vader on House
[Spoiler alert] My esteemed colleague Deb McDuffee buys that Chase really killed Dibala, (the mass murdering f*ck played by the always-marvelous James Earl Jones) on House this week. Oh no no no. It was Cameron. And this is how they are going to get rid of Jennifer Morrison.
It makes perfect sense: Cameron was told (by Dibala) to make a choice, that she doesn’t have the courage of her convictions, so she decided that he was going to die.
But even if I didn’t know that Morrison was leaving the show, I would think it was Cameron rather than Chase. She has killed before.
Napoleon Dynamite wakes up “Dead” – Webisode Clack
First Kafka made Gregor wake up as a bug. Now, Drex Greene is waking up in a body bag. Sony pictures is venturing into webisodes (jumping on the same bandwagon as NBC with The Office and SyFy with Battlestar Galactica, to name two others). In Woke Up Dead, Jon Heder, probably best known for playing the starring role in Napoleon Dynamite, plays Drex Greene, just a regular guy in his twenties, who wakes up in a body bag, scaring the young medical student tech (Krysten Ritter from 27 Dresses and Breaking Bad) who was presumably about to slice him open for an autopsy (or cut his clothes away, who knows?)
House’s season six needs a do-over
Okay, so maybe this isn’t earth-stopping news. But it makes me feel better. Based on the comments I had on my post about the season premiere of House, though, I was starting to wonder if I’d seen the same show. So, imagine my JOY when I found out that USA Today critic Robert Bianco didn’t like it either.
I thought Bianco nailed it on the head by comparing Season six’s premiere to an ABC AfterSchool Special. Look at all of these likable crazy people! Let’s hug! Blech. I still maintain that House’s treatment warranted at least a three-episode arc, if not the entire season. Why not juxtapose his recovery with the struggling diagnostics department under Foreman’s leadership?
House’s sixth season is now cooking with gas
This is why I liked it: Well written! The veritable opposite of last week! Fine. The performances last week were brilliant. But tonight’s episode redeemed a lot of what seemed to be an over-simplification last week. Thank God House is still in therapy [with the great Andre Braugher!].
I have been worried about how the writers would handle the New-and-Improved Gregory House. I am pleased to report that they are handling it with grace and subtlety. House is still acerbic and funny (making balls jokes to Wilson as they attend cooking class), yet smart: figuring out that vinegar would slow the cooking of the outside of the balls while allowing them to cook thoroughly inside.
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