The Week Ahead – Lots of goodbyes, 25 years of Wrestlemania
Highlights of the Week
- There was a time when I was a huge fan of the WWF/E. It was Andre the Giant and George “The Animal” Steele back then, though I kept up through the early days of Steve Austin and the Undertaker. I still keep some awareness of the soap opera there. And considering I watched the first several, it makes me feel old that we’re celebrating The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania. (Sat. 9pm, NBC)
- It’s always sad when the boys say goodbye to another season of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! It’s the best combination of entertainment and information that you’ll see. And I’m sure there’ll be absolutely nothing controversial about the magicians tackling the Vatican in this finale. (Thu. 10pm, Showtime)
- I’m glad to see that Royal Pains will be back, as it turned into a great summer getaway to the Hamptons. Sadly, it’s back to the real world for the rest of us as it wraps its first season. (Thu. 10pm, USA)
- Some of the best television of the summer has been coming to us from the UK. This week wraps the too short first season of Being Human; the story of a ghost, vampire and werewolf trying to live like normal people. (Sat. 9pm, BBC America)
- The movies brought the show back. Futurama: Into the Wild GreenYonder is the last of those movies, making it’s debut on Comedy Central. Sit back, enjoy and think about the beautiful Futurama to come. (Sun. 9pm)
See Jane Clack – Mercy, HawthoRNe, Nurse Jackie … what’s with all the nurse shows?
We seem to have a glut of nursing shows right now, and I’ve been wondering why. Nursing shows aren’t new, per se. If you look back through history, you’ve got Julia, the 1968 series in which Diahann Carroll played a young nurse and single mom. The show was groundbreaking for a variety of reasons, namely because it starred an African American woman, raising a son alone because her husband died in the Vietnam war. That’s a lot of drama right there, especially given the era in which this show aired.
There have been a lot of shows that included nurses — certainly every doctor show that’s ever aired, including M*A*S*H, ER, China Beach, and all the hundreds of other medical shows. There was even a 1991 show called Nurses, which, apparently, lasted three seasons, though I have no recollection of it.
Ratings Clack – Michael Westen bested by iCarly?
You know spies — bunch of bitchy little girls. And this week in the ratings post, our favorite spies were beaten by some little girls. It was very close though, if that makes the shot to the ego a little easier to take for Sam and Michael. Those two were the headlines for what was a big week on cable. Also clocking in with records were True Blood, Warehouse 13, Kendra, Nurse Jackie, and Tori & Dean. Back on the networks, there weren’t really a lot of records to be had. Reality continued to rule with good outings from America’s Got Talent, Hell’s Kitchen, and So You Think You Can Dance. Read the rest of this entry »
For Jackie, at what age is it appropriate to throw drugs at a problem?
I’m not a fan of the show (though I’ve hidden it well, right?), so clearly these things don’t sit particularly well with me, but what in the world is with this ridiculous storyline on Nurse Jackie? Grace (Ruby Jerins) may have some sort of emotional (or whatever) problems, so Jackie and Kevin are called in to discuss options for therapy and medication?
Sure, the show’s been “building” towards this, but are we meant to feel sympathy for a mother whose focus is so stretched? Or for a woman who deals with life and death at work, and must now worry for her daughter on top of that?
Or, should we just be disgusted with the whore who gets disgusting text messages (“me so horny”) from her lover while she’s with her husband? So much so that she gets a second “cheater” cell. Wow! What a symbol of the modern-day woman! So evolved. So much growth. Read the rest of this entry »
Nurse Jackie’s biggest mistake is Jackie … Oops!
The good news on Nurse Jackie is that there are characters to root for: O’Hara (Eve Best) and Zoey (Merritt Wever) make for an excellent pairing. The bad news? Jackie’s (Edie Falco) still around. Pop goes the weasel!
Jackie is just so disagreeable as a person. More than that, she’s detestable, disgusting, and completely un-desirable. What are people seeing in her?
Anything and everything that she does and discusses with her husband, Kevin (Dominic Fumusa), rings hollow, since we know that she spends her days cheating on him with Eddie (Paul Schulze). Her bald two-faceness is so shockingly brazen that I can’t believe that she feels any real emotion for her partner in life. How could she? Read the rest of this entry »
Nurse Jackie teaches us new and creative ways for doing drugs
That’s right … today’s lesson from Nurse Jackie? Crush the pills, put the powder in empty sugar packets, and simply add to your coffee all day long.
For those who thought the pill particles were bad enough, along comes the slow-mo pouring of the sugar packet, or whichever supplement it was. Great use of cinematography!
As bad as that was, the most disturbing part of the second episode for me was the deja vu I experienced during the opening scene, where Jackie (Edie Falco) is cutting Kevin’s (Dominic Fumusa) hair in the kitchen. Anyone else see the pilot of Malcolm in the Middle in there? No? Just me, I guess.
Ratings Clack – Rekindling the late night wars
That didn’t take long. When Conan debuted on the Tonight Show, his premiere soundly defeated Letterman. Of course, as expected, the curiosity of the premiere wore off immediately, and the numbers began to drop. Things really got interesting last week as we started seeing the first signs that the late night war is back on. In week 2 for Conan, Letterman actually managed to win a couple nights in the overnight household ratings. NBC is quick to point out that Conan is still tops in the younger demos.
While that is true, it’s worth noting that the last time Letterman managed to top Leno in the overnights was some eight months ago. Considering that the late night shows operate on scales of years, it’s way too early to declare a winner. However, it all does serve to make the late night ratings race, one which Leno had pretty much owned for years, very interesting again. Elsewhere this week, more good news for cable, from The Closer, Burn Notice, and Royal Pains. Back on the networks, The Bachelorette and I’m A Celebrity squared off again, the dancing kids were winners for FOX, and even without Lebron, the NBA was very good to ABC. Read the rest of this entry »
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