Glee gives me somebody to love
“You guys look like the world’s worst Benetton ad.” – April to Glee club
Well, Glee’s living up to its strong start and giving us fun from beginning to end. I enjoyed Kristen Chenoweth’s appearance (even though I still stand behind my opinion that she either sings through her nose or has a funny voice), but the spotlight on her did leave me wanting more of the actual cast. I hope that Glee doesn’t fall into the “guest star of the night” trap and forget to utilize the incredible talents of its main cast. I longed for more Coach Sylvester and Principal Figgins. Really, if you’re going to steal Jane Lynch away from Party Down, at least use her until she bleeds, or something slightly less gooey.
On the flip side, seeing what they did with Chenoweth last night really made me realize how underused Victor Garber was a couple of episodes back (which Ivey noted in the comments), and hopefully he’ll be a recurring guest so they can remedy that. You really can’t have Victor Garber on Glee without singing (or kicking some evil spy butt — right, Glee live-chatters?) — it’s just wrong.
In “Casting Clack”, CliqueClack brings you a summary of the TV casting news released throughout the week, be it the addition of a series regular, a new recurring cast member, a guest star, or even someone making a cameo.
Let thee be warned! The following casting news may contain slight spoilers about the roles the actors will play. If you are highly allergic to spoilers avoid this post.
This week, we have casting news for: Lily, Dancing With the Stars, CSI, ER, and many others. Read the rest of this entry »
Eli Stone, RIP
I realize this isn’t the timeliest of topics. Long story short, my TiVo worked its magic on the first two episodes of Eli Stone’s second season; it recorded them in full, and self-deleted them upon completion. Before you recommend to me how to solve the problem, yes, it was set to save all episodes, and yes, it was set to delete only when I manually deleted. It’s a problem I’ve had with my TiVo box since the beginning, and one of the major reasons I dislike DirecTV; their DVR boxes suck. They often don’t automatically update their software, so if your version is outdated, you’ll encounter countless recording problems until you manually update. Real high quality.
Anyway, my wife and I also missed the ball on the tiny window ABC provides for viewing their shows online, so we decided to gamble by waiting for the re-runs to air. In the meantime, we dutifully recorded episodes three through nine.
Well, this past weekend I came to grips with reality: Eli Stone is gone, never to return. Of course, I knew it’d been canceled, but in my heart-of-hearts I held out hope that ABC might see the error in its ways. I mean, my God, shows like (I’m hiding underneath the table here) According to Jim, America’s Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Supernanny, Ugly Betty and Wife Swap have all been given longer lives than Eli Stone. Leaves me speechless, too. Read the rest of this entry »
CliqueClack Flashback – The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
My life was in flux during the 1990s. Fresh out of college, I ended up working in an office (but knew I was destined for greatness), and my husband and I wandered gypsy-like between homes while we were building our own high on a hill overlooking Lake Michigan.
One of those places was his grandparents’ home, then used as a vacation pad by downstate family members. No one was supposed to live there full-time, so it was all very clandestine that we were there. Plus, any time family came up from downstate, we had to vacate the premises, often on the spur of the moment. It was quite adventurous and thrilling, though we didn’t think so at the time.
So what does my story have to do with The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd? Because his grandparents’ place was the first house I lived in with cable TV, and I was astounded by the number of channels out there. Not only did I find TVLand and MTV, but I also found Molly Dodd on Lifetime. It was like a beam of heaven’s light burst through the clouds of network TV and illuminated a whole new world.
Eli Stone – Eli gets a sidekick & Nate experiences big changes
(Season 2, Episode 6 – “Happy Birthday Nate”)
I’d say that this is a pretty intriguing development in the ongoing saga of Eli Stone, but there really isn’t one anymore, is there? Still, we can enjoy the ride while it lasts. It looks like they’re getting things back on track with the series, albeit too little too late. More singing, more visions and next week a guest appearance by Seal. It’s the visions and the “calling” that make Eli special. With this in strong remission the past several weeks we were left with another legal show.
Now that the firm divide is behind us, we can settle into our new status quo and start developing some ongoing storylines. We pick things up right where we left them last week, with Eli wanting to take the case of J.J. Cooper’s emancipation proclamation against his overbearing father. We got some expansion of Keith’s burgeoning relationship with Patti’s daughter and even some major developments between Matt and Taylor.
Did Eli Stone screw itself into getting canceled?
When Eli Stone came back this season, it came back strong. Really strong. It looks like the viewers and the network don’t care, since beyond the 13 episodes that have already been shot, no more will be ordered. Sounds like a cancellation to me. Anyway, from Eli surviving the aneurysm surgery to Nate inheriting the visions to Eli taking them back, it was incredibly well done.
I’m not so sure about all the changes going on at Wethersby, Posner and Klein and Stone, though. Eli Stone seems to have lost its way a bit. Four things in particular are jumping out at me lately:
- Where’s Nate? Part of the charm and depth of Eli Stone is the relationship between these two brothers, and how they navigate their past with their unusual dad. By burning the notebooks, did Eli also destroy that entire storyline?
Eli Stone – Unwritten
ABC
(Season 2, Episode 3)
The book. The journal of all the visions of Eli’s father – collected for the reading enjoyment of others. It was now in possession of Eli himself. Combined with his own visions, this made him a pretty powerful litigator. This is what began to worry me.
For a season plus three episodes we have journeyed with Eli in order to determine what his visions represented during his normal life. Now, with the book and his knowledge that he is a messenger for a higher power, it looked so simple. Eli Stone was on the verge of turning into an entirely different program that dealt with Eli’s journey across life using the book as his guide. That would have been a show I was not interested in seeing, at least in the format of a law procedural.
So, what happened? Well, I’m not going to tell you on the front page of the review! Jump forward and you’ll find out as we discuss five points from this week’s Eli Stone.
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