It was a very busy fall. There were some shows you probably missed. I know I had a long queue in my Tivo. Before the football season ends, make sure you check some of these out. I've sat down to watch them and really enjoying them.
Life--on USA
Damien Lewis stars as a former police officer who, after years of false imprisonment, returns to the force with a decidedly different philosophy. You can see how the prison years give Det. Charlie Crewes a whole different insight. He's working on cases with his new partner, who also has some demons, but is secretly trying to solve the case of the person who framed him.
Aliens in America--CW
A Wisconsin mom arranges to host a foreign exchange student, believing the visitor will help her shy son become more popular. When the student turns out to be a Muslim teenager from Pakistan, her plans go awry - and everyone is likely to learn a little lesson about life. If you are missing the Gilmore Girls cast, you'll find former GG'er Luke playing the dad.
Dirty Sexy Money--ABC
At first, I couldn't figure out where this was going but it totally grows on you. When idealistic attorney Nick George's (Peter Krause) father dies, he ends up taking his father's clients, the Darlings, led by patriarch Tripp (Donald Sutherland). It's not always easy for Nick handling both legal and sometimes illegal matters. The Darling family is downright hilarious!
Big Shots--ABC
Big Shots is a drama about four friends who are up and coming executives. However there are plenty of things to also laugh about. Dylan McDermott is Duncan is a cosmetics CEO trying to outgrow his playboy image. His pal Brody is a crisis manager who spends more time placating a demanding wife. Karl is the "geek" CEO whose wife and former mistress become best friends, and Michael Vartan--who couldn't be any cuter playing the business Golden Boy--is the newly appointed "Wal-Mart" type CEO who is trying to deal with a broken marriage and a new company.
Gossip Girl--CW
It's like teen people "lite" , with cocktails, I'll admit it. But this show based on the popular Young Adult novel series is chock full of beautiful, wealthy and angst ridden upper East side Manhattanites and it's as addicting as chocolate.
Pushing Daisies-ABC
This romantic drama shows us the strange world of a man, Ned, who can bring dead people back to life through the power of his touch. The people he touches, however, can only stay alive for one minute, and if they don't die again, someone else nearby will die. Ned decides to use his ability to solve crime. Fanciful and clever!
Criminal Minds--CBS
The Behaviorial Analysis Unit is composed of an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds and anticipate their next moves before they strike again. Joe Mantagna is the newest addition replacing my fav Mandy Patinkin but I think he'll bring some interesting twists to the show.
Shark--CBS
Sebastian Stark, a charismatic, supremely self-confident defense attorney who, after a shocking outcome in one of his cases and a personal epiphany, brings his cutthroat tactics to the prosecutor's office as the head of the Los Angeles District Attorney's High Profile Crime Unit. James Woods is perfect leading a group of new DAs including the latest addition, the brother in law from Ugly Betty.
House--Fox
Dr. Gregory House puts bad bedside manner to shame. As an infectious disease specialist with a knack for diagnostics, he fights the worst of all maladies with a team of various specialists, some who are too caring for their own good and others too irreverent. He'd prefer not to deal with patients at all but as he deals with his constant physical pain, his unconventional thinking and flawless instincts have afforded him a great deal of respect. It's THE best show on television right now.
Men In Trees--ABC
After breaking off her engagement when she learns of her fiance's infidelity, Marin Frist, a relationship expert, finds herself living in Elmo, Alaska, surrounded by men and attracted to one in particular. She now has to forget everything she has learned about men and gain new knowledge about love and relationships. This show is remarkably fresh and makes you want to head up to the great white north.
Women's Murder Club--ABC
Based on the James Patterson novel series, the Women's Murder Club tells the story of four friends from different walks of life who come together to form a unique murder investigation team. Their jobs as a homicide detective, a medical examiner, a newspaper reporter and an assistant district attorney give them a formidable range of skills, and friendship to sustain them through tough times. TV welcomes back Angie Harmon.
Bones--Fox
This series is based on stories from real-life forensic anthropologist and novelist Kathy Reichs. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperence Brennan--played by Emily Deschanel, Zooey's sister, who works at the Jeffersonian Institute and writes novels as a sideline, has an uncanny ability to read clues left behind in a victim's bones. Her partner from the FBI is former Buffy and Angel star David Boreanaz, as Special Agent Booth, who is all grown up and does a great job in this role.
Chuck--NBC
After Chuck got kicked out of Stanford, he is meandering through life as a computer tech at a Best-Buy type superstore called BuyMore when he is sent an email from a former college buddy. As a last save before he died, Chuck inherits the email which makes him now the recipient of a database of government secrets in his brain. Chuck is a now an unwilling participant as a special agent to the CIA and NSA. Zachary Levi is great as Chuck and his other cast mates are just as funny, including his sister's boyfriend he calls "Awesome" and the high strung assistant manager at the BuyMore.
Numb3rs--CBS
We all use math every day ... Inspired by actual cases and experiences, Numb3rs depicts the confluence of police work and mathematics in solving crime. An FBI agent recruits his mathematical genius brother to help solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles from a very different perspective. Numb3rs stars David Krumholtz as Charlie Eppes, Rob Morrow as Don Eppes, Judd Hirsch as their father.
Not on now, but hopefully they'll start up again:
The Closer--Kyra Sedgwick is fantastic in her very smart and bumbling sort of way
Saving Grace--Holly Hunter is rough around the edges but she is really good and the cast is solid
Burn Notice--CIA spy got burned and now lives in Miami as he is trying to find out who put him there
Side Order of Life--LA thirtysomethings battle--with humor--growing up
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Don't Dismiss All of Oprah's Choices
It had gotten to be almost the thing to do to purposefully not read the Oprah book selections. However I want to plug a few of them and you can check out more reviews on Amazon or BN. While they are often exceedingly depressing, they are also remarkably poignant. You might want to go back and reread a few...
Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
A sprawling saga about five generations of a family from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Fall on Your Knees is the impressive first fiction from Canadian playwright and actor Ann-Marie MacDonald. This epic tale of family history, family secrets, and music centers on four sisters and their relationships with each other and with their father. Set in the coal-mining communities of Nova Scotia in the early part of this century, the story also shifts to the battlefields of World War I and the jazz scene of New York City in the 1920s.
Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman**
When March Murray travels East with her teenage daughter to attend the funeral of the beloved housekeeper who looked after her when she was growing up, March's past comes rushing up to meet her. The present is quickly dominated by the lurking presence of her former lover, Hollis, who has patiently awaited her long overdue return. The tale is populated by those for whom love brings more sorrow than happiness: a woman afraid to commit to a relationship, a husband in love with someone other than his wife, two young people who fall for each other only to find they are close relatives, and the self-destructing love of Hollis and March. While love has the power to transform those who fall under its spell--devotion to an old racehorse turns March's daughter, a sullen teenager, into a strong young woman--the love March herself suffers robs her of nearly all sense and goodness. Hoffman deftly weaves her characters' stories against a vivid New England landscape where the past always has a grip on the present. And the listener is left at the end both satisfied and longing to hear more.
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
A funny thing happens to Novalee Nation on her way to Bakersfield, California. Her ne'er-do-well boyfriend, Willie Jack Pickens, abandons her in an Oklahoma Wal-Mart and takes off on his own, leaving her with just 10 dollars and the clothes on her back. Not that hard luck is anything new to Novalee, who is "seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight--and superstitious about sevens.... For most people, sevens were lucky. But not for her," Billie Letts writes. "She'd had a bad history with them, starting with her seventh birthday, the day Momma Nell ran away with a baseball umpire named Fred..."Still, finding herself alone and penniless in Sequoyah, Oklahoma is enough to make even someone as inured to ill fortune as Novalee want to give up and die. Fortunately, the Wal-Mart parking lot is the Sequoyah equivalent of a town square, and within hours Novalee has met three people who will change her life: Sister Thelma Husband, a kindly eccentric; Benny Goodluck, a young Native American boy; and Moses Whitecotton, an elderly African American photographer. For the next two months, Novalee surreptitiously makes her home in the Wal-Mart, sleeping there at night, exploring the town by day. When she goes into labor and delivers her baby there, however, Novalee learns that sometimes it's not so bad to depend on the kindness of strangers--especially if one of them happens to be Sam Walton, the superchain's founder.Where the Heart Is oddly mixes heart-warming vignettes and surprising, brutal violence. Novalee's story is juxtaposed with occasional chapters chronicling Willy Jack's downward spiral into prison, disappointment, and degradation. And even in Sequoyah, sudden storms, domestic violence, kidnapping, and deadly fires punctuate Novalee's progress from homeless, unwed teen mom to successful, happy member of the community. This is not a subtle book; there's never any doubt that our heroine will make a home for herself and her baby or that Willy Jack will get what he deserves for abandoning them. Still, Billie Letts has created several memorable characters, and there's always room for another novel that celebrates the life-affirming qualities of reading, the importance of education, and the power of love to change lives.
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
Everyone knows the Mulvaneys: Dad the successful businessman, Mike the football star, Marianne the cheerleader, Patrick the brain, Judd the runt, and Mom dedicated to running the family. But after what sometime narrator Judd calls the events of Valentine's Day 1976, this ideal family falls apart and is not reunited until 1993. The novel explores this disintegration with an eye to the nature of changing relationships and recovering from the fractures that occur. Through vivid imagery of a calm upstate New York landscape that any moment can be transformed by a blinding blizzard into a near-death experience, Oates demonstrates how faith and hope can help us endure. At another level, the process of becoming the Mulvaneys again investigates the philosophical and spiritual aspects of a family's survival and restoration.
**I highly recommend anything written by Alice Hoffman. Her stories are really something, they unfold with an uncanny grace.
Check out the The New York Times Book Review by David Gates: "We Were the Mulvaneys works not simply because of its meticulous details and gestures.... What keeps us coming back to Oates Country is something stronger and spookier: her uncanny gift of making the page a window, with something on the other side that we'd swear was life itself."
Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
A sprawling saga about five generations of a family from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Fall on Your Knees is the impressive first fiction from Canadian playwright and actor Ann-Marie MacDonald. This epic tale of family history, family secrets, and music centers on four sisters and their relationships with each other and with their father. Set in the coal-mining communities of Nova Scotia in the early part of this century, the story also shifts to the battlefields of World War I and the jazz scene of New York City in the 1920s.
Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman**
When March Murray travels East with her teenage daughter to attend the funeral of the beloved housekeeper who looked after her when she was growing up, March's past comes rushing up to meet her. The present is quickly dominated by the lurking presence of her former lover, Hollis, who has patiently awaited her long overdue return. The tale is populated by those for whom love brings more sorrow than happiness: a woman afraid to commit to a relationship, a husband in love with someone other than his wife, two young people who fall for each other only to find they are close relatives, and the self-destructing love of Hollis and March. While love has the power to transform those who fall under its spell--devotion to an old racehorse turns March's daughter, a sullen teenager, into a strong young woman--the love March herself suffers robs her of nearly all sense and goodness. Hoffman deftly weaves her characters' stories against a vivid New England landscape where the past always has a grip on the present. And the listener is left at the end both satisfied and longing to hear more.
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
A funny thing happens to Novalee Nation on her way to Bakersfield, California. Her ne'er-do-well boyfriend, Willie Jack Pickens, abandons her in an Oklahoma Wal-Mart and takes off on his own, leaving her with just 10 dollars and the clothes on her back. Not that hard luck is anything new to Novalee, who is "seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight--and superstitious about sevens.... For most people, sevens were lucky. But not for her," Billie Letts writes. "She'd had a bad history with them, starting with her seventh birthday, the day Momma Nell ran away with a baseball umpire named Fred..."Still, finding herself alone and penniless in Sequoyah, Oklahoma is enough to make even someone as inured to ill fortune as Novalee want to give up and die. Fortunately, the Wal-Mart parking lot is the Sequoyah equivalent of a town square, and within hours Novalee has met three people who will change her life: Sister Thelma Husband, a kindly eccentric; Benny Goodluck, a young Native American boy; and Moses Whitecotton, an elderly African American photographer. For the next two months, Novalee surreptitiously makes her home in the Wal-Mart, sleeping there at night, exploring the town by day. When she goes into labor and delivers her baby there, however, Novalee learns that sometimes it's not so bad to depend on the kindness of strangers--especially if one of them happens to be Sam Walton, the superchain's founder.Where the Heart Is oddly mixes heart-warming vignettes and surprising, brutal violence. Novalee's story is juxtaposed with occasional chapters chronicling Willy Jack's downward spiral into prison, disappointment, and degradation. And even in Sequoyah, sudden storms, domestic violence, kidnapping, and deadly fires punctuate Novalee's progress from homeless, unwed teen mom to successful, happy member of the community. This is not a subtle book; there's never any doubt that our heroine will make a home for herself and her baby or that Willy Jack will get what he deserves for abandoning them. Still, Billie Letts has created several memorable characters, and there's always room for another novel that celebrates the life-affirming qualities of reading, the importance of education, and the power of love to change lives.
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
Everyone knows the Mulvaneys: Dad the successful businessman, Mike the football star, Marianne the cheerleader, Patrick the brain, Judd the runt, and Mom dedicated to running the family. But after what sometime narrator Judd calls the events of Valentine's Day 1976, this ideal family falls apart and is not reunited until 1993. The novel explores this disintegration with an eye to the nature of changing relationships and recovering from the fractures that occur. Through vivid imagery of a calm upstate New York landscape that any moment can be transformed by a blinding blizzard into a near-death experience, Oates demonstrates how faith and hope can help us endure. At another level, the process of becoming the Mulvaneys again investigates the philosophical and spiritual aspects of a family's survival and restoration.
**I highly recommend anything written by Alice Hoffman. Her stories are really something, they unfold with an uncanny grace.
Check out the The New York Times Book Review by David Gates: "We Were the Mulvaneys works not simply because of its meticulous details and gestures.... What keeps us coming back to Oates Country is something stronger and spookier: her uncanny gift of making the page a window, with something on the other side that we'd swear was life itself."
Thursday, November 01, 2007
A Few Favorite Reads
There is NEVER enough time and ALWAYS too many books to read. Here are a few selections that I really enjoyed. All can be found at a local library or you can follow the link to a bookstore.
- Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn
- The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes: A Novel by Cathy Holton
- A Girl Could Stand Up by Leslie Marshall
- Peter and the Starcatchers by Ridley Pearson and Greg Call
- Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
- Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison
- Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook
- Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
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