House “Broken” And Then Rebuilt

In this season premiere of House(Fox), titled “Broken” we pick up where last season left off. House is in a detox program at Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital to get him off his Vicodin habit and hopefully stop his hallucinations. Overall, I thought that this was a long episode and seemed like every moment of it crawled. Normally this would be a bad thing, but in the case of this episode, I think it heightened the sensation that House felt – he wanted out and every second in the facility seemed like an eternity to him. While the only regular besides Hugh Laurie in this episode was Robert Sean Leonard with his brief appearance as Dr. Wilson, the episode still provided an interesting group of characters that served as the backdrop for House’s own healing.

House, even while in detox, still wants to be the doctor and diagnose and fix everyone. But the ugly and destructive side of House comes out loud and clear when he seems to torment his fellow patients and doctors alike. Dr. Nolan convinces House that he can’t just be a fixer all the time, and he also can’t continue to deflect the problems if he wants to get better. House’s tantrums take a very serious turn when he manages to talk his way into getting a car, and takes the car and one of the other patients – Steven - on a joy ride and to an amusement park. Sure, House has fun and makes sure Steven has fun. But House seriously misjudges Steven’s issues and House’s day of play actually reinforces Steven’s delusions, and Steven takes a flying leap off a parking garage, almost killing himself.

House also strikes up a relationship with a married woman, Lydia, whose sister in law Annie is a patient there, and this relationship leads to a quick sexual encounter. Making things worse, once her sister in law shows improvement, House finds that Lydia is moving to Arizona with her husband to follow Annie to her next level of therapy. House is very hurt by this and feels pain and expresses his pain to Dr. Nolan. Of course, these are the magic words that the doctor is waiting to hear and he sets House free.

While the episode seemed long, it was completely worthwhile, if only to see House realize his grave error with Steven, his amazement with Steven desire to help Annie and her recovery, and House’s pain with Lydia leaving was well worth it. Somehow, I think House has changed a little, and now that he has the drugs out of his system and can feel real physical and emotional pain, I think we may see a more nuanced Dr. House this year. I am sure the caustic sarcasm will still be there, but somewhere deep inside, I think the feelings he has recovered will not be able to be buried so far deep again. It looks like a fresh start for the show, and hopefully will bring new challenges for televisions favorite cranky doctor.

By the way, it is a travesty that Hugh Laurie did not win an Emmy.


Here’s a recap – I tried to cover the high points of these two hours so I apologize if there are any gaps:

The episode starts with House going through detox. Since detox is not pretty, let’s skip those details. House thinks once the drugs are out of his system he can just walk out of the hospital. He finds that Dr. Nolan (Andre Braugher) wants House to go into their long-term facility to address larger issues that seemed to surface with house after the death of his father and two colleagues. Dr. Nolan makes it obvious that he won’t approve House to go back to practice medicine until House complies.

House checks into the Long term ward 6, and meets up with Dr. Beasly (Megan Dodds). He also gets a roommate called “Alvie” (Lin-Manuel Miranda) who talks a mile a minutes and gets on his nerves. It doesn't take long for House to pick up on the other problems of the other patients and call them out on their issues, earning him a trip to the padded cell. He creates a stir when he makes the patients realize that the hospital is forcing them to play ping-pong with no paddles and no net. He gets the patients all riled up until Dr. Nolan comes in and says House is right. He tells House he is a natural leader and may be able to do some good down there.

During group, House steps away from the session and looks out the window. He sees Dr. Nolan stepping into a car with another woman, and his curiosity is piqued. When Dr. Beasley halts the session and asks House what scheme is planning, he tells her he does have something planned. Of course, it’s blackmail. Later, he cooks up a scheme with Alvie to get Alvie checked into a separate area where he can get access to Nolan’s schedule. When Alvie fakes crazy and gets access, he only sees a large “X” on the calendar for the appointment, no name. This mean House must take another route to get the information, and hatches a plot to fight with Alvie so they would both be drugged and taken to another ward where House could get to a phone and call Wilson. Of course, neither of them swallow the pills so they can stay alert and make the call. But when he calls Wilson to ask him to track the license number of the woman’s car that picked up Nolan, House finds that Nolan already called Wilson and warned him that House was cooking up something and House would probably call him and ask for his help, but Nolan wants House to get better. Wilson won’t help him out this time. House has no choice now except to cooperate.

House starts to cooperate and racks up good behavior points. He continues to not swallow his meds.

He comes back to the piano room where the woman who can’t speak - Annie (Ana Lenchantin) is here, and her sister in law Lydia (Franka Potente) is playing the piano. He strikes up a conversation with Lydia and they seem to hit it off. Lydia thinks that Annie is trying to communicate by bobbing her head to the music, but House says Annie is bobbing her head to her pulse.

House gets quizzed by another doctor, Dr. Medina (Andrew Leeds), who says he is curious because House is having no side effects from meds and his story and Alvie’s about the fight isn’t adding up. He insists on a urine test. House seems to have planned for his, as someone else is waiting in the stall who provides the sample for House. The doctor later apologizes for doubting House when he sees the test results. Then, this same doctor tries to convince the patient Steven - who also calls himself the Freedom Master (Derek Richardson) - that he is not a superhero by asking him to move the piano. He then brings up the fact that Steven’s wife is dead and Steven couldn’t save her. Of course, Steven goes nutty and a “code grey” is called and Steven is taken away.

Later, House is disappointed when he hears that it’s Susan that is going home, not him. He also asks where Steven (AKA Freedom Master) is, and he goes to his room, where Steven is clearly drugged. House is irritated with the staff because Steven is out of it and he had been functional before. House gets pulled into Nolan’s office and House is angry that they screwed up Steven. He suggests to Nolan that he allow him to go out on an outpatient basis because he can cope. He admits he hasn’t been taking his meds and he fooled the tests. Nolan asked him to lick his hand, and House tastes sugar. Nolan tells him that House was improving too fast so they switched him to a placebo. House has been outmaneuvered.

But things take a weird turn when House manages to talk Lydia into letting him drive her car and also to take Steven along. When House admits that he is stealing her car, she steps out and lets him go. House and Steven head to an amusement park, where he and Steven get on one of those things that allow you to rise up on a column of air as if you are flying (I can’t remember what they call them!). The bad part is that this only seems to reinforce to Steven that he really does have superpowers and can fly. When he and House leave the park, Steven stands on the ledge of the parking garage. House yells for him to come back off the edge, but Steven jumps, nearly killing himself. Later, Dr. Nolan arrives at the hospital and rips into House, saying House doesn’t care about anything and he reinforced a sick man’s delusions. He tells House he is going to have him transferred, but House asks him not to, admitting he is sick.

In a therapy session with Dr. Nolan, House is not sure where to start. Nolan asks him what is on his mind and what does he want? House wants to get better, whatever that means. He also wants to be happy. Nolan suggests SSRIs to start, but House doesn’t want to change who he is. But Nolan says he is miserable, and wonders if House is worried about loosing his edge. Nolan says House needs to trust him, and House takes the medication.

When Alvie realized House is taking meds, he says they broke House. House says he already is broken.

Nolan stops by later and asks House if he connected with any other patients. Nolan wants him to trust people.

Later and elsewhere Nolan takes House to a hospital party and suggests he try to open up to strangers. House strikes up a weird conversation with a man and tells him that he is gay and points out Nolan as his lover and psychiatrist. He later tells a woman that his is a philanderer, and then gets her to lie to Lydia about what he just told her. But he later bonds further with Lydia, who opens up to him about her sister in law. She kisses him as they say goodnight. She thinks this is just two people having fun. It seems House has made a real connection with someone.

Back in therapy with Dr. Nolan, House talks about Lydia kissing him, and that he knows she is married. House deflects some of the discussion and asks about the woman in the parking lot. House wants to talk about Nolan, and says Nolan has no personal items in his office because he has no personal life.

Visiting time arrives, and Lydia comes to see House. He asks why she kissed him. He begins to play the piano for her, and they see Steven being wheeled in, and it breaks the mood. Later, Nolan and House talk about him seeing Steven being wheeled in and House continues to deflect. Nolan says House caused Steven pain, does that mean House has to suffer equally? He says he needs to move on and to apologize to Steven. House later approaches Steven but Steven is catatonic.

Dr. Beasley comes in to group and announces in two weeks they will have a talent show - a fun way to work on their therapeutic issues. House gets annoyed when Dr. Beasley asks Steven what he can do. House gets frustrated and sees a music box in the office and says that he things Steven needs it in order to help Annie speak. House gets agitated when then won’t just let him into the locked office area to get it, claiming he is not psychotic. He gets them to open the room and get the music box, and he hands it to Steven, saying he knows that Steven wanted this so he could help Annie to speak. But when Steven still refuses to speak as well, House grabs his face and orders him to speak. Dr. Nolan comes up and breaks up the session, telling House that he is just trying again to just fix things.

Later, Lydia brings House sheet music (Dvorak) and when House ask her what this is she says it’s just two people having fun. But House thinks someone will get hurt, and he says goodbye.

Back at group, House seems agitated an annoyed again and tries to disrupt the process. Someone comes in and gives House a day pass from Dr. Nolan, as Nolan wants to see him. House finds himself in a hospital room with the doctor’s father, who seems to be in a coma. House tells him that it’s over and that Nolan just wants someone to tell him it is OK. Nolan tells him he doesn’t need him there to play this game. But House pulls up a chair and sits with him.

Back at the ward, Lydia is there, crying. House apologizes for pushing her away. She says she is not crying because of him, it’s because she is pathetic. He offers her his hand and she takes it and she hugs him. He hangs up his cane and they begin a slow dance, turning in a circle, in the silence. They then find themselves in another room and it leads to sex. House seems to have a look of mild regret.

Next comes the hospital talent show. When Alvie freezes during his performance, House helps him fill in the blanks. Alvie tries to get House to come up to the stage, and the group claps. House begins to rap with Alvie and seems to be having fun.

In session again with Nolan, he tells Nolan things are good. Afterwards, he goes to Steven and says he is sorry, he was trying to prove a point, and it put him in a dangerous situation, it was his fault. The nurse calls out for med time, and House moves to wheel Steven over. But they see Annie standing there, and House backs up the Steve’s wheelchair. Steven hands Annie the music box, and she opens it, and after hearing the tune, finally speaks, saying thank you. Later, Lydia arrives and House tells her he has a surprise for her. He takes her hand and leads Lydia into the room where Annie is playing the cello. Needless to say, Lydia is happy with tears.

Next, we see Annie’s farewell party. House is upset that he is not the one who is being released, and makes his feelings known to Nolan. Nolan says Annie is going to a rehab facility in Arizona. . House asks for an overnight pass, and Nolan allows it when House asks him to please give it to him.

House drives to Lydia’s place and her son answers the phone. Lydia comes up to the door, and she tells him her husband has an office in Phoenix but that have felt tethered here. He doesn’t want her to leave, and she apologizes for not saying goodbye. After touching his face, she says he has to go and closes the door.

Back at the hospital, House tells Nolan Lydia left and he is lost. Nolan tells him he is going to write the letter to the medical board to get his license back. House recognized his own pain. He tells him to get his sleep and tells him tomorrow he can say his goodbyes. House gets his wish – his goodbye party, where he gives Alvie a hug, and then slams his face into his farewell cake.

As House walks out of the facility and then waits for the bus, Alvie watches from his window. He decides he wants to take his meds – he wants to get better. And House gets on the bus and seems to have a peaceful contended smile as the bus pulls away.


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Mad Men “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency” And Doesn’t Walk Out

This episode of Mad Men , “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency,” provided probably one of the more interesting twists that I have even seen on television, with some dark comedy to go along with it.

The backdrop of the show features Sally (Kiernan Shipka) who has suddenly become afraid of the dark. It seems that since Grandpa Gene died, and baby Gene was born, she seems terrified of the baby. Betty (January Jones) tries to work through Sally’s fear by buying her a Barbie doll (a dark haired Barbie, by the way), but Betty seems cold and uncaring in her delivery of the gift, which she tells Sally is from her baby brother. Sally doesn’t buy that it is actually from baby Gene, and later, we see that she apparently has thrown the doll out the window, as Don (Jon Hamm) finds it in the bushes when he arrives home. After bringing the doll back in to Sally’s room – where she is sleeping with a nightlight on – Don and Betty are alarmed to hear blood curdling screams coming from Sally ‘s room. She has seen the doll is back, and I think she suspects that a ghost has returned it to her room. When Betty seems cold to tending to Sally’s issue with her grandfather’s death, Don takes matters into his own hands and tries to console Sally that there are no ghosts, and that the baby is not some sort of reincarnated Grandpa Gene as Sally seems to think. Betty seems colder that liquid nitrogen to Sally, and I sense that Betty has some very deeply rooted animosity towards her daughter.

But the big news and the focus of the show was the visit from the head honchos of Putnam, Powell, and Lowe to Sterling Cooper’s office. Bert Cooper (Robert Morse) tells Don he thinks they may be coming to offer Don dual responsibilities in NY and London. It is also the last day for Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks). Everyone wonders what will be happening, and the secretaries also wonder how they will work Joan’s farewell party into all of this.

Joan, however, has bigger issues on her hands, when her husband Greg (Sam Page) comes home after an evening of drinking, and he lies when he tells Joan he called her about coming home late. She calls him on his lie, and digs deeper to find out what is troubling him. It seems that Greg did not get the position of chief resident of surgery, and he was also told that his hands have no brains. He will never be a surgeon. He tells Joan she’d better keep her job, but she can’t renege on her resignation. He tells her to find another job. Joan reminds him that she loves him for his heart, not his hands. But one can see that Joan clearly has regrets about quitting her job at Sterling Cooper.

When the people at PP&L arrive – Saint John Powell (Charles Shaughnessy), Harold Ford (Neil Dickson) and Guy Mackendrick (Jamie Thomas King), they tour the office and only meet briefly with Don, Bert, and Roger (John Slattery). In a meeting with Lane Pryce (Jared Harris), they inform him he is being promoted and sent to Bombay, not welcome news to Pryce. The big reveal comes when they sit down with the key staff members and show them the new organization chart, with Guy on the top rung. Guy will be the new CEO. Don, as creative director, will report to Guy, as will Bert, and the account people Ken (Aaron Staton) and Pete (Vincent Kartheiser). Harry (Rich Sommer) also reports directly to Guy, and the others note (after the meeting) that Harry was the only person who got a promotion out of all of it. Roger’s name is nowhere on the list, and when he makes note of it, Guy brushes it off as a simple mistake and says Roger is still part of the group. Roger's ego is obviously bruised and he actually seems worried for his job.

Later, when they call the office together for the news, Guy turns it into the farewell party for Joan, and she is in tears. Meanwhile, Don gets a mysterious call that Conrad Hilton wants to meet with him, and they agree to meet in the presidential suite of the Waldorf Astoria. Don goes there to meet him, and finds that Conrad Hilton is none other than the “Connie” (Chelcie Ross) that he made a drink for, and had an informal conversation with, at Roger’s party a while back (the episode was ”My Old Kentucky Home”) . Connie wants free ad advice from Don, and a reluctant Don looks at the ad, which contains what looks like Jerry the mouse from the cartoon “Tom and Jerry.” Don doesn’t think people would want to see a mouse associated with a hotel (my thoughts exactly). When Don says he would like to have a chance for the Hilton account, Connie seems disappointed in Don, telling him he expected him to reach higher. Don tells him that it’s like a snake that is starving; if they eat too much to fast they could choke.

Meanwhile, back at Sterling cooper, Smitty (Patrick Cavanaugh) revs up the John Deere riding mower that Ken brought into the office the day before, after landing the John Deere account. Smitty seems a little drunk. He lets Lois take the wheel and drive it, and she steers it right over the foot of Guy Mackendrick and then runs into a window wall from an office. Blood spatters everywhere, and Guy shrieks in agony. Joan is the only one to take quick action and place a tourniquet on Guy’s gushing leg, likely saving his life. Later, Roger deadpans to the group that Guy lost his foot tight after getting it in the door.

Don’s meeting with Connie is interrupted by Joan’s call informing him of the accident, and he rushes to the hospital. Joan’s dress is bloodied, but they manage to share a laugh when Joan says that she imagines Guy felt great when he woke up that morning. The PP&L people come out and thank Joan for her work, offering to reimburse her for her dress. They also tell Don that Guy is out, because you can’t have a man who has no foot or can’t walk lead the agency. Everything will stay status quo for now.

When Don gets home, he is faced with Sally’s terror over her inability to cope with Gene’s death and the birth of a new baby Gene. Yet Don seems to calmly roll with the punches. As Bert Cooper said earlier in the episode, a good ad man lets the little things go so he can get what he wants. In a way, Don seems to be able to also know what things he can change and what he can’t. With Sally, he can console her and help her recognize that there is nothing to fear. With his work life, while the company reorganization took place, he continued to have business literally drop into his lap, showing that he still can move on even as the company changes. He certainly doesn’t need Sterling Cooper to drum up business, but they certainly need him. And with Guy out of the picture at top dog, and with Don likely landing the Hilton account, Don may be in the catbird seat, both feet intact.

As far as Guy, although he literally walked into the ad agency, he didn’t walk out. It was probably one of the most surprising twists on a show that I’ve seen in a while – I expected someone to crash the John Deere, not to maim someone with it. This is why I think that Mad Men is probably the best drama on television these days – for which they were also recognized last night at the 2009 Emmys. Let’s hope this show has many many years ahead of it.




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Fringe Returns With “A New Day In The Old Town”

Photo from Fox

Fringe (Fox) clearly established itself as the new X-Files, both with a quick TV screen view of a soon to be victim watching Mulder and Scully on television, plus the reference to the “old “X” designation“ during Agent Broyles’ (Lance Reddick) hearing about the future of the “Fringe” division. Also like the X-Files, it seems a shape-shifter (as with the “alien bounty hunter”) has been added to the show. It feels good to have an agency that investigates the weird.

The only annoying thing about this episode was that they seemed to move between Boston and New York a little too quickly, and I admit that I was starting to get a little confused as to where they were at times. Otherwise, it was an action packed hour where I didn’t even mind that they were showing a lot more commercials than they had in the show’s first season.

Despite the comfortable and familiar story elements, and the similarities to the X-Files, the Fringe season premiere does not disappoint. It provides many new mysteries: Where or when was Olivia when she visited William Bell and what did he tell her? What is she looking that is hidden and why can't she remember? Why are the shape-shifters looking for this object? Will Walter’s switch with Peter when the real Peter died years ago catch up with him, and with the Greek “code” between Peter and his mother help expose Walter’s switch? Will Charlie’s impromptu story to Olivia about his own shooting be the thing that ultimately exposes him as the shape shifter? What exactly is Jessup up to and what does she really know? It looks to be a great second season.


Here’s is the recap:
The show opens with a car accident in New York City – and it looks like Agent Olivia Dunham’s (Anna Torv) car has been involved. But she’s nowhere to be found. A man who seems to have caused the accident walks away from the scene, bloodied. He manages to buzz his way into an apartment building, and finding another man in the hall, proceeds to force him into his apartment (where the X-Files are on TV) and overpowers him, killing him. He then proceeds to take over his identity, morphing his face. The FBI agents, on the scene of the accident, are perplexed as it seems the driver of the black SUV is nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, back in Boston, Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and his scientist dad Walter (John Noble) are grocery shopping, and Walter is insisting on making custard for Peter's upcoming birthday, which he says Peter loved as a child. Peter indicates that he never liked it. Peter then gets an alarming phone call. Before you can say “transporter beam” Peter and Walter arrive at the scene of the accident where Olivia's SUV is still there. It seems as if nothing has changed to the scene from the time of the accident to their arrival. (My husband wants to know how they got there so fast, with the accident scene staying the name. They can’t be that slow to wrap up a accident scene in NYC.) FBI Agent Jessup (Meghan Markle) is on the scene, and while she talks with Peter, Walter plays around with the controls inside the SUV, and when an alarm in the car goes off, and the engine revs, they stand back as the car goes silent. But their quiet is pierced when Olivia comes flying through the windshield and onto the street. Later, as they rush Olivia into surgery, she is unresponsive.

Outside the hospital, Special Agent Broyles stops Jessup and tells her she will be reporting a random traffic accident, case closed. Jessup argues, but Broyles explains to just sign the report. Needless to say, her curiosity is piqued.

Back at the hospital, a doctor tells Peter that they are unable to restore brain function in Olivia, but Walter thinks the situation is relative. He busts into the operating area to examine her, and she is being kept alive with machines. Walter is crushed and apologetic as Peter looks on.

Later, Peter is sitting alone in a bar, drinking, when Broyles joins him. Broyles tells Peter that he has been called to Washington DC and was told that their failure to deliver any usable results is unacceptable. They're shutting down the Fringe Division. (It reminds me of Fox Mulder's words, “They’re shutting us down, Scully." Déjà vu anyone?) Meanwhile, at the New York Federal Building, Agent Jessup is trying to access the Fringe files.

When Peter gets back to the hospital, Olivia’s sister Rachel (Ari Grayor) is there and Peter consoles her. She tells him Olivia liked him. She also tells him Olivia has a living will and she will be disconnecting life support the next day. Peter enters Olivia’s room to say his goodbyes, and as he leans over to her, she opens her eyes, speaks in a foreign language, and screams. Later, she knows who she is and seems to have her brain functions back, but her memory is fuzzy. She says she was trying to get somewhere and someone was trying to stop her, but she went anyway. She says there is something important she has to do and their lives may depend on it. She tells Peter she needs her gun.

At the Federal Building in Boston (these people get around quickly I tell you), Peter is looking for Broyles, and is told he is in Washington. Peter gets the cold shoulder and when the security woman asks for Peter’s ID, she takes it and shreds it, saying it has been revoked. When more security comes, Agent Jessup appears and says she will take over with Peter. While they drive off, Jessup says that the skid marks with Olivia’s car didn’t make sense, because it appeared Olivia was speeding up, not slowing down, when the accident occurred. The driver of the other car was George Reed, from Lexington. She also wants to know more about the Fringe Division. They get to Reed’s house and break down the door, but he’s dead. When Walter gets on the scene, he says the man died from a virus and wants to take the body with him to his lab,. He is excited like a kid with a new toy when Jessup allows it and when he gets to drive along with the body.

The shape shifter who took over another identity come into an old electronics shop and makes a request for a specific typewriter model. When he is told that the model doesn’t exist, he presses the shop owner who seems to know who he is, and he gives him a key to the back room where the typewriter is sitting. On this typewriter, the man types his report, saying his target was terminated. When he looks into a mirror next to him, he percieves invisible fingers typing out a response that his mission was a failure, that the “meeting occurred” and "target still alive." The man requests new orders, and is told to interrogate the target, "Then kill her."

Peter walks into the lab with Jessup, introducing her to the Fringe division, and explains that Walter used to work there on government projects.

Meanwhile, Olivia’s work partner Agent Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo) talks with Olivia at the hospital. When she says he is fine, he counters with a story about him answering a domestic disturbance call with his partner who was later killed by the woman, who then also shot Charlie. He knows Olivia is not fine. She can’t recall what happened to her, and can’t even load her own gun.

Back at the lab, Walter is performing the autopsy on Reed while he tells Astrid (Jasika Nicole) how to make custard. Walter's shows Peter the inside of Reed's mouth, where they find three markings, like stab wounds, on the roof of his mouth. He recalls a previous experiment, and shows them a videotape of an experiment, where a woman, with many electrode-like objects on her head, says she saw a man with a machine with three nails that went in the mouth, saying he is from another universe. She describes exactly what we saw the man in the car crash had done before he took over the other man’s identity. She adds, "They can look like any of us."

Back in the hospital, Olivia tries to load her gun, fumbling, and is unsuccessful.

In Washington DC, Broyles faces a government hearing committee, who references the former “X designation” and calls the Fringe Division "indulgences" in the budget. Broyles is annoyed with their flippant attitude, saying that sometimes the threat is "unimaginable" and they should be thankful Fringe Division is there. They are unmoved.

Outside the hearing, Broyles meets with Nina Sharp (Blair Brown), who also doesn't want Fringe shut down. She kisses him and tells him to continue to do what he always used to do, that is, "save the day."

Elsewhere, Peter and Jessup follow up on another body found with three holes in its mouth, which was found two blocks from the accident site. They think whatever it is on the loose is still trying to accomplish its goal. Peter races back to the hospital to see Olivia, thinking that she is their goal. Outside the hospital, the shape shifter is lurking and he startles a nurse.

Later, that same nurse checks on Olivia and begins to ask her questions about her memory. Olivia can only remember pieces, and thinks she was on her way to meet someone, but doesn’t recall whom. She remembers something is hidden, and the nurse pushes the issue a little too much. But when she’s satisfied Olivia doesn’t know what was hidden where, the nurse jumps on the bed and attempts to strange Olivia. Olivia tries to fight back and use her gun, which drops to the floor. As Peter and Jessup race to Olivia’s aid, Jessup shoots the nurse twice in the back, but the nurse jumps out the window that is several stories up, and runs to the basement below. Charlie picks up the chase. When the nurse surprises him, dropping from the ceiling in the basement near the incinerator, Charlie shoots. When Jessup and Peter arrive, the nurse is dead and Charlie is standing over her body. Peter takes a device presumed to aid in the shape shifting, which was on the floor next to the nurse’s body.

Later, Peter brings Olivia a huge bouquet of flowers, and tells her that Walter suspects the nurse was a "shape-changing soldier from another universe" and he thinks that's where Olivia went. Peter deadpans that "Do you think it's a bad thing I can say that out loud and neither one of us thinks I'm crazy?" Olivia tells Peter about feeling that something is hidden, and Peter says Walter will figure it out. Peter asks about the Greek she spoke when regained consciousness, repeating the words. He says it is what his mother used to say to him every night before he went to bed, and it translates to "be a better man than your father." He says it was like a code between them, to keep the people he cares about close. When Peter moves to leave, Olivia asks if it's true they're shutting them down, and he says no.

Later, Peter gives Broyles the broken shape-shifting device as proof he can use for the committee. Peter seems to be determined to force the issues, saying that they're calling the shots now. Meanwhile. Jessup types notes into a computer that seem to reference the Bible, closing a Bible, which sits on her desk.

When Peter returns to the lab, we hear a groan – was it the cow or Walter, I wonder – and he finds Astrid, Walter, and the cow waiting with birthday custard. Still in the hospital, Olivia finally loads her gun. In the hospital basement, we see Charlie pushing a load of laundry toward an incinerator. But that’s not just laundry; we see Charlie’s body being pulled out and being tossed into the incinerator. It seems who we now know as Charlie is really the shape shifter.



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The Birth of the Cool: Horatio Caine’s Sunglasses

No, this isn’t about jazz legend Miles Davis’ recording. This is about the crime fighter some people love to hate, Horatio Caine (and the actor who plays him, David Caruso). People always wondered how Horatio got his sunglasses, which seem to imbue him with magical superhuman powers of deductions. In a way, Horatio is like the reverse of Clark Kent/Superman, when Clark must remove his glasses before he can appear as Superman.

Well, wonder no more. CBS has supplied a sneak peek of Monday’s (September 21) season opener of CSI Miami where the story behind the “sunglasses of justice” is revealed. A warning to sensitive eyes – this video is rated “MH” because it includes a “man-hug” with Caruso and Adam Rodriguez, who plays the departing Eric Delko. Be prepared: I suspect that next season, the sunglasses will have taken over the show and will be given top billing, and, after asking for a salary of $250,000 per episode, CBS will then decide to drop all scripted programming in lieu of running a talk show with David Letterman every night.

Enjoy the video!





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The Jay Leno Show: Unoriginal, Uncompelling, Uninteresting

I know I said I wasn’t going to watch The Jay Leno Show. I was never a huge fan of Leno on the Tonight Show, so I didn’t watch that very much. But, I felt it only fair that if I was going to be critical of the move the NBC made by eliminating scripted shows in favor of the daily Leno show, I should at least watch one to see if it confirms my feelings. It did – I stand by my opinion that I think this move is not a good one in the long run for NBC.

After watching his first installment, I imagine that there will be a lot of tweaking and changing going on in the coming weeks, so maybe it will be worth another look about 3 months down the road – assuming NBC keeps it that long. After all, the network really painted themselves in the corner the minute they committed to 5 nights a week for this show, which is probably 4 nights too many.

His opening monologue didn’t strike me as being anything new or different than his Tonight Show monologues. In fact, Jay seemed too stiff and rehearsed in his opening comments on his new show. I am not sure what I expected – I think I expected no monologue. I found myself wondering how much Jay will be stealing the thunder of his later counterparts Conan O’Brien and the lifeless Jimmy Fallon by covering all the funny bits from the news for the day before the other two get their crack at it? Why watch Conan and Jimmy later to get their same take on the same news? If Jay’s show does well, it may bode bad news for the other two. One thing I was glad to hear Jay acknowledge his own feeling about his show promos when he said, “Let me explain what’s going on…This is not another annoying promo, this is the actual show…I apologize for my face being all over the place.” Yes, it was a tad much, wasn’t it? NBC was shameless in taking every chance they could to promote this new show, including numerous mentions on the Today Show.

The car wash number with Dan Finnerty and the Dan Band went on too long. It was funny for a short while, then it just made me want it to be over.

Enter Jerry Seinfeld, who admitted that, like me, he was also perplexed as to why he was asked to be the first guest when he hasn’t done a show in something like 11 years. Mind you, I watched Seinfeld a lot and always liked his show, but I am not sure if he would have been my first guest. While he and Jay talked, it seemed like they were both shouting in order to make sure they were being heard to audience in the cavernous studio, and their “interview” seemed too rehearsed and stiff. Again, nothing compelling to see here.

Leno’s faked Obama interview was also not a new concept, and I sense there will be some discussion today on "The View" about Jay referring to those hosts as the “loudest, shrillest voices.” This was another segment where the joke got old quickly and I felt it dragged on too long.

Jay also brought on the jerk of the day, Kayne “It’s All About Me” West, giving Kanye even more publicity for his rude behavior at the video awards show from two days ago. Jay asks the money question: “Let me ask you something. I was fortunate enough to meet your mom and talk with your mom a number of years ago. What do you think she would have said about this?” Kanye gives a long, long pause where he seems to be getting choked up, before he answers with what seemed to be a non-answer, saying he needs to take time off. Poor baby. He needs to grow up, but I don’t see that coming any time soon, since this is not Kanye’s first time around getting in trouble when opening his mouth. But Jay got what he wanted – the key sound bite from his show to be replayed on other networks. He and Kanye really are two peas in a pod when it comes to self-promotion. Kanye then went off to perform with Rihanna and Jay-Z, a musical number that wasn’t too bad but again it seemed to go on too long.

Jay finished the show with his funny headlines – umm, shouldn’t headlines be toward the “head” of the show and not the end? Jay used to do these on the Tonight Show, maybe he thought by moving them to the end of the show it would be more edgy and show how much the show is different from the Tonight Show. Personally, if he keeps this segment – I think it should be dropped – he should move it to the beginning and hopefully only do it once a week or so, if even that often.

A note to advertisers – since I recorded the show on my DVR, I passed through all your commercials.

If I had to grade Jay’s first outing, I would have to give it a C+. It was just average. There was nothing compelling to see, nothing new and different, nothing worth tuning in every night at 10 PM to watch, especially when there are other shows that are much more interesting to watch on other networks. It’s not even worth recording on my DVR and taking the time to pass over the commercials. Unless there is a major improvement, NBC better be thinking of a fall back position and getting new shows ready for that time slot next fall, if not sooner.


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Mad Men “The Fog” Makes Things Clearer

Photo from AMC

This episode of Mad Men “The Fog” brought the birth of the newest Draper, Eugene Scott, on June 21, 1963. Betty seemed to slip into a dream-like fog during her delivery, and we may have seen how her state of mind will unfold after the baby is born. Somehow, I sense that Betty will have issues with depression after the birth of the baby, as she seems mentally to be going off a cliff. Her true feelings about Don seemed to be coming out in her drug induced haze and delivery of the baby. But Peggy and Pete are far from being in a fog, both seemingly very clear as to what is going on in their work lives. Peggy senses that she has to stand up for herself if she wants to get what everyone else has. Pete, on the other hand, becomes more worried that he is being set up for failure.

The episode begins with Don (Jon Hamm) and Betty (January Jones) meeting with Sally’s teacher, Miss Farrell (Abigail Spencer). (By the way, Miss Farrell is the woman who, in the episode ”Love Among The Ruins” was dancing around the maypole with Sally and other children at a picnic, and where Don seems to have been lost in thought while watching her dance.) The Drapers were called there because it appears Sally has been acting out, and the behavior is not typical. When Miss Farrell asks if anything has changed at home, Betty tells her of her father’s death. This seems to have an effect on the teacher. When Betty excuses herself to go to the bathroom, Miss Farrell talks with Don and asks if Don can understand about Sally’s grief. He does. When Betty returns, she says she wants to put all of this behind her so when the new baby comes things can be perfect.

When Don gets back to work, he enters a meeting that Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) is having with the staff where he is scrutinizing expenses. When Don hears Pryce nickel and diming every expenditure, he gets up and leaves the meeting.

Kinsey (Michael Gladis ) is talking with Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) about the Admiral TV account, and Pete realizes that sales of the televisions are up in urban areas –“great jazz cities” as Kinsey calls them – and Pete realizes that it may mean more black people are buying them. Harry enters their session and agrees with the conclusion. Ken (Aaron Staton) comes in, bragging how well things are going for him and then leaves.

Later, Don is in his office and Pryce enters, continuing the discussion about expenses, but Don pushes back, saying that Pryce needs to loosen up if he wants the people to be able to do their jobs and for the firm to make money.

While Pete is working on the Admiral TV account, he gets a phone call from his Uncle Herman. It turns out to really be Duck Phillips (Mark Moses) inviting him to lunch, telling him it won’t be a waste of time.

When Don gets home, the phone is ringing and he answers it, and it’s Miss Farrell, who is apologizing for her pushing so hard at the meeting. She’s drinking while she is talking to Don. She tells him that her own father died when she was 8 years old and could relate to what Sally was going through. When Betty calls out for Don, he quickly terminates the call, telling Betty it was no one on the phone. It turns out, though, that it’s time for the baby to be born. Don seems momentarily rattled and mentions he needs to get his keys, and Betty calmly points out they are in his hand.

When they get to the hospital, the nurse tells Don his work is done, and sends him off to the solarium to wait. As Betty is being wheeled off, she sees a janitor mopping the floor that looks like her father, and calls out to him, perplexed. When Betty has trouble with the pen to fill out the form, the nurse helps her complete it, asking when she last ate and if her water broke Betty calmly gives her the information, and tells her that her water never breaks.

While Don is waiting, he strikes up a conversation with another man who is also waiting for his wife to deliver. Dennis Hobart (Matt Bushell) is upset with a nurse (Yeardley Smith – who is the voice of the animated Lisa Simpson, by the way) because he hasn’t gotten any information about his wife’s status. She tells him it is a breach and apologizes for him not being told. Hobart works at a prison, and he brought a bottle of (I think) Johnny Walker with him. He and Don share a few drinks while the pass the time. Don sees an ad in a magazine for a car and rips out the ad. Hobart later tells Don that all the people in prison blame their parents for how their lives turned out.

While Betty is being readied for delivery, she hears another woman screaming in childbirth, and Betty’s face gets a slight look of dread. Later. when she is being prepped with drugs and it seems painful for her, she gets more upset when she finds her regular doctor, Doctor Aldridge, won’t be available. He’s at an anniversary dinner with his wife at Mama Leone’s. (By the way, I ate there when I went to New York on a class trip in 1969.) Betty wants her own doctor, but she begins to drift off and dream or hallucinate. She is walking down a tree lined street – frankly the scene reminded me a lot of the old movies where someone walked on a treadmill being filmed in front of a filmed backdrop. A caterpillar drops in front of her and she catches it in her hand, than then seems to squish it. Later, Betty struggles with the nurse, saying she didn’t want this and comments about Don’s whereabouts, asking if she has been with him. They give her Demerol and she drifts off again.

The nurse tells Hobart his wife had a boy, and she is in recovery, having lost a lot of blood. Before he leaves, he tells Don that he knows Don is an honest guy. He also promises to be a better man, asking Don if he heard him. Don says he did.

Betty seems to be fighting the delivery and then sees herself walking in the hospital hallway, which turns into her home. She sees the janitor mopping the floor and sees that it is her father. He tells her he misses her, but that he had to go. She asks if she is dying, and he tells her to ask her mother. Betty’s mother Ruth (Lou Mulford) is at the kitchen table, a black man seated in front of her. She tells Betty to shut her mouth or she will catch a fly. Betty tells her she forgot her lunch pail. Her father, mopping the floor with blood, tells her she is a housecat, and that she is very important and has little to do. Her dream image slowly fades, and she wakes up in a hospital room with the baby, Don telling her it is a boy when Betty seems to think the baby is a girl. She calls the baby Gene, saying she wants to name him Eugene (after her father). Don tells her they don’t have to decide that now, but she calls the baby Gene.

When Don gets back to the office, it is filled with baby gifts. Roger (John Slattery) calls him and tells Don that it seems all work has stopped while he was gone, and tells Don that Betty had the baby, not Don. Don is miffed as he was only gone one half of a day.

Elsewhere, Pete arrives for his lunch with Duck and sees that Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) is also there. She says she did not know Pete was also invited. Duck tells him that he knows that they had something going between them, and then dangles the opportunity for new jobs to work at Grey Advertising, where Duck now works. Pete seems offended at the thought, but Peggy seems to be interested, much to Pete’s surprise. Pete leaves, and when Peggy make a move to leave as well, Duck tells her that she also is talented and she should strike while the iron is hot, adding that she's a freewheeling career gal with great ideas and that this is her time.

When Pete gets back to the office, he takes the chance to talk to Hollis (La Monde Byrd) , the black man who operates the elevator. Pete wants to know about Hollis’ choice for a television, but Hollis tells him black people have more to worry about now than just TV. When Hollis says he barely watches TV, Pete says that he doesn’t believe Hollis doesn’t watch baseball. Pete reminds Hollis that he is just doing his job by asking these questions.

Betty sees Don and the kids waving to her from the hospital sidewalk as she watches from her window, holding the baby. Later at night, Don is making a snack – it looks like corned beef hash with an egg – Sally (Kiernan Shipka), comes in and the share some food and some talk about eggs and chicks and chickens. Sally tells her that Miss Farrell says everything will be fine, and Don says then it must be true.

The next day when Don goes to get Betty, he passes Hobart and his wife in the hall, and he smiles at him, but Hobart looks back with only a slight smile, saying nothing.

At the meeting with the Admiral TV people, Pete and Kinsey pitch the idea of targeting the “Negro” market by placing ads in publications like Ebony and Jet, which cost far less and will give them more coverage. They suggest integrated ads, and one of the execs says that is illegal. Pete tell him it is not, but they aren’t happy with the proposal, saying it’s not worth having a conversation about it, saying maybe blacks are buying the TVs because they want what whites want.

Meanwhile, Peggy comes to Don’s office bearing her own baby gift, commenting that no one asked her to go in with the others. She talks to him about wanting equal pay for equal work, and that a law was passed to make sure that women are treated equally. But Don says the timing is bad, seeing that he has to fight with Pryce over paper clips. She tells him she only gets paid $71 more a week than her secretary, and Don implies they need to hire a cheaper secretary. But Peggy continues to push, saying that she does better work than Kinsey, and that this is not a good time for her, it costs a lot to live in Manhattan. He has everything – and so much of it - and she wants the same things that he wants and has. When he asks what she wants him to say, she coldly says that she doesn’t think she could be any clearer. When Pete sees her leaving Don’s office, he panics, thinking she told Don about their lunch with Duck. When she is evasive about what she said to Don, he gets ever more rattled, saying what she does affects him as well.

Later, Pete is reamed royally by Bert (Robert Morse) and Roger about the Admiral account as Admiral doesn’t want anything to do with the “Negro” market. But after Pete leaves the room, Pryce seems side with Pete, saying they should be looking at that market with someone, from someone not from the US he thinks there is potential.

When Betty and Don arrive home with the baby, Francine (Ann Dudek) is there to help. Apparently Carla has to leave to be with her family. Sally and Bobby (Jared S. Gilmore ) meet their new brother, Eugene Scott. Francine asks Betty how it went, and Betty said it was like a fog. Later, while everyone is asleep, the baby begins to cry, and Betty gets out of bed. She walks down the hall and stops, listening to the baby cry, and then she continues to walk as we fade to black.


I found this episode to be rather intense, with a look inside Betty’s state of mind. While she appears to be cold and stoic, inside she seems to be riddled with self-doubt about her marriage and carries a lot of baggage about her parents. Her catching the caterpillar – which usually turns into some sort of butterfly or moth – and then seeming to gasp far too tightly in her hand seems to indicate that somewhere along the line Betty feels that she can’t be what she wants to be. Or, it could mean that she wants to dish out to others what she felt was handed to her in life. Either way, there may have been more information about Betty in her dreams and hallucinations than we’ve seen from her in reality. Somehow, I don’t see things working out well for her as the season goes on.

In an indication of how times have changed, every time Pete or someone else used the word "Negro", I found myself cringe. It's important to remember that this term, while not acceptable now, was very commonly used then. I also found it interesting that while Peggy was fighting for equality, it seems that Hollis, the elevator operator, wants a piece of that life too. It will be interesting to see how this show portrays those issues as it moves ahead in the years.

Video Recap of Mad Ment “The Fog”


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Mad Men “The Arrangements”: Fractured Families

Sunday’s episode of Mad Men “The Arrangements” was centered on family issues. For Peggy, it was moving away from her family and into Manhattan. For Sal, it was continuing to keep his sexuality in the closet and away from his wife. For the Drapers, it meant a death in the family. For Don it also meant watching out for someone else’s family. It was a relatively benign episode on the surface, but I sense events here may have lasting effects on some of the main characters.

First, it’s Betty’s father Gene (Ryan Cutrona) who seems to be stirring the pot. He allows the underage Sally (Kiernan Shipka) to steer the car, while Gene keeps his foot on the gas. Sally seems to be enjoying the experience. He later bonds further with Sally over eating ice cream in the kitchen. With Betty (January Jones), Gene brings out his information on his final arrangements and wishes, much to Betty’s discomfort. She doesn’t really want to know about these things, calling his desire to push it on her as selfish and morbid. Gene later gets on Don’s (Jon Hamm) nerves as Gene is examining a box of his own keepsakes from the war, and hands Bobby (Jared S. Gilmore) a helmet from a Prussian soldier with a bullet hole in it that Gene claims to have made as he shot the soldier. It is somewhat sad to see that the helmet is very small and fits easily on Bobby’s small head, implying that Gene killed a soldier that was no more than a child. When Don tells Bobby to take it off and Gene tells him to leave it on, the conflicted Bobby seems frozen in what to do. Don solves the problem by taking the helmet off Bobby’s head and removing it from the room. It certainly seems that Gene senses that something is coming and he needs to be sure that he is not only remembered, but that Betty is prepared for his eventual death.

Meanwhile at work, Don seems to be having concerns that Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) has landed a big, gullible fish in Horace Cook Jr. (Aaron Stanford), who wants to go all out to promote Jai Alai. Pete knows that this guy is dumb enough to go for a costly campaign. Despite the fact that Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) seems happy with Pete, Don realizes that Horace’s father Horace Sr. (David Selby) has connections with Bert Cooper, and he suggests they confer with Horace Sr. before contracting with Horace for a sport and a cause that Don seems to (correctly) think that won’t amount to much. Horace Sr. isn’t happy with his son’s plans, saying they are “gibberish.” He indicated when they set aside the money for him for him when he was a child, they had no idea what kind of child he would be, but he basically gives them the go ahead to proceed to allow Horace Jr. to sign the contract. Don and Peter later have dinner with Horace Jr. who seems as pumped up as ever about his Jai Alai venture, saying that he has a dream if giving his father a gift of a Jai Alai team for his 75th birthday. Don reminds Horace Jr. that the fortune his father gave him was not just about money, it was about his future, and thinks Horace can do better. Pete blanches at this comment, but Horace Jr. thinks Don is just using a sales technique. Horace tells Don that if Jai Alai fails, it will be Sterling-Cooper’s fault.

The next day, with the contract signed, Don walks into the office that used to be Burt Peterson's and the guts are playing around with the Jai Alai equipment, and in doing so, Don breaks the glass in the ant farm. He quips that they should just bill the kid for it. Later, we see Joan spraying ant killer all over the area.

Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) is also looking to move to Manhattan and away from her mother and sister. She knows the news will not go over will with her mother. Peggy places an ad on the company bulletin board that only elicits a hoax call from one of the secretaries who was egged on by Kinsey (Michael Gladis ) and Ken (Aaron Staton ). Peggy feels humiliated and later removes the ad, and while doing so, Joan (Christina Hendricks) calls the ad “unfortunate” and adds it sounds like stage directions from an Ibsen play. Joan gives Peggy some tips on how to write and ad, and where to put it, in order to get a better response. I found it interesting that Peggy can write an ad for selling products, but can't seem to write an ad which is supposed to be selling herself. After an ad rewrite, Peggy quickly snags a roommate, Karen Erickson (Carla Gallo). I guess that there really wasn’t much to the vetting process in those days because Peggy seemed to take the first person that approached her. Peggy then sets the stage to tell her mother about her move, buying her mother a new console TV set to soften the blow. Peggy’s mother sees right through the attempt to buy her willingness to let Peggy go. Upset, she tells Peggy that she will get raped. When Peggy makes a move to kiss her mother, she turns away.

There is both good news and bad news for Sal (Bryan Batt). Don gives him the chance to direct the “Patio” commercial, based on the Ann-Margret “Bye Bye Birdie” theme. Sal is thrilled. But later that night, when Sal’s wife Kitty (Sarah Drew) comes into the bedroom with a new negligee and begins to make overtures to Sal, he rebuffs her. When she asks him what’s been wrong with him, he blames his preoccupation with his work and the “Patio” campaign. Sal proceeds to go through his own recreation of how the ad will look, and in doing so, paints a picture of a stereotypical gay man who seems all too comfortable performing a woman’s musical number. (I enjoyed it immensely.) Something in the look it Kitty’s eyes may indicate that she has come to the same conclusion about Sal.

Later, after the finished commercial is shown to the clients, Sal gets the bad news that the clients don’t like it. It’s exactly what they asked for, but they call it a failure. While Sal and Ken are dismayed, Peggy smirks with glee, seemingly trying to hold back saying “I told you so” to her colleagues. After the clients leave, it’s Roger (John Slattery) who states that the problem is that the woman in the commercial is not Ann-Margret.

While this is going on, Sally is outside the Draper home when a police car pulls up, and a police officer informs Betty that Gene is dead, having collapsed while standing in line at the A&P. Betty knees buckle, but she maintains her composure as the police officer enters the home to go over what they should do with Gene’s body. Sally, on the other hand, is rocked.

Back at the office, Sal comes in to see Don to accept whatever consequences Don will dish out for the failed Patio ad. But Don gets a call from Betty informing him about Gene, and Don tells her he will be right there. Before he leaves the office, he reassures Sal, telling him he is now a commercial director, and when Sal thinks Don is just saying this, Don says he’ll know when he hires him again. Sal is relieved.

Later, in the Draper’s kitchen, Don and Betty, Betty’s brother William (Eric Ladin) and his wife are at the kitchen table, with Sally listening as she sits under the dining room table. When the adults share a chuckle, Sally goes off the deep end and completely looses it, chastising the adults for laughing when Gene is dead and will never be coming back. Betty is intolerant of Sally’s feelings and dismisses her, telling her to go watch TV. Don looks at Sally with the “placate your mother” look, and Sally goes to watch the news. The news story she catches is the one of a Buddhist monk setting himself on fire in a protest, and Sally stares at it with a detached gaze. Later, Don gets out of bed, still fully clothed, covers Betty, and checks on Sally, before walking downstairs alone.

While this episode wasn’t one of their best, my opinion is that it will serve as a foundation for the development of much deeper stories. With Sally, she seems to be a child that is just waiting to boil over. With her stealing from her grandfather the week before and learning a hard lesson from it, now her beloved grandfather is dead, and she feels she is the only one who cares. We may be seeing a rebellious child being formed. Sal seems liberated, with his fears of being stuck as an animator being somewhat put to rest when he was given the chance to direct a commercial. He also may feel somewhat freed by the fact that although Don knows Sal is attracted to men, Don is still giving him a chance to grow in his job. Sal’s big problem now will be trying to keep his wife satisfied, if he even will want to. Peggy seems unwilling to be held hostage by her mother’s emotional blackmail, and seems to have her move to Manhattan rationalized. Peggy wants to be liberated from her family and grow as an individual, and seems even more intent on creating a new image for herself and break out of her uptight image. Is she just breaking out of one persona to jump into another one that she hasn’t completely thought through?

Along with her expanding girth from her pregnancy, Betty seems to be growing even colder and more distant. She wants to avoid any discussion of her father’s death, and now that it has happened, she seems to not be showing any outward emotion about the issue. Betty is the complete opposite of Sally, with Sally erupting like a geyser and with Betty becoming more like a glacier every week.

Don appears to be developing more of a conscience, which is not something that is welcome in his industry. Still, Don gets his point across about the agency suckering in Horace Jr. for an expensive campaign for an idea that they all seem to agree is folly. They still go ahead with it, but at least Don can say that he raised the red flags. Of course, Jai Alai never became a very hot sport in the United States, so we all know that Horace Jr. is in for a fall. The question is, how much will he be able to get away with by blaming Sterling Cooper? We can only stay tuned to find out.



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The New Fall TV Season: What I’ll Be Watching, Avoiding

It’s getting close to the start of the new fall season, so I thought I was a good time to list what network shows I will be covering. There are plenty of returning favorites, and as a result, I’m being relatively picky on what I add to my already busy viewing schedule.

Here is my list of what I’ll be watching this season:

Returning Shows
Bones
CSI (CBS)
CSI – NY (CBS)
CSI – Miami (CBS)
Fringe (Fox)
Heroes (NBC)
House (Fox)
Law & Order (NBC)
Law & Order SVU (NBC)
Lie to Me (Fox)
The Mentalist (CBS)
NCIS (CBS)
Numb3rs (CBS)
Southland (NBC)


New shows
NCIS Los Angeles (CBS)
FlashForward (ABC)




I may watch
The Good Wife (CBS)
Trauma (NBC)

I Think I’ll Pass (a partial list)
The Jay Leno Show (NBC)
Mercy (NBC)
Three Rivers (CBS)


I’ll be selecting a few shows from this list each week where I will provide reviews of new episodes. Of course, I plan on continuing to provide full recaps and reviews of all the new episodes of Law & Order and Law & Order SVU on my blog All Things Law And Order.

I am adding “NCIS Los Angeles” to the list because the original recipe NCIS has been an enjoyable show and I hope that this new spawn will follow suit. “FlashForward” sounds interesting, and I always like a show that poses a complex mystery. Hopefully, it won’t get too mired in the mystery as “Lost” did, which seemed to get too complicated for its own good.

As you can see, reality shows and comedies are absent from my list; I’ve never been a big fan of either genre. I will be giving “The Good Wife” and “Trauma” a look, but will cut them loose quick if they don’t grab me right away.

I won’t be watching “Three Rivers” for the simple reason is that it is set in Pittsburgh, a city to which any respecting Clevelander is allergic. The ads for NBC's nurse drama "Mercy" completely turned me off. I also have no plans on watching Jay Leno’s new show, unless I hear wonderful things about it, or I am bored to death and desperate to watch something (don't expect that to happen). As I was never compelled to watch Leno when he was on the Tonight Show, there really isn’t much to motivate me to tune in at 10:00 PM to watch him, much less watch him every night. Considering the fact that there seems to be a decent number of other things to watch at 10:00 PM, Jay may simply be a casualty of a lack of time on my part to watch.

It looks like a great season and I’m looking forward to being glued to the TV!

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Mad Men “My Old Kentucky Home” Party Time!

Mad Men “My Old Kentucky Home” was a mixed bag of events, with three parties of differing kinds, plus one child stealing from her grandfather.

First things first – Sally Draper (Kiernan Shipka) steals $5 from her grandfather when he’s not in the room. Despite the fact that Gene’s (Ryan Cutrona) mind is becoming more scattered, he misses the money right away and get annoyed with Don (Jon Hamm) when Don tries to fix the problem by handing him $5 of his own. Carla (Deborah Lacey), the housekeeper, feels like Gene will accuse her, so she tears apart his room to look for the money. Eventually Sally sees the problem that she has created and finds a way to return the money by throwing it on the kitchen floor when no on is looking and pretends to “find” it. Gene seems to have forgiven her when he allows Sally to go back to reading him a book – which is where they started before Sally took the money. Somehow I think that Sally, who if I recall last season too a few sips of one of her parent’s drinks when they weren’t looking, is going to be a problem child for the Drapers as she grows up. At least it is good to see that in this case, she saw the repercussions from her actions and decided to make it right.

As far as the three parties going on, one was formal, one was informal, and one was a “pot” party in the office. Joan (Christina Hendricks) and her husband are having a dinner at home with her husband’s boss, the chief of surgery. Don and Betty (January Jones), Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) and Trudy (Alison Brie), Harry (Rich Sommer) and Jennifer, and Ken (Aaron Staton) are going to a posh outdoor party hosted by Jane (Peyton List) and Roger Sterling (John Slattery). And Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), Kinsey (Michael Gladis ) and Smitty get stuck working at the office over the weekend on a new campaign for Bacardi that is needed first thing in the week. Their creative block turns into a pot party.

For Joan’s party, she and her husband Greg (Sam Page) want everything to be right, but for different reasons. Greg wants to be deferential to his boss, Joan wants to maintain etiquette rules. They find a compromise and the dinner party goes on. But Joan seems uncomfortable when the wife of the chief of surgery tells her not to get pregnant, and tells her how hard things were for her and her husband when they started out. She also seems to be slightly embarrassed that Greg has asked her to play the accordion for them, but she bounces back just fine, performing a number in French. It seems Joan has made a very positive impression for Greg. Somehow, I feel that Joan will soon get tired of being the perfect wife doing all the perfect things only for the benefit of her (creepy) husband.

At Sterling Cooper, Peggy, Kinsey and Smitty (Patrick Cavanaugh) are trying to come up with new ideas for the Bacardi ads. They’re miffed that they have to work the weekend (Peggy moaning that the accounts people “hate creative”). Peggy’s new secretary Olive (Judy Kain), who is an older and seemingly very stable woman, seems to be protective of Peggy and stays in the office as long as Peggy is there. But when Peggy leaves Kinsey's office Kinsey decides to contact an old friend who deals drugs in order to get some pot. The dealer, Jeffrey Graves (Miles Fisher) arrives with a whole assorted bag of tricks, but they stick with the pot. Smitty uses Kinsey’s sweater to block the bottom of the door so the smell won’t escape. Later, when Peggy makes a move to go back into Kinsey’s office, Olive stops her, as she knows exactly what is going on in there. But Peggy goes in anyway, and shocks the rest of them when she decides to join them in the fun. Jeffrey seems rather taken with her. As Kinsey becomes more morose and Smitty more useless, Peggy is enlightened by being high and comes up with the beginnings of a great ad scenario. She goes back to her office, knowing she is high, to continue to work. Olive seems displeased that Peggy joined in, but Peggy reassures her there is nothing to worry about, and asks Olive to set up her Dictaphone, planning to go to work while her creative mind was turned up on full. In fact, she tells Olive “I’m in a very good place right now.” I wonder if Peggy will make any further connection with Jeffrey or him with her, and if drug use will become a requirement for Peggy in the future in order to get the creative ideas flowing. In fact, as Peggy tries to be respected at one of the boys, she mistakenly thinks she has to do everything they do in order to belong, and in a way, she is loosing herself. I am a little disappointed that Peggy seems to falling into a trap that she has to be like them in order to succeed.

The outdoor derby day party at the country club hosted by Roger and Jane seem to look like a good time. Betty feels that her dress makes her look like an umbrella, as she is so far along in her pregnancy. She is surprised when, while she waits for her friend to leave the ladies room that a man approaches her and seems to be taken by her pregnant beauty. He asks to put her hand on her belly, admitting it is the martinis taking. She finds out later that this man is Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley) and he works in the governor’s office. Also at the party, Pete and Trudy perform the Charleston, and Roger performs “My Old Kentucky Home” in blackface for Jane. Don goes off and bonds with a lonely bartender and makes his own drink with the liquor that is available. Later, when Jane seems loopy and falls while trying to get some food, Don and Betty realize she is drunk. When Jane makes a comment about Don and Betty getting back together, Betty gets ruffled and walks off, and Jane, seated, grabs at Don who is standing next to her chair. Roger sees this and wonders what is going on. Don tells him that Jane is drunk, and Roger thinks that Don is just jealous that he is happy, but Don knows that what Roger has is not happiness. Later, Don finds Betty standing alone in an open area, and they share a kiss. I wonder, though, was Betty thinking about the slight thrill she seemed to get by another man finding her attractive, even when she was pregnant? Was Don kissing her because he feels they can have more than what Roger and Jane have, or was there something else going on in his mind?

After watching this episode, while I have concerns about Sally, I think her experience with stealing ad how it affected her grandfather may have had a more lasting positive effect on her. I can’t say the same for Peggy, who seems to be falling into the same traps as her coworkers whom she often looks down upon. Jane, who at the beginning of the show seemed to condescend to Joan, seems to be having trouble coping with her new life with Roger, and clueless Roger thinks everything couldn’t be better. Betty and Don seem to be on better footing, although I sense once the baby is born, Betty will become even more depressive and Don may be forced away again. It’s very interesting and complex drama that keeps me coming back for more!



Inside Look Mad Men “My Old Kentucky Home”




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The Closer “Waivers of Extradition” A Good Close To Summer

Billed as the “summer” season finale (the series starts back up in December), ”The Closer” episode “Waivers of Extradition” brought a serial killer to the attention of Major Crimes. It also looks like it (thankfully) takes Brenda’s (Kyra Sedgwick) niece “Charlie” (Sosie Bacon) out of the mix.

The gruesome stabbing death of a woman gets major crimes involved. It appears that her husband heard her screams, and saw what looked like a Ninja, dressed all in black, fleeing the scene. Brenda’s team is skeptical. Focusing on the woman’s husband, they soon back off of interrogating him when another witness comes forward who also claims to have seen someone dressed in all black in the area of the murder – and they also got information about a car the suspect was driving.

Tracking down this car points Brenda and her team to Texas where the car was purchased. When El Paso Detective Curt Landry (Xander Berkeley) gets the call from Brenda, he seems to already know some details of the case, and rather than tell Brenda what he knows over the phone, he hops on a plane and flies up to LA. Apparently Landry is all too familiar with this murderer’s MO and multiple killings and wants to track this serial killer down so he can extradite him back to Texas to face the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Brenda’s father Clay (Barry Corbin) has returned to Brenda’s home in order to bring Charlie back home to Georgia. The problem is, Charlie doesn’t want to go back home, and Fritz (Job Tenney) and Brenda don’t want her to stay. Personally, her presence is a distraction to the show so while I watch the episode I am hoping Brenda doesn’t cave in and let her stay.

Landry feeds Brenda just enough information about what he knows to help her a bit, and, after meeting with Chief Pope (J.K. Simmons) agree that whoever had the better case can get the killer to prosecute. Brenda, of course, seems to want to keep the upper hand so she can claim she has the best case. What she doesn’t know is Landry is holding back. But the team’s collective work – along with help from Fritz (yes, he actually did some FBI work in this episode) - helps to focus the team on someone who is transporting cars via a car carrier, and using some of those cars in the commission of the murders. The track one of the cars in question via LoJack to a rest stop. When Sergeant Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) and Detective Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) catch up with the car carrier the driver is nowhere to be found. Rather than wait for the driver to show themselves, they decide to go into the rest stop store and see if they can find him. The problem is, he’s now in the truck and starting to drive away. (Dumb move on the detectives' part, I say.) Sanchez decides to try to get the driver to stop and grabs hold of the passenger side door of the truck cab, and as the drive barrels down the road in his loaded car carrier, Sanchez battles for control. In the process, the driver breaks Sanchez’s arm with a baseball bat. Sanchez hangs tough and gets the truck to stop after it storms through a construction zone (they don’t have fruit or flower stands out on the open road so a construction zone will just have to do.) Landry notices some scratches on the suspect’s neck, but says nothing.

Back at Major Crimes, Brenda and her team still look for the proverbial “smoking gun” in order to connect this suspect to all the murders. They find a bag of items in his truck that Brenda suspects are trophies from his killings. But Landry reveals his ace in the hole – one of the crimes in Texas netted him some DNA (from the scratches on his neck). Brenda knows that having the DNA will trump anything she has – unless she gets a confession. Brenda deftly finds a way to get the suspect to waive his rights – criminals can be so dumb – and dangles the prospect of the death penalty if she releases him to Texas as incentive to talk to her. Of course, he waives his rights and takes the contents of his trophy bag and maps out to Brenda where he picked up every item.

Landry knows that the confession of all the murders will trump his DNA, and tells Brenda that she can have him. But he hands her his file of all the pictures of the victims that he had compiled, and when Brenda looks at all of them, changes her mind and decides to have the killer released to Texas where they will bring him to justice in their way. Landry is happy and indicates this is exactly why he handed those pictures to Brenda. In a way, he worked Brenda just as well as Brenda worked the suspect.

Back at home, Clay wants to get going to return to Georgia and he wants Brenda to decide about Charlie. We know what Fritz wants – he wants Charlie to go home – and Brenda decides to have a chat alone with Charlie in her room. She helps Charlie to come to grips with the decision that she has to go home and give her parents a second chance. Let’s hope that she doesn’t return in December.

This episode certainly had plenty of action and drama. Xander Berkeley was a good choice for Detective Landry and frankly I was glad when Brenda caved and let Landry take the killer back to Texas. Sometimes I think Brenda’s desire to win is overpowering and it was an interesting twist to have her know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em in this case. It was also a nice change for Fritz to actually be doing some work for the team in his FBI capacity and not just be window dressing for the show in the form of kitty sitter and “kiddie” sitter. Hopefully in the season starting back up in December they will give Fritz more credible scenarios.

The confession of the serial killing, in my opinion, was a little too easy to be realistic. Sure, criminals aren’t necessarily the brightest people, but I would think that someone who has such an elaborate scheme to cover his tracks would have known to wait for his lawyer. Not that I plan on being arrested for anything, but I have already come to the conclusion that if that ever does happen, my only words will be “I want a lawyer.” As I mentioned earlier, I think this show will be better if Charlie does not return to the show, no offense to Sosie Bacon, the real life daughter of Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon (who also directed this episode). It is always a good break for the crime portion of the show to see into Brenda’s personal life, but having kids around sometimes breaks the mood a little too much. And I can only beg again for the series to give Jon Tenney a little more serious work with the show rather than being treated like a househusband.

Still, it was a satisfying finale to the summer and I look forward to Brenda’s return in December. Also, the best of luck to Kyra in her quest for this year’s Emmy Award, as she certainly deserves it.


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Mad Men “Love Among the Ruins” Little Love, Lots of Ruins

This episode of Mad Men, “Love Among the Ruins” opens with a clip from that campy 1963 movie, “Bye Bye Birdie” with Ann-Margret’s singing the opening theme song. Personally, that movie has many great memories for me; my grandmother took my sisters and me to see it in one of the big movie theaters in downtown Cleveland when the film opened, and it represents some of the happiest times for our family.

But for the people at Sterling Cooper, it means a look or a feeling that they want for the ad campaign for “Patio”, the new diet drink from Pepsi. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) seems to be struggling with how woman are represented and how the product is being sold to women, and she lets it show repeatedly. When Don sees the clip of Ann-Margret from the movie, it’s clear that Don is responding to the performance in the same manner as the rest of the guys. When Peggy begins to air her concerns to him, he tells her bluntly that men want Ann-Margret, and women want to be her. "You're not an artist, Peggy. You solve problems. Leave some tools in your toolbox." Peggy seems to struggle with wanting to be respected as one of the guys, yet in the privacy of her own apartment, she mimics Ann’s Bye Bye Birdie number while looking in the mirror. Later, she tries, somewhat uncomfortably at first, to fit in to the bar scene. She manages to pick up a college guy and they head to his place. Things almost grind to a halt when Peggy asks if her one night stand has a Trojan, and when he doesn’t, she suggests other things they can do. Later, she tries unsuccessfully to slip unnoticed out of his apartment. The next day, she acts like nothing has happened as she approaches Don about the Pampers account. Peggy wants to be respected for he mind, but she also wants to be a subject of men’s desire. Was her trip to the bar from a need to be desired or is she just trying to get into the heads of men to try to understand it more for her job? I sense that we are seeing the birth of a feminist.

Betty Draper (January Jones) is as big as a house. In fact, Joan (Christina Hendricks) says to Betty “Other than Wilma Flintstone, I've never seen a woman carry so well.” This doesn’t seem to make the cranky Better feel much better. In addition to the pressures of her pregnancy, there are also family problems as Betty is faced the fact that Gene, her father, is becoming somewhat senile. She perceives that her brother William is looking for any excuse to get hold of his father’s home. But despite the fact that we find that Betty’s relationship with her father had been less than stellar in the past, it’s Betty who seems to want to do the right thing for him. I found this segment of the episode rather dull. I was glad when Don (Jon Hamm) stepped in and forced William into pushing the solution of having Betty’s father move in with the Drapers and making sure that Gene's home is not sold. Don shows his dislike of William by making him leave Gene’s car at the Draper's and forcing William and his family to take the train home. Later, Don and Betty realize what they bought into when they find Gene rattling around the kitchen, pouring all the liquor into the sink, thinking back to the prohibition years and in his state of mind, thinking that a raid is coming. At a later date, Don, Betty, their kids, and Gene are at a gathering where a maypole dance is being performed, and as Don watches a young, barefoot woman dance with the children, he reaches down and runs his fingers through the grass. I am not sure if Don is wishing to be back to those carefree years where he had no worries, or if he was attracted to the woman, or both.

Problems arise for Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) while trying to land the Madison Square Garden account when Paul Kinsey (Michael Gladis) seems to be siding against the MSG people as he voices his opposition to the demolition of Penn Station. The MSG people aren’t pleased and Pete also chides Paul for his comments. Later, Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) wants Don, along with Roger, to break bread with an MSG man, Edgar, in order to try to patch things up. Don tells Edgar that if he doesn’t like the negative comments that are out there in the press, he should change the conversation. When Edgar’s curiosity is piqued and he asks Don just what is the conversation, Don knows he has Edgar roped back in. Also, Don and Betty have dinner with Pryce and his wife Rebecca (Embeth Davidtz), and while Rebecca seems nice enough, she comes off as a little aloof and this seems to but Betty off.

But later, Pryce tells Don that the headquarters of parent company PP&L want them to drop any further work with MSG as they see it as being too big of a cost outlay and administrative hairball in the long run. Don is incredulous, and tells Pryce that they are throwing away an opportunity that would cover many shapes and forms over many years. When he asks Pryce why the company bought Sterling Cooper, Pryce answers that he doesn’t know. By the way, the real public outrage over the destruction of the original landmark building was the driving force behind the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Paul may have been on the right track but landed at the wrong station, so to speak. Who knows, maybe Paul had something to do with it.

Roger Sterling (John Slattery), by his own admission, has made his bed and now has to lie in it. His divorce from his wife Mona (Talia Balsam) and his remarriage to Jane has left it icy with their daughter Margaret. When Mona and Margaret, and then later the fiance Brooks Hargrove come to the office to go over wedding plans, the sniping begins. Roger tries to outwardly not be bothered by it. When he puts his blessing on the wedding invitation, we see the wedding date of November 23, 1963 – what we now know is the day after the assassination of President John Kennedy. Yes, I would say that there are going to be problems. Later, in the elevator with Peggy and then with Don while waiting for Edgar from MSG, Roger moans about not being wanted at his daughter’s wedding, and the toxic relationship he seems to now have with his ex-wife. It seems to me that there may be little love in the ruins of Roger’s life. While Roger seems to have twinges of regret, he still behaves as an ego-centric person who lives life for his own gratification. Roger seems to think that his choices should have no impact on everyone else’s life, and now he is seeing the harsh reality.

It seems that every character in this show has learned to survive in some shape or form. For Peggy, it’s almost as if she has a secret life outside the office, and in the office she tries to keep everything completely professional. Roger survives by drinking. Don survives by making decisions and then living with the consequences, but still seemingly wanting a life without all the responsibilities. But Roger’s daughter’s wedding date brings an ominous tone to what is to come – and I sense a true survival test will be coming with it.

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