'Nurse Jackie' Trailer Makes Me Realize How Off-Track 'Grey's' Has Gone

While watching the season two trailer for Showtime's Nurse Jackie, I kept thinking that, aside from the fact that Edie Falco kicks butt in this series, Nurse Jackie shares a whole lot of DNA with Grey's Anatomy, which, while it used to be one of my weekly guilty pleasures, has been in a creative rut. Some might argue that it's been that way for quite a while.

When Grey's first premiered in 2005, it was edgy for a network TV program. It featured characters whose moral centers sometimes couldn't be located even if they had both a flashlight and a compass in each hand. It raised provocative questions and didn't always answer them. Its leading character, Meredith Grey, was polarizing (though I always liked her) as a self-doubting, self-loathing and smart surgical intern who had serious mommy and daddy abandonment issues. Grey's constellation of characters worked insanely intense hours and, while they were (mostly) great at their jobs, in their personal lives they were almost always in a state of free-fall as marriages failed left and right. Made for great TV for a while.

Then things kind of caved in on themselves. I can't pinpoint exactly when it started. For some people, it was the hugely over-hyped, three-part ferry boat crash storyline where Meredith almost drowned in what was believed to have been a half-hearted suicide attempt, along with the "Is-or-isn't-she-dead" episode entitled, "Some Kind of Miracle" where Meredith consulted with the ghosts of Denny Duquette and Dylan -- (Friday Night Lights' Coach Taylor) otherwise known as the bomb squad guy whose remains coated her after he exploded along with the bomb in season two -- about whether she should continue living.

For others it was the two-headed monster known simply as "Gizzie," the combination formed after George and Izzie hooked up in season four. Some said that the moment Izzie began having sex with Denny's ghost in season five (for a dead guy, he sure got around), that was it, they were outta there.

I was co-hosting a podcast with Erin Kane (one of the two Manic Mommies) this week and Erin, once a huge Grey's fan, said she's given up on the show we used to gab on and on about. Same goes for one of my best college buddies with whom I used to vigorously debate whether McDreamy was a callous, selfish user.

So Long Sal

Not only did Sal Romano (Bryan Batt) get fired from Sterling Cooper about midway through Mad Men's third season because he rebuffed the sexual advances of one of the agency's biggest clients, but he's also not going to be asked to join the up-from-the-ashes, hotel room-based Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce either, it was reported this week.

According to TV Guide, Sal's character won't be showing his handsome mug on Mad Men in its fourth season. Show creator/runner Matthew Weiner told TV Guide:

“We don’t murder people on our show, but for there to be any stakes, there have to be consequences . . . [Losing Batt as a cast member] was a tough moment for the show, but that’s where we are. I know how people felt about Bryan. I obviously love working with him, and he has been an indelible character since the pilot. But I felt it was an expression of the times that he couldn’t work there anymore. It’s the ultimate case of sexual harassment."

In honor of good old Sal, I've listed my top three favorite Sal moments:

3. Season one, "The Hobo Code:" Sal went out for drinks and thoroughly enjoyed scintillating conversation with the male rep for the Belle Jolie account, who was clearly attracted to the sophisticated, urbane Sal. However when the rep asked Sal if he wanted to see the view of the city from his hotel room, Sal gently declined, largely out of fear. Earlier in that episode, Sterling Cooper had been pitching Belle Jolie this ad campaign motto, "Mark your man."

2. Season three premiere episode, "Out of Town:" After Sal was spotted by Don Draper with a partially undressed bellhop in his hotel room, Don and Sal later had a thinly veiled conversation about limiting one's "exposure." (Ironic, given that when Don saw Sal and the bellhop, he himself was dashing down a fire escape with a partially dressed female airline attendant, which was considered okay, apparently.) The two men, who were hiding huge secrets about themselves, had more in common than even Sal realized at the time.

1. Season two, "The Gold Violin:" Sure, it may have looked as though a charming, loving couple was simply entertaining their bachelor friend and filling his belly with a scrumptious homemade meal. However the life of this little dinner party really came not from the couple but from the delightful intellectual, creative banter between Sal and the surprisingly insightful Ken Cosgrove about Ken's unpublished manuscript which he trusted Sal to read. Between that meal and Sal's post-dinner coveting of Ken's lighter that Ken accidentally left behind -- as Sal ignored his suffering, virtually invisible wife Kitty -- it all seemed poignant and sad for everyone, except for Ken who didn't really know what was going on. Sal made a real connection intellectually, but knew he couldn't take it any further than that.

Honorable mention: Sal doing his rendition of Bye Bye Birdie in his bedroom in the third season's "The Arrangements" after taking a pass on fooling around with Kitty.

What do you think of the fact that we won't be seeing Sal on Mad Men?

Image credit: AMC.

A Few Questions About '24's' Eighth Day

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the recent episode of 24*

I'm willing to suspend all manner of belief for the sake of enjoying a creative product (it's kind of necessary when you're a fan of Lost), but I had a bit of trouble doing so with the recent fifth hour of Jack Bauer's eighth bad day, where Jack, disappointingly, spent most of that hour sitting in a car while Renee "I'm just getting started" Walker did all of the legwork. Kind of unusual for our favorite, butt-kicking super-agent granddad, don't ya think?

Anyway, onto my questions about this season's 24 (in no particular order):

Am I sensing a trend here . . . that when a character on 24 wants to go someplace -- even though this season is set in New York City -- that it only takes 10 minutes to get anywhere? In Manhattan? It took President Omar Hassan (of the "Islamic Republic of Kamistan," otherwise known as Iran) "10 minutes" to go from CTU to the UN (seemed like less than that). It took Sark, wait, I mean the blonde son of the Russian mobster guy whose younger son has radiation poisoning, mere minutes to haul his brother to a doctor's office after fleeing the Russian mobster's lair. And it seemed like a breeze for Dana/Jenny Walsh to go from CTU to her apartment so she could be extorted/threatened by her former boyfriend. Can it really be that easy to get around Manhattan these days, particularly after there was an assassination attempt on a foreign leader and the U.S. president is in town? Maybe there are secret CTU-only tunnels under New York City that we're not aware of. That must be it.

As a faithful 24 viewer, I'm finding it hard to buy into the notion that Renee, who was a by-the-books FBI gal last season, had previously worked undercover with a ruthless Russian crime syndicate and now -- post-nervious breakdown -- seems to have no problems with severing a guy's thumb. Maybe she and Jack should have a "Who Can Torture a Suspect Better" contest. She'd probably win, even though Jack did sink a fire axe into a guy's chest a few hours ago.

Another eyebrow-raising moment: Given the fact that Chloe O'Brian was able to track down the name of some random, crooked Mexican politician who runs a particular hotel in less than a minute, it seems, what's the word, uh, insane to assert that CTU never figured out that they've employed a former convict as a data analyst . . . unless, of course, they do as good a job of vetting potential hires as the real TSA does in stopping a guy with a one-way ticket to Detroit who had no luggage, whose dad warned government officials that he'd become radicalized and hid a bomb in their underpants.

Ah, but what's 24 without its zany moments and Chloe's snarl to lighten the mood?
In the meantime, Fox is demonstrating that it has a sense of humor about its super-serious terrorism drama. Mirroring a move ABC made with super-serious Lost, they've started posting humorous recap videos. The 24 version uses a cartoon narrator who makes quirky observations as he tells us what's happened on the recent episode. Mildly amusing. I like the Lost: Untangled videos with the action figures better.



Image credit: Fox.

Did Ya See 'Big Love'? Seriously . . .

* Warning . . . really big spoilers from the recent episode of Big Love ahead*

Ep. 37: Strange Bedfellows - Recap

That ending with Margene and Ben, her kissing him at the TV studio, the live TV camera shot of his stunned face as he was announced as "Mr. Margene Heffman." Well, in the words of the Henricksons, "Holy cow!" or, perhaps I'll invoke another one of their favorite exclamations, "Good night!"

After last season's declaration of Ben's love and desire for his step-mom Margene -- which she rebuffed out of hand during that family road trip from hell -- I thought that would be the end of the whole Ben-Margie flirtation. There was a bit of the flirtation way back in season one, when the two of them had a water fight in the pool and with the hose and Ben was staying over at her house and hanging around a lot. That all ended when Barb intervened and told Margie that Margie's behavior was inappropriate.

In the meantime, I've been waiting for Margie to act out in some fashion given that she has no friends, her two sister-wives are too preoccupied with other things and her husband's busy chasing down people to support his State Senate campaign. She has no one to talk to and was vulnerable. Remember the depression that plagued her at the end of last season after her mother died? That didn't just evaporate. And here she is, enjoying the most financial and career success of her life, and she's got no one to support her, cheer her on and say, "You go girl!"

Couple that with the fact that when she was physically threatened by Nicki's ex-husband J.J. -- when he pushed her aside and behaved menacingly -- it wasn't her husband or her sister-wives who rallied by her side, it was Ben who put himself between J.J. and Margie, and you've got a recipe for all sorts of drama.

Looking at those factors, it isn't totally shocking that this happened, that Margie stepped over that line as she reached out for an emotional connection with someone (and he happened to be there), although the way in which it happened, in public and with a TV camera, was jaw-dropping.

HBO hosts Margene's blog on its show's web site and on it the character said, in a post entitled, "I Messed Up. . .:"

"This all looks SO bad, I have to find a way to get them to understand the situation beyond the basic facts. The basic facts will make people's toes curl, mine included. But I promise it's not as world-ending as it sounds. It doesn't have to be, at least."

What did you think of the Margene/Ben twist on Big Love?

Politics, Tough on Families in Real Life and on TV

While politics dominated the national news last week in the wake of the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race -- and now the victor's family is experiencing the tabloidish spotlight, even as the candidate's TV journalist spouse intentionally and purposefully sought to keep her distance from her husband's campaign with the exception of appearing with him on election night -- I devoted my Pop Culture and Politics column this week to TV dramas which are delving into the political arena and dramatizing the impact of running for office on a family with kids.

I looked at The Good Wife and how Julianna Margulies' character's family has been ravaged by the political enemies made by her incarcerated, unfaithful politician of a husband.

On Brothers & Sisters, Kitty Walker, former TV talking head and a new mom whose cancer recently went into remission, is thinking of running for either Congress or her husband's U.S. Senate seat, which he's just announced he's not running for again.

As for Big Love, polygamist Bill Henrickson -- who's got three wives and ties to a polygamist compound -- thinks he can hide two of his wives (and their six kids) until he wins a State Senate campaign. This week, he spent the whole episode running around Washington, D.C. trying to meet with a Utah congressman in order to secure his endorsement, getting blown off by a powerful lobbyist (whom he ticked off by assuming that she was a secretary) and then crashed a fundraiser in order to get a word in with the congressman. Then his second wife, who accompanied him on his D.C. trip, got briefly detained by authorities because she was carrying a gun in her purse. Oh, and his wife's daughter (not his) was still wearing distinctly out-of-place polygamist compound-wear. Yeah, politics are going to be a piece of cake for the Henrickson family.

Image credit: CBS.

Notes on Politics: Putting Olbermann in His Place with Mockery

Two Jon Stewart videos in one week . . . unheard of for this web site. But when there's so much news, particularly of the political type, Stewart generally comes through. I can only hope Saturday Night Live is half as good this weekend. This week has been so packed with great political material, SNL HAS to be good, right?

Anyway, back to Stewart . . . earlier this week, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann launched a vicious verbal attack against GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown. When people complained, he came back the next night and added more fuel to the fire. Last night, Stewart ripped into Olbermann:



While I liked Stewart's bit, I still think that Ben Affleck's SNL parody was better:

Seeing the Whole Picture: 'Lost's' First Plane Crash Video

An enterprising Lost fan, exercising great precision, synchronized the events just prior, during and after the crash of the original Oceanic 815 flight carrying the original Lost characters. From showing what was happening with "The Others" (Juliet Burke and the book club which explicitly didn't include Ben Linus) and with Desmond and the Hatch and the angry button, to the crash as experienced by Jack & Co. and the Tailies, it provided a larger perspective.

Made me anxious to start counting down until Feb. 2, the beginning of the end.

Notes on Politics: Mass. Senate Election Ends Obama's Freshman Year with a Whimper

I don't totally buy into the notion that a major reason Republican Scott Brown beat Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race was because Bay State voters are ticked off at President Barack Obama. Other than Brown's declaration that he doesn't like the current health care reform legislation -- being negotiated in secret as pricey goodies are doled out -- and wants to start fresh with a new reform bill, I think this Senate race was about Massachusetts politics more than it was about the president, but the president's going to pay the price, perception-wise.

With a state mired in political scandal after political scandal, Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi said if Coakley lost, Democrats could point fingers at their own performance in the State House. Look at what's happened in Massachusetts state government in the past few years: Democratic House speakers have resigned their post in disgrace including one who's facing federal corruption charges and another who was stripped of his law license last week after he'd pleading guilty to obstruction of justice charges, a Democratic state legislator is awaiting trial on charges that she allegedly stuffed bribe money into a bra and the first-term Democratic governor has an anemic 39 percent approval rating. Vennochi wrote:

"The epic battle between Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Martha Coakley is drawing national attention as a referendum on President Obama. But Brown is also tapping into that special brand of anger that helps Republicans beat Democrats in otherwise solidly blue Massachusetts.

When the party in power gets too arrogant -- as often, it does -- the people get mad. Over the past two decades, they sent their message by electing three successive Republican governors."

However when President Obama made a last-minute trip to Boston on Sunday to try to revive the Coakley campaign, he unwisely injected himself into the Senate race. The Brown victory will now add to the perception that Obama is not only weakening, as he suffers from plunging approval numbers nationwide -- went from a high of 61 percent to the current 47, according to the Chicago Tribune -- but is also being dissed by one of the bluest state's in the country, one that gave him a 26-point margin of victory in 2008.

While watching MSNBC's review of Obama's freshman year on Morning Joe, it's clear that what started off on such a triumphant and positive note on a cold inauguration day in Washington, D.C. in 2009 has gone downhill quickly for the president. Hopefully year two will prove to be a better one.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

CBS has a comprehensive, number-crunching summary of Obama's first year including how many foreign trips he made, how many bills signed, pardons issued and rounds of golf.

Notes on Politics: 'Game Change' Caricatures the Women in the 2008 Presidential Election

While the nation's political chattering classes are busy buzzing about Republican Scott Brown's "epic upset" (I've seen this phrase in many news stories) over Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race to fill the remaining term of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, it's worth taking a step back from the day's news (and the woefully inept Coakley campaign which blew a substantial lead and had once been considered a lock) and looking at how women in and around national politics are treated by the media.

I spent the bulk of last week plowing through the lengthy and riveting expose of the 2008 presidential election, the best selling Game Change, written by two journalists who declined to reveal who they interviewed for their book and who gave them what pieces of information. (That, to me, is problematic from a journalism ethics point of view, but that's grist for another rant on another day.) When I was done reading the book, I was so steamed about how the women were treated that I dedicated my Pop Culture and Politics column to it. With the exception of Michelle Obama, the female spouses of the candidates and the two female candidates -- Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin -- were described in an abysmal, sexist fashion. One had her reactions to bad news stories about her family labeled "hysterical" and another was dismissed as being a "beauty queen" who "flounced" back home after a disagreement with her husband, that's when she wasn't said to be weeping. One woman was depicted as having "hissy fits" and "conniptions," while another was maligned (guess which woman) as "Napoleon in a navy pantsuit and gumball-sized fake pearls."

Adding to my irritation were the cartoonish illustrations which accompanied a Game Change excerpt published in New York Magazine which portrayed Elizabeth Edwards as a monster (in one image, one of her hands was curled up so that her fingers looked like claws as spit came out her mouth), John Edwards' mistress was a smitten flirt and John Edwards himself was shown shouting and then sweating as news of his affair broke. Elizabeth Edwards, by far, came out looking the worst.

After taking this all in, I had to wonder: Were the authors simply relating the viewpoints of the blabber-mouth, disloyal former campaign aides who dished about these women, or were these words selected independently by the reporters and reflect their own opinions? Or, frighteningly, both?

Image credit: Nathan Fox/New York Magazine.

Getting Political on 'Big Love' and 'Brothers & Sisters'

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the recent episodes of Big Love and Brothers & Sisters.*

"I know we used to talk about public service, it was something we dreamed of, but Bill, that was three marriages ago," Barb Henrickson to her husband Bill who’s thinking of running for State Senate despite the fact that they’re married to two other women.

Caught up on some Sunday night TV – watched the first two hours of 24, but hours three and four are still sitting on my DVR – and noticed that election fever has not only gripped my home state of Massachusetts (Have you heard that there’s a Senate race today in the Bay State?), but has popped up as a big theme in the recent episodes of Big Love and Brothers & Sisters.

Bill Runs for State Senate

Big Love’s second episode of its fourth season was a substantial improvement over the premiere, which seemed too enamored of the idea of toting the Romansicle all around the southwest in his white hat (a la Weekend at Bernie’s) and was drowning in gallows humor. This fresh installment assuaded my concerns over the direction of the show in the wake of its stellar season last year, going a little deeper and providing more meaningful storylines.

In the new episode, “Greater Good,” everyone, it seemed, has grown very tired of hiding -- their lifestyle, their beliefs, their ambitions -- and are opting (in a few cases) to openly own their own choices and to live in the light, as Bill “Church of Me” Henrickson would say.

For Bill, living in the light means, somewhat incongruously, running for State Senate in order to improve the image of polygamist families and to protect their rights against other politicians who’d like polygamists to be rounded up and imprisoned. Though Bill’s initial campaign plan was to pretend as though he and Barb were going to return to the LDS church and deny that they were living in polygamy for the entirety of his term if he's elected, Bill had a change of heart, mostly because his eldest daughter Sarah decided not elope because her mother disapproved. Sarah opted to stand tall and own her decision, marrying, at age 18, in her family’s backyard with a justice of the peace. Bill’s current campaign plan is to hoodwink Utah voters into voting for him and, once he’s elected, come out of the polygamist closet. Politically, that sounds like a disaster, but it’ll make for great TV.

Kitty to Toss Hat Into Ring

As for Brothers & Sisters, there’s always been a political component from the get-go. In the pilot episode, Kitty Walker (now McCallister) was a conservative TV political pundit who, in short order, was hired by Senator Robert McCallister to work on his presidential campaign.

That seems like a long time ago. Look at all that's happened since then: Kitty and Robert got married, Kitty penned a controversial political book, the duo underwent infertility treatments and then the adoption process, Robert had a heart attack on the day of his son’s birth, the two become estranged to the brink of divorce when Robert decided to run for governor without consulting his wife, Kitty flirted with having an affair, then Kitty was diagnosed with cancer, had an experimental treatment and is now in remission. (Gotta love soapy nighttime dramas.)

In the latest episode, “Run Baby Run,” Robert cited his heart attack and his wife’s cancer (plus his own lack of political fire in his belly) as his reason to withdraw from politics altogether after his Senate term is completed. And just as he’s exiting the tough world of politics, Kitty, who’s still sporting a head scarf because she lost her hair from chemo treatments, is considering jumping into the fray, considering a seat in the U.S. Congress. Robert thinks she should aim higher, like for his own U.S. Senate seat.

This could provide ample dramatic material, watching a cancer survivor and mother of a baby run for office alongside her ex-pol husband. As we’ve seen from recent political books (Game Change immediately comes to mind), these kinds of campaigns can be brutal, especially on families. To see a fictional female candidate who has a baby campaign for office could be illuminating, if the writers choose to go the ripped-from-the-headlines route. And with the Henrickson family likely to come under intense scrutiny on Big Love, we could see fascinating dramatizations of the impact of political races on candidates and their loved ones. Can’t wait.

Image credit: Ron Tom/ABC.

Jon Stewart Skewers Democrats, Mass. Senate Race

The Daily Show's Jon Stewart is ticked . . . totally ticked, angry, really, with the Democrats for bungling the Massachusetts race for U.S. Senate, a race that was, just a month ago, purported to be a lock for the Democratic candidate.

Noting that the president on Sunday injected himself (and by extension the fate of the health care bill) into the race which is perceived to be going down in flames for the Democrats, the left-leaning Stewart went ballistic last night and asked how "a naked guy who drives a truck" could be poised to win the seat formerly held by Senator Ted Kennedy, adding, "It's not that the Democrats are playing checkers and the Republicans are playing chess, it's that the Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are in the nurse's office because once again they glued their balls to their thighs."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mass Backwards
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Notes on Politics: In Snow & Sleet, Mass. Senate Race is Scalding Hot

With the exception of a few years of living in the Washington, D.C. area in the 1990s, I've lived in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the rest of the time. In all that time, I cannot recall a general election for the U.S. Senate or Congress being this close. It's Massachusetts for God's sake, one of the bluest states in the union. Sure, there was a lot of national attention paid to GOP Gov. Bill Weld's 1996 attempt to unseat U.S. Senator John Kerry (Kerry prevailed with 52 percent), as there was when Republican Mitt Romney took on Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994 (Kennedy won 58 percent of the vote). But those races weren't nearly as close as is this current contest between Democrat Martha Coakley, the state's attorney general, and Republican Scott Brown, a state senator.

Amid all manner of nasty political ads which air once every five seconds on radio and TV (I adore politics and even I'm sick of them, never want to hear the word "lockstep" again) and the tongue-clucking about Coakley's assertion that Brown supporter Curt Schilling is a Yankees fan (in Red Sox Nation of all places!), this once sleepy campaign where the Democrat (any Democrat, didn't matter who) was considered a shoe-in, so much so that Coakley didn't really campaign much last month, is now too close to call. And it's serving as a proxy for all things Obama and is considered to hold the key to the health care vote. If Coakley, once the presumptive favorite, doesn't prevail, pundits everywhere are saying this is bad news for the president who visited Boston yesterday to try to help boost the campaign.

I still can't believe it. Take a gander at the political reporters from all the big media outlets on TV who have to do live stand-ups outside in this New England January chill, in front of cars coated in salt and sand. They seem surprised and almost giddy, to have something this volatile to report. I was astounded to see the front page of the New York Times today feature a woman who'd been holding a Brown sign in Marlborough, MA who I drove by twice on Saturday while driving my youngest kid to hockey.

Here are the covers of the two biggest papers in Massachusetts, indicating that the stakes are indeed high for tomorrow's vote from the Boston Herald (where I used to work and for whom I used to blog) and the Boston Globe.

MLK's Dream

I was eminently pleased to watch Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech at my church yesterday; it was played as the sermon in honor of MLK Day today. It's been quite a long time since I've seen it in full I found it as eloquent and heartfelt as ever, and, even amidst the Mad Men era fashions, it was timeless in its aspiration for social justice and equality.

If you have the chance today, do yourself a favor and take 16-plus minutes and watch the speech. You'll be glad that you did.



Image credit: Courtesy of the Huffington Post.

Golden Globes: Live Blogging

Yes, I know that Grandpa Jack Bauer starts his eighth really bad day tonight, and that there's a new Desperate Housewives and the second installment of Big Love . . . but the event of the evening is, of course, the Golden Globe awards with the deliciously unpredictable Ricky Gervais as host. Thank goodness for DVRs so I can catch up on the missed eppies later after I shamelessly root for for Jon Hamm, Mad Men and Modern Family.

After I jump back and forth between E (the Exclamation! Point! Channel) and the TV Guide channel for the arrival show in the rain, I'll live blog here. Feel free to chime in on your biggest surprises/disappointments/pleasures while watching the TV/film extravaganza. (Plus Lauren Graham -- of Gilmore Girls -- is going to be presenting and looks lovely.)

Comments on Gervais' Opening:
Update: Mocked the NBC version of The Office and Steve Carell and NBC, a wee bit. Held up the DVD set of HIS version of The Office. Then skewered sanctimonious actors/actresses and complimented their plastic surgeons.

Update: "Let's get on with it before NBC replaces me with Jay Leno," Gervais' parting shot before handing off Nicole Kidman and her immobile face.

Awards:

Update: Best supporting actress in a motion picture award went to Mo'Nique from Precious. I really need to see this movie, not playing widely or as wildly as I wish it would. THIS is what acceptance speeches should be, not those irritating, phoned in laundry lists.

Update: For best actress in TV/comedy, I wanted it to be Edie Falco from Nurse Jackie. (No offense Tina.) But it went to Toni Collette from Showtime's United States of Tara, for her tough role as a suburban mom with multiple personalities. Good show, risk-taking.

Update: Best supporting actor in TV. I chanted, "Ben Linus . . . Ben Linus . . . Ben Linus" silently in my head. But the Golden Globes people didn't hear me, apparently. Went to John Lithgow for Dexter. I've never seen Dexter but really like Michael C. Hall. Have to admit I'm disappointed. Michael Emerson kicks it, totally owns one of TV's best villains.

Update: How tacky for the Golden Globes orchestra to start playing music while the guy from Up was still speaking. He hadn't gone on that long and was genuine, real. It's a pet peeve of mine when awards shows cut off non-celeb winners because the show's top brass are afraid that seeing too much of faces made of flesh and not plastic will kill the ratings.

Update: Hey Ricky, I already saw The Invention of Lying. Thought it was amusing, not belly-laugh inducing like Gervais can be when he knows he's not going to serve as a Golden Globe host again.

Update: Best actor TV/drama . . . goes to Jon Ha . . . whoa, wait, what?! Jon Hamm had an awesome year on Mad Men. Fantastic. Fantastic. This is unbelieveable. But damn, knowing that Michael C. Hall, for Dexter, is recovering from cancer treatment, that makes this so poignant, even though he didn't invoke it specifically.

Update: Best actress TV/drama, good for Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife. Good for her. Could they have seated Margulies any farther away from the stage? Didn't apparently think she'd win by seating her back there. Wonder what Silda Spitzer, Elizabeth Edwards and the other betrayed wives think of her show and her win . . .

Helping in Haiti

The images -- both still and moving -- coming out of the absolutely devastated island of Haiti break your heart. Battered bodies are on the sidewalks and streets covered with dingy sheets or scraps of cardboard, if anything at all. Wounded people have little to no access to medical care because hospitals have either been destroyed by the massive earthquake or are overflowing with patients and have precious few medical supplies. An unknown number of people are trapped in the rubble for whom we can only pray will survive -- that's if they're still alive -- until help comes. If it comes. If people can get there in time in a land where there's no electricity, no clean water, where gasoline is scarce and simply getting around is being described as close to impossible.

While we sit in our homes with the luxury of engaging in discussions about the fate of late night comedians and whether a guy working for a U.S. Senate candidate shoved a reporter to the ground, it's important that we do what we can to help the victims of this natural disaster, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is saying caused "Biblical" damage.

The White House has a blog post directing you to ways you can help and the New York Times has a page of organizations which can help get aid to where it's needed, including the American Red Cross and Americares. Beware of folks trying to scam you and take advantage of your generosity. Make sure the organization you select is legit.

Image credit: Lisandro Suero/Getty Images via Huffington Post.

Conan-Leno Late Night Skirmish Bringing Out Best of Comedy

Man, has Conan O’Brien been razor-sharp since the release of his well-received statement to “People of Earth.” He’s a guy with nothing to lose . . . which is amplifying his risk-taking humor. And that’s a good thing.

His monologue on the Tonight Show yesterday – with its direct hit to Jay Leno and the bit about the Winter Olympics -- was positively Jon Stewartesque, just the right combination of smart, mean and amusing (because he’s right). Maybe all networks should threaten their comedians with demotions. It might make ‘em funnier. Take a look at excerpts from the monologue below, via MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Meanwhile, over on ABC, late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel eviscerated Leno by doing an entire show while dressed as Leno. His satire of Leno’s Headlines shtick was such perfection that I almost felt badly for Leno. Almost. But not really.



Be sure to check out the New York Times piece imbroglio; it’s well worth the read. Best quote came from a columnist from Advertising Age who said people are siding with Conan “because he’s suddenly become an unlikely (Harvard-educated, multimillionaire) Everyman: the freckled face of American job insecurity, a well-meaning hard worker who spent years paying his dues but has now been declared redundant by the halfwit overlords driving his company into the ground.”

Team Conan.

I Want to Give Conan a Big Smooch

Score one for Conan O'Brien. He released a classy, funny, heartfelt written statement today saying that he loves The Tonight Show and has adored it since he was a kid, but if it's moved to 12:05 a.m., as NBC execs have proposed in order to make room for Jay Leno at 11:35 (after Leno floundered at 10 p.m.), he will not be its host.

Addressed to "People of Earth," Conan's statement read in part:

"Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

. . . The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

. . . My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. "

At least someone cares about one's colleagues, promises made and maintaining the quality of a storied TV franchise. Conan signed off cleverly by saying, "I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way."

So much funnier than Leno. Seriously. (For the record: I'm not related to Conan even though we're both from Massachusetts and both share the same last name.)

Read the whole statement here.

*Team Conan*

Image credit: Drinkwater/NBC via AP/NY Daily News.

Pondering 'Big Love' Premiere, 'It's Complicated' and Midseason TV

What do I do when I'm not blogging here at Notes from the Asylum? Write and write and write, read, watch TV/films, consume caffeine and, on occasion, sleep. Here are some the recent pop culture musings I've recently composed:

Big Love Premiere: I was disappointed in the Big Love season four premiere because I felt as though it was consumed by dark, weird humor and not a sufficient number of meaningful moments. Likening it to Weekend at Bernie's gone awry, I wrote a guest column for the TV-centric web site CliqueClack TV complaining about how the Romansicle in the white hat which traversed the southwest in the back of various vans unfortunately dominated the night.

It's Complicated: After watching the delightful Meryl Streep in her light, enjoyable comedy It's Complicated (Alec Baldwin was fearless), I found myself asking in my Pop Culture column on Mommy Tracked whether it was just Baldwin's character or whether women who are in the midst of the heavy-lifting phase of childrearing are viewed as unsexy.

Midseason TV: Big Love isn't the only show that's kicking off a new season this winter. In another Mommy Tracked column I highlighted several TV programs which are premiering in the next several weeks. In addition to Big Love, I mentioned 24, Lost, Nurse Jackie, the United States of Tara, and the new NBC show starring Gilmore Girls Lauren Graham and Six Feet Under's Peter Krause, Parenthood.

What mid-season shows are you looking forward to watching? Any on-going shows (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, House, etc.) for which you’re eagerly anticipating new episodes?

Image credit: HBO.

Notes on Politics: 'Lost' State of Union, Political Book Takes on Rage, Egos, Race and Infidelity

Lost State of the Union Address

There was quite a bit of consternation in them there internets last week about the possibility that White House officials would schedule the State of the Union address on February 2, the date of the Lost season premiere. Appalled Lost fans started tweeting and including the hashtag #NoStateofUnionFeb2.

Once it was announced by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs that while they didn’t yet have a date picked for the annual address he could assure folks that it won’t be on February 2, one of the Lost co-creators, Damon Lindelof posted a tweet, “OBAMA BACKED DOWN!!! Groundhog Day is OURS!!!!!! (God Bless America).”

Lindelof’s colleague Carlton Cuse, joked about the hullaballoo by posting this tweet, “In exchange for moving his speech Damon [Lindelof] and I promise to answer ANY questions the President has about LOST.”

On a more serious note, the campaign finance think tank Center for Responsive Politics suggested that the contributions of “people and political action committees associated with Walt Disney” totaling in $430,000 helped Disney make their case to secure February 2 for Lost.

Political Book Portrays Elizabeth Edwards’ Temper, Hubby’s Ego

Political reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halperin have dug into the political mud fairly deeply to unearth some damning, behind-the-scenes portraits of the major 2008 presidential candidates and those folks with whom they surrounded themselves with. The results are in Heilemann and Halperin’s new book, Game Change.

Among the revelations that’ve garnered mucho publicity in the past few days is the derogatory depiction of the Edwardses excerpted in this week’s New York Magazine entitled, “Saint Elizabeth and the Ego Monster.” (John Edwards’ mistress Rielle Hunter must be raising a champagne glass.) Characterized in the most extremely negative light possible, Elizabeth Edwards was portrayed as an exceptionally difficult person with whom to get along, with campaign aides referring to themselves as “battered spouses” for having to deal with her:

“With her husband, she could be intensely affectionate or brutally dismissive. At times subtly, at times blatantly, she was forever letting John know that she regarded him as her intellectual inferior. She called her spouse a ‘hick’ in front of other people and derided his parents as rednecks. One time, when a friend asked if John had read a certain book, Elizabeth burst out laughing. ‘Oh, he doesn’t read books,’ she said. ‘I’m the one who reads books.’”

John Edwards didn’t come off well either, as he was described as a deluded ego-maniac who thought he could just breeze through the campaign while screwing around and lying about it. The book excerpt said:

“Yet it was [John] Edwards who stepped so far across the line that his career and life were reduced to rubble . . . Edwards’s story is equally, lastingly resonant: an archetypal political tragedy in which the very same qualities that fuel any presidential bid—ego, hubris, vanity, neediness, a kind of delusion—became all-consuming and self-destructive. And in which the gap between public façade and private reality simply grew too vast to bridge.”

'Desperate' Monday: You Gotta Get a Gimmick

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the latest episode of Desperate Housewives.*

I’m still angry with Carlos and Gabby. Sorry. Can’t help it. A 60-inch plasma TV, paying Lynette a salary during the remainder of her pregnancy and for her six-week maternity leave, offering Lynette her job back and then allowing Tom to temporarily assume the post in her absence, none of it, in my opinion, takes the raging narcissists off the hook for their wretched, discriminatory behavior. You don’t treat a friend like that and push her growing family into possible financial ruin. It shouldn’t take that friend having to save your child’s life to suddenly make you see the light of how wrong you were and expect all the viewers to just forget about it with a shoulder shrug.

I know, I know, it's Desperate Housewives, what do I expect? But I guess I made the mistake of expecting a bit more . . . I can’t just switch off my irritation and just be okay with the Solises and sympathize with Gabby’s impoverished childhood and her estrangement from her Mexican heritage. I can’t make myself care about where Juanita goes to school and how many Latinas live (or don’t live) in her neighborhood.

This is one of the things that irritates me about Desperate Housewives. The writers’ll ratchet up all this tension and angst and then *poof* all of it is forgotten and we’re supposed to just move on. At least with the Bree-Orson situation they’re not just having the estranged couple simply get past Bree’s affair and Orson’s extortion in mere days, instead, they’re reverting back to their behavior from last season when Orson was punishing Bree for paying more attention to her flourishing career than to him by forcing her to stay up late and make him a pot roast.

Even the Lynette and Tom argument over what Lynette would/should do after she has the baby was retracing old terrain. The whole should-she-stay-home-or-shouldn’t-she debate has been done to death already. Seeing Tom come home, beaming, after a successful day of work while Lynette’s been at home doing something as exciting as peeing “twice in every bathroom in the house,” brought us smack dab back to the days when Lynette was miserable being an at-home mom who felt backed into a corner by her maternity and her husband.

The only moment of freshness was the Susan Mayer Delfino-strip club storyline where Susan pole danced to make a point, which I found amusing given that it was only last week that Susan was in a fat suit. The scene where Mike acknowledged Susan had a point about his frequenting strip clubs and he so adamantly didn’t want her to take her top off that he covered her with his jacket and swept her up in his arms a la An Officer and a Gentleman, was the most entertaining moment of the entire episode.

What do you think Housewives fans, can you forgive Carlos and Gabby? What did you think of the new episode, “You Gotta Get a Gimmick?”

Image credit: Ron Tom/ABC.

Jay AND Conan in the 11:30 Hour? What a Mess!

Them there internets are all abuzz over reports which suggest that Jay Leno will legitimately become the Brett Favre of late night TV if he agrees to reclaim his original 11:30 p.m. slot which he famously abandoned amid a week of farewell shows, a slot that NBC -- with great pomp and circumstance -- passed on to Conan O'Brien.

Why?

Leno's 10 p.m. show has not been pulling in the kind of ratings NBC had hoped it would. I only watched the first few episodes and never turned in again. (Though I did tune in when Kanye West gave his first public statement about his Taylor Swiftus-interruptus.) I found the show awkward and, frankly, unfunny. (Plus his set looked cheap.) I much preferred to watch Conan at 11:30, especially since I've jumped off the Letterman ship.

Is Leno going to go along with the unceremonious shoving of the ever-patient Conan out of the 11:30 slot, forcing the younger comic back to midnight? That's what the New York Times' Media Decoder is reporting:

"Pressed by affiliates and shrinking ratings, NBC has a plan in the works to radically alter its late-night television lineup, restoring Jay Leno to his old spot at 11:35 each weeknight, while pushing the man who replaced him, Conan O'Brien, to a starting time of 12:05 a.m.

NBC executives held extensive discussions with Mr. Leno and Mr. O'Brien on Thursday about the future of the network's late-night lineups.

And while NBC official said no final decision on the plan had been made, two senior NBC executives who had talked to the top management about the moves said that under the plan being discussed, Mr. Leno would definitely shift back to 11:35 but in a half-hour format, while Mr. O'Brien would slide back his start time by a half hour and then produce an hourlong show."

This entire Leno show debacle -- where five hours of primetime that used to be filled with costlier scripted dramas and comedies were sacrificed in exchange for a less expensive talk show format that NBC suits hoped would yield ratings for less money -- is a huge embarrassment for NBC, particularly after all the money and time they spent promoting the new lineup and all the press Leno got for his 10 o'clock chat show.

My questions: Why would Conan agree to such a demotion? Why would Leno take a giant step back? What does this mean for Jimmy Fallon, if anything? On the plus side, will this mean we'll be seeing more scripted TV?

Image credit: NBC via the New York Times.

'Lost:' All Five Seasons in 8 Minutes 15 Seconds

Feeling like you're not quite ready for Lost's new season and perhaps could use a little refresher before the final season premieres next month? ABC has created a video which rapidly (and humorously) summarizes the head-scratching insanity that is Lost. It's not as clever as the quirky, action figure fueled Lost Untangled videos ABC wound up creating last season when all that time traveling business got brain-numbingly confusing and people started to complain, but it does its job of providing a CliffNotes recap for the award-winning series reasonably well.

However if you have never seen Lost before -- what the heck are you waiting for? -- don't watch this video. I strongly recommend that you start with season one episode one. It'll be a much better experience that way.

New Jack City: '24' Meets NYC

Fox has released a promo for the eighth season premiere of 24 (Jan. 17), which takes Jack Bauer -- that's Grandpa Jack to you -- to another east coast locale, New York City.

Best line in the promo: "Who's Jack Bauer?"

'Lost' Supper? What Does These Promo Photos Mean?

Stumbled across a new Lost promotional image on Pop Candy this morning with the cast of Lost posed to resemble Jesus and his disciples in Da Vinci's famous painting, The Last Supper.

While I was trying to absorb the imagery (ruins of a Dharma building, gun under the table, a skull . . . maybe? Is that supposed to be a cross over Jack Shephard's left shoulder?), I saw the twin promo photo, where the castmates are all looking at the dead-not-dead "Locke," with a few of the people sitting in different places (Claire, Sun, Jin and Miles).

The New York Times' TV blogger Dave Itzkoff points out that in both images Sayid is standing where Judas stood (I would've thought Ben Linus would've been put in this position) and that Locke is smiling in the image when everyone's looking at him but not in the one where everyone's looking straight ahead.

What does this Locke-as-Jesus photo mean with the Losties sitting behind a table fashioned out of an airplane wing?

Image credit: ABC via Pop Candy and via the New York Times.

Jon Stewart Rips US Intelligence Community a New One

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Terror 2.0 by Yemen
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Jon Stewart used the opening minutes of his first 2010 episode of The Daily Show to eviscerate the U.S. intelligence community for failing to stop the guy with the "Doomsday underpants" who attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane on Christmas day.

As he detailed the information that various intelligence officials had in hand prior to the alleged underpants bomber setting foot on the plane, Stewart was incredulous, particularly about the fact that the alleged bomber's father went to U.S. authorities to warn them that his son had become radicalized and posed a security threat.

"I too have a tendency to ignore messages from Nigerian bankers who wish to help me," Stewart quipped, "but when they show up in person and aren’t asking for a money order but instead turning in their own son maybe that conversation doesn’t get filed under 'spam.'”

Saying that the one-way, paid-with-cash plane ticket coupled with no checked luggage should've been an obvious "hey dudes pull me out of line" clue to security officials, Stewart added, "It’s December, he’s going from Nigeria to Amsterdam to Detriot without a coat? With a one-way ticket? Do you think he’s going to Detroit to start a better life? What do you think he’s going there because he thinks there are lots of jobs?"

To illustrate the horrific absurdity of the situation, Stewart used an action figure to dramatize how not much has changed in the eight years since a man -- who also had a one-way ticket paid for with cash and checked no luggage -- used the same type of explosives as the Christmas day underwear bomber, only the explosives were moved up from the shoes to the underwear.

When I read that officials apparently think that the answer to underwear and shoe bombers is to take quasi-naked images of airline passengers and make everyone sit in their seats for the last hour of a flight, I know I feel super-safe. Not.

Where's Jack Bauer when you need him?

Tiger Woods & the 'Vanity Fair' Cover

Man, what bad timing for Tiger Woods with thie cover, eh? However the folks at Vanity Fair are likely psyched that they had this Annie Leibovitz photo -- and others which haven't yet been released -- for which Woods posed to accompany the tough cover story by Buzz "Friday Night Lights" Bissinger about the serial cheater's fall from grace.

The Bissinger story concludes with this:

"In the end it was the age-old clash of image versus reality, the compartmentalization of two different lives that inevitably merge at some certain point, whoever you are. [Woods]exhibited the same superhuman confidence off the golf course that he exhibited on it, apparently convinced he would never be caught despite the stupid sloppiness at the end — text messages, voice-mail messages. He deluded himself into thinking he could be something that he wasn’t: untouchable. The greatest feat of his career is that he managed to get away with it for so long in public, the bionic man instead of the human one who hit a fire hydrant."

The online comments accompanying the photo on the Vanity Fair blog and on the Huffington Post, are fairly harsh when it comes to both Woods and the magazine editors' decision to use that particular image for its cover.

On the VF blog, there were comments like, "I am sorry he looks like a CHEATER to me. He has to same look on his face my ex did when he got caught" and "Um, not only is this not what I want to see, but Tiger looks like a thug. Also, I would expect to see a better body on the cover. He looks a little unkempt."

Many commenters on the Huffington Post's Woods/VF blog entry on the magazine cover -- which received over 800 comments -- said Woods deserves this treatment. "I have a feeling the real Tiger is a whole lot closer to this cover, than the Dockers-wearing, pink polo shirt puppet Nike portrayed him as," one person said.

But there were a fair number of people who dissed VF for exploitation. "I'm Vanity Fair's biggest fan, but I think the cover photo is in poor taste and plays to a nasty racial stereotype," one person wrote.

Another chimed in, "More opportunistic exploitation of Tiger by the media; and this time with intentional racial overtones."

Some saw the look on Woods' face and interpreted it as a cry for help. A person writing on HuffPo said: "His expression is one of sadness. Since it was taken pre-scandal you have to wonder. I've seen that expression many times in photographs and it is the look of someone with issues. Obviously that is not very prophetic of me, but after seeing this picture and knowing it is pre-scandal, I actually feel kinda sorry for him."

Back on the VF blog, one person wrote in part, "IMHO, this picture of Tiger does not show 'incredible focus and dedication'. Look in his eyes....and at the set of his mouth. They show a lack of assuredness,intense worry,vulnerability and on-going pain. The picture does not characterize the way he really feels inside. He looks haunted. "

What do you think about VF's decision to run this photo on the cover?

Image credit: Annie Leibovitz/Vanity Fair.

God Do I Miss Dave Barry's Weekly Columns

While reading the Boston Globe's Sunday magazine yesterday, I found myself laughing out loud until tears leaked out of my eyes as I read Dave Barry's 2009 year-in-review column. He's able to put the year into such perfect perspective.

Best two observations:

About the swine flu:

"The big health story in April is the rapid spread of swine flu, a dangerous new virus strain developed by the makers of Purell. Public anxiety over the flu increases when Vice President Joe Biden, demonstrating his gift for emitting statements, declares on the Today show that he would not recommend traveling by commercial airplane or subway. A short while later, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs assures reporters that he is 'not aware of any 'Vice President Joe Biden.''"

About the White House State Dinner party crashers:

". . . in a Washington couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, penetrate heavy security and enter the White House, a feat that Joe Biden has yet to manage. As details of the incident emerge, an embarrassed Secret Service is forced to admit that not only did the couple crash a state dinner, but they also had met and shaken hands with the president, and they 'may have served briefly in the Cabinet.'"

Made me wish that Dave Barry was still writing his weekly, syndicated columns. No one has been able to fill his shoes. Not yet anyway.

Image credit: Jesse Lefkowitz/Boston Globe.

'Desperate' Mondays: If . . .

*Warning: Spoilers from the recent episode of Desperate Housewives ahead.*

After a Christmas hiatus, the ladies of Wisteria Lane were back as Mary Alice, the deceased narrator, reminded us viewers that, since the last time we’d seen the desperate housewives, there’d been a plane crash on this “quiet suburban street.” (Not so quiet really, as you might recall from my extensive review of the string of arsons, murders and attacks that have occurred there over the years, but let's not let the facts get in the way of an overhyped episode.)

And what befell the wives in this new installment? Lynette lost one of her unborn twins after she fell sharply to the ground as she pushed Celia Solis out of the way of an out-of-control crashing airplane, saving the 4-year-old’s life. While she saved the girl and regained the favor of her estranged friend Gabby, a surgical attempt to save one of Lynette’s twins – who doctors feared would be born disabled -- failed.

Meanwhile Gabby tried to convince herself that Celia’s life was spared because she is special and has talent, then allowed herself to imagine what would happen if she tried to force an unwilling Celia into acting. Susan lost her ex-husband Karl (daydreamed about what would've happened had she never divorced the philanderer) and Bree lost the man she hoped she’d marry once she divorced Orson, who we learned may or may not be permanently paralyzed.

While watching the back-with-a-bang episode, I felt like I was being strung along for a ride (like I felt with the shooting in the grocery store or the aftermath of the hurricane episode), as if it was merely filler, an excuse to put Teri Hatcher in a fat suit, have Eva Longoria go all Grey Gardens and allow Felicity Huffman to be a martyred mom who unwittingly served as an inspiration to the disabled son she’d never have. It was so contrived, particularly the Teri Hatcher fat suit scenes, all flash and no flesh to it, other than of the plastic variety.

And the whole mystery with Angie – that she’s on the run following a violent protest, decades ago, of which she was a participant and in which a police officer accidentally died, a kind of Weather Underground/anarchist/revolutionary plot twist – seemed, oh, what’s the word, lame? To be honest, I’ve never connected with her character, don’t, frankly, care what happens to her or any of the Bolens and that wretched character Nick.

All in all, the whole episode left me feeling distinctly unenthused about where the rest of the season is headed. You?

Image credit: ABC via the Los Angeles Times.