Notes on Pop Culture: 'FlashForward' Retooled, 'Nurse Jackie'/'US Tara' Return and 'Wimpy Kid' Flick Premieres

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the latest episode of FlashForward.*

FlashForward Retooled

I wasn't among the FlashForward haters per say, but by the time ABC late last year decided to put FlashForward on hiatus until mid-March, I wasn't sure what that meant for the sci-fi drama's future. New creative folks were brought on board and I wondered if it was the beginning of the end for a show with a promising premise but which didn't consistently deliver and frequently got caught up in intrigue and complexity at the expense of character development.

I watched the two-hour FlashForward return last night -- while checking in on the NCAA tourney games, go underdogs! -- and was pleased by what I saw: Interesting people, thoughtful connections and more depth when it came to the characters. Plus a whole lot of answers. We were told who the guy in the baseball park was who remained awake during the blackout and why (some mysterious ring). We found out more about the flashforwards of Mark Benford, Simon "Charlie from Lost" Campos and Lloyd Simcoe. We learned that Simon's not as evil as he may seem but was instead being played by a sinister uncle who worked for a nameless, faceless sinister boss.

We saw the introduction of a group called Sanctuary -- run by a former window washer who didn't die on the day of the blackout because he believes he was saved by God (Gil Bellows from Ally McBeal) -- and we learned that perhaps Nicole Kirby (who plays Jane Sterling on Mad Men) didn't really see herself being murdered in her flashforward, drowned and punished for something, but maybe she was freaking out during a full body baptism. And that penny wall thing . . . cannot forget the penny wall being created by Nicole's mother, who lit a Bible on fire and wears angel wings over her bathrobe.

If the rest of the season is this intriguing, I'll be there.

Showtime's Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara Return on Monday

I completely bought Edie Falco as an ER nurse Jackie Peyton during the first season of Nurse Jackie. Fierce, strong, compassionate, smart, unfaithful and addicted to pain meds, Falco's former persona of Carmela Soprano quickly fell by the wayside as the episodes unfolded.

By the time the season one finale concluded, her lover Eddie had been fired from the hospital and found out that Jackie was married and had kids, visited Jackie's husband Kevin's bar and then made a drunken scene at the hospital. Plus Jackie had been experiencing adverse reactions to the copious amounts of illegally obtained meds she was consuming. (Paging Dr. House.) My guess is that we haven't heard the last from Eddie or Jackie's drug issues.

Airing after Nurse Jackie is the season two premiere of the United States of Tara, featuring the Emmy-winning Toni Collette playing Tara Gregson, a woman struggling with multiple personalities she can't control. The first season ended with her coming face to face with the person who sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager. This season starts with Tara having been alternate-personality-free for months.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Movie Premieres

My three kids are thrilled about the fact that a movie based on one of their favorite book series -- Diary of a Wimpy Kid -- is being released today.

Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+ and called it, "a jaunty and forthright production with a lively look reflecting the book’s illustrated pages, [the movie] does a great job of being in two places at once: In the head and gangly bodies of kids, and in the hearts of those of us who have survived grades 6-8."

However a Boston Globe movie reviewer gave it one-and-a-half stars (out of four), saying that the film makes the main character, Greg Hefley, an unlikeable jerk: "In his quest for instant fame, our hero treats his friend like dirt, trash-talks the school’s perfectly reasonable alt-girl (Chloë Moretz), ditches a group of kindergartners in a construction pit in the rain (and blames it on [best friend] Rowley), and otherwise behaves like a little Hun."

Wonder who's right?

Image credit: Craig Sjodin/ABC.

'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.

Ball-Breakin' Nurses -- Falco & Pinkett Smith -- Takin' on Primetime

Two medical shows. Two distinctly different leading ladies playin' ball-breakin' nurses. Takin' on primetime. Move over McDreamy docs. These two would kick your overly-coiffed behinds.

On Showtime, Edie Falco from The Sopranos dissolves into her character on Nurse Jackie (Mondays), as Jackie Peyton, a morally flexible nurse addicted to Percocet who's cheating on her husband, the father of her two adorable little girls. Believe me, you won't think about Carmela after the first scene.

On TNT's drama Hawthorne (premieres Tuesday) Jada Pinkett Smith stars as Christina Hawthorne, a tough nurse in mourning, grieving the loss of her husband a year ago, and coping with her angry teenaged daughter who blames her for her father's death. Plus she's got an openly hostile mother-in-law who serves on the hospital's board (Joanna Cassidy) AND works alongside Dr. Tom Wakefield (Michael Vartan of Alias), the chief of surgery and Christina's late husband's oncologist.

I compare and contrast Falco and Pinkett Smith's shows in my Pop Culture column this week, and explain exactly how Falco's character is nothing at all like the Vicodin-addicted doc, Gregory House. With both new programs, I conclude, ". . . [Y]ou've got the makings for two smart, brave role models, the anti-Meredith Greys. No whining or indecisiveness allowed."

Image credit: TNT.