Bones/Fringe Heat Up This Fall

I’ve been getting my Bones fix every day with TNT’s airing of the series from the premiere on up through the seasons. I’m still hopping with excitement for the new season. And Fringe left us with so many questions in their finale that season two is taking way too long to get here. Judging by this promo, both shows are going to be ramping up the adrenaline rush, and Fox is bringing them to us together in one thrilling night. Take a look.

Bones and Fringe return on Sept. 17 on Fox.

Merlin: “Excalibur”

This is one of the episodes I’ve been waiting to see since I heard Merlin was coming to American television. In Excalibur, “an invincible Black Knight (Rick English) slaughters several challengers at Arthur’s coming-of-age ceremony, while further revelations suggest a connection between the Black Knight and Uther.” (TV Guide) Check out this extended preview:

The episode’s title should mean we’ll be introduced to the famous, magical sword, and that’s where the excitement lies for me.

Royal Pains: “I’m only here for the weekend.”

USA Network’s latest foray into original summer programming is Royal Pains, the dramedy starring Mark Feuerstein as a talented surgeon who finds himself working as a private physician for the uber-wealthy in the Hamptons. Initially I thought this was going to be a glossy, quirky series, the equivalent of a summer beach read. After previewing the first episode, however, it’s clear that while the characters are quirky and the setting is glossy, there is depth to this series that’s refreshing.

Every character has layers, from Hank, the Robin Hood of medicine, to his younger brother, the (disgraced?) accountant, to his new physicians assistant, with ties to the wealthier side of the Hamptons. We’re given enough of a glimpse of each personality to wonder what we’ll find out about them in future episodes. Hank’s motivations appear to be altruistic – he loses his job as an ER surgeon after prioritizing care of a “civilian” over the billionaire benefactor of the hospital. Clearly Hank doesn’t understand the intricacies of hospital politics. After a few weeks of moping, his fed-up fiancee gives up on him, his furniture gets repossessed, and little brother Evan has to pry him out of the remaining chair and drag him out to the Hamptons for the weekend. When a young woman collapses at a party, Hank springs into action and goes all MacGuyver to save her. The rich host of the party immediately invites him to become his concierge doctor, a live-in doctor serving the elite. “I’m only here for the weekend,” says Hank.

It’s a phrase Hank will repeat several times over the course of the weekend, convincing no one. Brother Evan (deftly played by Paulo Costanzo), a CPA who makes no excuses for his love of money, jumps at the opportunity to keep Hank in the Hamptons. He immediately forms HankMed and starts interviewing assistants. In a recent interview, we asked Mark Feuerstein about Evan’s motives for wanting to stay in the Hamptons. After all, doesn’t he have an accounting practice to run?

“You will learn in an episode, maybe the fourth episode, you will learn something about why he left his practice, and it may have something to do with certain dealings on his part that were not entirely kosher,” teases Feuerstein.  “So, that’s one part of the backstory that comes out in episode and it makes one believe that he might never return to being a CPA, and why he’s far more dependent on HankMed than maybe I am.”

It sounds like seemingly carefree Evan has some baggage of his own. Meanwhile, Hank’s new assistant, Divya (Reshma Shetty), comes with her own history. Her SUV sports the latest in portable medical equipment, she’s cool and efficient, and she calmly shuts down a drooling Evan with, “Don’t objectify me, sidekick.” Formidable. Until her mother calls, summoning her to a polo match, and she turns into an insecure 12-year-old.

Then, of course, there is the love interest. Jill (Jill Flint) is the administrator at the local hospital, which is deemed far too inferior for the wealthy and therefore most of the patients are the “regular people” who maintain the island and live there year ’round. Hank and Jill connect immediately over their shared passion for equality of medical care. We don’t spend a lot of time with Jill in this first episode, but it’s clear that she and Hank are meant to be an item. I don’t see the sparks flying yet; that will come as the series progresses, I expect.

And finally, there’s the Duke, Boris, who talks Hank into residing in the summer cottage for the season and serving as his concierge doctor. Played by Campbell Scott, who walks the line between smarmy and mysterious with ease, Boris is an enigma who I hope we learn more about this summer.

USA’s tagline is “characters welcome.” I think they have another show full of characters that we’ll be welcoming each week, eager to find out more about them, while wishing we could spend leisurely summers at the shore. Royal Pains premieres Thursday, June 4th at 10/9c on USA Network.

A “Supernatural” Showdown

I’ve been watching this series, along with so many others, from its very first episode. I’ve watched Sam grow to accept his role as a Hunter, like his brother and his father, and, as we found out earlier, his mother. I’ve watched Dean change from someone who had no faith in anything at all to becoming The One who will end the coming Apocolyps, and he went through hell to get there – literally.

In tonight’s season finale, we will see the whole series change yet again. We should also see the groundwork laid for next season. I’m imagining a season with the boys still on opposite sides, but there will be a mending. There has to be a reuniting of our favorite brothers. Right? Imagine what this split will do to fandom!

Cupid Redux

A little more than ten years ago, my Mom and I found ourselves hooked on a quirky new show starring Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall. The premise of the show was that Piven’s character, Trevor, thought he was Cupid, sent down from Mt. Olympus to atone for his sins by uniting 100 couples in true love. Marshall’s character, Claire, was the psychologist trying to treat Trevor, and slowly being pulled in by his charm. Could he really be Cupid? And could Cupid find true love? Well, we never found out because the series was canceled before even all of the filmed episodes aired.

The 1998 incarnation of Cupid is one of those shows that has stuck with me, popping up in my memory from time to time with a whiff of nostalgia and a fist shaken toward TPTB who canceled it. Without even a DVD set to honor its memory, I thought I’d seen the last of Cupid. Never underestimate TPTB. Imagine my surprise and glee when ABC announced last year that it was bringing the show back, with creator Rob Thomas (who’d since seen critical success with Veronica Mars) at the helm once more. We have a whole new cast, but our lead characters remain intact as Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson take over. I’m not sold on their potential chemistry yet – Piven and Marshall had enough sparks that the fire department must have been on standby – but am certainly willing to give them a try. The previews give us a glimpse at the witty, fast-paced dialogue Thomas perfected on Mars, and, well, I’m just so excited to have it back in any incarnation that I’m a little giddy at the prospect.

How about you? Were you a fan of the original Cupid? Will you be watching tonight?

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Decision Set for May

We will find out the fate of this fabulous series this coming May, but until then there are a few things you can do to keep it on the air. The most important and effective thing to do is watch the show! SciFi Scoop has some news about it.

Things weren’t looking so hot for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles until an unexpected ratings spike last week gave it some extra legs.

One of the gripes viewers have complained about is that the series hasn’t contained enough Terminator action for a series about Terminators. It should make fans happy to know that the final episodes of this season apparently have more Terminator action. Will it be enough to bring viewers on board and save the series? (Read entire article here.)

Included in that article is this preview of Friday night’s episode, The Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter:

“In Plain Sight” Promos

We’ve grabbed three new promo videos of In Plain Sight to get you all ready for the show’s return on April 19 on USA Network. Enjoy!

Spoilers: “Terminator:TSCC” Video from WonderCon

Holy Cats! Take a look at this biggie from Ausiello! These clips from the final six eps of this season were shown in San Francisco at WonderCon.

Sarah Connor SPOILERS

I’m speechless.

Lou Diamond Phillips Tackles “The Beast”

According to TV Guide, Lou Diamond Phillips will appear in Feb.26 episode of The Beast, with Patrick Swayze and Travis Fimmel.

Phillips plays Capone, a figure with a bloody past and connections to a gang. The episode, airing Feb. 26 at 10 pm/ET, revolves around the death of a Chicago police officer. Phillips’ turn will also give a new take on the show’s theme: how deeply Barker and his FBI partner, Ellis (Travis Fimmel), can go undercover without losing themselves.

Goodness, the man gets around!

Gearing Up for “Sarah Connor” Return

It seems like forever since we last saw Sarah and Co. It’s been so long, in fact, that I’ve had to go in search of recaps of the last episode aired before the hiatus. I found what I was looking for, but I’m thinking I need to share it with you all as well, because I know I’m not the only one that has forgotten where we left our crew. I’ll try to be brief.

The episode was entitled “Earthlings Welcome Here”, and it aired on Dec. 15, 2008. (Holy Frak! That was two months ago, already!) It wound three separate story lines together in one episode.

First off, the John/Riley romance. Interestingly enough, when I was thinking that Riley was a throw-away character, we find out that she was actually brought back from the future, by Jessie,  to court young John Connor, and distract him from Cameron’s influence. When Riley begins to have second thoughts about what she is there to do, Jessie reminds her with a few well-placed slaps. We end up with Riley trying to comit suicide.

Next up, Agent Ellison. He’s still working with Catherine Weaver, who has asked him to teach a robot, named John Henry,  how to be human. John Henry is the doomsday machine created by the baddies to bring about Judgement Day. We’re still not clear exactly what Weaver’s prime directive is. As Ellison begins to tell Henry about humans, we hope that he may be able to influence the robot against blowing them all to smithereens.

Finally, there’s Sarah, herself. She was still trying to find out the mystery of the three dots painted on her garage wall. She finds Alan Park at a sci fi convention, where, apparently, there have been many sightings of the three dots in the sky. Park worked for the company that is creating the machines. He is ultimately gunned down for what he knows, but not before Sarah learns what she needs to from him. The three dots are turbines for a machine flying weapon we know is used in the future to eliminate the resistance. We leave Sarah injured after being shot by security.

We have been promised that we’ll begin to see John Connor step up to the man-plate, this season,  and begin looking like the leader of the resistance that he is in the future. The process has been slow, but I think necessary. I didn’t understand the reason for the trip through the tulips with Riley, and I was becoming very impatient with it. Now, I’m impatient to see how this all wraps up. Now the question becomes ‘where will season 2 leave us?’ With the new Terminator movie due to open in May, I wonder if there will be a subtle link with it, as we have seen the subtle references to the first two Terminator movies.

When the season resumes, an injured Sarah is guided by the image of John’s father, Kyle Reese, while Weaver’s move to protect John Henry results in deadly consequences. The Good Wound airs this Friday, Feb. 13, at 8/7 CST, on FOX.

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