Nice Boy of the Week: Zachary Levi

With this week’s breaking news that NBC has ordered 6 more episodes of Chuck followed by the season 2 DVD release date (finally!), we couldn’t resist making Zachary Levi our Nice Boy of the Week. How could we not recognize such a wonderfully talented (and quite cute!) Nice Boy like Zac?

Zac began his journey to Chuck at the tender age of six when he appeared on stage in the lead role in regional productions of Grease, The Outsiders, Oliver, The Wizard of Oz and Big River. From there he landed a supporting role in the FX television movie Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie. Zac is best remembered by some of us Nice Girls for his role as Kipp Steadman on Less Than Perfect, which ran for four seasons.

Zac’s television and film credits include See Jane Date, with Charisma Carpenter, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Big Momma’s House, Spiral, CTRL Z, and coming soon, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel. He’s also directing his first Chuck episode today for the third season.

In the summer of 2008, Zac was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s Top Thirty People Under Thirty. Nice Girls are big fans of Chuck and very big fans of Zachary Levi. His charming smile, laughing eyes and energetic sense of humor endear him to us and earn him a spot on our Nice Boys Wall of Fame.

Spotlight On: Sara Rue

With a television career stemming back nearly 20 years, Sara Rue has been a television star since her early days on the comedy series Grand, playing Pamela Reed’s daughter. With one year of a television series under her belt at the age of 12, Sara Rue was well on her way towards a long comedic career; through her teens and early 20’s, she guest-starred in over 16 television series and movies. It was not until she landed on the WB series Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane that someone must have taken notice of the vivacious red-head and that same year, she landed a major role in the Ryan Murphy series Popular.

On  Popular Sara was cast as Carmen, the bubbly outsider who just wanted to be a part of the in-crowd. This was a break-out role for her, along with many of her co-stars, Leslie Bibb (Kings, Crossing Jordan), Carly Pope (Dirt, The Collector), and Christopher Gorham (Ugly Betty, Harper’s Island). Despite lasting only 2 seasons,  Popular remains a fan-favorite and is frequently cited as one of the most relatable television portrayals of high school life.

After  Popular Sara was next seen in a cameo role in the World War II drama Pearl Harbor playing one of the nurses stationed in Pearl Harbor. From that point on, Sara slid effortlessly between film and television for another 5 years until she landed the feature role in the sitcom series Less Than Perfect.

Less Than Perfect ran 4 seasons, a remarkable achievement credited to the winning personality of Sara Rue and the strong supporting cast of Eric Roberts, Zachary Levi (currently starring in Chuck), Andrea Parker (formerly of The Pretender), Andy Dick, Sherri Shepherd, and Patrick Warburton. After moving to the notorious Friday night “death slot,” the series wrapped up and Sara returned to guest-starring in a variety of film and television roles, including a 3 episode arc on the enormously popular comedy The Big Bang Theory as Leonard Hofstadter’s girlfriend.

Finally, in stroke of good luck, Sara scored the delightful role as Penny Higgins, sidekick to Lindsay Price’s Joanna, in the new ABC series Eastwick. While not a lead role, Sara is radiant as Penny and frequently outshines her bigger name co-stars. Her comedic timing is pitch-perfect and she can garner a laugh with just a well-timed look. She also infuses Penny with such warmth and confidence that quickly it draws the viewers’ attention. She is an apt scene-stealer and her engaging personality makes us want to see more of her on screen.

If you have not yet had a chance to see this dazzling performer, be sure to check out Eastwick Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC.

Nia Vardalos Came Up With Today’s Column Topic

No, really. Nia Vardalos asked what we were up to on Twitter, and I Tweeted that I was having a hard time coming up with a topic for my column, so she gave me an idea.  I’m not really going to write about gophers feeling fat, but the issue of body image on TV is one that provokes a lot of discussion, from the tabloids to medical journals. Now that I’ve finally recovered from a neck injury that had me sidelined for about a year, after a couple of years of intense stress led to some very unhealthy eating habits, it’s time to focus on losing 40lbs and getting back to my fighting weight. Ironically, losing 40lbs would still make me “fat” in Hollywood, but if I lost 45lbs, I’d look like a lollipop in real life. Big head, stick body. True story.

Still, as much TV as I watch, it’s hard not to feel like I should give up everything but water (with lemon!) and grapefruit so I can be a size 00. Knowing that Spanx are often involved in perfecting silhouettes on the tube does help, and I’m certainly not planning on acquiring an eating disorder as part of my weight loss plan, but I wonder if working out while watching TV is the best idea. Or perhaps it will serve as motivation to stay on the NordicTrack for another 10 minutes?

Fortunately there are a few “normal” girls representin’ for the rest of us non-size 2’s. Of course, the playing field still isn’t level. I wish I had America Ferrera’s hair (p.s. just watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 on HBO this weekend with Privileged’s Lucy Hale as Alexis Bledel’s lil sis. Love her!) and Sarah Rue’s skin is a-mazing plus her wardrobe on Less Than Perfect is so me. Mariska Hargitay has a figure I aspire to, and Sarah Lancaster’s eyes are…well, a lot like mine, so at least I’ve got that going for me.

And while I’m at it – Nia Vardalos? I covet your hair and eyebrows. Also, your My Life in Ruins wardrobe (except for the tour guide jacket).

Photo credit: Wireimage

What Happens When Shows ‘Ship The Wrong Couples?

It seems that no matter if a show is a comedy or a drama, crime procedural or wacky sitcom, viewers inevitably gravitate toward a couple they want to see together. But what happens when the show itself puts two people together who don’t really click? Can the pairing grow on us, or is the show doomed to failure if the core couple doesn’t spark?

Cupid – The whole premise of this show was matchmaking, with Trevor and Claire at the center. For the first couple of episodes, I couldn’t see any romantic potential between them. Mostly, Claire just seemed irritated by Trevor and Trevor seemed more interested in making his 100 matches than pursuing Claire. Eventually, though, the relationship started to progress. Claire softened toward Claire a little, Trevor’s focus widened to include Claire. By the end of the series’ short run, I could see the beginnings of a good, two or three season long run of building toward them being together. Too bad ABC nipped that in the bud.

Royal Pains – In the series premiere we were presented with Jill, on paper the perfect match for Hank. Too bad they don’t have any chemistry. I’m hoping this is another case where the pairing will grow on me, but so far they’ve had a “meet cute”, bantered, helped each other out, had a fight, made up, and shared a dinner in a romantic setting, all with zero sexual tension. They’re good-looking people with shared interests, but sometimes the spark just isn’t there. I’m more interested in the potential with Hank’s fiery assistant, Divya. They’ve had very little screen time together thus far, but seem to have better chemistry than Jill/Hank. Did Royal Pains pick the wrong couple to ’ship?

Killer Hair – Speaking of no chemistry, how about Lacey and Vic in the Lifetime Movie Network adaptation of Killer Hair? As I said in my review, Vic does have the unfortunate obstacle of little character development in the book series on which the movie is based, so this is a ’ship that hits an iceberg across two media. Lacey and Tony, now there’s a sizzler! Will the movie series follow the books and force Lacey to stay with Vic? Or will it break away and give Tony a chance?

True Blood – Here’s another show based on a book series which complicates matters. Sookie and Bill are currently the show’s core couple, and boy do they have chemistry! Real-life couple Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer bring the heat on the series, but those who have read the books know that the relationship doesn’t last. If the series follows the books, we should expect to see Eric and Sookie heat up soon, with a couple of other boyfriends in the mix. Will Sookie/Eric have sparks equal to Sookie/Bill? Or will it feel forced like the Sookie/Sam pairing the show toyed with in season 1?

Can you think of any other current pairings that don’t feel right? How about in past shows? I’ll confess, the Ross/Rachel thing on Friends never seemed that profound to me, but I did think Claude and Kipp would be a spicy pairing on Less Than Perfect.

Writer’s Block: How Did Carrie Bradshaw Do It?

You know, when writing an article means reviewing a show or commenting on someone else’s interview or simply talking about the latest TV news, that doesn’t phase me. OK, the reviewing kind of does, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. Watch for my reviews of Lifetime’s Killer Hair and SyFy’s Warehouse 13, coming soon! [/shameless plug] When it comes to writing a personal column, though, I struggle. What do I have to say about television and/or life that’s at all interesting?

Here’s a glimpse of my week since last Monday when I revealed my secret addiction to reruns of The Nanny and Less Than Perfect: cook dinner for 10 people; yoga; participate in Chuck Me Mondays. Tuesday: Work; mow the lawn; watch The Closer from night before; make cold supper because gas stove won’t turn on. Wednesday: Work; cook dinner in crock pot because gas stove is still not fixed; workout; watch Killer Hair screener. Thursday: Work; NGTV Radio; get takeout because gas stove is still not fixed; skip Burn Notice & Royal Pains so I can watch Warehouse 13 screener in prep for conference call next day. Friday: Work; True Blood Radio; conference call for Warehouse 13 which was so packed I did not get to ask my questions; finally cook supper on own stove. Saturday – Sunday: take care of 7 nieces and nephews while their parents are out of town; collapse.

Other than the saga of the gas stove, I have no idea what to pull from last week to write about this week. And that saga isn’t all that interesting. I still haven’t watched Burn Notice or Royal Pains, although I now have the theme from Polar Express stuck in my head thanks to the nieces & nephews watching it 3 times in 36 hours. Then they switched to That’s So The Suite Life of Hannah Montana, or something. I kind of wished they’d put Polar Express back on, but then I made them go outside and jump on the trampoline instead. I’m such a mean aunt.

And there you have it, the totally glamorous and column-worthy life of a Nice Girl. I guess I did have a column in me after all.

Guilty Pleasures: Reruns

Last December when I finally took the plunge and got DirecTV with DVR, I was excited about being able to record shows like Bones and Fringe and Chuck instead of trying to catch them online. Then, of course, there were all the added channels. I had basic cable before. And by basic, I mean BASIC. I had the broadcast netorks, plus WGN and two shopping channels, but no TNT, USA, AMC, HGTV…you get the picture. Being able to watch Psych and Leverage in real time rather than waiting for them to show up online made me giddy. And then, I rediscovered syndication.

Of course I’ve seen every episode of Friends 12 times in syndication. I’ve killed time with Seinfeld and Frasier as well. They’re staples of my local affiliates’ we-need-to-fill-30-minutes scheduling, so I suppose I was ready for something new. A couple of weeks ago, aimlessly flicking through the on-screen guide for something to watch instead of going to bed, The Nanny showed up on Nick at Night. And then I realized that it’s on every night. Two episodes, sometimes four. Bliss! I watched from Fran’s first nasal laugh through the increasingly ridiculous plots and meta moments until the completely over-the-top finale with Fran, Maxwell and the twins. But that was a decade ago. Now I’m reliving the whole series. Well, at least from season 3; I’ll have to catch the earlier episodes when the loop starts again. P.S. Did you know that Madeline Zima, aka Grace, has been tapped for a role in Heroes next season?

Meanwhile, over on Lifetime, Less Than Perfect just began syndicating from the beginning. Another favorite of mine early on, I lost track of it after a couple of seasons. If I recall correctly, the entire final season never aired in the U.S. although it did finish its run overseas. So here’s the chance to watch Zachary Levi play a very different comic role prior to Chuck, Andrea Parker play a completely different character than her Miss Parker from The Pretender (hey, is that in reruns anywhere?), and Sara Rue hold her own in the lead role prior to the debut of her new series, Eastwick, on ABC this fall.

Now that I have hours of The Nanny and Less Than Perfect filling my DVR, along with Barefoot Contessa and What Not to Wear, I may never sleep again.

ABC To Stream New, Classic Shows on Hulu

Well this should make the aliens happy: ABC/Disney has purchased a stake in Hulu.com, allowing them to begin streaming their shows on the online TV network and turning our brains to even more mush. The deal has to go through regulatory approval first, so no date has been announced for ABC to begin offering their shows on Hulu, but expect it to be early this summer. Here’s a list of what ABC plans to start with on Hulu:

• Lost
• Scrubs
• Ugly Betty
• Desperate Housewives
• Grey’s Anatomy
• Private Practice
• General Hospital
• Greek
• Less Than Perfect
• The Secret Life of the American Teenager
• Commander in Chief
• Hope & Faith
• The View

You’ll notice some ABC Family shows in there (Greek, Secret Life), plus some classics (watch a pre-Chuck Zachary Levi on Less Than Perfect!). Disney plans to offer a few shows from The Disney Channel in the future as well. Hulu already streams new and classic shows from NBC Universal and News Corp (aka Fox).  How long until CBS finally throws in the towel and joins them?