NGTV Guide: Wednesday, March 10

It’s another season finale tonight when Psych goes out with a bang.

The New Adventures of Old Christine – CBS 8/7c
“Subway, Somehow” – In an effort to teach Ritchie’s class some street smarts, Christine encourages the school to let them take the subway on a field trip but ends up stranded at the station as the train leaves without her.

Modern Family – ABC 9/8c
“Truth Be Told” – After reconnecting on Facebook, Phil invites his old high school girlfriend (guest star Judy Greer) to drop by the house, but this friendly visit quickly turns into trouble. Meanwhile Jay accidentally kills Manny’s beloved pet turtle, then goes to extremes to cover his tracks, and an overworked Mitchell finally stands up to his boss.

Cougar Town - ABC 9:30/8:30c
“Counting on You” – Jules is determined to prove to Grayson that women and men can be friends without any sexual undertones. Meanwhile, with Jules’ encouragement, Andy buys a motorcycle from Laurie — to Ellie’s dismay — and Travis joins Bobby on a man-trip for some “noodling,” only to be mortified by his discovery of what noodling actually is.

Ugly Betty – ABC 10/9c
“Fire and Nice” – To speed along the investigation into her house fire, Betty is pressured to date an annoying fireman, Jimmy (Rich Sommer, “Mad Men”). Wilhemina tries to prove to Don, an old flame from her past (Brian Stokes Mitchell), that she’s just “Wanda from the block” instead of an uber-bitch, and Amanda draws closer to Tyler, convincing Claire to hire him as an in-house model at Mode. Meanwhile, Hilda meets Bobby’s parents for the first time (Lainie Kazan and Nestor Serrano).

Psych – USA 10/9c – SEASON FINALE
“Mr. Yin Presents” – A killer targets Shawn using scenarios from classic Hitchcock films. Is Mr. Yang responsible? Ally Sheedy guest stars.

Spotlight On: Ana Ortiz

Seemingly coming out of nowhere in the early 2000’s, Ana Ortiz was soon outshining her bigger name co-stars, Kristin Chenoweth (“Pushing Daisies”) and Jon Tenny (“The Closer”) in the television series “Kristin.” It was quickly apparent that the theatrically trained starlet was bound and determined to make a name for herself in television, particularly after her initial attempts to make an entrance only landed a few nameless roles in shows such as “Condition Red” and “Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.” So when the opportunity arose to demonstrate her comedic chops and screen presence, Ana rose to the occasion. While the role on “Kristin” was short-lived because the series lasted only 11 episodes, Ana was off and running, and quickly moved on to a series of guest appearances on shows like “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Greetings from Tucson,” “NYPD Blue” “Strong Medicine,” “ER,” “A.U.S.A.,” “North Shore,” “Blind Justice,” and “Freddie.” Along the way she also took the time to appear in the films “Mr. St. Nick” with Kelsey Grammer and “Carolina” with Julia Stiles and Shirley MacLaine.

Finally after four years of persistence, Ana’s unique ability to bring a light comedic touch to dramatic roles landed her a seven episode arc on the Iraq war drama “Over There” alongside Sprague Grayden (known for her roles in cult favorites “John Doe” and “Jericho”) and Luke MacFarlane (who now plays Scotty on “Brothers & Sisters”). Once her story arc concluded, Ana quickly snagged a plum guest appearance role
as a tenacious ADA on the David E. Kelley legal drama, “Boston Legal.”

But these were but stepping stones to the role of a lifetime as immediately afterward Ana landed the role of Hilda Suarez, Betty’s sister in the ABC fashion sensation “Ugly Betty.” Playing a young mother struggling to provide for her precocious son, Ana’s natural grace and razor-sharp delivery of side-splitting one-liners was
captivating. She managed to bring warmth and poignancy to a role that could have easily been a caricature. Instead she brought to life a character that many young women could identify with and even aspire to.

During “Ugly Betty’s” four year run, Ana also found the time to work on a few film projects as well, such as “Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story” with A. Martinez and “Labor Pains” with Lindsay Lohan. Clearly, Ana is not one to sit still and moves with apparent effortless ease between comedy and drama.

It has been a privilege to watch Ana blossom into the captivating actress she is today and we can only hope to see her in other such unique and inspiring roles in the future.

“Ugly Betty” airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. on ABC.

NGTV Guide: Wednesday, February 10

It’s a full night of TV viewing for the Nice Girls as the Valentine’s Day episodes begin.

Modern Family – ABC 9/8c
“My Funky Valentine” – Phil and Claire break from their traditional Valentine’s Day dinner date and plan a little “role play” excursion. Meanwhile, Jay and Gloria’s ideas of romance clash when he takes her to a comedy show, and Mitchell and Cameron play cupid for Manny.

Cougar Town – ABC 9:30/8:30
“When a Kid Goes Bad” -  When everyone else makes plans for Valentine’s Day, Jules looks to Grayson for company, only to learn he hates the holiday. Meanwhile, Bobby and Jules are at an impasse over letting Travis go to a party where he’ll undoubtedly be drinking, Ellie is determined to triumph as alpha dog over Grayson, and Laurie meets Smith’s dad (Barry Bostwick).

Leverage - TNT 10/9c
“The Three Strikes Job” – While trying to take down a corrupt local mayor exploiting his love of baseball, the LEVERAGE team runs into an unexpected complication.

Ugly Betty – ABC 10/9c
“Smokin’ Hot” – Wilhemina marginalizes Betty during Fashion Week but Daniel intercedes, and she’s assigned to cover a low-priority show. There, she discovers a new designer, Marisa, whom she promotes as one of the 10 Designers to Watch, but Marc steals all her thunder. Meanwhile, Amanda is impressed by Helen’s (Kristen Johnston’s) sewing skills and teams up with her to start a new line, but cannot convince Marc or Betty to lobby Wilhemina on her behalf. Claire’s son Tyler (Neal Bledsoe) comes to New York to find her, and Daniel gets seduced into modeling. The fashion and the feelings are smoking hot, but the real flames are at the Suarez home, which mysteriously catches fire.

Psych – USA 10/9c
Shawn and Gus find Juliet’s ex-boyfriend who is in WITSEC and end up arresting the FBI agent who covered up the murder that the ex-boyfriend witnessed.

NGTV Guide: Wednesday, February 3

Wow, Wednesdays at 10 sure did get cluttered recently.

Leverage – TNT 10/9c
“The Future Job” – The team goes after a con man masquerading as a psychic medium (guest star Luke Perry) in order to drain the life savings of his bereaved clients.

Ugly Betty – ABC 10/9c
“Chica and the Man” – Wilhemina is furious when she discovers she has a drag queen impersonator – Wilhediva Hater (portrayed by Vanessa Williams’ brother, Chris Williams). The fur flies with unexpected results amid guest stars who include RuPaul Charles as Rudolph, the emcee of the cabaret. Meanwhile Betty receives an award for her blog, which causes tension between her and Daniel. When she vents online, her fans in blogosphere escalate the feud, and the press hounds Daniel. Amanda rehires Helen (Kristen Johnston), but Willie orders Amanda to fire her — which Amanda just can’t bring herself to do. And Marc runs his own photo shoot with a famous director (played by Carlos Leon) and actress.

Psych – USA 10/9c
“Thrill Seekers and Hell Raisers” – When Shawn and Gus join Gus’ new girlfriend on a rafting trip, a member of the group goes overboard, but Shawn quickly realizes it was no accident. Sarah Shahi (Life) guest stars.

The 6 Month Break, Or The Guilt-Free Way To Dump A Love Interest

Say you’re a showrunner and you’ve set up your leading man or lady with a love interest, just to mix things up. Say their on-screen love affair is going along pretty well with a few bumps thrown in to “keep it real”. Then say you decide it’s time to dump the love interest. Maybe they were just a temporary relationship until the REAL one – the one the fans have been jonesing for – could happen. Or the guest star needs to move on to other projects. Or your lead’s life is too easy and you need to give them some drama. But you’ve established that the love interest is a nice person (otherwise your lead wouldn’t have fallen for them in the first place), and you don’t want to make your lead look stupid/insane/murderous. How do you get rid of the love interest?

Send them on a humanitarian mission for six months, that’s how.

A few weeks ago Ugly Betty’s Matt and Betty broke up after Matt announced he was going to Africa for six months, “or longer”, to participate in humanitarian work. Betty can’t go with him, nor can she blame him for wanting to make a difference in the world, so they break up. I never saw much chemistry between Matt and Betty, so I never thought he was The One for her. This was a creative way to end that relationship without a lot of angst, I thought.

Then I watched last week’s Psych. Shawn and Abigail have been together for a while now, but we all know Shawn and Juliet are meant for each other. But Abigail is so nice! She’s sweet, she seems to “get” Shawn, and she’s got a quirky sense of humor. So how can the writers disentangle Shawn without undoing some of the character growth we’ve seen lately? Voila! A humanitarian trip to Uganda to build schools and teach children presents itself and Abigail takes it. How long will she be away? Six months. At least. (To be fair, this episode of Psych had been filmed long before Ugly Betty’s similarly plotted extrication aired.) Good-bye Abigail, hello chance to mature a bit for Shawn. Oh, and now the Shawn/Juliet pairing can progress. Neat and tidy.

So there you have it, aspiring screenwriters. The perfect way to extricate your lead from a nice-but-not-really-going-anywhere relationship.

(Why is Chuck a tag on this article? Because if you watched the season premiere last month, you may have noticed that after Chuck opted to save the world instead of run away with Sarah, he fell into a depression for…six months. Apparently six months isn’t enough time for Chuck to get over Sarah, or vice versa.)

So Long, Betty: ABC Cancels Ugly Betty

Darn it! Ugly Betty’s fab fourth season will be i’s last, per a joint announcement from ABC prez Steve McPherson and Ugly Betty’s excec producer Silvio Horta.

“We’ve mutually come to the difficult decision to make this Ugly Betty’s final season, and are announcing now as we want to allow the show ample time to write a satisfying conclusion. We are extremely proud of this groundbreaking series, and felt it was important to give the fans a proper farewell.”

I suppose the silver lining is that the writers will have enough time to write a series finale, tying up all the storylines. Shall we start speculating now about who will end up with whom and where? I can see Betty breaking off on her own to start a new magazine or taking control of a floundering mag and turning it around. Willie runs off with Connor (finally) and Marc takes over her job at Mode. Amanda gets a fashion editor position (finally). Do Hilda and Bobby end up together? Which of Betty’s many admirers does she end up with, or does she end up with any of them? What’s in Daniel’s future?

Keeping Up With the Boneses

The holiday hiatus is over, and how! I spent the weekend catching up on shows as far back as last Wednesday’s ABC lineup, so I thought a little grab bag of comments would be appropriate.

Modern Family – I love how this show has set up various stereotypes, then proceeds to break them down little by little. The Claire vs. the remote storyline was very funny, but it was Jay who truly came out ahead this week.

Cougar Town – The whole Laurie & Grayson thing is kind of grossing me out. If Grayson and Jules are each other’s “someday” people, it’s kind of ick that Laurie’s already been there. Ellie’s very sweet confession of love for Andy added some dimension to her character; Andy’s assumption that sex would follow yanked us back on track.

Ugly Betty – Is it wrong that I’m a little relieved Hilda isn’t going to have a baby? It’s sad for the characters, and Ana Ortiz played Hilda’s grief perfectly, but with everything else going on this season a pregnancy felt like too much. Even on this show.

The New Adventures of Old Christine – Has Christine actually found a long-term guy in Max? At first I thought their quirkiness could work together, and any excuse for Blair Underwood’s Mr. Harris to return is OK by me, but Max’s speech at the end was less funny than verging on emotionally abusive. The rest of the gang’s antics, swooning over Mr. Harris, were hilarious.

Bones - Very clever, Bones writers. Give us a whole episode surrounding the assassination of JFK, then leave us in doubt when Brennan “proves” that the bones couldn’t be his. Was that really JFK’s bone sinking into the pudding, or did she pull a switcharoo for Booth? Also, Angela’s pregnancy scare would have held a little more weight if I hadn’t watched Ugly Betty first, but, again, I’m glad she’s not preggers.

The Vampire Diaries – What is it with the bad boys?!?! Damon is a bad, bad, bad guy. Killing, manipulating, generally living in a state of selfishness. But at the first hint of humor and tenderness toward Elayna, I was all, KISS HIM! Maybe I’m the shallow one here.

The Mentalist – Seriously? Lisbon didn’t know about Riggs & Van Pelt? Can’t see the forest for the trees, I guess. Speaking of…I didn’t see the tie-in with the news reporter coming. Nice sleight of hand there.

The Office – Huh. It was a clip show. I guess it’s earned the right to one of those by now. Bets on whether that guy recommends his company buy Dunder-Mifflin now?

30 Rock – I’ve only been to Boston a couple of times (going again in March!), but I got a kick out of all the inside jokes thrown at us in the evening’s “road trip” episode. I’m really starting to wonder if Liz and Jack are destined for each other, though.

What Not To Wear – No, I’m not kidding. I DVR WNTW so I can fast forward through the boring stuff (do they really need to both preview AND recap before/after each commercial break?) and get to the transformative stuff. This week’s tomboy jazz singer was a fun transformation to watch. Bless her heart.

That’s it in a nutshell. I still need to watch Dollhouse from a week ago. If I don’t watch it, then the series isn’t ending, right?

NGTV Guide: Wednesday, January 13

Hold on to your valuables, the LEVERAGE team is back!

Cougar Town – 9:30/8:30c
“Scare Easy” – Jules freaks out when things when things heat up with her boyfriend (Scott Foley guest stars as Jeff), while Laurie seeks diversion sex with an unsuspecting friend and Andy spills the beans about his big secret.

Leverage – TNT 10/9c – SEASON PREMIERE
“The Runway Job” – In order to take down an oppressive sweatshop owner, the LEVERAGE team infiltrates the fashion world.

Ugly Betty - ABC 10/9c
“Back in Her Place” – A battered but unbowed Betty recounts her worst week EVER to Mr. Z (guest star Fisher Stevens) as the show flashes back to her horrible last few days. Frustrated over the frivolous assignments Wilhemina gives her at Mode, and inspired by Audrey Hepburn’s memoir, Betty creates her own blog about amazing charitable ventures that inspire her. However, as her hobby enriches her, her job is nearly killing her, since Wilhemina tortures Betty with beauty experiments for future stories. Meanwhile, Daniel fears Marc is sabotaging him — and he is; Bobby treats a hormonal Hilda to some pampering during “Hilda Week,” which goes awry, and Wilhelmina makes a long-term commitment to the incarcerated Connor.

NGTV Guide: Wednesday, January 6

Ugly Betty moves to a new night and time to kick off the second half of a season that’s returned to the quality that made us fall in love with the show four years ago, plus it’s a Friends reunion on Cougar Town.

Cougar Town – ABC 9:30/8:30c
“Rhino Skin” – Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow reunite. Despite fearing the meanest and most unrelenting dermatologist in town, Dr. Amy Evans (Lisa Kudrow), Jules and Ellie are willing to endure the harsh ridicule and wrath for an appointment with the best in the business. But when Jules learns Dr. Evans is seeing Bobby, she’s determined to stand up to her and protect him. Meanwhile, Travis gets a job working for Barb that turns out to be more than he bargained for.

Ugly Betty – ABC 10/9c – NEW TIMESLOT
“The Passion of the Betty” -  Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family”) makes a cameo appearance, returning as Betty’s orthodontist, Dr. Farkas. When Betty becomes concerned that she and Matt are spending too much time together, she tries to give him something else to be passionate about — a surprise gallery showing of his art work — with unintended results (Tony Award-winning actress Christine Ebersole guest stars as Frances, the gallery owner). Meanwhile, Marc is horrified that his one-night stand, Troy (Matt Newton), is falling for him, since Marc was Troy’s “first,” Hilda grapples with whether or not to tell Bobby that he’s the father of her unborn child, and Cal Hartley hires a Hollywood powerhouse, Denise Ludwig (Nadia Dajani), to replace Wilhemina.

Top 10 TV Surprises of 2009

Have you noticed how the end of the year warrants umpteen lists of the best this and worst that and most whatever? I’m a list-maker by nature, as the other Nice Girls can attest, so this way of recapping a year is one I can get behind. Besides, far be it from me to shirk tradition! Herewith, the 10 most surprising things in television this year, at least to me.

10. Renew Chuck fan campaign gets national coverage. I was never concerned that Chuck wouldn’t be back for a third season, but in the interest of fandom, I joined our sister site ChuckTV.net in organizing the fan campaign for renewal last spring. We hoped it would draw some notice from fellow bloggers and Chuck fans, and of course NBC, but the day CNN called about doing a segment we were giddy with shock.

Leverage kept summer interesting

9. Summer TV didn’t suck. The networks have been talking about a year-round schedule for several years now, but it’s cable stepping up to fill in the gap during the summer months. This year my time-honored tradition of catching up on broadcast television when it was too hot to go outside was scuttled just to keep up with all the quality shows airing for the first time. The Closer, Psych, Royal Pains, True Blood, Merlin, Leverage…it’s almost enough to make a Nice Girl go crazy from excellent storytelling.

8. Peter is the one holding Kate captive on White Collar. Or is he? In the final moments of the White Collar fall finale, it appeared that Peter was the one who had been holding Kate hostage this whole time, presumably to control Neal. But is all what it appears? Creator Jeff Eastin Tweeted a couple of interesting statements late Friday: “Don’t assume anything you see is what it seems” and “Clue: it was set up from the beginning. How does Peter find Neal in the pilot?” So while my initial reaction was, “WHAT?!?” and an immediate rewind to watch that scene again, even before reading Jeff’s Tweets, I started following the trail of breadcrumbs from the beginning and realized that, no, all is NOT what it seems. (By the way, if you need a refresher on what happened in the pilot, Jeff Tweeted a link to the script.)

7. Justin Suarez isn’t gay. In the November 13 episode of Ugly Betty, teenage Justin walks the gauntlet at his high school where he’s the target for bullies and teasing. Advice from Marc helps him get in with the “mean girls”, but the jocks still attempt to humiliate him at homecoming (which was on a Sunday? what?) by naming him Homecoming Queen. Justin turns the tables by giving the honor to mom Hilda, then later stuns everyone by saying it doesn’t really matter what the bullies say because he isn’t gay. “So, he’s not,” says Marc. Maybe Justin’s still figuring himself out, but I gotta admit, even on a show where scheming and shockers are an art form, I did not see that coming.

6. Glee. I know, I’ve mentioned many times that I’m not a fan of musicals and yet I love this show. Surprising in and of itself, but even more surprising is how it’s been embraced by the general viewing audience, and kept up the standard it set in the first episode. From Mr. Shu breaking out into rap to Finn believing Quinn’s impregnation tale to Tina’s revelation that she doesn’t stutter to Sue Sylvester’s soft side to the usually brilliant musical numbers, this is a show that constantly surprises me.

5. Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne share a half-brother. By the time this BBC show killed Marian at the end of season 2, it had veered so far from Robin Hood lore that I didn’t know what to expect from season 3. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to watch season 3, but the lure of a brooding Richard Armitage was too strong to resist. The shenanigans continued for most of the season – robbing the rich to give to the poor, clashing with the Sheriff of Nottingham, Robin and Guy continuing their feud – until the fourth to last episode of the series when we finally got some backstory on said feud. It sure took them long enough, but what a bombshell to drop: not only were Guy’s mother and Robin’s father lovers, they had a son. The baby was sent away and subsequently became a criminal, ending up in jail and about to be hanged before Robin and Guy came to his rescue. With Robin and Guy both killed in the series finale, we were conveniently left with the promise that Archer, along with the rest of the Merry Men, would continue Robin Hood’s crusade.

4. Vampire Diaries. I’m not a fan of that other teen vampire series, and when I saw the preview for this show at Comic Con, I came down with the giggles. BethAnne convinced me to give it a shot, though, and wouldn’t you know, the pilot hooked me. Sure, it’s full of teen angst and melodrama, but it’s compelling and entertaining. Despite first impressions at Comic Con, it won a season pass on my DVR.

3. The ending of Every. Single. Episode. of True Blood. Seriously, is Alan Ball trying to give us mass heart attacks?

Dollhouse returned on FOX

2. James Franco guest stars on General Hospital. I don’t watch the soaps. I’ll confess that the acting and production quality generally leave me cold. Yes, I’m a bit of a snob there and yes, I realize that there are plenty of primetime shows with crappy acting, but at least the production quality is better. Anyway. When Golden Globe-winning film star James Franco was announced as joining General Hospital for a lengthy guest role, my jaw hit the floor. The more I’ve read about him, though, the more impressed I am with him and his career choices. Kudos to James for doing what he wants for his career, whether it’s optioning books to produce as films or attending soap opera acting bootcamp.

1. Dollhouse gets a second season. We know now that its second will be its last, but even Joss Whedon was shocked when Fox gave the greenlight for more episodes after dismal season one ratings. I’d say that announcement hit 5.0 on the Richter scale.

What were your biggest TV surprises this year?

Next Page »