Nostalgia TV - ME TV

Nostalgic for your old-time favorite TV shows?  Welcome to ME-TV!
 
The cable channel ME-TV (Memorable Entertainment Television)  presents a wide variety of  classic, iconic series that so many of us grew up with and have defined pop culture and television for decades.

Shows currently in the channel's ongoing lineup include comedies like M*A*S*H, Cheers, I Love Lucy, The Bob Newhart Show, The Honeymooners, My Three Sons, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and more.  Dramas include the original Hawaii Five-0, Emergency!, Perry Mason, The Big Valley, Star Trek, Columbo, Route 66, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, The Rockford Files and The Untouchables, among many others.

Give a watch and let the memories roll in!

To find ME-TV in your area, visit www.metvnetwork.com and enter your zip code in their provider finder to see where you can watch in your area. Follow the link to your local affiliate's website for local broadcast, cable and satellite distribution information.

TNT - Have a Blast With These Fun Shows

TNT is on fire with two shows, one of which I have been with since its premiere, the other I have heard of but only recently watched and liked.

This show was a winner for me from the get-go.

Here's the lowdown:  Based on characters created by best-selling crime novelist Tess Gerritsen, Rizzoli & Isles stars Angie Harmon as Jane Rizzoli, a tough-as-nails Boston police detective, and Sasha Alexander as Maura Isles, a smart, impeccably dressed medical examiner from a privileged background. Despite being complete opposites, the two women share an offbeat chemistry and strong working relationship that has helped them bust some of Boston’s most notorious criminals.

The series co-stars Lorraine Bracco as Jane’s demanding and intrusive mother, Angela, Lee Thompson Young as Detective Barry Frost, Jane’s somewhat green partner, Bruce McGill as Detective Vince Korsak, Jane’s seasoned former partner who resents her being paired with Frost, and Jordan Bridges as Jane’s brother, Frankie Jr., a patrol cop who hopes one day to become a detective.

I love the unlikely, how-on-earth-are-these-two-women-friends? friendship because Harmon and Alexander really pull it off.  Their chemistry is undeniable and I really like the way the show usually bookends each episode with them, the opener just a small vignette in their lives/relationship, the closer wrapping up with a nod to what's happened in the hour and how they've been affected. 

The show does have moments of real drama, from Jane dealing with trauma caused by a criminal from her past (who recurred over several episodes) to Maura dealing with having a mob boss for a biological father to a real falling out between the two friends.  They eventually made up and are back in fine, fun, banter-filled form.

This show has been on for a while but I wasn't really drawn to it.  It did have actors I've seen on other shows I love (Angel, Supernatural) but wouldn't necessarily follow over to this show.  But the other day I had it on in the background and little by little I caught moments that had me laughing out loud.  Plus I love the heist genre, and so I gave another episode a viewing.  Now, me likey.

The lowdown:  The Leverage crew is led by former insurance investigator turned thief, Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton). His cohorts include Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), a brilliant grifter; Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane, Lindsey on Angel), a retrieval specialist; Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge, Jake on Supernatural), a gadget and technology wizard; and Parker (Beth Riesgraf), a slightly off-center thief adept at rappelling off buildings. The quintet uses their skills to fight corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens.

Again, great cast chemistry is key and each character fills an important role to the overall team, making it a solid unit.  It's a great balance of action and humor, a combination I love in other shows I watch, including Hawaii Five-0, Castle and Psych.

That's my opinion.  Now give these series a watch and see if you agree.  Way to go, TNT!

Both shows happen to air on Tuesday nights.  Catch new episodes of Rizzoli & Isles at 9 p.m., followed by new episodes of Leverage at 10 p.m. 

Rest in Peace - Larry Hagman

TV icon Larry Hagman, whose screen career spanned nearly 55 years, has passed away at the age of 81 due to complications from cancer.

He was best known as Major Tony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie (1965-1970):

And of course J.R. Ewing in both the original Dallas (1978-1991) and the reboot, which debuted last summer and will return in January.  At the time of his death, he had completed filming six new episodes.

Rest in peace.

The Network Axes Fall Again ...

Three new casualties of the fall season have come to pass ...

 

I had saved the first six episodes of this devlish series starring Terry O'Quinn and Vanessa Williams and finally buckled down to watch them recently.  It's a decent show, not necessarily "must-see" TV, but entertaining enough.  But alas, it is not meant to continue.  ABC will let it play out the 13-episode run, then Satan's posh playground will fade away.

 

I had anticipated watching this series starring Andre Braugher and Scott Speedman but was unable to because of a crowded Thursday 8 p.m. time slot.  Kind of glad now that I didn't get committed cause it always hurts to have a show taken away so early on.  It's a shame ... I have heard that it's a strong show creatively.  It too will play out it's initial 13-episode run.  Upside?  I'm hoping Autumn Reeser will come back to Hawaii Five-0  in a more frequent capacity.

This is one series (starring Michael Urie and David Krumholtz) I'm actually not sorry to see go.  I watched the pilot and just had no love for it.  Gave it one more try but, no.  I'm never happy to see actors lose work, but this show just wasn't funny.  A very poor Will & Grace redux (same creators).



Still plenty more on, so keep watching!

Watch This Show - Breaking Bad

I repeat:  Watch.  This. Show.

I had heard people talk about Breaking Bad over the years and not a one had an even close to bad thing to say about it.   But still, I never saw it as my cup of tea.  I mean I have heard amazing things about The Sopranos, The Wire and The Shield but have never had the desire to get into them (not to say I won't, because I do hear such great things about the latter two, especially).

But when I got season one of BB in a swag bag, I put it in a pile of DVDs for later viewing.  A few weeks ago later came around and, being such a short first season, I hunkered down and watched.

And it really is as good as everyone says, maybe better. I strived to zip through the Netflix discs of subsequent seasons, eagerly, hungrily awaiting the next until this past weekend, when I finally caught up with season five, part one.  Now I'm in the agonizing holding pattern with everyone else till the series - the end of the series, in fact - returns next summer.

Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White (the ever-brilliant, Emmy-winning Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle), one of the most fearless actors out there), an underachieving chemistry teacher who, after being diagnosed with lung cancer, uses his expertise to begin cooking meth to get the money to pay for his treatments and provide for his family's future.
 

His partner in crime is Jesse Pinkman (the terrific Aaron Paul (Big Love), who just picked up his second Emmy for the role), a former student who was a small-time dealer till he hits the big time with Walt, but not without many consequences, pitfalls, losses, betrayals and a whole lotta pain.

Walt, a.k.a. "Heisenberg," is doggedly pursued by DEA agent Hank Schrader (Dean Norris, CSI, Medium), who just happens to be his brother-in-law: Hank is married to Marie (Betsy Brandt,Without a Trace, Private Practice), the sister of Walt's wife Skylar (Anna Gunn, Deadwood, The Practice).  I don't want to give anything away ... let's just say Skylar's existence in Walt's life is anything but easy.

The show has had an amazing cast of regulars and guest stars, most notably How I Met Your Mother's Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman), Wiseguy's Jonathan Banks (Mike Ehrmantraut) and Revolution's Giancarlo Esposito (Gustavo "Gus" Fring).  The story moves at breakneck speed, often horrifying you with unspeakable images and scenarios.  It's violent, shocking and addictive to the most satisfying degree.

I can't really say much more with out giving away possible spoilers, and I won't do that to you.  What I will do is greatly urge you to submerse yourself in the world of Breaking Bad and see what everyone, now including me, are raving about.

Breaking Bad is available on DVD and through Netflix.  The second half of Season 5 - the show's last - airs summer 2013 on AMC.

Supernatural Postmortem

Oh, my  beloved Supernatural, what art thou doing to me?

Without question, this is my all-time favorite show, as I have written in earlier blog entries.  I love the characters, I defend it to the hilt on message boards criticizing it, I have faith in the storytellers behind it and have been disappointed very, very rarely over its many seasons.  And I hope for more seasons to come.

So why am I so frustrated by season 8?  Why am I waiting to fall in love with this season?  We are five episodes in and I know they're just mapping out where we're going, watching Sam and Dean cope with each other after yet another long separation, the changes each character has undergone in their respective experiences - Dean in Purgatory, Sam in retirement from hunting.  And I know plot lines build to a head around episodes 9 and 10.  So I have to find patience.

But at the heart of this show are the brothers and their relationship.  I've read interviews with stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki and I know they appreciate the chance to play with and off of other actors and find interesting things to play when not in scenes together.  I also know that they have practically carried the series single-handedly all these years and appreciate the chance to have some time off, deferring screen time to guest stars and recurring characters (Jared especially, being a new dad to 7-month old son Thomas). 

But the last two episodes ("Bitten", the Chronicle-esque ep, and "Blood Brother") in particular featured the Winchesters far less than normal.  Tonight's especially barely featured any scenes with them together at all.  Tonight we got more insight into Sam's year off and the beginning of his relationship with girlfriend Amelia (Liana Balaban) and saw more of Dean's time in Purgatory with vampire pal Benny (Ty Olsson) and angel pal Castiel (Misha Collins).  But it really was "The Benny Show." (though I do like the new term "Vampirate" ... thanks for that Ben Edlund).  This is important information for us, I know, and the preview for next week's episode seems to confront the tension between Sam and Dean that has been slowly building.  But dammit, the pacing and distance between the brothers is frustrating me.  Even though we've had tension between them before, it bothers me more now.  I can't quite state it eloquently.  I'm just ... waiting.

So what is a die hard fan to do?  No way in hell I'm walking away.  I'm too dedicated, too invested.  And I know it will become the show I love so much again.  I can't call these growing pains ... they don't happen so late in the game.  Second wind?  8-year itch?  Call it what you will, I will never abandon this show.  It's meant to much to me.

Despite what I've written here, I'm not saying I completely hate the new season.  I'm just not excited by it.  And that saddens me.  I used to hate waiting a week for the next episode.  Now I find I can wait quite easily.  Should I be so emotionally invested in and bothered by what is simply a TV show?  Hey, I'm a TV blogger.  I live for TV.  So at my core, I just can't help myself and I hope you, my readers, appreciate my passion and opinion.

If you're a fan of Supernatural, I can only ask you to stay with it.  If you love it like I do but feel similar frustrations, trust in the writers along with me and believe that it'll find it's way back and being that show again.  If you are ready to abandon it or have already, at least hold onto your love of its earlier seasons, because they really are stellar, entertaining and just plain great.

If you have never watched the show, don't let this entry defer you from giving it a chance.  Watch from the beginning (it's on TNT twice every day and of course on DVD) and hopefully you'll discover you love it, too.

As for me, I will anticipate the next episode and the ones after that, always.

Thanks for reading.  Please feel free to comment below.

Supernatural airs Wednesdays on the CW at 9 p.m.

Oh, NBC ...

 

I think I've given up trying to figure out the Peacock Network's strategies for programming.  Since when do you shelve your hottest new series - one that requires following an intricate ongoing mythology - for months?  That's exactly what they are doing with the new hit show Revolution. 

For sure the show is going to lose momentum - and possibly viewers - when it goes on a long-ass hiatus at the end of November.  Return date?  March 25. That's four very long months.  It's hard enough waiting out a show that doesn't have an ongoing saga/mystery.  Not to mention it's been a long, damn while since the net had such a successful show.  This seems like programming suicide to me.

Then there's the fan favorite and critic-darling Community.  Granted, not a ratings wonder.  And having been exiled to Friday night, you can guess how the net has felt about it.  Plus the recent firing of creator Dan Harmon ...we all know how fans feel about that.  But when the show FINALLY returns to the airwaves on Feb. 7, it will be in its new 8 p.m. time slot on Thursdays.  Don't cheer just yet ... it'll be going head-to-head with ratings powerhouse The Big Bang Theory on CBS.  But Community has had and will now have more time for people to catch up with the DVDs/streaming, which may bring along new viewers when it returns.

The musical drama Smash will also return in February (Feb. 5).  It's been a long wait for a show that started strong and finished less strong, but I'm looking forward to its return.

NBC will be premiering its slate of mid-season shows over the coming months, including Deception (formerly Infamous), a drama/soapy murder mystery. Starring Meagan Good, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan and Katherine LaNasa, the show premieres Jan. 7, moving into Revolution's time slot. 1600 Penn, a First Family sitcom starring Bill Pullman, Jenna Elfman and Josh Gad, premieres Jan. 10 (Thursday). Ready for Love, a matchmaking show produced by Eva Longoria, premieres March 31.

Again, not sure I understand why NBC is shelving Revolution for so long, except that maybe when it returns, it'll have a nice, uninterrupted run through the back half of the season.  Let's hope loyal viewers are patient enough to return with it.

What do you think of NBC's programming strategy?  Let me know in the Comments below.