I still haven't gotten used to the seasons that cable shows have. Mad Men's on in the summer, shows like Burn Notice and Psych split their seasons into two half-seasons. Is Arlis$ still on?
The second season of Nurse Jackie premieres on Showtime March 22 at 10PM. Here's the trailer. Twitter is involved.
Here's the trailer for season two of Nurse Jackie
Laura Linney's The Big C gets Showtime pickup
When I first heard the title of Laura Linney's new show for Showtime, I thought it was going to be something salacious. Well, I was wrong. It's about cancer. And now Showtime has greenlit The Big C, placing an order for 13 episodes. The title, actually, is altered from the original announcement. Instead of The C-Word, it's now The Big C. Linney's character is a wife and mother who is diagnosed with cancer and her life is dramatically altered.
That sounds like a simple -- perhaps obvious -- situation. However, cancer is something that has touched nearly everybody's life in some way and The Big C should have instant universal appeal.
Continue reading Laura Linney's The Big C gets Showtime pickup
Best and Worst TV of 2009: Allison's list
What a year! Once we got over the WGA strike, the networks kicked it into high gear and got busy making TV. Except for NBC. Even Jeff Zucker has admitted that NBCU has failed to respond to the need for new programming.
Fortunately, the other channels have been busy and there's been a lot of great television... and some that's just plain awful. But I'm a half-glass full kind of person and I have good feelings about 2009. However, since I don't want to repeat my list from last year, I'll just mention that I could put these 2008 best choices -- Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, NCIS, The Big Bang Theory and Mad Men -- on my list again. But I'm going to go for an all new list and, thankfully, I had plenty of 'bests' to choose from.
Best
1. Glee. If there was ever a show that was made just for my personal taste, this is probably it. I love the singing and dancing. I get the characters. It even tickles me that I had just as much angst with bullies in high school as these kids. Every episode hasn't been perfect, but it's perfectly fine that they keep striving.
Continue reading Best and Worst TV of 2009: Allison's list
Ask TV Squad: The Big Bang Theory and more!
The "Ask TV Squad" column, published every Wednesday, answers your questions about current and past TV shows, as well as about the celebrities appearing on TV. Every week, I will pick a question (or more) sent to us and provide answers in the column. If your question is not picked for a column, it may be answered in a subsequent column or in TV Squad's APB Podcast.To submit questions to the "Ask TV Squad" column, you can post them below in comments or email them to asktvsquad@gmail.com.
This week, I've decided to offer you a little hunt game titled "Ask TV Squad Visitors." After the jump, you will find three questions that were sent to us and for which I have not found the answers yet. Will you be able to find the answers and help fellow TVSquad.com's visitors?
Share your wisdom by answering in the comments section the questions about an unknown show, a prop on The Big Bang Theory and a pendant on Nurse Jackie.
Continue reading Ask TV Squad: The Big Bang Theory and more!
Bravo boosts Mercy with Saturday marathon
A funny thing happened when I turned on Bravo over the weekend. Instead of an avalanche of Flipping Out flip outs or Real Houswives' table-flipping or Tabitha's disgusting beauty salons, there was drama on the cable net. Bravo aired NBC's medical drama Mercy on Saturday morning. On Saturday morning there really wasn't a lot going up against Mercy. In fact, it had the field pretty much to itself for any viewers looking for a quality, fresh TV show.
I say fresh because unlike the reruns of House or NCIS on USA, I hadn't seen these episodes of Mercy. So, rather than watch infomercials or pre-game college football chatter or animated cartoons, I watched Mercy.
Continue reading Bravo boosts Mercy with Saturday marathon
Nurse Jackie: Health Care and Cinema (season finale)
(S01E12) "I've never been a fan of movies where idiots talk to people in comas." - Mrs. Akalitus to a comatose Mr. NuttermanWell, things didn't go as wrong as I thought they might have, with the whole Eddie hanging with Kevin at the bar business. Yeah, it wasn't good, and Jackie downing three vials of morphine was just ... not sure what to think of it. Was she trying to kill herself, or just numb the pain from everything?
My favorite part of the episode was Zoey and her sweetness at wearing the gray scrubs and being all mopey after getting sacked from dealing with patients. I was glad when she put on the bunny scrubs again, but things don't look good for movie critic guy losing his memory. "Oh my god, I broke him," she says.
Continue reading Nurse Jackie: Health Care and Cinema (season finale)
Nurse Jackie: Pill-O-Matix
(S01E11) Nothing really jumped out at me about this episode ... well, ok, the spider scene. And the end scene. That opened up a big can o' worms for Jackie that I'm sure will have big consequences for her one way or another. And I appreciated seeing Victor Garber as the movie critic patient, and the mess Zoey made while caring for him. But that's how Nurse Jackie operates. There usually aren't any major "wow" scenes; the episodes just sort of float along, one playing off of the other in more of a real-life fashion.
In case anyone hasn't seen the episode yet, I'll get into more details after the jump.
Continue reading Nurse Jackie: Pill-O-Matix
Nurse Jackie: Ring Finger
(S01E10) "Just for the record, I'm officially questioning your judgment." - O'Hara to JackieThis episode of Nurse Jackie drove me a little nuts. All through my notes are little messages to Jackie, like I think she's going to see my notes and take my advice -- before she ruins her life even further.
I mean, I've commented before how difficult it must be keeping her personal life completely separate from her work life, and this episode was like a time bomb waiting to go off.
You just know that sooner or later, she's going to be so fried that she'll forget who knows what, and say something to reveal her secret -- just like she almost did to Mo-Mo when she started talking about the mother-daughter tap dance class.
Continue reading Nurse Jackie: Ring Finger
Nurse Jackie: Nosebleed
(S01E09) "She's just a nurse." - Dr. Cooper to Melissa, talking about Jackie
Sometimes I think Dr. Cooper is starting to be a human being, and then he turns around and says something really stupid. Females are naturally more empathetic than guys, so I would think that having two moms would have made him a little bit more sensitive. Guess not.
He really was a jerk in this episode, and I imagine Jackie having to make the decision about the organ donor (the PETA card!) will come back to haunt her. But what's a nurse to do? Get another doctor maybe? I don't care if he DID stay awake for 53 hours once.
Continue reading Nurse Jackie: Nosebleed
Nurse Jackie: Pupil
(S01E08) "Honey, I know I'm pretty, but you just wasted 30 seconds staring at me." - Mo-Mo, to a male nurse who needs to get back to work
Well, there are certain things about Nurse Jackie that you just know are going to come into play. Like the assisted suicide story we had recently, and tonight's chilling opening scene where Jackie's daughter accidentally gets Jackie's drugs mixed into the sprinkles on her doughnut (loved that slo-mo camera work, though).
Sooner or later, Jackie's not going to catch stuff like that, and it'll be disastrous. I know we've talked about this before, but you have to wonder how she can function so well doing all those drugs. And what would happen if she suddenly didn't have access to them.
Continue reading Nurse Jackie: Pupil
Nurse Jackie: Steak Knife
(S01E07) "I am God, and you are an asshole." - God
Oh, the times I've wanted to say that in my life. I'm sort of living vicariously through Nurse Jackie these days. She does stuff that everyone else wants to do, but doesn't because they don't have the guts. Like:
- Yanking the catheter out of the repeat sex-offender, then telling Mo-Mo, "He's a fucking pedophile!"
- Giving the Cartier bracelet that Eddie gave her to the morphine-drugged, steak-knife guy to give to the girl who's really just looking for a nice guy.
- Telling God to get back on his meds.
Yes, I want to be Nurse Jackie when I grow up.
Continue reading Nurse Jackie: Steak Knife
Nurse Jackie: Tiny Bubbles
(S01E06) "Nonsense. Nothing is better if I leave." - O'Hara to Nurse Jackie
Come on, people! I'm not getting much comment love on my Nurse Jackie reviews. Is no one watching the show? Because I'm sort of loving it at this point.
Well, I guess it had to happen. It was a sure bet that we'd get a storyline where Jackie plays Dr. Kevorkian and helps a patient end their life. I have to think there's no way that crusty old Nurse Korsenowski would have done well in palliative care. Why not let her go out in dignity?
Jackie is all about breaking the rules for the good of the patient, but was this really for the good of the patient? I think it was, and the "do no harm" thing would have been if she hadn't helped her die. It would have done more harm for her to go into hospice. Thoughts, please!
Continue reading Nurse Jackie: Tiny Bubbles
Nurse Jackie: Daffodil
(S01E05) "It wasn't even my money. I got it off a dead guy in the morgue." - Nurse Jackie to Zoey, after giving a surly woman money to buy a pregnancy test at a drug store
Lots of interesting stuff in this episode, the above quote being one of them. Jackie told Zoey she was kidding, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't. Giving a woman money to buy a pregnancy test at a drug store -- rather than clog up the emergency room because she doesn't have enough money or is too cheap to buy a pregnancy test herself -- is classic Jackie. Getting the money from a dead guy in the morgue? Spot on. Hey, that money might as well be used for the greater good.
Continue reading Nurse Jackie: Daffodil
Nurse Jackie: School Nurse
(S01E04) I liked Nurse Jackie from the first episode, and I continue to like it more and more each week. I like that the characters look like real people, not stick-thin Hollywood types. And even though Jackie is worn down by life, she seems to thrive on the hospital stuff and caring for patients. I guess that's the sign of a good nurse (ya think, Jane?).
Let's take the scene where Dr. O'Hara is telling a young patient's mom and brother all this scary stuff about his lung collapsing. She's not all that great with kids, is she? When the brother hugged her, I just wanted to smack her for not hugging him back, after all he'd been through that day with his twin getting shot. Meanwhile, in the background, Jackie is mouthing to the mom and brother that it's not that bad, that he'll be alright. It's this kind of hope that families need when they're going through a trauma.
Continue reading Nurse Jackie: School Nurse
Nurse Jackie: Chicken Soup
There were some awesome guest stars in this episode of Nurse Jackie! Eli Wallach played Mr. Zimberg, the old guy who refused treatment for his heart issues. Wallach was born in 1915 (!) and has been working steadily since the 1950s. I mean, what a life he's had and what a piece of film history he is. His credits include The Misfits, The Magnificent Seven, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It's such a pleasure seeing him on Nurse Jackie.
Playing his wife was Lynn Cohen, who played Magda on Sex and the City and Uncle Pete's wife on Damages, not to mention dozens of other film and TV roles.
And then there's the wonderful Anna Deavere Smith (pictured above), who plays the ongoing role of Doctor Akalitis. She's such a great actress; she makes me despise her character, but in a good way.
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