Category Archives: tv

January 13, 2009 · 7:51 PM

TV Randomosity

Song Lyric of the Day:


Daddy-O / You got the swagger of a champion / Too bad for you / Just can’t find the right companion

Britney Spears / “Womanizer“

  • Fox finally cancels Prison Break. I don’t think it ever recovered from the mess that was season three, but I’ll miss seeing The Pretty on a regular basis.
  • Ashley Jensen wants to be written off Ugly Betty. What will Betty do without her BFF Christina? The way things are going at ABC this season, I imagine Christina will come out of the closet before she’s subsequently and permanently kicked out of it.
  • Surfing competitors’ websites for work research purposes reminds me why I don’t like “reality” TV.
  • Lifetime‘s afternoon reruns of Desperate Housewives eps hold my interest way more than they should.
  • USA airs so many episodes of L&O: Criminal Intent and L&O: SVU every day that I’ve caught up on about four years’ worth in under a month.
  • Neil Patrick Harris was great on Saturday Night Live last weekend. He should host at least one episode a season. My favorite sketches? “Save Broadway,” the SNL Digital Short, and the Whopper Virgins.


*Can you tell I really didn’t feel like talking about anything in particular today?

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September 30, 2008 · 7:20 PM

If I Were a Casting Agent: Simon Baker & Dominic West

If I Were a Casting Agent is a new feature I’ve been thinking about for a while now: “Casting” fictional movies based on resemblances I’ve noticed between certain actors and actresses. I hope to make it a semi-regular feature (I’ve got several pairs queued up) and can only hope other people see the resemblances I see.

An emotionally closed-off military veteran (Simon Baker, The Mentalist) musters the courage to return home after his estranged father’s death. He finds his childhood sweetheart newly widowed, reawakening old feelings for them both. He also discovers that his ne’er-do-well younger brother (Dominic West, The Wire) has run the family vineyard into the ground.

Can he turn his life around and hold on to true love while preserving his family’s legacy? Find out this fall in Trust Me, My Token Love.

Simon Baker Dominic West

*Resemblance first noticed while watching 300. Thanks to Rich for suggesting the title and validating me by noticing a bit of a resemblance himself.

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June 2, 2008 · 6:35 PM

Faves: Cop Show Title Sequences

Song Lyric of the Day:

I have seen you so often / I cry “where is my boy?” / Oh, have you all forgotten? / And in some kind of dream / Have I seen you before / Oh, have I seen you before? / Oh, where is my boy?

Faultline (featuring Chris Martin) / “Where Is My Boy?“

Lately I’ve caught some repeats of the best cop show ever, Homicide: Life on the Street. Watching those episodes, I was reminded of (1) how much I miss the show, (2) how Andre Braugher‘s Frank Pembleton and Kyle Secor‘s Tim Bayliss were the best cop partners ever, (3) how I want Santa (or the birthday fairy) to buy me the complete DVD set, and (4) how perfect the show’s title sequence was.

Like I wrote last year, TV title sequences are a dying breed. The one for Homicide reminded me of how great title sequences once were for TV cop dramas — not to mention the shows themselves. These are my favorites.

Boomtown
A great cop show cut down in its prime, Boomtown‘s opening credits played on its point-of-view concept, taking us through the history of Los Angeles while introducing us to the cast, set to Philip Giffin‘s beautiful, majestic

      theme music
. The show was smart, perfectly cast (particularly Donnie Wahlberg, Mykelti Williamson, and Neal McDonough), wonderfully written, and flawlessly directed. Like early seasons of Homicide, stories were told from different characters’ points of view. I knew it was doomed to fail as soon as the writers were asked to simplify (read: dumb down) scripts and lose that unique angle.

Third Watch
Seamlessly blending stories about New York City cops, paramedics, and firefighters, Third Watch was the little show that could, taking us through six seasons of exciting, emotional, and sometimes flat-out heart-wrenching stories (Bobby’s death, Doc’s post-9/11 breakdown). The opening credits captured all that pathos and drama perfectly. Bonus points for being a love letter to the city long before it was trendy and theme music by The Crystal Method.

NYPD Blue
The opening credits did a great job of capturing the essence of New York City, while maintaining the verite style that was to become the series’ signature. Another New York City-based procedural, featuring one of TV’s most memorable — and put-upon — characters ever, Dennis Franz‘s Andy Sipowicz. NYPD Blue laid the groundwork for cutting-edge dramas, introducing TV audiences to prime-time nudity and adult language. Today the most cutting-edge shows are primarily on pay or premium cable, but without NYPD Blue, we would never have seen series like The Shield, Rescue Me, and Damages, to name a few.

Homicide: Life on the Street
Taking us to the mean streets of Baltimore, Homicide brought a gritty reality to TV, coming across as more of a documentary than a fictional TV series. The original opening credits really captured that verite feel, while the later seasons’ title sequence added a bit more style without sacrificing the series’ substance. The verite style was only fitting since its source material was David Simon‘s non-fiction Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Despite losing a few original cast members along the way, the show featured flawless performances by everyone on the show, and is one of the few series that can boast it brought everyone back for a two-hour movie to wrap up the series. Homicide was also the birthplace of the character John Munch (the amazing Richard Belzer), a character who went on to appear in six more TV shows — including Arrested Development and Homicide‘s successor, The Wire.

Hill Street Blues
There’s not a lot I can say to do Hill Street Blues justice. We were completely immersed in the lives and trials of characters including Frank Furillo, Mick Belker, and Joyce Davenport. The actors brought a grittiness to their characters that perfectly matched their setting. Another groundbreaking cop show, the series helped set the tone for all cop shows that followed. But few cop dramas have had the long-lasting impact that Hill Street Blues did, and still does. The opening credits can now be seen as a throwback to late ’70s and early ’80s TV-series style, but what mostly stands out is its simplicity, which is exactly why it’s a classic — iconic theme music included.

Miami Vice
Like the series itself, Miami Vice‘s opening credits took what TV audiences knew and loved about cop dramas up to that point and turned it on its ear. New setting, new style, new pastels, classic Jan Hammer theme song — no wonder we haven’t looked back since then.

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May 8, 2008 · 4:21 PM

TV Hell Night

Song Lyric of the Day:

Is there something you’re not sure of / Are you looking for a sign / Are you waiting for some body / To throw your heart a line / Or a quick and easy answer

Paddy Casey / “Addicted to Company“

7:21PM.
Thursdays have long been my TV hell night. No other night of TV viewing even comes close. This has never been truer than during this current TV season. Not only do I keep up with three shows that air between 8 and 9PM, but I have five shows I keep up with that air between 9 and 10PM. And then there are the three that air between 10 and 11PM. I say “keep up with” because I can’t possibly watch all of them when they originally air. Thank God for the magic of TiVo.

So what to do to keep up with all my shows? (The husband would say, “Don’t watch TV and WRITE instead,” to which I would reply, “Soon, my dear — finale time is upon us. And remember that you watch six of those shows, too.”) Basically, I currently rely on my work VCR to take care of the overlap and record the shows I can’t watch at home — even though our TiVo has a double tuner, it’s working overtime on Thursdays.

For the record, these are the Thursday night TV shows I keep up with: Ugly Betty, My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, 30 Rock, Supernatural, C.S.I., Without a Trace, ER, and Lost. My beloved TiVo takes care of all but three: I record Supernatural and ER at work and watch C.S.I. live on my bedroom TV.

ABC scores some serious cool points for offering all their shows online for free; should TiVo fail to record Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, or Lost, I can always count on being able to watch those shows online. NBC and CBS should take note: even The CW offers Supernatural‘s most recently aired eps for free online, while they offer only a handful of their shows online for free. However, thanks to MSN.com, I can now catch C.S.I.‘s most recent episodes online for free should I miss watching the show live; turns out they have dozens of current and canceled shows available for online viewing. (You can also watch some current, but mostly classic/canceled, TV shows for free at Hulu.com.)

Keep in mind that this week I’ve managed to work on my book, update my blog, take care of housework, and work on training the puppy on top of my day job. So I’m not a total couch potato. And now I’m off to take care of some grooming rituals since I have an audition tomorrow.

You know what I’m asking Santa for this year? A TiVo for my bedroom TV. Because there’s so much TV, and so little time.

*In honor of tonight’s TV-centric post, here’s a Supernatural promo shot. OK, it’s because Jensen Ackles is so pretty.

Photo courtesy of the awesome JRAUnlimited fansite.

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January 10, 2008 · 6:53 PM

Writers Blocked

Song Lyric of the Day:

John Willmot penned his poetry /Riddled with the pox / Nabakov wrote on index cards / At a lectem, in his socks / St. John of the Cross did his best stuff / Imprisoned in a box

8:53PM.
It’s been interesting to read comments on various TV blogs and infotainment sites about the tv and film writers’ strike (now almost 10 weeks old). I say interesting because while a lot of people understand that writers are a very large, very important part of all those fantastical movies and TV shows we enjoy, a lot of people think the writers are greedy SOBs who should be crucified. And, yes, I’ve seen that word used on occasion with regard to this, which I don’t quite understand.

These days, the media landscape is continually changing and reinventing itself at a breakneck rate. Among other, more traditional options, we can now choose to watch TV shows and movies via free online downloads, paid online downloads, TiVo/DVRs, TV on demand, movies on demand, and as DVD sets to be watched ad nauseam. So are the writers behind said fantastical movies and TV shows entitled to a bigger piece of the pie? I think they most definitely are.

At its most basic level, the writers’ demands for more pay/fairer contracts boils down to simple human nature: We all have a basic need to be given our proper due for our professional contributions, whether it be attribution or financial compensation. In the case of this strike, TV and film writers are privy to studio and production company numbers showing how all these wonderful new media options are affecting the studios’ bottom lines. And they are now demanding their perceived fair share for their professional contributions; I say perceived only because I don’t know exact numbers and can’t pretend to know those type of specifics.

Our favorite TV and movie actors become our favorites for countless different reasons. Maybe we like how they look. Maybe we can relate to that tic or personality quirk they have. Maybe it’s the type of dramatic or comedic roles they specialize in. Maybe they sound the same, have the same accent, have the same eye color, were born in the same city — you get the idea. But when we discuss that movie or that show, what do most of us end up referencing? Special effects and wardrobe aside, we typically hone in on quotes. The words those actors speak are what affect us the way they do. Combined with mannerisms, reactions, personalities, it all serves to paint a larger picture of who those characters are and what they mean to us.

We’re almost out of fresh scripted TV shows to watch this season. The Office ended weeks ago, Grey’s Anatomy ends tonight, and the end is fast approaching for many other shows. The Golden Globe Awards have been canceled; the Oscars may be next. Soon our airwaves are going to be flooded with more reality TV shows than I ever could have imagined in my worst nightmares. Late-night hosts are floundering without their writing staffs (proving, once again, how hard improv is). Besides writers, countless other industry professionals are being laid off; the strike is hurting almost everyone behind the scenes. There’s seemingly no end in sight for this strike. And while I will dearly miss watching my favorite TV shows on a regular basis, I have to support the writers’ demands for increased compensation. It’s thanks to their creativity (Supernatural), their wittiness (My Name Is Earl), their genius (30 Rock), their heart (Ugly Betty), their ability to build these amazing worlds (Pushing Daisies), their attention to detail (The Wire) that I so thoroughly enjoy what I’m watching.

I may not always believe what I see on TV or in a movie. I may not always like what a character says. I may not always agree with a character’s actions. I may overlook a plothole because it’s easier than searching for an explanation. But I will always, always let myself suspend disbelief and allow my imagination to feast as I become immersed in what I’m watching, whether it’s for 22 minutes or 2 1/2 hours. And for that privilege, I not only thank the actors, directors, producers, craft people, and gaffers, but I wholeheartedly thank the writers, as well.

*Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily blog is a good source for the latest strike news.
*You can see how many episodes of your shows are left here and here.

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December 16, 2007 · 8:32 PM

A Very Merry Dexter Finale

Christmas Song Lyric of the Day:

Hes gone 2000 miles / It’s very far / The snow is falling down / Gets colder day by day

KT Tunstall / “2000 Miles”

10:35PM.
*Heads up: I will be talking about Dexter finale spoilers. Read at your own risk. Or, better yet, go watch it now.

There’s no better way to cap off another day of errand running and Christmas shopping than by watching the finale of one of this year’s best TV series, Dexter.

The second season of this awesome show (cemented as one of my favorites as soon as I started watching last year) did everything right (helloooo, paging Heroes). The characters evolved, the plot lines raced along, there were great twists and turns, and the show never lost its focus or, thankfully, its very macabre sense of humor.

SPOILERS AHEAD. STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE FINALE.
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Once again, I’m rooting for Michael C. Hall to take home whatever TV acting awards are available; by no rights should viewers be rooting for a serial-killing protagonist to literally get away with murder, but we do, based on his performance. Jennifer Carpenter, as Dexter’s wounded sister, Deb, was also amazing this season, convincingly taking us through her journey as she recovered from last season’s Ice Truck Killer fiasco all the way up to her kicking ass and taking names by the finale. Erik King (RIP, Doakes)…where to start? I loved the Doakes-Dexter relationship: the antagonism, the suspicions, the fighting, the profanities. I’ll really miss Doakes (his “I’m watching you” expressions were classic), but I love how the writers allowed him and Dexter to learn a bit more about each other and how, by the time we saw the inevitable end coming, we fervently wished they’d find a way to spare him without sacrificing Dexter’s freedom. I, for one, was hoping Dexter would somehow have framed Lila. I mean, she did have the syringes, the tools — everything she needed to carve people up (in theory, at least). Oh, and she was a batshit-crazy, firestarting psycho stalker. I did cheer when Dexter killed her, though. RIP, Pale Titty Vampire. Lila (Jaime Murray) was a great addition to the show this year in that her character was so divisive; most viewers hated her (God knows I did), but she fit into the plot, specifically into Dexter’s evolution. So it was only fitting that, in embracing her advice to be himself, he listened and killed her. To which I say, “Amen!”

Other highlights this season:
I have to say, I dug the Lundy-Deb relationship. I liked how it played out, with her pretending she was back to normal and over Rudy by jumping into a relationship with Gabriel, a nice guy in his own right. But it wasn’t until Deb faced her feelings for Lundy that the real Deb started to shine through again.

Lauren Velez‘s LaGuerta was incredible this season. She went from being a selfish, backstabbing bitch who schemed to successfully get her old job back to a sympathetic, heartbreakingly supportive friend, increasingly desperate to clear her former partner, Doakes’, name. I teared up over her reaction when Lundy told her a positive ID had been made; she kept talking about evidence she’d uncovered to prove Doakes’ innocence while starting to cry as the realization sank in. And watching her crying in church, one of the very few to mourn Doakes? Absolutely heartbreaking.

And Batista. Oh, how I love Batista (David Zayas). Aside from providing comic relief (his early-in-the-season obsession with The Secret was hilarious), Batista has always provided a large part of the heart of Dexter. He humanizes and humbles everyone around him without even trying. Which is why, when Dexter told him that if he could choose to be any “real” person, he’d choose to be Batista, we completely believed him. The nerve of that Lila — setting Batista up on rape charges. Yet another reason I cheered when she got what she deserved.

Julie Benz‘s Rita is, I think, the other large part of Dexter‘s heart. Like Deb, but for different reasons, Rita found herself this year: stronger, more independent, and able to stand up for herself. She and her two children are, along with Deb, the only people who really make Dexter care, helping to humanize a typically unfeeling character.

So, kudos to the cast, writers, and directors who created another phenomenal season of Dexter, the best TV show about a serial killer you’re ever likely to see. This season, like the first, was such a fun roller coaster that I’ll be watching it all over again as soon as Showtime repeats it. And if I get season one on DVD for Christmas like I hope (fingers crossed!), I’ll rewatch that in the meantime.

If you haven’t yet watched Dexter, rent or buy it on DVD; that recently announced, watered-down version CBS wants to air won’t be able to do it justice, in no small part because they’ll have to cut out significant chunks of each episode to please the censors. And a censored Dexter just isn’t any fun.

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December 12, 2007 · 9:10 PM

Pattie Lee and The Mystery of the Old Children’s Books

Song Lyric of the Day:

Would you go along with someone like me / If you knew my story word for word / Had all of my history / Would you go along with someone like me


11:04PM.

At lunch today, I ended up telling my friends about these cool books I had as a kid. Since both friends are 10 years younger than me, they had absolutely no clue what the hell I was talking about. The problem is, for the life of me, I can’t remember what the series was called. They were comb-/spiral-bound, approximately workbook-sized, so they’d lay flat when open, and each page of the book had a little vinyl disc that looked like a record on it (I remember yellow and blue discs). You needed the special little hand-held “record player” to place on top of the disc; you’d press the button, and — voila! — the book was read to you. I specifically remember Disney books that I had like this (one about a haunted house), but I’m not sure it’s a Disney-only thing. Does anyone remember these? For my sanity’s sake, I sure as hell hope someone else out there remembers these and can tell me what they’re called. And, no, they’re not the book-record combos. The records were part of the books. Lots of Googling and searching eBay haven’t yielded anything.

After talking about these books today, I was reminded of how much I loved them and how they were some of my favorite books as a kid, particularly since the characters’ parts were read in the characters’ voices. I was crushed when I called my mom today to ask if she still had them, and most importantly, the player, and she said that she got rid of them long ago. I just need to hear the series’ name so I can hunt down some new ones and hopefully find a player on eBay. Fingers crossed someone else out there can refresh my memory.

*Today’s Song Lyric of the Day is the result of my friend, Frank, asking me yesterday if I knew “that whistling song that’s everywhere this TV season.” If you’ve watched Dirty Sexy Money, Gossip Girl, or Journeyman (RIP), you’ll know exactly which song I’m talking about. Watch the official video at Peter Bjorn & John’s website. Watch a montage of this season’s TV show use here:

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October 25, 2007 · 10:14 AM

30 Rock: Filling the Arrested Development Void

Song Lyric of the Day:

Boys becoming men / Men becoming wolves

Tracy Jordan / “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah”

1:15PM.
One of the TV shows I’m enjoying the most this season (and which, as of last night, I’m caught up on) is NBC‘s deservedly Emmy-winning comedy, 30 Rock. As someone who has (1) been a Tina Fey fan since first seeing her on Saturday Night Live and (2) a somewhat offbeat sense of humor, this show is right up my alley. Filled with brilliantly absurd bits of comedy, 30 Rock has firmly secured its place in my heart, in the same spot left empty since Arrested Development‘s cancellation (you can catch repeats on G4).

Set behind the scenes at a New York City-based late-night sketch comedy show (sound familiar?), Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon is the show’s head writer and primarily sane voice of reason, dealing with her crazy boss Jack Donaghy (a phenomenal Alec Baldwin) and crazy stars Tracy Jordan (the uninhibited Tracy Morgan) and chronically insecure Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski). Add to the mix the golly-shucks Kenneth the Page (an underrated Jack McBrayer), and you’ve got a terrific primary cast in one of the few comedies (at least, I think) on the air today that is genuinely funny.

From something as simple as a framed movie poster hanging on the wall in Tracy’s dressing room (for his movie Fat Bitch — tagline: She’s Off the Leash) to the revelation of Jack’s secret cookie jar collection to an in-show product promo about not having an in-show product promo (Diet Snapple) to Tracy’s personal demons making him hallucinate a Blue Man to Kenneth vocalizing the Seinfeld theme music to European countries that only rich people know about to an avenging Elizabeth Taylor (“WHITE DIAMONDS!!!”), the show revels in the absurd. If only I had the time to get into all of Jack’s classic, instantly quotable lines (“Businesswoman? I don’t think that’s a word.”)

I’d already been a casual viewer of 30 Rock its first season; if I could catch it, I’d watch. And I enjoyed the occasional repeat here and there. But, really, what truly cemented 30 Rock as weekly appointment TV for me this season was the hysterical — and very unexpected — snippet of a Tracy Jordan music video for the song “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah.” It wasn’t so much the video itself (which is very funny and very short), it’s that within the context of the scene it was hilarious. It’s been a long time since I laughed until I cried, but this scene did just that to me the other night. And any show that can make me laugh like that is worth making the time to watch.

*(Aside to Tina Fey: I read that your family is being cast for the show. Just letting you know I’m available.)

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October 5, 2007 · 2:12 PM

To Do This Weekend

Song Lyric of the Day:

You’ve got the music in you / One dance left / This world is gonna pull through

New Radicals / “You Get What You Give“

5:12PM.

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August 22, 2007 · 7:39 PM

My Love Affair With Summer TV

Song Lyric of the Day:

When I am through with you / There won’t be anything left

The VLA / “When I Am Through With You”

8:44PM.
Remember the good old days, when summer meant no school, family vacations (there’s a good reason my family’s never gone camping again), playing outside, and catching up on reruns of your favorite TV shows? Those days are long gone, replaced instead with all-new episodes of summer series, with nary a regular-season TV series repeat to be found. So what shows are hogging my attention this summer?

Damages (FX, Tuesday @ 10PM)
The premise sounds simple enough: Young, idealistic lawyer lands her dream job with one of New York City’s most prominent litigators. But this legal drama plays out more like a thriller than a standard TV show. Glenn Close‘s legendary Patty Hewes is not only known for her legal prowess, but also for the destruction she leaves in her wake, with casualties ranging from fellow colleagues to rivals to witnesses to her new protege, Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). As Arthur Frobisher (I would so name a dog Frobisher), the man Patty is hell-bent on destroying, Ted Danson is a revelation, a self-made man who cost 5200 of his employees their retirements. The beauty of Damages is that you never know quite who to root for. From the dark plotlines to the love-or-hate-them characters (Anastasia Griffith is amazing as Katie Connor), this show revels in its moral ambiguity, and I, for one, can’t wait to see how it plays out.

Rescue Me (FX, Wednesday @ 10PM)
As you know, I’ve been a fan of this raucous FDNY-centric drama since it started. And while this season has been its most uneven so far, it’s still leaps and bounds above most other TV dramas. A true testament to star Denis Leary‘s talent (he also writes and executive produces the show), the show can still veer almost seamlessly from humor to chaos to tragedy and back in the blink of an eye. And, like the viewers, the characters carry the weight of their losses and triumphs with them, no matter how much time may have passed or what events have transpired in the meantime.

Burn Notice (USA, Thursday @ 10PM)
How great is it to have Jeffrey Donovan back on TV? Pretty damn great, as this fun action series proves. As “burned” (read: fired) CIA operative Michael Westen, Donovan takes cases to provide him with enough income to continue to investigate who burned him — and why. Gabrielle Anwar (also on Showtime’s The Tudors) is a sexy, sassy spitfire as Fiona, Westen’s trigger-happy ex-IRA member ex-girlfriend. Bruce Campbell provides additional comic relief to an already humorous show as Sam, an FBI informant and wannabe gigolo who just may or may not be Michael’s best shot at finding out who destroyed his CIA career. Sharon Gless is also perfectly cast as Michael’s chain-smoking mom, Madeline, who likely knows more about her son’s career and life than she’s letting on. Burn Notice is exactly what a summer TV series should be: fun.

Weeds (Showtime, Monday @ 10PM)
Ah, Weeds, how do I love thee? Mary-Louise Parker is pitch-perfect as Nancy Botwin, a widowed mother of two who becomes a pot dealer to keep a roof over her family’s head. Funny, profane, and blissfully, gleefully politically incorrect, Weeds mines pure gold out of every scene and every character. Family scenes are always anything but routine, with Hunter Parrish and Alexander Gould (as Silas and Shane Botwin, respectively) exhibiting far more talent than most of their contemporaries and holding their own against Parker’s fierce, in-over-her-head mom Nancy. Justin Kirk (Andy) pretty much steals almost every scene he’s in, facing stiff competition from Kevin Nealon‘s perpetual stoner, Doug, and Celia, played with perfect bitchiness by Elizabeth Perkins (easily her best role, and work, in years). Romany Malco is another asset as the not-quite-lovesick but definitely smitten Conrad, Nancy’s partner in crime. An added bonus of the show? The music score is dead-on, with lyrics often as funny and witty as the dialogue over which they sometimes play. The guest covers of the theme song, “Little Boxes,” are always impressive; this week’s version by Angelique Kidjo just might be my new favorite.

Other shows holding my interest this summer:

Flash Gordon (Sci-Fi, Friday @ 9PM) — Fun, other-worldly time travel adventure. The show wouldn’t work if we didn’t believe that Eric Johnson, as Flash, could indeed save every one of us.

Psych (USA, Friday @ 10PM) — Already a cute show about a fake psychic, Psych has kicked it up a notch this year, with more laugh-out-loud moments courtesy of James Roday and Dulé Hill‘s odd couple pairing.

Californication (Showtime, Monday @ 10:30PM) — David Duchovny revels in the debauchery that his frustrated writer, Hank Moody, doesn’t quite thrive on. I’m not completely sold on the show, but Duchovny, the premise, and genuinely funny dialogue are holding my interest for now.

What’s got your attention this summer?

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Today’s 33 Days of Pattie item: Planning a weekend in Atlanta for next month.

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