TV Meme: Day 2

Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching

 

I watch a lot of popular TV - Grey's Anatomy, CSI, etc.  But I wish more people would tune in for some of the summer shows like Royal Pains, Burn Notice or The Closer.  Royal Pains is entering its second season this Thursday on USA.  It's about Hank and his brother Evan.  Hank was an ER doc in Manhattan, but because he chose to save a kid rather than prioritize a hospital donor, and gets fired.  During some time to cool off in the Hamptons, he starts getting hired as a private doctor for the rich and secretive out in the Hamptons.  He makes some friends, and Evan becomes his manager.  He also hires Divya as his PA, a young Indian-American woman who is trying to avoid her upcoming arranged marriage.  Mark Feuerstein is charming as Hank, the least developed character, but gives all the other characters a chance to develop and shine a bit.  Campbell Scott plays Boris, a mysterious rich guy who hires Hank and gives him a place to stay.  We still don't know what illness Boris has, but it's been silly finding out - he had a live shark brought to his house.  Hank's also trying to date the administrator of the year-round hospital too, but that keeps having trouble.  It's a fun little show that I hope more people will watch this year. 

Movies I want to see

Okay, it's been a while since I've been to the movies. Just a random lull, with visitors and weddings preventing weekend viewing. But I still want to try to see The Ugly Truth, Funny People, (500) Days of Summer, Julie and Julia, and I can't wait to see The Time Traveler's Wife. I've been catching up on The Wire while I work at home. Up to season 4!! It's a really amazing show. It's so dark that I have trouble calling it wonderful or the best ever, as those words don't feel right, but it ranks with some of the greatest shows ever. Also, I spent the weekend catching up on the wonderful performances by the USA swim teams at the World Championships in Rome. 2012 is going to be another amazing Olympics. Oh, and of course, I love my summer TV, not that there's very much. "Royal Pains" has become a good show. I still like "In Plain Sight" (Mary McCormack is really good, and Fred Weller as her partner is perfect). The final season of "Monk" starts Friday along with a new season of "Pysch". "Burn Notice" hasn't been great so far, but I think they're setting it up for a future season, I hope. Kathy Griffin is hilarious and Kyra Sedgwick is still doing a terrific job.

Summer TV is the best candy...

The summer TV season has started and while the networks move to all reality or reruns, the cable channels bring out their big guns, or at least their funny ones. While I agree with my fellow blogger Fletch's take on their commercials, I still like their shows. And since they're all fairly randomly returning, I need at least one commercial to find out when they're arriving. Anyway, the first one to start has premiered already and I've seen the first two episodes, so I thought I'd review it. Here goes:

In Plain Sight (Sundays, 10pm on USA) stars Mary McCormack (who I really liked as a secretive NSA agent on The West Wing) as a U.S. Marshall with the Witness Protection Program. She works out of Albuquerque, NM and relocates people who have made agreements to testify against bigger criminals. Some of the people she protects are criminals themselves and seem to have a hard time leaving the business, so Mary (also her character name) has to step in to keep them from getting killed. Alternatively, she protects totally innocent people, like witnesses to crimes - accountants to drug dealers, or kids who saw their dad shoot their mom. It's really funny, but still a little dark and thriller like. Occaisonally they (Mary has a partner) actually have to solve little crimes to figure out who has found their protectee. It's a fun show that I DVR and watch while I work. It's not overly complicated and Mary is trying to survive living with her mother (Leslie Ann Warren still channeling her ditsy character from Will & Grace) and now her mysterious sister (Nicole Hiltz - on hiatus from The Riches). It'll be a fun series and promises not to disappoint.

Here are the shows I intend to watch and their advertised premiere date. Also, links to my reviews of previous seasons.

Weeds - June 16 Showtime

Burn Notice - July 10 USA


The Closer - July 14 TNT


Monk and Psych - July 18 USA


Mad Men - July 27 AMC