Archive for the 'Monk' Category
I watched the first three episodes of “Monk” season 7 the other day. I think it’s comforting to know that you can always depend on this show being entertaining. It’s really sad and I hadn’t heard until then that Stanley Kamel playing Dr. Charles Kroger had died of a heart attack in April of this year. They dedicated the season’s premiere episode to him. Actually I wondered afterwards that they must have started filming the new episodes before April and that when Kamel passed they had to re-shoot the sequences when Monk’s in therapy. Dr Bell played by Hector Elizondo (Hotel Manager in Pretty Woman) was introduced and I think he is an excellent successor to Kamel. I guess they just changed the setting of his office and sat him in the chair and replaced the scenes. Well, they had no choice did they? Other interesting factor in “Mr Monk buys a House” was the guest appearance of Brad Garrett (Robert Barone in Everybody loves Raymond) as Jake Phillips a.k.a. Honest Jake who turns out to be “The Guy”. I mentioned recently that I was rewatching the whole ELR series so it was a surprise seeing “Robert” as the murderer. But it was fun to watch nevertheless. The following two episodes were great as well especially the one with the check player who kills his wife (Mr Monk and the Genius) and always seems to be one step ahead of Mr Monk but of course in the end Mr Monk gets him.
I love this time of the year. Finally the weather is so great that you can go to the beach and sit outside late into the evening, have barbecues and not have to wear 800 coats before you leave the house. What makes everything even better is that one after one the first shows are coming back on the air. For me Monk and Weeds were the shows that kicked of my TV season 2008/2009. It’s all very exciting and at this point I do appreciate every new episode just a little bit more than during mid season but really we’re just talking about a little bit here.
Last week was a good week. I celebrated my birthday and had some friends over. Apart from the getting older part the weekend was a blast and I love when all your friends come together. I also spent the first night ever in a camper. For someone like me a big deal. Usually when I travel I prefer not to share my bathroom with fellow travellers and I do not mean to sound spoiled but I really do like hotels and hotel restaurants for that matter. I was prepared for the worst though and I was coming along voluntarily so I intended to live like a real camper and not to complain..out loud… for that matter. I think it might have been different had it rained those couple of days but we were blessed with the best summer weather and after a while I really enjoyed it (the nature). Then on the other hand after two and a half days I was glad I was to see my own bathroom again and refrigerated food but while we were “out there” I was totally in the spirit of things. I must say though that the bathroom concept on those campers needs work. I definitely can’t befriend the idea that you have to dispose of what is in the toilet at the end of the trip. I think pipes are a wonderful invention. I therefore preferred to just follow the call of nature outside which wasn’t that easy given the fact that we were parked on the parking lot of a well-frequented sports club. But what’s life without the risk of being discovered while peeing?! It is also strange how loud trees can be at night when there’s a little wind blowing and you’re so close by i.e. no real walls separating you from the wildness. It can actually keep you from sleeping at least during your first night in a camper…Anyway when I was exclaiming that I was pretty proud I was holding up so well and in fact had hardly complained the whole stay my sister informed me that what we were doing was hardly camping but some luxurious version of camping. The real camping does not include a camper but a tent and there isn’t even a toilet but it can get as bad as that you have to do your business into a urin container. And can you believe it camping isn’t even that inexpensive. Well I draw the line at having to pee in a container… and I need a bed… and a door…
The first spoilers for the fall tv season are coming out and it’s really hard to elude oneselve from all the information. I’m really excited about a lot of established shows and where the producers will take them this season. For one there’s Desperate Housewives. I think the leap in time was a smart move and probably the next season will spend most of it’s time demonstrating to the viewers on how the characters landed were they did in last season’s finale. Greys Anatomy should also become interesting with the relationship between Callie and Hahn as well as Izzie and Alex. I hope that all these rumors about Katherine Heigl leaving the show will finally come to an end. I swear that her leaving the show would seriously damage it. She belongs to the key characters and you can’t just cut them out one by one. And apart from some annoying scenes last season I do like her character and consider her a vital cast member. I hope that they get rid of Ava or Rebecca or whatever her name is. She’s been in the show long enough and she’s starting to really annoy me. Of course I can’t wait for Brothers & Sisters. All this gossip about Balthazar Getty and Sienna Miller just reminded me of how much I really miss the show. I hope the story won’t repeat itself too much and the plot evolving around the mysterious sibling “Ryan” will be something new and not the “Rebecca” story all over again. “Entourage” is scheduled for some time this fall and I must say: it’s about time. It’ll be almost a year since we last saw Vince and his entourage in Cannes. Oh yes and I can’t wait to see Ari (Jeremy Piven) again. Will cross thumbs for the Emmys.
Ok am suddenly too tired to continue writing. Will rest and be back.
(Picture Source www.welt.de)
Tags: Mr Monk, Monk USA, Mr Monk buys a House, Mr Monk and the genius, camping, Brad garrett, Hector elizondo, Stanley Kamel, Katherine Heigl, Grey Anatomy, Greys anatomy Season 5, Brothers &sisters, Balthazar Getty, sienna miller, Getty miller, entourage hbo, entourage, desperate housewives, Izzie Alex, Callie Hahn, Pretty, Woman, Jeremy Piven, Ari Gold, Emmys, weeds showtime
Greys Anatomy, TV Shows, life, Brothers & Sisters, Monk, Entourage, weeds | August 3rd, 2008 by admin | No Comments
With anticipation I checked the Emmy nominations a few days ago and I must say that I was quite disappointed. It seems as if the jury merely has the time to watch 5 to 6 shows since the same names keep showing up in almost every category. Don’t get me wrong - I love many of the shows that are nominated this year and I think it is absolutely justified that Tony Shalhoub and Hugh Laurie are yet again nominated for “Best actor” but can’t they just nominate some other shows for a change ? I watched the first few episodes of “Samantha Who” last season and while I generally enjoy Christina Applegate in her movies I quickly grew bored and stopped tuning in. On the other hand “Men in Trees” - which has been wrongfully cancelled - hasn’t been mentioned once. There was much more depth and character there than I could observe in SW. Shows I really hope will be successful in their categories are ”Friday Night Lights” “Brothers & Sisters” and “The Tudors”. I found this clip on www.ew.com - from the Ausiello Files. Adrianne Palicki and Connie Britton are so fantastic - I can’t wait for the show to go on the air. I enjoyed “Damages” but I wasn’t sad when the season ended so can’t understand all the nominations on that end. But maybe I’m wrong and the shows that appear on the nomination lists every year - the ones I haven’t seen - really are that good. Maybe I should check some of them out and then continue with this discussion (with myself). What surprised me a little was the amount of nominations “30 Rock” received. I love both Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin and I watch the show every week but 17 nominations? Even I must admit that this might be a bit too much. And how fabulous must “Pushing Daisies” be with a total of 12 nominations? That is definately a show I will take a look at and report back. Ok, stopping now with the Emmy talk.
Very recently I have started to rewatch all “Everybody loves Raymond” seasons. What shall I say- it’s been a rainy summer so far. Even watching the episodes for the second or third time is still hilarious. I would even say that this show is one of the funniest shows that have ever aired. And it’s not as exhausting as “Curb your Enthusiasm” which I also very much enjoy. I regularly need a break from Larry David’s “Faux pas” and can’t watch too many epis in a row whereas I can definately manage to watch a whole season of ELR in one day. During the weekend of course. Ok, maybe in two days. I love the whole cast and am very thrilled to see Ray Romano in “Men of a certain Age” on TNT this fall. I really can’t wait and hope that the show is going to be as successful as ELR was. There are so many excellent episodes of “Everybody loves Raymond”. Last night I very much enjoyed the one where Robert’s date eats a fly and Raymond watches her. I really laughed hard there. Romano is just the funniest man out there!
Ok, there’s so much more very important stuff I want to talk about here but the urge to go home and eat is momentarily stronger and I will therefore be back as soon as I’m saturated.
(Picture source: www.ew.com )
Tags: Emmys 2008, emmys, Men In Trees, Samantha Who, Christina Applegate, The Tudors, Damages, Friday Night Lights, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Men of a certain age, Ray romano, Connie britton, Adrianne Palicki
TV Shows, 30 Rock, Movies, House, Brothers & Sisters, Monk, Friday Night Lights, Entourage, Men in Trees | July 22nd, 2008 by admin | No Comments
Tell me one thing. Why do so many men feel threatened by strong women? I ask myself this question every day. I consider myself a strong women - I stand up for myself, I know what I want and when I’m treated badly I deal with it openly and I confront people. This applies to my everyday life - be it at work or in private. I think that in order to develop a strong character it takes a lot of strength, courage and determination. I think that for a women to become so strong she must have gone through some tough times. But this is only my view. The problem is while strong women admire each other for these traits men feel threatened and often attacked. I’m confronted with these situations on a regular basis. Especially insecure men behave very generously when it comes to critizising their opponent. They can’t stop dishing out and afterwards they feel much better about themselves. But shame on you should you dare to reciprocate. Then you’re considered an unstable and hysterical bitch. The ironical thing is that these kind of men take themselves way too serious since they think that we really want to spend our time dealing with them. No, we don’t - I can just talk for myself here. We’re just smarter than to let them boost their self confidence on our account. I would like to quote Mr Adrian Monk here: “It’s a gift and a curse.” Once you’ve stood up for yourselve you can’t back off the next time you get attacked and let me tell you my friends, it’s pretty tough sometimes. Alright, just had to get that off my chest before the weekend.
Now to the important things: A belated congratulations to Hillary Clinton for winning Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island. She so much deserved to win after this horrible last month. I admired her on Saturday Night Life doing that scene with Amy Poehler and also laughed at her humor in the Daily Show on Monday when Jon Stewart asked her what she was doing going on an interview with him on the evening before the primaries. Her response “It’s pathetic” was just hilarious. I admire her strength and really hope that she can turn the dynamic of the race to her favour. It seems like it won’t go without the delegates of Michigan and Florida though so lets see with what kind of a solution the Democratic National Committee comes up with. Bill Clinton said something during a speech he held at the University of Wyoming yesterday and it corresponds well with with what I’ve been writing about in this post: “There is an indefinable quality you also need in a president, it goes beyond the ability to speak, to inspire, to think, to be smart, to come up with the right policies. You need somebody that you know is rock solid. (NY Times, Julie Bosman, 03.07.2008)”
Yes! Just read on www.tv.com that Friday Night Lights is saved - at least for now and will get its third season. Apparently the satellite-television provider DirecTV will support the show and add it to its game plan. I’m not sure whether this information is confirmed by either NBC or DirecTV but I do hope so. It gives me hope that for a change studios do care about their shows and make an effort to save them even if their ratings suck and nobody seems to watch them. People do have to start watching them though. Same goes for Men in Trees on ABC. There’s still no news on the renewal of the show for a third season and instead of getting slightly panicky I command everyone out there to watch the last two episodes of the show! I have watched every episode at least twice. I had nothing else to watch and Men in Trees is one of the few shows you can easily rewatch and still be entertained. Especially in the last episode I felt very involved: I cried when Marin did and I wanted to toss things when she did, I was overcome with joy when she saw Jack walking down the peer and I would have also wanted to have sex with him in that pickup truck. He’s just so gorgeous. Men in Trees is one of those shows where you become attached to every single character and where the town itself counts as a character as well. It reminds me of Twin Peaks where I wanted to move to during and after having seen the show and also of Gilmore Girls. I think every Gilmore Girls fan wanted to move to Stars Hollow and live with the Gilmores at least once. One of my favorite episodes was where Marin and Jane were visited by a bear and Jack had to rescue them (so sexy!) There’s just no annoying factor in Men in Trees so far. Not even Lynn disturbed me that much. I mean I was glad when we got to see her leave the town but while she was still there the episodes were written in a way that the viewers didn’t have to hate her. Not like Oliver in The O.C. man was he awful. And so far I must say David Rosenthal whom I found listed in the shows credits is doing a much better job here than he had done in Gilmore Girls. To his defence - stepping into the Palladino’s shoes was a “Mission Impossible” to begin with.
Later M.
(Picture Source www.a.abcnews.com)
Tags: Hillary clinton, Wyoming, Bill clinton, Friday night lights, Save friday night lights, NBC Directv, NY times, Yes she will, Men in trees, men in trees abc, jon stewart, daily show, Saturday night life, amy poehler
TV Shows, life, Monk, Friday Night Lights, Men in Trees, Politics | March 7th, 2008 by admin | No Comments
Oh my oh my, was I excited to watch this year’s ”green” Emmys. It was sooo good to see all of the casts of our favorite shows back again after what seemed like an endless summer. I caught myself jumping up and down the sofa several times during the show, sobbing, laughing out loud, even clapping. My father must have looked at me a little irritated once or twice but who cares- I was in heaven!!!
The show was a blast and I loved the appearance of Ray Romano. I just mentioned to my brother a few days ago that it’s a shame that Mr Romano has had no TV appearances since “Everybody loves Raymond” went off the air. His speech was so hilarious and I was really confused when Fox pulled its first of three censors and interrupted Ray while he was 
commenting on Kelsey Grammar a.k.a Frasier screwing his ELR wife Patricia Heaton on the new Fox comedy “Back to You”. I think I knew all relevant nominations by heart and there were some categories such as “Best supporting actress in a drama series” where I absolutely had no idea who I would vote for. I would have been happy for every nominee.
I must say that Jeremy Piven playing Ari Gold on “Entourage” is the most amusing and fabulous supporting actor on TV nowadays. I would like to quote an aquaintant by saying “Ari is the character that holds this show together.” It is my opinion that the show wouldn’t be the hit it is without Piven. Therefore I was filled with satisfaction when he was awarded the Emmy for “Best supporting Actor in a Comedy Series” Unfortunately the rest of the cast and the show itself missed out this year. Well there’s always next year and it’s like they say: “It’s really all about getting nominated”
The singing and dancing tribute honoring “The Sopranos” by the Jersey Boys was moving but then again also strange, seeing Adriana getting whacked again while listening to ” You’re just to good to be true” I was somewhat disturbed. When the whole cast was called on to the stage I cried and felt really sad that the Sopranos era was really over. As long as we’re with the Sopranos - Outstanding writing and directing went to both Chase and Tylor for their episodes “Made in America” (Don’t stop believing has been on my Ipod ever since) and “Kennedy and Heidi”. Of course not to forget the Oustanding Drama Series award in the end. I think everyone will agree with me that this award went to the right show. The cast came on stage again and I cried - again.
I was really looking forward to the announcements for Best Actor/Actress in both a Drama and a Comedy series. As for Sally Field getting the Emmy for B&S- she very much deserved that award since I love the show and the acting in it. Her acceptance speech was memorable and I loved how Fox censored Mrs Field when she said “If the mothers ruled this world there would be no god damned war” Everybody knew what she was saying anyway.
The big upset was the Best Actor in a Drama as well as in a Comedy Series. The Drama award: I was prepared for Hugh Laurie to receive it, I hoped that Gandolfini would get it, even would have granted it to Sutherland but for James Spader to finally get it- hm I didn’t know what to say. But the Boston Legal star knew. He claimed that he felt like he had just stolen a pile of money from the mob and indeed the scene was funny since the whole black suited cast of the Sopranos sat behind him looking at him. I hoped the comedy award would have gone to Shalhoub or to Baldwin but instead it went to Ricky Gervais for “Extras”.
My ultimate moment of happiness came when 30 Rock received the “Outstanding Comedy Series award. I loved Tina Fey’s speech and I hope this award gives the show a push in viewer numbers. I also heard Edie Falco say on the recycled red carpet that she will star on 30 Rock. That’s spectacular!
There were many more fantastic moments. I will definitely watch the show again. Next week the Hiatus is over and all will be good!
(Picture Source www.tv.com)
Tags: 59th Emmy Awards, The Emmys, Entourage, Entourage Jeremy, Piven, Ari Gold, Ray Romano, Back to you Fox, 30 Rock, 30 Rock Tina Fey, Tina Fey, Edie Falco 30 Rock, Boston Legal, James Gandolfini, Sally Field, Brothers Sisters, Jersey Boys
Greys Anatomy, TV Shows, 30 Rock, House, Brothers & Sisters, Monk, Entourage | September 18th, 2007 by admin | No Comments
Some good n
ews for all Kristen Bell fans. Our former PI has signed on to star in a multi episode arc of the upcoming season of Heroes. Read more here on Perez. I was happy about the news although I had stopped watching Heroes after the seventh episode and will have to take up watching the show although I had just categorised it as “tested and rejected”. I started watching in the beginning of the summer, very motivated and eager to watch the show after having read so many positiv reviews. I was looking very much forward to seeing some acters like Milo Ventimiglia, Ali Larter or Hayden Panettiere. After episode seven I gave up and figured that I’ve never been that much into the Sci Fi genre and that one should not force things too much even though a strong and promising show would have fit perfectly into my shrunken repartoire of weekly shows. Somehow I cannot feel enthusiastical about people with superpowers. Honestly the split-personality character of Ali Larter irritated me and parts of the storyline were just too strange. I like the Japanese guy though- he’s cute. Well anyway, I still can’t believe that Veronica Mars won’t be returning this Fall. At least we will be seeing her on TV even if that means that I have to get into watching that show again. I’m relieved she didn’t decide to sign on to “Lost”. I would have had to catch up quite a lot since I’m not watching the island show at all. I just think it’s a waste of her talent. Bell is such a phenomenal actress and she should have her own show, no broadway, no Heroes just a good and solid Kristen Bell show. Hm - I hate the CW!
I have developed a new obsession during the evening hours when I should normally watch TV like normal people. I hunt and then kill mosquitos. My mother bought several cans of biological spray that kills instantly. So my brother and I wander the rooms and will not cease the hunt and go to bed until we can be absolutely sure there ist not one single beast left. Last week a I stayed awake until 4 am hunting because everytime I lied down I heard the buzzing within seconds.I heard in the news that these insects have become much more dangerous this year since the summer has been so warm and rainy and that this is the ideal climate for them to reproduce. I even keep spiders in my appartments so that their webs help to catch these monsters. Yes I know not so exciting but this is what I do.
Have I mentioned how much I love Mr Monk? Well I love Mr Adrian Monk. Now more than ever. There are episodes when I simply fall over with laughter. I hope the writers never run out of good storylines which I can imagine isn’t always that easy. In times where the TV programs are so inconsistent and excellent shows get cancelled before you can say “veronica mars” it is always good to know that you can rely on Mr Monk returning weekly and providing you with an hour full of blissful quality time. I love that Mr Monk had “sand” shoes in “Mr Monk and the naked Man” and I thought the scene where Monk and Troy are trapped in Troys’s car in this week’s “Mr Monk and the Buried Treasure” was very excellent.
One last thought for today. “Weeds” has finally started its third season a few weeks ago and the first episodes were quite fun to watch but is it me or is Nancy getting whinier and whinier with each episode??? Ginia Bellafante has written an excellent article on the show in the NY Times. Read it here.
Oh this is a surprise!!! Can’t wait for fall. Mandy Moore in “How I met your Mother” Two good things melting together!!! Yeah!
(Photo via www.eonline.com)
Tags: Kristen Bell, Heroes NBC, Kristen Bell Heroes, Weeds Showtime, Monk USA, Save Veronica Mars, Mandy Moore How I Met your Mother, Ali Larter, Ginia Bellafante NY Times
TV Shows, Veronica Mars, Heroes, Monk | August 20th, 2007 by admin | 1 Comment