Posted by: haro1d

Ooh! It’s Peyton! Woohoo!

Yes, it’s the OTH season premiere and Lucas and Peyton went to Vegas and spent the rest of the episode not getting married. Maybe they’ll propose to each other for the rest of the season. Brooke and her mom continue havin’ it out as only mom and Brooke can. Skills and Nathan’s mom are still makin’ the beast with two backs behind everyone’s backs. Mouth and Millicent are goin’ to Omaha. Dan Scott got hit and was nearly killed by … Nanny Carrie! (My wife, immediately afterward: “They’re gonna get together — evil Dan Scott and Nanny Carrie!” Hey, if Skills and Deb can find each other …) Lucas and Peyton got a room in Vegas with a mirror over the bed. (Those sickos!) Brooke’s day got even better with a shoplifting betty ripping off her store, but she got some support from Millicent, who called Brooke’s mother an “evil @#$%.” Nathan catches his mom topless in the pool, narrowly missing Skills, who’s hiding underwater. Lucas and Peyton’s would-be Elvis wedding was too trashy to contemplate, so they balked and, as previously said, they’re just proposing to each other nonstop. Dan Scott is being drugged and held hostage by Nanny Carrie in her house, which is cleverly made to look like a hospital room. After Millicent decides to stay with Brooke to help her in her fight with Victoria, Brooke fires her to send her to Omaha with Mouth. Then, just when things couldn’t get any more dramatic — and right after challenging her mother over the phone — Brooke gets knocked down and pummeled by a masked bandit of some sort.

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Tags: Drama, One Tree Hill, The CW by haro1d
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By Elaine B

First off, thanks to my brilliant DVR for catching this week’s episode at 2am Saturday when our local station decided to air it, since it had been cut for an NFL pregame. This is not odd. This is not indicative of the show’s future, but other things are.

What is of greater concern for fans hoping for a Season 2 is that the storylines are moving toward resolution – and quite nicely – making it unclear what would be left for next year.

And once again, the nicest and best-grounded couple on the show are Tom and Trina, whose advice to Susan and Bruce is right on. Tom notes how parents are always to put their oxygen masks on first, then help their kids. “Take care of yourself first,” he tells her. Trina never really gets a chance to say anything to Bruce, who talks about how he had such well-ordered plans that went all wrong. When she tries to get him to deal with priorities, he interrupts her to say, “God forbid life should throw you a real curve ball.” [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown, Uncategorized by Elaine
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By Elaine B

Back in my early employment days, I landed a job at a small business publication. To be fair, the same cuteness factor that kept me from driving a bus landed me this one. It was not in journalism, my field, but in sales, which I truly hate but any job is better than none. I had a small windowless office and without warning, on about day two of my employment, a heavyset older man wandered in, sat down, closed the door, lit a cigar and said, “Has anyone ever told you that you have a beautiful bosom?” Then he proceeded to silently puff away, the cloud of smoke rising to ceiling where it accumulated and began to grow and fall toward us. Just about the time I was fairly convinced that my visitor and I were going to die of asphyxiation, someone came in and rescued me.

Ah, to have been Janet in that moment, when, though new to her temp job, she had the balls to tell her lecherous new boss at the Daily Sun where he needed to keep his hands, or her husband would come and beat the man up. Roger? She hardly needed him.

Nope, Roger is off visiting the psychiatrist where he confesses that he thinks he is in love with his wife’s best friend. “Friendship and marriage are two different things,” the woman cautiously tells him (probably because, having met Janet, she is terrified of giving him any other advice). But shouldn’t they be the same person? he asks. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown, Uncategorized by Elaine
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By Elaine B
Those of us who came of age in the late ’60s and early ’70s were part of the “accommodating generation.” First, we accommodated our what-will-the-neighbors-think ’50s parents until we broke free and went far away to college where we could accommodate ourselves for a change. There we shed our bras and joined communes and expanded our minds with illegal substances and protested an unpopular war and got arrested. Then the most turbulent generation of the last century settled down and heaved a big sigh of relief that we had survived the mess and went on to become stuffy accommodaters of our children - some of whom now have parents so accommodating that they have not left home to this day.

The problem with the characters on Swingtown is they missed all the fun of accommodating themselves. And now, with children who might be scandalized by their behavior, they are finally trying to find their way in secret. But no one has done as marvelous a job as Janet (and to be fair, Roger) does in the Aug. 8 episode. Hopefully you have DVR so you could watch the incredible Olympic opening ceremony (a dramatic, precise and overblown event that Nazi architect Albert Speer would likely have appreciated) and catch Swingtown, too. If not, CBS.com offers full episodes for viewing on their website a few days after they have aired on the network. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown, Uncategorized by Elaine
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Posted by: haro1d

Well, so far it’s been a subtly dramatic couple of opening episodes for the new season of Mad Men. I’m sure many thought we might have jumped forward to the Kennedy assassination, but we’re not there yet. When we’d interviewed him, Matthew Weiner had said that we’d know exactly what day it was when we saw the season premiere. Well, we did — it was Valentine’s Day. (Wasn’t that tricky of him?)

A number of things have changed in the interim since we last entered this “Mad” world, and are continuing to go in odd directions. Yes, Valentine’s Day has Ma and Pa Draper stealing away to a hotel for a bit of bliss, interrupted by Don’s “performance” trouble. Is it possible the stress of his high-pressure career, juggling various women on the side and continual smoking and drinking are taking their toll? The answer is yes, of course, and it’s leaving Betty … well, unsatisfied. So this week’s episode has her actively starting to look for excitement from other sources — like the guy who came to fix her fan belt on the side of the road. Will it lead to more than flirtation next time? Who can say, other than Mr. Weiner, and we know what a crafty one he is.

Loads of things are happening on Mad Men to change the landscape and power structure at Sterling-Cooper. Peggy is back in the office after having shed some weight and a baby. Trying to assert herself more firmly as one of the creative staff, she’s starting to throw around the weight she has left in a bid to set herself above the rest of the gals in the office. We also get a glimpse into her family life and find that that rather unstable look in her eyes likely has been there for a while — her mental health and the law have crossed paths at least once before. As she barely looks in on her newborn child, we see another ’sweet pea’ in the room. Peggy’s mother refers to Peggy as the child’s aunt — but is she?

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Tags: AMC, Drama, Mad Men by haro1d
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By ElaineB
Near the end of the latest episode of Swingtown, Janet, in shock at what she’d discovered in a single night, confesses to Tom that “I can’t be that kind of woman.” She doesn’t mean loose, though that is a part of it. She means wild, sexy, free. Tom says she underestimates herself, she is a beautiful woman. Then he kisses her. A friend watching the scene with me raised his fist in the air. “Tom kicks ass!” he said. “He’s so smooth … like a white Billy Dee Williams.”

Yes, Grant Show fans, the former Melrose Place star is finally bringing Tom’s character to light and it is good. Tom and Trina are the powerhouse couple on this series for their honesty, their insight and their incredible ability to put people at ease in the most uneasy of situations. But more on that later. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown, Uncategorized by Elaine
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By ElaineB

Last week I assumed that the Bruce who came home, immediately needed a shower and looked so miserable and guilty, must have been doing more than lusting after sweet Melinda. Had my mind not been in the gutter, I would have realized that he was only sweaty, likely reeked of smoke and probably a bit of Melinda’s perfume. And he felt guilty because, gee, he really wanted to do something.

This, of course, is only revealed later in the episode, which features another delightful throwback to the ’70s, the scavenger hunt. But Trina’s Puzzlerama also reminds me of the era of unlocked doors and trusting neighbors. These were people that held potluck marathons (appetizer in one home, salad in the next, etc.), neighborhood parties, and who gave each other housekeys. I still live in a neighborhood like that, but I know how rare and precious they are. So Trina asking Susan and Bruce to step out of their own house was not unheard of and I must say, the game was as charming as she is. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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By ElaineB
Just as I predicted, Swingtown is moving to Fridays at 9 beginning this week (July 25). The Canadian drama Flashpoint which, even if you are not a fan of police dramas, you ought to check out, moves into the Swingtown time slot.

According to CBS, the new slot will remain in effect for the rest of the season for both shows. Some believe this is the beginning of the end for our weekly flashback to the seventies.

At the Television Critics Association press tour last week, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said of Swingtown, “I love the show. Everybody knows how passionate I’ve been about it. I wish the ratings were better … but right now, we’re behind the show and we are proud of it.”

On the other hand, ratings don’t need to be quite so good on Fridays, something of a throw-away night for the networks, so keep your fingers crossed that it isn’t canceled or, if it is, the network at least ties up the story line. If anyone out there was a fan of the aptly named Vanished, they know how quickly – and how badly – a series can end.

If Swingtown does have a full run, it will end on Sept. 26 as a new fall show premieres in its time slot a week later.

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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By Elaine B
There’s one magical thing about oppressive summer heat. When you’re too hot to move and too sweaty to think about anything beyond showers, life slows down and you get introspective. This is an episode featuring plenty of sweat and deep thoughts and deceptions (most of them anyway) revealed.

The heat certainly gets to Trina, who pulls out her collection of her old photographs, finds a particularly nice one of Tom and, feeling lonesome, calls him in Tokyo. Unfortunately, he’s not there so Bobbie the stewardess answers his phone. From the background noise, Trina knows that Tom’s room has become party central – and she has a pretty good idea of what will happen next. To his credit, as soon as Tom gets home, with his crew and the buxom Bobbie with him, he confesses. Things are icy between the couple in spite of the heat. “You cheated,” she says. He tries to disagree, citing Bobbie is on their list. “Open and honest is how it works … and why it works,” Trina counters. She begins flirting with his co-pilot, and the outcome could make life awkward between the two pilots in the cockpit.
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Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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By Elaine B
Oddly, what struck me the hardest was the ads that aired during this episode of Swingtown. Great songs of the Sixties (and I know them all). One for a Perry Mason DVD. Perry Mason? What’s next, Viagra and nursing home insurance, local funeral parlors? Sometimes, it’s bad enough reliving the stupidity of my youth without being reminded of how loooong ago that was and how really ugly all that scalp and facial hair was. Better to try to sell us Corvettes and BMWs, the best of Saturday Night Live (with a clip on the Bass-o-Matic) or George Carlin DVDs, and a whole lot of image and self-improvement stuff because, frankly, anyone who watches Swingtown is not likely to have loved Perry Mason, even when they were 12. These ads indicate that you may be watching Swingtown on Fridays, if it renews, because that “old” demographic is home to watch.

But enough on the ads. This was an awesome – or dare I say “groovy” – episode, the best since the first one. Near the end of last week’s show, Susan commented to Bruce on the changes in their marriage, “It’s not about us, it’s about me.” This week, the same could be said for all the women. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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