July 2007
Unless a show deals with gangsters, Chicago's overlooked in favor of old standbys New York and Los Angeles. Really, as I've learned over the past six years, Chicago has a city vibe more a combination of the two... for maybe four months each year. After that, the weather turns cold and we all huddle inside and dream of the next spring. Which brings us to last night's double-episode return of Chicago-based My Boys. The show chose to entirely skip over Winter 2006 and begins six months after the season finale.
Ann finally does what looks like some reasonably competent therapy this week on State of Mind -- and then she bemoans what she did and apologizes for it. I would never, ever make it as a therapist. That doesn't matter, though, because we get to see Lili Taylor croon a country song about being drunk when mom got hit by a train as she was on her way out of prison, and really, what more could you ask for out of life than that?
Alternate, but too long, title for this post: "Take me down to the Promise City, where the river is clean and the garden is pretty."
The setup is simple enough: Corey Haim is going to move in with Corey Feldman and Feldman's wife, Susie. The two Coreys, best friends for years, are no longer the stars they once were. Feldman still makes money working as an actor and has a great life with his wife. Haim, not so much.
I know that Jenny is the main character on Side Order of Life, and therefore the one we're supposed to sympathize with, but does anyone else feel like the person who's really getting a raw deal is Ian? The poor guy is completely in the dark while Jenny has deep, meaningful conversations with Mystery Voice, and she's letting him believe that things aren't ending even though she's pretty darn sure she wants out. Seriously, I think Ian is the wronged party here.
This week on Dead Zone, Sarah and Johnny go on a date, which inevitably leads to Johnny falling into a coma. Sarah has the worst luck with men ever. It's all a ploy to get Sarah and Johnny into a creepy hospital, for Sarah and Johnny to get menaced by a creepy doctor, and for me to be plagued with worries about how much they're going to owe the babysitter. Hey, you wanted commentary -- be careful what you wish for.
Tonight on Flight of the Conchords, the guys learn a valuable lesson about racism, or xenophobia, or Australians, or something, when they cross paths with a Kiwi-hating fruit stand operator. More importantly, tonight marked the Flight of the Conchords debut of my favorite Conchords song that they hadn't performed on the show yet: "Albi the Racist Dragon" (which introduced the adverb "racistly" into my vocabulary).
Prophecies are tricky things. They are at once accessible and inscrutable: the words in and of themselves register, but the meaning behind those words is often elusive. This dichotomy was at the heart of tonight's episode of John From Cincinnati, in which the words "Shaun will soon be gone" formed the backbone that held up the hour-long episode.
I awoke this fine Sunday morning with a feeling of unease. I quickly realized that my life had been devoid of trashy moments. This brought me great sadness until I realized that Sundays are now the trashiest day of the week, thanks to Rock of Love! Sorry Jesus!
With another one of the outsiders taking control as Head of Household, and another one of the blander members of the household pushed out into the cold, it seems like Big Brother 8 is really starting to show off the big personalities.
