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I think you know by now that there are some shows with which I have a love/hate relationship.
I like a show too much to completely give up on it but sometimes I'm so frustrated with the direction it is going in or a particularly annoying character that I think to myself, "That's it. I'm never watching again." And there I am back the next week in front of my television. It's a dysfunctional TV relationship and I've had quite a few.
Ally McBeal was one of those show. Grey's Anatomy is one of those shows. And last season Rescue Me became one of those shows.
When Rescue Me first premiered, I adored it. It may not have changed my life. But boy did I laugh and cry. But then, once Diane Far departed the series, every, single female character was completely neurotic, one-dimensional and more than a little crazy. Every woman who crossed across the screen wanted to sleep with Tommy (really you tell me what purpose Jennifer Esposito served last season). And I know he's the star, but the show became almost exclusively focused on Tommy (Denis Leary). I like Sean, I like Franco, I like Lou, I like the Probie and I want to see more of them. I didn't want a very special episode of The Tommy Gavin Show week after week.
The series won't be back until next spring (Leary has mentioned March 2009 in a few interviews, but FX hasn't confirmed a date yet.) Ten, five-minute minisodes, which premiere Tuesday at 10 p.m. on FX and will be available on www.crackle.com the day after, are meant to tide viewers over until the series returns for a fifth season. And I'm positively delighted with the three minisodes I've seen so far.
Leary said in an interview last week that the minisodes will become more serious as they progress but the three that I saw were mostly played for comedic effect. And that's was what I always loved about the series -- the firehouse banter between the guys.
This week, Sean announces to the crew that he's been on a cleansing fast. And profanity-laden hilarity ensues. (Even though this is basic cable, I'm surprised by what they've gotten away with from a censors perspective) Next week, Tommy has a provocative dream that takes a few uproarious turns.
I'm really hoping these minisodes are a sign of great things to come in season five. After you've watched the minisodes, let me know what you think.
Do you have a series you have a love/hate relationship with? Talk about it below.
Amy Awards
Don't forget that you have until this Friday, June 27 at 5 p.m. EST to cast your vote in the 2008 Amy Awards.
Remember you picked the categories, you picked the nominees and now you will vote on the winners.
Click here to vote.
Can We Survive This Week of Game Shows
I'm desperately trying to remember the last time I truly enjoyed a prime time game show. Maybe Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, when the series was still in its nascent stages and not on every five minutes. I like the old fashion charm of the current Million Dollar Password. And I always enjoyed Win Ben Stein's Money. I have nothing against game shows, but like most things in television, prime time game shows have become the latest genre to be overexposed. They're popular because they are cheap to produce and quick to move through production.
Let's take a gander at the ones coming our way this week.
Celebrity Family Feud (Tuesday, NBC, 8 p.m.): It's like the perfect storm -- the overuse of celebrities with over exposure of game shows. Such good times. Al Roker hosts (hmmmm . . . will he kiss all the female contestants on the lips?) as famous families try to win $50,000 for the charity of their choice. This week, the families of Joan Rivers, Raven-Symone, Ice T and Wayne Newton compete.
I Survived a Japanese Game Show (Tuesday, ABC, 9 p.m.): Ten contestants are taken on a surprise trip to Tokyo where they compete in -- that's right -- a Japanese game show. Here's an example of a game they'll be playing. It's called "Why is this food so hard to eat?" One person runs in place on a treadmill (that's going very fast) while the other person tries to eat food attached to the first contestant's head. Let's stop there, shall we?
Wipeout (Tuesday, ABC, 8 p.m.): With all the ads ABC has been airing, I feel like I've already seen this one. And I don't like what I've seen so far, do you?
What do you think about the current state of prime time game shows? Talk about it below.
Highlights of the Week Ahead
All times listed are Eastern Standard Time for June 23-28
So I must know what you thought of the season premiere of Weeds (Monday, Showtime, 10 p.m.) and the series premiere of Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Monday, Showtime, 10:30 p.m.) Were you as frustrated with Nancy as I was? Wait until this week's episode. And I was surprised that I heard from so many people who really liked Secret Diary. I just couldn't really get into the show but many of you were quite taken with the premiere.
It gives me hope that ABC News still producing shows like this. Hopkins, premieres Thursday at 10 p.m. on ABC. In the series, executive producer Terence Wrong went inside Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital for four months to chronicle the life and death situations that are part of the daily hospital operations.
Maggie Lawson and James Roday, who star in Psych, are working together again in the latest installment of Fear Itself (Thursday, NBC, 10 p.m.). Lawson plays a bride who gets a note on her wedding day that states "The person you are marrying is a serial killer." Yeah that's gotta put a damper on things.
Okay I know I just complained about game shows and maybe I am a little too cranky today because I do love dancing shows. But enough is enough. Why does TV have to run every popular trend into the ground? Bad TV, very bad TV. Dance Machine, where six people compete in dance-offs, premieres Friday at 8 p.m. on ABC.
If you missed Eli Stone when it premiered in the spring, now is your chance to catch up. ABC is repeating the episodes in order beginning Saturday at 10 p.m.
That's all for today. I'm back on Wednesday with this week's familiar faces and more. Have a question? Seen a familiar face? Want to nominate a quote of the week or a topic for discussion? Write me at amytvgal@zap2it.com.
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
Can't wait for more Rescue Me!
I have a love/hate relationship with American Idol. For the past three years, I've sworn I'm done with it, and yet I tune in every single Tuesday and Wednesday, unable to stop. Last year (the Jordin Sparks year) I was sitting at the top of my stairs where I could simultaneously watch both TVs - one tuned to Lost (We have to go back, Kate!) and the other to AI. Which I still think Blake should have won.
I have love/hate with Smallville. I've watched every episode for the last 7 years, because it always had such great potential. I think its time for me to admit that it's never lived up to its potential and now that half the cast, executive producers, etc., are all leaving--it never well. I hate the fact that I can't stop watching.
Oooh! I am second. Okay, I loved Rescue Me when it first came on. Loved all the characters, even stayed up late to watch it even if I had to get up at the crack of dawn. But I agree with you Amy, why does every female character have to sleep with Tommy? Why would they want to? Especially with many other fine firemen around? Please! I kinda gave up on it last year, so we will see if the webisodes get me back.
I know what you mean about a love/hate relationship with a show - I had that type of relationship with Charmed by the end (not in the beginning or middle though). But, I also have a different type of love/hate relationship with a current show - LOST. I absolutely do love the show, but I really hate how it always raises more questions than gives you answers. I know, suspense is good, keeps you guessing, keeps you tuned in, and for this show is supposedly brilliant writing. The hate part for me though is that I am going on blind faith that the writing is brilliant - they don't give me enough answers to determine if the plot is really as genius as we all rave it is! I have a feeling that when the show ends for good, I will be either supremely satisfied or extremely POed b/c I vested so much time and got ripped off! Hope that makes sense!
I'm looking forward to both Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show. U.S. television could do with its own dose of the wackiness that Spike's MXC used to dole out and the awesomeness that G4's Ninja Warrior and Unbeatable Banzuke give us.
Kristin, you and me both! Smallville is one of those shows that I'm resigned to watch until the (undoubtedly bitter) end, even though it's just never been... well, any good! These past couple of seasons especially have been trying, but I just can't seem to let it go. Maybe with Lana and Lex (who, while MR is easily the best actor on the show, has been a 2D figure of EVIL! for the past few years, and where's the fun in that?) gone, not to mention the original executive producers, things might possibly get better for it's final season. I know, wishful thinking!
Oh, and Amy - Weeds! Loved having it back, but I wish they hadn't gotten rid of Heylia and Conrad. Also, I'm feeling a little uneasy at Celia being in prison, are we supposed to find it funny or something? This show always treads a fine line, though, and it always comes out good in the end, so I'll wait to see how it all develops :)
Smallville is still appointment t.v. for me. I don't compare it to the George Reeves series of the 1950's, Lois and Clark of the 1990's or the feature films from the 1970's/1980's. I wouldn't dream of comparing it to the comic books either. Smallville is its own story that up until now had never really been covered in any media including Superboy comic books.
Thank you to the creators, cast and crew for the last seven years who have finally given me a series I have wanted to follow from beginning to end.
Chris, I was thinking Wipeout looked like a complete rip-off of like MXC. But the problem is, would you want to watch an MXC without the blatent mockery of the source material? Without Kenny Blankenship and Vic Morano? Without the absurd pairing of teams (ex: dentists vs explorers, or amusement park industry vs the world's oldest profession)? I don't think I could handle that show if it was taking itself seriously, which it looks like Wipeout is.
I haven't seen any promos for "Whipeout" since I don't think I've watched anything on ABC since the "Lost" finale. There really isn't anything worth watching on network television during the summer since they dumped reruns in favor of hideous reality television. It's all about cable, dog parks, and good books right now. I'll say "Hi" to ABC in September (or whenever TV returns following the Olympics).