What I'm Watching: Chuck

Chuck: Season 1, Episode 7 "Chuck Versus the Alma Mater" (B+)

Even if this is not a fantastic installment all by itself, it absolutely fits into the tone of the show. Chuck calling all the spies who come from class is quite amusing. I also enjoy the constant rebellion again the tyrannic Harry, especially after watching C.S. Lee portray the far different Masuka on "Dexter". Morgan continues to surprise me as a supportable character who does not get overly obnoxious. Great to see Julia Ling in a fun recurring role after seeing her pop up a bunch of times on "Studio 60" last season. Chuck's reason to Standford is entertaining, and it is interesting to find out the Bryce was simply looking out for Chuck. I hope they do more with that idea.

What I'm Watching: Prison Break

Prison Break: Season 3, Episodes 6 & 7 "Photo Finish" & "Vamonos" (F)

Two pretty big twists cannot make up for this dismal two-hour presentation. How could they not break out? This show is getting worse and worse, and the writers should take any opportunity they can to get them out of prison and back on the run. It is no longer the despicable Company who is the enemy, but rather the elements. Seriously, the glare and the wind are not fascinating adversaries. Why would our two wannabe escapees not bother to take the ladder down from the window? These guards who pulled out of the prison sure come in quite a bit and make a whole dramatic scene. I have heard enough talk of this "justice" as it is carried out in Panama. The guard shooting the guy point blank, Lechero the milkman blabbering on about it, and Alex wigging out because of his postponed hearing and his drug withdrawal. Inserting a whodunnit in the middle of this episode is pretty much the most unnecessary and inexcusable plotlines in recent memory. This show is becoming like the most recent season of "24" as the writers are continually running out of ideas (not that the writers are doing much these days besides not writing, per the strike and all). Lechero getting in on the breakout should hopfeully reinvigorate this show a bit since they will have support from a higher-up. Why could Lincoln not just shoot Susan B. Anthony? Whistler seems to have some tricks up his sleeve which will hopefully inspire Michael to make some secretive decisions a bit less stupid than challenging Whistler to a fight to the death. Because that worked out so well last time.

What I'm Watching: Dexter

Dexter: Season 2, Episode 6 "Dex, Lies, and Videotape" (B-)

Sadly, this episode feels very out of step for this usually fantastic show. I have been hoping for a copycat killer for a while but I wish it could have been someone a bit more inspired and serious. I for one was completely happy with the old Dexter, and his obsession with becoming the "new Dexter" is a bit uncalled for. I think it is about time someone else learned Dexter's secret, preferably either Deb, Maria, Batista, or Lundy. Rita's jealousy is understandable but Lila's message is so blatant and dumb on her part. This should be a lesson to everyone never to leave confidential information in a voicemail. I am not happy that Dexter did sleep with Lila, but I suppose it is good that he is finally showing some emotion and not keeping it a secret from her. The show needs a major event to redirect it, and hopefully Dexter's responses to the police hot on his trail should be just that.

Golden Globe Musings: Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Television Series

Golden Globe Musings: Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Television Series

The following represents some preliminary thoughts on Golden Globe contenders for the given category. Predictions will be narrowed and revised towards the end of November or the beginning of December. A reminder that last year’s nominees mean zilch at the Globes and that the race is almost entirely unpredictable. As far as the supporting categories go, a majority of the nominees usually come from TV movies and mini-series. I will be analyzing and predicting only the nominees who come from drama or comedy series.

Last year’s nominees:
KATHERINE HEIGL, GREY’S ANATOMY
SARAH PAULSON, STUDIO 60 (show cancelled)
ELIZABETH PERKINS, WEEDS

This year’s top contenders:
KATHERINE HEIGL, GREY’S ANATOMY
Reviews of the show have gotten progressively worse, but Heigl is fresh off an Emmy victory. The Globes timeline includes the second half of the previous season which may be more favorable for Heigl.

ELIZABETH MITCHELL, LOST
Mitchell is chilling as the mysterious Other Juliet on the ABC drama. She somehow walked away without an Emmy nomination this past year but I doubt that every awards guild will be able to ignore her.

JAIME PRESSLY, MY NAME IS EARL
I have partially gotten over the fact that I think Pressly is terrible on the show and in no way deserving of an Emmy nomination, let alone a win. I am more surprised that the Globes have yet to include Pressly on their list of nominees. But hey, I will take my victories where I can get them.

JENNA FISCHER, THE OFFICE
I will never give up hope that some supporting cast member on “The Office” will get nominated for a Golden Globe. Fischer had an unbelievable year with excellent episodes which featured her showing off both comedic and dramatic skill. How can they not recognize her?

Anyone else? “Grey’s Anatomy” co-stars Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson could easily be on voters’ shortlists. Oh won this award two years ago, so she has the upper hand, but the Globes rarely invite past winners back for another go-around, unlike the Emmy Awards. Candice Bergen should be living proof of that unless she somehow gets another nomination for her downright awful performance on “Boston Legal”. If “Ugly Betty” is still as popular as it was last year, Vanessa Williams could end up with a nomination. I am rooting for Jane Krakowski to take advantage of buzz for “30 Rock”. Dana Delany is a new addition to the “Desperate Housewives” cast and could manage a surprise entry into this category. I support the chances of two actresses on new ABC shows: Natalie Zea (“Dirty Sexy Money”) and Kristin Chenoweth (“Pushing Daisies”), though how much the Globes will adore their shows is as of yet unknown.

Current predictions:
ELIZABETH MITCHELL, LOST
JENNA FISCHER, THE OFFICE

What I'm Watching: Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives: Season 4, Episode 6 "Now I Know, Don't Be Scared" (C)

This is one episode that starts off just as dismally as the past few, but almost comes through in the end. The gay couple act as if they are simply there to make trouble, purposely mentioning how everyone hates them and trying to offend people. I certainly do not mind the addition of some gay characters to the show, but there is no need to harp on just how much people might not like them; instead, let them develop a bit first. This episode really proves that the men are fairly useless on this show, which was so not the case. Carlos, Mike, and Tom are really dumb and are hardly saved by costume-coordinators Orson and Adam. Slightly funny delivery scene with Frankenstein holding the baby (if of course they had not shown it in the preview). The best acting I have seen on this season of the show comes from Marcia Cross talking to her daughter about the baby. I am glad that Lynette's cancer is gone so that she can go back to smiling every few episodes. And I have an inkling that Victor is not going to kill Carlos because he realizes how much he loves Gabrielle...but I could be wrong.

What I'm Watching: Women's Murder Club

Women's Murder Club: Season 1, Episode 4 "Grannies, Guns and Love Mints" (B-)

Alright, I'll bite. It is an interesting idea to set the crime in a nursing-home community. The personal lives of each of the club members are even more fully explored to often comic effect in this hour, which is good, although I am not much one for the whole standing-on-table declaration thing. I like that Tyrees Allen is still able to have a good time on what is basically an all girls' show. And Lindsay's date at the end with the old woman who thought that Lindsay was her daughter? Slightly touching, but a little more weird.

That Darn Writers' Strike

The Writers Guild of America has been threatening a strike based on the lack of adequate compensation for Internet and other such mediums of reprodution for some time now. Starting tomorrow, the strike is supposed to go into effect. Ideally, it can be swiftly dealt with and easily resolved without much pain to anyone. But if it goes on, as the last one in 1980 did for five months, notable effects for television as we know it will start to occur.

The way it looks right now, and I speak with little knowledge of the matter, having gathered most of my intel from the Primetime Emmys threads over at Goldderby Forums, is that most scripted shows should be able to make it to January without much impact but then will run out of scripts. Midseason shows like "24" and "Lost" have enough for about half of their upcoming seasons, but might delay based on the desire to air the entire season consecutively with no repeats. Come January, if the strike has not yet ended, reality shows may start to multiply and who the hell knows what else will occur. I would have to hope it ends soon so that the television season is not irreconciliably affected.

What does this mean for TV with Abe? I will still be here reviewing as many episodes and shows as I can get my hands on. Golden Globe predictions have almost come to a close, and series predictions will be posted to coincide with best picture predictions on the film side of things. Check out Movies with Abe for Golden Globe predictions and other awards predictions all leading up to the Oscars and the announcement of the 1st Annual AFT Film Awards. Stay tuned.

What I'm Watching: Scrubs

Scrubs: Season 7, Episode 2 "My Hard Labor" (B+)

I have heard grumblings that people are not enjoying this season of the show. I am not overly enthusiastic about it, but I am surely entertained and laughing a good deal. Recently the show has been swapping side-splitting hilarity for more dramatic and serious concepts regarding its characters. JD not wanting to be with Kim and Dr. Cox not wanting his daughter to associate shots and pain with him are just two of the examples from this episode. The appearance of Laverne's twin sister or whoever she is will hopefully be expanded upon in future episodes and re-energize the cast members. I could go for more outwardly hilarious though at this point and maybe a slight de-emphasis on all the drama. Just for a bit.

What I'm Watching: The Office

The Office: Season 4, Episode 6 "Branch Wars" (B+)

Fellow watchers pointed out that the acting by the main cast members, particularly Rainn Wilson and John Krasinski, was really weird in this episode. I certainly agree with that, though I am not sure it is altogether a bad thing. This is without a doubt a hilarious episode. The fake mustaches kept me laughing for a while, as well as Karen finding Jim in the car and the other two continuing to relay secret information over the walkie-talkie. It is so funny that Stanley just wanted to get a raise and was never planning to leave, and so characteristic of the show and Stanley's character. "The Office" is getting increasingly good at developing side plots, like the Finer Things Club where Toby wears a bowtie and Jim does not even read the book. The ending scene is classic. Toby: "Did you even read the book? What happened at the end? Who was the main character?" Jim: "Angela. No wait, the ashes."

What I'm Watching: Smallville

Smallville: Season 7, Episode 6 "Lara" (F)

What just happened here? Clark suddenly has a shard containing his mother? It seems to me quite implausible that this memory serum that Creepy Doctor invented brings to light events that were completely eradicated from Kara's memory. And of course then she is just like "Oh Clark, I never knew!" and everything is fine. Lana is still so ridiculously cunning with her meteor-freak organization that she wants to keep secret from Clark. Some romance for Jimmy and Kara would be fine as long as it shuts Chloe up.

A friend recommended that I start keeping a tally of how many times each character ends up in the hospital. I think that a count of how many times some one loses their memory after learning about Clark's powers might be just as interesting. It is so late to start and the numbers must already be in the hundreds...

Golden Globe Musings: Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Television Series

The following represents some preliminary thoughts on Golden Globe contenders for the given category. Predictions will be narrowed and revised towards the end of November or the beginning of December. A reminder that last year’s nominees mean zilch at the Globes and that the race is almost entirely unpredictable. As far as the supporting categories go, a majority of the nominees usually come from TV movies and mini-series. I will be analyzing and predicting only the nominees who come from drama or comedy series.

Last year’s nominees:
JEREMY PIVEN, ENTOURAGE
MASI OKA, HEROES
JUSTIN KIRK, WEEDS

This year’s top contenders:
DONALD SUTHERLAND, DIRTY SEXY MONEY
Sutherland is an awards magnet, especially with the Golden Globes. He earned a nod for a far lesser performance on the short-lived “Commander-in-Chief” two years ago. He has an awesome role as the patriarch of a ridiculously rich family on “Dirty Sexy Money” and should be able to crack the top five.

JEREMY PIVEN, ENTOURAGE
Piven has been nominated three years running now, the entire broadcast history of the show. He just keeps getting better, which is an impressive feat. Sean Hayes, who only got worse as “Will & Grace”, stuck around quite a while in this category.

TERRY O’QUINN, LOST
O’Quinn had a killer episode this year (“The Man from Tallahassee”) for which he won an Emmy. His performance throughout the entire season is fairly sparse, however. “Lost” may have fallen out of favor with the Globes, but stars Naveen Andrews, Matthew Fox, and Evangeline Lilly have all been nominated over the past two years.

JOHN KRASINSKI, THE OFFICE
Krasinski missed out on an Emmy nomination this year due to a poor submitted episode, but he has been on the cusp of receiving some sort of recognition for his performance for a while now. If they really love “The Office”, Krasinski might have a shot…

RAINN WILSON, THE OFFICE
…but Wilson has the far showier role. While I would be ecstatic if both got nominated, I am not sure if support is strong enough for both of them to make it in. All three “Sex and the City” ladies did make it in 2003. I may just have to predict them both to be hopeful and find myself disappointed once again.

Anyone else? “Weeds” goofball Justin Kirk made it in last year for his wacky portrayal of Andy Botwin on the Showtime comedy. His role this year has not been as major as it was in past seasons. The same goes for Masi Oka, who was nominated for “Heroes” last year but has sort of lost his charm. William Shatner (“Boston Legal”) and Naveen Andrews (“Lost”) are both past nominees who had their time to shine, but have done little to reinvigorate their performances recently. “Damages” villain Ted Danson once got nominated for “Becker” and critics raved about his performance on the FX drama. There is always the unlikely possibility that Walton Goggins could actually get some sort of award or nomination for his stunning work on “The Shield” this past season.

Current predictions:
DONALD SUTHERLAND, DIRTY SEXY MONEY
JEREMY PIVEN, ENTOURAGE
JOHN KRASINSKI, THE OFFICE
RAINN WILSON, THE OFFICE

Golden Globe Musings: Best Actress in a TV Series – Comedy/Musical

The following represents some preliminary thoughts on Golden Globe contenders for the given category. Predictions will be narrowed and revised towards the end of November or the beginning of December. A reminder that last year’s nominees mean zilch at the Globes and that the race is almost entirely unpredictable.

Last year’s nominees:
MARCIA CROSS, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
FELICITY HUFFMAN, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, OLD CHRISTINE
AMERICA FERRERA, UGLY BETTY
MARY-LOUISE PARKER, WEEDS

This year’s top contenders:
PATRICIA HEATON, BACK TO YOU
The show is doing well with ratings and critics somehow seem to like it. Heaton could break in to this category, but keep in mind that she was never nominated during the entire run of “Everybody Loves Raymond” (Ray Ramano was the show’s only nominee, three years in a row). Truth be told, she really is not good on this show.

MARCIA CROSS, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
With nominations three years running, Cross seems a shoo-in for a fourth. The problem is that Cross was absent most of early 2007 for the second half of the show’s third season. Her nomination will have to depend entirely upon her work in the show’s fourth season, which to this point has not been altogether impressive.

TERI HATCHER, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
They absolutely loved her during year one, giving her the win. They liked her somewhat the second year, nominating her along with the other three Housewives. Last year, not so much. I think Hatcher’s time has passed, though I am sure her book about her comeback would be inclined to disagree.

FELICITY HUFFMAN, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
Huffman is the most overrated Housewife, but her role just keeps getting baitier. Unless the Globes completely pass on “Desperate Housewives” (which they have a history of doing with shows that critics abandon), Huffman should definitely be in.

EVA LONGORIA, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
Longoria has received only one nomination, but honestly she has been the strongest player on the show this past year. I know that pretty much no one agrees with me on this, so I will not inflate her chances, but if voters really look at the effort she is putting in to the performance, she might have a shot.

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, OLD CHRISTINE
I had hoped this would be a fad quickly gotten over by all the awards guild, but a second Emmy nod for Louis-Dreyfus indicates otherwise. She could be in by default to the end of her show simply because they liked her on “Seinfeld” and figure she may as well be here again (see: Matt LeBlanc’s nomination for “Joey”).

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE, SAMANTHA WHO?
The new hit ABC comedy stars Applegate as a woman who used to be really mean, but after getting amnesia tries to correct the error of her ways. It is a great role and Applegate plays it supremely. There are people who will find it too gimmicky and Applegate too whiny. Applegate previously earned a nomination for the 1998 NBC comedy “Jesse”.

TINA FEY, 30 ROCK
Fey, the “straight [wo]man” on the show, did not get nominated last year. “30 Rock” has skyrocketed in popularity with critics since then, winning the Emmy for Best Comedy Series and earning Fey an Emmy nomination. I still think the Globes will ignore Fey simply because the role is not showy.

AMERICA FERRERA, UGLY BETTY
Last year’s winner went on to win the Emmy, proving that audiences still love her. I have not heard a peep about the second season of “Ugly Betty” so I cannot say whether it has declined in quality or anything like that. Ferrera is to me the most bearable part of “Ugly Betty” so I do not mind her nomination as much as I mind the show showing up elsewhere (like Best Comedy Series).

MARY-LOUISE PARKER, WEEDS
Anyone who has been watching the third season of “Weeds” should agree that this is Parker’s best season yet. With a more ridiculous plotline and juicier material for her character, Nancy, Parker has run with every punch and excelled at it.

Anyone else? “Men in Trees” star Anne Heche entertains her audience on Friday nights on ABC but has yet to receive a mention from any awards guild. Joely Fisher is a respected actress, despite her dismal performance on “’Til Death”. I am not sure if Anna Friel is considered lead on “Pushing Daisies”, but I feel like she is just a bit too perky for Globe voters’ tastes. And to go out on a limb, let us call Sarah Silverman a contender for her show of the same name.

Current predictions:
FELICITY HUFFMAN, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, OLD CHRISTINE
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE, SAMANTHA WHO?
AMERICA FERRERA, UGLY BETTY
MARY-LOUISE PARKER, WEEDS

What I'm Watching: Dirty Sexy Money

Dirty Sexy Money: Season 1, Episode 6 "The Game" (B+)

Everything on this show is so over-the-top, and that is what I love about it. Billionaires get together and bet properties with "retail values of $400 million" and it turns out one of them has the dealer as his personal assistant. Jeremy gets a job, ruins a car, buys the woman a new one, she does not notice, and when he tells her, she does not care but still will not date him. I am thrilled that we get a chance to see the Darlings interact, though the sight of them playing video games together is a bit strange. Trip and Nick's trickery (loved that twist!) should prove to be very insightful. Great scenes this week with Natalie Zea, Jill Clayburgh, William Baldwin, and Donald Sutherland. And these Darlings do not know any other billionaires, they have to go to Simon Elder?

What I'm Watching: Pushing Daisies

Pushing Daisies: Season 1, Episode 5 "Girth" (B)

This episode is a lot of fun, and Anna Friel and Kristen Chenoweth ultimately play much nicer together than expected. You can never be too sure with this show, so I thought that the murderer really would be a ghost wielding a fire-breathing dragon. As much as fantasy is cool, it is a good thing that this show knows when to stay grounded in semi-reality. Ned's visit to the aunts is touching. And did anyone else notice that Ned with his collar up this whole episode looked a bit like a vampire?

What I'm Watching: Reaper

Reaper: Season 1, Episode 6 "Leon" (C+)

I was utterly confused this entire episode since I taped "NCIS" and "Reaper" on the same tape and I think my VCR clock was set two minutes fast. A good episode should not have something happen in the beginning without delving into it a bit further sometime during the episode, though maybe that is just my confusion talking. This Leon character is sort of fun but also obviously a bit dangerous. I did not quite get who the escaped soul was here (Leon? the dog?). Bret Harrison does do a great job here, especially towards the end. I am glad that he and Andi may have a fighting chance.