Stop me if you've heard this one before: On tonight's edition of The Good Wife, Alicia (Julianna Margulies) gets caught in the middle of an ethics scandal. For more on that and the night's other television offerings check out Movieline's guide to the best TV of the week.
Welcome back to the A-List, where no one is famous but everyone is familiar with the first letter of the alphabet -- and that makes up the difference. This week: Rodiney is sad! Reichen is aloof! Derek is a self-absorbed vulpine princess! And Austin has a secret relationship that he decides to share with the class. "Class" being a hilariously ironic word on this show, always.
When Gilmore Girls went off the air in 2007, Scott Patterson hung up the iconic flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap that defined his character Luke Danes and tried out a few other television roles that didn't stick: The father of a teenager on Aliens in America, a sheriff in a Lifetime movie and an ex-convict on the new 90210. Things have changed though for the Philadelphia-born actor with his juicy network job on NBC's The Event. As Michael Buchanan, a pilot dragged into a government conspiracy after his daughter goes missing, Patterson has not only found a role that lets him explore his full range of emotion on-screen for the first time, but also a stable home, as yesterday's full-season pick-up can attest.
Those of you who rely on the wit and wisdom of Gossip Girl to get through the week were probably disappointed to find that your favorite television excursion was off last night. Fear not, though. In an effort to bridge the gap between now and when Gossip Girl returns with a new episode on Monday night, Movieline has decided to look back at the infant stages of season four to find out just what the series has done right thus far.
Forget TV theme songs; there was another theme prevalent on this week's Dancing with the Stars -- Lies. The judges pretend to dish honesty, but they always settle for diplomatic, cutesy critiques that have nothing to do with the truth. Here are three routines (starring Audrina Patridge, Kyle Massey, and the night's high scorer Brandy) where we're awarding door prizes based on Carrie Ann Inaba's "diplomatic" critiques, Len Goodman's disgust, and Bruno Tonioli's undying horniness.
At least no one wedged themselves into any windows in last night's new installment of Mike & Molly, "Carl Is Jealous," in which Mike's best friend became, uh, jealous of Mike's growing relationship with Molly. (Growing, get it? Haw!) If that complex title and plot summary isn't enough to persuade you to grab that extra seat belt extension and buckle up for this week's Fat Joke Tracker, please know that one of the obese main characters tumbled backwards down a flight of stairs after being hit over the head with a frying pan. Better?
Last week's humdinger of an ending blew our minds in all sorts of ways. First, it made Leila's kidnapping probably the most oddly repurposed in history, and second, it drove The Event's convolution alert level all the way up to severe. In the wake of all that confusion, how did tonight's "Casualties of War" measure up? I'd say to leave off the headache-soothing compress, but what the episode lacked in convolution, it made up for in heavy-handed moral dilemma. Onward, stalwart viewers!
The theme of last night's late night programming was pain. With the NBC and CBS shows dark, viewers were left to watch Teri Hatcher pound Jimmy Kimmel's desk, talk about her chest and thank God for her wealth. Maybe that is why a greater power struck the Desperate Housewives actress with crippling shoulder pain during yesterday's show. Elsewhere, Jim Belushi taped a painfully bad cold open with George Lopez and Johnny Knoxville discussed his agonizing run-in with a dildo bazooka.
For those of you worried that The Event wouldn't be around long enough to explain the event, some good news: NBC has ordered a full-season of the freshman Lost wannabe. Additionally, the Peacock has picked up full seasons of Law & Order: Los Angeles and Outsourced. The latter decision begs the question: What happens to Parks & Recreation?
Marissa Jaret Winokur is the vivacious Broadway star and cancer survivor who tackled a hosting gig on the first season of Oxygen's Dance Your Ass Off, but she might be coming into her own as co-host on CBS's new daytime chatfest The Talk. Alongside Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson-Peete, Leah Remini, and Julie Chen, Winokur will offer insights on parenting and gather opinions from people on the street. We caught up with Winokur to discuss the new show (which premiered today), feeding fast food to her kids, and her opinion on Dance Your Ass Off's second season with new host Mel B.
We've got 11 top-notch (some with a wink, I admit) programming options for this gloriously autumnal week. Will Tracy Jordan jump in a pile of leaves and flash back to a terrifying childhood accident? Will Audrina Patridge bring back some musical greatness from The Hills? And will Alicia Florrick come undone on The Good Wife? Join Movieline for a rundown of this week's best viewing.
When last night's Eastbound and Down opened, Kenny Powers was recording Chapter 10 of his self help tape: "Making the World Your Bitch." Kenny's keys to achieving this American dream included "buying the most expensive fashions, dining in the fanciest food places, riding around on god damned jet skis, raining trim, hallucinogens, throwing heat, jet skis again, and getting laid." To see whether Kenny's admirable pursuit last night landed him on the moral high road or low road, join Movieline below for the weekly Eastbound and Down moral compass.
Last night was perhaps the last episode of Rubicon that we will ever see, which means that the image of Will Travers noticing the four-leaf clover and horrifically gazing into the dark -- figuratively and literally -- just might be how we'll always have to remember him. But will the 13-episode first season of Rubicon amount to a big nothing -- will it wind up, as Spangler said to Will, with no one "[giving] a sh*t?" Hopefully not. I loved last night's episode as a finale. Let me rephrase: I loved last night's episode as a season finale, not as series one. And so this is a plea to AMC to renew Rubicon for another season: Ahead, Movieline offers five reasons why this simply has to happen.
During the course of last night's new installment of Bored to Death, the fictional Jonathan Ames helped a well-educated junkie track down a signed first edition of On the Road from his dealer's Brooklyn apartment. Just another day's work for your favorite mop-topped HBO hipster P.I. Let's see how his adventures -- not to mention George's marijuana-fueled stay at the Maritime Hotel and Ray's one-night stand with a lady in leather gloves played by Kristen Wiig -- affected this week's Bored to Death Hipster Quotient.
While Matthew Weiner was busy trying to give Mad Men lovers exactly what he thought they wanted on Sunday night -- Don with Megan and not the chemistry-less Faye; Betty miserable and cornered -- Terence Winter was attempting to do the same thing for Boardwalk Empire's burgeoning fanbase. That meant concentrating on a central storyline that almost connected the sprawling cast, while at the same time giving Mucky 'shippers the big kiss they've been waiting for. But did "Nights in Ballygran" actually work?
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