Month: August 2007

“Friday Night Lights” — Season 1

Jae-Ha Kim

The first season of Friday Night Lights accomplishes something that few television dramas are able to do: It betters the 2004 film (starring Billy Bob Thornton) on which the series is based. Set in Dillon, Texas, where football–even on the high school level–is everything, Friday Night Lights is a compelling drama with a football subplot. Poignantly and effectively touching on racism, rape, steroids, jealousy, infidelity, and life-changing injuries, the series presents the inhabitants of Dillon as real people who are flawed, but remarkable in their ordinariness.

“The Nanny Diaries”

Jae-Ha Kim

Based on the best-selling book of the same name, the film version of The Nanny Diaries is a cute chick flick, but it lacks the witty tone of the novel, which took time to flesh out the characters. The tone is set early on when the narrator notes, “In Africa they have the saying: ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ But for the tribe of the Upper Eastside of Manhattan, it takes just one person: the nanny.”

“‘Till Death”: Season One

Jae-Ha Kim

There’s nothing like an overly demonstrative pair of newlyweds to make an old married couple feel like a failure. And old. So when Jeff (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and Steph (Kat Foster) Woodcock–married for all of 12 days–move next door to Eddie (Brad Garrett) and Joy Stark (Joely Fisher), the latter feel the need to put their youthful neighbors in their place.

“House” — Season 3

Jae-Ha Kim

The cantankerous and brilliant Dr. House (Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie) is back for a third season of the hit drama House, which picks up with his being shot at the end of season two and ends with his staff dramatically refusing to put up with his oddball (and borderline abusive) demands. Each of the 24 episodes, which aired on FOX from 2006 to 2007, is included in this 5-disc set. Fans of the drama will be happy to hear that the formula remains the same: Each show begins with a medical dilemma that’s so severe and life-threatening that only Dr. House can diagnose and fix the problem, even if it goes against conventional medical rules.

“The Bangles: Return to Bangleonia”

Jae-Ha Kim

During their career peak in the mid- to late 1980s, the Bangles were so famous that Saturday Night Live’s Dennis Miller was parodying lead singer Susanna Hoffs’ precious sideways glance. “The Bangles: Return to Bangleonia” is the female quartet’s live concert offering. But oddly enough, it isn’t a gig from that era, but rather a concert recorded in 2000 at the House of Blues in Hollywood.

“Ugly Betty” — Season 1

Jae-Ha Kim

Based on the popular Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea, Ugly Betty is a biting comedy with plenty of heart. There are several ongoing plots, including murder, illegal immigration, infidelity, a vendetta, and death. And yes, this really is a comedy. Golden Globe winner America Ferrera (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Real Women Have Curves) stars as Betty, a whip-smart assistant at a women’s magazine who is clueless when it comes to fashion. While her size 0 colleagues parade around in haute couture and stiletto heels, Betty shows up for work in her mismatched outfits, complete with thick glasses and awkward braces.

“The Hills” — Season 2

Jae-Ha Kim

When the debut season of “The Hills” ended, Lauren had passed up the opportunity to work in Paris for the summer to live in a beach house with her vaguely Neanderthal-ish boyfriend Jason. Flash forward to the second season of MTV’s hit reality series–which aired from January through April 2007. Lauren and Jason break up, and you can see the wistfulness in her eyes as her friend Whitney (who got the Paris gig after Lauren turned it down) talks about what an amazing summer she had.

Eagle Ridge

Jae-Ha Kim

When you think of famous golfing destinations, California’s Pebble Beach and Scotland’s St. Andrews immediately spring to mind, thanks to years of televised tournaments. But over the past few years, Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa–located about 150 miles west of Chicago in the heart of historic Galena, Ill.–has been building quite the reputation as a must-play golf course.