Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
A popular K-Drama starring So Ji Sub, “I’m Sorry, I Love You” (“미안하다 사랑한다”) is an uneven drama dealing with love, revenge and redemption. Too long at 16 hours, the series relies on its lead actor’s charisma to make up for the plot holes.
Seth Webster (James Van Der Beek) is a widowed father trying to raise a pair of unruly boys. When the twins drive off yet another nanny, he hires a kindly and angelic woman named Mrs. Merkle (Doris Roberts) to take care of their household. Before long, the twins are behaving less like feral beasts and more like well-behaved little gentlemen.
At first glance, “Bones” is a solid crime procedural. But as the series enters its fifth season, it’s clear that “Bones” really works as a romantic drama as well. Not romantic in the mushy sense, but in a way that makes viewers’ hearts skip a beat (from joy at seeing a good coupling, not from the shock of all the gory bodies being discovered, examined, and dissected).
On the seventh season of the Emmy-winning sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” the majority of the episodes revolve around love. And the man nursing a heartache isn’t who you’d suspect. Charlie (Charlie Sheen) has always been a love-’em and leave-’em kind of guy. But now engaged to Chelsea, he wants to settle down. Wait, make that he wants to want to settle down.
The sixth season of “House, M.D.” starts off with a phenomenal two-part episode that sets the tone for the rest of the year. After years of abusing prescription drugs (and colleagues), Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) finds himself in a psychiatric ward as a patient who is not so patient with his own doctor. Smart and manipulative, House tries to finagle his way out of the hospital. But his selfish actions set off a chain reaction of events that manage to shake even his own confidence–temporarily, at least.
The fourth season of “Friday Night Lights” begins with Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) in what appears to be a lose-lose situation. Fired from Dillon High School as the Panthers’ football coach, Taylor is offered a position coaching the East Dillon Lions. No matter how the school board tries to spin it with platitudes about both schools being equal, East Dillon is rundown, has no funds, and has a football squad that’s a team in name only.
The second and third seasons of My Boys find Chicago sports columnist P.J. Franklin (Jordana Spiro) exploring a few relationships. But the show’s title doesn’t refer to her suitors, but rather her best friends, who–save for one woman–happen to all be men (who sometimes think like boys).
In the fourth season of Mad About You, which originally aired on NBC during 1995-1996, Paul (Paul Reiser) and Jamie (Helen Hunt) Buchman deal with issues that could potentially break up their marriage. As they start planning a family, they are faced with infertility. When both decide to shake up their careers, one of them loses their job. And then there is the possibility of infidelity, when both Jamie and Paul are tempted outside of marriage.
The fifth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent marks the appearance of Detective Mike Logan (Chris Noth). Noth originated the role in the 1990 premiere of Law & Order–the series that spawned the popular franchise. This time he’s partnered with no-nonsense detective Carolyn Barek (Anabella Sciorra). The pair are in the same unit as Detectives Robert Goren (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe).
The conceit of Bravo’s The Real Housewives franchise is to showcase women who make the fictional characters on ABC’s Desperate Housewives seem like amateurs. And in that sense, The Real Housewives of New Jersey is successful. The women certainly are colorful, but as interesting? No. Still, it’s easy to see why this series is popular. The women are pretty enough, plenty catty, and some are even downright diabolical. They’re kind of what Heidi from The Hills might grow up to become 10 or 15 years down the line.
Originally airing on ABC Family in 2009, the third season of “Kyle XY” begins with promise. Kyle (Matt Dallas) effortlessly goes into heroic mode when he has to rescue his girlfriend Amanda (Kristen Prout) from a covert organization. When he himself is endangered, he relies on his fellow lab-created “sister” Jessi XX (Jaimie Alexander) to come to his aid.
If the fourth season of “Bones” on DVD gets off to a slightly jumpy start, it’s because the first four episodes are missing. They were actually included as a bonus feature on the third season’s boxed set, in an effort to pad that truncated season.
“House” begins its fifth season on a somber note. With his girlfriend, Amber, dead, Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) finds his friendship with the cantankerous Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) to be more strained than ever and temporarily leaves the hospital where they work. He eventually returns, which is a good thing, because Wilson is the closest thing House has to a moral compass. The writers of this drama do an admirable job of inserting elements of well-placed comedy into the often-intense vignettes.
The mark of a great sitcom is whether the jokes and tone stand up to time, despite any outdated hairstyles and fashion. “Designing Women” is a great sitcom.
The most poignant episodes revolve around Toni and her husband Todd. After the birth of their daughter Morgan, they struggle as new parents trying to keep their marriage intact. The show does a nice job of depicting a mom who loves her child, but doesn’t immediately feel the bond that a mother is supposed to have for her baby. And it depicts how fear of the unknown can ravage a relationship.
A thoroughly entertaining series that lasted just one season, “Moonlight” tells the story of a sexy vampire who wants to do good. (Think along the lines of Angel from the Joss Whedon series of the same name.) Mick (Alex O’Loughlin) became a vampire in the 1950s when his beautiful vamp bride Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon) created his new incarnation.
In the first season of “‘Til Death,” a good chunk of the episodes centered on the grizzled married couple eying their affectionate newlywed neighbors with both jealousy and pity. In the followup year, Eddie and Joy Stark (Brad Garrett, Joely Fisher) have accepted Jeff and Steph Woodcock (Eddie Kaye Thomas, Kat Foster) not only as their neighbors, but also as friends (though sometimes begrudgingly).
The secret in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” becomes all too clear early on. After having sex for the first time, 15-year-old Amy (Shailene Woodley) becomes pregnant. Scared and unsure of what to do, Amy keeps it a secret from her parents, hoping she’ll be able to figure things out.
The second season of “Kyle XY” begins with an episode called “The Prophet” and ends with Kyle’s high school prom. Clearly, the sci-fi drama shares as much an affinity with “The X-Files” as it does “Gossip Girl.” Last season, Kyle (Matt Dallas) learned how to fit in with human beings.
Actress and former “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Lisa Rinna burns up the dance floor in the instructional DVD “Lisa Rinna Dance Body Beautiful: Ballroom Learn and Burn.”