Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
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).