Barb Oates, Author at StayTuned Magazine

Ray Donovan recap Season 3, Episode 3 – What would you do to save your brother?

July 26, 2015 Barb Oates

Ray Donovan Season 3, Episode 3 “Come and Knock on Our Door” (original air date July 26, 2015): Episode 3 of Ray Donovan begins with a beat-up Ray (Liev Schreiber) sitting in Bridget’s room watching her sleep. Bridget’s startled by both his looks — his face took quite the beating by that ex-NAVY Seal Paige Donovan got him involved with — and him actually being home. He apologizes for not making it home for dinner. She tells him Abby (Paula Malcomson) gave his food to the dog. “She thinks you’re still punishing her over that cop,” Bridget (Kerris Dorsey) explains. […]

Ray Donovan recap Season 3, Episode 2 – Go home already Ray!

July 19, 2015 Barb Oates

Ray Donovan Season 3, Episode 2 “Ding” (original air date July 19, 2015): Oh Ray, just go home. As much as his family and his loyal partner Lena look to get inside his twisted head and help, Ray (Liev Schreiber) continues to turn everyone who cares about him away. The episode starts with Ray, alone at Fite Club, releasing his demons on a punching bag. Mickey (Jon Voight) is looking to turn his condom-infested Melrose Place into a golden opportunity now that Gary is dead. “Tragedy or not, the girls still need to put food on the table,” Mickey reasons. […]

Recap: Ray Donovan Season 3, Episode 1 – “RAAAAAAY!!!”

July 12, 2015 Barb Oates

Ray Donovan Season 3, Episode 1 “The Kalamazoo” (original air date July 12, 2015): “You don’t know who you are anymore,” Ezra told Ray at the end of Season 2, and he was right. The season 3 premiere of Ray Donovan begins with a barely distinguishable Ezra (Elliott Gould) bedridden, clinging to life via the oxygen supply feeding him when a man in collar comes into focus. The man claims to be a minister to broken priests — Father Thomas Romero (Leland Orser) — who needs to know who placed the call from Ezra’s office that notified them of the […]

Nurse Jackie series finale recap: An exquisite end

June 28, 2015 Barb Oates

Nurse Jackie series finale recap Season 7, Episode 12 “Say A Little Prayer” (original airdate June 28, 2015, Showtime) Series creator Clyde Phillips delivered on his promise in the Nurse Jackie series finale, providing an “authentic” end to the show’s seven-season run. True to real life, addiction can be a losing battle and Jackie Peyton reminded us of that continuously — losing absolutely everything she loved along the way. As much as we so wanted to trust her this past season — after working so hard to get her family and her job back — we expected her to disappoint, […]

Nurse Jackie series finale: We talk to Mackie Aladjem on saying goodbye

June 25, 2015 Barb Oates

Saying goodbye to a series you grew up on, literally, isn’t easy. For Mackenzie Aladjem, who has played Fiona Peyton since she was 8, it was more than just the Nurse Jackie series finale that brought out the emotions, it was watching her house get ripped down and saying goodbye to her TV mom (Edie Falco), her TV sister Grace (Ruby Jerins) and the rest of the cast. The series finale is June 28 at 9pmET on Showtime. “Before the last day, I actually watched them tear down my house and start taking apart the picture frames and everything,” Mackie […]

Nurse Jackie recap episode 11 – Flying high never looked so promising

June 21, 2015 Barb Oates

Nurse Jackie recap Season 7, Episode 11 “Vigilante Jones” (original airdate June 21, 2015) Jackie’s back in blues and ready to return to All Saints. As she strolls along to work with her beau Eddie (Paul Shulze) suggests he stops in and gets some doctor signatures to help pad his sample report. Come on Eddie, seriously? Give your gal a fresh start, it’s her first day back. Thankfully, Jackie takes a pass thinking the same and requests that they stop today and not “bring the mess” back into All Saints. Jackie’s literally rocking the rounds, as if she’s never been […]

Jazmyn Simon talks best job ever (HBO), being starstruck, cool cars & more

June 19, 2015 Barb Oates

Life on the set of HBO’s new dramedy Ballers (Sundays at 10pm) for Jazmyn Simon was pretty amazing. Luxurious mansions, amazing cars and Dwayne Johnson — not bad for the new girl. “It was amazing. It didn’t suck at all,” Simon laughs. “The cars alone — there’s one episode you’ll see, I think it’s episode 6, there is just a driveway full of the nicest cars you could ever imagine. They all belong to like two people. It’s like this is ridiculous, but you know, art imitates life, because that’s really how it is. We had writers in the writing […]

Jazmyn Simon shares the female side to HBO’s new “Ballers”

June 19, 2015 Barb Oates

Jazmyn Simon’s got herself a good gig. She’s currently the only female series regular in HBO’s new dramedy Ballers, which makes its debut on Sunday, June 21 at 10pm ET. Like Entourage was to the movie industry, Ballers is to the male-dominated world of football — both, though, lightheartedly depicting the whirlwind lifestyle and real-life problems of their respective industry and both hailing Steven Levinson and Mark Wahlberg as EPs. “If you just like good TV, you’ll love it. Football, I would say, is 45 percent of it, 55 percent of our show, is life,” Simon tells. “It’s people, it’s […]

Nurse Jackie recap episode 10 — she didn’t just do that!?!

June 14, 2015 Barb Oates

Nurse Jackie recap Season 7, Episode 10 “Jackie and the Wolfe” (original airdate June 14, 2015) Oh gawd, we’re so close to a possible happy ending and episode 10 of Nurse Jackie has Jackie fearing she’s going to test positive on her next drug test. But hang on — it’s not what you’re thinking (at least in the beginning). The episode starts with an angelic looking Jackie (Edie Falco) hanging at Eddie’s (Paul Schulze) place, where she’s teasing him over his hand-written wedding vows that she stumbled upon when a knock at the door brings an unexpected guest. It’s an […]

Jill Kargman’s Odd Mom Out is raw summer fun

June 8, 2015 Barb Oates

Jill Kargman talks a witty mile a minute, all unfiltered. The Upper East Side New Yorker is the author of Momzillas (now in 14 languages) and a slew of other fun reads. She’s mastered the art of satire when it comes to the uber-wealthy, exploiting their over-the-top, competitive parenting (while still maintaining friendships with them — as she is the daughter of former Chanel chairman Arie Kopelman). It was a given to extend her brazen candor into television in Bravo’s new scripted series Odd Mom Out, which begins Monday, June 8 at 10pm ET. Kargman serves as executive producer, writer […]