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Drama

“Cane” You Feel The Love Tonight? — A Recap

Posted by Sarah We open with Alex telling Santo he’s got a new job for him, that requires less work and pays more money — he wants him to be his driver. “There’s no uniform — just a clean shirt, and a gun. And make sure you shave every day.” Cut to Henry, who’s having The Tall Guy-esque sex with a woman we don’t know yet. Then he asks her, “How much?” and she says, “$500,000.” She means that she’s an architect and that’s how much it’ll cost to build the new VIP room at his club and continue sleeping […]

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Drama

C.S.I.: Er, This Is Not The Way To Stave Off McDreamy

What the hell was that? I mean, when Tarantino grabbed the reins at C.S.I., the show got a little goofy and an extra dab creepy, but at least it kept a pinkie toe within the bounds of believability. And most importantly, it was still great fun, and completely engrossing, to watch. Last night, after having a plot thread that promised the reunion of the team plus a tasty side dish of Sara/Grissom romance dangled in our eager faces, what we got instead was an endlessly tasteless mishmash that appeared to be penned by a gang of frat boys with posters […]

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Reality TV

Survivor: China: Week 3 Recap: The Chihuahua, the Walrus and Mom

The tale of Week 3, as told through the episode’s best quotes: “Call me creepy, if you want to, but I need to be warm.” — creepy Jean-Robert, to the women he tries to snuggle with at night. “I weigh 7 pounds; I can’t even keep myself warm — get off of me!” — Courtney, to the camera, articulating her disgust with Jean-Robert. “I don’t think Jean-Robert gets the social game of Survivor, and if we ever have to go to Tribal Council, at least we won’t have to worry about who it’ll be first, ’cause it’ll be him.” — […]

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Drama

Tuesday Night’s All Right For Fightin’ — “Cane” Recap/Review

Posted by Sarah “To protect my family I will do anything, and that is both my blessing and my curse …” — Alex Vega, in what I assume is the new opening sequence of Cane It’s another gorgeous, sunny day in Florida, and Alex Vega is up before his alarm, looking worried. The guy’s got a lot on his mind: His father-in-law passed over his oldest natural son to make him CEO of the family business, and he just had someone bumped off for crimes past. Eventually his alarm goes off and he gets out of bed, showers, and puts […]

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Reality TV

Survivor: China: Week 2 Recap: Wrestling With the Davel

Although Dave of the Zhan Hu tribe says he really didn’t want to take on the role of a leader, he decides that embracing it is better than fighting it. And by “embracing leadership,” I mean “being patronizing.” First off, Dave is insensitive to the tribe’s hunger as he drives them toward productivity — just like how in the Bible when the Israelites came to Pharaoh and said “Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’”, Jaime says to Dave (paraphrased), “Your tribemates are given no food, yet we are told, ‘Make mud bricks for the fire pit!’” (OK, maybe the Survivor episode […]

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Drama

C.S.I.: Sara Smiles

Posted by ButtonKnows If I were Warrick Brown, man, I would be getting nervous. Reeeeal nervous. Because I am guessing about 15 episodes of C.S.I. from now something really inventively crappy is going to happen to him. He’s due. See, at the end of Season 5, toward the denouement of a twisty storyline almost as inventive as this past season’s miniature killer, Grissom’s team wound up with their Nick in a box. (“Step one: Build a plexiglass box. Twooo… put your cop in that bah-ha-hox. Three: Make them open the box.” You can take ‘er from here … and yeah, […]

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Drama

Praising “Cane”: A Recap/Review

Posted by Sarah Last night was the series premiere of the new CBS drama Cane. I’ve been looking forward to this show for a month or so now, ever since I dreamed that I watched the entire series in one night. My excitement had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Jimmy Smits (pictured right) is a fine-lookin’ man. My hopes were further raised when I saw that the premiere would be shown “with limited commercial breaks,” thanks to a generous corporate sponsor who has monopolized the limited ad time. Well! Maybe that kind of thing happens pretty often, […]

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Reality TV

Survivor: China: Week 1 Recap: Mmmmm — Tastes Like …

Yesterday on … Survivor: After being whisked from Shanghai and through the Chinese countryside, the contestants arrive at a 400-year-old temple and go through a Buddhist welcome ceremony (well, most of them go through it — Leslie the Christian talk show host decides that despite assurances that the ceremony isn’t worship, she can’t participate. I’ve gotta say: When a decision involves weighing Jeff Probst’s assurances on one side against the stirring in your soul on the other, I’d go with the soul-stirring, too.). Courtney, the petite New York City waitress who looks like a cross between Gwen Stefani and Winona […]

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Reality TV

Survivor: China: Probst Tells All!

Well, he didn’t reveal everything during a recent conference call with reporters, but Jeff Probst (who I affectionately call “the hobst with the mobst”) did share his thoughts on the upcoming season of Survivor, as well as on the reality genre in general. It sounds like this season of Survivor has a lot of “est”s — not only is the setting the China-est (this was the first time an American series was allowed to shoot entirely in China), but it also has contestants who are the biggest (James), the smallest (Courtney) and the youngest (Frosti). But the two contestants I’m […]

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Reality TV

Survivor: China: It’s Coming!

Survivor: China begins in a week! Whoo-hoo! Well, it’s kind of a subdued “whoo-hoo” right now. Every season, I start off a little detached and unenthusiastic about Survivor, not really wanting to expend the energy getting to know another group of 16 (or more) people. But even just looking at the CBS website, I’m starting to get sucked in yet again. First off, I love that they’re back down to 16 people (at least I assume they are, barring another “Bobby Jon and Stephenie appear on the top of Mayan ruins”-type trick that started off the Guatemalan season). After years […]