Fang's Bites

Preview of Tonight’s Damages

This is Ellen meeting with two FBI agents telling them she wants to take Patty Hewes down.

Looking forward to tonight’s premiere. It’s on FX at 10.

The Fang’s Bites Mid-Season TV Preview

With this being January, we’re seeing the return of several shows plus the premiere of some new ones. I’m going to give you the shows I’m looking forward to seeing return, plus the new series I’m looking forward to. I’ll do the returning shows first, then the new shows last and I’ll do them in reverse order of anticipation.

RETURNING SERIES

6. Hell’s Kitchen, Season 5 – Premieres January 29 on Fox, 9 p.m.

Anytime Gordon Ramsey yells, “YOU DONKEY!” I get chills. He’s not the type of boss I would want, but he gets results seeing how many restaurants the man owns and runs. Last season, Christina’s win over Petrozza was a bit of an upset seeing how young she was and her experience compared to Petrozza, but it’s always Chef Ramsey’s word at the end. This season, 16 new hopefuls vie for the chance to become Chef Ramsey’s chef on staff at one of his restaurants.

5. Damages, Season 2 – Premieres Wednesday on FX, 10 p.m.

This show turned out to be a big surprise for me. Great cast including Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Ted Danson and Tate Donovan, the first season won Emmys for Close and Zeljko Ivanek whose great Ray Fiske character won’t be coming back (well, he really can’t after the character shot himself in the head). This season, Ellen is gunning for Patty Hewes after we learned that Patty tried to bump her off. And the evil Frobisher (who had Ellen’s fiancee bumped off) is also back for a few episodes in this season. At least we know that the series is returning for a third season. Very good show.

4. The Amazing Race 14 – Premieres February 15 on CBS, 8 p.m.

If you follow this blog, you already know what a big fan of the race I am. Another 11 teams of two people with existing relationships will go around the world with no idea where they will head next. Hopefully, I can do recaps this season after my attempts totally went awry in TAR13. Plus, the show is always well produced and there’s a reason why The Amazing Race wins the Emmy every year. And Phil Keoghan is the perfect host.

3. The L Word, 6th and Final Season – Premieres January 18 on Showtime, 9 p.m.

I wasn’t happy when I heard that Jenny was killed off in the first episode, but apparently we’ll find out who’s responsible and why as the season unfolds. There are several things to resolve. I’m glad that Helena is returning. As usual, we’ll see if Shane can actually find happiness, how Bette and Tina will work together and if Jodi finds herself back with Bette, and if Alice and Tasha can also find some chemistry. Also, Erin Daniels who played Dana has directed one episode this season.

2. Lost, Season 5 – Premieres January 21 on ABC, 9 p.m.

Ok, apparently the flashbacks and the flash forwards are over with. There are no more character-centric episodes and action will go back and forth in time. In addition, the first hour of the season is supposedly one of the best of the series (or so I’ve read). The second hour which also runs during the season premiere is slower and is a set up episode. But we need to know where the island went. How do the Oceanic 6 go back to the island? What happened to Locke and why is he in that coffin? Is Jin really dead? And what is really going on? Last season was right up there with Season 1. Let’s hope Season 5 can match the intensity and the drama of Season 4.

1. 24, Season 7 – Premieres Sunday on Fox, 8 p.m.

This was my favorite show on TV for five seasons. Then Season 6 came along and practically ruined my love for this show. However, when 24: Redemption premiered in November, my love almost came back. From what I’ve read of the spoilers and seen of the previews, this season looks promising. CTU is no more. Jack Bauer is back as a disgraced agent, but he’s asked by the FBI to help out during yet another international crisis. Chloe played by the delightful Mary Lynn Rajskub is back. Instead of Los Angeles being the locale of the crisis, we have Washington, DC in trouble. Tony Almeida returns from the dead. The new President, Allison Taylor, played by Cherry Jones has to deal with a crisis from a Darfur-like country and we’ll see how Jack saves the country again. As long as I see Jack go rogue, I’ll know my 24 is indeed back.

NEW SERIES

3. The United States of Tara – Premieres January 18 on Showtime, 10 p.m.

Created by Oscar-winning Juno writer Diablo Cody, this show is about a woman with multiple personalities who is also the matriarch of her family. Toni Collette has a lot of work to do playing Tara who has four different personalities including a biker dude, teenager and a homemaker. John Corbett also stars in this very promising series.

2. Lie To Me – Premieres January 21 on Fox, 9 p.m.

Tim Roth plays Dr. Cal Lightman who heads up a team that can detect a person’s body language. Kelli Williams, formerly of “The Practice” is also in the series. From what I’ve read, this has the potential to be quite good.

1. Dollhouse – Premieres February 13 on Fox, 9 p.m.

This is Joss Whedon’s latest TV series and it stars Fang’s Bites fav Eliza Dushku. This is about a group of individuals who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can take on any persona their client wants them to be. This is an interesting concept and I can get into just about anything Joss writes. Having been a “Buffy” and “Angel” fan, I certainly hope Fox gives this a chance to grow, but by putting it on Fridays, it’s practically giving this show the death knell. But we’ll see.

Those are the nine shows I’m looking forward to as the second season gets underway. To see when your favorite show returns, you can check out USA Today’s mid-season TV calendar.

Quick Thoughts on the Summer TV Season

In fear of sounding like a Larry King column or *gulp* Jay Mohr, I don’t give you links but a few thoughts on this summer’s TV.

First, too much reality TV on the networks. Yes, it’s cheap, but seeing silly premises like a tennis player choosing between 20 year old women and 40 year old women shows that even reality TV is running out of ideas. How many different varieties of dating shows do we need? And even NESN, the Regional Sports Network co-owned by the Red Sox and Bruins has gotten into the act with its stupid show, Sox Appeal. I don’t want to see couples trying to find love at a Red Sox game. Stupid. Silly. Sucks.

Second, the cable networks are taking risks. Shows like Meadowlands on Showtime and Damages on FX have come in and done pretty decently for their respective networks. Meadowlands, a British import may not be the best show that Showtime has offered, but it was fresh and gave viewers enough to come back every week.

Damages is in the midst of one of the more interesting storylines I have seen in a while. If the series keep up the quality of the first three episodes, then Damages has the potential to be one of the best shows in recent memory.

But this month brings us the Season Premieres of the groundbreaking South of Nowhere on The N and the always entertaining Weeds on Showtime.

For me, seeing these two series return is like seeing two good friends coming back from vacation. South of Nowhere picks up from the prom shooting of last season’s finale. We didn’t see much of Spashley together in S2, but from what I’ve already seen of the S3 premiere, we get more action between Spencer and Ashley than the entire 2nd season. As it stands, Ashley fucked up the relationship after not calling Spencer following the death of her adopted brother, Clay and she seemed to be intrigued by hanging out with her old boyfriend, Aidan. Where will this lead us? And I hear a new girl helps to throw a monkey wrench into the Spashley relationship. This should lead to fireworks. If you need to get up to speed on the show, the After Ellen site has a nice section on South of Nowhere with recaps of the first two seasons and yes, the show is available for download on iTunes. It’s how I managed to get hooked on the show.

Weeds left us off last season with Nancy’s pot deal going bad and Silas missing. This cast with Mary Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon, Tonye Patano and Romany Malco is one of the best on TV. Last season was lots of fun and a breakout season for the series. Here’s hoping the new season which premieres on Monday will be just as fun.

These series will help tie me down until Prison Break returns later this month on Fox and Curb Your Enthusiasm premieres in September. In the meantime, Spashley will get me through very well, thank you.

Damages and Meadowlands (two reasons why we should be watching cable this summer)

I just finished watching the series premiere of Damages on FX. This was one of the best premieres I have seen. This is about a litigator, Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) who will stop at nothing at winning her cases and the young associate she hires, Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). Hewes is embroiled in a class action lawsuit against a CEO, Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). Frobisher’s lawyer, Ray Fiske (Zelko Ivanek) battle Hewes.

In the premiere episode, we see a bloodied and catatonic Ellen running out of an elevator into the streets of New York. She’s picked up by police and from there, we piece together Ellen’s story from six months before, being turned down by one law firm because she reveals she has been contacted by Hewes’ firm. From there, Ellen is hired by Patty and we see that Patty is no ordinary attorney. She’s cut-throat and she’ll stop at nothing to win her lawsuits. And she presses on against Frobisher, but she’s being railroaded by her clients who want to accept a settlement.

As the episode reveals itself, we see that Ellen’s boyfriend, David Connor (Noah Bean) is wary of her joining the firm, but as we get further into the hour, we see him dead in a bathtub. Is this connected to Ellen being bloodied? David’s sister, Katie (Anastasia Griffin) is tied to Frobisher as a chef and eventually will be asked by Ellen to turn over as a witness. But of course, Frobisher knows this and will try to silence Katie.

And we also see that Patty’s long-time associate, Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan), knows his boss inside and out, but is fired for not seeing the clients wanting the settlement. But Ellen tries to get some info out of him. And it appears he’s still working for Patty on the side. So what’s going on here?

I think Damages has the potential to be very good. Glenn Close is a very good actress. Rose Byrne has done good work in the UK and Australia, of course in 28 Weeks Later and 28 Days Later. I’ve never been a fan of Tate Donovan, but he shows a mysterious side here. The series is shot well and I think will do well in the 10 p.m. Tuesday slot for FX. This will be a weekly primetime pick.

Now I haven’t written about Meadowlands since the first episode because I felt the series screeched to a halt after an excellent first episode. The last two episodes have been much better. We’re finding more about what the place is about. At first, we thought it was for people who need to be put under witness protection and never be seen by the outside world again. However, as the series has been progressing, we find it’s a social experiment to see if people can change their identities and sense of themselves so they become someone else.

As we discover, the Brogans, the family who we first saw at the beginning of the series, are hiding a secret. So is everyone who has been moved to Meadowlands. Danny Brogan had to testify against criminal associates who helped him to open a bar.

Jack the Handyman had kidnapped a woman when he was 14 and subjected her to sexual abuse. Eventually, Jack was killed by Danny.

Golf Pro Tom Tyrell was actually a left wing journalist who’s wife was killed.

And Samantha, Danny’s handler is actually the adopted daughter of a Professor who’s theories led to the creation of Cape Wrath, the town where Meadowlands exists. Samantha wasn’t the actual daughter of Professor Campbell, she was taken from a remote farm in South Africa and provided a new life by her “father”. But she finds out as he’s about to die.

So the whole thing about Meadowlands is discovering the secrets and also, trying to see whom is really whom. The last episode saw Danny trying to find out more about Cape Wrath and Samantha getting the truth from her father. This Sunday is the season finale. I have seen the previews and they do look good.

Lucy Cohu (Evelyn Brogan), Felicity Jones (Zoe Brogan), Ralph Brown (Constable Wintersgill) and Nina Sosanya (Samantha) have all been excellent in the series and helped to have given the series a dark edge.

Here’s hoping Meadowlands returns for a second season on Showtime.