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Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category

Okay, now that I come to think about it, I guess I overlooked Elizabeth Taylor as one of my favorite women. I’ll have to extend my list to eleven and include her.  She has been a part of my life–well, all my life. At one time, hands down, she was the most beautiful woman in Hollywood.

Back in the 50′s, the nuns at school spoke about how sinful she was. She had so many marriages and love affairs. She was considered to be quite scandalous. Luckily, I didn’t allow their propaganda to sway me. There was always something about Elizabeth Taylor that was magical.

Thank goodness some of it is captured on film.

I’m thinking about my next list, which will be my ten favorite ladies, but in the meantime, let’s make room for a little fluff. I definitely needed something sort of fun and mindless to watch on Friday evening after viewing a week of CNN coverage from Egypt.

So, if you haven’t tuned in to The Defenders yet, you should give it a try. It’s not Shakespeare, but it hits the mark as lightweight, non-violent entertainment. Jerry O’Connell and James Belushi make terrific sidekicks. Besides that, Belushi pulls off wearing pink dress shirts with panache. His wardrobe is deliciously daring, different and delightful.

And by the way, order in the southern fried chicken ’cause Justified on FX is coming back on Wednesday at 10 p.m.

Photo from

This is my question. If Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) won an Emmy last season for Best Supporting Actress, why have the powers-that-be given her “half” the screen time this season? Her character was beginning to shape up into a complex, fascinating personality. Getting a glimpse of her private life had kept me interested.

The new character she is sharing time with, Blake (Scott Porter), as another private investigator for the firm has, thus far, been unexciting.

Another thing that has the hour dragging is this sudden interest in the kids–boring.

Alright, All My Children is one of my guilty pleasures.  I’ve become addicted. I tape every episode.

I was so happy to see Michael Nouri (Caleb) join the cast. He’s been a favorite of mine for years. I hope the writers keep him on for a long time.

And it will be interesting to see if Vincent Irizarry (David) can rise from the dead. (As I understand it, this type of thing happens all the time on the soaps.)

What I’ve noticed lately is the ladies on this soap opera are withering away. It’s like watching skeletons walk across the screen.

Susan Lucci has always been petite, but now there seems to be a lot of slimming down going on. Alicia Minshew, who plays Kendall, is tall and painfully thin. Rebecca Budig (Greenlee) (where did they come up with that name?)  and Christina Bennett Lind (Bianca) aren’t far behind.

It was refreshing to see Jamie Luner’s character, Liza, in her underwear recently. She actually has a “real” woman’s body.

I hope the skeletal look doesn’t become a trend.

That said, here’s a little something on Scott Chandler’s character.

I remember when the news was delivered on TV in an unbiased manner. You were free to interpret it whatever way you liked. What a surprise–we were intelligent enough to do that for ourselves.

Enter cable TV and Internet.

Now we have “pundits.” People who give opinions in an authoritative manner through mass media. (That definition is straight from the dictionary) These pundits pose as learned individuals. But it seems to me what they really do is stir up a lot of hate. It’s all about the ratings, folks.

And when did we turn the corner of humanity and find that public humiliation was a fun form of television entertainment?

When did bullying become deadly?

I mean, for Pete’s sake, this awful girl named Vera used to sit in the desk behind mine and pull my ponytail.  She was a bully. So was Jesse. She always grabbed my scooter and wouldn’t give it back unless I begged. (which, for the record, I wouldn’t) What a bully she was!

Here’s a little something to ponder on cyber-bullying. And to think I was worried about Vera and Jessie.

When did we become reticent, if not scared, to engage in political talk with someone who held an opposing point of view?

Of course, there was no Internet or Reality TV or Pundits back then.

But right now, in this time and space, living in a country that is so filled with hatred is becoming burdensome and frightening.

Monday - ABC – “Castle” is back!

Tuesday - CBS – “NCIS” (my favorite) and “NCIS Los Angeles” have returned! And it looks like “NCIS Los Angeles” is giving us a double whammy. Make sure you stay tuned for not only the 9 P.M. slot, but for the 10 P.M., as well.

Thursday - ABC – “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice” are rumored to swing in with some exciting episodes. I hope so, because they were becoming predictable last season.

Thursday - Fox – Have you discovered “Fringe?” (9 P.M.)

Friday - CBS – I’m planning on giving “Blue Bloods” a try. The story line sounds blah to me, but how can you resist Tom Selleck? Perhaps he can pull this dreariness out of the doldrums.

As far as Saturday is concerned, if it weren’t for the PBS lineups and “Saturday Night Live,” we’d be lost.

I suppose I should mention the season premiere of “The Mentalist” on Thursday on CBS. But think about this–have you noticed the formula for “House”, “Lie To Me” and “The Mentalist” are all the same? The lead character is always right. Each of them treat their colleagues as if they are merely there to kowtow to them. And they each love themselves very much. In spite of that, I seem to have been hypnotized by the Mentalist, because I’ll probably end of watching it from time to time.

Oh, well, there’s lots of new shows. If you discover one you love, let me know.