Previewing Rizzoli and Isles: The Final Season

Nothing like some gunfire to liven up a wedding reception. Just that happened to Korsak after tying the knot which ended the sixth season of Rizzoli and Isles. The seventh, and final, season begins tonight with Rizzoli running down the assailant and Isles mending to wounded, which she herself includes. No signs point to Alice Sands but that is exactly who the Boston Police Department focuses on.

Sands is the former drug kingpin who dropped out of the academy after coming in second too many times to Rizzoli and now has decided to harass Rizzoli by burning down her house and kidnapping Maura. And now she is believed to shoot up a wedding leaving at least one in critical condition.

There are back to back episodes tonight and the second involves a fatal car crash which may not be as simple as it looks that the team investigates while still on the hunt for Sands. The second ends with not one but two shocking conclusions. There also may be new love in the air this season. Oh and zombies. There are zombies next week.

Rizzoli and Isles airs Mondays at 9:00 on TNT.

Previewing Proof and Rizzoli and Isles: Season Six

The truth is out there. But what if the truth was not the existence of aliens but the proof of an afterlife. And Scully was a practicing medical doctor who, like every doctor in the post-House world, would be considered a horrible person if it were not for the whole saving lives thing. And Mulder was some rich amalgamation of of Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. Except he is too rich go out into the field and send an underling as a proxy so he is more like the Skinner and, um... okay, my The X-Files comparison to the new TNT drama Proof is starting to break down.

Proof stars Jennifer Beals (Flashdance) as the Sully stand in who is propositioned by Matthew Modine (Jobs) to determine what happens after we die after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and cannot wait a couple months to learn what happens first hand. And they say money is wasted on the rich. Beals is chosen because her scientific mind and her own near death experience (she is a horrible person but she will go to Haiti after the Earthquake or almost drown why aiding tsunami victims).

If there is a Smoking Man of the series it is Callum Blue (Dead Like Me), a supposed physic medium and best selling author. He is probably the most interesting character on the show. Either him or Beals daughter who has taken to pushing mean girls into lockers to cope with her dead brother and pending divorce (he is not so coincidentally works at the same hospital as Beals) and reminds me as a more dramatic version of Jane Levy on Suburgatory who herself was just Emma Stone adjacent.

So the series features Beals and her team (Modine's underling and an African intern played by Justified's Jean Baptiste) go on the look for X-Files type cases dealing with death including a girl who died and came back to life with drawings of dead relatives she had never met, a jealous ex-wife, and an Iraqi War vet who has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder... from a past life who participated in the Korean War. Proof feels like an X-Files episode that is being stretched into a full full season and makes the mistake many professional dramas do these days and thinks we actually want to see what goes on when they go home (dear television writers: we don't) which would be an alright concept if the X Files was not returning this winter. And if I am only going to watch one second rate X-Files this year, it is going to be the reboot.

Proof airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on TNT.


It seems odd that Rizzoli and Isles would start off their new season with an officer involved shooting, in a subway platform of all places, considering what has been going on in the real world over the last couple month. But at least the suspect is white (and since it was done by one of the main castmembers probably actually justified even if the perp's gun disappears after the shooting). On a lighter note, Dr. Isles is getting a new assistant medical examiner who may be as eccentric as Maura. There is an even lighter note next week when Boston's finest investigate a murder at a bass fishing tournament which also features a new suitor for Jane.

Rizzoli and Isles airs Tuesdays at 9:00 on TNT.

Previewing Rizzoli and Isles: Season Five and Perception: Season Three

In the second time in as many years, a TNT show lost an actor while on the air. Dallas had to change course in the middle of the season when Larry Hagman died. Rizzoli and Isles only had to alter the season four finale when Lee Thompson Young took his own life during the filming of the finale. In the episode Barry Frost “went on vacation” and he stays there for first episode of the new season and the viewers will learn the character’s fate by the end of the season premiere with most of the fall out coming in the second episode of the season.

The big news on screen was that Jane is pregnant and Maura continues to be the only one to know at the beginning of the season. Maura had her own secret with her shared kiss with Frankie Jr. Of course there are some cases and the first one of the season hits a little too close to home to the soon to be mother when a woman is killed in the park and kid is taken from the scene. Next week seems like an easier case when a woman comes into the station covered in blood saying she has killed someone. Since the show is an hour long, and cases just do not solve themselves this easily, there is more to this story.

Rizzoli and Isles airs Tuesdays at 9:00 on TNT. You can download Rizzoli and Isles on iTunes.

When we last saw Dr. Daniel Pierce on Perception, he quit his job after it was downgraded at the university and went to Paris to reunite with the Cellist that got away. This season opens up with the Eiffel Tower in the background and despite being in a different country; the FBI still needs his help. Or does it? As always with Dr. Pierce, it could all be a figment of his imagination. All of Perception’s episode end absurdly but the season three premiere may be its most absurd yet. Back in the States, we get some entertaining comic relief as Lewicki and Dean Haley try to get Daniel’s job back without him knowing or with his blessings. Later this season, Daniel will be getting a visit from his father in the form of Peter Coyote.

Perception airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on TNT. You can download Perception on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 8/25/13

Ray Donovan: This show is moving just too slow. Ray hires James Woods last episode and he just leaves Boston at the end of this episode. The show seems to somehow stretch three episodes of plot across eight episodes so far. And it may even move slower next week which is entitled “Road Trip” so Woods may not even making it to Los Angeles until the end of that episode. Doesn’t Ray have access to a private jet? They really could have done without the lesbian punching because I could care less for that character, she maybe has shown up for a combines five minutes so far this season, so when she gets mad at her faux lesbian love, it is hard to care at all.

Switched at Birth: I have always asserted that Daphne’s bomb was bigger than Cota’s, but I was surprised she actually launched hers in a preemptive strike. I would eb easy to say this will ruin Coto’s career, but Republicans have an uncanny resilience when it comes to sex scandals, Mark Sanford recently got elected after stepping down as governor after being revealed he had a Brazilian mistress. And not only did friend of the family David Vitter not step down after he got caught up in a prostitution ring, he got reelected and is still a Congressmen. Just as shock was that Toby and Nikki called off their wedding after having sex only to get married down at the courthouse without anyone knowing. Did not see that swerve coming.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Under the Dome: Hopefully Winona Hawkins livens thing up inside of the dome because the last couple episodes have been becoming increasingly boring.
You can stream Under The Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.

Siberia: I live in Ohio so I am used to some weird weather occurrences, but two feet of snow as the first snowfall of the year would not even happen here. And where exactly did the people in the helicopter go? I was waiting for the faux lesbian and the pilot to show up at some point.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Come on, they had Red Coat in the back of the hayride and still were unable to catch her? Something better happen on the summer finale.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Perception: So is Kate going to be the crazy one in the duo next season with Pierce playing the straight guy? It does seem like Kate entered crazy town this week obsession over the Senator’s son. I do not see how she gets away with killing a dude even if he turns out to be a rapist. I guess Pierce could diagnos her with temporary insanity.
You can download Perception on iTunes.

The Bridge: Initially I was with Sonya in thinking this may not be the guy, but not because he seems to crazy to pull this off but because we are only half way through the season and how do they fill the rest of the season when they have the culprit already in custody? But then again, earlier this year, on this very network I wondered what they would possibly do after we found out who Drew Thompson was a couple episodes before the finale but still turned out its best episodes after that. Plus this always felt like a multiple man job so they could have caught the person making the calls but there are other co-conspirators out there wrecking havoc.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals II: God bless TJ for holding that dog for the whole challenge for no apparent reason. It made an otherwise boring episode watchable. At least it looks like Mount Camilla will finally erupt for the first time this season next week if the promo monkeys are to be believed.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 7/14/13

Falling Skies: So Hal was the mole? I still do not buy it (and the promo monkeys would seem to agree with me). I still find Gloria Rubin the most likely culprit although the bigger question to me is does the mole have a bug in their ear or are they doing this under their un volition?
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Switched at Birth: It was only a matter of time before the show did an alternative timeline episode but I am a little surprised this was the route the writers took with the new timeline starting if Regina told the Kennish’s about the switch as soon as she figured it out. I assumed we would get a what if the girls were never switched to begin with timeline. Instead we get a Jon fever dream of a worse case scenario where everyone is much worse off had the switch happened earlier (what does it say about Jon that he killed off Regina). I kind of laughed when the end of the dream, Jon ended up dying because Regina was not there to give him CPR and is now glad that she is around all of the sudden. It is a little absurd.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched at Birth on iTunes.

Defiance: Since it premiered during the end of the spring season, I was behind on the show from the start and finally got caught up in time for the finale. Kind of a middling season at best. It is weird they killed off the main antagonist a couple episodes before the finale and never really replaced her (unless the white dude is supposed to be the main villain but I always found him more of an annoyance that scary). I am also not a fan of shows that leaves everyone in the cast in peril at the end of the season (Smallville was always the worst at this), and the only way they can make it worse is if everything is back to normal by the second episode (which was always the case on Smallville). I will not be surprised if the hooker turns up alive next season or the white people end up not being exiled. Hopefully the video game is better. Not that I will be playing it.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Defiance on iTunes.

Under the Dome: So the one kid is telling everyone he is living alone? Um, is he ever going to notice that his sister is missing? By my count she has not been home for two days, it is about time he starts noticing her absence.
You can stream Under the Dome exclusively on Amazon Instant Video, free for Prime members.

Siberia: I was going to complain at how stupid some of these characters are like the computer nerd going into the forest to see how that one dude died violently or trying to hide bullets under your mattress. But this is supposed to be a reality show, and there are plenty of stupid people who populate these type of shows to the extent that I made a list of the 25 Dumbest Survivor Contestants Ever and that list is not even five years old and I could easily already expand it to 50.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Siberia on iTunes.

Pretty Little Liars: Oh Hanna, you really need to leave the thinking up to someone else because you are no criminal mastermind. You really should have just stayed home and had more Melrose Place flashbacks (sure it was a different character but I am sure that is what they were going for). And should I have recognized who the den mother in the picture from the end of the episode was?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

Perception: Apparently I am not the only person watching Brain Games because that unintentional blindness as the basis of an episode earlier this year (where they managed to have a cheerleader strip in front of me without me even noticing). But the ended was such a stretched I could not help think of the South Park episode where the one dude had sex with chickens as a way to get people to read.
You can download Perception on iTunes.

The Bridge: The show is as good as I expect coming from FX, but much like the last show they launched, The Americans, it is just missing something to make it great. Most notably being that I am completely worn out on television characters that fall somewhere on the autism spectrum. I had to roll my eyes when Diane Kruger had her first moment of social awkwardness. I also do not like it when it has random characters that are seemingly unrelated storylines that end up intersecting much later in the show. After one episode, I already do not care about Annabeth Gish or the creepy kidnapper. Hopefully the show finds its footing and soon.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Bridge on iTunes.

The Challenge: Rivals II: I thought the inception of Redemption Island to bring back Boston rob and Russell Hantz was the dumbest way to pair off any two reality contestants, but Johnny and Frank’s Twitter war just beat that. If the show really wanted to bring back those two, they should have paired CT with his backpack Johnny (which was the greatest moment ever in The Challenge history) and had Frank team up with the gay porn star from last season (and as a bonus, that would have meant no Wes this season). And there are a lot of boring people on this season, they could have eliminated both teams in The Jungle and I would not have mind. Really all the rookies are worthless up to this point. They really need to step their game up. And I have absolutely no clue who Zach’s partner is and I watched that season. Hopefully things get more interesting from here. Otherwise it might be time for another Fresh Meat season.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals II on iTunes.

The Hero: Wow, those eliminations were really lame. C’mon, you got to add some pomp and circumstance to them. Have them in the war room with The Rock there to ask questions before the decision. Just having a dude come back, say "Shawn", and be done with it is a little lame. I was really hoping Patty would have been eliminated second because you have to take the money. It is not being a hero to pass up $30,000 and get tear gassed for it, that is stupid plain and simple.
You can download The Hero on iTunes.

Hollywood Game Night: Darn you Kristen Bell, making me turn into this crap. Alright, it turned out not to be completely horrible. It reminded me of all those cheesy game shows I grew up on. The different being those were only a half hour and this would benefit from chopping it in half. If they did that, this show could be a good fill in whenever their new sitcoms inevitably fail this fall.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

Previewing Perception and Rizzoli & Isles

When we last saw Dr. Daniel Pierce on Perception, he was back on his medication, no longer suffering from the symptoms paranoid schizophrenia like talking to figments of his imagination. Sure this would be good in real life, but characters on their meds make for less interesting television show, just look at Homeland when Carrie spent an entire season on a strict diet of pills. Although when we first see Kelly Rowan on screen I had to wonder if it was the real life doctor he met last season or the imaginary friend he made up to look like her. Do not worry, we get a definitive answer by the end of the episode.

Also in the new season we get to met Kate’s estranged husband, who shows up in the form of Scott Wolf (V), who just so happened to be transferred to Chicago and is quick to call on his soon to be ex-wife. First when someone who brutally killed his wife but became a changed man after a gunshot to the brain. Or at least Dr. Peirce is brought in to see if he really has changed and it brings up the moral dilemma of if you are no longer the person who did the crime, should you still serve the time? Later in the season, the team investigates a wife who thinks her sci-fi writing husband has been replaced by a alien and things are only get more complicated when someone ends up dead.

Perception airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on TNT. You can also download Perception on iTunes.

When we last saw the ladies of Rizzoli and Isles Maura decided to anonymously donate her kidney to the half-sister she barely knows and the fourth season with her recovering from surgery. But no one thanking her hurts just as much (maybe she should not have given up her organ anonymously if she wanted credit). While Maura waits around for someone to show up and thank her, Jane gets a couple unexpected visitors, one in the first episode that you have already met while a second one show’s up in Jane’s life after eight years apart and the two did not part on very good terms.

As for the cases, tonight a senator gets assassinated at a parade (which brings up images of JFK with hints of the Boston Bombings because of the setting). Though it is not very hard to guess who does it because when the camera scans the sniper, you actually get a better look then the show probably wanted you to have because once the character reappears on scene I instantly recognized them. Then next week deals with a drug deal gone badly and the detective have to figure out why this good college girl got caught up in the situation.

Rizzoli and Isles airs Tuesdays at 9:00 on TNT. You can also download Rizzoli & Isles on iTunes.

Previewing the Mid-Seasons of Rizzoli & Isles and Leverage

Rizzoli and Isles returns tonight (followed by Leverage, more on that later) for its final five episodes of the season (yes the finale will air Christmas night). Where we left off over the summer, Rizzoli saved Isles from becoming the next victim of Eddie Cibrian while Jane’s little brother may or may have not knocked up Alexandra Holden who left their possible love child at her front door.

Tonight murder hits close to home when a man dies Division 1 Café from rat poison. And yes Jane’s least favorite restaurant owner becomes a suspect. And the victim turns out to know someone from one of the detective’s past. While next year, more ghosts from the past haunts another detective while the author of Suicide Boy is found hung in his office. We do learn the paternity of baby Tommy Jr. while Jane’s mom gets some action. Also Maura has to put her office in code red after a body is brought in, but that is not before sharing another one of nuggets in that you are less likely to get lime disease hiking without clothes.

Rizzoli and Isles airs Tuesdays at 9:00 on TNT. You can also download Rizzoli & Isles on iTunes.



Following Rizzoli and Isles is the continuation of the Leverage season and the team returns to take on what may be their biggest mark, which is saying a lot considering they once took down an entire nation. Tonight the team will be taking on Wal-Mart. Well, a Wal-Mart stand-in called Value More. If you live in a small town you know the story, a big box store moves in, crushing all the local business and then flexes it’s cooperate muscle to keep their employees from unionizing. Value More is so big, Nate has avoided taking them on, that is until Elliot cozies up to a local shopkeeper in the form of Willa Ford.

The team may actually be more ambitious next week when the Leverage Team tries to steal a dream. And to do so, they build something that looks like something Abed from Community would build if he had limitless funds to create a bigger dreamatorium. They will also be taking down a shady vinery owner and try to get a corrupt toy maker to buy a doll so creepy that it makes Chuck look like a Cabbage Patch Doll before his dangerous product its shelves before Christmas. And Nate’s nemesis insurance –investigator-turned-InterPol-agent Jim Sterling will make an appearance before the season ends.

Leverage airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on TNT. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.

Previewing Perception and The Closer

When I was growing up, cop show featured cops partnered with other cops. From to Sipowicz to John Kelly all the way up to Benson and Stabler (with an assist from Ice-T). But during the middle of last decade, all the cops started getting paired with civilian, some reasonably with scientists and others with the absurd be it psychics, novelist, or my personal favorite, a piemaker who could bring the dead back to life (R.I.P. Pushing Daisies). Even the dude from Awake had an imaginary partner (possibly two). It also seemed like most of these civilians fall somewhere on the Asperger Spectrum.

Eric McCormack (whose previous TNT series Trust Me lasted only one season) is the latest civilian consultant and though he has the very helpful profession of neuroscientist professor, but of all the consultants on the new breed of cop shows, McCormack is probably highest on the Asperger Spectrum, closer to Sheldon Cooper than anyone else, and really his best cast study for his class is his own. The cop in this equation is Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That), an FBI agent who gets demoted back to Chicago for obsessing too much over cases. Sure recruiting the obsessive compulsive McCormick (she was a former student of his) as a consultant may not have the best idea considering why she got demote, but there would be no show had she not.

Along for the ride is Arjay Smith (The Journey of Allen Strange) as McCormack’s teaching assistant slash live in man servant. Yeah, it is a very weird relationship that I still cannot quite comprehend after watching a couple episodes. There is also Kelly Rowen (Cyberbully) as McCormack’s best friend and possible former girlfriend who have a very complicated relationship that is revealed at the end of the first episode (or earlier if you figured it out like I did when Kelly first appears on screen).

LaVar Burton (Reading Rainbow) also shows up in a recurring role as the Dean at McCormick’s university who hilariously gets involved in one of the cases later this season. Jonathan Scarfe (a name you will not recognize but whose face you will because he has been on almost every television show in the past two decades going all the way back to Robocop the Series; wait, there was a RoboCop television series?) is also recurring as Cook’s FBI partner who routinely butts head with McCormick eccentricities and always has a quick whip about them. Neal McDonough also show up for an episode as an evil executive (you expect him to play a do-gooder?) who ironically gets Marshall Protection.

Aside from McCormick being the most eccentric person ever to help out the fuzz Perception does not add much to the burgeoning genre. What is does have going for it is some really weird affliction like a human lie detector introduced in the premiere (surprisingly even though they have a human lie detector at their disposal they do not use him in the future episodes). Later in the season Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me) pops up as a patient who came down as the same syndrome that Drew Barrymore had in 50 First Dates. Unfortunately for her, Adam Sandler is not the one trying to get to her, it is a raping murderer. Also expect a lot of anagrams (which are solved The Da Vinci Code style) and there is a whole episode dedicated to ciphers. Seriously. But hey, it is nice to have Rachael Leigh Cook back in our lives.

Perception airs Mondays at 10:00 on TNT.


Just as Perception gets started, The Closer is, well, coming to a close with its final six episodes. Naturally some familiar faces return like Brenda’s longtime nemesis Philip Stroh who returns tonight as the lawyer of a suspected rapist. Brenda’s parents also return as she gets her father new treatment for cancer in Los Angeles. And with the lawsuit out of the way, at some point in the final episodes we do learn who the leak within the department was. All this leading up to the series finale on August 13 which will be followed by the series premiere of its spin-off Major Crimes.

The Closer airs Mondays at 9:00 on TNT. You can also download The Closer on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 7/8/12

Quote of the Week: You phone sex in Latin? (Jared, Franklin & Bash)

Song of the Week: Rainy Day Janie – Peter Bash (Franklin and Bash)

Big News of the Week: It’s Hot: Seriously, it was 90 degrees by noon almost every day this week. On the bright side my lawn is officially dead and I may not have to mow it again until next year. Unless of course weeds start sprouting up in lieu of grass. Is it fall yet?

Preview Picture of the Week:



Falling Skies: Wow, that harness factory was extremely creepy and was only made creepier by the reveal of that the harnesses are actually living entities. I wonder if that knowledge will make removing them easier or lead them to being able to remove them completely. But my favorite part was when the Hispanic leader, then told Lourdes that Northern Mexico was destroyed. He just told her he was from Pennsylvania. How does someone from Philly know what happened to Mexico anymore than someone who living in Boston? The only thing that will make me laugh harder if her family shows up in Virginia.
You can download Falling Skies on iTunes.

Dallas: I do not understand why Rebecca fessed up to the e-mail. Why not just say JR Jr. was setting you up and blackmailing you? I am sure Christopher would have believed her over him and it is very plausible explanation. Now I just do not k now what that can do with the Rebecca character after this. Oh wait, this is a soap opera, she will just hook up with JR Jr.
You can download Dallas on iTunes.


Free Download of the Week: Medicine Spoon – Ruby Velle and the Soulphonics (Spinner)

Deal of the Week: $2.99 Soundtracks: Sure the art of soundtracks died in the internet age because you could just cherry pick some of the best songs anyway. But there are still some oldies worth picking up like Footloose (the original, not the crappy reboot), Reality Bites, Dirty Dancing, and Romeo + Juliet.



New Album Release of the Week: Uncaged - Zac Brown Band

New DVD Release of the Week: American Reunion

Video of the Week: It has been a while since I have seen anything that involves Nickelodeon on account that I am old. But back when I did, the most salacious it got was kids getting green slime dumped on them for saying “I don’t know.” Fast-forward a decade (or two… or three) and Nickelodeon Films is about to release a movie featuring Chelsea Handler, Jonny Knoxville, an animatronic humping chicken and some dude shouting “trick or treat (expletive deleted)”. But Fun Size also features Suburgatory’s Jane Levy in full Snarky Emma Stone mode which I fully approve of.



Next Week Pick of the Week: Perception, Monday at 10:00 on TNT: New show Perception starring Rachael Leigh Cook premieres Monday which begs the question, where has Rachael Leigh Cook been the past decade? She was poised to be the next best thing after She's All That (the gold standard of Ugly Chicks Who Are Secretly Hot movies) and the greatest anti-drug commercial ever. Unfortunately she followed that up with three high profile clunkers: Josie and the Pussycats, Antitrust, and Texas Rangers (where James Van Deer Beek once again botched the Texas accent). After that her IMDB page is filled with movies I doubt anyone has even heard of (Blonde Ambition with Jessica Simpson anyone?). Twenty-four movies since 2002 and I saw one of them. Hopefully Perception can get her career back on track because the world could use more Rachael Leigh Cook in stuff worth watching. If not, there are still people taking drugs she can knock around with a frying pan. Look for a full review (minus Cook’s career overview) tomorrow.

Previewing Rizzoli and Isles 3.x and Franklin and Bash 2.x

TNT introduces its own version of Law and Order tonight when its duos Rizzoli and Isles and Franklin and Bash air back to back. Although since the cops come before the lawyers, maybe they should call it Order and Law Tuesdays. As for the former, Rizzoli and Isles returns for its third season tonight at 9:00, and when we last saw the friends, Rizzoli was shooting Isles’ biological father, gangster Paddy Doyle. The aftermath plays out tonight as Jane’s bullet puts Paddy’s life in danger with Maura in the middle (which may or may not lead to a catfight). But we do learn of the very first meeting of the titular characters tonight.

There is a homicide that does need investigating in tonight’s episode (but with Maura at her father’s bedside, that means more Ed Begley Jr. as her replacement) involving a botched convenient store robbery that ends up tying back to the events of the last episode. Other murders the girls will have to investigate this season a grad student killed in hidden tunnels under the university, a killer with a bizarre doll fetish, and homeless vets. Oh and it looks like Maura’s biological family tree will be expanding this season.

Rizzoli and Isles airs Tuesdays at 9:00 on TNT. You can stream recent episodes over at TNT.tv. You can also download Rizzoli & Isles on iTunes.


As for the lesser sex duo, Franklin and Bash return with a literal bang tonight as they open the season in court defending a magician against a deficient water trap that the boys go to their usual extreme ways to win the case. After that is resolved, the guys are up for partner at Infeld-Daniels but need two-thirds vote from the partners to join them. So the guys try to show their value by catching a big fish in the form of Kevin Nealon. Another case involves a lady cop who is welcome to arrest me any day and we learn just where Pindar’s issues really began.

Other cases the lawyers tackle this season include a wannabe crime fighter (Sean Astin), a court-martial of two Navy female sailors, a widow who tries to keep her late husband from being immortalized as a dancer in a human body exhibit, and someone who needs to prove he is a gay-homosexual to keep a softball trophy. Also showing up this season include Martin Mull, Ernie Hudson, Peter Weller, Danielle Panabaker, Tiffany Dupont, Shiri Appleby, and Chris Kline. Beau Bridges reprises his role as Jared’s father and we get to meet some other family members this season including Peter’s mom (Jane Seymour) and one of Infeld’s ex wives (Cybill Shephard). We even get introduced to a low rent version of Franklin and Bash: Jango and Rossi as portrayed by Seth Green and Eric Mabius.

Franklin and Bash airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on TNT. You can download Franklin & Bash on iTunes.

Previewing the Return of The Closer and Rizzoli and Isles

Next week The Closer reaches its 100’s episode, but before then number ninety-nine airs tonight at the show returns for the second half of its seventh season (before the series concludes next summer) and once again Brenda and Fritz will be going head to head on whose case it is when a principal ends up dead in the same fashion a TSA agent was killed a week earlier. Things get complicated when something interesting gets found while searching the home of the school’s football coach.

The Closer pulls out all the stops for its milestone episode next week. And by all the stops I mean Fred Willard. In a Santa suit. Drunk. And the victim is another Santa that is employed by his workshop who dies in a stunt gone wrong which just so happens to be caught on film by Buzz and his visiting sister Christine Wood (Perfect Couples) who helps solve the case while gaining the attention of all the guys on the force. The holiday theme will carry into episode 101 when Frances Sternhagen and Barry Corbin return as Brenda’s parents who come to town to celebrate the holiday.

The federal civil rights suit against Brenda will come up a few times over the five episodes that will air this winter with Mark Pellegrino and Curtis (Booger!) Armstrong reprising their roles as lawyers in the case. Also showing up in the next couple weeks include Mark Moses (Mad Men) and Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds) as the LAPD’s Police Commissioner and his wife while Jason George (Off the Map) will show up as a businessman. And did I mention a drunken Fred Willard as Santa? Oh yeah, and fighting elves.

The Closer airs Mondays at 9:00 on TNT. You can stream recent episodes on tnt.tv. You can also download The Closer on iTunes.




Following The Closer for the next five weeks as usual is Rizzoli and Isles as it closes out its sophomore season and they also have a special guest to roll out its return: Bill O’Reilly. The talking head is in town to cover the trial of a gangsta much to the chagrin of Rizzoli (and joy of her mother who loves his Irish eyes). Naturally O’Reilly does not have many nice things to say about the Force when the key witness in the case shows up dead (but come short of calling anyone a “pinhead”).

Rizzoli and Isles airs Mondays at 10:00 on TNT. You can stream recent episodes on tnt.tv. You can also download Rizzoli & Isles on iTunes.

Previewing The Closer 7.x and Rizzoli and Isles 2.x

Do not get suspicious that you tuned into the wrong channel or were mistaken as when it actually returns, yes, The Closer returns for its final season tonight even though it opens up with a lengthy shot of a rap video which is the basis of the case that Brenda Leigh Johnson and her team investigate. And naturally when a rapper shows up dead on a crime procedural, a Suge Knight type is not that far behind and The Closer brought in Terriers’ Rockmond Dumber to play the menacing record executive. When Brenda finally gets her (wo)man, the moment was so tense I fear for everyone in the room.

Elsewhere in the episode, Brenda gets her first look at the department’s new organizational chart right around the time something from her past comes back to haunt her. Also Mary McDonnell, who has been guest-starring the last two seasons as Captain Sharon Raydor, has been officially added to the cast before getting her own spin-off when the show comes to an end. And there is a twist ending so big, TNT has forbidden me from mentioning by penalty of death (or something to that extent). But I can say for those that need to be caught up on The Closer, there is a nine-hour marathon preceding the season premiere.

The Closer airs Mondays at 9:00 on TNT. You can stream episodes over at tnt.tv. You can also download The Closer on iTunes. And if you are on Twitter tonight while watching the episode, Kyra Sedgwick (@kyrasedgwick #thecloser) will be live chatting during the show, both 9 EST and 9 PST so those on the left coast do not get left out.




Also returning tonight is the second season of Rizzoli and Isles which picks up while Jane Rizzoli is still on the mend after the seize on the police station in the season finale (and if you missed it, do not worry because there are plenty of flashbacks throughout the episodes. But no injuries or friendly concerns will keep her from investigating a bomb that went off at a celebration of her valor. And the cases keep coming to her in the second episode when a stab victim stumbles into the spa where she is getting a mud bath with Maury.

But the best episode of the early return features Ernie Hudson (Holy Winston Zeddemore Sighting!) as Frost’s father / naval officer who butts head with his son when a sailor becomes a prim suspect during Fleet week and also features a humorous storyline where Maura tries to hook up with one of Jane’s childhood friends. Also this season, the due investigates a murder carried out during a Revolutionary War re-enactment, a killing in a professional baseball team’s locker room, a complicated case involving a surrogate mother, and a case involving the Salam witch trials. And naturally Jane’s archnemesis Charles Hoyt will make an appearance along with talking head Bill O’Reilly as a potential murder suspect.

Rizzoli and Isles airs Mondays at 9:00 on TNT. You can stream episodes over at tnt.tv. You can also download Rizzoli & Isles on iTunes.

Previewing Rizzoli and Isles

This summer TNT has launched 100 Days of Drama with new episodes of favorite shows on the network as well as two new shows. Last month Memphis Beat premiered to a lukewarm response and tonight sees the start of the network’s other offering Rizzoli and Isles which hasn’t fared much better in the entertainment department.

Rizzoli and Isles follows Boston police detective Angie Harmon (Agent Cody Banks) as the first half of the title. While Sasha Alexander (He's Just Not That Into You), who despite being the other half of the title rarely appears onscreen without Harmon, plays her medical examiner buddy. It is your token opposites attract friendship with Harmon playing the tough as nails tomboy to Alexander who dresses up even to clean. Though it is unclear why Alexander is so obsessed with fashion because she is also p0rotrayed as someone with a mild case of Asperser’s who enjoys the company of the dead to that of the breathing.

Tonight’s episode involves a serial killer that Rizzoli had a run in before he was caught whose M.O. pops up again years later. The episode also has Rizzoli pull off the dumbest move I have ever seen a cop make in the history of television. On the second episode, another serial killer may possibly have returned, this time being the Boston Strangler. Yes, the Boston Strangler may have returned despite the man convicted of the crime died a long time ago. The second episode also sees the introduction of Donnie Walberg (New Kids On the Block) as Rizzoli’s new boss and probable love interest, or so Isles thinks.

On the scale of TNT cop shows, Rizzoli and Isles is darker than The Closer but doesn’t get as dark as Dark Blue, which makes for a bland combination. An things get even more clichéd with the introduction of Mr. and Mrs. Rizzoli (Chazz Palminteri and Lorraine Bracco), the latter of which is so over the top to get her baby girl hooked up with someone, she suggest putting on makeup before going to a murder scene because you never know who you will meet. Though Lee Thomson Young (Smallville’s Cyborg) is mildly entertaining as Rizzoli’s new partner who has adverse reactions to grizzly crime scenes (Isles’ attempt to cure him of his phobia is particularly entertaining). But I really do not seeing the show appealing to anyone is going through procedural withdrawal this summer and just new episodes The Closer just is not enough.

Rizzoli and Isles airs Mondays at 10:00 on TNT. You can download Rizzoli & Isles on iTunes.