Tuesday, October 28, 2008

USA Network's The Starter Wife

Debra Messing The Starter Wife


"And she does it all with perfect hair"---No i'm not referring to myself [hardly]---it's a line and a very accurate one may i add from USA Network's The Starter Wife, produced by and starring Debra Messing.

If you liked Ms. Messing in Will & Grace, that admiration will definitely continue here. The Starter Wife is about Molly Kagan, mother of one daughter, 7yr old Jaden, and dutiful and faithful wifey of a top of the food chain Hollywood producer, living a life of privelege and all the glam and responsibility that goes with being the spouse of a Hollywood mogul. Then without warning, Molly literally gets a wake-up call. After 15 yrs of marriage, hubby phones her to say he wants out. As in now, today, immediately. And while this does not leave Molly homeless, she does have to quickly adapt to a lifestyle that is slightly reduced from the one to which she had become accustomed. Also the chi-chi cliques she was once welcomed in have shunned her, save for her core and true friends. Judy Davis' performance as her friend Joan is golden.

Starter Wife is based on the Gigi Levangie Grazer novels, and ironically Ms. Messing's character in the books is named Gracie Pollack. i guess the decision to change the name for the show was to avoid comparisons to Grace Adler, Messing's character from her previous hit Will & Grace. But not to worry, there is not a trace of Grace Adler in Molly. While Molly does have neurosis [who wouldn't living in Hollywood?] she's more confident than Grace Adler and bounces back quickly from adversity---well if you can call having a friend who offers their Malibu home to re-group when your dealing with divorce, adversity. Before she married, Molly was a moderately successful children's author. She considers returning to that, but her diary which dishes much dirt has a higher market value.

i like this show. The dialogue is snappy, funny, and true. i've never lived among the Brentwood/Malibu/Hollywood social set that Molly does, but i've known people who have, and there is not one false note here. And the shoes---my, my, my, Laboutins, Prada, Jimmy Choo and the like. It's girly girl heaven. Also the opening credits are really cute: Molly as paper doll. See molly's huge rock of an engagement ring, see Molly's Rodeo Drive shopping bags, etc. Lots of beefcake too. Hart Bochner is one love interest. There was a mini-series/pilot that preceded the series---True Blood vamp Stephen Moyer portrayed Malibu beach-bum Sam. Need i say more.

The next Starter Wife ep airs Friday Oct. 31st at 9pm on the USA Network. So, while you're tending to the Halloween trick-or-treaters, take an hour to check it out.

Happy Halloween aka Samain everyone.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

All My Children ~ Farewell Eileen Herlie {Myrtle Fargate} Welcome Back Doctor David Hayward {Vincent Irizarry }

Eileen Herlie ~ March 18, 1918 ~ October 8, 2008

Eileen Herlie [Myrtle Fargate]

Alicia Minshew [Kendall Hart Slater] Vincent Irizarry [Doctor David Hayward] Rebecca Budig [Greenlee Smythe]



Sadly soap fans have lost one of their most beloved doyennes. On October 8, 2008 Eileen Herlie, All My Children's Myrtle Fargate, succumbed to pneumonia. Ms.Herlie had quite an impressive resume having worked with Sir Lawrence Olivier, Sidney Lumet, Faye Dunaway, and other luminaries prior to and during her time on daytime's All My Children. Myrtle was one of my favorites, and she will be sorely missed. May the gods speed.


In happier daytime news, Alicia Minshew, All My Children's Kendall Hart Slater is getting married. Ms. Minshew will be taking a break from the show to wed and honeymoon. Her hubby is the proprieter of one of the Upper West Side's more popular bars, Prohibition. Best wishes to them and happy honeymoon.


Rebecca Budig, All My Children's Greenlee Smythe, is pursuing her bliss, leaving the show to tour with her husband and his band, Band On TV.


Vincent Irizarry will return to All My Children on the episode airing Thursday October 23, 2008, reprising his role as Doctor David Hayward.


my newest passion is Daytime Confidential A fun site on what's happening in daytime, audio interviews with daytime's stars, and lots of good pics.

Monday, October 13, 2008

HBO's TrueBlood



HBO TrueBlood


HBO's TrueBlood has first-run airings Sundays at 9:00pm est [please check your local listings]. Be advised TrueBlood's content includes nudity, adult language, sexual situations, and scenes that some may consider violent and unsuitable for minors.


Thanks to CohenBoy2 at YouTube


In A Lather TrueBlood Transcript

Primal. Seductive. Raw. Down-South true. The Undead.

Where y'at? Better be watchin' TrueBlood cher, tru'dat!

Academy and Emmy Award Winner Alan Ball [American Beauty, Six Feet Under] has me hooked [again] with his latest creation, HBO's TrueBlood. Based on author Charlaine Harris' Dead Until Dark vampire novels. The action takes place in the Louisiana bayou. These undead have a slightly different twist. TrueBlood, a synthetic blood concoction developed by Japanese scientists allows the vamps to walk-about during the day. i have not had the pleasure of reading Ms.Harris' works but based on the thumbnail descriptions i have read, Mr. Ball is being very---you'll pardon the expression, true, to the author's vision. Despite Ms. Harris' protestations to the contrary, for me the character's personae are a combination of modern day gothic and romance novel. Jace Everett's "I Want To Do Bad Things With You" is perfect as the show's theme song. i love this show. And not just because the lead heroine and i are namesakes. Sookie Stackhouse portrayed by Academy Award Winner Anna Pacquin, is a perfect lolita cum steel magnolia. She needs to be strong. It's tough when you've been gifted with the ability to hear other's thoughts. We're talking TMI on a major scale here. And i love the character who is her best bud Tara portrayed by Rutina Wesley. It is said that everyone has a physical double. Well Ms.Wesley bears a triple time uncanny physical resemblance to my late paternal grandma, one of her late daughters, and a friend from my youth, so naturally i am drawn to Tara [hey Plum aka Coop, if you're reading this holla back to me o.k. XXXOOO]. Tara does have issues [watch the show to learn them, it would be a disservice to her performance to grocery list them here], but she's one smart cookie, has a slammin' bod, and skin that is so flawless, i can't imagine the vamps resisting her for too long Tara's cousin Lafayette [Nelsan Ellis] is a joy as well. Lafayette is out, loud, and proud. Ya heard?
i am pissed off that one of my favorite characters




has already been bumped off: the heroine Sookie's grandmother, Adele Hale Stackhouse portrayed by Lois Smith. i have been a fan of Ms.Smith's since i saw her in Five Easy Pieces. But, i guess when you're watching a show that has the undead, you have to expect a few of the characters will be, well, dead dead [shrug]. But i don't think lead vamp Bill Compton, portrayed by the yummy Stephen Moyer, or any of the vamps for that matter, is Adele's slayer. i think one of the mortal townsfolk is the doer of the deed, because Adele's blood was on the floor under her body, and as Bill pointed out to the local laws [William Sanderson's Sheriff Dearborne is a perfect foil] investigating a prior murder, had a vampire been the actual culprit, the victim would have been ex-sanguinated [drained of their blood]. The blood would not have gone to waste had a vamp been the attacker. my hubby thinks Adele's killer is her grandson, Sookie's brother, Jason. i disagree. i don't know who did do it, but i don't think it's Jason.