Welcome to In A Lather. i'm sookie, and here you'll find my takes on celebs, tv shows and movies that are favs of mine, that i hope are or soon will be favs of yours too. Also events in the entertainment and fashion industry.Thanks for stopping by, and please feel free to comment.
Works like a house a fire, producer, writer [theatre, television, books], director, actor, philanthropist, Tyler Perry has added another item to his list of accomplishments---talk show host.
Actually Mr.Perry's nominal talk show had already aired a few episodes, but i'd forgotten about it [shame on me!] until the push to promote his latest film "Why Did I Get Married Too". In my defense, his talk show is not on every day, and even though it bears the TBS logo on the lower right tv screen corner, i had to do quite a bit of digging to find it on the network's schedule. In fact, when i watched the show it was airing on the TVGuide channel. But when i finally found it, it was worth the search. Mr.Perry is charming, and funny, and even though the show is obviously a vehicle for the promotion of his multitude of projects, in this instance, his most recent film, it does not feel like an infomercial. And let's be honest, that essentially is the m.o. of most, if not all talk shows---guest comes on to exchange small talk with genial host and, oh by the way here's a clip from my latest tv show, movie, cd, cover of my book, etc. The trick is in making the promotion entertaining and not so much of an 'i'm being sales pitched to death' encounter. Mr. Perry has a multitude of marketable talents, and at this too [talk show host], he excels.
The Tyler Perry Show airs Sundays at 9:00pm and 10:00pm and Mondays at 1:00pm on the TVGuide channel, and Tuesdays at 10:00pm and Midnight on TBS. Please check your local listings.
Buh-bye Nurse Mo-Mo. No explanation of why you've gone. No mention of your having been on the show. Oh and by the way Nurse Jackie producers the perfect moment to have worked in such a scene would have been when nurses Thor and Jackie are in the hospital chapel chatting. But, nope, didn't happen. And in case you were wondering---oh whom i kidding, you couldn't care less---but anyway, yes the fans miss that character. Supposedly the motive for making Mo-Mo disappear, was that the character had outlived his usefulness. Ostensibly, the character's sole purpose was to be Nurse Jackie's best bud and sounding board, and now that Jackie is hanging with Doctor Eleanor O'Hara, that eliminates the need for Mo-Mo. But there's a flaw with that theory. Nurse Jackie still spends time sharing secrets with Nurse Thor, who happened to have had a crush on Mo-Mo. That dynamic alone could have continued to provide a season's worth of scenes for the 3 pals to explore that aspect of their friendship. The decision to eliminate Mo-Mo feels like a bad parody of the Seinfeld episode when Jerry is explaining to Ramon that there's a limited number of people he feels comfortable being friends with, and having Ramon as a friend would exceed that limit. Funny on the Seinfeld ep---as a Nurse Jackie plot device, not so much.
O.K. Mo-Mo rant over [for now ;D]. Another beef the fans have with season 2's first episode, is Jackie's season 1 finale O.D. not being acknowledged. How was she revived? Did she regain consciousness on her own before someone else came in the room and found her on the floor? Did Doctor O'Hara find her and enabling, keeping what happened secret? idk, and the writers aren't telling.
Season 2 opens with shot of a variety of pills falling, their placement when they hit the ground shown via overhead shot, dissolving into a scene showing Jackie reclined on a blanket having an idyllic day with her family at Orchard Beach. It is visually perfect, giving the impression that Jackie is hallucinating, but no, she and her family actually are having a day at the beach. Despite the lack of dialog exposition, to her credit, being the wonderful actress that she is, you can see in Ms.Falco's eyes, a processing of what has gone before, and an appreciation of what the day is providing, and even though she is the show's star, she shouldn't have to carry all the load, and the fans shouldn't have to work that hard either.
The scenes between Jackie and Dr.Cooper are extremely funny---he is the perfect foil. Of course Jackie shines best when caring for patients. A woman is admitted to the trauma ward, fingers on her right hand severed. As Dr.Cooper is asking the patient questions she doesn't speak. Jackie notices she's signing with her left hand and informs the doctor and others working on her that the patient is deaf. Acknowledging her ability to look beyond the obvious gives insight into why Jackie is a very good nurse. The creative lengths she goes to to get the patient's insurance provider to approve the surgery necessary to re-attach her fingers, display why she's extraordinary.
Showtime's Nurse Jackie airs Monday Nights at 10:00pm with an encore airing at 11:00pm. Please check your local listings. Showtime's online site also has video available for viewing for a limited time.
Christmas in March can only mean 1 thing---AMC's Breaking Bad is back. The third season brings twin bad-ass assassins from Michoacán who make hits in a most efficient and artistic way, and they do it without uttering a word. Their calling card is their footwear: reptile skin cowboy boots with silver skulls on the tips.
Meanwhile, Walt is dealing with, or should i say in denial about the fallout of his actions from Season 2, and mistakenly thinking he can salvage his marriage. Skyler and the kids, Flynn and Holly, are staying with Skyler's sister Marie, while Walt relocates to a motel. Skyler has filed for divorce, and is not open to Walt's pleas to work things out. They have a showdown that does not bode well for her having a change of heart. Jesse has successfully concluded his time in rehab, and unlike Walt, has come to terms with the man he has become.
The thing that makes this show the most entertaining is that it maintains a sense of humor during events that at first thought one would not imagine there is any. For example, in one scene Walt is absent mindedly lighting and tossing matches in the swimming pool, while kind of freaking out about what's going on in his life, the plane crash, etc., and he has placed several bundles of cash in a BBQ grill. There is 1 match left and as he lights it, intent on setting the cash aflame, we see on the back of the matchbook cover, an ad with a man smiling. The man in the ad is Saul Goodman, Walt's sketchy lawyer. It's a brief and subtle moment, but it's funny, and it's eloquently poignant. There are other moments where humor sneaks in when you'd least expect it, but that was my fav from this ep.
My fav featured character is Giancarlo Esposito's Gustavo Fring, meth distributor, and Pollo Hermanos Restauarant franchise owner. Gustavo es muy suáve, muy chévere.
It's a challenge to make meth manufacturers, dealers, and the world they live in likable and sympathetic, but Breaking Bad pulls it off seamlessly.
AMC's Breaking Bad airs Sundays at 10:00pm with encore airings at 11:00pm [please check your local listings] and if you miss it on your tv, AMC's Breaking Bad website has full eps available. Got a question for Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston? Post it at Ask Bryan Cranston Questions This week's questions should be submitted by Thursday March 25, 2010.
After only one episode, this show has grabbed me by the heart, head, and throat and shows no sign of loosening it's grip. i've always had a fascination with "true stories", and when you add history, genealogy, and celebs to that mix, i am hooked.
As the subjects meet with family, librarians, genealogists and historians, it's intriguing to see the results of what's uncovered. Will their worst fears be confirmed, will their ancestry increase the pride they already have for their families, or will it be a blend of both. And of course some of what is uncovered cannot help but bring a tear to the eye, be it of joy or sorrow.
Who Do You Think You Are? airs on NBC, Fridays at 8:00pm Please check your local listings.
Porn is once again in the spotlight on Nip/Tuck, but with a twist. Adult film star Hiro Yoshimura [played by Koji Kataoka] is a septuagenarian who wants doctors McNamara/Troy to give him a surgical procedure, but he does not want to look younger. Nor is he in need of a penile enlargement or scrotal lift. Mr.Yoshimura has a scar he would like to have corrected. As of this posting this episode has not aired, so i don't know specifically where the scar is, but given that this is Nip/Tuck, i'm sure it will be medically and physiologically unique.
In sub-plots, Doctor Troy makes Ava an offer she cannot refuse. Again, speculating, i'm imagining he offers to do corrective surgery on her adopted baby boy Raphael, with the proviso that she leave town and Matt, pronto.
Julia has a heart to heart with Christian about her concerns about Sean's emotional well being. Christian in turn sincerely asks Sean "tell me what you don't like about yourself".
As has been the tradition with Nip/Tuck finales, look for a scene with the family gathered around the dinner table. Even so, for fans, this finale is different, in that it is not just a season finale, it is also the series' finale. A friend turned me on to a wonderful quote: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" ~ Theodor Geisel aka Dr.Seuss [Thank you to Miss Kimber at http://niptuckforum.com for the quotation.]
i'm using that quote as my mantra whenever i feel whiney about the fact that Nip/Tuck in first run airing is concluding. i refuse to say gone, because thankfully because of dvds, and on-line viewing, Nip/Tuck will never really be gone. And even though FX has not yet announced plans for re-runs or syndication, i can't help thinking that one or both those options will eventually come to pass.
FX will air the season/series' finale on Wednesday March 3, 2010 at 10:00pm, and 11:00pm. Also Friday night/Saturday morning March 7, 2010 at Midnight and Sunday night/Monday morning March 8, 2010 at Midnight. Please check your local listings.
And now if you will indulge me for a moment, going off script here...
i'm a gemini from wash.dc, married 35 yrs to an aries from san antonio texas.
i'm sookie, he's tex, together we are sookietex.
Many people think i adopted the name sookie after HBO's TrueBlood heroine Sookie Stackhouse.
Nope. It's not my birth name, but my older brother gave me the nickname sookie when i was a baby.
Best and might i add most prescient gift bro' ever gave me ;D
hubby and i live in nyc and even though we like it here, we dream of the day when we'll pull up stakes and move to austin, or maybe some other town in the lone star state.
a bit more about me and In A Lather public domain image credits
library of congress prints and photographs online: secession bubbleknow nothing soap
i am a child of the south, a "boomer", born in 1958, a child of the television age. This was a time when "African-Americans" referred to themselves as "colored". In fact on my birth certificate under racial description, "colored" is the word that is used. Today i still affectionately refer to myself as a "colored child". my paternal great grandpa was Blackfoot Nation, and my maternal great grandmother was also Native American, [but i have not found out which Nation]---i affectionately refer to that part of my heritage as 'injun'---hey i'm never going to be described as politically correct and have no desire to be.
my mother was a woman who was far ahead of her time in terms of "feminist" survival. Long before it was fashionable, she was a single parent. She did have support, and not just financial from my pop, but they did not live together as husband & wife. In fact they never did take that walk down the aisle...but that's another story. Mom was a woman who worked outside the home long before most women of her generation would have even thought of making that choice, much less do it. She fully appreciated the value, neccessity, and strength of a loving extended family. She did not need anyone to tell her it "takes a village".
When mother was at work, i, the youngest of 4 (2 sisters 1 brother & me), was alternately cared for by mother's eldest sister, "auntie" as we used to call her, and our nextdoor neighbors. They were like family to us. We called the elder woman 'grandma' (to this day I do not know her given name), and her daughter Miss Elsie, or more usually 'aunt'Elsie. They were very religious folk. God fearing, bible reading, honest, and i and my family loved them dearly. 'Aunt'Elsie always made sure my days were full of activity, but one of my favorite times of the day was when she would look at her watch and say "oh my, we'd better hurry, it's almost time for my stories". By her 'stories'
she of course meant the day's soap operas. For Elsie and her mother, watching the soaps was sort of a guilty pleasure, but at the same time they made it seem sacred. It was a ritualistic activity. Her favorites were The Edge of NightThe Secret Storm and General Hospital
Paul Harvey would say i am giving you "the rest of the story" so that you may better understand its importance, and how it relates to the spirit of this blog. Which is to say we all have drama of some level going on in our lives, so sometimes the plotlines of our favorite shows may seem either tame, empathetic, or absurd, depending on where life may take you on any given day.
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