Lizard

SPOILER ALERT!!!

As for Gina’s pregnancy, this is how they’re going to handle it (from IFMagazine.com):

Due to Gina Bellman’s now confirmed pregnancy (congratulations Gina!), a new character is slated to appear early in the second half of the season while Sophie is away for a couple episodes. Jeri Ryan will join the LEVERAGE cast as one of Sophie’s grifter friends, Tara. She’s a smart ass street-wise woman who is said to get sucked into the team after Sophie calls on her for some help. With a team made up of three men and two women, it’s no surprise that they decided to bring in another woman to help even the odds. Poor Nate might have his hands full with this one, already having too much to handle with the other four. Nothing else is yet known about this new character, so it’s sure going to be fun and interesting to see how she fits in with the rest of the team. Something tells me not all of them will accept her willingly into their little group. Nothing is confirmed, yet she apparently will be joining the team for the last half of the season, and so far she is only known to be a reoccurring character, but anything can happen.

I went to one of the season premieres where we got to talk to a couple writers and they said they will eventually go down the romance track with Hardison and Parker but they will do it at a slow, natural pace.

That clip of Hardison had me laughing throughout the entire scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iwThXf93wQ

Poor Hardison, OUCH!

Richard, I think it’s pretty obvious the boyfriend won’t last. Besides the fact that they’re not adding to the cast, it’s also pretty clear the writers will eventually pair up Nate and Sophie.

I really don’t want Hardison and Parker getting together because I like the team’s dynamic the way it is now (like a squabbling family, with Nate and Sophie as the “parents” and Eliot, Parker, and Hardison as the “kids”) but the writers certainly seem to have it heading that way.

Ads in Burn Notice? I don’t recall an excessive amount of product placement (in fact very few if any instances) so I have no clue what you’re criticizing there.

The Closer? Wow, you really missed the mark. Just comparing it to Silk Stalkings means you have never even watched a commercial for The Closer much less watch an episode. Firstly, there is absolutely no insinuation of sensuality in The Closer aside from a little tiny bit about her relationship with her husband. It doesn’t even attempt sexual chemistry, it’s not that kind of show. Maybe you’re thinking of Saving Grace, a show I don’t like and don’t watch, but you’re definitely not describing The Closer. I don’t even know where you’re getting those impressions. Secondly, just using Silk Stalkings as a positive reference point tells me all I need to know about your valuation of “taste.” SS was a shameless cable skin show that survived on… you guessed it… cable-allowable skin. It didn’t even attempt a plot, it just marched sexy people in front of you with guns and badges. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but don’t even tell me about bad writing and try to use SS as an example of it done right.

Finally, your “ramblings” fail on your concept that it isn’t good because you’ve seen it before. Was Goodfellas crap because Godfather came before? Was Raging Bull crap because Rocky came out a few years earlier? How about Platoon and River Kwai? Shane and Unforgiven? I could go on and on, but it all illustrates the same point: good material is good material, it doesn’t matter what came before it. Your logic of something being crap because you’ve seen it before is complete garbage.

And so what if it was done 30 years ago – most of those viewers who remember are outside the prime demo anyway – buh-bye, thanks for playing.
Light fare: Monk, Psych, Leverage, Closer (mostly), Royal Pains
Middle ground: HawthoRNe, Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck (RIP), Burn Notice, IPS
Gritty: Saving Grace (mostly), L&O:CI, Dark Blue, Sons of Anarchy, Mad Men, Damages, The Beast, Breaking Bad

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t – Free Cable seems to give us a lot of good choices. Couldn’t say that 5-10 years ago. There is some well done fluff and some great gritty goodness, and overall a pretty high level of quality, especially considering cable vs. broadcast budgets.

We won’t see sultry Sophie for a while because Gina Bellman is pregnant and I’m sure they will keep having her wear clothing that hides her pregnancy. For instance at the beginning there was no reason for her to be wearing Nate’s clothing except to downplay her stomach.

I can only see Leverage’s audience rising at this point, as word of mouth gets it more and more viewers.

Be interesting to see where the “boy friend” business goes (assuming she wasn’t lying). They gave Fiona a boy friend for a little while in season two of Burn Notice, but that didn’t last, and I expect Sophie’s won’t either.

Also want to see where Hardison and Parker’s relationship goes this season.

Nate waking up to Parker in a nun’s habit scarfing down his food was hilarious, not to mention the whole “is Elliot’s crotch going to blow up” bit.

Lizard

The reception for Dark Blue has been mixed by critics but it seems to have had a positive reaction by viewers, I wonder if we could see Dark Blue improving on Leverage like Burn Notice/Royal Pains and L&O:CI and IPS.