Actor Obsession: Kyle MacLachlan

The Twin Peaks star's presence can make almost any film or TV show better. Since his iconic show went off the air in 1991, MacLachlan has mostly filled the role of "that guy who's in everything", creating some of the most memorable television roles in recent history.

His was one of my favourite long term romance stories on Sex and the City. As Trey, Charlotte's first husband, MacLachlan was Mr. Perfect. With that comically perfect hair, impossibly chiseled jaw and classic movie star voice, MacLachlan reads as that guy that Charlotte knows from fairy tales. Add that Trey was a rich doctor from a good family and Charlotte's found the perfect man she's been holding out for, the one she wants. Add a little erectile dysfunction, some serious mom issues and general emotional ineptitude and Trey is everything Charlotte doesn't need. That was what was so great about it. Trey was everything she was looking for and was one of the biggest let downs in her 6 season run. Harry, on the other hand (husband number 2), wasn't anything like what she wanted, he was nothing like the perfect Trey, so he ended up being perfect for Charlotte. Kyle MacLachlan was the key to that dichotomy in Trey. His particular brand of off-kilter perfection told us everything we needed to know about Charlotte.

Then there's the brilliant Orson Hodge. Bree's dentist husband on Desperate Housewives was simultaneously creepy and disarming, trustworthy and malicious, sympathetic and psychopathic, abused and abusive. And MacLachlan managed to play all those things in a single shot. Over 6 seasons we learned a lot about Orson and understood almost nothing about him, except whatever MacLachlan decided to give the camera that week... and with Orson, that could have been anything.

Finally, this week's How I Met Your Mother capped his wonderful arc as The Captain, Zoe's ex-husband and Ted's feared "friend". MacLachlan played The Captain with a lot of sympathy and humanity, as a lonely guy desperate for love, friendship and someone to share his boat with. Use that bizarrely handsome, threateningly regal thing the actor has going for him and filter the character that through Ted's self-centered, romantic and overly dramatic eyes and The Captain is a threatening nemesis who is likely to kill Ted for stealing his woman.  It was pretty brilliant, and no one could have pulled off that part better than Kyle MacLachlan.

Top it all off with his fantastically controlled performance as Claudius in Michael Almereyda's crazy, modern Hamlet film and MacLachlan is officially one of my favourite actors in the business.

Beau Bridges Responds To His My TV Award Nomination

"Thanks so much for acknowledging my guest performance on Desperate Housewives. Marc Cherry wrote a great episode, and it was so much fun working with all the wonderfully talented ladies of Wisteria Lane."

- Beau Bridges
My TV Award Nominee: Best Male Guest Star (Desperate Housewives)

Casting News

LAW & ORDER: SVU

Jack & Bobby matriarch and wife to My TV favourite director Tommy Schlamme, Christine Lahti will be joining the cast of SVU as a new Assistant District Attorney. The brilliant actress is almost enough to make me actually watch the procedural ("almost" being the key word).

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

Former Sopranos star and Joey flameout Drea de Matteo will be the newest series regular on Wisteria Lane as the vixen head of a the new italian neighbours. Wil she measure up to the dearly departed Edie Britt?

THE STAGE

It seems that he'll be joining the Broadway revival cast of Lend Me a Tenor (premiering in February) but first, TR Knight might succeed in winning me over for the first time in his career by taking on the incredibly complex role of Leo Frank in Jason Robert Brown's Parade in Los Angeles.

Another Dose of Obsessions This Week

- Ryan Reynolds

- Big Love season 3 (with special love for Amanda Seyfried and Chloe Sevigny)

- Neurotic Reid, puppy dog Michael and magnetic Kiptyn on The Bachelorette

- Blue Jays shortstop and leadoff batter Marco Scutaro

- So You Think You Can Dance's Kupono, Jason, Caitlin, Jeanine, Phillip and Evan

- Gabby and Tom's friendship on Desperate Housewives

- Network TV on summer weekends

- Bell and Starbucks team up to provide everyone with 2 hours of free wireless everyday

- Lots of comments on the blog, our new facebook ads and a new writer (Tim)

Here's to You Eli Scruggs

Maybe I was in some sort of mood but tonight's Desperate Housewives was a 5 Kleenex event. 

In the series' 100th episode, co-written by series creator Marc Cherry, guest star Beau Bridges plays Eli Scuggs, the local handyman, who dies as the episode begins. For the 43 minutes that follow, Gabrielle, Bree, Lynette and Susan plan and attend his memorial service. As they do so, they remember how Eli affected each of their lives in small but important ways. 

Though we as viewers had never met Eli before, the episode paid great tribute to the history of the series. In Gabby's memory we see her as she first moves to Wisteria Lane and faces terrible loneliness, before being introduced to her future friends by a certain handyman. Next up is Bree, who flashes back to a time when Rex was still alive and she first had her idea for her cookbook, a dream which Rex promptly squashed. We also see a slightly older Bree, just after Rex's death, re-inspired by a gesture from Eli. Edie's story was less affecting, though in it's own Edie-ish way it was quite sweet and showed us some of Edie's history that had been heretofore unacknowledged. Lynette's flashback, similarly, showed us her before the series began but explored the professional/familial juggling act that was Lynette's central struggle for much of the series' beginning. Susan's bounced around the timeline, establishing Eli as a solid figure in her tumultuous life. 

For all 5 of the main housewives the episode explored unexplored history within the context of their arcs for the entire series. But it was the presence of the 6th and most elusive housewife that made this episode particularly distinct. Eli, it seems, was given his start on Wisteria Lane by none other than Mary Alice Young (the series narrator). Mary Alice establishes herself in this episode as thoughtful, kind and empathetic, which makes the re-telling of her suicide at the end of the episode all the more jarring. 

I wept. I'll admit it, Desperate Housewives made me cry. From Gabby's heartfelt appeal for friends to the rekindling of Bree's dashed dreams to Mary Alice's hopeless death to the remarkable attendance at Eli's funeral, almost every moment of this episode hit me like really good fiction should. 

Desperate Guest Stars Shine

Desperate Housewives this week provided a couple wonderful blasts from the past. 

First we were treated to Six Feet Under's Ruth Fisher (Frances Conroy) guest starring as Carlos' "enthusiastic" massage client. 

Then came the best part of the evening (Lynette and Tom's heartfelt rehearsal space encounter aside), seeing Mrs. Landingham and Debbie Fiderer (Mrs. Landingham's replacement) 

playing rebel rousing sisters. During the run of The West Wing, where they both played president Bartlett's secretary, who would have thought that stellar comediennes Kathryn Joosten and Lily Tomlin would share screen time plotting revenge on a devious neighbour. 

Even when the housewives themselves fail to enthrall, DH never disappoints with the guest stars.

ABC ends my weekend with a Laugh

I kind of loved this Sunday's ABC shows. Usually 2 of my favourite shows, Brothers & Sisters and Desperate Housewives made me laugh even more than usual this week. So here's what happened: 

Kitty Walker wrote a book. It was about her experiences on the campaign trail and living with her family, each of whom exemplifies a different archetype of the American voter. Of course her entire family was up in arms about it (just in time to make a bad impression on Kitty and Robert's adoption social worker by the way) but ultimately came to the conclusion that it was spectacularly well written and not meant to be belittling. The book prompted some truly memorable comedic moments among the Walkers but, for me, the highlight of the episode was when Rob Lowe was finally given some lines. His rousing speech chastising the immature Walkers and defending Kitty was great. It's nice to see that a character who has been largely ignored since his campaign for the presidency ended is still the strong and intelligent man he was established as being. Also, I love Rob Lowe so any screen time for him is a plus. 

Meanwhile, on Wisteria Lane, Susan was being annoying, Gabby was being desperate, Carlos was being sweet, Bree was being hilarious, Orson was being neglected then scary, Mrs. McClusky was being sad and Edie's husband was being creepy. Lynette, however, was being freaking amazing. Afraid she was losing her son because he never talks to her, Lynette decided to create a fake high school persona and talk to her son online. When, predictably, he fell in love with the fake girl, Lynette's plan came crashing down. Not only was this story good for some serious laughs (who knew Oedipus jokes were so funny?) but it was nice to see one of Lynette's sons getting flushed out a bit more as a character. It was also lovely to hear Lynette give a voice to the fears of parents of sullen teenagers everywhere. I loved it. 

This Week on TV

For some reason all the TV worth watching is currently on either Sunday, Monday or Thursday. This means that I tend to watch things all at once. Thus, I will now write about them all at once.

I apologize for the lack of posting this week and hopefully can make up for it with one jumbo review.

Here we go.

SUNDAY

Desperate Housewives- is it sad that I can barely remember what happened in this episode? Kayla is severely creepy and I remain, as always, firmly on team Lynette though I understand why Tom is fooled by his seemingly sweet daughter. I'm already tired of Gabby and Carlos again though am kind of enjoying Justine Bateman's turn as the friendly tenant/coke dealer. As for the Mayfairs, I really don't like Dylan and anyone who couldn't tell that she wasn't the same kid as used to live on Wysteria Lane clearly was paying no attention at all. I'm slightly intrigued though also very bored. I'm also already bored of Susan's baby (who has been born about 30 seconds at this point). But hey, not only does Edie know the truth about Benjamin Hodge, she used it to blackmail Bree. This resulted in an always awesome strut down the lane as Bree told her friends the truth and the four ladies marched up to Edie, proclaiming that from that moment on, Edie doesn't exist. Overall an uninteresting episode with a few good moments.


Brothers & Sisters- meh. The wedding was sweet. Nora was Nora. I've come to terms with Justin and Rebbecca. I'm not sure how I feel about Sarah. I don't care about Sol. or Tommy. or Holly. or Ryan (the new twist of a long-lost brother) for that matter. I do, however, care a great deal about Kevin and Scotty and though their wedding was nothing in comparison to their engagement it still makes me smile to see them together and happy. This show, even when mediocre, is consistently one of the best shows out there.



MONDAY

Samantha Who?- Funny. Quite funny. Not my favourite episode but Samantha's first birthday party was entertaining and sweet. There were some great Andrea moments (Jennifer Esposito is fully in character even when she's in the back of a scene- watch her, she's hilarious), some awkward Dina stalkage bits and some really great moments for Sam's dad (who doesn't usually get much screen time).


Gossip Girl- The last few episodes of this show have really frustrated me (since Georgina arrived). I was totally behind Gossip Girl. It knew what it was and it did it well. The character motivations always made sense and the plots, though outrageous, were far from frustrating. But recently the main plot of this show has been driven entirely by the intelligent characters acting stupidly. If people would just tell Dan the truth ever once in awhile none of these problems would exist. The writers need to come up with storylines strong enough that the characters can be rational and intelligent and still have roadblocks instead of having to create them through idiocy. See Desperate Housewives' Bree this week; when confronted with a blackmailer she didn't shudder at what her friends would think were her secret revealed. Rather she strode right up to them and told them everything, thus reclaiming her power from Edie. Serena- stop worrying about stupid things, prioritize, stop making bad life decisions and tell your mother and your boyfriend the truth every once in awhile. Dan- don't be an idiot, why would you a) trust Georgina and b) believe that Serena would cheat on you. Nate- don't date Vanessa, I don't like her. This show aggravates me but I still really like most of the characters (even when they are acting like idiots) so I always enjoy this show. I just need them to get their stories back on track and get rid of Dawn, the world's most annoying person.


One Tree Hill- haha. It is comical that I still watch this but I can't stop now, I have to see what happens. All I can say is a) Hayley is dumb, she handles the Dan thing wrong every single week. b) though Brooke's storyline is completely predictable (I was literally saying the lines before they came) I still care somehow, and that doctor is way hotter than Ethan so I'm excited for that inevitable love story. I'm also slightly confused by/really liking that they are bringing Brooke and Lucas back together as friends taking care of the baby. That friendship never really recovered after their on and off screen breakup. c) I can't stand Mouth, he's the worst reporter EVER. d) I love Skills, end of story. e) Jamie's the cutest kid ever. f) What was with Nathan dragging Jamie up the hill like he was a horse? that was soooo strange. g) Dan is so going to kill that reverend. h) go away Lindsay and Lucas SMARTEN UP, you love Peyton, its not her fault Lindsay left. and most notably i) Peyton keeps getting stomped on. I don't even like her very much but she keeps taking hit after hit. First Brooke doesn't want her at the hospital then Lucas says he hates her (and that's not even including 2 dead mothers, an absentee father, a gunshot wound, a psycho stalker and definite sexual harassment in LA). OK maybe I had more to say than I thought.


Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother- do to some sort of stupid "breaking news" that centred around a man sitting in a truck for a very long time, the channel that these 2 shows were supposed to record on didn't air their entire Monday night lineup. Thank you very much man in truck.



THURSDAY

Ugly Betty- I loved this episode!!! This was exactly what the show needed- to get back to its roots. Wilhelmina's return to Mode was no disappointment after all the anticipation. I knew she'd get Alexis on her side in no time, it was perfect. It's fun to see her manipulate the media as well... and Larry King is always fun on these types of shows. Marc and Amanda were also reunited with Willy's return to Mode and they were back to their usual brilliance. Marc had so many fabulous one- liners I can't even remember them all. Michael Urie and Becky Newton's chemistry is irreplaceable and they've been apart too long. Amanda's reality show with her "father" Gene Simmons was hysterical!!! There was also some great Suarez household stuff (who wouldn't want "juice ala Hilda"?) and some really nice Betty/Gio moments as well. I admit I didn't like Gio at first but he's really grown on me and with his final line of "I don't want to be the rebound guy, I want to be the guy" I officially hopped on the Betty/Gio train. I love Chris Gorham but now is the time of Freddy Rodriguez. The true star of the episode though was Justin. Consistently one of my favourite characters, Justin really got to shine in this episode, showing off his fashion sense, sweetness and maturity as he worked the school dance and fed the flames of his mother's sparking romance with his gym coach. Mark Indelicato has impeccable comic timing and is one of the most underrated actors in this outstanding cast. What is all comes down to is a simple statement: Betty is Back.


Grey's Anatomy- The same cannot be said, however, of its ABC Thursday counterpart Grey's Anatomy. Though, since its post-strike return, Grey's has been better than ever, this week's installment fell short. First let me say that there is no way Meredith's therapist should be allowed to keep her licence, she's so far past the line that she can't even remember what it looked like. Derek and Mark had some great moments (though its hard to go wrong with Mark Sloan) and I even liked George (something I NEVER do) but I simply didn't care at all what happened in this episode. Unlike last week when there were multiple engaging and heartrending medical stories, this week bored me (even though the medical stories were, in many ways, tied more closely to the characters). I like Christina acknowledging Burke's absence and letting it get to her for the first time, I like Callie questioning her friendship with Hahn and her sexuality, I like George's quest to be recognized, I like Bailey's desperation for reconciliation in her marriage, I like Izzy's new found maturity, independence and strength, I like Alex's sweetness and commitment to helping Rebbecca. I like Mark's attempts at being a deeper human being and I even like Derek and Meredith attempting to come to terms with the kind of relationships they want in life. I like it all but for some reason, this week, it just didn't work.


The Office- halfway through last night's 4th season finale I turned to my friend sitting next to me and said "this is a REALLY good episode" and I jinxed it. The first half was great. Better than great, it was some of the best the show's been all season. I laughed out loud many times. I loved Phyllis planning the party, I loved Michael asking for the anti-gravity machine, I loved Pam asking how much potion he wanted with a straight face, I loved Pam getting accepted to design school, I loved her saying "perfect" in her talking head interview, I loved Jim planning to propose, I ADORED Holly thinking Kevin was mentally handicapped, I loved Michael falling in love with Holly, I loved the Holly is really perfect for Michael. I loved Toby wanting a picture with Pam, I loved Jim fighting back against Ryan, I loved Ryan getting arrested and Oscar saying that the true crime was the beard, I loved Creed trying to remember what he does for a living and accusing Holly of asking too many questions. And then it all stopped. Once that painful scene in the conference room started it all went downhill and my hysterical laughter turned to what has become the norm for any 4th season Office episode, annoyed sighs. There was WAY too much zany Michael and Andy idiotically proposing, thus preventing Jim from proposing was nothing but annoying. It broke my heart a little to see how sad Pam was that Jim didn't propose and though the final moment when it was revealed that Angela went back to Dwight was a nice touch, it had nothing on the previous 2 seasons of cliffhangers. This week The Office broke my heart by building me up and then letting me down really badly.


*Lost review to come separately

Desperate Housewives is back... and exactly the same as ever

Desperate Housewives returned last Sunday with the first episode of the final part of their strike-addled season. The episode was a very typical one of this season. 

- Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman shine and completely steal the episode with their story line of Lynette turning to Bree for guidance in choosing a new religion. These two standout actresses are consistently the best reason to watch the show. They're hilarious and heartwarming. 

- As per usual, Susan was annoying and pointless.

- Though Gabby's story had some sweet moments, it was overall pretty boring.  

- Katherine was less amusing than usual but still a great addition to the show. Nathan Fillion being a great addition to the cast, I'm hoping they keep her husband Adam around even though he's left her. 

Back on another old show

I gave up on Desperate Housewives after season 1 but this season so far had been getting such good reviews that I decided to give it a try. There's a clip show to recap past seasons available at abc.com then I was able to dive into the best season since the freshman one. Nathan Fillion and Dana Delaney are wonderful additions to the cast. They really fit with the dynamic of the group, their mystery is intriguing and her rivalry with Bree is hilarious (especially since Dana Delaney was the original choice for the role of Bree- though how anyone could ever play her as well as Marcia Cross Ill never know)

So far, so good. I'm loving the housewives again (particularly Bree and Lynette since I love the actresses who play them).

Good job with the salvaging Mr. Cherry.