It’s Criminal: The Season Premier of Criminal Minds

The team solves a case with their usual zeal, resolve, clear thinking and super-deductive reasoning. Ho hum. More importantly, however, is the fact that Hotch’s wife and son have to go into hiding because they are in danger of being killed by the brutal and diabolical attacker and arch-nemisis who carefully, so as not to kill him, stabbed Agent Hotchner nine times and then threw him out of the car at the hospital. I’m hoping against hope that this is not a subplot that’s going to continue all season. Kill the bastard, bring the family home, let’s get on with the next episode. I’m still adjusting to the fact that Garcia’s gay. I mean, what is the poor kid whispering under her breath every time Derek refers to her as “Baby girl?” I wonder. Anyway, I don’t mind a tryst or two that colors the cast, but recurring villains turn me off. Of course, it’s too late now. The scripts have been written. I just might have to change my Wednesday night viewing habits.

Blown Coverage by CBS: The NFL & The Emmies

CBS was celebrating 50 years of NFL coverage. Meanwhile, they played down the fact that their shoddy camera work cost the NY Jets a critical call early in the game because they couldn’t supply the review officials with a shot of a called fumble. To obscure this fact, they refused to refer to the play as “questionable” or “controversial,” they just carried on as though there had actually been a fumble even though it appeared to everyone that the runner was down before the ball was yanked out. That’s pretty much the status quo anymore, on the field, in the workplace – there’s an unwritten law that you must never acknowledge a mistake.

Similarly, I wonder if CBS will own up to producing one of the worst Emmy Awards shows in recorded history. Right out of the gate, they announced we were in store for some changes. Of course, the presumption was that the changes would be somehow beneficial. They weren't. Let's see how they react, now that the broadcast fell flat. Let the tap dancing begin. Thank God, there was NFL Football and MLB Baseball airing at the same time, giving me something to move on to during the most painful moments.

As usual, the awards went to a bunch of shows that few people watch. It’s the TV world’s way of informing us that we don’t know what good television is. If we did, we’d be religious viewers of 30 Rock, Madmen, and the canceled Pushing Up Daisies.

Of the award winning shows, I believe the BBC production of Dickens’ “Little Dorrit” was the only one that I had been a real fan of. I do watch a rerun of “Two and a Half Men” on occasion, but I never catch the original episodes. Regarding “Madmen,” for me, once was enough. I tried to watch “30 Rock” a few times, but couldn’t stay with it for more than 5 minutes.

Neil Patrick Harris is a likeable guy under most circumstances, like when he’s a talk show guest. But, his performance hosting the Emmys can only have given David Letterman renewed hope of hosting the Oscars again. It was that bad.

Anyway, despite all of that, both the Jets and the Giants won on Sunday. So, it turned out to be a pretty good day.

The Listener - Mental - Medium

It's summer. There's not much to watch on TV as regards dramas. So, I'm trying to like The Listener.

Granted, I've only seen two episodes, but here's my problem. It's hard to think "drama" when the show's main character, Toby Logan played by Craig Olejnik, bears a striking resemblence to Dana Carvey, one of my favorite funnymen. Just to be sure, I ran this notion past my wife, and she too had observed the similarities.

Still, aside from that, I'm liking the show so far. I like what's going on between Toby and his ex-girlfriend Dr. Olivia Fawcett, and Detective Charlene Marks portrayed by ex-model Lisa Marcos. And there's something likeable about his partner/buddy/regular guy Oz Bey.

Admittedly, the EMT thing doesn't thrill me, but, for now, during these stark days of summer TV viewing, I'll put up with it.

While we're talking about shows meant to rival The Mentalist, we should talk about the FOX offering Mental. This show might be of interest to students of Psych 101, but probably not to the rest of us who have learned long ago that psychotic people are not very much fun. Personally, I've had my fill of them.

Then there's Medium starring Patricia Arquette. A favorite of my wife and me, it was dumped by NBC and immediately picked up by CBS for the fall season. Thank God. I thought this last season had some of the best episodes of the entire 5 year run. Reportedly, NBC thought the show was "aging, as we were getting younger." Yeah, sure, as can be verified by the torturous Law and Order trilogy. There's a good reason why NBC is last in the ratings - it's being run by a bunch of idiots. And here I am holding 700 shares of parent company GE. Talk about idiots.

Some Listless TV

We caught one episode of The Ex-List and we won’t be lamenting CBS’s decision to cancel it. However, we love the network’s other List show, The Mentalist, starring Simon Baker. Baker, you may remember, also starred as Nick Falin in The Guardian which we enjoyed until the writers in an attempt to spice it up ultimately destroyed it. The show’s plot took too many left turns and eventually crashed into itself. I still wake up in the middle of the night and wonder what happened to Baker’s love interest, Lulu.

Sticking with CBS, Criminal Minds, CSI New York, the original CSI and Cold Case are still among our favorites. CSI Miami, as I’ve mentioned before, has become expendable. I’ll be interested in seeing how Laurence Fishburne fits into CSI when he joins the cast in December. When it comes to my TV shows, I generally don’t like changes.

Since I have no other forum in which to voice my disdain for the commissioner of the Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball League Philly Basketball (ID# 93185) allow me here to proclaim that he’s an asshole. After a trade between the owner of Philly Phorce and I was vetoed, we voiced our outrage and were unceremoniously expelled from the league. It’s not like we were trading Kobe Bryant for Jessica Simpson – the trade involved two lesser players, Quentin Richardson for Linas Kleiza. The commissioner, a third-class wuss, tried to throw the blame on other owners when it was actually him who put the kibosh to our trade. Like many weaklings, they can be quite bold when they think they’re protected by a degree of anonymity. I, however, am busily trying to ID him. He’s got my Italian blood boiling and I’m not about to cool off.

Janie Comes Lately to the Tampa Bay Rays

I’m a Yankees fan and have been all my life. Still, that doesn’t prevent me from pulling for the Rays. After all, most of my friends are Rays fans and were Rays fans last year when the team wasn’t doing nearly as well. J.C., a teammate in a couple pool leagues, likes to boast that he’s been a fan from the get-go, having attended the Rays first game.

Of course, now, there are so many died-in-the-wool Rays fans out there, it’s a wonder fans haven’t been rioting outside the Trop because of their deep desire to get in. The latest to jump aboard is the newly redefined CBS affiliate Tampa Bay 10. Those Rays fanatics at 10 Connects have been airing hour long pregame shows hosted by Reggie “Do-Take-Care” Roundtree before the Rays postseason home games. I don’t know if anyone’s been watching; I know I haven’t been. Anyway, this morning, it struck me as funny and ironic when an enthusiastic 10 Connects newscaster, Janie Porter, announced tonight’s starting pitchers as the Rays Matt Garza vs. the Phillies Jamie Moyer, pronouncing Moyer with a French twist - moy-YAY. You’d think that such an avid baseball fan would have at least bumped into the name Moyer, rhymes with Sawyer, during his 22 year big league baseball career. Wouldn’t you?