Lone Star: Channeling George Clooney

Josh Lucas

 This is weird: I decided to give the new Fox series Lone Star a shot, mainly because I didn’t see anything too appealing up against it, and recorded it along with the NBC show Chase. Well, we, my wife and I, weren’t far into the first episode of Lone Star when an actor pops up who strikes me as familiar. “Hey,” I said, “isn’t that the guy who played Reese Witherspoon’s husband in Sweet Home Alabama?” My wife said she didn’t know. Well, from another angle, it was obvious that this was not Josh Lucas, the guy I had been thinking of.

Cole Hauser

 Next, we watch Chase. As soon as character Jimmy Godfrey appears on the screen, I say to my wife, “Well, I’ll be damned! There he is. That’s the guy who played her husband. Can you beat that? I thought he was in the other show and, now, he turns up in this one.” “That’s weird!” she agreed. Of course, as it turns out actor Cole Hauser was not the guy who played Reese’s husband, either. But, like I said, it’s weird. In my defense, Looking at their pictures, it looks like their noses are similar.


Putting aside indications of my diminished mental capacity, we gave the two shows mixed reviews. Before it was cancelled we had already made up our minds not to watch Lone Star again. It just wasn’t offering the kind of story I could get into on a long term basis. The only thing mildly interesting, aside the obligatory hot girlfriend, was James Wolk’s Clooneyesque facial contrivances. What the hell, if you have aspirations of being a heartthrob, who better to mimic.

It’s sort of ironic that the show is being replaced by Season 3 of Lie To Me, another show that me and my honey removed from our potential watch-list after seeing the first episode. Go figure.

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.

Foxy Ladies

Uppy – that’s my wife, the former Cynthia Uppington-Smythe – was in a tizzy when she clicked on our local ABC affiliate, channel 11, a couple weeks back at 10 AM and did not find Martha Stewart. I pledged to get to the bottom of this outrageous caper and within a couple days discovered that Martha would be premiering her new season on channel 13, Fox, at 11 AM the following Monday. Thank goodness. I hate for Uppy to suffer even the tiniest disappointment. What’s good about the new time slot is it puts the “good thing” up against Whoopi and Company’s “View” and the Bob Barkerless “Price Is Right,” and offers midday viewers something that’s a little more palatable to go along with their lunches.

Fox is also the home of two of my favorite returns from last season, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and “Bones.” (That reminds me… did you hear Heidi Klum refer to the show as “The Bones” the other night at the Emmies? I’m going to go out on a limb, here, and say I don’t think Heidi’s a regular viewer.)

I’ve read a few negative comments and reviews about T: TSCC that propose the show is somehow lacking and in need of another element. Bulllloney! The show is great just the way it is. Sarah, John and Cameron are living on the edge, always on the brink of disaster. I don’t see how a plot could want more tension and anxiety.

Bones is another great show. I’ve read a few of Kathy Reichs novels. They’re okay but their protagonist is far less original than the Temperance Brennan of the TV series.

Those – Martha, Sarah & Tempe – are my foxy ladies. Who did you think I was referring to? Paula Abdul?