The Summer 7: My Favorite Shows of Summer 2010 by Kara Howland

Ahhh. As summer comes to a close it’s time to look back and reflect on the summer shows I enjoyed. I’ve been a pretty active summer TV watcher for a while now and there has been a lot of great (and A LOT of bad) television. I don’t watch too much “reality” during the regular season but I allow it over the summer. Here’s what I enjoyed:



The Closer, TNT

I’m so pleased Kyra Sedgwick finally took home an Emmy for her portrayal of Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson. She has always been my number one reason to watch this show. Even if I can solve the murder before Major Crimes does, I always enjoy watching Brenda Lee at work. She’s a smart, strong, and sexy female lead. And her relationships with Chief Pope, her squad, and her husband are always interesting. This season I’ve really enjoyed the move into the new building and Commander Taylor’s plight to get out of his cube. Watching Brenda deal with Mary McDonnell’s Captain Raydor is always great drama. I, like Brenda, am not sure she should be the next chief. I like to see her solving cases from week to week, even after six years.



True Blood, HBO

I love this show. All the supernatural elements are always interesting and often shocking. The large cast means there are always numerous storylines to follow if one or two should fall short (I’m talking to you Sam Merlotte). James Frain’s Franklin is my favorite addition to this year’s cast with Denis O’Hare’s King of Mississippi taking an extremely close second. I will never tire of Eric Northman or Alcide Herveaux (I’m so happy he’s returning next year) or their fight for Sookie’s affection. I thought I’d be a die-hard Sookie and Bill fan forever. Not so much after the finale. Now, I wouldn’t mind seeing her with Eric or Alcide. And what do we have to look forward to next year? More witchcraft, amongst other things. I can’t wait.



Rescue Me, FX

This show never disappoints and Denis Leary is a revelation. Whether it’s funny, daring, dramatic, or shocking there is always something here to satisfy. After Tommy pledges to go back on the wagon yet again, almost no one in his life believes him. Can you blame them? One thing I can always rely on this show for is authenticity. I feel like we know how real fire fighters are, how it is to struggle with addiction, what it feesl like to run into a burning building and emerge alive. That’s probably what I love most about this show and I’ll be sad when it ends next year. It’s been an emotional, violent, and ultimately cathartic experience. And I hope we see more of Sheila and Tommy extremely dysfunctional relationship. They are so wrong together it’s right.



Treme, HBO

After a somewhat slow start, this series really took off for me. I love music and this show does a fantastic job of infusing it into everything. Khandi Alexander needs to be nominated for something (an Emmy, a SAG Award, something) for her role as Ladonna, a struggling bar-owner with a weakness for her ex-husband and a burning need to know what happened to her incarcerated brother during Katrina. There are no weak links in casting here. John Goodman, Melissa Leo, and Clarke Peters - to name a few - have had great storylines. But maybe most importantly, this show has reopened my eyes to just how badly things were handled in New Orleans and it makes me want to visit this bowed but unbroken city. I can’t wait for season two.



Samantha Brown’s Asia, The Travel Channel

I am a huge fan of Samantha Brown and watch all the iterations of her shows – Great Weekends, Passport to Latin America, and Passport to Europe. What I’ve loved in particular about the Asia series is that Samantha is so excited to be there. I guess these trips have been a long time in coming and I can feel her wonder and excitement. I find these shows to be great vacation prep and I find Samantha to be a fun and knowledgeable guide. I like that she often takes the road less traveled and tries to have more authentic experiences. And now I have a huge list of places I’d love to visit.



So You Think You Can Dance, FOX

Season 4 will always be the high point of this series for me but I’ve enjoyed every summer airing as well. I think Cat Deeley needs to be Emmy-nominated for her hosting duties and I love it when she puts Nigel in his place. I also loved the new format - a top 10 (well 11) and the addition of the all-stars. The addition of new choreographers always excites me – even if it doesn’t work. We had a great group of kids to root for this year who danced their hearts out. I really thought Kent would take it all – those tween fans were insane – but I’m glad Lauren made a late surge to take it all. I didn’t buy tickets to this year’s tour but I did see the dancers from Season 4 perform at the Nokia. It. Was. Awesome.



Project Runway, Lifetime

I was so skeptical about the new 90-minute format and, quite frankly, I feel like there is the same amount of show with more commercials. In any case, I still love this show. I always enjoy the challenges and watching the contestants “make it work.” Tim Gunn is amazing as a mentor (I even enjoyed Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style when he was back on Bravo). My favorite part is always watching those designs walk the runway – whether they are atrocious or heavenly. This year has yielded a strong crop of designers but next season I’d like them all to stay out of the hospital. It makes me worry about how hard they are working. But I guess fashion is pain. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

Rescue Me Season 6 Finale by Sabrina A Taylor

What an odd finale. I was entertained but it really did lack the excitement that the other seasons left us with.

I really thought the finale opened up with a dream sequence. Sheila on the phone with her therapist adjusting to life after Damian’s accident and Tommy coming in acting very affectionate and familiar. It wasn’t. We learn that while Damian has survived the accident he is now bound to a wheelchair in a vegetative state. Tommy apparently has been there for Damian…and Sheila much to Janet and his daughters’ dismay. Poor Tommy I mean he is always well intentioned but it seems he just can’t juggle his priorities. It’s either work and drinking, work and cheating, work and family and at this point in time it’s work and Sheila & Damian. Colleen is celebrating her sobriety and little Katie has a dance recital and while Tommy can be there for the guys at the firehouse and for Sheila and Damian he misses Colleens XXX meeting and flakes on the recital.

Lou survived this season. I hope next season we see a leaner and meaner Lou. I can’t imagine the firehouse or Tommy without him. In tonight’s finale we learn that Sean has succeeded in getting the city to honor Pat’s death with a Pavilion in central park and of course all the guys will be present for it’s unveiling. When they get to the unveiling they learn that the Pavilion is fancy name for a public restroom. The guys are offended and it is Lou that comes up with a mischievous idea to remove the plaque with Pat’s name on it and relocate it to city hall. They pull of this caper successfully and then go and celebrate with Damian and we end the season with the guys learning that vegetative Damian is a chick magnet.

All in all the finale left a lot to be desired. It’s interesting that the writers choose to make this season’s cliffhanger Damian reaching out and grabbing Tommy in the final seconds saying “You did this to me” instead of capitalizing on the fact that Tommy found medical records at home stating that Janet is pregnant. Since the finale was supposed to occur two months after the accident…and Tommy and Janet being intimate and planning to start over we are to assume that this baby is Tommy’s and he seemed less than pleased. Also, Janet chose to avoid telling him when he asked her repeatedly if there was anything she wanted to tell him.

I can’t believe this season is gone. We were promised 22 episodes and ended up with 10. I feel like the way all the story lines built with slow solid foundations that the writers really expected to have 22 episodes to bring about resolutions and then for some reason had to bring everything to a rapid halt. Will the next season bring about a new little Gavin, is the baby Tommy’s? How much of an interesting story line would it be if the baby came out Puerto Rican like Franco? Can Tommy stay sober? Will Tommy’s support for Sheila open up doors we know were never really closed? Will Lou be able to curb his food addiction to enable him to stay on the job he can’t live without?

Rescue Me: Blackout by Sabrina A. Taylor

Man what an episode!

Tommy spends the episode fighting his demons figuratively and literally. After walking in on Janet and Franco’s almost-but-didn’t-happen indiscretion, we left Tommy last week sitting in his car and drinking that “special” bottle of whisky his Cousin Mickey and Uncle Teddy gave him. He gets a call from Colleen asking to be picked up and Tommy and Colleen decide to go on a bender together. The next thing Tommy remembers is waking up in the wreckage of what used to be his home and the guys from the firehouse calling him to let him know that Colleen is missing.

Everyone gets involved to help find Colleen and we are treated to flashes of Tommy and Colleen’s evening together which included: drinking and driving, picking up a mother and son at a bar, fighting each other on a beach and Colleen ending up missing. This episode is certainly darker than most but still had it’s moments of levity; Sean and Mike provided their usual dumb and dumber routine, Tommy finds himself wearing a woman’s thong and though Tommy remembers the mother and son combo that he and Colleen picked up as ‘hot’ they are definitely ‘not’ when he sees them in the morning light with Sheila and Lou there to witness the hilarity. Sheila was extremely helpful on the search to find Colleen but Tommy is a little bit fuzzy on remembering that her apartment was one of the stops he made during the evening finding Sheila in lingerie and Cousin Mickey in a towel. The darker side of the episode included a heated Franco wanting to rip Tommy to shreds for terrorizing Janet in his drunken stupor, Janet’s emotional breakdown worried about a missing Colleen and a rare dramatic moment from Black Shawn as Tommy losing Colleen was the final straw for him.

As much as Tommy does not deserve to win the Father Of The Year award anytime soon for going on a bender with his daughter, Cousin Mickey and Uncle Teddy reveal that they laced that special bottle of whiskey that he and Colleen shared. This, of course, is a huge factor in why Tommy can’t remember the evening and gives us even more concern for Colleen’s safety.

As evening falls, Tommy gets a flashback of the beach he and Colleen fought on and everyone descends on the beach looking for Colleen. I’m glad that they decided not to leave us with another cliffhanger after such an emotional episode. Tommy discovers Colleen on the beach and we’re left with him carrying her away.

Rescue Me: Breakout

Last week’s cliffhanger had Lou lying lifeless on the firehouse floor, and in this episode we’re reminded that it would be difficult to lose any of the crazy Rescue Me cast of characters.

Lou is going to be okay after his heart attack but is now aware of the severity of his emotional eating. With Tommy presently making a good run (a week) with no booze (except for wine) and no cigarettes it’s time for Lou’s food addiction to take center stage. Lou reveals to Tommy that he, too, had a glimpse of the afterlife when his heart stopped. Unlike Tommy’s zombie filled flaming hell, Lou’s experience is a heaven filled with a bakery, loving memories of his mother and spoons of chocolate cupcake icing. Lou shares that the feeling was so good the only painful part has been waking up from it and that his hell is living with food addiction.

Learning that the rival firehouse, the West Side Wildmen, has moved it’s cookout up the guys decide to break Lou out of the hospital so that they can move the date up of their cookout. During the breakout we are treated to Franco’s sexiness as he disguised himself as a Doctor. While in this mission Sean learns that his friend and fellow firefighter, Pat Mahoney, has suffered a relapse in his fight with cancer. This really has an affect on Sean who is still cancer free.

Damian actually scored a date with Penny from the West Side Wildmen and while the guys are leery about him “sleeping with the enemy” everyone decides that he should use the date as a recognizance mission. Not sure if a lot of information was gathered on this date but we definitely see a Romeo & Juliet’esque budding romance forming.

We meet the priest again from last episodes burning church. Peter Gallagher is a fun addition this season and his character Father Phil seems to have made a connection with Tommy. With Lou obviously seeing a ‘heaven’ Tommy goes back to the church to talk about the fact that he was definitely in hell. Father Phil tells Tommy a good place to start his good deeds to get to heaven would be with his family.

However back at Tommy’s home Janet has called Franco over to help unclog her…ahem…pipes. Franco and Janet are getting closer …a little too close… and right as Franco stops himself before anything really happens, Tommy comes home. The sexual tension in the house must have been palpable because Tommy picked up on it immediately and hurt and bewildered he storms out.

As a distressed Tommy sits in his car, he remembers the bottle of rare Irish whiskey Uncle Teddy and Cousin Mickey gave him last episode. The episode ends with a great scene as for a full 3 minutes without any dialogue we see Tommy struggle with his sobriety and then give into the Whiskey.

Rescue Me: Comeback by Sabrina A. Taylor

“Bottoms up” for Tommy has certainly never meant pouring perfectly good whisky, vodka and Gin down the drain but that’s exactly what Janet wakes up to. His new mantra is, “No more butts and no more booze.” Of course Janet is not buying any of this but starts pulling bottles of wine out of the refrigerator. Tommy immediately tells her that wine is only grape juice with a kick and booze is only hard liquor. He asks her how much wine does she think it would take for Colleen and him to either catch a buzz, Janet says she’s sure they will all soon find out and Colleen wakes up for breakfast and asks “which goes best with cheerios red or white”…and we all know the answer to that is white.

Tommy is certain that the guys at the firehouse are planning a cake and stripper filled “welcome back to work party” and calls ahead and tells Damien that he insists that there is no fanfare - just business a normal for his return. Which is what he finds. No cake and no strippers…just the guys in a contest to see who can belch most creatively. It’s Lou. A disappointed Tommy starts complaining when the station gets a call.

It’s one crazy day for the firehouse as they get 34 calls. After about the 8th call, the guys start complaining but Tommy is enjoying being back to work and says he laid in the hospital for 4 weeks dreaming of a day just like this one. Tommy loves being a firefighter again.

It’s a great episode as some of our favorite characters get a lot of airtime. There is some hilarious bickering between the two Shawns. Black Shawn is under stress being romantically involved with a Gavin and white Shawn can relate as he used to be married to Maggie and White Shawn has been struggling trying to find a charitable act to help the firehouse from being shut down and I think we all can understand why “thinking” would frustrate white Shawn. Cousin Mickey and Uncle Teddy show up to deliver a very rare expensive bottle of Irish whiskey and to let Tommy know that after the night of drinking he and Colleen had at the end of the last episode that Tommy is a lost cause and they are cutting him loose. I’m sure we’ll see what cutting Tommy loose really means in upcoming episodes.

Towards the end of the day Sheila shows up to check on how Tommy is doing convincing Damien to leave the job. While Tommy is telling her that it doesn’t look likely Damien joins them and asks to speak to Sheila alone. After a very brief conversation a very pleasant and horrifying Sheila seems eerily at peace and tells Tommy he’s been a good uncle and a good friend and he is released. Seriously…she was scary. Very confused by her demeanor Tommy tries to figure out what is exactly going on with her but is interrupted by the 35th fire call of the day.

After the last call of the day the guys surprise Tommy with a Kevlar bulletproof vest complete with a bulls eye on the front. As they celebrate Damien rushes in to tell them something is wrong with Lou and they find him not breathing on the floor of the firehouse.

Rescue Me: Changes by Sabrina A. Taylor

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Rescue Me: Legacy by Sabrina A. Taylor

It’s been nearly a year since Tommy Gavin was shot twice by his grieving Uncle Teddy. With four bullets left in his gun, Teddy held Tommy’s buddies from the firehouse and family hostage refusing to let them help but just sit and watch Tommy bleeding out on the barroom floor…and us to wonder if it was actually the end for Tommy Gavin.

As season 6 opens, we find Tommy in the back of an ambulance with Lou and Tommy’s cousin Mickey and it doesn’t look good. As Tommy flat lines, we enter into one of Tommy’s dream sequences. Tommy finds himself in firefighter purgatory. There are rows upon rows of body bags on the floor all containing firefighters that begin to awaken and stand one by one. Tommy among them awakens to a welcoming Cousin Jimmy excited to tell him of all the fallen firefighters he will see once Tommy heads towards the bright light and crosses over. Instead Tommy hesitates and ends up sliding down a shaft into hell, which for Tommy is a never ending hallway of a burning building haunted by people from his past that he was unable to save.

The guys in the firehouse are experiencing their own hell which is Chief Fienberg ripping them a new one for putting the house in jeopardy of being shut down by the Mayor by drawing negative attention to a house filled with known trouble makers as the city is facing budget cuts.

Tommy Lives! Cousin Mickey picks up Tommy, and learns he is sneaking out of the hospital early. He tells Mickey that he was bored with physical therapy but Mickey quickly discovers that he has stolen a duffle bag full of morphine as well. Tommy learns that his family has had it with his suicidal alcoholic tendencies. Mickey, pretending to swig vodka, enters the freeway going the wrong direction in an attempt to give Tommy a taste of what it feels like to witness to someone spiraling out of control. Mickey then forces Tommy to sit down with Uncle Teddy. Uncle Teddy lets Tommy know that he’d like to say he is sorry for shooting Tommy twice, but he’s not, he pulls out a handgun and let’s Tommy know that if he begins drinking and drugging again, he looks forward to shooting him gain. Teddy does, however, give Tommy a pair of cuff links with the bullets the hospital pulled from his shoulder as a parting gift and a reminder.

When Tommy finally makes it home he receives a homecoming Gavin style. Janet punches him several times in his wounded shoulder and informs him she will be residing with him until she is convinced her children are safe and that Tommy is welcome to drink at home under her watch, Katy attempts to play bartender for him, he learns that Colleen is also allowed to drink at home and is doing so liberally, and he finds out that the guys from the Firehouse have been by to help out while he was in the hospital but Janet especially appreciates the help that she’s received from Franco.

Not finding any peace at home Tommy decides to go to the Firehouse where he’s greeted happily by the guys and learns that the Firehouse might be shut down. His reunion is short lived as the Firehouse gets a call, before they leave a jealous Tommy let’s Franco know that he’d appreciate it if he didn’t stop by and ‘help’ out anymore. There is also a moment with Lou and Tommy where Lou presses Tommy to tell him the truth about what he experienced when he was medically dead. Tommy remains silent. In the peace of the firehouse he is able to close his eyes and get a little rest that is until Cousin Jimmy comes to him in a dream also wanting to know what happened to Tommy in the afterlife. Waking from his sleeping nightmare Tommy opens his eyes to find Shelia perched next to him informing him that she visited him in the hospital, contemplated about pulling the plug on his life support, but decided against it and he now owes her and what she wants is her son off the job.

Tommy now ventures to the bar where he learns that he can no longer drink for free there but he is now a patron attraction as the guy who got shot and as he earns a drink by letting bar patrons take photos with him Uncle Teddy is present to see if Tommy will in fact take a sip.

Tommy slips out of the bar, with bottle of whiskey in tow, and wanders into a cathedral where we he sits tortured wondering his fate….and finishing off the bottle of whiskey.