CBS, April 2, 10 p.m. ET/PT |
DRAMA
This Miami trauma-hospital drama is marginally better than Three Rivers, the Pittsburgh transplant-center drama that CBS tried last season. The sunlight has a tropical glow, and the blood has a sticky, visceral sheen-this is a Jerry Bruckheimer production, after all. And Jeremy Northam is an intriguing choice to play Dr. Proctor (yes, that's his name), a surgeon who's seen combat. He doesn't overdo the gonzo shtick; if anything, he underplays the man's coolness to the point of seeming merely amused. What the show lacks is any core intelligence. In the premiere a top surgeon suffers a meltdown in the OR. He stumbles into the corridor, strips and ambles off in a daze. Not one member of his surgical team goes after him-they just stare. If you want this squad to stitch up your trauma, be my guest.
In Plain Sight
USA, March 31, 10 p.m. ET/PT |
DRAMA
Season 2 ended in a bad way as U.S. Marshal Mary Shannon took a bullet from a gang thug. But she has a Schwarzeneggerian resilience, and in the new season fights her way out of the hospital to work on a case: One of the clients she oversees in witness protection has been having a rough time making ends meet and may have gone back to a sideline of robbery. Mary McCormack's performance as Mary was good from the get-go, and it's gotten better. Her face can be a mask of formidable stoniness, but humor and vulnerability surface too. Lesley Ann Warren makes a nice contrast as her desperately fluttery mama.
Jessica Simpson's the Price of Beauty
VH1, Mondays, 10 p.m. ET/PT|
REALITY
This global exploration of cultural beauty, inner and outer, might have gained in seriousness if Jessica Simpson and her pals didn't start off the first two episodes visiting exotic luxury spas. And making jokes about the hair of the poor guy taxiing your elephant? That's where we get the phrase "Ugly American." But Simpson takes time to look at instances of beauty abused-an anorexic model in Paris, a Thai woman who ruined her pigmentation with cosmetics-and these are valuable moments.
Fringe
FOX, April 1, 9 p.m. ET/PT
SCI FI
As that swollen singing python American Idol digests its performers and starts slimming down, the paranoid fantasy Fringe returns. The April 1 episode is full of "No way!" moments and one great twist. No spoiler alert necessary: It's just that we find real feeling beneath all the sinister slithering. The show, journeying to an alternate past, explains the secret of the relationship between Peter (Joshua Jackson) and his nutty dad (John Noble). I'm so glad FOX has renewed Fringe. It's one of life's most enjoyable nightmares.
>1 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU
MON. 3/29 8 P.M.
ABC FAMILY
New season of Lindsey Shaw's cute sitcom.
2 SAVING GRACE
MON. 3/29 10 P.M.
TNT
First of the final episodes of the Holly Hunter crime drama.
3 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
TUES. 3/30 10 P.M.
USA
Jeff Goldblum, that fine oddball, is back as Detective Nichols.
4 V
TUES. 3/30 10 P.M.
ABC
Return of the show with Morris Chestnut as one very conflicted alien.
5 THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY
THURS. 4/1 10 P.M.
BRAVO
The nitpicking feud between Bethenny and Jill goes nuclear.
>• After notable turns on Third Watch, 24 and Lipstick Jungle, the actress, 43, has settled into the role of heart surgeon Teddy Altman.
TEDDY WANTED OWEN, BUT NOW SHE'S INTO ... MCSTEAMY?
Teddy's trying something; who better to be distracted by than McSteamy?
DID YOUR THIRD WATCH DAYS HELP YOU ON GREY'S?
Sometimes my instincts from Third Watch are wrong. In one scene when the ambulance came up, I'm so used to being the paramedic, I ran to help with the gurney. Sandra (Oh) was like, "No, you don't do that."
IS IT MORE FUN PLAYING DOCTOR OR FIGHTING BAD GUYS?
(Surgery scenes) are a huge adrenaline rush. But the topper is still learning to shoot a gun with Kiefer Sutherland in the desert.
>• The actor, 30, plays a drug dealer on the acclaimed AMC drama. He's also Amanda Seyfried's husband on HBO's Big Love.
DO YOU GET FEEDBACK FROM ACTUAL ADDICTS?
I've been approached numerous times by addicts or people who've been clean. They'll say, "I love your show-and it reminds me how happy I am now that I'm clean."
YOU'RE A BUSY GUY-HOW DO YOU CHILL?
I'm addicted to concerts. I try to see a show whenever I can. Radiohead is the top show I've ever seen. They are the best band.
ANY MEMORIES OF BEING BAD YOURSELF?
In fourth grade my buddy and I collected baseball cards. We went to a store and opened up packs of cards, taking out the good ones and replacing them with the ones we didn't want. The store didn't press charges, but my parents grounded me.
>1 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU
MON. 3/29 8 P.M.
ABC FAMILY
New season of Lindsey Shaw's cute sitcom.
2 SAVING GRACE
MON. 3/29 10 P.M.
TNT
First of the final episodes of the Holly Hunter crime drama.
3 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
TUES. 3/30 10 P.M.
USA
Jeff Goldblum, that fine oddball, is back as Detective Nichols.
4 V
TUES. 3/30 10 P.M.
ABC
Return of the show with Morris Chestnut as one very conflicted alien.
5 THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY
THURS. 4/1 10 P.M.
BRAVO
The nitpicking feud between Bethenny (right) and Jill goes nuclear.
>• After notable turns on Third Watch, 24 and Lipstick Jungle, the actress, 43, has settled into the role of heart surgeon Teddy Altman.
TEDDY WANTED OWEN, BUT NOW SHE'S INTO ... MCSTEAMY?
Teddy's trying something; who better to be distracted by than McSteamy?
DID YOUR THIRD WATCH DAYS HELP YOU ON GREY'S?
Sometimes my instincts from Third Watch are wrong. In one scene when the ambulance came up, I'm so used to being the paramedic, I ran to help with the gurney. Sandra [Oh] was like, "No, you don't do that."
IS IT MORE FUN PLAYING DOCTOR OR FIGHTING BAD GUYS?
[Surgery scenes] are a huge adrenaline rush. But the topper is still learning to shoot a gun with Kiefer Sutherland in the desert.
>• The actor, 30, plays a drug dealer on the acclaimed AMC drama. He's also Amanda Seyfried's husband on HBO's Big Love.
DO YOU GET FEEDBACK FROM ACTUAL ADDICTS?
I've been approached numerous times by addicts or people who've been clean. They'll say, "I love your show—and it reminds me how happy I am now that I'm clean."
YOU'RE A BUSY GUY—HOW DO YOU CHILL?
I'm addicted to concerts. I try to see a show whenever I can. Radiohead is the top show I've ever seen. They are the best band.
ANY MEMORIES OF BEING BAD YOURSELF?
In fourth grade my buddy and I collected baseball cards. We went to a store and opened up packs of cards, taking out the good ones and replacing them with the ones we didn't want. The store didn't press charges, but my parents grounded me.
