Showtime, Sundays, 10 p.m. ET/PT |
DRAMA
Now in season 2, this lunging melodrama about notoriously impious Pope Alexander VI, his children and mistresses is essentially the story of a crime family costumed in red satin and Renaissance bling. Waging a ruthless war against neighboring states, the Pope leaves the dirty work to his son Cesare (Francois Arnaud), who has Botticelli curls and no scruples. Given the amount of sumptuous scenery to chew on, the acting is restrained, even if the gore and sex are not. Jeremy Irons plays Alexander with a meticulousness that's dramatically right: The Pope's chief sin is the tidy hypocrisy with which he organizes his soul into compartments for the political, the material, the erotic and the spiritual. The last is a mere olive at the banquet, but it's there.
As Keeping Up with the Kardashians returns to E! for a seventh season May 20, who could dream of keeping pace with her unique celebrity?
Last month it was revealed that E! would retain the Kardashian family's services with a deal worth a reported $40 million. But what would the K Kollective be worth without Kim? Her sisters Kourtney and Khloe and even her mom, Kris Jenner, are more vibrant personalities—but reality TV is already crowded with those. Kim is not only prettier (her heart-shaped face appears to have been airbrushed straight out of the womb) but she has virtually nothing to say. And that's key. In the Keeping Up season premiere, she discusses her failed marriage in one fleeting moment, Bambi-soft but emotionless. I don't think reticence makes her Jackie Onassis-level mysterious. It just means she never grates. Kim is rich, branded, as visibly present in our culture as a stray sequin stuck on a camera lens, but she betrays no attitude, no Lisa Vanderpump rectitude and no Paris Hilton snark. She just exists in her Teflon glory. Yes, she'll fade away someday-but I doubt it's soon.
THE DR. OZ SHOW
He reveals the winner, now fitter and $1 million richer, of Dr. Oz's Transformation Nation competition. Syndicated, May 23.
DUETS
Another reality singoff! This one is anchored by Robin Thicke (left), Jennifer Nettles, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend. ABC, May 24.
GLEE
The season ends with pomp and circumstance as McKinley High seniors-including Mercedes (Amber Riley)-graduate. FOX, May 22.
THIS SHOW HAS YOU RAISING YOUR DAUGHTERS AND MANAGING A BAND, THE OVERTONES, FROM SOUTH AFRICA. BUSY?
This is every day for me. There is always something. I don't have a manager or agent to help me. I am flying blind, through the snow in a prop plane.
DID APPEARING ON REALITY TV MAKE CLINT'S DAY?
I am not sure Clint would have been down with 12 people in the house, 8 hours a day. But when he was home and we were shooting, he was like, "Whatever." He just played golf. He was cool.
DO MANAGING SKILLS APPLY TO BEING A MOM?
No. I only get exasperated with the boys [whose breakthrough was providing music for Clint's 2009 movie Invictus], but I am ready to go in the psych ward with the girls.
TV's loneliest man is saying goodbye, probably limping down an empty hospital corridor, as FOX's House concludes its eight-season run May 21. Dr. Gregory House prided himself on his unassailable, prickly rationality, but he was tormented by an inability to connect with people and his addiction to painkillers. Hugh Laurie played him for exactly what he was: a house built on sand, defiantly sinking but secretly hoping to reach bedrock. A role to remember.
JOSHUA VAN DER BEEK
Born March 13, 2012
6 lbs. 9 oz.
After a successful breech birth, the relieved actor and wife Kimberly welcome their new baby boy at home
Fans of Dawson's Creek may recall young Dawson once helped deliver a baby in his living room. When James Van Der Beek, who starred as Dawson, witnessed his son's birth, it was even more dramatic.
At 36 weeks of pregnancy, Van Der Beek and his wife, Kimberly, discovered the baby was breech-positioned feet-first. Wary of having a C-section but unable to turn the baby via massage or acupuncture, they contacted Dr. Stuart Fischbein, an expert in breech deliveries. "I would never risk my baby's health, but if I could have a safe vaginal delivery," says Kimberly, 30, "that's what I wanted." On March 13 she successfully delivered son Joshua at the couple's home in L.A. "I helped get the arms out," says Van Der Beek, 35. "It was such a magical moment." Three hours later daughter Olivia, 19 months, met her new brother, whom Van Der Beek describes as "so mellow and sweet." Now the actor, currently lampooning himself on the new ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, says of Joshua's emotional arrival, "I wouldn't change it for anything. Having kids makes me feel complete."
