Diary of an adult runaway

And he's back!

The best character on TV:

God how I love me some Ari Gold. Especially mid-fit. IRL, no doubt I'd want to kill him. But ohhh, what a wonderful character.

So, Entourage, Californication and Dexter return. All I need now is Rescue Me and life would be complete.

What I did this summer (not that we had one, mind you)

Because I'm sure you care, here are my reviews of the (too much) TV I've watched in the past few months, when it was about all I could do. (Great excuse, huh? Yep, I thought so, too.)

Extreme Makeover Home Edition~so not only do we get feel-good TV with great designer tips, but we get to see people making a difference in their community. Yes, I know they go for the tears, but how could you not well up with this week's episode, with that sweet, courageous Boey buying toys for other kids on the oncology ward because she knows what it feels like. I'm so happy to read on her site that she's doing well.

Californication~My weekly dose of naughtiness, I just adore it. I read that about 400 people called Network 10 in Melbourne to complain about the puking-on-the-painting scene in the 2nd episode. WTF?? What happened to the Australian sense of humor? That scene made Kurt and me laugh so much, we had to watch it again immediately. Isallgood, Duchovny.

Chuck~Meh

Journeyman~interesting concept, well acted, great shots of San Francisco, I'm there.

ER~seriously close to giving up. Stanley Tucci is an excellent actor but there's no one I care about anymore. Maybe if/when Luka returns...In the meantime, bring back Carter!!!

Entourage~last episode needed more Ari. You can never have enough Ari Gold, just remember that. I need him to be throwing fits so I feel normal.

Rock of Life~I don't find Bret Michaels attractive (though he seems like an ok guy, if not a little stupid for drinking so much when he has diabetes), I think there's something (a lot!) intrinsically self-degrading about "reality" dating shows, but I admit to being hooked because I wanted to see that insane trainwreck Lacey get her dues. I think she was kept in on purpose because the producers knew how much everyone hated her and tuned in just to see if she'd get kicked out. And hey, how bad of a sore loser is that Heather? Loved Jes and her pink hair.

Life~sucked. But I think part of that is coz I last saw that guy getting his ass kicked by Redford in An Unfinished Life, so I wasn't sympathetic anyway (Yeah, I know)

The Two Coreys~um...what was the point?

Bionic Woman~Annoying & boring

Weeds~Still loving it, especially Kevin Nealon.

Dexter~More, more, hurry up!

Private Practice~no Mere-death, no George, (no Mark, sob) plenty of Addison, plus Tim Daly. Score!

Tell Me You Love Me~I really, really liked this when it started, esp. because it's written and directed by women, and it's cool to see older people with a normal sex life. But I'm giving it one more week because the lack of any humor is depressing. These people must have something funny in their lives at some stage.

Cane~not even the luscious Jimmy Smits is worth this Die-nasty in the fields

Dirty Sexy Money~Donald Sutherland and Peter Krause are solid, but the rest of the cast...I don't really care

Lipstick Jungle~another lot of characters I don't really care about

Damages~yet another lot I don't care about, although the intrigue is intriguing

(Note to TV people: can we have a show set in the wonderful NYC that's not about nasty, vapid rich people? Denis Leary's done a great job, surely someone else out there can do it.)

House~Hmmm. Maybe my perspective has changed since my surgery but seeing how House makes willy-nilly decisions that put his patients through pain just isn't appealing to me anymore. The character doesn't seem to be going anywhere, the Cuddy sub-plot has just been dropped. He gets a few more airings from me, then if things don't turn around, I'm dropping him. Shame.

Tim Gunn's Guide To Style~Love a good makeover show, though sometimes this one makes the women look homogenous. And that super-model sidekick, the one I've never heard of? Half the time I'm cringing over what she's wearing, or her hair or makeup.

Flipping Out~loved it. Loved the houses, thought they were all crazy codependents, understood Jeff's obsessions (though I wanted to smack him more than a few times.) Kurt thinks he's just a nasty poof, but I think there's more to it. I want a second season, if they haven't all killed each other by then.

Brothers & Sisters~is it me, or has Rob Lowe had work done over the summer? Whatever, I don't care, I love him. And what is it about Sally Field that, whenever she cries, I cry? She just has to tear up and my throat gets tight. Anyone else think Tommy and the new office manager are going to get it on?

Australian Idol~Up until this week, I would have said please spare me and get rid of that Taraisi, but she actually did something worthwhile this week. More often than not, though, I find the judges more interesting than the contestants.

Summer Heights High~great Australian comedy! Last week when I was feeling absolutely rotten, I watched an episode of this and just laughed my way straight out of the blues. I know these characters, I went to school with some of them (most notably Jonah, I knew plenty of "Fuck you, miss!" guys). I heard "Ja'mie" on Nova FM a few years back and thought she couldn't be for real, but what if she was, Chris Lilley is that good. I watched We Can Be Heroes, too~more gold. Download some SHH for yourself to see what I mean (free download, direct from ABC) or check some out below (warning: not for the politically correct):

Yet again, I must save the highest of praise for Rescue Me. Season 4 was my favorite to date. It's still funny as hell, the guys are still guys, it's still surprising, sometimes shocking, and yet there's the chance (gasp!) that Tommy might be growing up. I absolutely love that crazy bitch Sheila and that stroppy bitch Maggie. The finalé was pure gold, making me laugh then leaving me in tears. Franco setting up his ex, Sheila sobbing into the bunker jacket, Tommy holding his dad~TV doesn't get any better than this.

And that, is that!

You know a show is good when...

you finish watching it and immediately watch it again. (And all their computers are Macs and they've got some great 70s music in the soundtrack.) Yes, I know this is a show about Vinnie Chase's entourage, but for me it's the Ari Gold Show and it didn't get much better than this week, with Mrs. Gold (aka "baby," "honey," and "my wife"--I doubt we'll ever learn her name) going back for a guest spot on Y&R as the town slut after 14 years away and Ari getting all possessive. Best lines:

Mrs. Ari: Tell me that it's exciting and that if I did it, I'd be good.
Ari: It's a soap opera, baby, there is no good. There's just degrees of bad.
Mrs. Ari: Well then, tell me that I would be pretty, as pretty as the day I left the show.
Ari: Well, you left the show when you were 25 and now they shoot everything in High-Def.

Ari: We agreed to suffer through monogamy together.

Ari: Baby, you're 30 minutes away from getting it on with a 19-year-old Latin bullfighter, and I pass on hot pieces of ass that throw themselves at me all day every day without so much of a cupping of an ass-cheek.

Ari demonstrates the non-ass-cupping to an unimpressed Mrs. Gold:

I love how Mrs. Ari completely gets him and always gets the better of him. From Season 3 (with a perfect last-minute eyebrow raise):

And some classic Ari & Lloyd:

Only 3 more episodes until it goes on hiatus. I'll be in mourning.

What a difference a cane makes

So, it's been an interesting week (thanks for the good wishes and the telephone calls--I'm feeling beaucoup du love :-) ). Went back to work yesterday and finally got some walking canes that are doing the trick, because right now I can't put any weight on my knee. I'm really, really surprised and humbled by how nice total strangers have been, offering help. I know I've said Parisians live in a cone of blindness, but (shh, don't tell anyone!) I've been proven dead wrong.

Anyway! Enough of that because I want to talk about my new discovery. I know Amra's been grooving on Entourage for a while, so I took being last week as the perfect opportunity. IOW, I OD'd on Seasons 1-3 and I'm thinking of getting a "What would Ari do?" tattoo on my ass, because I fucken LOVE that guy! Sure, in real life I'd want to kill him but I admire that he never gives up, never gives in, always has the last word, and says whatever the hell he wants. I enjoy it even more on the rare occasions that he's stymied and you can see him trying to figure out how to get what he wants. It's a lovely moment when Ari Gold is speechless. Loved Jeremy Piven in The Larry Sanders Show and Smokin' Aces but he completely shines in this. And let's hear it for Kevin Dillon. I keep laughing at that perpetually confused look on his face. Oh, and Rex Lee (Lloyd)? Perfect! Especially when he yelled at Ari "Fuck you!....sorry, reflex." Genius, genius writing. I think I need me one of these:

And a completely different kind of show, but very funny, too. I watched the pre-air of Aliens in America (did you check that one out, Anna?), about a midwestern family who want an exchange student to make their geeky son cool and who should lob up but a sweetly sincere Pakistani who praises Allah for his good fortune. Much gentler than Entourage, but the pilot did a good job of taking gentle jabs at our prejudices. I see Luke from Gilmore Girls has taken over the role of the father, though I thought the guy in the pilot was fine. Oh, well.

Funny. I read an article, I think it was on The Age's site, about how men are ruling TV, there are no great shows for and about women, and I guess, I think, maybe I should be upset about this? You know, being a (gasp!) feminist. But, um, I'm not. Sure, there are some girlie shows I liked--Gilmore Girls, though sometimes that Lorelei... (sorry, Keris <g>) and...I don't know, can't think of any more. So what does it say that my favorite shows are mainly guy shows? Rescue Me (ohmigod OHMIGOD OHMIGOD TOMMY!!!!!!!! PUT THE BABY DOWN AND BACK AWAY!!!!!!!!) (Seriously, if the ending of episode 3 this season was shocking, episode 7 ratcheted up that tension to a level that had my heart pounding. Who said TV was relaxing?), Entourage, Californication, Dexter. There are some great female characters in all those shows, but not the leads. And the latest shows I've watched with female leads haven't grabbed me. What is it? Is it a double-standard, that women are supposed to be likeable, whereas Ari is a total asshole and Dexter kills people and I'm like "Excellent character!" Maybe it's just because I know they are characters? Well, no, I know the chicks from Lipstick Jungle (see, can't even remember their names) and Bionic Woman are characters, but I...just don't care.

Maybe it's just that I'm more interested in what the guys are doing (roadtrip to Vegas sounds like a lot more fun than running a motion picture studio. Ohhhhhhhhh, waaaaaaaaiiiiiiit. I think I'm getting it. The chicks in Lipstick Jungle--all successful career women. High-powered jobs they're angsting about. Compare that to Dana or Barbara in Entourage. They're successful, they're just not angsting about it--they just walk in and get shit done. And Jaime in Bionic Woman (whose name I of course remember because I loved the original, though I notice they've changed the spelling from Jamie), at some stage she's going to have to save the world and honestly? CBF'd! I'd rather be on a roadtrip to Vegas. I am just.not.interested in saving the world. (And while I really like Holly Hunter's character in Saving Grace, I'm still waiting for her to get preachy. Though, from the way she flashes the neighbor, I'm probably just looking for toruble where there is none.)

So what am I missing? Are there TV shows out there with strong, funny, non-angsty female leads? None of that bloody Scully traipsing around muttering "Mulder, Mulder?" shit. FOR GOD'S SAKE, no Mere-death, either, or I'll hit you with my cane. I might just have to wait for Reaper. Ooh! success! Just found the pre-air, I'll watch it tonight. Hopefully she'll be a bit like Georgia from Dead Like Me, who had her fair share of angst but offset it with deadpan humor. Though it bothers me that the only female lead I can find who appeals to me is 18. Surely, SURELY TO GOD, there has to be a mature female LEAD who can kick ass without being a raving bitch.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Oh, and make the tabby in this pic Pumpkin and the black and white cat Kody and you'd have life at my house this past week. Wherever Pumpkin was on the bed beside me, Kody had to get. Pumpkin? Not happy.