TVSquad

(S01E05) What does Nadia Comenici, civil liberties, Harry Reems and bowling have in common? They were all woven into this very topical episode of Swingtown, one of the best of this summer series thus far.

The undercurrent of swinging and sex was still there, but the theme of the show was more about choice and control, who makes them and and who has it.

The Millers aren't in synch. In fact, Susan is the first to say it out loud, turning to Trina for guidance. I really like how the women on this show are becoming more real with each episode and less types. Trina is so much more than the wanton from the pilot.

After the first 15 minutes of the HBO movie Recount, I was so upset, so filled with rage that I wondered if I wanted to watch the rest of the movie. Did I want to relive the events of November 7, 2000? Did I want to watch what happened, the craziest election fiasco in the last 25 years? I was compelled to stick with it because I had lived through it and I was dying to know what I didn't know when it unfolded in real time. I thought the HBO movie might teach me something, and, in fact, it did.

For those who don't want to know what happened in Recount, I won't reveal any spoilers until after the jump. Of course, if you don't already know how the election turned out, you've either been in a coma or are woefully out of touch. Suffice to say that Recount doesn't rewrite history. The ending is exactly as it was in 2000.

(S02E12) This is an early review.

Bob Balaban plays Tom's father in this episode, and I must say he was the perfect choice. He and Tim Heidecker, who plays Tom, have the same kind of soft-spoken, halted delivery, and it seems perfectly natural they would be father and son, even if Walt doesn't seem to care much for Tom.

The episode opens at the airport with Tom waiting for his father's flight to arrive. We assume he's visiting his son, but actually it's just an eleven minute layover (which is, funny enough, also the length of the episode). Tom doesn't let his father's lack of time keep him from making a minute by minute itinerary, which includes a father/son embrace (tentative). Tom's father sells fish coolers called "Coldinizers" and he doesn't want to miss his flight, else he lose all his sales on the Eastern seaboard. Tom insists they have time to do everything on the list, however.

As I mentioned already, Tom Goes to the Mayor is returning with new episodes on June 4. Right now you can check out a couple preview clips over on YouTube. While it looks as if the show will continue with the idea of Tom coming up with not-very-good ideas and pitching them to the vacuous Mayor, based on these clips it seems the show has increased its funny dosage quite a bit, not to mention more celebrity guests. I was rather excited to see Bob Balaban, most noticeable from his roles in Christopher Guest's ensemble projects such as Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show, playing Tom's father in one clip. Oh yeah, and ignore the "June 18" at the end of the clip. The season really does start on June 4.

Thanks to Vito, who mentioned this on my other post.