TVSquad

When TNT's Raising The Bar first started, my first reaction was, what the hell is going on with Mark-Paul Gosselar's hair? And now they went and actually made an episode about it, where he got it cut off (that's him with the new 'do above). I bet fans of the show hated the hair and wanted it gone.

What did everyone think of this second season opener?

TNT's original dramas are kind of hit or miss for me. I'm absolutely in love with The Closer, but have zero interest in Saving Grace, despite its good reviews and Holly Hunter's Emmy nomination. It was while I was watching The Closer that I saw the ads for Raising the Bar, TNT's newest series, which premieres on Monday, September 1 at 10 pm. I've got to say, I had the same reaction when I first saw promos for Saving Grace: "meh."

I love a good lawyer show, but there was something about Raising the Bar that just struck me as bland. I really didn't know if I'd even bother checking out the premiere. However, when I got the chance to see the first three episodes, I decided to jump on it. This way I could check it out at my leisure, but more importantly, I could figure out just what the hell is going on with Mark-Paul Gosselaar's hair.

Natalia Cigliuti has joined the cast of Raising the Bar, a new legal drama from TNT. She will play public defender Roberta "Bobbi" Gilardi. Joining Cigliutti are Mark Paul Gosselaar (NYPD Blue), Gloria Reuben (ER), Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Teddy Sears (Ugly Betty), Melissa Sagemiller (Sleeper Cell), Currie Graham (Boston Legal), J. August Richards (Conviction) and Jonathan Scarfe (Into the West).

Cigliuti will co-star with Gosselaar. Her character Bobbi, a Brooklyn native, is brought in to help with the strenuous workload at the public defender's office. Gosselaar flirtatiously calls her "Bobbi from Brooklyn" and takes an interest in his new co-worker.

(S14E11) Welcome back Gloria Reuben as Jeanie Boulet.

For those of you who don't remember Jeanie, which would be those of you who jumped on the ER bandwagon from season 7 or later, Jeanie was a Physician's Assistant at County General waaaayyyy back at the beginning of the series run. Originally, she was the physical therapist for Dr. Peter Benton's mother. Eventually, she ended up sleeping with the good doctor while she was married. Then, it turned out that her husband had HIV and, lo and behold, she contracted the virus as well.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Gloria Reuben is returning to ER, and so is Noah Wyle.
• CBS is getting heat for having Rita Braver interview Lynne Cheney.
• Seth Green is going to guest star on two episodes of Grey's Anatomy.
• I first saw this on Jimmy Kimmel Live: the Star Wars trumpet girl!
• What's with the odd promos for the new TBS series Frank TV?
• Jaime Weinman analyzes The Brady Bunch as much as I do, heh.
• Check out Buddy TV's television quiz.

Of course, getting George Clooney to come back would be a dream come true for ER producers, but they are trying to bring back old favorites for the final season (probably) of the hit NBC drama.

So far, only Noah Wyle has officially signed to come back to the show. He'll be on for several episodes, and in the ER not Africa (thank God). But producers have also talked to Julianna Marguiles and Gloria Reuben about coming back, and would love to also grab Eriq LaSalle, William H. Macy, and Laura Innes.

With Rob Lowe returning to The West Wing next week (a truly great development I never thought would happen), it got me thinking: what characters from the past would I like to see come back on other shows? Here are my five:

• Will Tippin (Alias): Yeah, I know, he actually is coming back, but that doesn't mean I can't list him. It would have been good to see him more than a couple of times the past three years.
• Stephen Colbert (The Daily Show): Sure I enjoy The Colbert Report, but I miss his segments on The Daily Show. Nobody does This Week In God like he did.
  
• Any of the old ER cast: Carol, Doug, Benton, Jeanie, Susan. Hell, do a real soap opera thing and have Dr. Greene come back from the dead. Wouldn't that be wild? (And if Noah Wyle is going to do guest spots, can you at least bring him to the hospital?)
• Elliott (Will and Grace): What, did Jack forget about the fact that he had a kid? If he's not back for the finale, that would be lame.
• Andy Richter (Late Night With Conan O'Brien): There's just so much O'Brien mugging I can take, and it wasn't half as annoying when he had Richter to play off of.