aldis hodge-related stories
Posted Aug 27th 2009 3:21PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Good news for everyone who's ever been screwed by someone in power. Not so good news for everyone in power.
TNT just picked up Leverage for a third season, and I couldn't be happier. In the first season,
Leverage worked because of the cleverness of the heists the gang got up to. I found myself trying to figure out all the angles they were working, but by the end they still managed to trick me a couple of times.
The second season saw them lose their stately headquarters and tackle these jobs in a much more street level fashion, and in several ways the show got better. At the same time, rather than the heist always taking center stage, at times it was our five characters that shone brightest.
By that I'm referring to the quirks of their individual personalities, because we haven't gotten a great deal of character development this season. The banter and camaraderie within the crew gives us some great lines and moments each week, though. Now that a third season is secured, I'd like to see the character arcs for those great personalities pick up again.
Posted Jan 30th 2009 11:02AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free, TV Squad Ten
Have you seen TNT's new show,
Leverage yet? It's been called a new age
A-Team, but I see it more as a lighthearted combination of
Ocean's 11,
Alias,
Burn Notice and even
How I Met Your Mother.
In fact, I'm willing to go out on a limb and state in no uncertain terms that
Leverage is the best new show to premiere this season. I would have given the title to
The Mentalist previous to
Leverage's premiere, but since then, it has continued to steal my heart a little more each week.
What makes
Leverage the best new show this season? In no particular order ...
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Reasons Leverage is the best new show this season
Posted Dec 10th 2008 1:35PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E02) "The world doesn't work this way." --Dr. Laroque
"Then change the world." --Nathan Ford
Oh, I really do like this show. It looks like the fine folks behind
Leverage are going to use this platform to "expose" the kinds of corporate corruption that we all know are there but may just not be able to prove. As established over the past several years, a lot of these bastards at the top of the corporate world are just as bad, if not worse, than the common street criminal. In fact, I'm going to go with worse. Tonight's target: Castleman, a company that provides a private "army" to the U.S. Government. You know, Blackwater.
In keeping with the Robin Hood concept, the idea behind this heist is to ensure that PFC Dwight Caplan can get the rehab he needs to get out and start working. The kid's not looking for a handout, just a fare shake in life. And since it was Castleman, and not insurgent fire, who took that away from him, he's looking for justice. Which is what
Leverage is all about.
Continue reading Leverage: The Home Coming Job
Posted Dec 8th 2008 12:08PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E01) Now that's what good television is all about. This slickly produced show managed to keep things light and fun in the world of high-stakes criminal espionage. It makes sense since executive producer Dean Devlin directed the pilot and slick and fancy is what he's all about. Certainly
Independence Day got by on its look and feel rather than any great plotlines or dialogue. Devlin's production company has also been behind the very successful
The Librarian series of films for TNT which are also very high on style.
Continue reading Leverage: The Nigerian Job (series premiere)
Posted Jul 9th 2008 1:40PM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, Video, Angel, Friday Night Lights, Reality-Free
I've said it before, I'm a sucker for a series that casts actors from my favorite shows. It's really all it takes to get me to watch something at least once. I suppose that means I'm going to have to give Leverage at least a three episode run. Look at that cast photo. Christian Kane from Angel, Gina Bellman from Coupling, and Aldis Hodge from Friday Night Lights. And as a bonus, Timothy Hutton. That's a pretty good start.
If that's not enough, one of the executive producers is John Rogers. TNT lists him as being from Cosby, but I remember him for writing and producing one of the best pilots that didn't go to series that I've ever seen, Global Frequency.
Continue reading TNT's Leverage teaser - VIDEOS
Posted May 18th 2007 9:20AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Supernatural, Episode Reviews
(S02E22) "Something big is going down. End of the world big."
The big season finale picked up right where we left off. Sam really is dead. As we found out later in the episode, Jake (Aldis Hodge) cut right through his spinal cord. It made for a nice scene for Jensen Ackles. We've seen time and again how focused Dean is on protecting Sam. So, in a move that surprised nobody, Dean went down to the crossroads, fell down on his knees...
Continue reading Supernatural: All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2 (season finale)
Posted May 11th 2007 10:30AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Supernatural, Episode Reviews
(S02E21) Wow. Now, THAT is how you kick off your two part season finale. The other day I wrote about part one of the
NCIS season finale. One of the problems with that one was that a large chunk of the episode was spent on just another random case. It wasn't bad, but it lacked the weight and importance that a good finale should have. Kripke and team
Supernatural do not have that problem.
As Bobby said in the opening, "A storm is comin' and you boys, you are smack in the middle of it." It's been a long wait getting to that storm, but here it is, and it looks like it is going to be a heck of a ride. Some old friends are back, along with an old enemy. There are answers to some lingering questions, and twists and turn aplenty.
Continue reading Supernatural: All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1
Posted Oct 25th 2006 7:22AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, NBC, Friday Night Lights
(S01E04) It's rivalry week as Dillon gets ready to go up against Arnett Mead. A bit of an interesting parallel there because while that will be a big game for the Panthers, the show has a big night next Monday. NBC is going to give
Friday Night Lights a run in that post Heroes slot, and a (ratings) win is just what the show needs. But enough about that, this was another good episode.
The writers continue to strike a nice balance between the four major story lines. Those being the football team, the Taylor family, Street, and Saracen. I really liked the Eric and Tami story tonight, with one little exception. We already know that Eric was Street's coach when he was younger. That kind of implies that they have been in the community for a while. How on earth could the "tradition" of the party at the coach's house have taken everyone by such surprise?
Continue reading Friday Night Lights: Who's Your Daddy?
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