TVSquad

(S01E07) "You say cursed like it's a bad thing." - Darryl to Roxie

Eastwick continues to gel a little bit more with each episode, and it's fun seeing the witches discover and hone their powers.

In last night's episode, I kept thinking that none of what happens should come as any big shock to the witches. For instance, Kat shouldn't be amazed that Joanna says she can move things with her mind, because she's made the weather change, for goodness sake.

But maybe they're trying to make the women more real by not jumping into things. If something weird happened in real life, you wouldn't automatically think, "oh, I'm a witch." You'd probably think it's just a strange coincidence, or at the most, there are forces in the world we know little about.

(S01E06) "It's like you've stepped out of a 70's porno and into my life." - Roxie to Darryl

It's Halloween, and there's no better place to be than Eastwick. Unless you've got an insane pastor on your tail who's bound and determined to make you pay for your past sins (see photo above).

But first, the celebration! Everyone decorates coffins, fills them up with whatever's been bothering them this past year, brings them to the giant witch statue, and watches them burn. Sounds like a party, doesn't it?

(S01E05) "The inner animals of our citizenry will be released." - Darryl

As some of us have said on previous Eastwick reviews and comments, the show seems to be moving along at a snail's pace. But -- as some of you have also said -- that's not always a bad thing. Let things simmer. Let the plot slowly unwind itself. Let the characters evolve organically. Let's just hope it doesn't simmer too long.

But we definitely got lots of simmer with this episode, especially the scene with the red-hot Jaime Ray Newman as sultry Kat atop the piano. I kept thinking about how Darryl's blonde attorney was talking down to Kat, saying her hair was lifeless and such. There was nothing lifeless about her on that piano.

(S01E04) "No, they're boob-iful." - Penny's response when Joanna asks if her boobs are weird.

I'm reluctant to get too invested in Eastwick, because I have a feeling it might be canceled and then I'll just be ticked off. On the other hand, it's getting better, and once again, they twisted things just a little bit in the last 20 seconds of the episode.

But first, let's talk about what's going on with each of the witches:

Kat. Oy, it makes me so mad that she keeps going back to Raymond, even though he's an absolute ass. And I would NOT have fired Ivanka the tigress lawyer. Kat needs her, and I have a feeling her bird's nest plan to let the kids stay in the house and have her and Raymond take turns staying there won't work. He's too much of an ass. Why doesn't she just cast some horrible spell on him? I know ... the kids. On the flipside, it might be fun having her stay at Joanna's.

(S01E03) Eastwick is definitely getting more interesting, even though my husband came in during the last half, said he was creeped out, and promptly declared the show a "dragedy." I think that's a step up from last week when he called it "dribble" (or "drivel" - either one works).

The fact that Roxie kept seeing a dead Gus at every turn was a little creepy. Hey, all she needed to say was "I'm sorry," and he'd go away. Since "screw you" didn't work, she finally made the right call at the end, when she went with her daughter to return something of Gus's to his mom. Then Gus the ghost disappeared.

Hmmm ... I wouldn't have minded him sticking around for another episode or two; maybe Roxie could have found a way to torture him a little more for almost raping her daughter. Oh wait, he's dead, so there's that. Anyway, I'm guessing there will be more ghosts in this show.

(S01E02) About half-way into this episode of Eastwick, my husband came into the room and said, "This is mind-numbing dribble, posing as a plot." My husband never minces words, and while I'm usually the good cop in the relationship, I have to agree with him on this one. It IS mind-numbing dribble. At least, this episode was. I'm a little sad about it, too, because the show seems like it could work. Don't you think?

(S01E01) Is it bad that my favorite character on Eastwick is a supporting character? That would be the fabulous Sara Rue, who starred in Less Than Perfect from 2002 - 2006. I loved that show! She's done other stuff since then, but that's what I remember her for. in Eastwick, she plays the sideline character of Penny, a co-worker of Joanna's (Lindsay Price). Hopefully, Sara will get plenty of screen time.

Let's talk about the show. Eastwick is based on the John Updike book The Witches of Eastwick, which spawned the 1987 movie by the same name, starring Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Of note is that Veronica Cartwright, who played Felicia Alden in the movie, is playing the part of Bun Waverly in this new series. There was also a 2002 TV movie starring Marcia Cross that perhaps had three or four viewers.

(S02E10) I'm really interested to see what you guys thought of this episode, because I have to say: it didn't do it for me. I thought the last episode, although a little too Sheldon-centric for my tastes, was good. This one, however, was just sort of blah.They basically had one joke--that every time Leonard tries to talk to Stephanie about their relationship, they end up having sex--that is just repeated throughout the episode.

I really like Sara Rue in general, but she and Johnny Galecki have zero chemistry. Because of this, I found all of their scenes together really boring, and unfortunately, they made up most of the show.

What makes this multi-episode relationship between her and Leonard worse, is that her scenes with Sheldon are a lot more amusing. Big Bang Theory gets a lot of comedy out of how people deal with Sheldon, and I like her take: Be super-sweet and manipulate him for your needs.

(S02E09) Dr. Sheldon Cooper, FTW? Maybe, but this episode... eh. Not so much. While it had its funny moments, overall, I thought this was one of the weakest episodes so far. I talked last week about my fear of this devolving into a show about Sheldon and the ridiculous things he says, and that's pretty much all we got this week. Even his interactions with Penny at the beginning of the episode, which are usually the best part of any episode, felt kind of flat to me.

Sheldon's complete and utter inability to relate to people on a normal human level is where most of the comedy on BBT comes from, but it only works when it's surrounded by the rest of their characters and their own sets of awkward mannerisms. When it's just The Sheldon Show, the fact that you're watching a sitcom in which actors are paid to read funny lines becomes more glaring.

Entertainment Weekly ran an interesting online reader's poll asking, "Who deserves more fame?"

While I'm not sure I'd wish big time, privacy-destroying fame on any of my favorite performers, there are definitely some TV actors out there who are severely underrated.

Who was included on the EW list? Christopher Gorham, Ugly Betty; Allison Mack, Smallville; Sara Rue, Less Than Perfect; Nathan Fillion, Firefly; Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, Supernatural; Wendell Pierce, The Wire; David Hyde Pierce, Fraiser; Matthew Settle and Damian Lewis, Band of Brothers; the cast of Everwood; Clea DuVall and Nick Stahl, Carnivale; Mary Lynn Rajskub and Roger Cross, 24 and Tahmoh Penikett, Battlestar Galactica.

I was watching Less Than Perfect last night (yes, it's back on ABC... yes, I thought it was cancelled, too), and the first thing I noticed was that Sara Rue had lost weight. A LOT of weight. Not that this is the first time I've seen the skinny Sara (I think I saw her skinny self on an episode of Ellen or something), but I had forgotten just how much she had slimmed down since her sitcom started four years ago.

But here's the thing: I don't understand why she had to lose the weight to begin with.

Not gonna lie, I really thought this show was canceled. Apparently though, ABC actually renewed the show for a fourth season last year and then just stopped talking about. That is until yesterday when an ABC press release announcing the move of Commander in Chief to Thursdays also quietly mentioned the return of Less Than Perfect. What?!?! The season four premiere of LTP (entitled "Sex, Lies, and Office Supplies") is now scheduled to air on Tuesday April 18 at 9:30 PM. Now maybe it's just me, but isn't April a little late in the year to air a sitcom premiere?

[via Zap2It]

Now that pilot season is wrapping up, it's casting season in L.A., where mega-stars or yet-to-be-discovered actors sign on to all sorts of new shows in hopes that the networks will pick them up for the fall line-up. There are a lot of big names this time around. Check it out:

• Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal) and Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) will star in the ABC drama pilot Brothers & Sisters, a soap-style drama about adult siblings.
• Heather Locklear is in negotiations for a leading role in the ABC comedy pilot, Women of a Certain Age. Locklear would play a recently widowed woman who starts a new life with her two best friends.
• Ron Livingston (Sex and the City, Office Space) is one of two leads in a FOX drama called Primary, which is about a male and a female hostage negotiator who balance their love lives with their jobs.
• Joe Pantoliano (The Sopranos) has agreed to star in CBS' Waterfront, as the charismatic and "ethically-challenged" mayor of Providence, R.I.
• Steven Culp, previously known as Rex Van De Kamp on Desperate Housewives, will appear in the ABC drama, Traveler, about three Yale graduate students who become a national security risk when one of them frames the other two for an art museum bombing.
• Swoosie Kurtz will take on a supporting role in the CBS comedy, Play Nice, which stars Timm Sharp and Sara Rue (Less Than Perfect) as a brother and sister who run a toy company.
• Jonah Lotan, who has been playing Spenser Wolff this season on 24, will take on a role on the FOX thriller, Beyond, which is about the space race.

[Via The Hollywood Reporter]