Saturday, April 9, 2011

Top Chef Masters, Revamped

Top Chef: Masters (season 2)Image via Wikipedia
Caught the latest season of Top Chef Masters (TCM), with the format revamped from previous seasons. It's now more like Top Chef and Top Chef: Just Desserts, where one chef is eliminated on a weekly basis with the usual Top Chef-esque challenges. 

Frankly, I didn't really find anything wrong with the old TCM format; I just thought that it was differently refreshing from the rest of the Top Chef franchise. But if they want to standardise the format, then fine.

As part of the revamp, Curtis Stone took over hosting duties from Kelly Choi (who? heh heh). I guess this is NBC Universal (who owns the Bravo)'s way of addressing the issue :P But also in line with Bravo's thing of having non-American (born) minor celebrities host their reality-competition shows. When I first heard that Curtis Stone is hosting this season of TCM, my only question was "Why?" Never mind that I liked the guy from before he was on American TV screens, but now with his judgvestor gig on America's Next Great Restaurant (also an NBC Universal thing) and between his previous shows like Surfing the Menu, My Restaurant Rules and the occasional episode of Take Home Chef, it's Curtis Stone overload for me.

Not being an American foodie, I didn't recognise most of the contestants this season - if I'm not wrong, Traci Des Jardins was a contestant back in the first season, but got the boot pretty early, so it was nice that they brought her back for a another shot at this. I'm gonna take a guess and say that these are the chefs that don't have to the time to appear as judges on Top Chef? Am I the only one that's glad Wylie Dusfrene is not back a THIRD time? Oy.

One of the things I like about the first Quickfire is to see who didn't finish in time. Crappy ingredients like marshmallow, licorice, canned corn beef were the mystery box ingredients. Three unfortunate cheftestants got disqualified for not done plating on time, which was a bit anticlimatic as they were competing in pairs and it means that the other person won by default.

Since it is TCM after all, it's only fitting that they get Restaurant Wars as their first elimination challenge - which I don't think it's that big a deal since most of them have opened restaurants before, so it wasn't terribly chaotic until service started. I think the only reason why diners preferred Leela over Mosaic was because they didn't have to wait too long to be seated. To wait too long for food is one thing, to be standing there waiting to be seated is another.

Critic-wise, the only constant since the first season is James Oseland, the guy from Saveur.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Prentiss's Departure (Spoiler)

If you've not seen this week's episode of Criminal Minds where Paget Brewster's character Emily Prentiss got written out of the show for this season, go watch it someplace and then come back. Really.
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Monday, March 14, 2011

America's Next Great Restaurant

Saw the pilot of America's Next Great Restaurant. Twenty semifinalists fly to LA to pitch their concepts to the judgvestors (I'm calling dibs on this portmanteau - it's faster than typing judges/investors) and also to cook samples from their menus for a place in the Top 10. 

The top prize is not too shabby - financial backing from the judgvestors to open restaurants in LA, New York and Minneapolis in several weeks, which is two more restaurants than usual. If the show feels familiar, it's produced by the same people behind Top Chef, except this show is on NBC and primarily hosted by Bobby Flay.
  • Didn't know the founder of Chipotle is a skinny white dude. You learn something new each day.
  • Some of the finalists' ideas are admittedly pretty stupid, so much so I totally forgot what they were even though I just saw it. Were those seriously the best ideas the producers found in the auditions?
  • They had the racist wing dude in for the drama - he wasn't going to go that far.
  • Minneapolis for the Midwestern market? Chicago would've been TOO obvious, I suppose.
  • Having the judgvestors use their own money is a great incentive for them to pick the right winner. I'm sure they won't give a damn if it wasn't their money. 
  • I didn't know Curtis Stone had money to invest in someone's restaurant :P
  • I have no idea why Curtis Stone is a judgvestor on this show. Apparently, neither does he. HAHA.
  • The Soupz lady was hilarious, and the cartoon voice helped that along its way.

I'd keep watching just because I'm such a reality show junkie.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Bieber dies... on CSI (VIDEO)

I know it happened awhile ago and the moment's over, but I cannot be the only one that was happy to watch Justin Bieber gunned down on CSI a couple of weeks back, even if it didn't happen for real (oh, the rest of us can only dream). The good news is that there are more likes than dislikes on the videos posted on YouTube, haha. 


To be fair, he was playing a baddie on the show, so he got what he deserved (on the small screen).

Two and a Half Men spoof on House (VIDEO)

It wasn't the first time I saw this before I saw this week's episode of House - I don't know if it's bad timing on their part with the Charlie Sheen meltdown, or they really intended to poke fun at that whole situation.


While I'm not a huge fan of Two and a Half Men, but a spoof starring Hilson (House + Wilson) is hilarious - the straight man (Wilson), the not-so straight man (House) and kid (in this case, Cuddy's kid Rachel), even down to House in the bowling shirt (haha). It's hard to miss.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Oscars and STAR Movies - Really?!

Watching the STAR MOVIES pre-show with Lisa S and Jason Godfrey was annoying; mostly because it's a huge time suck. The Academy Awards are already long enough without the hour-long preshow where both hosts and special guests go on about their predictions and what not. Huge waste of time.
I've been wondering why James Franco and Anne Hathaway were picked as hosts for the Oscars, cos if they wanted to "appeal to a younger audience" they might as well had Miley and Bieber host the show :P But I'm a fan of Anne Hathaway, so no real complaints from me.
  • The mandatory "host(s)-digitally-inserted-into-nominated-movies" opening is a little stale, but you didn't expect them to include Back to the Future and also Grease.
  • A lot of the winners also happened to be first-time nominees. I'd hate to be the ones that have been snubbed time and again.*coughScorsesecough*
  • Justin Timberlake announcing that he was Banksy fell flat BIG time. Wrong show to "announce" that, perhaps?
  • James Franco just seems stoned the entire show.
  • I want what Anne Hathaway was on - she was totally the total opposite of Franco.
  • I never want to see James Franco in drag ever again - who's with me?
  • When Inception was winning the technical awards like sound mixing, etc, that is when I know that they won't be winning the big one (Best Picture). But good on the people that worked on the movie that won.
  • Some hilarious and amusing acceptance speeches, F-bomb excluded.
  • Has Oprah ever presented at the Oscars?
  • Nothing against Firth and Portman for winning Best Actor and Actress, respectively.
  • The closing with the singing kids was endearing, but having the night's winners all come out carrying their statues seem a tad obnoxious and the cute moment died right there. 
  • I thought Inception might win Best Motion Picture, but I'm okay with The King's Speech too. Just as long as it's not The Social-freaking-Network.
  • What happened to the ushers that would help the ladies up the stairs in their gowns? I only noticed because Natalie Portman's baby daddy had to help her up when she won the best actress award.
I thought the Oscars wasn't too bad, it's the STARWORLD preamble that I really don't care for.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Two and a Half Men Cancelled... no shit, Sherlock :P

Two-and-a-half-menImage via WikipediaAfter all that shit Charlie Sheen has done lately; all he had to do to shut down production of Two and a Half Men was to threaten Chuck Lorre. It really was a matter of time before something like this happened; hope Jon Cryer and the kid had other stuff lined up.

Carrying on with the show without Charlie would be nearly impossible; not to mention changing the title of the show to One and a Half Men or Two Men and Surly Housekeeper wouldn't be as hilarious.

I'm not the only one that feels bad about the cast and crew who are now unemployed because of one jack ass.

I'll be surprised if the show came back for another season. If they did, maybe they could write Charlie off...

But really - meh. Never got terribly attached to the show.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Understanding TV spouses piss me off

If you've watch enough TV, you'd notice that there are some shows where one or more lead characters are married/otherwise committed to spouses/partner/significant others that are pretty understanding as to what they do for a living and are pretty much okay with their quirks and idiosyncrasies. I watch these shows with incredulity when it comes to their home life aspect, thinking "that's not for real!" - I know it's not, just bear with me.

Here's a list of characters that comes to mind:
The rare exception that I could think of would be Meredith Monroe's character Haley on Criminal Minds, who divorced from Hotch because of his job.

Friday, February 18, 2011

First Impressions of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior pilot

It's months since the back door pilot of the Criminal Minds (CM) spinoff; and finally Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (as it's now known) starts this week with a child abduction case. 

First impressions so far: 
  1. The opening narration (to explain the function and difference of this team) brings back memories of The A-Team; I wonder if it's one-off or will it be a regular feature?
  2. Theme song not as memorable (or creepy) as the original, which is just as well because I can't imagine anyone using the original CM tune for a ringtone. 
  3. Good to see some of the characters from the back door pilot made it, like the English guy.
  4. The Red Cell team is the CM version of the Five-O team (that they work outside the bureaucracy,  and answer directly to the director of the FBI, too casually dressed for their jobs, etc) with a run down gym for an office. The bad-der ass version of the original CM team, perhaps?
  5. Obviously, the only common link between the two is Kirsten Vangsness, who's character Penelope Garcia also serves as their tech analyst too. Garcia is one busy lady - I wonder if she ever get her shit mixed up? Plus she doesn't seem to be in the same office as on CM. Also very grim on this pilot and not as sassy as anyone knows the character to be.
  6. The other common feature between the two is the use of the word "unsub" - if they didn't, then no one would guess that this was the CM spinoff.
  7. Actors need a regular paycheque too - that must be what Forest Whitaker was thinking when he signed on to do the show - he kinda seems to be phoning it in.
  8. I have no comment about Janeane Garofalo in this.
  9. The case is a bit blah.
We'll see where this goes, but high hopes is what I don't have for this spinoff.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

NBC's Prime Suspect

I hate it sometimes when Americans can't seem to leave the British shows bloody well alone and make the American version of everything, like Strictly Come Dancing (Dancing with the Stars), Top Gear, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, The Office, etc etc. Word on the street is that NBC has finally found their lead for the American reboot/remake of Prime Suspect, and it's Maria Bello.

Admittedly, I've never seen the original English Prime Suspect (with Dame Helen Mirren), but I think it must be pretty bad ass simply because it's Dame Helen Mirren. Yes, I'm biased like that. I'll get back to everyone on this when I'm all caught up.

There's gonna be the usual questions, like the format of the show - is it going to be the typical "case solved in 42 minutes", or would it be closer to the format of the original, with cases shown in multiple parts?

There aren't too many crime procedural shows with a female lead, except maybe The Closer, which they've admitted was inspired a little by Prime Suspect.

Anyone else watching NBC's Prime Suspect this fall?

Friday, February 11, 2011

NCIS renewed for another season

Who was worried that NCIS wouldn't be renewed for a ninth season?

Exactly.

I'm a fan, but I wasn't exactly worried that it wouldn't be renewed. I mean, it's doing pretty well in the ratings for itself and the fandom is pretty fanatic about the show.

It was a definite shoo-in for renewal since just about everyone on the cast has renewed their contracts and there hasn't been a lot of departure news.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Save Lie to Me!!!!

Admittedly, the direction of Lie to Me is a little iffy (in my opinion) since they don't have the FBI case of the week angle or the Clara Musso arc anymore, but I'm eager to see where it's going. And since it hasn't been picked up for a back nine (leaving the current season at 13 episodes), fans are worried that it's a sign that it won't be renewed for Season 4, which is a valid concern, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm worried too, because Tim Roth is fun to watch on a weekly basis on the small screen and I can't be arsed to watch some of the films I've not already seen he's been in that he's not wearing prosthetic makeup (Hulk, Planet of the Apes) or not.

Why Lie to Me should be renewed

  1. Tim Roth - 'nuff said.
  2. I'm a Cal-lian 'shipper, so shoot me.
  3. Dr Paul Ekman (who's work the show is very loosely based on) is also a consultant and has a blog where he comments on each episode (if applicable) - worth a read if you're into these things.
  4. The father-daughter relationship is similar to the one on Castle (yes, I said it), just with more snark - LOVE IT!!
  5. Because it's not a cop and/or procedural show - it is still a drama series.
Twitter users should check out the Twitter-based petitions here and here; and if there are other petitions online, please sign them and spread the word.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Random thoughts about the Golden Globes

Apart from finding most of the Golden Globe winners a little meh, I thought it was just alright.
  • Saw some ugly dresses/outfits - yes, I'm talking about Tilda Swinton, but that's an easy target; that's like poking fun at some other badly dressed famous person.
  • Ricky Gervais's scathing opening monologue (by American standards, anyway) - makes me wonder who's gonna get the hosting gig next year, haha. Anyone noticed that his refreshment vessel was getting smaller as the evening went on? (He started with a beer mug and ended with a wine glass on the podium). Also love the rest of the hosting gig. 
  • The only people who loved Ricky Gervais's hosting was the people Gervais did not poke fun at during the show.
  • There's no way in heck that Robert Downey Jr should host an awards show, no matter how raunchy he gets doing it, like he did when he was presenting an award in the show. If that was him sober, imagine  if he wasn't :P
  • Always love the Globes, knowing that at least some of the acceptance speeches are tinged with slight inebriation (allegedly) and people would fuck up a little.
  • Call me weird, but I also like to see who the Miss/Mr Golden Globe (actor offspring; the young men and women that guide people off stage, etc) is because some of them would come to their own down the road - this year it's Gia Mantegna, daughter of Joe Mantegna.
  • How the heck is Scott Caan the only one nominated from Hawaii Five-O?
  • Yes, am a little sad that Inception didn't win anything, it got beat by The Social Network in all their nominated categories.
  • Why is Matt Bomer the only one out of White Collar presenting? Pretty boy role? If I hadn't seen the guy in a tux on the show before I'd be amazed, but I'm not.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

The Ricky Gervais Show

I'm watching episodes of HBO's The Ricky Gervais Show, which is essentially the animated, edited version of his popular podcast, The Ricky Gervais Podcast. But on premium cable.

Thankfully they're only about half an hour long, so it's not that bad - but are Americans such a visual people that you have to come up with a visual interpretation of an audio broadcast? Really? If nothing else, I like the Hanna-Barbera look of the show.

I can't be the only one that wonders how Karl (Pilkington, the show's idiot-in-residence) came to be a PRODUCER before his current infamy as Britain's most famous idiot. Well to be fair, I also know some professionals who can be pretty ditzy...

There's nothing like feeling smarter compared to Karl Pilkington.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Things I will miss about The Closer

Brenda Leigh JohnsonImage via WikipediaFirst Lie to Me doesn't get a full season, now there was an announcement that The Closer will come to an end in 2011 with its seventh season. I know I'm not the only one who reacted this way when the news first broke - but just to let you know, it's NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.............!!!

I suppose the show has come a really long way - The Closer started off with Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson who was single, new to the job and LA, hated by the subordinates to being married and respected by everyone she works with.

Ain't it odd that this came out not long after Kyra Sedgwick won that Emmy? Coincidence? It's not like they work all year round on the show, they only work six bloody months out of the year because Kyra's a New Yorker. Maybe she got tired of the show, because wanting to end the show "on a good note" is the oldest excuse in the book, but waiting for the show to go south (no pun intended) and cancelled is just that much worse.

If it has to end, I hope it goes out well; I hope she settles that beef with that rapist lawyer at least. Now I wonder if she and Fritz will have a kid.... waitaminute, by the time the show end, it would've been over 100 episodes already - won't The Closer qualify for syndication? It'll be on FOREVER...

Things I will miss about The Closer
  • Brenda's wardrobe - the candy cotton pink trenchcoat, anyone?
  • The antics of "Flovenza" - Lieutenants Provenza and Flynn - those guys crack me up
  • Her home life with Fritz and Joel the cat
  • The cat(s), dearly departed Kitty and Joel
  • Watch Fritz not wear the pants first in their relationship, then marriage... Oh Fritzy, REALLY?!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

No back nine for Lie to Me? What does it mean?

I just saw the news that Lie to Me won't be getting their back nine for the season, my heart sank a little bit.

I love watching Tim Roth on the show, not playing an American character for once. Admittedly the writing's gone in a different direction this season, but I'm still waiting for it to work out by season's end.

Then I remembered that the first season was also only 13 episodes. Hmm.

I really hope that it gets renewed in the end.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Ann is Cycle 15's Top Model, yay!

First of all, I can't believe that I still watch America's Next Top Model after all these years. I am such a sucker. So yes, I saw the Cycle 15 finale - the battle between Chelsey and Ann.

After years of watching the finalists stumble and bumble through their lines in the Cover Girl commercial shoots, they finally do the commercial shoot differently by having the girls do VOICEOVERS to the onscreen action. I bet the previous contestants must be kicking themselves right about then. I thought it took them long enough to upgrade the publication from Seventeen to Italian Vogue.

I think Ann lucked out in winning America's Next Top Model THIS cycle because the prize was Italian Vogue and she's got the look that the European market wants. If it was still Seventeen, then Chelsey wins hands down.

And yes, I'm glad Ann won - I mean, she got best photo FIVE TIMES in a row, which was unheard of until then.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Craig Ferguson - The Doctor Who themed cold open

Not too long ago, Craig Ferguson did a musical song-and-dance cold open where they made up lyrics to the Doctor Who theme song because the current Doctor Matt Smith was on the show that night. But they couldn't show it on the actual The Late Late Show broadcast then because they hadn't secured the rights to the song. Whoops.

After going on and on about it during the show, it's been hinted (not too subtly) that it will find its way online at some point. So it was just a matter of time... and HERE IT IS! Woo hoo!



They basically summed up the show for people who don't know what Doctor Who is (I know what it's about, but I can't be bothered to actually watch). As usual, I love the puppets.

Personally I'm a little meh about it because I'm just wondering why didn't all this happen when David Tennant was the Doctor.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Ish - no more Malaysians

There are no more Malaysian contestants in both Biggest Loser Asia and The Amazing Race Asia.

Makes me wonder how people from other countries feel when their country's representative(s) on either show are voted out or eliminated - do they keep watching?

I'm watching The Biggest Loser Asia just to watch the eventual destruction of the former Blue team now that they're in the individual stage of the competition. For what it's worth, the former Red Team people better not be below the yellow line if they know what's good for them.

Now that the Malaysian dudes are eliminated from The Amazing Race Asia (due to bad choice of Detour than anything else), I have no idea who to root for. An all girl team has won before and so has a Singaporean team. But it'll be interesting to see how the Singaporean chicks do in the Race.

2010 EMAs? Meh.

I know it was a little while ago, but I did watch the recent MTV EMAs (European Music Awards) that happened in Madrid, Spain.

First of all, why the hell is Eva Longoria host? She might not be as old as some of her Desperate Housewives castmates (also the only one that's childless in real life), but I wouldn't necessarily associate her with MTV. But I give the woman SOME props for going through with it.

Second - with all the American artistes and bands being nominated and winning some of the big awards, now the EMAs aren't any different from the American Music Awards or the MTV Music Awards. WTF - I watch the EMAs to see and hear European artistes perform, but I guess I should've kept my expectations low since none of my favourites actually PERFORMED.

Funniest brief gag was Ms Longoria wearing a ham costume as a "tribute" to Lady Gaga's meat dress and I mean brief - got a quick chuckle out of me, and that was it.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Sherlock

Sherlock: Season One
Saw the Steven Moffat (former Dr Who show runner) take on Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock and I enjoyed the series so far, all three episodes of it. 

The "pilot" loosely based on that first short story The Study in Scarlet but when Holmes and Watson was first introduced to one another? Quite spot on, I thought. Characters are pretty true to canon, which is a good thing.

I was laughing at the bit when Sherlock's sexuality was briefly, but also awkwardly addressed in the pilot - oh, that old debate about him and Watson. Who cares whether they were gay for each other or not?

I thought the introduction of (whom I guessed to be) Mycroft was unnecessary sinister - well okay, I thought it was Moriarty at first. Imagine my disappointment when it turned out to be Mycroft. If this Mycroft was slightly more out of shape, perhaps that mistake wouldn't have happened. I'm just saying.

I have no issues with Benedict Cumberbatch (a name you're not likely to forget once you know it) and Martin Freeman as Sherlock and John (they're on a first name basis here) respectively. The thought of Watson as a blogger tickles the mind very much, but pretty much the modern equivalent of what he did back then as a chronicler/journaler - same difference.

Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was quite a character - doing what he does without the benefits of modern technology like computers or the Internet way back when. So it was nice to see what he would do with all that in this show. I don't know about anyone else, but I like this Sherlock's wardrobe, particularly his long coat, haha. I also liked the Moriarty here as well - a young and hip one, if I may say that, haha. I also felt fooled when they brought him in earlier in the series and I didn't notice - it's practically a dead giveaway on American shows when they introduce a guest character that turned out to be the bad guy.

I hope that another series comes about soon - I can't wait to see what happened after that cliffhanger. Sherlock Holmes fans should watch this if they already haven't.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

5 Accents that Fooled Me

There are a lot of non-Americans making it on the American TV as Americans or even vice-versa. Not all of them get to keep their actual accents for their roles (eg. Jesse Spencer and Tim Roth). And no, I'm not gonna mention Hugh Laurie because it goes without saying.

1. Alex O' Loughlin (Hawaii Five-O) - I'm probably the last person on the planet that recently found out he's Australian. To be fair, I've never seen any of his previous work prior to H5O. Though it's a little odd that his American accent sounds like he's from both Boston AND New York, go figure.

It's either this or a shirtless pic of him out of the ocean ala Daniel Craig
2. Julian McMahon - Okay, I KNOW he's Australian and he still has his accent (some) on talk shows and interviews, but after years of watching him on Charmed, nip/tuck as well as the Fantastic Four movies as an asshole, I sometimes forget that he's not American.


3. James Marsters - Slap me stupid for not knowing that he's American and that his British accent on Buffy and Angel all those years ago was put on. I've been fooled all these years. Or I didn't think too much about it. Well, I was fooled all the same.


4. Owain Yeoman (The Mentalist) - Well okay, I sorta remember that he's Welsh and that his American accent's a little put on at times, but I can't knock every non-American on the show.


5. Alan Dale - The big and small screen token villain is from freaking NEW ZEALAND, which never comes to my mind whenever I watch him on TV. Well done, sir.


Any more suggestions?

Monday, October 11, 2010

An Idiot Abroad

So I saw the Sky show An Idiot Abroad, which is a pseudo documentary series about Karl Pilkington (the idiot former producer of the Ricky Gervais Podcast) visiting the new Seven Wonders of the World just because Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant wanted to make Karl uncomfortable by making him travel to these places he doesn't want to go. How they got Sky to fund this so-called "practical joke" is beyond me. At the same time, I kind of understand Karl not wanting to go in the first place.

So Karl's first stop is China, where he saw the weird street food, the toilets with no doors and the Great Wall of China. Along the way, he gets calls, voicemails and text messages from Ricky and Stephen, telling him to do certain stuff to make his life more difficult for their own (and the audience) amusement.

Karl thought he was done with the Great Wall until he gets a call from Stephen, telling him to see the WHOLE wall and so he scales the entire length of the Wall. Poor dude.

Most memorably stupid line of the episode? "It's the Alright Wall of China"

I'm not sure if I could bring myself to watch the rest of the series - based on this one episode, it could be a hilarious train wreck.

Post-JJ Criminal Minds

Saw the post-JJ episode of Criminal Minds, Remembrance of Things Past.

They totally reworked the title sequence - different mix of the tune, shuffling of cast members with Joe Mantegna get first billing and Thomas Gibson getting the "and" billing. Even the final cast photo at the end also changed.

Question: If Paget Brewster is also (eventually) getting written out, why still bother with the billing at all?

The only sign (literally) alluding to JJ's absence was Garcia taking down the name from the door. I don't think I'm the only one that's curious about who is going to be their new liaison, if they are going to address that at all.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

How the CSI fires worked out on the shows

CSI: Miami

Totally forgot that the Miami-Dade crime lab was gassed at the end of the last season, with everyone down for the count if not for Horatio. The gas attack on the lab is just a vehicle to drive Eddie Cibrian's character Jesse Cardoza out of the show. Convenient.


CSI

Writing Wendy Simms (Liz Vassey) out of the show wasn't too hard - her character left to be a field mouse in another city, leaving a devastated Hodges behind. Aww.... HAHA.


CSI: NY

Stella Bonasera in New Orleans to head her own crime lab? Convenient. Also liking Sela Ward's character so far.