Best New Show = Studio 60

"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is smart, funny and it has kept my attention for the last two weeks now, leaving me wanting more. It’s not the only entity in my life that has succeeded in that task, but it's the only one I'm prepared to blog about!

Aaron Sorkin (think “The West Wing”) has done it again. He’s known for his hectically paced dialogue, and I can’t seem to get enough. His latest work is a take on the drama behind the humor of producing a popular, late-night comedy sketch show. And I love everything about it.

I completely forgot how funny/talented Chandler, I mean Matthew Perry, was/is. He plays a high-on-painkillers version of himself (Matt Albie), and he’s becoming quite the scene-stealer (in a great way).

Bradley Whitford (who plays Matt’s creative and comedic partner Danny Tripp) looks so comfortable acting in the Sorkin world. His energy almost makes the show feel like "The West Wing" on laughing gas. And I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that his character has a cocaine problem and I became addicted to this show 10 minutes into the pilot.

Matt and Danny have been lured back to television in order to help resurrect the program (identical to SNL) that is a flagship of the network (NBS).

Amanda Peet is undoubtedly charming as overachieving young network president Jordan McDeere.

Sarah Paulson plays Harriet Hayes, the leading lady of the sketch comedy series. Her character's Christianity is intriguing, as is the reason Matt broke up with her (she went on the 700 Club)!

Also playing crucial roles are D.L. Hughley (as Simon Stiles) and Nathan Corddry of “The Daily Show” (as Tom Jeter) as stars of the sketch show, Timothy Busfield of "thirtysomething" as their normally cool-headed director (Cal Shanley), and “Wings” alum Steven Weber (as the big network cheese Jack Rudolph).

There is a lot of good TV out there right now, and (don't worry) I’m not counting Fashion House as part of that evaluation. FH is my guilty pleasure. Studio 60 is my Emmy pick going into the third week of its season. So whatever you do, tune in on Mondays at 10 EST to NBS, I mean NBC!

Not that any of you care, but I feel the need to share the rest of my weekly television programming schedule with the world:

Mondays:
Prison Break (I started watching right after the Break!)
The Class (think Tom Ritter)
Fashion House (6 nights a week, baby!)
What About Brian (premieres 10/9 on ABC)
Weeds (MLP is having my baby!)
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip :)

Tuesdays:
Friday Night Lights (premieres 10/3 on NBC)

Wednesdays:
30 Rock (premieres 10/11 on NBC)
One Tree Hill (my Dawson’s Creek stand-in!)

Thursdays:
My Name is Earl (I love me some Jaime Pressly!)
The Office (Steve Carell is god!)
Ugly Betty (premieres 9/28 before Grey’s)
Grey’s Anatomy (LOVES it!)
Six Degrees (It needs to grow on me a bit.)

Fridays & Saturdays are off days (with the exception of FH).

Sundays:
Desperate Housewives (looking much better than season 2)
Brothers & Sisters (we'll see after I watch the pilot.)

What can I say? I am a PROUD TV whore!

It's Only Tuesday?!

WORK
The days of me going home before 6 are no more. I’m trying to make progress in this fish tank of sharks, and life is forcing me to take some initiative where my professional life is concerned. It’s time to step up and show the goods. My goods. The goods that I know I have, but that haven’t yet gotten the respect they deserve. What exactly are these goods, you might be asking? In time my friend, you won’t have to ask. You’ll just know about them. But before that happens I have to cut the cord on my current position. And soon.

PLAY
Putting all my eggs into one basket is something I rarely do. It’s just not how I roll. I roll with responsibility and respect for my heart. Or maybe I’m just safe. Too safe. I might need to find a balance between spreading my eggs like the twelve tribes of Israel covered in bubble wrap and juggling them while wearing my favorite shirt!

WORK & PLAY

Last night, work and play collided in what was a ridiculous affair. The Gnarls Barkley (think ‘Crazy’) concert at the Nokia Theatre in Hell, I mean Times Square, was part of Advertising Week here in NYC. And today I have three things to say:

1. Open Bar = Bad
2. My Boss sharing his One-Hitter = Worse
3. This morning at 6:30am = The Worst

Allegedly, I was walking around Union Square with KT. We were wearing our sunglasses at night and loving life. Now I’m forced to recover and rest up for a weekend visit from BB, my infamously gay sophomore-year-of-college roommate.

The only thing I have left to say is THANK GOD Friday is payday :)

P.S. the PSA of the day is HYDRATION IS BEST! I unofficially miss my Hydration Nazi!!!

Intense Thoughts on a Sunday Evening

When the prospect threatens your life, and it’s easy to be romanced by the promise, misread intentions can play fatal tricks on the mind.

But if you refuse to let the prospect, promise and the intentions of others control you, and don’t allow yourself to be swayed by hope that finds its way into your heart prematurely, you will be empowered to make the right choices for your future existence.

Blast From the Past…

…in a good way!

It seems like I have been inundated over the past two weeks with actors from a previous scene, characters from a former chapter, players from a different video game level. I think you get the analogy.

The surprise where these (re)connections are concerned is that they have not been accompanied by negative energy. It’s been positive all the way, and it has been a good week. The majority of that evaluation might have something to do with the fact that work is a little less crazy this week than last. But the positive energy is real. It only makes sense that these sonic booms of nostalgia have something to do with that. And not many things are as mentally agreeable as a healthy dose of nostalgia mixed with just the right amount of the good kind of newness.

Lately has been a time of making new friends, reminiscing about old ones, and acknowledging the fact that I’ve had a great run so far with some great conspirators!

With Fall thick in the air, I can’t help but look forward to the coming months. I have a good feeling about what’s in store. As the leaves begin to fall, I can only hope that what’s left after the excess falls away is worth looking at until Spring. We shall see what is revealed in the coming weeks!

Continuum: Satisfaction Guaranteed

Proceed immediately to the iTunes Music Store and pick up John Mayer’s latest, Continuum or face the consequences. If you only have 99 cents to spare, choose I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You).

Here are the lyrics (you can thank me later):

No, I'm not the man I used to be lately
See, you met me at an interesting time
And if my past is any sign of your future
You should be warned before I let you inside

Hold on to whatever you find, baby
Hold on to whatever will get you through
Hold on to whatever you find, baby
I don't trust myself with loving you

I will beg my way into your garden
And then I’ll break my way out when it rains
Just to get back to the place where I started
So I can watch you back all over again
(I don’t really understand)

Hold on to whatever you find, baby
Hold on to whatever will get you through
Hold on to whatever you find, baby
I don't trust myself with loving you

Who do you love?
Girl I see through your love
Who do you love?
Me or the thought of me?

Hold on to whatever you find, baby
Hold on to whatever will get you through
Hold on to whatever you find, baby
I don't trust myself with loving you

Big Surprise: I’ve Acquired a New Addiction

(Okay, so I lied. There is no Part Two of Two. Or maybe there was, but there isn’t anymore! Moving on.)

MyNetworkTV (don’t ask me where this channel came from) has created a monster, or rather two separate monsters right behind each other six nights a week. Both are telenovela-style serials that have me twitching for my next hit.

Fashion House is my favorite of the two guilty pleasures. Bo Derek, Morgan Fairchild, the modeling industry; need I say more?! Derek is the fabulous Maria Gianni (Versace, what?!) and Derek is her archrival. Maria’s son, Luke (the incredibly delicious Taylor Kinney), finds new meaning in his art after hooking up with the superhot Michelle (Natalie Martinez), an aspiring fashion designer who is a brand new addition to the Gianni fold.


I would call it Melrose Place on crack with a splash of Dynasty and a twist of Red Shoe Diaries. It’s good stuff.

Desire, the less intriguing of the two novelas, is about a hot guy escaping to California with his other hot brother and his clueless mother after sleeping with a mob boss’s daughter. Blowing up the family’s restaurant in Jersey wasn’t sufficient, and the mobster is set on killing the douche-bag that is Louis (Nate Haden). Meanwhile, there’s this whole love triangle including Louis, Alex (the understated, yet sexier, of the two played by Zach Silva) & Andrea, the daughter of the restaurant mogul the boys find themselves working for due to their mother’s connection with one of the restaurant managers. Yes, it’s complicated.

Let’s face it, I can’t resist a good primetime soap opera. At least not until next week when I and the rest of the free world are inundated with the new fall television season. All I have to say to my DVR is, YOU BETTER WERK!

The Summer Is Over: Emotional Detox In Progress

Part 1 ½ of 2

So, part two needs more time. Until then, enjoy the sights of New Orleans:

1. My inflight smorgasbord (There's nothing like cured meat with your vodka-ginger)!
2. How we knew it was going to be a great weekend (Our cab driver's name was Lucifer)!
3. My favorite street in the South.
4. My favorite alley in the Big Easy.
5. Insert bad joke here.
6. I'm a...

The Summer Is Over: Emotional Detox In Progress

Part 1 of 2

Returning home from Southern Decadence is like coming down off an incredible high where everything looked better, sounded better and felt better. Or not so much better, as much as different.

Recovery is always a bitch and the self-debrief can be somewhat overwhelming. All of the great memories that you’re trying to store up are mixed with the late arriving memories that you didn’t even know you had. Putting the pieces together can be a challenge, especially when you probably should just pass out and wake up twelve hours from now. But the pieces are too intriguing for you to let them lay dormant just yet.

I found myself incredibly emotional toward the city of New Orleans. The last night of our “tour”, I even proclaimed my love for it during a “tribute to the city” video montage downstairs at the Pub. It just goes to show you that you can’t control who or what you love. Further evidence of my love came while leaving the hotel for the airport. My eyes became all watery, I was a wreck. Now I know I’ve never been in a love with a man, because I’ve never felt that feeling about one before!

Here are some pics to sustain my blog addiction until Part Two arrives:

1. Me (the B-day boi)
2. Me & My Ramada Roomie (JK)
3. MS, BC & JT (the District boys)
4. The New NYC Friend (RO)
5. The Local Reunion (AR)