Denis the Menace

If Denis Leary doesn't snag the Emmy this year, he already has the tape to submit in 2008 for his work in the episode "Animal" of Rescue Me.

I have been a longtime fan of Leary's, way back from his days as a stand-up and also of his films, especially The Ref. He imbues Tommy Gavin, and the series, with his dark humor, which makes the tragic events which have occurred throughout its four-season run, all the more poignant and shocking.

First of all, I loved that Tommy participated in an intervention of which he was not the person to be saved. Teddy hit it on the head when he asked if it wasn't a little hypocritical (especially since Tommy recently fell off the wagon again, unbeknownst to the rest of his family). It was also hysterical that Maggie was all for rehab and didn't have to be talked into it, thus denying Sean the opportunity to air his grievances. This scenario was tempered by Tommy later leaving his relatively nice apartment unlocked and blowing a ton of money on a dirt, dingy rat-trap of a pad, where he could continue to spiral out of control, thus putting his life in more danger.

Speaking of the danger factor, Tommy really seems to have a death wish when he runs into the burning building without following proper procedures (an occurrence that's becoming more of a habit as of late). This is contrasted with the events at Mikey's apartment. Mikey, ineptly as one would imagine, bungles his drug/alcohol induced attempts to kill himself and calls Tommy for help. Tommy brings him to the rooftop to confront him and ends up spilling his own guts about the tragedies in his life, most importantly the loss of his son Connor. This is where Leary was incandescent. After unloading his burden, he gets up and jumps off the roof, scaring the crap out of Mikey. But it was an act, for Tommy jumped onto a fire escape. All was well, until the fire escape started to pull away from the building, thus truly putting Tommy's life in jeopardy. In that moment, Tommy's survival instincts kicked in and he prayed that he wouldn't die. So for all the self-inflicted, reckless damage he brings upon himself, he really wants to be rescued. And isn't that what the show is really about?

Image courtesy of fxnetworks.com

It's a Hard Knock Life for Soaps

Once again, Entourage delivers another laugh-out-loud episode with "The Young and the Stoned", in which Eric, after a fender bender, is hired by Anna Faris to be her manager (which will be great for future episodes to see Vince and Ari finally realize just how much E does for Vince when he's not there).

The other story arc in this episode has to do with Mrs. Ari. Her former producer from The Young and the Restless wants her to reprise her role as town tramp Kendall Scott for the show's 35th anniversary (which, incidentally is March 26, 2008. Kudos for using the actual Crimson Lights' set from the CBS soap.). Ari, being Ari, says to his wife, "It's a soap opera, baby. There is no good. There's just degrees of bad."

As much as I enjoy Entourage and realize that it's just poking fun at the (erroneous) stereotype, I take exception to this comment. Granted, it's a hard reputation to live down when staple scenarios include people miraculously returning from the dead, evil twins popping up all the time and harrowing rescues from near-death situations. Just as in anything else, there's the bad end of the spectrum, but there's also a good end. Daytime really doesn't get the credit it deserves. For all the wacky storylines and models pretending to be actors, there is an entire community of people (actors, writers, directors, etc.) who do an amazing job. Don't forget, this is the only medium that has no repeats (except for maybe on Christmas Day). That means they have to put out a show 5 days a week, 52 weeks of the year. There aren't any 10 + month breaks to come up with plots or for people to go off and do other projects.

As far as on-screen talent goes, most people probably don't realize just how many of their favorite stars spent some time on soaps. By now, everyone knows that Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Kline and Julianne Moore are among the many daytime alumni. But just look at the actors currently inhabiting prime time and you'll find many soap stars. Greek's Spencer Grammer (ex-As the World Turns, daughter of Kelsey Grammer who was on Another World), Army Wives' Kim Delaney (ex-All My Children), The Closer's Kyra Sedgwick (ex-AW, married to Kevin Bacon, who is a Guiding Light alum), Saving Grace's Bailey Chase (formerly of ATWT), Damages' Ted Danson and Michael Nouri (both of whom played Tom Conway on Somerset) to name a few.

Joining that illustrious list is the newest member to Desperate Housewives, Tuc Watkins (ex-David Vickers, One Life to Live). He and Kevin Rahm (Judging Amy) will portray the show's first gay couple, Bob and Lee, respectively. Watkins should feel right at home with the other new kids on Wisteria Lane, his former OLTL co-star Nathan Fillion, Lyndsy Fonseca (ex-Y&R) and Emmy winner Dana Delany, who put in her "day"time on ATWT and Love of Life. If the aforementioned individuals just represent "degrees of bad," then what or whom qualifies as being good?

Photo courtesy of hbo.com

In the Mood for Duchovny?

After a five-year absence, David Duchovny returns to series television (albeit on cable) in Showtime's Californication, sort of male version of Sex and the City except for one guy.

In this ribald sitcom, Duchovny portrays Hank Moody, an L.A. writer transplanted from New York whose best-selling book was turned into a crappy movie and is now hip deep (in more ways than one) in a severe writer's block. To deal with his creative constipation, Hank is bedding pretty much anything with breasts (and we get the graphic visuals in this series, which is to be expected given the title). Also contributing to his terrible state of affairs is the fact that Karen (Natasha McElhone), the mother of his daughter Mia, is involved with a guy Hank doesn't like (mainly because the guy isn't him). Hank continues to spiral out of control when Karen informs him that she's getting married. He then goes on to pick up (or get picked up by) a young lady in a book store, who's reading his book. They go back to his place and have sex (during which she repeatedly punches him in the face). This brief encounter leads to a rather amusing twist at the end of the show, which I won't spoil in case you haven't seen the episode yet. I will say that it was a little disconcerting to see Madeline Zima, best known for portraying the youngest kid on the CBS sitcom The Nanny, as the young woman in question. I suppose everyone grows up (not literally before our eyes), but I digress...

I'm glad Duchovny is back on TV (although I wasn't an X-Files fan, I do appreciate his work). His wry sense of humor and somewhat dark approach to various material is well-suited to this new venture. My opinion on the show, however, is yet to be determined. Hank, like the protagonists in Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld, is basically not a great guy. None of them are ax murderers, but they're basically self-centered jerks to some degree. However, all of them, including Hank, don't really pretend to be anything else, which is human. They're flawed and fully admit it. Hank, when it comes down to it, really just wants to be back with his family and write again. But in the absence of what will truly make him happy, he goes for the quick(ie) fix. Let's see if Californication will have viewers coming back for more.

Photo courtesy of sho.com