One day after the announcement that Showtime cancelled The Borgias, now comes the news that it has renewed Nurse Jackie for season six. And this grants us the wish of seeing more from the witty and sarcastic nurse played by Edie Falco for five seasons already. This new order will also bring the show quite close to the magical number of 100 episodes and the syndication value it usually means. Continue reading
Nurse Jackie just came back and premiered its new season, and it is bringing new stuff to the table; in this case, it´s time to talk about the guest star for the next episode: None other than New York Knicks star Forward Carmelo Anthony. Probably people will freak out, since New York Knicks are right in the middle of the battle to get to the playoffs, in a tight race with Continue reading
I told you a while back that Nurse Jackie was coming back in 2012 for season four. Well, now there are some casting news for that fourth season.
Award-winning actors Aida Turturro and Joel Grey will each guest star on one episode of the upcoming season of NURSE JACKIE. This will mark a reunion for series star Edie Falco and Turturro as both starred together on the long-running hit drama series The Sopranos. Production on season four of NURSE JACKIE is currently underway in New York for a 2012 premiere. The two stars join the recently announced Rosie Perez and Bobby Cannavale as season four guest stars.
Turturro earned a SAG® Award and two Emmy® nominations for her role as Janice, Tony Soprano’s (James Gandolfini) narcissistic, manipulative sister who often found herself on the wrong side of Tony’s wife Carmela, played by Falco. On NURSE JACKIE, Turturro will guest star in one episode in a pivotal role. She has made memorable performances on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mercy, Medium and ER.
In addition, veteran stage and screen star Joel Grey will make an appearance in one episode as a patient suffering from dementia. Grey is one of only eight actors to win a Tony® and an Oscar® for playing the same role (Cabaret). He’s starred in countless films and television series, including Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy, Brothers & Sisters, Oz and Alias. Most recently he co-directed the Tony®-winning revival of The Normal Heart and is currently starring on Broadway in Anything Goes.
What do you think about Aida Turturro and Joel Grey on Nurse Jackie? Let me know in the comments section.
Also, remember to follow me on Twitter for more Nurse Jackie scoop.
You know there´s a lot of shows about doctors, and there have always been a lot. And very few focusing on nurses, or giving nurses their fair share on doctors shows. Often nurses are the one night stand for a resident doctor and things like that.
Well, folks at Nurse Tips did an excellent piece about 10 Great TV Series about nursing, that include those shows led by Nurses, or giving nurses enough playing time as to be considered part of the leading cast.
Although there are a few inaccuracies (as stating ER as a current show), the list is very much spot on, although I´d make Nurse Jackie climb a little swapping her position with Jada Pinkett Smith´s Hawthorne.
ER has generally portrayed nurses as competent, caring health workers and avoided the most obvious stereotypes
What´s not to love about the pill-popping super nurse who also is a wife, mother and ex-lover to the hospital pharmacist.
This series featured vignettes about the nursing profession at the end of each of the series’ 39 episodes.
Chief Nurse Major Margaret Houlihan (Loretta Swit) offered authority, nursing skills, and commitment to the patients’ well being, and as the show went on she grew increasingly sympathetic.
The dramatic story of Mary Benjamin (Michael Learned), a middle-aged widow who attempts to begin a new life by resuming her career as a head nurse at Grant Memorial Hospital.
Revising the nursing from a sitcom perspective.
This show follow Christina Hawthorne, a Chief Nursing Officer ready for battle on the front lines of a war against declining patient services and hospital budget cuts.
This is the first Web-based reality show that aims to recruit more nurses to address the nursing shortage. NTV provides nurses, healthcare professionals and consumers with an in-depth look at the real-life medical drama of a profession where every second counts.
This Australian show followed the life of Helen Tremain (Susie Porter), the Remote Area Nurse, charged with providing medical services to the remote Torres Strait Islanders community.
Megan Roberts, the titular district nurse fighting to improve living conditions for the people living in a poverty-stricken mining town, Pencwm, in South Wales during the late 1920s.
What do you think about these Nurses on TV? let me know in the comments section. Also, remember to follow me on Twitter for more TV Lists.
As the ying to the yang, the same day as Showtime cancelled United States of Tara in its third season, Showtime renewed Nurse Jackie for a fourth season.
Edie Falco is always on the top of her game in the show that averaged three quarters of a million viewers in its third run, and got a lot of praise for its undoubtful good quality.
Well, Showtime renewed Nurse Jackie making sure there will be a new run of our favourite nurse.
Showtime has usually good solid shows, so what will be paired up next season when United States of Tara is gone, we are very intiruged and looking forward to, but for another season, Nurse Jackie is safe, and hoping to keep building on it. My hopes are to see it come closer to its first season, don´t know about you.
Nurse Jackie gets renewed by Showtime and we´ll see season four probably in 2012 although no dates were announced yet.
What do you think about this? Are you happy Showtime renewed Nurse Jackie for a fourth season? Let me know in the comments section.
Also, remember you can follow me on Twitter for more renewed as Nurse Jackie Show news.
Last week we listed the must watches for the week. This week we are doing the same.
Let´s see what are the must watch shows for Week of March 28 through April 2
In the season opener, “Who Do You Trust,” summer vacation is over and everyone is back at school and dealing with relationships that are becoming increasingly complicated. Amy has decided she would like to take her relationship to the next level with Ricky. Ricky, meanwhile, returns to his apartment after an anxious day at the clinic to find his birth mom out of prison and looking for a place to stay. And Adrian and Ben are excited and anxious to find out if they’re having a boy or a girl. Beverley Mitchell (“7th Heaven”) guest stars as the new guidance counselor, Katelyn O’Malley, and one of her first visits is from Ashley, who decides she wants to be home schooled.
Before a three week hiatus until next original episode of Castle, we get to see te episode named Law & Murder, where during the high-profile trial of a murdered socialite, a juror suddenly tumbles out of the jury box — dead! When Castle & Beckett learn the juror was poisoned, their investigation soon uncovers that this seemingly innocent juror may not have been so innocent after all.
After all I named Stana Katic second in my Top TV leading ladies ranking, how can I not recommend this episode!
Nurse Jackie is back this monday, that makes a must watch moment. Jackie’s marriage is strained, as is her relationship with O’Hara after the intervention; Akalitus warns the staff that nearby hospitals have closed down, straining the staff and resources; Zoey publicly confesses her affair with Lenny.
Also, Edie Falco is fifth in our Top 20 Leading ladies ranking.
Showtime will definitely be on tonight. In the start of a new season, Tara wants to earn her college degree; Kate tries to plan the next phase of her life.
Another one of our Top Ten leading ladies is Julianna Margulies. This week on The Good Wife the firm sues a convicted murderer who is making money from a song he wrote about his crime.
This one is not on anyone´s must watch list, I´m sure, but the show is gaining each week on me and in this episode, when Roman becomes Alice’s assistant, he surpasses her expectations; Alonzo makes a confession.
It will be interesting to see a capable Roman.
In this week the finalists will sing songs from Elton John, and I get another shot at proving my theory about Twitter predicting American Idol results.
A round-table discussion on the state of college sports in America. Winner of 21 Sports Emmys in 15 years, HBO’s real sports with Bryant Gumbel departs from its traditional format to present a special hour-long edition dedicated to the state of college sports in America. Presented three days before the men’s NCAA Final Four tip off in Houston, the show will present an entertaining and substantive dialogue on the current state of big-time athletics in college sports, addressing hot-button issues and offering practical solutions to current problems.
I also did a special coverage and sneak peeks of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
The Big Bang Theory is back with a new original, where the guys try to figure out who hacked Sheldon’s online-game account.
The best reality TV Show these days in terms of educational content. You watch, you learn, and also you take things for your entrepreneur self to use in your life and business. In this episode, children seek an investor for their idea; the sharks fight for a piece of a furniture business.
Breakout Kings is the best new show so far in 2011 (Ok, so Borgias and Camelot and The Killing are yet to premiere). So by this week, it´s the best new show on TV and you need to start watching it.
In this episode a woman convicted of stabbing her husband 48 times escapes on a school bus.
And by the way… the other shows I mentioned haven´t premiered yet and still have to deliver according to expectations. Breakout Kings did it and even surpassed them by a lot.
Ok, I said Breakout Kings is the best new show, right? Well here´s one coming to challenge it for that title, and it certainly has what it takes.
I had the chance to watch the premiere of Camelot and did some spoilery review. STARZ will present the original series premiere of “Camelot” on Friday, April 1st with two hour-long episodes airing back to back beginning at 10PM ET/PT; the one-hour, 10-part series will then air weekly on Fridays at 10pm et/pt. Featuring a talented ensemble cast including Joseph Fiennes reimagining the iconic role of Merlin, Jamie Campbell Bower as the young and reckless Arthur, and Eva Green in her television debut as the darkly powerful Morgan, the character-driven series also features Tamsin Egerton (Guinevere), Claire Forlani (Igraine) and Peter Mooney (Kay).
One of the other much anticipated premieres. Showtime will air the premiere of The Borgias starring Jeremy Irons. As if that was not enough Emmanuelle Chriqui to play a guest star role, a little later the show announced Colm Feore will play Cardinal Della Rovere. Joanne Whalley is cast as Vanozza Dei Cattanei in The Borgias and Holliday Grainger joins as Lucrezia Borgia and Lotte Verbeek as Guilia Farnese.
Tune in to the 2-hour premiere of THE BORGIAS on SHOWTIME, Sunday, April 3rd at 9PM ET/PT. Following the premiere, new episodes will air on Sundays at 10 PM ET/PT.
What do you think about this week´s must watch? Will you watch them? Let me know.
Also, remember to follow me on Twitter for more Must Watch TV Scoop.
Ok, this one is going to be hard as hell!
First of all, what do one consider a leading lady? Does Emily Deschanel count as the leading lady on Bones? Or is it a leading duo with Boreanaz?
Well, what I did was to take her into consideration, as well as other ladies in the same situation. but I did not count anyone in bigger ensembles as Modern Family, Glee or How I Met Your Mother, where, let´s face it, there´s a big pool of talent and beauty.
There´s also the “how you rank” them factor. Is it because of the character? Is it because of beauty? Is it because of talent? Is it because of what?
Well, I did no algorithm, but ranked them as I wanted to. Therefore you can debate all you want to in the comments section.
Let´s see who made the cut
Every second of Betty White on TV is pure magic. She proved it when she hosted the best Saturday Night Live of the last few years, and she proves it every week when headlining Hot in Cleveland. The first original from TV Land, and while one might argue the show is an ensemble cast (and a great cast while we are at it), it´s Betty White´s show, hands down.
She is the number one for sure. Good thing is that Hot in Cleveland just got renewed for a third season by TV Land, and we´ll see more Elka Ostrovsky next season.
She has the very big role of being Beckett, the soon to be soulmate of Richard Castle, Nathan Fillion himself, one of the best leading actors any show could hope to get. And she does an excellent job both in the chemistry department as in those action packed scenes.
Stana Katic is one of the most beautiful actresses on television right now, and she is able to deliver a great character week in and week out. She manages to have us rooting for Beckett, and she can get us to laugh on par as what Fillion does (and that´s not easy)
You can also follow Stana Katic on Twitter where she connects on a regular basis with fans and other celebs, earning her even more points.
You can watch Stana Katic on Castle Mondays nights on ABC.
Sure, she has Alex Baldwin playing Jack Donaghy and that sure helps any sitcom. But she is the everything on that show, and although Tracy Morgan playing Tracy Jordan, Jane Krakowski playing Jenna Maroney, and the rest of the cast makes the case for biggest and best ensemble on TV (Modern Family and Cougar Town are probably the other contenders in sitcoms), she is the bread and butter of 30 Rock and she earned all those awards she has.
You can watch Tina Fey portraying Liz Lemmon on 30 Rock every Thursday at 10 PM on NBC, and you can also check some of the best quotes from 30 rock.
How can we laugh at cancer? There´s no way to be doing that, right? Well, unless you have Laura Linney headlining a show about cancer, there´s no way to do that.
She has everything a leading lady has to have on TV: She´s a talented actress, she is believable, she is good looking, she is funny, she knows how and when to cry, she develops chemistry with an impecable as always Oliver Platt, she has an affair and still manages to have us rooting for her. Hands down one of the best shows from last year class. We are waiting anxiously for season two of The Big C already. After all, she did win a Golden Globe for her performance.
A drug-addicted nurse struggles to find a balance between the demands of her frenetic job at a New York City hospital and an array of personal dramas. She takes Oxicodin, House takes Vicodin. And that´s not the only thing in common. They both headline very good shows, and Edie Falco, as Hugh Laurie does, manage to portray their characters in a unique way that has us all rooting for them even though they are not very likable characters when you look at them.
She´s been great ever since The Sopranos and she keeps it up in Nurse Jackie, a show we are waiting for its second season to start.
Julianna Margulies is at her best in this series. Even better than her ER days, Her husband involves her in the scandal, but the story is hers. She leads the show and she does it in a very compelling fashion.
One can feel what she feels, one can understand her, take side with her, and also realize that her quest for happiness is not at all easy. We root for her, we suffer with her, we get tired with her, we get frustrated with what happens to her.
Good TV!
Yes, Fringe got renewed for a season four, and that means that we get to see more of Olivia Dunham, and the best thing about a show with an alternate universe is that we get to see twice as much Anna Torv in Fringe, we see her brunette and we see her blonde, we see her here, we see her there. Olivia Dunham square!
Fringe is a cult show, with soon to have a fourth season, and also, perhaps a show that can reach the 100 episodes threshold that divides regular shows, from network classics. Fringe is nearing, Anna Torv is a big reason why.
Yes, being among such a great huge cast hurts her chances to be higher in this scale, but she proved she has great comedic chops; and broke the Friends curse, even kickstarting a comeback that Matt Leblanc and Matthew Perry both got too.
She plays a very good role in a very good sitcom that fortunately wandered away from its original concept. If you caught the first couple of episodes, when Cougar Town was actually about Cox being a Cougar, you would have probably left soon. Luckily, the show took a turn for the best and entered the pack: Christa Miller, Busy Philipps, Ian Gomez, Brian Van Holt, Josh Hopkins and Dan Byrd are the stars on a show whose center is Jules. Brilliant show… with a bad title… a very very bad title.
Sure it helps her chances being in Showtime. A network that pushes the envelop. She plays a suburban mother who takes good care of her family… and by the way, she´s a weed dealer.
In the same lane as Michael C Hall´s Dexter, she makes a criminal likeable, and that´s something not easy to do.
She has also some other things going on for her as to make the cut into the top ten… she´s beautiful, she´s talented, she can go from the sweet and innocent to the hardass in a matter of seconds. Oh, and those big eyes surely help too.
Ok, let´s see. First of all, Sarah Shahi is breathtakingly beautiful.
Second of all, she plays a character very compelling (After all, USA Network is about characters, right?).
Then, add up that she whistles, she yells, she cries, she laughs, and she does all that wholeheartedly.
Fairly Legal is one of the best new legal dramas, and it´s just a matter of time before USA announces the renewal for it. Deservedly so I might add.
In case you´ve missed Fairly Legal, give it a try, you´ll like the show very much.
Ok, this is the first part, the top ten leading ladies in TV Scripted. This article is about the top 20, so the next week I´ll post the second part.
Who are still in the mix to get there? You can check out Top 20 leading ladies part two here.
Let´s see:
What did you think about the top ten leading ladies of Scripted TV? How about the ones pending? Who should make the cut?
Let me know in the comments section.
Also, remember to follow me on Twitter for more of these lists.
Nurse Jackie is an upcoming dark comedy series set to premiere June 8, 2009 on Showtime.
The series stars Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winner Edie Falco as title character Jackie Peyton, a “flawed” emergency room nurse in a New York City hospital. For Jackie, “Every day is a high wire act of juggling patients, doctors, fellow nurses and her own indiscretions.” Showtime says the half-hour series “is at turns wicked, heartbreaking and funny.”
Yesterday Pilot of Nurse Jackie aired. Will it be a success or not?
Sirens and a white tunnel of light lead to cheery music and a panning shot of a bathroom and Jackie laying on the floor, quoting T.S. Eliot in a voice over. She’s awake, but upset she’s only got one pill left for her bad back. Fancy graphics show the 16 grains of pill goodness bouncing out of the pill into a line. Just enough to get her bad back up and running, she says before she snorts a line.
Jackie attends to a man in the ER as Dr. Cooper hangs up his Bluetooth and shoves her aside. Jackie checks the patient’s eyes and tells the doctor he needs a brain scan. She’s sure he has a bleed on his brain, but the arrogant doctor brushes her off.
Cut to Jackie turning off his machines. Acute subdural hematoma. A 27-year-old bike messenger she tells the transplant team. Then she hangs up and forges his signature on his license for organ donation, telling him he should not have died but he won’t die in vain.
She meets with his mother and oafish brothers, who are only worried about his $3,000 bike.
Jackie walks in to talk to Dr. Cooper, acting all excited and confident. She tells him to stay the f— out of her way. She chews him out for not listening to her and letting the messenger die. Then Cooper randomly grabs her boob. “Is this happening, not happening? I can’t tell,” she says. He babbles something about having a problem with involuntary sexual touching when he’s nervous, like groping Tourette’s.
She leaves, in a daze and hides from the hospital administrator. She meets a new nursing student, Zoey, who is wearing bunny rabbit scrubs.
Mrs. Akaltuis catches up with her and harangues her about adhering to hospital guidelines about overtime before asking her to work a double on Monday.
Jackie gets to know Zoey, whose mouth has no off switch. She likes quiet people. “Quiet and mean, those are my people,” Jackie says.
A doctor, Eddie, gets Zoey to wheel a cart of chemo meds up to the fourth floor. This gives Jackie and the doctor a moment alone to go at it against the table. Halfway through she stops, creaming about pain in her back. They stop and go to a cot nearby where they can lay for the six minutes she has. He offers her something for her back. She turns him down, but then takes him up for some Oxycodone. They get a moment of silence before a code is called.
More grams of Oxy go up a straw.
Jackie attends to young woman who’s bleeding severely. She’s saying the guy looked nice and asking why he had to cut her so bad. Then she shows what she has in her hand – his ear. “Good girl,” Jackie says. She hands it to a stunned Zoey, telling her to put it on ice and also, puke away from the ear.
Jackie sits with her friend, Dr. Elenor O’Hara. Neither reacts when a screaming woman is wheeled by. They need food. They go to lunch. She tells Elenor about Cooper squeezing her boob. Elenor says Jackie is the only sane one there. As she goes on about Jackie’s dedication to the job they both notice and ignore a woman choking at a nearby table. Then Jackie gets up calmly and helps the woman.
A guy who put a firecracker up his butt comes into the ER. He’s totally loaded. Jackie guesses what he’s on and says she doesn’t drink. “I like to have a clear head,” she says. Zoey asks permission to snap a picture of the guy’s blown bits as a cautionary tale to her little brother.
Mo-mo the nurse comes for Jackie. The bike messenger’s girlfriend Beth wants to talk to her. She didn’t know about him being an organ donor. She tells the girl, who is pregnant, that she’s “deeply sorry” but his body will save lives. Beth pauses a minute then asks for his heart. Or a kidney. She wants to sell one. Doesn’t he owe her that? She starts crying. She asks what she’s supposed to do. She can’t even pay for a cab home. Jackie hugs her and pats her head.
More grams fall and go up the straw into Jackie’s nose.
Jackie sees a man holding his bandaged head in the lobby. A cop tells her he’s the one who slashed the woman but he’s with the Libyan Embassy and has immunity. He only came back for his ear. As she tends to him in an exam room, Jackie tells him the prostitute he cut needed 200 stitches and he says she liked it. Jackie hangs up his jacket and bank roll and leaves for a moment.
In the bathroom, she picks up his ear and says into clearly: “F— you” and then she flushes it.
Jackie and Mo Mo lounge on the hospital church pews. They try to figure out what would have gone with John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Cole slaw. No, mac and cheese. She tells Mo mo she knew about the bike messenger’s bleed and waits for him to say she did all she could. He asks if that’s what she wants. Her silence implies it’s not necessary.
Jackie sends Zoey home. Zoey thinks Jackie is a saint. As Zoey leaves, Jackie changes a patient’s IV. When there’s an urgent beeping noise she realizes she made a mistake. She tells the comatose person she almost killed them. She kisses their forehead.
Jackie walks the halls, seeing Beth sleeping in the waiting room. She takes the fat bankroll from the Libyan’s jacket and leaves it in Beth’s hands.
Outside, Eddie asks if she wants to come over. Not tonight, she says. He brought her something for her back. A Dr. Pepper, Moon Pie and a pill packet. They say “I love yous” and leave.
Standing at the corner, a guy on a bicycle pulls up next to Jackie. She tells him to be careful. He says F you. So, while he’s looking away, she slashes his tire before he can ride off.
Jackie walks home, musing about Augustine the Saint who knew there was good in him, but not all good. “Make me good, God, but not yet,” she says. She comes home to two young daughters, happy to see her. She walks into the kitchen, slipping a ring from her pocket onto her ring finger. A man waits in the kitchen. He made pancakes for dinner.
“It bears repeating,” says the voice over, “make me good, God, but not yet.”