Why The Good Wife is Awesome

The Good Wife is one of the best dramas on TV right now, it's intriguing, compelling, has interesting story lines and fantastic acting. I got on board with the show about half way through the first season after my friend Nat told me how awesome it was. And when I found out Gilmore Girls' Matt Czuchry was in it I was sold. In season two former Chicago states attorney Peter Florick (Chris Noth) is out of jail after a sex scandal and running for re election. His wife Alicia Florick (the suberb Julianna Marguiles), the real heart of the show, is still working as a lawyer at Lockhart & Gardner and is not sure where she stands with her relationship with her husband. I also love Will Gardner (Josh Charles), Alicia's boss and potential love interest. They've almost gotten together several times but the timing has always been wrong. I'm hoping one day soon it will be right! And although young hot shot lawyer Cary (Matt Czuchry) was let go of Lockhart & Gardner in the first season, he's now working for Peter's competitor, current state's attorney Glenn Childs. Although there are ongoing story lines, each episode has a new case that Alicia's working on and which is usually solved by the end of the episode. I'll be watching.

The Good Wife is on Tuesdays at 10pm on CBS.

CSI - A TV Classic

Truth be told I have not watched a new episode of CSI in years, since I moved to LA in 2006. When I lived in New Zealand it was one of the few shows that my Dad, sister and I could agree on watching. I loved CSI for many years though and it happened to be a casualty on my TV schedule as there is so much good television on and although I've tried I can't watch it all. But when I heard that this season (the shows eleventh, yes eleventh!) will probably be Marg Helgenberger's last, a wave of sadness rushed over me. Helgenberger's single mum Catherine Willow's was always my favourite character, she'd had a rough past and got her life together to be a successful forensic scientist and crime scene investigator. And although other characters such as Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) and Gil Grissom (William Peterson) have left, CSI without Catherine just doesn't seem like CSI to me. But whatever happens as long as the ratings are good the show will go on! And I'm sure one day I'll catch up on the last few seasons of CSI and watch Catherine Willows kick butt!

Catch new episodes of CSI on Thursdays at 9pm on CBS and reruns on Spike. Or check out www.cbs.com

New season show - Law and Order: Los Angeles

I think I am one of the few people in America that is not a fan of the original Law and Order or Special Victims Unit (SVU). It just doesn’t really appeal to me as most SVU episodes I have seen are about horrible things happening to children which I can’t handle and I have nightmares about them for days. Last night at my friend Gretchen’s house we started watching the pilot of the newest series in the Law and Order franchise, Law and Order: Los Angeles, which was mainly interesting to all of us as we live in Los Angeles. There was a murder at the Edison! I’ve been there! They questioned people in We Ho on Sunset Blvd. I’ve been there! All the street names that flashed up on the screens I actually recognised rather than them being strange (to me) numbers like the other series have. Although the familiar ripped from the headlines story line, about teenagers robbing celebrities homes, was weak and the acting was average it was fun to see places that I was familiar with. Even if they were associated with murder. So for me the jury's still out on Law and Order: Los Angeles, although I do say that you should never base a show on it's pilot (hello Private Practice!) so maybe it can still win me over. If there aren't too many child abduction story lines.

Law and Order: Los Angeles airs Wednesdays at 10pm on NBC and reruns air on USA.

10 Reasons Why I Love Private Practice

Private Practice is my favourite drama. It might not be the most acclaimed drama on television, but I can’t get enough of it. Here’s why:
1. It’s set in Santa Monica, who doesn’t love Santa Monica? And coincidentally I almost live in Santa Monica (oh okay, two miles away) and work in Santa Monica, a mere three blocks from the Oceanside Wellness exterior. I have SO much in common with main character Addison (the fantastic Kate Walsh).
2. It’s about doctors, all of whom are beautiful and complicated. Although I’m not as beautiful and complicated as the characters on the show I do relate to them and after four seasons they kind of feel like my friends.
3. Weddings! I love weddings, what girl doesn’t? Private Practice has had two weddings in less than a season and they were both surprising and sweet.
4. No need to learn lots of new characters as the main characters all have romantic entanglements within their small group. Which is a little incestuous, but always keeps things interesting. The most controversial being new couple Addison and Sam (Taye Diggs), Sam was married to Naomi (Audra McDonald) who is Addison’s best friend!
5. They’re not afraid to kill off their main characters. No almost deaths here, fan favourite, single Dad and cutie Dell (Chris Lowell) was killed in the season three finale after complications from a car accident. And Naomi's love interest died this season from a terminal disease.
6. Addison was married to McDreamy, had an affair with McSteamy and is now with Taye Diggs’ Sam. Although I don't agree with adultery, being linked to that many hotties is pretty awesome.
7. Annual cross over episodes with Grey’s Anatomy!
8. Taye Diggs! Who does not love Taye Diggs? Seriously?
9. They tackle interesting cases such as a woman that gives her autistic child pot and a father whose baby son dies after he leaves him in the car. Provocative and tear jerking at the same time.
10. So much happens in elevators, their elevator is almost a character in the show.

Private Practice airs 10pm Thursdays on ABC or catch up at www.abc.com

Shows I Love -The Soup

The Soup is one of those shows that I can never get enough of, I have been known to watch the same episode several times. In the same weekend. Incase you haven't heard of it it's a derivative of the show Talk Soup and makes fun of anything and everything in popular culture that week. It's hosted by the funny, talented and good looking Joel McHale. Who is also on a TV comedy that I've been told to watch but haven't called Community (there's only so much time in the day!). Anyways, The Soup tackles the expected topics such as Paris and Lindsay to less common ground in their segments 'Tales from Home Shopping' and 'Gay Shows'. It even makes me want to watch clips from the hideous Dancing With the Stars, just so I can hear what hilarious comment Joel is going to make about it. My favourite was after David Hasselhoff dancing to sex bomb where Joel said something like "watching that made me never want to have sex again and to drop a bomb on David Hasselhoff". The final segment of the show is the 'Clip of the Week' which has been known to show clips from the television show I Love Toy Trains. Yes, there is actually a TV show that exists called 'I Love Toy Trains'. Who knew. Joel McHale that's who!

Catch the Soup Friday nights at 10pm on E! Or throughout the weekend on E! also.

Simon Fuller, genious; meet me, crazy Idol fan

So I want this blog to be about TV and what I love about television. But let me digress for one blog post, as tonight turned out to be an interesting night when I randomly got to meet one of my heroes, Simon Fuller, the creator of American Idol. I was at a meet and greet for the band Sons of Sylvia as my friend Steph works for their record label and Simon Fuller happened to be there. I guess this wasn't a complete coincidence as season four Idol champ Carrie Underwood was the headlining act, but I wasn't expecting to see him there. I had actually thought of what I would say to Simon Fuller if I was ever fortunate enough to meet him. And of course these thoughts flew out of my head when I saw him standing metres away from me! But I did talk to him and I thanked him for American Idol and told him that it had changed my life. We then spoke for several minutes about the upcoming season and he was a really nice guy and thanked me for my comments. And I'm so glad that I did talk to him, that's one of the many things I love about Los Angeles, you never know who you might run into!

American Idol 10 - Randy, J Lo And Steven Tyler?

I can't believe that it was almost TEN years since American Idol started. Truth be told I never got to see the first season (although I am a huge Kelly Clarkson fan), I lived in New Zealand and it didn't air there. We did however get season two and it was a top 10 ratings success. From season three onwards it didn't air during prime time, but that didn't matter to me as I was hooked. Some might say obsessed. Basically from January to May every year I live and breathe American Idol. My friend Amanda compares me and American Idol to Jimmy Fallon's character and baseball in the movie Fever Pitch. And now that I live in Los Angeles I am fortunate enough to be in the studio audience most years. It has kind of killed me how the show has been on a downward spiral since the best season (and highest rated) in season five (2006). Don't get me wrong, I love David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze and even Jordin Sparks (although I was rooting for Blake to win); but for the past few seasons they keep changing the show for the worst. And this is meant to be a blog post about season 10, so I'll save my past season's criticisms for another day...

Season 10 sees the departure of Simon Cowell, Ellen Degeneres and the one I am most sad about, Kara Dioguardi; who has proven to be an articulate and honest judge over the past two seasons. But it was announced last week that Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith) will be joining original judge Randy Jackson at the judging table. Who thought that Randy would be the last of the original judges still standing? Not me! I am happy with the decision for a three judge panel though, as three judges means more singing time for the contestants, which is what the show should be about. It may be an initial ratings boost to have stars like Jennifer and Steven at the judging table, but I hope they can stay focused on the goal of the show - to find the next singing super star. It will be hard to tell people that they suck the truth, but the show needs an honest voice of reason. And it might be J Lo? She was a highlight of Idol's worst season when she was a mentor in season six and I'm hoping she can identify and nurture real talent while being funny. Although who am I kidding? No matter what happens in season ten I'll be along for the ride!

American Idol returns to Fox in January. Exact air date hasn't been announced yet, although I'd guess it will be January 18, 2011.

Photo: Me with American Idol 2010 winner Lee DeWyze.