Chameleons on TV
Posted on | November 27, 2008 | 7 Comments
Zeljko Ivanek — it’s a name that just rolls of the tongue. Google it so you’ll know who I mean. He’s a pasty, ghoulish looking guy who always manages to elevate whatever program he appears on. This week he was the hostage taker on House, the guy who’s so desperate to find out what’s wrong with him that he’s not afraid to shoot people to get an answer. Of course, he didn’t count on meeting up with someone as cavalier as House, which leads to one of the best episodes of the show in a while. I know there were all sorts of places where the patient could have been overpowered or outwitted, but the point of the show, as always, isn’t about the actual illness (in the end, the diseases always sound the same to me) but about how the illness reflects on the characters—in this case “Thirteen” (character’s real name: Remy Hadley) and House.
Cullen Douglas, who played Guy, the crazed maitre d’ in our adaptation of “Gotham Cafe” played a pedophile on Private Practice this week. It was a gutsy performance, as he detailed the torment that goes on inside his mind and his personal struggle against unwanted thoughts.
I liked Criminal Minds this week. Currie Graham (Balco from Raising the Bar) is another chameleon. Most of his recent parts have been characters on the sleazy side (Balco, for example) and his Viper was as sleazy as the come. He was also the lieutenant on NYPD Blue and Sela Ward’s ill husband on House. Spencer Reid had some nice moments on the show this week, with his magic tricks and the SWAK business card the bartender sent him after he came to her rescue.
Law & Order was overly convoluted this week. Started out with a ripped-from-the-headlines falling crane in NYC that led to a corruption investigation that was promptly forgotten once they found out that the widow of the accident’s victim was on life support due to “dry drowning” that was the result of an assault motivated by her opposition to a radical surgical procedure proposed by a couple to keep their brain damaged child small. Phew. Even typing that out exhausted me.
Comments
7 Responses to “Chameleons on TV”
Leave a Reply
About
Bev Vincent is the author of The Road to the Dark Tower, the Bram Stoker Award nominated companion to Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, which was nominated for a 2010 Edgar® Award and a 2009 Bram Stoker Award.
His short fiction has appeared in places like Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, From the Borderlands and The Blue Religion. He is a contributing editor with Cemetery Dance magazine and a member of the Storytellers Unplugged blogging community. He also writes book reviews for Onyx Reviews.
November 27th, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
We heard House ran late, and our PVR didn’t catch the last…8 mins or so, however long it went past the hour.
D’OH! (I can find it online, right? Haven’t had time to look.)
LOVE that show. I also pay close attention to all the medical stuff. I find it fascinating and although I know delving deeper into it would lose some viewers, I wish there was a little more detail.
November 27th, 2008 @ 12:32 pm
Yes, go to the FOX web site and you can watch it online. I had the same problem, but with Fringe, which was on immediately after House. I taped the two shows, but only for two hours. I just finished watching the end of Fringe on their site.
November 27th, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
“This episode is currently only available to viewers living in the United States.”
NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
(G tried to tape the show after it but failed to catch it on time.)
November 27th, 2008 @ 2:38 pm
After I posted, I wondered if that might be the case. Sucks.
November 27th, 2008 @ 3:25 pm
Zeljko Ivanek IS a name I love. Danvers from Homicide. Homicide…ohhh Homicide.
I remember there was one wacky weekend many years ago when three out of four movies my parents I rented had him in it.
November 27th, 2008 @ 8:04 pm
http://www.surfthechannel.com/episode/99/142960.html
You might be able to find one that works for you.
November 28th, 2008 @ 8:52 am
I’ve been rediscovering Homicide lately — it runs on the Sleuth cable channel on Sunday afternoons. What an excellent show, that stands up very well to the passage of time.