Saturday, November 12, 2011

Hell on Wheels, Next Iron Chef and more

Last weekend AMC premiered another new series, Hell on Wheels. It airs on Sunday night, same night as their other original series, The Walking Dead. Hell on Wheels is the name of a town, it's set post Civil War and concerns the building of the Transcontinental railroad. Colm Meaney (DS9) is determined to not only get that railroad built but to make as much money as he can in the process - no matter what the cost. Anson Mount plays Cullen Bohannan, a former Confederate soldier, who's bent on revenge against the Union soldiers that murdered his wife.  ***spoilers*****  In the first episode, we see Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs, Monk) in a role that reminded me of the one he played in Wild Wild West, General Bloodbath McGrath. Minus the ear trumpet. Alas, that's the only episode we'll see him in. Colm Meaney makes a good bad guy - ruthless, money hungry and cold - quite different from the Chief O'Brien we knew and loved on DS9. The show looks really good. The cinematography is very well done, I really enjoyed the look of it. I found the story interesting, the characters too, and I look forward to seeing more.

This episode of Next Iron Chef took us to the San Diego Padre stadium, where the chefs were told to change  up some ballpark food, utilizing ball park ingredients. Alex Guarnaschelli hit a home run with her dishes, so much so that the judges had nothing to say to her - they were perfect. Geoffrey Zakarian made great food, but they warned him he wasn't following the rules. He found himself in the bottom three but squeaked by, leaving Robert Irvine and Michael Chiarello as the bottom two who had to do the sudden death mystery basket face off. The secret ingredient, in keeping with the ball park theme, was peanuts. Unfortunately, the casualty was Chef Robert. I've come to like him on Restaurant Impossible. I was sorry to see him go. Marcus received a warning that if he continued to overcook, he would have to choose the two he wanted to represent him in future. Sarah and I think Anne Burrell has a good shot at becoming the Next Iron Chef.


I watched last night's Grimm this morning. The episode was entitled "Beeware", and concerned a flash mob murder. A guy gets on a bus carrying a duffle bag. Everyone looks nervous, especially when he opens it. But then he pulls out a boom box and "YMC A" begins to play and everyone rocks out. They all get off at the same stop - except for one woman. She's dead. This episode involves bees, and the guest star was Nana Visitor (Kira from DS9). I am really enjoying this series, and we are learning more about the mysterious blonde woman who tried to kill Nick's aunt. He is forced to protect her in this episode. I really like his wolfy sidekick too, his reluctant henchman. I hope it lasts for a while.

Hawaii 5-0 was good, as always.Danno is dealing with moving to smaller digs in the form of a sleazy motel,  and this episode sees him gain a four legged friend, whose owner has been killed. In this episode, Greg Grunberg guest stars (Matt Parkman, Heroes) and it was funny to see him and Max (who played Hiro on Heroes) reunite. Max kept asking did he know him. Great scene. Beautiful scenery, great banter between Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) and Danno (Scott Caan), and any scene with Alex in it! Hope it lasts for a while.





Vampire Diaries - what can I say? The only thing it has going for it, as far as I'm concerned, is Damon Salvatore (Ian Sommerhalder). Sometimes the writing verges on the ridiculous, the plots are stupid, and I hate the flashbacks to the past. God knows what they're going to do with the cave drawings they've recently found, unless it's just what they're doing now - tieing it all in with Klaus and Michael. ****Spoilers******* When Stefan screwed up Damon's carefully laid plan, I wanted to choke him. Until I found out why he did it. Then I had to forgive him, of course. He has his humanity back - oh joy. Now I guess we'll be forced to endure him and Elena as a couple again. Not that I think that will stop Damon, alas, from pining over her. What does he see in her?  I'll never know.

More later about Once Upon a Time and Top Chef Texas.

Til next time, take care!

♥ Julie

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