"Law and Order", "Celebrity Apprentice" and "Desperate Housewives"

"Law and Order: SVU" - This was a really good episode, with the hallmarks of SVU. The story of the homeless kids and the families that they create on the streets was heartbreaking. (That scene with Olivia and Elliott eating in front of Josie was just cruel!) Some of what the homeless people do is reprehensible, but when you find out what Cassidy had to deal with as a child, you can almost understand how she's gotten where she is and why she's so adamant about helping her "children". Your heart breaks for her when she's testifying against Cole, and he just completely loses it on her. But then comes the twist - Cassidy is not in fact an abused runaway. She was a bored, bratty Park Avenue debutante who rebelled against her parents and ran away, and it turns out that she was ultimately the one responsible for the death that the detectives were investigating.


"Law and Order" - The series returned with two back-to-back episodes and three major cast changes. Fred Thompson left the show because of his run for president, so Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy is the new District Attorney, and a new actor has been hired as the new ADA. In addition, Jeremy Sisto joins the cast as a newly-transferred-in detective. I remember him from the cancelled TV show "Kidnapped". I liked him in that show, so I'm happy about his joining L&O, although I did like the lady detective who was there the last two seasons.

I thought the shows themselves were ok but nothing really special. Jeremy Sisto was very good, and I think he's going to fit right in. However, I did not like the new ADA. He's a sort of renegade, almost an ADA version of Mike Logan, but I like him. I guess I'll have to see if he grows on me.

My major concern, though, is about Jack McCoy. When I heard that he was the new DA, I wasn't sure how the show was going to go. The DAs that I've seen on the show aren't on it much, just making an appearance here and there, so was Sam Waterston going to be reduced to cameos? Well, they're apparently changing that dynamic as Jack was on screen more than Arthur generally was, but then, Jack now seems to pretty much be babysitting the new ADA. I'm not sure how much I'm going to enjoy that aspect, but what I'll really miss are Jack's closing arguments. Sam Waterston was a master at that.


"Celebrity Apprentice"

I've seen a handful of episodes of "The Apprentice", but it wasn't a show that I watched on a regular basis. And celebrity versions of shows don't always catch my attention, but for some reason, this particular one did. I think the major curiosity factor for me is Gene Simmons. The thought of him going up against Donald Trump sounded like it was going to be fun.

The first show started with the introduction of the celebrities. I'll admit to not knowing most of them, but then, they're mostly from areas that I don't follow. The only ones I really knew were Gene Simmons, Marilu Henner (from "Taxi"), Nadia Comaneci (though I would never have recognized her - but then, it's been a billion years since I've seen her), and Stephen Baldwin, and I've heard of Lennox Lewis, and once they identified him, I got that Piers Morgan was the Simon Cowell-esque judge from another reality show. I never watched "The Sopranos", so I didn't know that actor. And of course, I'm familiar with Omarosa.

Once they divided the groups into men vs. women, the two groups were sent off to come up with their group names. I liked Empresario ok, but I really loved Hydra.

With the hot dog selling challenge, the men in general and Gene Simmons in particular had the right idea. They're celebrities with lots of contacts. Instead of selling $2 dogs for charity, why not sell $1,000 dogs for charity? Using the phone was a way to expend minimal effort with maximum results.

On the flipside, though, Omarosa's declaration that they were going to go with selling the product itself rather than using the celebrity and the women seemed like a thud idea, but the other women ultimately went along with it.

As expected, the men crushed the women, raising something like $52,000 to the women's $18,000.

And when it came time for the boardroom, Omarosa reverted to form, her protestations of her change notwithstanding. She never really accepted the blame for insisting on the failing business model and instead blamed other people. (And what the heck with the Latina news person who was totally backing her up? Yeah, she was perfect in every way, except that when it came to choosing the very foundation of the plan, she picked a sucky one, so the entire thing crumbled - you don't think that's her fault?) I'm not really sure why Omarosa focussed on Tiffany. But Tiffany never fought back adequately. When Donald Trump asked why she didn't call her major contact (Hugh Hefner) when Marilu Henner had called people, she didn't stridently tell him that Marilu did it by going against Omarosa's explicit directive. Instead, she went for the "I'm saving him for something better" route. That was her downfall. Had she laid the blame on Omarosa where it really belonged, she might have still been let go, but I think she would have at least had a fighting chance instead of going out with a whimper.

Next week's episode looks interesting with the tease that Donald Trump is going to go after Gene Simmons because of some comment about Ivanka.


"Desperate Housewives"

This episode was all about the aftermath of the tornado. There is some tension as they're digging out the Scavos, but the drama ends as we expected it to - Tom and the kids survived, but Ida didn't. Much of the episode is about Ida, or more accurately, what we didn't know about Ida. Lynette is stunned when Karen tells her that Ida used to be on a baseball league, and she was a star at it. But Lynette is even more stunned when her oldest son tells her that Ida basically sacrificed herself to save Lynette's husband and children. Lynette is appalled at the flippant attitude of Ida's niece (I loved the "you passed bitchy 10 minutes ago" line) and manages to "save" Ida. And the scene with Lynette and Karen on the field scattering Ida's ashes, the ensuing police chase and then the two of them heading out for some beers was terrific. I hope they develop that relationship further.

Gabrielle's story got a little more interesting with the funeral scene where Victor's father blackmailed her into leaving before the service. It's been nice watching Mike Farrell in this role. I used to love him as B.J. on "MASH", but circumstances had made it difficult for me to watch him anymore. And we find out that Carlos has been keeping a secret from Gabrielle - he's blind from the accident. (BTW, when Gabrielle kept clicking on the pain meds for him and they pretty much took effect immediately after she kept pushing it repeatedly - BZZZZTTT, thanks for playing. Yes, you can medicate yourself, but the machine only lets you have so much medication in a certain period of time, no matter how many times you continuously click it.) But I'm still not that engaged in this story. Of everyone, I think Gabrielle is the least sympathetic character. She has blatantly and unrepentantly cheated on both her husbands, and she is much more self-centered with many fewer redeeming qualities than the other women, and I don't think they've really shown the other side of her that they've even managed to show in Edie.

Bree and Orson end up staying with Susan and Julie, which Susan at first dreads, but when Bree ends up playing mother to both of them, Susan doesn't want to let Bree go. I liked the last scene between them when Susan admits that she needs Bree there. I was a little surprised that they played the angle of Bree trying to use Andrew to seduce the contractor into fixing her house after all. After the whole reconciliation and everything, it just seemed really callous, especially since she didn't get his permission or even warn him about it ahead of time.

But the kicker to the entire episode centered around Katherine's big secret. She kicks Adam out since he did in fact have an affair, but just before he leaves, he finds the note that Katherine's aunt wrote that had fallen under the bed. And he leaves on his own terms, but not before letting her know that he knows her secret. And at the very end, Dylan rustles through the ashes of the not-quite-burned paper and finds out the secret herself.

AAAAUUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!! This is the one story that I've been most engaged in, and I've been happy with the little bits we've been told regularly, but now, nothing. This was the last episode completed before the writers' strike, so nothing else will come out until that whole thing is settled. I'm dying to know what the secret is, but part of me wonders whether or not Marc Cherry has even come up with it yet.