from the couch of Renzie Baluyut

With our old favorite TV shows coming back for new seasons, we can definitely expect a lot of great viewing these next few months. There will be surprise hits and flops, drama on- and off-cam, and of course, new chicks on TV!

So far, I have my eye on three great-looking women: Anna Torv of the J.J. Abrams FOX drama Fringe, Dania Ramirez, the deadly Maya from the hit NBC show Heroes, and then we have Mädchen Amick, who plays Nate Archibald's new cougar love interest on Gossip Girl on The CW.

Lets get to know them a little better, shall we?

Anna Torv of Fringe

As special agent Olivia Dunham, Anna Torv kicks ass every week on Fringe. And just like any other FBI field operative, she's chasing down criminals on foot, or vaulting over cars, or even across buildings.

What makes Dunham's character so bad-ass is the kind of crooks she hunts down: you'd think they're regular serial killers or terrorists, but these miscreants are actually part of some much larger, much more elaborate conspiracy she's still trying to figure out.

Anna Torv's character is forced to confront the systematic spread of weird, paranormal occurences (called 'The Pattern' on the show), and I have to say that Anna is doing great playing Olivia Dunham.

Anna is an Australian actress, with a few movies and TV shows to her credit, but this is the biggest role she has thus far, and I say good luck on this endeavor. She's doing a great job, and I can't wait to watch the next episode to see how The Pattern unfolds.

J.J. Abrams' Fringe is this season's new sci-fi action/thriller. I'd describe it as the new X-Files, though there are people who also see a little bit of Dark Angel, Twilight Zone and Lost in it.

Dania Ramirez of Heroes

We've actually seen Dania Ramirez's character, Maya, last season on the NBC hit drama. Remember that Mexican chick who'd always be crying black tears and then everyone in a hundred-foot-radius would suddenly drop dead?

Well, Maya is back this season, and while we didn't see much character development the last time she was on Heroes, she promises fans this time, "I cry a lot less this season and make out a lot more."

We can all appreciate that. Thank you, Dania.

Dania Ramirez actually came from the Dominican Republic, and has had a recurring role in The Sopranos' final season. You also may have caught her on the last X-Men movie (X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006) and on a music video here and there.

As for Dania's character on Heroes, well, we've seen some more of that "making out" the other night. That, plus more revealing clothes. Still no idea how her powers work though. Is it psionic in nature? Does she exude some kind of airborne nerve toxin? A fast-acting disease perhaps?

I suppose we'll have to find out in the next several episodes of Heroes. And I wouldn't mind seeing more Dania Ramirez in the process.


Mädchen Amick of Gossip Girl

Her name Mädchen means "girl" in German, and is pronounced mayd-shyen- remember that. You probably remember her as Shelly Johnson from the old TV drama Twin Peaks, or that chick in the Stephen King movie Sleepwalkers (1992).

OK, so she also had recurring roles on a lot of other shows including Gilmore Girls, E.R., Jake In Progress and Joey- that plus a number of movie roles and other gigs. So you get the idea: she has been around for quite some time, and now Mädchen is back, for the appreciation of a totally new audience on Gossip Girl.

Mädchen Amick plays the role of Catherine Mason, one of this season's new characters. She has a summer fling with Chace Crawford's character of Nate Archibald, which of course goes on to extend for several episodes just for fun.

We also find out later on that Catherine Mason is stepmom to Blair Waldorf's (Leighton Meester) love interest, Marcus. With all the characters running around, up to their usual Upper East-side scheming and shenanigans, you know that this makes for great Gossip Girl drama, and it can only be a good thing for viewers, right?

There will definitely be more Mädchen Amick and Catherine Mason this season. You know you love her.

Hey, you can check out our featured actresses on their own respective profiles on the Internet Movie Database: check out Anna Torv's here, Dania Ramirez's here, and Mädchen Amick's here.

As long as TV keeps coming up with delicious eye-candy, this blog's feature on "Favorite TV Chicks" will be on hand to get to know more about our fine female performers who make our TV shows a little bit more interesting. Only on "Too Much TV | Renzie on TV!"

Cheers, everyone!

Summer is right on top of us- with the last season's shows already wrapping up, and networks announcing their primetime lineups for the coming fall. Welcome to Renzie Reviews the 2008 Fall Lineup- in this post we cover The CW.


Returning Favorites on The CW

This season on The CW, you can expect more drama goin' down on new episodes of "Gossip Girl" and "One Tree Hill", and fresh sets of "Reaper", "Smallville" and "Supernatural".

I can't believe we have yet another cycle of "America's Next Top Model". Then again, I got friends who watch that show religiously.

Also renewed: the Chris Rock comedy "Everybody Hates Chris"- which I totally have to catch up on, and "The Game".


Cancelled Shows

Not coming back at all are "Aliens in America", "Beauty and the Geek" and "Pussycat Dolls Presents". The axe also dropped on "Online Nation", "Life is Wild", "Girlfriends", "CW Now" and "Crowned".
New Shows

Already getting some early hype is the new "90210"- along with a completely new cast, you might also expect to see familiar faces of the old "Beverly Hills: 90210" to make cameo appearances and guest roles.

Also new: "Stylista" and "Surviving the Filthy Rich".

Keep track of your favorite shows for the coming fall season on my continuing coverage: Renzie Reviews the 2008 Fall Lineup- our next posts will be covering FOX and CBS. We've already covered NBC and ABC earlier on.

Cheers, everyone!

Alright, ever since Gossip Girl hit local screens, people have been asking me about it- so here it is.

Gossip Girl is pretty much this season's biggest guilty pleasure. Think of it as The O.C. for 2008- well, more like 2007 to be exact. The CW came out with the show in mid-September of 2007. As of this writing, we're halfway into the first season, which means you have 13 episodes to catch up on to bring yourself up to speed.

I know it's not a huge huge show, but I've read somewhere that despite the show facing massive competish, Gossip Girl is one of the most downloaded or recorded shows (if not the most) of the season- which means people will probably watch their Bionic Woman or Private Practice or America's Next Top Model (when it was shown on Wednesdays), but people will find some way to get their Gossip Girl fix (via TiVo, or downloaded, or whatever).

The truth is, Gossip Girl was one of the most anticipated new shows of the season. If you didn't already know, the soap is based on the popular novel series (of the same name) written by Cecily von Ziegesar. From Wikipedia:

Gossip Girl revolves around the lives of socialite young adults growing up on New York's Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions while dealing with sex, drugs, and other teenage issues. Featuring an ensemble cast, the series begins by introducing Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and best friend Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), as well as Blair's boyfriend Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford). Other characters in the show include Dan (Penn Badgley) and Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), who become involved in the lives of the main characters despite being less inclined to merge with the upper-east-side crowd. The series is narrated by a seemingly omniscient character, "Gossip Girl" (voiced by Kristen Bell), who runs a blog about her fellow Upper East Siders — consequently stirring the plot and creating potential rivalries in this exclusive and vicious circle of friends.

I can still remember watching the Pilot episode just before Christmas; at the time I was raving about the new shows Chuck and Reaper, and I had this friend who was raving about this one. She checked out Chuck, and I checked out Gossip Girl. Her selling point? "You know, the narrator on that show is Kirsten Bell..." Ding! I'vebeen hooked ever since.

Crazy fan-boy...

No, seriously, the story is alright. Josh Schwartz of The O.C. executive produces the show (together with Stephanie Savage), and also incidentally, executive produces Chuck- which was probably why my friend and I liked both shows.

Another reason why both shows feel so right? I have to say it's the music. The soundtrack, man! For that, we credit Alexandra Patsavas- noted musical director who also worked on kickass soundtracks on The O.C., Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural, Chuck and this show- Gossip Girl. From an About.com interview about the music she picks for the show, Alexandra says:

"I'm relying on old favorites while exploring current pop music. And since the show revolves primarily around high school students in New York, we'll definitely be using some New York-based bands. But these kids listen to the radio, too."

So go check it out while the new episodes aren't out yet: Gossip Girl- Mondays 8/7 Central on The CW. Check out the official website here.

Cheers, everyone!

Finally, Jericho fans will be getting what they paid for in truckloads of nuts! A new episode comes out on Feb 12. So if you feel like doing some homework just before the new season premiere, you still have time to do some surfing or even watching the last few episodes all over again- which is what I'll probably be doing.

While we do have some shows to tide us over for now- The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Project Runway, The Apprentice and Lost, I'd sure like to get some resolution done for the whole lot of shows left midway through their respective seasons.

So here I am, still keeping tabs on the shows I usually watch. There are actually a lot of people asking me if a certain show has new episodes out, or if I know when a new show is coming back- so I thought I'd do everyone a service by posting a quick update on some of our favorite shows right here.

• 30 Rock last aired Episode 10 of Season 2 last Jan 10. It's been weeks since we got anything new.
  
• Bionic Woman aired Episode 8 "Do Not Disturb" last Nov 28- still no news on when we're getting more Jamie Sommers.
  
• Battlestar Galactica comes back with a fresh new season on April 4. Time to watch the earlier 1970s series?
• Chuck has already come back from Christmas break, airing two new episodes on January 24, but hasn't come up with new ones since then. We have 13 Chuck episodes so far.
  
• Gossip Girl came back on January 2, but hasn't aired another episode since January 9. We're also at 13 episodes for Gossip Girl for now.
  

• Grey's Anatomy came back with "Lay Your Hands On Me" last January 10- but that was it. Nothing new from the guys since then.
• No word from Heroes yet. Their last episode was last Dec 3, "Powerless".
• Nothing new from the guys of "How I Met Your Mother" since the last December 10 show, "The Platinum Rule".
• Earl and the gang of My Name Is Earl came back last January 10 with "Bad Earl"; we have yet to hear from them after that.
• We have word from the boys of Reaper- they'll be out with a brand new episode on March 6.

• Scrubs last went on with "My #1 Doctor" last December 6. No word yet when the guys will be out with a new episode.
• Smallville already came back with 3 new episodes since the break: "Persona" last Jan 31, "Siren" last Feb 7 and "Fracture" out this week.
• So far so good for Supernatural- they've come back from the holiday hiatus, with last week's "Dream a Little Dream of Me", and "Mystery Spot" out this week for Valentines' Day.
• I miss the guys from The Office- the last episode we saw from them was last November's "The Deposition".

Man, I really hope these producers and studios work it out with the writers soon. There's just so much show to be shown- and they're not showing us show-lovers anything. Everybody needs to get back to work, you know?

In the meantime, I got me some DVDs to tide me over. But they can only get me so far, right? We all need our shows back!