Emmy Nominations for USA Network Shows

Emmy nominations came out this morning. While I am disappointed that more USA Network shows were not included in the nominees for both major and minor categories, there were a few they were included in, and are more than deserving of the nominations. So I'm happy for that, at least! Here are the noms:




1.Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

 Monk - USA - Universal Cable Productions in association with Mandeville Films and ABC Studio

Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk


2. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Burn Notice - USA - FOX Television Studios in association with Fuse Entertainment

Sharon Gless as Madeline Westen


3. Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)

Psych - Mr. Yin Presents - USA - Universal Cable Productions in association with Tagline Pictures

Adam Cohen, Music by

John Robert Wood, Music by


4.Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics

Monk - Mr. Monk And The End Part II (Song title: When I'm Gone) - USA - Universal Cable Productions in association with Mandeville Films and ABC Studios

Randy Newman, Composer


I personally had on my wish list for Emmy Noms: Outstanding Comedy Series (Psych), Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy series (James Roday), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Dule' Hill) Outstanding Drama Series (Burn Notice) as well as several other USA shows in various categories. Unfortunately, those did not happen. Well... there is always next year!

Congrats on the nominations you did receive USA Network, and may you win them all! :) You deserve it and SO much more! <3



~Suzanne

What do YOU want to see from us???

The three of us (Jenna, Kristi, and Suzanne) have been in discussions, and realized we haven't been hearing from you lately! We would LOVE to know what you think of this blog! So, we came to a decision. We're going to make some modifications to what we post, based on what YOU, the reader, has to say!

This is your chance to tell us what you want to see from us! Any suggestions? Anything you’d like to see more of? Less of? We want to know! YOU are the readers, and that means you dictate what you see on this blog. So take out your thinking caps and let us know what YOU want! It’s that simple!

Send us your suggestions through one of the following:

Tweet us at @undrcovrbloggrs

E-mail us at undercovercharacters@gmail.com

OR, simply leave a comment in the comment box below! :)

White Collar Filming=An Amazing Experience

On Wednesday, I went with my best friend into New York City. We went because we had wanted to go on the Intrepid (carrier ship) for a while now so we did that and then wandered around for the rest of the day. As we were driving in the taxi over to the area by Radio City Music Hall and the NBC Store, we stopped at a light and to our right was some filming going on. I then said "Oh my GOD! That's Willie Garson!!"

Our first view: Willie in his chair

We had the taxi driver drop us off at the next block and quickly made our way back to watch White Collar film some scenes for their 5th episode. And so you know now, I didn't hear any dialogue and there didn't appear to be any spoilers. Unless you consider Peter handing Neal a pen a spoiler...

Burn Notice—4x03 ‘Made Man’ Recap.

Hey guys! Still under the weather this week. But my homegurl Katelyn was awesome enough to write up a recap of last weeks episode for you guys! Enjoy!
~Suzanne


************************************


Hi! I’m Katelyn and I am guest-blogging this week for Suzanne.

To recap the end of 4x02, Jesse is angry about being burned and asked Michael for his help to find who burned him… so Jesse can kill said person. Trouble for Michael? I think so.



This week’s episode started with Michael, Fi and Sam waiting for Jesse to join them for a meeting. Jesse walks in with a case and explains the real reason he is in Miami. When he worked for the government, he found a pattern in happenings in a local dock. Quickly code naming the bad guy ‘cobra’, he moved to Miami to investigate it further. ‘Cobra’ was supposed to meet with Jesse a couple weeks before, but never showed.

That brings the four down to the docks in order to gain intel to find ‘Cobra’. All was fine until Jesse decided to help a security guard, Hank, escape from two goons. They decide to help Hank, by finding the man responsible for a racketeering mob ring down at the docs, and hopefully, in the meantime, find Cobra. They find out the boss of this ring is Tony Carroll. They do what they do, and investigate.

Although Fi and Jesse would love to take a more violent approach, Michael decides to go undercover using a real FBI’s agent’s name, Ned Gordon. Long story short, Michael goes to Tony to earn his trust, and later finds out that Tony has a Fed ‘in his pocket’ (after Tony’s goons tell Michael they know he’s not the real Ned).

So now that Michael and Jesse are on Tony’s radar, that leaves Sam… and Sam’s alter ego (wait for it….) CHUCK FINLEY! After kidnapping Tony from a bathroom, ‘Chuck’ went to work.

Tony wakes up in a bed covered in plastic wrap (Dexter anyone?). Chuck threatens him with ‘Mr. Splicey’ and ‘Mr. Needle’, but both decide working together would be a better solution. Chuck would get a team together, rob the dock, and get 1 million in the process. Chuck’s team? Jesse and Fi. (Lucky us, Tony has not seen Jesse before.) So the plan is set. They break into a section of the dock, steal a truck with 5 million dollars worth of Micro-Processors to let Tony get caught in the act. Everything went well and Tony was about to drive off, but then decided to not leave his partner behind because of a story ‘Chuck’ was forced to tell about not leaving a man behind.

Later at Michael’s place, they had to make a Plan-B. Jesse: To start a war between Tony and his boss Geo. Fi agreed saying it would get rid of half the baddies in one afternoon. The plan was again set. First, they sent out an ad asking for bodyguards (for a pretend army) and put them in SUVs. Tony goes thinking that he is backed by Chuck’s army and about to take over. In the end, Chuck and the army leaves, leaving Tony to defend himself against Geo and his goons.

Next you see Fi, Michael, Sam and Jesse at a bar. They talk about how Tony is going to jail for killing Geo. Good guys win. Michael goes home to see his mother standing by the stairs. She tells him she knows he was the one that burned Jesse and this wasn’t going to end well for either of them. She knows Michael is lying to him because she had 30 years of lies from Michael’s father. Maddie then walks off leaving Michael standing there to think of what she said.




ALL NEW EPISODE TONIGHT! JUNE 24th, at 9/8c! Be there or… well… You know how Fi likes to blow up things! ;)

Royal Pains 2x03: Keeping the Faith

It’s Kristi, and I’m back to share my thoughts on this week’s episode of Royal Pains. I wanted to apologize for not posting last week. I was out of town and wasn’t able to get anything written. It was a great episode though. This week’s was even better.





“Is Everybody Ready For the Big Show?”

Grabbed from the Royal Pains Facebook page.

The episode started with introducing the patient of the week, Donald. He was played by WWE’s The Big Show (whose real name is Paul Wight). He’s a popular movie star, his character being The Garbage Collector. Donald and his sister Faith were on a week’s vacation in the Hamptons. Throughout the episode, Donald had problems with his balance, tingling in his legs, and dizziness. One of my favorite parts of the episode was the birthday party scene. He was asked to wear his costume and act his role for the kids. He enlisted Hank’s help, resulting in Donald picking Hank up over his head and spinning him around, while all the kids were yelling, “Trash him!” It was so funny, but ended with Donald falling (while still carrying Hank) because he couldn’t feel his legs. There are a few more instances of this happening, until Hank figures out what is causing everything. It’s the denture cream he used when he wore his “trash teeth.” I really liked Donald. He was like a big teddy bear. It was fun to see him playing a character that was totally opposite of who he really was.

Grabbed from the Royal Pains Facebook page.

This brings us to Faith, Donald’s sister. She and Evan hit it off, but he started noticing some strange behavior from her; memory loss, lack of appetite. She insists that she is fine; she’s on a massive diet and under a lot of stress. Everything seemed okay until she began choking on her vitamins. Hank is able to extract the pills. He figures out that she had had gastric bypass surgery, and she hadn’t been following her diet properly. Both these storylines culminate in the realization for Faith that she needs to move on. So by the end of the episode, she has accepted a new job. I love the fact that Evan is the one that helps her come to the realization.


Now, to Boris. We first see him looking through some secret letters that he had received. It doesn’t look like any of them had been opened, but they were all from the same person, Marisa Casseras. If you’ve been watching previous episodes this season, you know that she is the first doctor Boris went to about his mystery disease. He and Hank have it out over Eddie’s presence at the house, and by the end of the episode we see Boris meeting with a young female doctor. She signs a confidentiality agreement and he tells her that she would make a wonderful concierge doctor. I, and probably many others, was thinking, “Whoa, wait, what?!” This does not bode well.


Finally, let’s talk about family. Eddie is now dating Ms. Newberg. He decided that he was going to stay in the Hamptons. Evan is excited about it, but Hank wants him to leave yesterday. He even goes so far to warn Ms. Newberg about him. After the blow-up with Boris, Hank and Eddie meet for lunch. They have quite an argument, and Eddie leaves in a huff, telling Hank that he is not going to leave, and there’s nothing Hank can do about it. He says, “I’ve already lost one son, I’m not going to lose the other.” This scene was so powerful. We really got to see the hate that Hank has for his father, and the love that Eddie has for his sons.


I think this was my favorite episode of the season so far. It had its funny moments and was balanced by the serious moments. The Big Show did wonderfully as Donald, and I love Henry Winkler as Eddie Lawson. I also can’t wait to find out what’s up with this new doctor.


Well, that’s it for now. Let me know what you think. I’ll be back to bring you more Royal Pains fun next week. Bye for now!


-Kristi

'Friends and Enemies' - Burn Notice 4x01 Recap/Review

Hello everyone! I’m back (Suzanne)! Sorry I’ve been gone so long. This is my first review for Burn Notice, and I’m a little rusty, but here it is. I think I, too, went a little crazy with notes. Ah well. Premieres are always so packed full of information! My next review will likely be a little more condensed. Ok, enough of my rambling.





Where HAS Michael Westen been?

Photo taken from USANetwork.com

It began where season 3 left off. Only, this time, Michael gets the chance to give us a few spy tips. One: The various priceless artifacts decorating the room reveal this isn’t just any office. Certainly not an official government agency. The $1200 shoes and expensive suit walking through the door confirms that.


The man explains - to an unusually, somewhat out of character Michael - that he is in a private holding facility. He also informs him that he did very well rescuing ‘Management’ (The man who burned Michael), and allowing them to lock up their ‘threat’, Simon. Meet: Vaughn -- Michaels new friend acquaintance. Vaughn gives Michael a file, telling him he should ‘find that interesting’.


Next, we see Michael in a holding cell. He mulls around for a bit, before finally going through the file. We learn they are intelligence files. Having read and deciphered the information in the file, Michael gets taken back to Vaughn. The file contained documents linking “assassinations, crop burnings, little wars around the world” to “some fat bank accounts”. Vaughn (played by Robert Wisdom) explains that they need Michaels help to stop these things. Simon’s escape was an attack against ‘us’.


Michael: “Who is ‘Us’ exactly?”


Vaughn: “Some things governments do well, like… run a military or post office. And then there are some things they need help with. Things best done by people who no longer have ties to the government.”


Michael: “Like burned spies.”


Vaughn: “Precisely. That’s where we come in. … Where you come in.”

Vaughn [Photo taken from USANetwork.com]

Vaughn goes on to explain that while they may have different methods, they are on the same side; Trying to fight the bad guys. He wants Michael to ‘partner’ with them. He asks Michael where he would start. Michael says many of the ‘little wars’ track back to the same weapons supplier: Gregory Hart. Vaughn decides they should go see this person together.


Next, we see a helicopter landing in the jungle. Michael and Vaughn are inside. Vaughn asks Michael how it feels to finally be out of Miami. Michael says it feels good. They invade a guerilla camp, housing the elusive gunrunner. They ask him who he works for. Hart, played by none other than Michael Ironside, replies: “I work for a 16 digit Swiss bank account and an anonymous e-mail address.”


Vaughn shoot’s Hart in the leg in an attempt to make him give up who he’s working for. Hart explains it isn’t going to do him any good; He doesn’t know who he works for, and he was a dead man the second they started coming for him. Michael spots a drone aircraft - an unmanned, heavily armed weapon - which attacks the camp. Hart is killed, but Michael and Vaughn escape - Vaughn taking a bullet to the shoulder, but both come out alive.



Back in Miami:


Having returned to Miami, Michael speaks with Vaughn. Vaughn informs him that this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. ANY agency - from anywhere - it doesn’t matter who they are -

Vaughn: “ANYONE who gets close, gets dead.”

Michael: “So now it’s MY turn?”


Vaughn explains that while it is dangerous business, they feel that it’s something Michael Westen can do. Succeed where others have failed. Michael says that Hart had government files with him. That he was probably the subject of some sort of federal investigation. Michael agree to work with them, BUT, says they will do it on HIS terms. It is HIS investigation. Vaughn agrees.


Michael finally gets to go home to his mother. She’s shaken. It was short, but the unspoken words between he and Maddie seemed to pour out between them. He asked about Fi, and then, after telling his mother he was “...sorry. About everything.”, she told him to go on - they would talk later - knowing that he needed to see Fi.


He did so. Coming into Fi’s apartment, they briefly kissed, then she pats him on the shoulder before turning back to a table full of an assortment of guns. I have to say I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw this. We all know how Fiona likes her guns. ;)


Michael, having been gone mysteriously for weeks, was taken aback. It wasn’t exactly the reunion he was expecting. Fi explains that she and Sam are in the middle of something. They took on a case that ‘Got a little out of hand’. This is where the episode turned more procedural. This weeks case? A Lawyer: Winston. Tried to help a girl with a problem with her ex-boyfriend, Hunter. When the restraining order didn’t work, the lawyer got a judge to impound Hunter’s bike. Turned out he was the enforcer of a biker gang. They came after Winston with an order to kill him, and he tried to pay them to leave them alone. This is why they need Michaels help. On the hurried drive to Winston’s house, Sam and Fiona start their usual bickering. Michael is lost. They finally explain what’s going on, and that frankly ‘This whole thing needs a little Michael Westen.’


Michael goes in alone, guns blazing. Except, he wasn’t shooting at them. He was shooting in the air to get their attention. The entire standoff reminded me of Dirty Harry, and I oddly kept expecting Michael to say “So you’ve gotta ask yourself a question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well do ya, punk?”. Of course, Michael did not say this. But I’d venture to say it came pretty darn close. The bikers left, vowing that it wasn’t over.


The next scene I have to say is probably one of my favorites. Michael seems to be sulking. Fi even goes so far as to ask him if he’s pouting. Michael explained that he comes back - after a mysterious disappearance - to Fi and Sam acting like nothing happened. He gets cut off when Fi slaps him. HARD. She then breaks down; Fiona style. Tells him they ‘kicked in every door we could think of’, and that they took the case ‘out of respect’ for him. They kiss and share a long embrace. She asks him about what happened. He briefly explains what he’s into now, Fi isn’t very happy about it.


Michael speaks with their new client. They decide the best way to save the mans life is by making it so that him staying alive is in the best interest of the gang. Barry, a recurring character played by Paul Tei, is brought in to help them devise a plan that makes it look like their client is mixed up with the gang. By doing this, if they were to kill him, they would leave their whole operation in jeopardy. After Fi obtained the documents they needed, they invaded the house of the leader of the gang: ‘Big Ed’.


After having a ‘talk’ with Big Ed, they were able to convince him to call off the ‘green light’ (order to kill) on their client. But things didn’t exactly go as planned. Hunter disobeyed Big Ed’s orders and didn’t come alone. Nor did he come with intentions of calling off the green light. Instead, he shot Big Ed in the shoulder. At this time, Michael, Sam and Winston go in to save the biker, and speed off - Hunter and a couple of his boys in tow. Michael then called in ‘Plan B’ to Fiona, who caused a little ‘trouble’ at the biker bar, by stealing a bike in order to get them to follow her. Fiona brought the biker gang to Michael, creating backup for the group. Big Ed beats Hunter, stripping him of his vest, and putting it on Winston, ordering that his gang not lay a hand on the lawyer. Sam and Fi later take Winston to a tattoo parlor to get a ‘Breakers’ tattoo, ensuring that the gang couldn’t come after him ever again.


I have to say, my favorite thing about this whole storyline was Fiona on a bike. That chick looks pretty awesome, does she not? ;)

Photo taken from USANetwork.com

Now, Michael finally gets to speak with his mother about what happened. It was really a beautiful part of the episode. Maddie tells him that having him gone wasn’t the hard part. She’s gotten used to that over the years. The hard part, she said, was having an FBI agent telling her that her son is “monster”. Michael explains about Simon, and how he’d changed, turning into someone who hurt people. He told his mother that he was working to stop Simon, and that yes, he broke the law, he worked with bad people - because he had to.


Maddie: “It’s as simple as that?”


Michael: “I don’t know.”


Here is the part that really got to me as a fan of the show. Michael broke down, telling his mother what Simon said to him.


“When I caught Simon, he laughed. He said it was just a matter of time before I was just like him.”


With that, Madeline stood up, wrapping her arms around her son, and said “He’s wrong, honey. That isn’t the son I raised.”


This show has a lot of different facets - guns, explosions, sexual tension, guns, scared clients, explosions, car chases, explosions - they’re all great. But this scene was a very profound moment for the show - Michael’s relationship with his mother, as well as Michael’s character. Michael Westen - Ex Spy - is scared of becoming something he doesn’t want to be.


And as amazing as that moment was, the last part of the episode was even better. Michael uses an access card given to him by Vaugn, in order to sneak into a government facility to steal some files. Michael was successful. However, not everyone came out okay. Because Michael stole the files, someone else got blamed.


Michael just burned another spy.


*cue dramatic music*


Tune in this Thursday at 9/8c when we get to meet this newly burned spy, Jesse Porter, played by Coby Bell (known for his roles in Third Watch, and The Game)!



What did you enjoy about the episode? Something you want to add? Leave a comment below! :)

Royal Pains 2x01 Review

Episode 1: Spasticity

Hi everyone! This is Kristi, and I’m here with my first episode review/recap. I was so excited, I think I may have gone a little crazy with the notes I took. I’ll try not to get too rambly with it. There was so much going on. Enjoy!

Grabbed from the Royal Pains Facebook page.

HankMed and family drama:
The first thing we see is a recap of last season. It’s pretty detailed and hits many of the highpoints and important landmarks. Then we get into the continued storyline from last year, HankMed is broke and Evan has left, we assume to go find his father. In this scene, Boris (patient and owner of the guest house Hank and Evan live in) finds the note that Evan left Hank before disappearing. Hank is also missing in action. Divya arrives and calls him, not getting an answer. We soon find out that Hank is on his way to New York to find Evan and confront him about the fact that he lost all of HankMed’s money to their father, Eddie R. Lawson (played by Henry Winkler). He tries to call Evan, but he too is not answering his phone. Hank and Evan eventually meet up in New York and Hank eventually convinces Evan to come back to the Hamptons. He doesn’t come back right away though. He first gets stood up by Eddie, and arrives back several hours later.


Throughout the episode Hank and Evan are at odds with each other, and Hank lets Evan know that he no longer trusts him. Evan tries calling old clients and even writing an infomercial to try to earn some of HankMed’s money back. Unfortunately, nothing works. By the end of the episode though, we see that Evan has sold his car and Hank is finally seeing how hard Evan is trying to make it up to him. They even play a little game of catch. The last scene of the episode has Eddie showing up at the guest house, to everyone’s surprise. He pulls a check out of his pocket and hands it to Hank. After passing off the check, Hank punches him. As Eddie falls, the screen goes black.


I’m glad that this was dealt with right away. Surely HankMed wouldn’t have been able to function much longer without any funds. The tension between the brothers was great and the two final scenes show how much they really do care about each other.


The patient of the week:
Meanwhile, Divya has met with the patient of the week. His name is Spencer “the Spaz” Fischer. He does infomercials. He’s been having dizzy spells and a run of klutz-y bad luck. Once Hank is back in town, they get several calls from Spencer. The first time they all three go over to Spencer’s house, they are led to him by lights placed in the floor. He is stuck in his father’s panic room. His back has locked up and he’s stuck hanging from the ceiling. They get him down and Hank treats him. We find out that Spencer’s father was an eccentric inventor who died after a bout of mental illness and then kidney failure. The panic room has tons of supplies and even medical equipment (I’ll come back to this later). Evan also finds the open/shut buttons for the panic room door. We are shown that the door is high powered and slams shut with a lot of force.


The second time he calls, he has nailed his hand to the wall. He voices concern at this point that he is worried he’s starting to lose his mind like his father did. Hank tells Spencer not to continue his dismantling of the panic room. He’s better off just leaving it alone and not going back down there. Spencer tells him he can take the medical supplies. Jill takes them and stores them in the basement at the hospital.


Spencer calls one final time. The call drops immediately, so Evan and Divya take the call and head to Spencer’s house. They notice that all the lights are blinking. They get down to the panic room only to notice that Spencer is stuck in the door which has slammed shut on him. They call Hank and the paramedics, and they get there soon after. Hank realizes that if they open the door, he’ll die, unless they can find something that will recreate the pressure. He remembers that there was this device, which wraps around the legs and waist and inflates, in the medical supplies they had given to Jill. He calls her and she races over with the device. Evan squeezes through the door and opens it; they put the device on and then take Spencer to the hospital.


Later, at the hospital, Hank reveals to Spencer that both he and his father had been exposed to Mercury from the medical supplies that were stored there. That’s why his father seemed to lose his mind and later died of kidney failure. Spencer’s dizzy spells were caused by the same thing. Hank assured him that’s he’d be fine.


I loved Spencer. He reminded me a lot of, well, me in the klutz department. I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a spaz, but I have my moments. I’m really glad that everything turned out okay and he’ll make a full recovery.


Jill and the hospital:
We are introduced to another doctor at the hospital, Dr. Elizabeth Blair (Marcia Gay Harden). She is a surgeon and member of the board. She doesn’t agree with how Jill is running the ER and has heard complaints, specifically from Charlie Casey, Jill’s ex. Right before Jill receives the call about Spencer; she is in a board meeting where they are trying to decide if Jill should remain the head of ER. She runs out mid meeting to help Hank. When they all return to the hospital, Dr. Blair has taken the position of Head of Emergency Medicine away from Jill.


So far, I don’t like Liz. I can see her being a huge thorn in everyone’s side this season, especially now that she’s in the position she is. I’m glad that Jill put the life of another in front of herself, not that I doubt she would have in the first place.


Boris:
Boris meets with Hank early in the episode, and tells him that he is contemplating finding a new doctor, someone that will have fewer distractions. Hank assures him that he is going to do everything he can to find a treatment or cure for his mysterious illness. Hank comes to him later with a new plan. He wants to contact all of the past doctors and researchers Boris has gone to, and combine their research. Hank hopes that with the combined efforts of everyone, instead of just individually, they can come up with something before its too late.


I’m glad they are moving ahead with this storyline. I like the mystery behind it, but I really want there to be a breakthrough soon. I like Boris. Hopefully, they’ll find a treatment before it’s too late.


Divya and her engagement:
Finally, throughout the episode, there is mention of her engagement. She really doesn’t want to talk about it when Evan brings it up. It’s obvious that Evan is upset when he finds out she went through with it. She realized that she “had to let a dream go and face the reality in order to embrace what is most important, family.” She tells Hank she doesn’t want to move to London, but “sometimes you have to meet family halfway, even if you don’t get where they are coming from.” These two conversations go a long way to mending the brothers’ relationship.


I really, really hope that Divya doesn’t leave. I really like her as a character and her dynamic with the boys. I also like the relationship that has developed between her and Evan. It’s a lot of fun to watch their banter. Please don’t leave, Divya!




Well, that’s my review/recap. Like I said, a lot happened, and it was hard to scale it down without missing anything. If there’s anything you’d like to add, or any thoughts you might have on the episode, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading.


-Kristi