Welcome to Livlife. Where I am living my life out loud, for all to read.

My apologies for the long hiatus. I was sick for quite some time and then I've just been busy. I needed a good reason to get back into blogging mode and I've finally found it.

Television.

Yep, I sure do love tv. Movies, beh, but a good tv show--yep, I'm in heaven. With the advent of cable tv creating their own original series', the traditional "wait till fall" feeling has pretty much been eclipsed. Still, though, I do get excited at the thought of all the new shows that are going to start, because you never know, one of them might be the best show you've ever seen. It has certainly happened to me before.

I figured today (as it is pretty slow at work...have you SEEN the weather outside--gorgeous!) would be a good day to check out some new and upcoming shows. Most of what I currently watch (Leverage, Burn Notice, My Boys) are cable shows and they run on a different schedule, so they've all ended their seasons. This means that I am in between shows until the fall season starts. I am looking forward to the only two remaining network shows that I watch, both of which are returning for a 5th season this fall.

Criminal Minds is a drama that deals with the FBI profiling team hunting down serial killers. It is the most interesting crime procedural I've seen, coming at it from a completely different perspective. They deal with the WHY of a crime and leave the rest of it up to the local law enforcement. There was a HUGE cliffhanger at the end of last season and I am worried that one of the main characters may not be coming back.

The other show I watch you've probably heard me mention because it is easily one of the best shows I've ever seen. It has made me laugh hysterically, I get scared, I've cried, I am completely engrossed, it makes me think and on top of all that, the main characters also serve as eye candy. Supernatural is returning from its best season ever to try and top it in season 5. The creator of the show has long said that this would be a 5 year show--so I've been thinking that this is it, the final season. However, I just read that the network is trying to extend the show to at least a sixth season. Here's to hoping and I'll be sure and keep you posted.

Beyond those two, I don't watch anything on the networks. Mostly I think that cable shows are better and they seem to respect the fans a bit more. But still, you never know where that show will crop up, so I keep a lookout.

What I found is that there are lots of upcoming shows that sound good, but until you actually watch an episode or two, you have no idea. I am pretty excited about Three Rivers, a medical drama that deals specifically with patients in need of organ transplants. I'm not a huge fan of medical dramas, but this one stars Alex O'Loughlin (formerly of Moonlight) and he's enough reason for me.

But here's the real reason for this post: I was watching a preview for a new ABC show called Eastwick. It is based on the novel by John Updike and the movie The Witches of Eastwick. Rebecca Romijn is one of the stars and I've always found her to be enjoyable. The preview I watched online is pretty vague but alludes to the three main women each making a wish in a magic fountain. It seems that all of their wishes are about a man. The preview then cuts away to a shadowy shot of "the man" that is going to fulfill their wishes (if I understood the preview correctly). They only show the guy's mouth and chin, but I swear I looked at it...backed up the video to take another look and said to myself "he looks familiar". I know it sounds crazy to recognize someone from a one second glimpse of their mouth, but it definitely rang some bells in the back of my brain.

Not being remotely willing to wait until the premiere on September 23rd to find out who the mystery guy is, I turned to IMDb to see who is playing him. Honestly, when I saw his name you could have knocked me over with a feather. I (no lie) actually gasped.

Paul Gross.

See, I bet no one else reacted to that at all. Maybe my mom, but that's it for sure. Paul Gross is a Canadian actor who very, very rarely appears in American productions. To the best of my knowledge, this will only be the second time. The first was a movie called "Aspen Extreme". He also starred in the Canadian tv series "Slings and Arrows", which was very good, but mostly because of him. The reason I about fainted when I saw his name is due to the role for which he is best known, on the tv series "Due South".

*Brace Yourself*

Due South was a Canadian produced mini-series back in the mid-90s that got picked up by CBS because it was so damn good. They let the Canadian company turn it into a series and aired it on American tv. While I often will refer to a show as "my favorite", that pretty much means favorite in its category. When dealing with overall, number 1, greatest show I have ever seen....I am ALWAYS talking about Due South. It stars Paul Gross as a Canadian Mountie who ends up moving to Chicago and partnering with a wise-cracking detective to solve crimes. I know, I know, it doesn't sound impressive at all--but it is. It premiered in 1994 and was on for two years then it was canceled by CBS. But the Canadian company that produced it kept on making the show. Due to overwhelming fan outcry, after a one year hiatus, CBS actually brought the show back for the third season and then canceled it again. Again, fans were PISSED. The fourth and final season was in production at that time and we wanted to know how it would end. Eventually TNT bought the rights and showed the whole series in reruns so us poor fans could find out how it ended. It was 1999 before I got to see the finale of the series...I hadn't seen the show in two years but I kept on waiting because it is just that good. The show is absolutely brilliant in its execution and firmly cemented Paul Gross in my heart. I now own the entire series on DVD and Thank God for that. Now, 15 YEARS after it first aired I still consider it my favorite show and nearly fainted when I saw its star on a new show. THAT is quite an impact, wouldn't you say?

So be still my heart, Paul Gross is returning to American tv (!) as the mysterious man in Eastwick. I have to say, I wasn't all that impressed with the preview, it made the show look kind of stupid, but there is no way in hell I'm not watching it now. Now I just have to hope it doesn't get canceled so I can see as much of him as possible. Really, really, really can't wait.

I am almost as excited about this as I am about Supernatural and my mom (who watches it as well) hasn't been able to get me to shut up about that since it ended last May.

Yeeikes! I am excited for fall.