TV Tues. - The Summer's Looking Bleak

Still a pretty light TV schedule right now, and it's not looking to get any heavier any time soon. However, there was at least one welcome return to the schedule last night.

The Closer: If you're a fan of good TV, and are not watching this show, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. I can understand if you initially passed on it because you were tired of the glut of procedruals on the air; I almost did the same thing in the beginning. But all it took was one episode, and I was hooked. Because, although it is a procedural, it's more about the personalities involved in solving the cases than the cases themselves. Kyra Sedgwick and G.W. Bailey deserve some award show recognition for their roles; two stand out actors portraying stand out characters.

Last Comic Standing: I have to say that I wasn't blown away by any of the performances in last week's episode, but then again, it's really hard to get a good grasp of someone's potential off of such a shortened set. Regardless, I'm pretty pleased with the five finalists selected; for the most part they were the best of the bunch. I'm hoping that tonight's episode provides some better acts.

Saved: I hadn't been too impressed with the previews for TNT's new drama focusing on EMTs, but since I tend to like Tom Everett Scott, and since it was premiereing right after The Closer, I figured I'd give it a shot. My reaction? Nosir, I didn't like it. Too heavy-handed, too on-the-nose, too cliched; honestly, I found nothing in it to be original or outstanding in any way, and the cheesy little flashbacks of the patients lives were distracting and annoying. Plus, Scott's character was supposed to be a "lovable rogue," but somewhere along the way, the whole "lovable" thing got lost. Now, maybe if the show is actually about the growth of the character, I might be able to watch it; but at least with similar shows (such as the far superior Rescue Me), even when the characters aren't necessarily likeable, they're at least entertaining. Odds of me watching this again: slim and none.

Entourage Season 2: I watched the entire second season in a single day; whether that's more of a testament to the quality of the show or to my borderline obsessive tendencies, I'll leave up to you, although I will say that the show is pretty frickin' awesome. I did cringe at some of Johnny Drama's storylines, but overall, the show really hit its stride this season. I especially liked the addition of Ari's new assistant to the cast; Lloyd cracks me up. Looking forward to seeing the Aquaman footage in season 3.