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Felicity Huffman

"Sports Night": It was single-cam before single-cam was cool

Sportsnight_2Can it really be 10 years since "Sports Night" debuted? Sheesh.

Shout Factory reminds us how quickly time passes with today's announcement of the "10th Anniversary Edition" DVD box set of all 45 segs of the ABC comedy. The half-hour from Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme may not be "the show that changed what television could be," as it's touted in the press release, but it was entertaining and a breath of fresh air for its time. It was single-camera before single-camera was cool for small screen laffers.

"Sports Night's" core cast members have certainly done well for themselves in the intervening years: Peter Krause, Josh Charles, Felicity Huffman, Joshua Malina and Sabrina Lloyd. (Robert Guillaume was already doing well for himself by the time this show came along, and he was great in his role as the elder-statesman exec producer at Continental Sports Channel, the Gotham sports cabler where the show was set.) Set, due out Sept. 30, includes two discs of bonus features including deleted scenes, gag reels, behind-the-scenes featurettes, commentaries, etc.

"Desperate Housewives": Only Lynette rings true

Desperatehousewiveslynette_2I swung by Wisteria Lane on Sunday for the first time in months, encouraged by the positive buzz generated by "Desperate Housewives'" first-back-from-strike seg, "Sunday." I hoped to be as impressed as others have been with Dana Delany's contributions to the cul-de-sac.

As it turned out, it wasn't a huge episode for Delany's Katherine Mayfair -- though she did have one great scene with guest star Chris Carmack toward the end -- but I have to say that the whole conceit of Mayfair having deep dark secrets to hide still felt a bit tired.

The ludicrous storyline about Bree claiming her daughter's baby as her own was what made me stop watching last season, and it still bugs me to see Bree and Orson toting a baby carrier, even though they weren't much of a factor in this episode either. As always, the one ever-reliable player in the "Housewives" troupe for me is Felicity Huffman as Lynette.

Continue reading " "Desperate Housewives": Only Lynette rings true " »


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About Variety ON THE AIR

Variety's Team TV -- Cynthia Littleton, Stu Levine, Jon Weisman, Andrew Wallenstein and A.J. Marechal -- provides a roundup of stories big and small, as well as opinions and analysis from across the TV dial.