The Positively Positive

Hi folks! Here’s another guest post and since it includes some of my favorite tv shows this fall, I thought y’all would enjoy it too. 🙂

Four Most Underrated TV Shows This Fall
a guest post by Kyle Tesori

The popularity of some television shows is a given each fall; if it is part of the Law and Order franchise, it’s practically a guaranteed hit, and any crime scene show seems to become a darling of the viewing public. But there are plenty of other shows that have to stand on their own, and there are always a few shows that don’t get an instant audience and languish for a while before being “discovered.”

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The Walking Dead Season 1 Episode 4 “Vatos”
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Movie Review – The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest
Movie Review – When In Rome

Okay so remember last time when I said I was trying really hard to like Emily? Yeah that’s over. I officially hate her now. But that doesn’t mean I dislike the show, so technically this is still a positive review. 😉

In this episode of Royal Pains, called “Big Whoop” Hank and Emily work together to treat a patient and get into a bit of a tiff when they don’t agree on how it should be done. Emily prescribes medication that the patient (a doctor himself) wants but doesn’t consult with Hank, who knows the drug often has dangerous side effects. Their relationship gets tested to the limit when he finds out, though they do end up working it out and find that the man had actually caught a very rare disease called whooping cough from his granddaughter.

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In this episode of Royal Pains, Hank has a lot on his plate. First there’s his dad, who’s come back into his and Evan’s life after running out on them and their mother twenty years ago. Then there’s the normal amount of unusual medical cases – a woman suffering from (quite literally) a broken heart and the couple suffering from, get this, leprosy brought on by an armadillo. In the midst of all that, he and Jill have a few moments where the romance between them looks to be sparking up again. They get interrupted before they can get in more than a few kisses, but I’m thinking these two might be getting back together. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.

My favorite bits….

Hank stitching up his dad after punching him. Guess that’s the benefit of being a doctor – when you knock someone out, you can patch them up too.

Evan doing a Hank impression with the HankMed bobblehead. I loved the fact that the bobblehead Hank was wearing the same outfit as real Hank.

The way the word “yoga” became code for…..um…..shall we say, other physical pursuits?

The look on Evan’s face when he saw that the cute beltmaker’s husband was a very large police officer. Oops. Nice going, Evan.

Hang getting pulled over and asked to perform an exam in the back of a cop car. Now, there’s something you don’t see every day.

Evan falling on his ass while taking Blake’s place in her yoga class. Technically I guess he fell on his face, since he fell forward, but that didn’t sound nearly as funny.

Despite being pissed at his dad, Hank not hesitating to break a window to get to the man when he thought he was in danger.

Feeling bad for poor Divya trying to figure out how to tell her fiancé that she wants to break tradition and sleep with him before the wedding. Oh boy, talk about awkward.

Blake asking if the heart monitor came in ‘sun-kissed yellow’.

Dear old dad trying to pull off the old “I didn’t know that was all your money” line on Evan. Yeah, right.

Finding out the reason why Hank is so mad at his father, the man left his wife and sons when his wife got sick? Oh man, that’s pretty awful. Poor Hank. I’m sure he had to grow up fast to take care of his mom and his little brother.

Evan telling Hank that at some point he has to forgive their dad and Hank coming right back and saying that at some point, Even is going to have to realize that he won’t. Whoa.

Evan in his spectacular green golf outfit.

Poor Blake not only getting dumped via text, but not even being the one to read it herself. Yikes.

Knowing as soon as they sat on the couch that Hank and Jill weren’t going to be able to keep their hands off each other. I loved how Hank clicked the garage door closed and then immediately had to open it again as they were interrupted by a frantic call about Blake.

There’s such a thing as “broken heart syndrome”?? Huh, who knew?

Divya and Raj deciding to….ahem…do “yoga” before they get married 😉

Everyone pointing out to Evan that he really needs to look up what ‘subliminal’ means.

Totally knowing that Mrs. Newberg was talking about Edie as soon as she said she had found ‘the most wonderful man’. Uh oh, guess dad is gonna be around a bit longer than Hank was hoping.

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More Royal Pains Reviews..
Royal Pains season 2 rap promo
Royal Pains, season 2, episode 1 “Spasticity”

Okay I know I already talked about my dislike of summer in my Burn Notice review. But as I watched the season premiere of Royal Pains, I thought about how summer doesn’t look so bad on that show. They actually make it look good. Pretty people, pretty beaches, pretty houses. Heck, if summer had always looked like that to me, I’d be all over it.

So I guess the solution is to move to the Hamptons, right? 😉

Until then I guess I’ll have to settle for watching Royal Pains and live vicariously through that. Not a bad alternative actually. The season premiere started out right were we left off last season, with HankMed in financial ruin and all of it Evan’s fault for trusting their money with their father. Divya is now unhappily engaged, Jill finally said goodbye to her ex and poor Hank doesn’t know who to be more mad at, his brother or his father.

Other than that, it’s pretty much business as usual as Hank and his team have to save a man who seems intent on getting into more accidents than the law allows.

My favorite bits…

Enjoying all the lovely scenery of the Hamptons. I don’t know why but I’ve always liked the look of those beaches more than my other hometown beaches. So pretty.

Hank knowing exactly where to find Evan, also knowing without a doubt that their dad had run out on him and so upset that “despite my best efforts, it looks like there’s still one sucker left in this family”. Oh man, so much pain and history in that one sentence.

The way Divya just decided to just move on from the fact that she got engaged to a man she doesn’t love. Whoa girl.

Evan being able to tell that Divya got engaged without her actually saying the words.

The conversation between Hank and Boris in the garden. So far Boris has been the one seeking out Hank so it was interesting to see that flipped around as he became disappointed in him.

Disliking (in a good way) Marcia Gay Harden’s character the moment she appeared on screen and knowing that is precisely she’s been added to the cast. Methinks she’s gonna be quite the foe to Jill in the future.

The way Dieter silently and methodically delivered the file to Hank. I could be mistaken but I don’t think Dieter has ever said one word and yet I still find him a really funny character.

Evan coming back to face the music and immediately working on re-booting Hank Med’s finances.

The lights on the floor acting as a guide in the mansion. Cool stuff.

Evan coining the term “spasticity”. Love it. Sometimes I’ve felt that way myself.

Evan’s “Look at these, you tell me these are not BEGGING to be pressed.” LOL, he’s such a child sometimes.

The “I told you so” way that Dr. Blair took a bite of her sandwich when the nurse told Jill that Hank was waiting in her office. Hilarious!

Hank and Jill’s ultra awkward first talk since her ex left town. Ouch. That hurt to watch.

Evan many phone calls trying to drum up business….(“Yes, I can stick it.”…”There’s that catchy hold music again.”) – LOL!

The look on Spencer’s face and his “That’s how this works??” when he saw Hank with the pliers. Dude, you nail your hand to a wall, you betcha you’re gonna need tools to get it back out.

Spencer’s troubling memories over his father echoed on Hank’s face when he advised Spencer to just stay away from the room. Seems like that’s been Hank’s modus operandi – stay away from the problem. I gotta agree though, sometimes that can be the sanest solution to insanity.

Evan’s HankMed infomercial. Oh man, now I’m kinda hoping that USA decides to film one as part of an ad campaign. How awesome would that be?

Divya pointing out that Evan first needs to regain Hank’s trust as his brother, then as his CFO. So true.

Hank spotting that what is needed to help Boris is someone to look at the whole picture and be his “quarterback”. Hmm…interesting.

Spencer slamming himself into his panic room door. Eek!

Jill having the balls to excuse herself from her own disciplinary hearing to save a life. Nice!

Evan’s way out of the doghouse being through the panic room door to press the button and set Spencer free. Yay Evan!

I just love watching Hank work when there’s someone who needs his help. He even apparently got on the good side of Dr. Blair. Way to go, Hank.

Aw poor Evan. So awful that his dad always asks about Hank before asking about him.

Hank finding out that Spencer wasn’t suffering from spasticity after all.

Evan selling his car to help clean up the mess he made with HankMed’s finances.

The brothers making up while tossing a football. So sweet.

Yelling out “Ha! Psyche!” when Evan ran deep for the ball and Hank left him there. I saw that coming from a mile away.

Henry Winkler showing up as the boys’ dad. Fonzie is their dad? Cool!

Practically jumping out of my chair in shock when Hank punched out his father. Okay so yeah, I didn’t see that one coming. Wow.

Overall a premiere episode that added some new characters while giving the familiar ones some new challenges. A great start to the new season.

Don’t miss out on my next review! Be sure to subscribe to The Positively Positive and get updates straight to your email!

More Royal Pains..
Royal Pains season 2 rap promo

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Burn Notice, season 4, episode 1 “Friends and Enemies”
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If someone had told me three years ago that our friendly, geeky, lovable Nerd Herder would be a super-spy, I wouldn’t have believed it. In fact, if I’d been told about any of the huge changes to these characters and the show, I wouldn’t have believed that either. Sarah and Chuck in love, a somewhat kinder Casey also a loving father, Morgan a part of the spy team, Devon and Ellie not only aware that Chuck is a spy, but helping Chuck to defeat the Ring??

Nope, no way, never would have believed any of it.

But that’s exactly where we are and as surprised as I am by all of it, I gotta say that I’m also loving it. I mean really, how long could Chuck stick with being just the lovable geek? This new and improved Chuck is much better, and quite a bit hotter, I might add. All of the characters are moving on and having their own adventures, making for a much more interesting show these days.

None of which more so than the last episode of this season. Wow. I mean really, wow. What a ride. I was laughing, I was cheering, I was crying – it was fantastic. Chuck, with the help of pretty much everyone he knows, finally defeats the Ring and in the process, decides to give up the spy game.

Yeah right, like any of us were buying the old “I quit once this assignment is over” line.

Much as I suspected, in the end Chuck discovers something so big that I’m sure he’ll be forced to get back into the spy game. His mother appears to be alive!! Whoa.

Overall a really fun roller coaster ride for the final two episodes of this season that has me eagerly awaiting the next.

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More Chuck…
Chuck, season 3, episode 4 “Chuck Versus Operation Awesome”
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