It’s almost time for The Closer’s December 21 fifth-season finale “Dead Man’s Hand,” so continue reading for a brief advance review, courtesy of the advance copy of the episode that TNT was kind enough to send me a while ago.

As noted previously, the finale features the return of Battlestar Galactica alumna and two-time Academy Award nominee Mary McDonnell (pictured above at left), who plays Captain Sharon Raydor. Moreover, the episode was directed by none other than series creator James Duff.

So, what can I say about TNT’s latest original series Men of a Certain Age? Let’s start with I like it … a lot.

Premiering on Monday, December 7, at 10pm ET, the realistic dramedy stars Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond) as Joe, Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap ) as Terry, and Andre Braugher (Homicide: Life on the Street) as Owen, three middle-aged longtime best friends who rely on each other as they deal with the various issues that life throws at them.

One thing I’ve always said about TNT’s Saving Grace is that the show is very much an acquired taste. That’s the trait that kept me from liking the cop drama for more than a season, and once I forced myself to give it a second chance and sit through an entire episode, that’s the trait that also made it grow on me. Fortunately, Holly Hunter’s Grace Hanadarko and her familiar Oklahoma City Police Department colleagues are still chugging along on the fine line between irritating and gripping during tonight’s (June 16) Season Three premiere “We’re Already Here.”

Film actress Jada Pinkett Smith both stars in and executive produces the medical drama HawthoRNe, TNT’s latest original series aimed at expanding the network’s reputation as an outlet for TV shows featuring strong and complicated female leads.
Smith plays the title character, Christina Hawthorne, the Chief Nursing Officer at Virginia’s Richmond Trinity Hospital. She’s also a recently widowed single mother of a difficult teenage daughter named Camille (Hannah Hodson) following her late husband’s death from cancer one year ago.

TNT has a dramatic night of premieres in store for viewers today (June 16), and kicking it all off at 8pm ET is the basic-cable network’s first-ever unscripted series Wedding Day. The newcomer has prestigious backers — Mark Burnett Productions and DreamWorks Television — and a prominent pair of hosts, upscale event planner Alan Dunn and high-end wedding designer Diann Valentine, both of whom do much of their work in the extravagant and demanding celebrity world.
Since I’m not a fan of most reality shows, especially those that deal with romantic relationships, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Wedding Day …read more

If my many recent blog posts on The Closer haven’t made it clear that the TNT show’s fifth season opens tonight at 9pm ET, let me publish one final reminder. After watching the premiere episode called “Products of Discovery” in advance, I have no trouble assuring viewers that the series is still in top form, despite the changes that TNT has advised are coming up this summer.
Tonight’s premiere features a particularly disturbing case involving the early-morning mass murder of four family members: mother Cynthia Rivera, her young children Lucia and Miguel Rivera, and her mother Diana Alvarez. As is standard …read more