Mary McCormack in "In Plain Sight"

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I've just finished watching the USA network series "In Plain Sight" on DVD. It ran for five years, from 2008 to 2012, and I cannot understand why Mary was never nominated for an Emmy.

Of course being on a cable channel, and consequently not being seen by the large audiences that network channels get may have had something to do with it.

And it's a damned shame!  Mary brought so much to the show, she should have been nominated for every award there was.

Mary played a U.S. marshal in the show, and she was part of the Albuquerque  WitSec - the Witness Security Service, more commonly known as witness protection.  Her name was Mary Shannon (aka Mary Sheppard when she needed to go "undercover") in the series.

In the fourth season, Mary in real life got pregnant with her third daughter and the pregnancy was written into the show, and she went into labor at the end of that season. So
I guess that is why the fifth season was only eight episodes long. No doubt she wanted to spend more time with her new daughter.

I saw Mary in two movies before I knew who she was - "Deep Impact" in 1998, and "K-Pax" in 2001. And it wasn't until I rewatched "Deep Impact" did I recognize her. She was in the last few seasons of "The West Wing" which I never watched. She also was in an episode of "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" in 2008 as Mary Shannon, so maybe it was a cross-over episode.

And she was in E.R. as a recurring character in six episodes from 2003 - 2006. (I've just now started on the E.R. series. I'm only in season two, so it will be a long time before I get to season nine).

Mary is currently filming a new comedy series called "Welcome to the Family" to air this fall.

For more pictures of Mary --
 http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Mary+McCormack&go=&qs=ds&form=QBIR

George Zimmerman -- Not Guilty (?)

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 The jury's decision in the George Zimmerman trial was that he was  guilty of neither second degree murder, nor of manslaughter, of Trayvon Martin.

And just like in the Casey Anthony trial, no one but the jurors know what went on while they were coming to their decision.

I was surprised there were only six jurors. And I was surprised that the attorneys on both sides thought five women would render the verdict they both wanted. I understand that four of the women were white, and the fifth was a minority/ non-white - either Hispanic or black.

That Zimmerman shot Martin, there is no doubt. But the circumstance was the issue: A racially motivated shooting; or a fight for his (Zimmerman's) life?

But regardless of what really happened, George Zimmerman was found not guilty (and as in the Casey Anthony verdict, "not guilty" does NOT mean "innocent").

And his life is forever changed. He will be constantly looking over his shoulder, and jumping at every sound, worried that someone will be there to exact "justice."

No doubt he will have to go into hiding, and probably leave Florida for good.
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"Man of Steel"

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Went to see the movie today. Heard some kind of bad reviews about it. But the main problem is that it IS NOT a Christopher Reeve Superman movie.

Once you get past that, and realize that the details are completely different, then the movie becomes more enjoyable.

Krypton is NOT the crystal planet. Get over it.

Although -- there are things that seem to be from other movies. At the beginning, there is a creature that reminded me of one of the 'Star Wars' movies. And then Jor-El rides home on a two winged dragon looking thing, reminding me of  'Avatar.' And that is a mistake. Why would he be riding a dragon when the people chasing him were using flying machines?

The movie doesn't take a chronological path, but there are flashbacks of Clark's childhood, and the sporadic uses of his powers to save people.

And there is a LOT of fighting and destruction of Smallville and Metropolis.

Amy Adams was pretty good in this as Lois Lane. There have been complaints that I've heard about her knowing who Superman/Clark is almost right from the start, but I can't see where it hurt the movie any.

Out of five, I'd give this 3.5 - 4 stars.

And when the DVD comes out, I'll probably buy it.
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Star Trek: Into Darkness

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   Went to see the movie Saturday (June 1st). It had been out for 3 weeks, so I figured the movie theater wouldn't be very crowded.     My Mistake!   Up until the movie actually started, there was no one sitting  beside me in either seat. Then some big guy sat on my left. So I spent the entire movie with my left arm in my lap, leaning on the right armrest - most uncomfortable!
And I'm sure that is what caused me to enjoy the movie much less than I ordinarily would have.

The movie itself was pretty good - lots of action, and not very many slow spots to allow the story line to develop.  The actual story was good, and at least twice, when I thought the movie was almost over -- some life threatening thing happened that the crew of the Enterprise had to deal with.

I liked all of the characters except the guy who played Scottie. Or maybe it was just the character. But it seemed like he tried TOO hard to be the Scottie on the TV show.

Karl Urban, who played Bones, only copied the TV Bones' signature lines only a couple of times ("Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor. I'm not a ........ !" as one example).

Loved Zoe Saldana as Lt. Uhura (but how can you NOT love Zoe Saldana - in anything?). But it would have been nice if she'd had more screen time.

The Enterprise was all but destroyed - again! Yet somehow, in the space of a year, it was fully repaired and ready to begin its "five year mission."

Also -- there was a cameo of one of the TV  'Star Trek' characters. I won't say who it is, but I'm sure if you want to know bad enough without seeing the movie, you can easily find out who it is.

I am considering going again next week, hoping I won't be so crowded, and can actually enjoy what I am seeing.

On a scale of 1 - 10, I'd give the movie a 7.5. If I hadn't been so uncomfortable watching it, maybe it would be an 8 or 9.
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Iron Man 3

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Went to see Iron Man 3 yesterday. Paid $9.50 for the 3-D matinee.  And just like when I went to see Avatar in 3-D, after a while I got used to the extra dimension until one scene or another would remind me.

I had heard that the special effects (FX) were good but the movie itself wasn't so great. And I know why.

You can't have nonstop action. There have to be places in the movie for the story to unfold, to let you know who is doing what, and why. The problem is that there were too many of these slow spots, and they lasted way too long.

There were bits and pieces of action, and humor, scattered throughout the movie, but it wasn't until the last fifteen or twenty minutes that all the action really started popping. And popped it did! Can't fault the action at all.

Of course the gorgeous Gwyneth Paltrow was still gorgeous, and she had a bit more to do in this one.

The only omission was that of Leslie Bibb, who was in three scenes in the first one, and in only one in the second movie.

On a scale of 1 -10, I would give this one a 6 or 7, whereas the first two were at an 8 or 9.
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Chicago Fire...on NBC

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Haven't written for a good while, and considering all the news that has been happening, I probably should have.

But today I am writing about the NBC show 'Chicago Fire'.  I had heard that after the first few episodes there was a rumor that it might be cancelled (but not now, I'm pretty sure it has been renewed for a second season).

At first I watched it for the fires, auto accidents, etc. As far as I could tell the show pretty accurately depicted how the firefighters and EMT handled the crises they face. And I was very impressed and continued to watch every week.

But as I got to know, and got invested in, the characters and their stories, I liked the series even more!

This is a great show as far as I am concerned, I hope it runs another 5 or 6 years, at least.

Just as an aside---
There is a character on the show named Severide, and the only other Severide I ever heard of was Eric Severeid, a CBS commentator who died in 1992. He had a daily 2 minute commentary segment on the evening news after Walter Cronkite until 1977.  I discovered that his vocabulary was so vast that I had to actually LISTEN to what he was talking about in order to understand what he was saying.

And NO ONE since has caused me to pay so close attention to what they were talking about.

And I miss that.
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"Veronica Mars" Movie

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There is talk of a "Veronica Mars" movie (FINALLY!) that in all likelihood will begin filming sometime this summer, to be released around March 2014.

But the only problem was financing. So Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, and others in the cast decided to try to raise the money from the "Veronica Mars" fans.

They were hoping to raise $2 million in 30 days. But, instead, they got the $2 million THE FIRST DAY ! !! !!!

So far they have raised over $2,800,000. But they need more. The more money they have, the better the production values, and the better the movie will be!

Here is a link to the video about it --
 http://www.tvguide.com/News/Veronica-Mars-Movie-Kickstarter-1062703.aspx

To donate, go here --
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project


I donated $200.
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