The Madness in March: The Mysteries of Laura: "The Mystery of the Dodgy Draft"

This week's case on "Laura" goes on the court as a future professional basketball player is the suspect of a murder of his ex-girlfriend.

I have to say that this episode might be a bit late, since this episode takes place at the time of March Madness and Jake tells Laura that he has Duke in the Final Four. Nice, should have kept that bet.

Anyway, this episode started off at a natural museum, when a teacher was found dead with no struggle or marks, expect a teaser burn on the neck. Laura, Meredith and Frankie ask the students and others about what they saw. One of the teacher says that the victim was dating a student. A student said that she saw a giant with a dragon.

Laura believed the student story and headed off there. In the meantime, since last episode, Laura hasn't been herself lately. She might be pregnant, which just flows through her head like one of those long pause moments that you don't want or hope it doesn't happen.

The gang interviews the college student who is a popular basketball player. When the player goes to the station and talks, he tells Laura that he has a new girlfriend but he does keep in touch with his ex.  Laura believes him but still puts him in lock up until they find the suspect.

There next suspect was a Russian basketball player from another team that student's team was playing against. It just so happens that Laura and Billy went to the game and had Billy tell a player to tell the Russian player that his mom slept with the entire people in Russia. That upset him and started a brawl between teams.

The Russian player was out of the suspect pool and so was his coach who took the teaser away from him but lost it. That's when Laura looked into the girlfriend, a cheerleader for the team and when Laura talked to her, she kind of confessed.

But that was until she was talking about her mother and how she needs to look pretty and that her boyfriend should never talk to his ex's. That gave Laura the idea of the cheerleader's mother, who's a bit of a tiger mom.

It was the cheerleader's mother who took the teaser and hidden it inside the hot dog cart.

I thought that this episode was simply hilarious and remarkable. I love it that it had that March Madness theme and that Kenny "The Jet" Smith had a guest star.

I can't get enough of Meredith and Frankie's buddy partnership. They are truly the odd couple of detectives. And not to mention that Laura who finds out that she is not pregnant but it was some herb that she's been using that sent out a false positive.

You can catch The Mysteries of Laura Wednesday nights at 8/7c on NBC.

The Bucky and The Wecked: Tuesday Night Comedies

Undateable: "A Priest Walks Into a Bar"

This week's episode deals with two things: getting a job and wanting more than a booty call.

It starts with Danny, who has been tweeting out stuff that suck and not suck on twitter, is set up a job interview by the help of his sister, Leslie. But Danny doesn't want to do it because he's a bit scared. Justin challenges him to do it. And soon Danny takes that challenge.

It's not until after Leslie sets up everything that Justin apologizes to Danny for what he had said of challenging him of getting the job. That led Danny to not go and upset Leslie who gave a choke hold on Justin for her thanks.

But Justin gets Danny a second interview and brings the guy to the bar where he talks to Danny. Danny soon realized that it's a job interview and get's upset but after listening to Justin's story of how he wanted to be Mr. Von Trapp in Sound of Music but got the part of the younger girl. That set Danny to go for the interview and soon got the job.

Meanwhile, probably one of the funniest B-storyline in the show so far is when Shelly has been seeing this lady name Vanessa. It's not a relationship but a one night stand, a booty call. Candice doesn't like it and talks to Shelly about it that he should pursue Vanessa into a relationship.

After Shelly tricked Candice with a fake booty call, mixing with Love Actually and Hugh Grantt that got Candice all soft and distracted. Soon Shelly left to go for that booty call. Then Candice stopped Shelly and soon got him to ask Vanessa to come to the bar and ask for more than a booty call. Vanessa refused but then text for him to came at midnight. Shelly declined.

Even though, Shelly didn't like it, it was for the best and with Candice trying to make things better by telling him a story of her and mother being homeless and having a friend to see that was her own reflection.


This episode was hilarious. A lot of funny Matrix references all over and at the end Danny dresses up as Neo and Shelly comes in dress as Morpheus. I couldn't stop laughing after that.


You can catch Undatebale Tuesday nights at 9/8c on NBC.

One Big Happy: "A Tale of Two Hubbies"

In one of the wackiest and funniest episodes so far. This week's episode of One Big Happy deals with the fact that Luke and Prudence weren't actually married when they were in Vegas.

The gang went to Vegas for the weekend and when they stopped at the place where Luke and Prudence got married it turned out to be a fake place for the mod. Which means that they aren't married and Prudence will soon be deported if she isn't married.

So that gives Lizzy an idea to through a prefect wedding and had an idea to bring Prudence's dad over too. That turned out to be a bad idea. It turns out that Martin isn't Prudence's father but her husband. Yeah, Prudence married him. The only reason was for his last name because her actual last name is a name that I couldn't even spell or pronounce.

So Lizzy, Luke and Prudence try to get Martin to sign the papers. Luke failed as Martin is such a fast British talker. Things too a turn when they brought Martin back home and drunk as hell. Lizzy tries to get him to sign the papers and the next morning, he turns out to love Lizzy than Prudence.

Luke than ask Lizzy to take one for the team but she not for that team. So Lizzy pretends like him very much and got him to sign the papers. But she tells him that he signed divorce papers for a lesbian and then that got Martin excited and called his buddies.

Meanwhile, as that heated up another heats up in the kitchen when Luke heard that Prudence and Martin got married after being together for three days. That got Luke thinking that maybe Prudence doesn't love him at all and she's doing it just to stay in the states. Soon Luke leaves in what was a dramatic fashion that I haven't seen on the show and it was one of the best.

Than we come to Lizzy and Marin, as he told her that he doesn't do any work and there shouldn't be no kids. That got Lizzy to tell him that she might be pregnant and pulls out a pregnancy test but he leaves as fast as he could.

That leaves to Prudence come to Lizzy, fully upset and hugging that Luke is gone. Lizzy than tries to bring some tension down with a couple of humor, which worked in my opinion.

I enjoyed this episode very much. There were so many one liners that I couldn't pick. I really enjoyed that we got some emotional scene with Luke being upset. That was really good. Lizzy once again brings the humor along with Prudence and their friends.

I assume that we'll find out this Tuesday of what will happen.

You can catch One Big Happy Tuesday nights at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.

All About that Beat and Bass

During the week of April 20th, Illinois Central College celebration to the arts known as Arts Week and I decided to see performance by the Hard Bop Jazz Band on April 21st at ICC lecture/recital hall. I chose to go to this concert because I like jazz and I’ve also seen this group perform over the years and thought that it would just be fun, relaxing and entertaining to watch. I wasn’t wrong at all about it.

The show had a bit of a warm up with a guest band called The Lincoln College Jazz Combo which featured a former Hard Bop player, Jeff Arbisi, who played the woodwinds while the other two played piano and drums. As I said before they were warming up the crowd before the show started.

Then the Bop band came out and started off playing “Whirly Bird” by Neal Hefti. It started off a bit loud but then moved towards of an andante and viace I want to say. It had that walking pace with a mix of lively feel to it.

There’s one performance that kind of stole the show, probably completely. The performance tune was “Bean’s Bag” by Ethan Freier. It started off loud and then moved to allegretto style that was moderately fast and then moved up to presto very fast as I want to say. But it was the solos of both the drummer (Nick Fairley or Zach Crall) and the bass player (Regan Berkshier) that kind of stole the show with their rhythmic beat. The beat of those drums and the base playing really stole the show and had the audience applauding loud and clear, even while the band was still performing that song.

Another was “Struttin’ With Some Barbeque” by Lillian Hardin Armstrong. This performance was just

moderato rhythmic feel of just being moderate and soon it was picking up into an allegro pace.

This was a really good size band in number of instruments that were used in this performance. From brass from trumpet to trombones and even some saxophone too. Not to mention keyboard instrument like the piano was used, only once when the director Larry Harms was playing a tune. But it was mostly used during the warm up and intermission from the Lincoln College Jazz Combo.

And I can’t forget the electronic instruments like the electric guitar and the bass. There were pretty amazing to watch.

The band wore black outfits to common date the feel of it being jazz. I feel the experience of sitting up a couple of rows back was perfect to listen to a group like this. I felt the rhythms that they were playing and that includes the beat that had me moving. It kind gave me that life feeling that just made me want to dance too.

I really enjoyed and had a blasted watching this performance. I enjoy jazz and I’ll say this that I haven’t been to a jazz performance in a year or so and coming back and seeing this group perform was just amazing. 

I don’t think that there was anything wrong with the performance. If the music has me moving and my leg is bouncing up and down, side to side than it’s a hit. 

I’ve decided to go see this concert because I’ve seen this group before in the past and thought that it might be fun just watching them again. Yeah there are new members and there are some that stayed. I did write reviews of their concerts in the past for the ICC Harbinger so I guess I kind of know what to expect just a bit.

Reasons To Tune In & Watch The Mysteries of Laura

One of the best new series this season is The Mysteries of Laura, the hit new NBC Police Procedure comedy-drama (or as we know it to be dramedy). It's part of Woman Crush Wednesday on NBC in the lineup of Law & Order: SVU and Chicago PD.

If you haven't seen it, it follows the life of Laura Diamond, an NYPD homicide detective, who has to balance her life between work and being a divorced mother to twin boys. The show stars Debra Messing (Will & Grace and Smash) as the brilliant detective Diamond. 

She works with her partner Detective Billy Soto (Laz Alonso) along with Detective Meredith Bose (Janna Gavankar), Max Carnegie (Max Jenkins), Captain Jake Brodrick (Josh Lucas), Laura's former husband, and not to mention Detective Frankie Pulaski (Meg Steddle). Each episode has that crime of the week and the classic feel of the "Ripped From The Headlines" story format. 

 Here are some reasons to tune in to the show:

1. Great Ensemble Cast

This is such a great ensemble cast. The chemistry is unbelievable with this group of actors. I am watching from Alonso and Messing to Alonso and Gavankar, from Jenkins and Gavankar to Messing and Lucas. And I don't want to forget that Steddle's character came in after episode 15; with her addition to the show, there's a good chemistry between her character, Frankie, and Gavankar's character, Meredith. I love this group of actors and their characters. There's just so much fun and laughter in this dramedy.

2. It's Such a Relaxing Show

When I say relaxing, I don't mean taking a nap during the show. No, it's a lovely, laid-back series that you can follow along, try to figure out who did it, get the humor, and at the end feel so good. That's what I think when I watch the show. It's like that movie mystery of the week type of thing that used to be on Sundays or any day during the 80's and 90's. 

3. The Diamond in the Rough

Debra Messing, playing Laura Diamond, is probably one of her best characters since playing Grace on Will & Grace. She's got the combination of intelligence and attitude of Columbo meets Jordan Cavanaugh meets Det. Benson. Please don't mess with Diamond, or she'll contact you. 

4. The Working Mom

The series is an excellent appeal to working moms. There's an author, Lina Gardiner, who talks about how they show some appreciation and appeal to working moms and romance lovers. You can check the page out from USA Today. It betrays what a working mom has to juggle: working outside of work and raising twin boys. I see how my mother is with working at a nursing home and trying to take care of my brothers and me.

5. Great Guest Stars

The one thing that's good about this show is the great guest stars that come on the show. From Peter Jackson to Brenda Song, Kelly Rutherford to Anastasia Griffith, and not to mention Eric McCormack as Laura's ex-fiance and the fabulous Robert Klein as Laura's father, Leo. Later on, Melissa Joan Hart is the guest star, so she might not want to miss that.



You see, The Mysteries of Laura isn't like the rest of the other cop dramas that are on today. It's a show that appeals to a typical viewer. It may not be like SVU or Blue Bloods, but it's an excellent show to watch with the family. There's humor, there's drama, there's romance, there's mysteries, a great ensemble cast, great guest stars, it has everything that you would want in a show.

This week's episode of Laura deals with the court, but it's not the court you would think it is. Laura and the gang investigate on the basketball court.

You can catch The Mysteries of Laura available on Amazon Prime.

The Blacklist: Why You Should Watch the Series

If you aren't familiar with literally the best drama's on television, you probably haven't watched a lot of television or watching something less exciting. 

If you're not familiar with The Blacklist, it's about an FBI most wanted criminal, Raymond "Red" Reddington (played by James Spader) turns himself in. But he not only surrenders to the FBI but he has a list of the most wanted criminals that the they don't even know about. But there's a catch, he'll give them the names but he wants to work with Elizabeth Keen (played by Megan Boone).

I've come up with a top five reasons why you should tune in to The Blacklist.

1. The Man They Call Red.

It's one of the best lead characters on television in a long time. Raymond Reddington might be the worst criminal in the world but he does have a heart. He cares for Elizabeth for one reason that we're still shaking our heads on: is he her father or not? But just to let you know, you don't want to be on his bad side.

2. The Blacklisters

Besides Red, there are the blacklisters that are also the reason to tune in. There are as so many blacklisters that the highest number so far is 150. There are names from The Freelancer, Lord Baltimore, The Stewmaker, Berlin, The Decemberist, Luther Braxton and The Deer Hunter to name a few. Just a reminder that these are the worst criminals in the world and by far there are some scary ones and not to mention cool ones too. These blacklister characters are so complex that it makes the show amazing.

3. Elizabeth Keen

The woman that got pulled into this mess, Elizabeth Keen, played by Megan Boone. Why does Red only want to work with her? Yeah, she's second year working at the FBI now. She might be Red's daughter. Maybe not but everything that he does from protecting her to even talking to her just feels like he's her father. This past year has been a roller coaster for her, with her husband, Tom Keen, as a undercover agent.  The other end, Keen is one of the toughest female character's since Carrie Mathison from Homeland. I believe that she can kick any other character's ass. 

4. Supporting Characters

There's nothing more appealing than these supporting characters on the show. From Agent Donald Ressler to Director Harold Cooper, to Aram to Samar. All of which work at the FBI and help take down the blacklisters and protect Reddington. And I can't forget the other great supporting character and I think any fan of the show would send mean messages. That one is Dembe Zuma, Reddington's right hand bodyguard. We learn a little bit from his past and I would just want to see an episode about him. 

5. The Writing is Fascinating

The writing of this series is just amazing and fascinating. They really seem to know where they want to go with this season and series. Heck you don't see a lot of shows having that type of structure and heck they do have an endgame when the show is set to end. Only a few like Breaking Bad and Six Feet Under are probably the only ones I believe. The stories are so rich with a lot of character development. Each episode is so much like a movie and when it ends you just want to see more and more.

Now, I know I've probably said a lot of about this show. But I ask you to check it out this Thursday as The Blacklist returns with a new episode that will have you on the edge of your seat. You see last time, we got to see Red told Liz the truth about Tom that he was working for Red. When Liz gave him the Fulcrum and started to leave, Red gets shot. It was the OMG moment of the week.

Checkout the promo: The Blacklist "Leonard Caul"

You can catch The Blacklist as it returns this Thursday at 9/8c on NBC. 

Five Reasons Why You Should Binge Watch Parenthood.

It was during this television season that viewers and fans got to say goodbye to one of television's best drama, Parenthood. The series finale aired in January and I'll admit it that there wasn't a dry eye in the living room after. There was a lot of hugging and well a lot of tissues being used.

For those who have never heard of Parenthood. It’s a show about the ups and downs of the lives of the Braverman family. If you still haven’t seen it, I recommend that you  binge watch the series. Here’s my top five reasons you should binge watch Parenthood.

5. They have an outstanding ensemble cast

Have you ever seen such an ensemble cast like this? With names like Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Monica Potter, Sarah Ramos, Mae Whitman, Bonnie Bedelia and Craig T. Nelson, just to name a few, it’s literally an all-star cast. With only ten award wins in it’s run so far, mostly won by the young actors.  

4. Outstanding Writing Team

One thing that defines a great series is it’s writing. The writing team on this series brings in real life stories from their personal lives. Stories from dealing with a son with Aspergers to a mother dealing with breast cancer to even adopting. The show has never been even nominated for writing and that seems wrong.

3. Family Time

This show will bring you and the rest of your family close together. It’s a great way to watch with the whole family.

2. Bring Out the Tissues

This show should be making a lot of money off of Kleenex sponsored. This series will have you shed tears if their joy or sadness. There are so many moments that I can recall but it would be just too long.

1. The Last of a Family Drama

How many family dramas are on television right now? Not a lot that I can find. There were shows like Full House and My So-Called Life that dealt with family and personal issues. Now viewers are watching more of political thrilling-scandal drama these days. It’s a genre that we need to have on the air.

I recommend you if you haven’t seen Parenthood, you really should. The show isn't disappointing at all. If you haven’t seen the whole series yet, you can go to Netflix an watch the first five seasons of the show.

Fighting For What You Love: 12 Monkeys "Arms of Mine" Season Finale

The season finale of "12 Monkeys" can be described as on the edge-of-your-seat excitement.

In the finale, Cole and Cassie, who look like they are slowly falling in love, are slow to try to get information from Aaron. Cole keeps beating him for information until Cassie shows up, and he tells them that he is trying to protect her. Then he tells both of them that they will kill him rather than Cole and then Cassie.

As soon as Cole and Cassie have a private meeting in front of Aaron, Aaron tries to cut his way out and escapes by knocking out Cole. They both fight until Aaron uses a blow torch, burning up Cole's jacket. Let me see that there was some chemical stuff fire, and one person didn't make it.

Cassie and Cole got to see Jennifer, who was given a presentation about the company she was taking over from her dead father. When she shares her speech, she starts to go crazy with monkeys and other extinct animals.

Cole then leaves with Cassie and talks with Jennifer, and gives them information about where Ramse will be. They go there and find him with the machine. I'll talk more a bit later.

In 2043, Jones and Whitley are waiting for any hope for the core to work. When a group of blue men in hoodies stand outside the compound, they get help from a friend of Rasme. They divert a distraction and go in, but Jones has a surprise for them, a bomb and talk in a trade for their lives for the machine.

And here's where it all ties in as Cole reaches Ramse, you would think he would shoot him first. No, they talk. Then Cassie comes in and is not in the mood to talk and more of receiving information. She wants to shoot Ramsey.

Cole tells her not to shoot until she shoots him, and his guard shoots her. One will not survive, and Ram tells Cole to send Cassie to Jones on the Core. With no time to lose, Cole puts Cassie on the Core and sends her back to 2043.

In the meantime, Jones gives the leader in blue the bomb, walks out until the machine is working, and brings back Cassie. Jones was pretty shocked.

But the kicker of it all, and it will be one of the storylines for next season, is that the men in blue turn out to be the army of the 12 monkeys when Olivia checks in on the 12 babies in 2015.

What a season finale, and overall, it's first season. It's just amazing how each character faces the challenges to survive but also to change history.  This episode does deal with what these characters would do for the ones they love and fight for.

Overall, I give this episode an 8/10, and as for the series, it's a 9/10.

Season two will be very exciting to watch when it airs next year.

You can still watch the first season of "12 Monkeys" on syfy.com.