Double Feature: The Night Shift "Get Busy Livin'" & "Hot in the City"

"Get Busy Livin'"

In the first episode of a double-feature event, one doctor will learn from one of the patients that saving lives isn't the most important thing.

Shannon rides with the paramedics to a call of an overdose college student. Hearing his story gave her a sick reason not to feel bad for him. As they take the guy in the ambulance, someone else needs help, and she goes while the paramedics head off.

 Another student had jumped off the second floor, bleeding and with a broken bone sticking out of her leg. TC gets there and takes them back to Memorial. As soon as Scott sees her, they take her to the OR. The student's friend returns with her purse, hands it to TC, and finds a bottle of pills. After looking up the drug, a side effect causes suicidal thoughts. That pissed him off to talk to the pharmaceutical rep, Jessica Sanders, who is in the hospital to give Scott the heart veil that helps heart patients recover in half the time.

He should probably waited til talking with the patient before going after her because after a complication (puffing up like a balloon), he talked to her about the pills. She told him that she hadn't taken any, and she jumped off because she was just stressed out from college work. Later, after Sanders has been trying to sucker Topher and Jordan to switch drug reps to her company, TC apologizes to her on the spot. And there might be something with the way they looked at each other.

But the central part of this episode was about Jordan, who takes care of a cancer patient. The patient has spent most of her helping others and studying and has never been on a date. When Jordan tries to help her, she doesn't want any help but to die with dignity. Of course, Jordan can't take that and tries to get her to try a trial that Sanders' company had, but she tells her she'll do it unless Jordan talks to her about her.

Jordan opens up about her life, how after her dad died, she closed relationships and focused on work more and more. After opening up to her, Jordan talks to Sanders, and she's got the trial, but soon, her patient takes a turn for the worst. Jordan tries to save her, but when Topher comes in telling her that she's a DNR and the patient telling her to let her die, Jordan breaks down in tears and makes her comfortable with pain meds, and she dies.

Other things in this episode dealt with a lot of humor, from Sanders getting Topher the deal of a lifetime, a paid vacation away from his mother and kids. But also Drew and Kenny at Syd's kid karate tournament, which got weird looks from other parents as they cheered her on. And not to mention that Drew fell on her when showing her a move after a win and had broken her arm.

 Reflection will be below.

"Hot in the City"

The second episode of the double feature deals with the heat and relationships in a way.

The heat is on, and so are the relationships with some characters from Kenny and the nurse, TC and Sanders, Jordan and Sam, and Scott and TC's sister. 

TC and Topher take a female patient who seems to suffer from heat exhaustion. But when TC sees a rash on her chest and does some more tests, the diagnosis jumps to meningitis. But when her breathing became more and more of an issue, and at one point, she had a heart attack too. 

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As Topher and TC gathered their thoughts, TC rechecked her and found sink pealing on her hands and strawberry-looking tongue and came up with the diagnosis it was an infection in the heart and had to be operated on.

Jordan and Shannon had their hands full on their off day and out at a wrestling match. Jordan meets Victor and talks to her about his cousin, one of the masked wrestlers. But when a fight goes too far, things fly around, and it gets wild. Victor saves Jordan but gets hurt. And one of the ring ladies got injured, too.

As they get to the hospital, Jordan and Shannon take care of Victor as Drew takes the female who flew onto a chair and can't feel her legs.

Victor became the second biggest medical mystery of the episode as things kept getting worse for him. At one point, he was coughing blood and had to be rushed to the OR. There, they took out a tumor from his liver, but the patient kept getting worse after. Paul, Scott, and Jordan tried to figure it out before Victor died until Jordan figured out that it was parasites from the pork that he had eaten in Mexico.

On the other hand, with Drew, he had the most problematic case out of all. First, he promises the girl she'll walk again (big mistake!). After trying one thing that didn't turn out to work, they had to go into surgery. With no spinal cord specialist coming, Drew was the only one who had worked on the spinal cord back in Afghanistan.

Scott was a bit worried, but Topher trusted Drew to do it. After they went in, things became problematic from the back of the patient. Drew takes the risk to another level as he performs the surgery from her mouth. Yes, you heard me correctly, from the patient's mouth. HOLY CRAP!!

The kicker for this episode was that as soon as Jordan and Shannon get to the ER, the air conditioner shuts off on the hottest day of the year.  The episode ends with at least someone figuring out that one is dating someone. And Scott opens up to TC about dating his sister, which looks awkward!! Jordan seems to have broken up with Sam and is taking the dating world slow and social, too. TC and Jordan are on good terms, but I think they'll be back.

Reflection: 

For "Get Busy Livin'" I thought it was an excellent episode. I enjoyed Jordan's storyline in this one a lot more. She cares for her patients and tries to save them all, but for this one, she takes it very hard that she can't keep a patient. It's Flint's best performance. I also enjoyed the Kenny and Drew Odd Couple moment with Syd's daughter. That had me laughing and smiling. 

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

For "Hot in the City," I thought that it was good as this one brought the heat. When I say heat, I mean the medical problems for the characters to solve. It is challenging for the characters of Jordan and TC but also us. I felt like each character brought in an excellent performance. I can't name a single person. It had an outstanding balance of humor and drama. 

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch The Night Shift on Wednesday nights at 10/9c on NBC.

Syfy Renews 12 Monkeys for a Third Season

Great news for us fans of the hit Syfy series 12 Monkeys.

It was announced Wednesday that the time travel series is getting renewed for a third season containing 10 episodes. It's set to debut in 2017.

Based on the 1995 film of the same name, the Syfy series follows weary time traveler Jame Cole (Aaron Standford) and virologist Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull) as they attempt to save the world from the Army of the 12 monkeys, who release a plague that kills off most of humanity. In the current second season, the show has moved past the plague storyline and developed deeper into the true motivations of the Army and to destroy time by killing of Primaries under orders from the Witness.

The show also stars Barbra Sukowa, Kirk Acevedo, Todd Stashwick and Emily Hampshire, who's been receiving critical acclaim for her performance as Jennifer Gomnes. The series is shipped by executive producers Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett.

"Syfy and UCP have been incredible creative partners, and I'm thrilled that we are going to tell the next- even more twisty and emotional-chapter of this time travel adventure," Matalas tells Entertainment Weekly.

"This season of 12 Monkeys has proven to be a breakthrough," Says Jeff Wachtel, chief content officer of Universal Cable Production (that produces the series). "From its epic storytelling to its grand aesthetic, Terry and the cast and crew have invested boundless energy and passion, and it showed. New legions of fans will discover what devoted viewers already know: It's one of the best shows on television."

You can catch 12 Monkeys Monday nights at 9/8c on Syfy. New episodes will return July 11.

Spire Headed Discussion: The Night Shift "Three-Two-One"

It's one of The Night Shift's best episode of the season so far. So I'll just leave it like that and get down to the recapping.

It's the trail of the year in San Antonio, as a white man will get the verdict of whether he is guilty or not guilty in a shooting of a black man. Chaos as ruled the city with people on different sides. When the verdict gets to be announced the  suspect collapses in front of the judge and jury and soon taken to the Medical Center.

Topher, in a bit of a bad mood due to this event, has everyone on deck to help out. Kenny comes in late due to a cop pulling him over for speeding. He takes it out on mostly Paul, who doesn't see his point of view.

When the suspect gets to the hospital, Jordan and Kenny are assigned to treat him. Jordan tries to find the cause of his collapsing. After finding nothing wrong from the test that they perform, there is still something that Jordan thinks is wrong. When the suspect goes into a seizure. Topher comes in and ask about blood sugar and when he tested it it came up undetected. It turns out that the patient has a tumor in his pancreas, not cancer, but he wishes it was.

Meanwhile, TC is out in the field with the police, being the medical adviser if someone gets shot or injured. Soon, a white cop and a black kid both get shot and TC being the only one needs some help. Topher sends Scott and Paul out in he field. TC takes care of the cop while Paul and Scott treat the black kid. At one point a decision was made on which had to go first to the Medical Center. TC's went first, which didn't quite go well with Paul who thinks the kid deserves to go.

TC and the cop head towards the Medical Center and there Drew helps him in surgery. There they find three bullets in the chest and soon after the cop goes cardiac arrest and never recovers. But the bullets left TC wondering that the gun the kid had was a .38 but the bullets he found were from a .40. He talks with the cop's partner about it and she admitted to shooting him.

Back on the streets, Paul and Scott have their hands full with their patient. The crowds deserved the ambulance so they had to move the kid into a closed jewelry shop where Scott had to clap an artery. Soon the crowds get closer and causes a scene. This upset Paul even more along side that the kid should have gone first. After a trash can break the window, Paul goes out and ask for help. At first it didn't go well but than Paul really stepped up made the leader of the group help them make room for the chopper to land.

While this was all going on, Topher wasn't much having fun at all. Dealing with reporters isn't his thing and when they kept asking about the cop and kid situation, he tries to clear it up but doesn't. Shannon comes up with a perfect plan to shine the spotlight on a little boy who was separated from his mother and saved Topher from more embarrassment.

Paul and Scott gets to Medical Center, but can't go upstairs to surgery so they did it in the ER. Soon the kid seems that he will make it but needed more surgery when he had to go upstairs.

After that he tells Jordan that he doesn't regret shooting the guy, that he says was coming at him violently, that happen to be black. He tells her that he had not trouble talking to Kenny. But as he's released from the hospital and taken back to jail, someone comes up to him and starts shooting him in the chest and head. Jordan and Kenny rush him back to the ER but there was nothing that they could do as brain matter was on the bed.

I'll say this again, this happen to be one of the best episodes of the season so far. We got to see Kenny and Paul deal with this issue that were both in the opposite opinions until they realized what they have saw. This was Robert Bailey, Jr and JR Lemon's best performance. It really felt like one of those TV movie of the week kind of thing.

Overall,  I give this episode a 9.5/10.

NOTE: June 29th will be a special event episode at a special time 9/8c.

You can catch The Night Shift Wednesday nights at 10/9c on NBC.

Stranger Things - Trailer 1 - Netflix [HD]

On June 9th, Netflix released the trailer of their upcoming new sci-fi drama series, Stranger Things.

When a young boy disappears in Indiana in the 1980's, his mother must confront terrifying forces in order to get him back.

The series stars Winona Ryder, DAvid Harbour, Cara Buono, Charlie Heaton and Matthew Modine. The show's created by executive producers Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer and also wrote and directed all of the eight, hour long episodes. Also Shawn Levy serves as executive producer.

The trailer looks really creepy and mysterious. It shows a real supernatural element that really has me wanting to check this series out. I'm a HUGE fan of Ryder from films like Beetlejuice to Mr. Deeds. My only question (for now) is what in the hell did this boy saw that has him disappear?

Here's the trailer:


You can catch Stranger Things on Netflix July 15th.

Mr. Robot Gets Upgraded for Season 2 Premiere

With only a couple of weeks away from it's season 2, Mr. Robot is getting some upgrades before
it's premiere.

USA Network announced on Thursday that the Golden Globe winning drama's second season has bee expanded from 10 episodes to 12. Along with that, Season 2 will open with back to back episodes on Wednesday, July 13 at 10/9c and will be presented with limited commercial breaks.

After the supersized premiere at 11:30pm, USA Network will debut Hacking Robot, a live, hour-long after show that promises a "behind the scenes looks at the breakout drama. It could've gone with Talking Robot or Speaking Robot.

All episodes of Mr. Robot Season 2 will be directed by series creator Sam Esmail.

Here's a quick recap of Season 1.
Here's the trailer for Season 2.

You can catch Mr. Robot Wednesday, July 13th at 10/9c on USA Network.

Parenthood: The Night Shift "The Way Back"

Before tonight's new episode of The Night Shift, here's a recap of last week's episode.

Drew has finally made it home from his short service but before he goes to back to work, he makes a phone call to his mother that he won't be back til October and he'll have to miss their anniversary. He's hiding from something from them.

As soon as he walks in the ER, Kenny welcomes him back but ask why he's back a week early. Drew just wanted to get back to work and he did just that as a bride and her dad come to the ER. The bride comes in after falling in the pond while they say her dad was drunk.

Jordan took the bride as Drew took the father. As soon as Drew understand the father he tries to get his patient to talk to Jordan's patient. Jordan doesn't want that to happen right now and told him not to take on family situations.

After awhile in the ER, Jordan sees that her patient didn't have anything wrong in her head but when Shannon found a photo of her just before she fell. They get a consult from Paul, who gets all the details and figures out that it's a cardiac problem. And it sure was, it's a genetic condition, on which she got it from her father.

The bride really doesn't love her father, as he has never been around her life. He was in the army and did a lot of touring. She doesn't quiet understand what he has gone through but after her diagnosis she still blames her dad.

Meanwhile, as the bride's father was being treated with a cut and a fracture. They took his blood and tested. Kenny tells him that there was no alcohol detected in his blood. After listening to Kenny, he freaks out and starts throwing around a blade. Drew tries to take him down after he slash Kenny in the shoulder.

Drew takes him to get a scan, Scott meets him along the way until the dad starts freaking out again and than coughs out blood on Drew and Scott. They rush him to scope him and found out that he hasn't had any alcohol. He's suffering from alcohol withdraws and needs surgery.

Both father and bride go in, the bride wanted to talk to him but was out. When the bride comes out of surgery, everything was good. Unfortunately for her father, came the bad news that the alcohol had damaged his heart and while in surgery, he died on the table.

Jordan talk to Drew and tells him about how he and his dad was best friends. They went to ball parks and watch the game and played ball. But after he told him that he came out, he said that his dad didn't know who he was anymore and they drew apart more and more. He's afraid to tell him and his mother that he got married.

Drew did talk to his dad but what he got at the end wasn't what he was hoping for and Jordan helped calm him down.

Let's not forget about TC, Topher and Topher's mom's trip to the Casino. Trying to spend sometime with his mom before she heads back. Topher gives her to TC and have a good time until they're at the craps table and Topher's mom talks trash to a guy that's winning. Soon, the guy falls and suffers from a heart attack. Topher and TC get the guy back with ice water to wake him up. TC takes him to the hospital and left Topher with his mother.

Topher takes the chance and talks to her. After given her motherly advise, he goes after her on her rude remarks. She leaves and he falls her to the bathroom where she opens up to him about how she had a high paying job until she gave it up for him and his sister and moved to the United States. The only reason why she's tough on him is because she wants him to have all the opportunities. It was pretty good watching them settle their differences.

But she did give one hell of a surprise on him when she announced that she's staying with him and his family.

This was a very good episode, about family and reconnecting. I was impressed with Brendan Fehr as Drew and Jill Flint as Jordan with them two dealing the situation. Not to mention Ken Leung as Topher and his mother was really good too.

This episode had a lot of good laughs and broken some hearts as well.

Tonight's episode has the doctors and nurses dealing with a social issue that has been going on for awhile now. Here's a promo.

You can catch The Night Shift tonight at 10/9c on NBC.

Side note: Due to tonight's severe weather coming in my area, I may or may not get to see tonight's new episode of The Night Shift.

CBS Announces Premiere Dates

On Tuesday, CBS became the fourth broadcasting network to announce their premiere plan for the 2016-2017 season. As NBC, FOX and The CW did last week and it looks like the eye network will once again kicks things off with Thursday Night Football on Sept. 15.

The network announces it's new six-hour douc-series Case Closed, which examines the unsolved JonBenet Ramsay murder, which will air over three nights beginning on Sunday, Sept 18, Monday Sept. 19 and Sunday, Sept. 25 during premiere week.

Also for fans of Scorpion and Two Broke Girls, they'll return with a super-sized episodes.

Here's what the CBS Schedule looks like:

Thursday, Sept. 15
7:30pm Thursday Night Football Pre-Game Show
8:25pm Thursday Night Football (Denver @ Kansas City)

Sunday, Sept. 18
8:30pm Case Closed (JonBenet Ramsey, Part 1)

Monday, Sept. 19
8pm The Big Bang Theory (Season 10)
8:30pm Kevin Can Wait (premiere)
9pm Case Closed (JonBenet Ramsey, Part 2)

Tuesday, Sept. 20
8pm NCIS (Season 14)
9pm Bull (premiere)
10pm NCIS: New Orleans (Season 3)

Wednesday, Sept. 21
8pm Survivor (Season 33)
9:30pm Big Bother Finale

Friday, Sept. 23
8pm MacGyver (premiere)
9pm Hawaii Five-O (Season 7)
10pm Blue Bloods (Season 7)

Saturday, Sept. 24
10pm 48 Hours (Season 29)

Sunday, Sept. 25
7pm 60 Minutes (Season 49)
9pm Case Closed (JonBenet Ramsey, Part 3)

Monday, Sept. 26
9pm Presidental Debate

Wednesday, Sept. 28
9pm Criminal Minds (Season 12)
10pm Code Black (Season 2)

Sunday, Oct. 2
8pm NCIS: Los Angeles (Season 8)
9pm Madam Secretary (Season 3)
10pm Elementary (Season 5)

Monday, Oct. 3
9pm Scorpion (Season 3; two hour premiere)

Monday, Oct. 10
9pm Two Broke Girls (Season 6, one hour premiere)

Monday, Oct. 17
9:30pm The Odd Couple (Season 3)

Monday, Oct. 24 (Regular post-football lineup)
8pm Kevin Can Wait
8:30pm Man with a Plan (premiere)
9pm Two Broke Girls
9:30pm The Odd Couple
10pm Scorpion

Thursday, Oct. 27 (post-football lineup)
8pm The Big Bang Theory
8:30pm The Great Indoor (premiere)
9pm Mom (Season 4)
9:30pm Life in Pieces (Season 2)
10pm Pure Genius (premiere)

Mid-season: Return shows: The Amazing Race, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders and Undercover Boss. New: Training Day and Doubt.