Last week at Comic-Con, I attended the Dexter panel and we were treated to a very intriguing and entertaining preview of Season 4! Here is the sneak peek and here is the entire panel, for your viewing pleasure.

The panel featured stars Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter and fabulous new addition John Lithgow, as well as executive producers Sara Colleton, John Goldwyn, Clyde Phillips and Melissa Rosenberg (who is also the screenwriter for the Twilight movies).

I was thrilled when they unveiled a very cool animated webisode prequel, Dexter: Early Cuts, which will be debuting in the fall. There will also be a Dexter video game for the iPhone and iPod Touch!

And of course I had to pick up two of the Dexter bobbleheads from the Entertainment Earth booth; Dexter and Debra are now hanging out with Ben Linus, Dwight Schrute and Hiro Nakamura in my office.

If you are not familiar or caught up with Dexter, I highly recommend that you rent or buy Seasons 1-3 before the fourth season kicks off on September 27. The series is easily in my top 10 favorite shows of all time list, and you will not find a more complex, likable villain than Dexter Morgan anywhere else on television.

Of the three actresses from Friends, I still find that Courteney Cox has the best comedic timing. Her series Dirt was a true guilty pleasure and I was quite entertained by her stint on Scrubs as well. She is the only reason that I plan to give the new ABC show Cougar Town a chance when it debuts in the fall. Based on that title alone, it may have otherwise been a pass.

By the way, there is something about Jennifer Westfeldt (who will be on 24 next season; she also co-wrote & starred in the fantastic Kissing Jessica Stein) that has always reminded me of Lisa Kudrow. The above is a Gap ad that she appeared in with her boyfriend of over ten years, Jon Hamm (Mad Men).

I digress, as usual. 

There is no way I was going to pass on the opportunity to play with the title of this new HBO series. And thankfully, when you Google the word hung…actual websites for the show and for American Idol reject William Hung populate the first page.  I imagined the search result would be far more graphic.

HBDoh!

Like many, I have been generally disappointed by the original programming that HBO has offered since the end of Deadwood, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos. Currently, I am only a dedicated fan of Entourage and True Blood. Yes, I know – I should also be watching In Treatment (it tops my long list of shows to watch after Lost ends next season).

Well…Hung

In short (not so much), Thomas Jane plays a down-on-his-luck, divorced high school coach who decides to market his best asset in order to improve his life; though we do not get a glimpse of the whip behind his zip, we quickly ascertain that there is potential for both great success and comedy of errors.

I haven’t made up my mind about how I feel about leading man Jane yet. However, I do love his partner-in-pimp Jane Adams; she has been in some of my favorite films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Wonder Boys) and reminds me of Susan Sarandon in the 80′s. Personal life aside, I enjoy watching Anne Heche on the small screen. It is a shame that the underrated Men in Trees was canceled before the show was able to wrap up her story line.

Separated at birth?

I do love that the children of the good looking Jane and Heche are anything but Stepford. By the way, goth teen Damon is a young doppelganger for Jermaine on Flight of the Conchords. 

Rich in quirky

The creative team behind the series gives me hope for its future. Hung is from the mind of Colette Burson and Dmitry Lipkin, who brought us The Riches.  The tone and feel of first episode reminded me of an Alexander Payne movie…so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the pilot was directed by Payne himself (Election, Sideways).

Initial grade: B

I recommend that you give Hung a shot and decide for yourselves. As a longtime viewer, I feel as though I am entitled to hold HBO to higher standards. Given the network’s track record and brilliant programming in years past, I remain cautiously optimistic that Hung will improve with each episode.

In the meantime, however, I am enjoying Showtime’s resurgence and fare far more: Dexter, Nurse Jackie, United States of Tara and Weeds.

So bookmark TVOvermind and stay tuned for further information and updates here as well.  And as always, I encourage you to follow me on Twitter and friend me on Facebook for more frequent updates!

Before I begin, some housekeeping.

a) There are what may be considered MAJOR spoilers below for recent season finale episodes of Bones, Eli Stone, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Medium and The Unusuals; read at your own risk if you are behind on your favorite shows. 

b) I have absolutely nothing against the writers of these shows and episodes. This is a personal perspective and emotional response.

Like many people, I absorb and watch television to escape reality. It is not that I want or need to remove myself from my own life for a few hours at a time; I simply enjoy the ride and appreciate the effort that is put into providing that journey for us.

We just finished watching the season finale of Medium. And it made me angry. Not directly at this series and not because it ended in a cliffhanger. I am generally disgruntled with the number of shows that chose to end their seasons with lead characters who have brain tumors.

I’m sure it’s mere coincidence that so many shows traveled down this particular road. And obviously the circumstances are varying in each. But I am frustrated by how unoriginal and commonplace the concept has become.

Why do I care so much about fictional illness?

Because my good friend and co-worker Jackie was diagnosed with a brain tumor a year ago this month. She endured a very successful operation that removed almost all of it, and returned to work six months later. Jackie’s spirit and strength are an inspiration, but as she reminds us…it’s still there. That someone so kind and beautiful and damn funny has brain cancer at 30 years old…makes me question both fate and faith.

So no, I do not like seeing so many people on television living under similar circumstances. Jackie has always been a huge Grey’s fan, and chooses to continue watching the show despite our advice otherwise. Those of you familiar with the series are keenly aware that not only is one of the main characters a brain surgeon, but one of the other main characters was just diagnosed with and apparently died from a brain tumor at the end of the season.

Perhaps I am noticing a pattern more right now because I am sensitive to this particular affliction; other instances of it have occurred on many shows over the years. The brain tumors of Mark Greene (ER) and Nate Fisher (Six Feet Under) certainly come to mind in retrospect. But it is frustrating and odd that Booth (Bones), Izzie (Grey’s), Alison (Medium) and Eric (The Unusuals) all developed brain tumors during this same television time period. 

By the way, I am very aware that neither Greg House nor Eli Stone had brain tumors; they were cursed with vivid hallucinations due to a mental breakdown and brain aneurysm, respectively. But their behavior and symptoms alone were similar enough to warrant inclusion here. To be honest, I am also crossing my fingers that Olivia’s hallucinations on Fringe are not the result of a tumor.

My point is that when art really imitates life, disbelief is no longer joyfully suspended.

post-script
I’m telling you right now that when Lost ends next season, if it turns out to have been one huge hallucination from the mind of a character who has a brain tumor…I will need to be locked in a padded room for a while. Of all the possible scenarios for my favorite series to end, I am unable to fathom one in which the passengers of Flight 815 have shared this vision together as patients in the same hospital or mental institution. No.