US & CDN Television: Programming Notes

There are a few programming notes to report tonight.

ABC Television has moved back the season two premier of Rookie Blue from 16th June to 23rd June.  The show will air Thursday, 23rd June at 10:00 p.m. (EST).

The New York Times ran a report over the weekend that CBS Television had renewed both Hawaii Five-O and Blue Bloods for a second season.  Hopefully, official word from CBS will come within the next day or so but given the respectability and reliability of the New York Times, I think it's pretty safe to assume both shows are definitely returning next season.

Television: Season Finale and Premier Dates

Here's a quick list of the finale and premier dates for the shows you can find on this blog.  The dates compiled here were found on TVRage.  If these dates change or when information currently unavailable becomes available this post will be updated as will the list on the left-hand side of the blog.

Finale Dates:
Blue Bloods (US):  Friday, 13th May, 2011
Breakout Kings (US):  Sunday, 29th May, 2011
Hawaii Five-O (US):  Monday, 16th May, 2011
Vampire Diaries (US):  Thursday, 12th May, 2011

Premier Dates:
Luther, Series 2 (UK):  Date currently unknown
Offspring, Series 2 (AUS):  Monday, 16th May, 2011
Rookie Blue, Season 2 (CDN):  Thursday, 23rd June, 2011
Tangle, Series 3 (AUS):  Date currently unknown
White Collar, Season 3 (US):  Tuesday, 7th June, 2011

Updated 25th May, 2011 to reflect new airdate for Rookie Blue.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.13 "Takedown"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Thirteen, Takedown
Original Air Date:  September 9, 2010

Callaghan put in an offer to buy a house and asks Andy to live with him.  Peck and Epstein are involved in a secret undercover operation with Detective Boyd.  Andy and Diaz go to a disturbance at Epstein's girlfriends house and end up blowing the undercover operation.  Peck must step up to help Diaz before it's too late.

Uh-oh.  Looks like Andy has a hand in blowing yet another undercover operation.  First, she blew the one Sam Swarek was working on at the beginning of the season by arresting him.  Now, she and Diaz have blown a major drug operation.  Both Swarek and Barber can see where Andy acted as a normal cop would by seeing something suspicious in a vehicle and checking it out.  Boyd is still furious.  Swarek ends up getting the man Andy arrested to give him information about the drug buy.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.12 "To Serve or Protect"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Twelve, To Serve or Protect
Original Air Date:  September 9, 2010

It's evaluation day for the rookies.  Williams and McNally respond to the death of a teenage girl, Julia, at a party.  Nash's ex is wanting back in the picture and Jerry seems a bit worried about it.

Diaz and Epstein find copies of their evaluations and aren't pleased at what they say.  Knowing they have one more shift before they receive those evaluations, they want to prove everyone wrong, prove that they are good cops.

McNally is worried when her father didn't show up for one of the nightly meetings he's been attending.  He returns her call saying he attended another meeting.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Ben Bass Interview

Anyone who has read any of my Rookie Blue posts the past few months has got to know that I'm a fan of Ben Bass' character, Sam Swarek.  I'm a definite cheerleader for Team Swarek hoping that, eventually, Andy McNally and dashing officer Swarek will find happiness together.  (I've been a fan of Bass for a while now so maybe I'm a little biased.)

tvfanatic.com recently published an exclusive interview with Ben Bass where he talks about the show, his character and the people he works with.  He also reveals that they started working on season two of Rookie Blue on September 1st.  It's a great interview and well worth the few minutes to read if you are a fan of the show, of Bass or his character.

http://www.tvfanatic.com/2010/08/exclusive-interview-ben-bass-on-rookie-blue-character-second-sea/

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.11 "To Serve or Protect"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Eleven, To Serve or Protect
Original Air Date:  September 2, 2010

Epstein and Diaz see someone in their squad car as they are leaving a call.  They chase the person but he gets away.  The call they make reporting the incident becomes a tool to make a point at the next briefing (as well as a good joke).  McNally and Swarek do a favor to his nurse friend Monica by taking a statement from a patient.  The statement leads to the discovery of the murder of a man that was a suspect in one of McNally's fathers old cases.  Some of the evidence in the murder points towards Tommy McNally.  Shaw finds the person who was in Diaz and Epstein's car, The Guardian, was accessing information in the car. 

Epstein and Diaz go to the apartment of the drug dealer The Guardian accessed information about and find Guardian at the building when they arrive.  They manage to capture him this time.  When they get him back to the Barn, the seasoned officers are right there with their cameras to take pictures and further tease Epstein and Diaz.  The more Diaz and Epstein talk with Terry Porter (Guardian), the more they learn he isn't what they originally thought.  He's a guy who made a mistake as a kid and is trying to do something good.  Using photographs Porter was able to take, the police can work to make a case against a local drug dealer.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.10 "Big Nickel"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Ten, Big Nickel
Original Air Date:  August 26, 2010


The rookies spend some time with Shaw at the shooting range for re-certification.  McNally is the only one who qualifies.  Swarek and McNally are assigned to transfer a prisoner.  Peck and Epstein are assigned to the case of a naked John Doe claiming to have amnesia.  Detective Barber has lost the case notebook for a case he has coming up and Nash and Diaz help him try to reconstruct the case in his mind.  The four rookies who didn't qualify go back to the shooting range for a second chance.


McNally doesn't like the thought of spending 10 hours in a car with Swarek and even he begs Williams to take over for him.  Williams refuses, of course.  Swarek doesn't want to talk at all and Andy is uncomfortable with that.  While at a diner, the atmosphere between the two gets very awkward so to ease the tension a bit, Swarek makes some old jokes with the waitress that McNally gets a good laugh from.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.9 "Girlfriend of the Year"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Nine, Girlfriend of the Year
Original Air Date:  August 19, 2010


Andy confides in Tracy that she hooked up with Swarek but that nothing happened because the lights came back on.  Swarek gives McNally and Nash the job of putting shredded documents back together until a bigger case calls them all away.  Epstein and Shaw are working together and Peck and Diaz are partnered this week catching speeders.  A routine speeding case ends up as the search for an abducted little girl, Rebecca.


A car and a truck that speed past Shaw and Epstein end up in an accident.  The driver of the truck is nowhere to be found but the woman driving the car is in serious condition.  After running the plates, they learn that an Amber Alert was issued for a little girl last seen in that truck.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.8 "Honor Roll"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Eight, Honor Roll
Original Air Date:  August 12, 2010


Detective Callaghan asks Swarek to help get McNally out of work on time so they can sneak away to Callaghan's fishing cabin for the weekend.  Senior officers are scheduled for off-duty retraining and rookies are assigned to work community outreach at local high schools.  Peck gets to help with the re-tests.  Nash and Epstein are assigned to a prep school while McNally and Diaz go to a public school.  McNally and Diaz become involved in a case of police corruption when their outreach at the public school falls through.


Peck strikes again.  As Nash is getting ready to leave for the prep school with Epstein, Nash mentions she doesn't want to spend the day with teenagers.  Peck just has to take the opportunity to say it's because it brings up bad memories for Nash:  teen mother, unpopular and shunned.  I really dislike Peck but I've got to give Charlotte Sullivan major credit for her portrayal of her.  She knows how to bring a very unlikeable character to life vividly. 

Things are tense between McNally and Swarek.  Wonder why?  I've said it before and I'll say it again:  she's with the wrong guy.  Mr. Pretty Boy Detective is the wrong guy for her.  Swarek is tough, smart, cool and he really seems to care about her a lot.  I know if I had to make the choice, it wouldn't take me very long to make it and there wouldn't need to be that much thought involved!

Swarek challenges the detectives at the retraining session.  Officer Williams takes down the detective she goes against pretty swiftly.  Swarek and Callaghan go head to head and Swarek takes all of his aggression out on him during the session.

The dates are wrong with the school McNally and Diaz were assigned to and, after they leave, they see a beaten man in an alley.  A policeman is implicated in the beating by witnesses.  The case goes downhill fast when it becomes clear that the policeman, the partner of Gail Peck's brother, is a dirty cop.  They take what they know upstairs and Swarek steps up and admits that they tried to talk to him about it but he was distracted. 

McNally and Diaz do the right thing but it causes a lot of problems for them.  Gail chooses her brother over Diaz.  Steve Peck warns Diaz to watch his own back because no one else will.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out in future episodes.  Just how hard things will get for the two of them before they get better.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.7 "Hot & Bothered"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Seven, Hot & Bothered
Original Air Date:  August 5, 2010

A heat wave is going through causing some people to act strangely, thus causing more work for the police.  Swarek and McNally pull over an ice cream truck that is being driven erratically only to find that the truck was being driven by a young girl.  Peck and Epstein find themselves faced with caring for an agoraphobic woman going into labor in her home.  Shaw and McNally respond to a case that might possibly tie into the ice cream truck incident earlier that morning.  The power goes out across the city turning things into a nightmare for the police. 


Peck and Epstein must deliver the baby on their own as they can't reach emergency services because of the power outage and ambulances are backed up and cannot get to them.  Peck is rather whiny about the entire situation and actually wants to arrest an agoraphobic woman in the middle of labor to get her out of the house and to a hospital.  Great people skills, huh?  Epstein refuses to let her do that and they end up delivering the baby beautifully.  Epstein's caring nature even succeeds in getting the woman to leave the house to accompany her premature baby to the hospital.  Of course, later, Peck thinks she was "pretty great" during the whole delivery.  I don't think so! 

Swarek and McNally seem to be joined at the hip much to McNally's displeasure.  She doesn't feel he trusts her as a police officer much and is writing all the reports and getting his coffee.  As Epstein put it, she's his "hot secretary with a gun". 

When Swarek is injured and his nurse "friend" arrives at the station to administer nitroglycerin to someone else, the nurse insists he stay to get stitches in his hand.  Rather than send McNally out on her own, Swarek partners her up with Shaw.  They respond to a call of shots fired but instead find it to be a case of a missing young girl.  The mother was worried about her daughter and feared the police wouldn't respond if they didn't think the situation was more dire. 

Swarek talks to the little girl who stole the ice cream truck for McNally and finds out that she was running from a man at the park.  Swan is in a mess of trouble when the man the girl was running from hits him over the head when Swan comes too close to discovering his secret.  The man shoots Swan but, thankfully, his vest saves his life but McNally must go after the man before he can kill the little girl.

McNally is forced to shoot the man when he draws on her.  She did as Swarek advised her at the beginning of the show, she followed her instincts.  Of course, she's shaken by what happened.  Callaghan surprises her by wanting to spend time working on the case of the man McNally just shot instead of spending the evening with her.  She talks with Swarek for a few minutes and he tells her if she needs to talk just call him.  She goes home and spends some time crying then leaves and goes to Swarek's house.  She doesn't want to talk and she and Swarek end up in his bedroom when the power comes back on.  He gets up to turn a few things off (WTF??!!) and McNally gets a call from Callaghan.  She doesn't answer it but she gets dressed to leave all the same.

What was Swarek thinking?  Let the TV blare!  Let the radio go.  Let the blender blend to its heart content.  When he got up to turn things off he really turned things off.  Just when I thought Team Swarek was going to score some major points.  Sigh.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes about from all this.  McNally is clearly having serious doubts about her relationship with Mr. Pretty Boy Detective so I'm holding out hope that Swarek still has a good chance.

CDN Television, Rookie Blue, Episode 1.6, "Bullet Proof"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Six, Bullet Proof
Original Air Date:  July 29, 2010

Williams and Nash foil a carjacking that endangers the life of a baby and in the process manage to arrest a prime suspect in a murder that happened a week ago.  The suspects partner is still at large.  Catching him and linking the suspect to the murder is the focus of this weeks main case.  McNally gets Detective Callaghan to convince Swarek to loan her to Homicide for his case.  Epstein and Nash are assigned to going through impounded vehicles and cataloging every item they find in them.  When McNally loses a witness, Benny, who has evidence in the case, she calls Swarek for help.

Peck and Diaz are partnered in this episode and it seems like she wants to do everything in her power to make him miserable for the day.  When he asks her why she's so mean she just laughs at him.  Her mood quickly turns when they respond to a vehicle vs. bicycler accident.  When they end up catching a murderer something surprising happens between Peck and Diaz:  they hook up!  Peck and Diaz.  Nice guy and mean girl.  I guess opposites really do attract. I never would have thought they'd get together.

When things take a turn for the worse with Benny, McNally is understandably upset.  Rather than spend the evening at The Penny with Mr. Pretty Boy Detective, she and Swarek apparently go to fix some plumbing at Benny's foster mothers home.  Doesn't sound like much of a night?  It makes sense after watching the episode.  Score one for Team Swarek!!

Slowly, relationships are starting to form between the rookies and the more seasoned police officers.  Nash and Williams had a conversation that led to both women having a better understanding of each other.  Williams ends up joining Nash and Epstein at The Penny after work. 

I think it will be good to see some friendships forming between the rookies and seasoned cops.  The rookies have been on the job for a little while now and they are all proving themselves to be pretty good police officers (yes, even Peck).  The 'let's make fun of the rookies' mentality wasn't quite as strong in this episode and that wasn't a bad thing at all.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.5 "Broad Daylight"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Five, Broad Daylight
Original Air Date:  July 22, 2010

The main case this week was a string of B&E's, one of which, resulted in an injury to a maid at the house being robbed.  Nash doesn't want anyone to know she has a child because she doesn't want them to see her differently.  Diaz's girlfriend wants him to propose to her and Epstein thinks Diaz should stay a single man.  McNally spends the night with Callaghan but leaves before he wakes up.  Diaz and Epstein stake out a wedding where they think the burglars will strike next and end up revealing a little too much about themselves to Shaw and a female detective monitoring them in the van.

The main case this week was pretty straightforward.  The police were investigating a string of B&E's and when they thought they had their guys at one crime scene it turned out to be something else entirely.  It does provide a good way for one of our rookies to screw up yet again.  This time, it isn't just McNally making the mistakes.  Nash steps into it this time.

Nash is wanting to keep the fact she has a child secret from everyone else in the department because she wants to be seen as a cop and not as a mum that's also a cop.  Not even Detective Barker knows about her son.  Things don't exactly go as she plans and her secret is out.  It isn't as bad as she thought and even Barker is more accepting of her son than I thought he would be.  Nash's ex, and the father of her son, is a bit selfish.  His son seems more like a burden to him than anything as he wants to have his fun with his new girlfriend instead of taking care of his child.

Peck continues to be super annoying.  She doesn't really do anything other than cause trouble.  At some point later on that may play a big part but for right now, she just gets on my nerves.  Diaz doesn't really seem to keen on the thought of getting married despite the fact that he's basically been given an ultimatum by his girlfriend.  Epstein wants Diaz to stay single so they can continue enjoying the wild bachelor life.  I don't think Epstein quite counted on Diaz's girlfriend being gorgeous.

Swarek gave McNally a warning about Callaghan that Mr. Pretty Boy Detective always chooses a new rookie each year to chase after which she brushes off.  I know Mr. Pretty Boy Detective can't be all he's cracked up to be and McNally has some issues she needs to work through.

All in all, this was a quiet week.  Nothing major happened and the show seemed to be focused more on the characters this week instead of the crime, particularly Nash.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.4, "Signals Crossed"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Four, Signals Crossed
Original Air Date:  July 15, 2010

An undercover prostitution operation has been organized with McNally, Peck and Diaz as undercover prostitutes.  A rookie was requested for a homicide investigation and Nash volunteers for the assignment getting to work with Detective Callaghan.  Epstein is ordered to sit in his patrol car until needed which displeases him since he wants in on the undercover action.  While undercover, Diaz is approached by a man looking for his missing son.  McNally is ordered back to the Barn when she makes a mistake on the undercover operation and both she and Epstein are called into the bosses office.  McNally gets the idea that they can make a deal with Sadie, a prostitute Epstein arrested earlier in the evening, to make a bigger case and redeem themselves.  They take the info she gives to and when they learn they need proof, they take Sadie to where the guns are located.  She goes in to get a photo and everyone gets into trouble. 

There was some good humor in this episode.  Diaz was clearly uncomfortable with his roll as a gay hustler.  The seasoned veterans had some great laughs at his expense and, I must admit, that just seeing how uncomfortable he was with the entire situation was funny. 

Peck seemed entirely too comfortable with the whole trashy hooker thing.  She was apparently quite pleased with herself when a John rolled up next to her and propositioned her over McNally.  Even if it was my job, I don't think I'd be pleased to be singled out as a hooker over someone else. 

It was nice to see Epstein taking a larger role in this episode.  He has kind of been in the background for the past three shows. 

McNally is still with Mr. Pretty Boy Detective.  They seem quite happy together and he does seem like the perfect guy.  He remembers the little things, he's nice, he's sensitive.  It's got to be too good to be true!  There has to be something wrong with him somewhere!  But maybe I'm just biased since I'm on Team Sam.  I have nothing personal against Mr. Pretty Boy Detective, I really don't.

Rookie Blue has already been renewed for a second season which is great news as I'm still enjoying the show quite a bit.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.3 "Fight Night"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Two, Fight Night
Original Air Date:  July 8, 2010

Everyone, including McNally's retired cop father, is making plans for Fight Night.  A briefing is held about two policemen who have been killed in 18 months by special bullets that can penetrate vests and the operation to try and get said bullets off the streets.  McNally and Peck are stationed at the back and Peck asks McNally about her being "friendly" with Swarek then warns her to be careful.  A fight upstairs from the target apartment threatens to interrupt surveillance and Peck and McNally are ordered to stop it.  Beljac, the subject of the operation is arrested smoothly.  Nash and Epstein arrest one of the Beljac's associates when he flees from the car Beljac arrived in.  It is later learned that the fleeing suspect was Beljac's younger brother.  McNally talks Peck into going back to the apartment where the argument was earlier in the day to help stop a domestic violence situation.  The husband is arrested but can only be held for 2 hours so McNally and Peck has to find a way to protect his wife.  Once they place her in a shelter they go to Fight Night.  Nash goes up against a ringer at Fight Night while McNally's father spends the evening tossing back scotch.  Round one goes rough but Nash comes out strong in round two and wins the match.  McNally has to stop a fight between her drunk father and another man.  The woman at the shelter goes back to her husband and McNally tries to stop her from doing so.  McNally goes to the bar for a drink with Luke.

Wow!  It seems like this hour this show is on goes by pretty fast!

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.2 "Mercury Retrograde"

Rookie Blue
Season One, Episode Two, "Mercury Retrograde"
Original Air Date:  July 1, 2010

In the second episode of this new Canadian crime drama, McNally starts the show off by arresting a mugger while out of uniform.  Sam Swarek is in uniform because he didn't want to take a desk job and he isn't suitable for undercover because his cover was blown by McNally.  This week, they are looking for an escaped murderer.  The training partnerships have changed.  Diaz and Nash are assigned to the desk to man the tip line, Shaw is now training Epstein, Williams now has Peck and McNally is now partnered with the undercover officer she arrested on her first day on the job, Sam.  Sam and McNally go to get a confidential informant of his.  He sends her in with the orders to arrest her on a warrant which he hands to McNally.  She has problems from the start and must call her father for advice.  She makes the arrest, which isn't really an arrest at all because the warrant is as fake as the charges.  The informant, Emily, is the accountant of Anton Hill, the subject of Sam's failed eight-month undercover operation.  After Emily gets away from the man Sam left her with to watch over her, they find that Emily's apartment has been trashed and she is missing.  Nash gets a tip that leads the police to a restaurant where they find their escapee.  Peck, however, lets him get away.  They follow him to a university where Epstein corners and subdues him but Peck rushes in and steals the arrest right from under Epstein because "she needs it".  Meanwhile, Sam has left McNally at the station while he goes to find Emily.  McNally puts two and two together to figure out where the missing data they are looking for is and she leaves the station to get it.  Sam gets in trouble with Hill's accomplices and McNally comes to his and Emily's aid.  Sam and McNally almost kiss outside the bar where they go to unwind but both pull back, Sam saying McNally isn't his type and McNally saying she doesn't date cops.  Peck sees what happens between them.

I'm still enjoying this show.  So far, it hasn't done anything to make me roll my eyes and think "oh, man, this is pretty bad".  I hope it never does, quite frankly, as I've had enough of that feeling already this week.

CDN Television: Rookie Blue, Episode 1.1 "Fresh Paint"

Rookie Blue is a Canadian police drama airing on the American television network, ABC.  The series, formerly known as Coppers, is set and filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and follows five rookie cops as they embark on their new jobs protecting and serving the citizens of Toronto.

Andy McNally (Missy Peregrym), Dov Epstein (Gregory Smith), Traci Nash (Enuka Okuma), Chris Diaz (Travis Milne) and Gail Peck (Charlotte Sullivan) report for their first day on the job and meet their seasoned partners.  Peck and Epstein are assigned to the station rather than getting jobs on the street.  Andy McNally is partnered with Oliver Shaw and the two are called to a disturbance at a neighborhood crack house that turns into a murder.  On her first day, Andy makes a huge rookie mistake when she arrests an undercover narcotics officer and ends up ruining an eight-month operation.  She later gets the chance to redeem herself in a big way when she arrests the shooter.