Sigh. We still haven't gotten over the fact that Hidden Palms is (most likely) over. What are we supposed to watch tonight?! Our Wednesdays are lackluster without Cliff and Jesse Jo to liven them up.
Anyway -- Jason C. recaps last week's dramatic finale -- and asks you how YOU would've ended it differently.
Michael Cassidy stole our hearts as creepy-with-a-soft-side Cliff on Hidden Palms. Now, TVGuide.com reports that he'll be stirring things up as the editor-in-chief of The Daily Planet this fall on Smallville! Oh, and that's not all... sounds like he'll also be a love interest for Lois (!).
There's already been some grumbling about Cassidy's relative youth -- at 24, he's pretty young to be running the paper. Does that bother you? We're willing to go with it until we see how he does. Based on his performance on Hidden Palms, we think the guy can handle anything (okay, yes, we're biased because he gave us a great one-on-one interview and was totally nice).
Are you guys excited about this new development? Would you have preferred an older actor in the role, or are you ready to give Cassidy a chance? Discuss!
We love Hidden Palms here, too, and we'd be sad to see it go. Our Wednesdays wouldn't be the same without sassy Jesse Jo, shady but oh-so-hot Cliff, and of course, the blonde hotness that is Johnny and Greta. So see what you can do, and those of you already involved in the campaign -- let us know how it's going! Keep the momentum up for the final week, and maybe HP's fate will turn around.
Except... isn't that EXACTLY what happened the first time around, with Eddie's supposed suicide? No one asked questions, everyone made assumptions, and it took Johnny's arrival in town to stir up the mystery again. You'd think these folks would learn not to make the same mistake twice! But they totally did, and they seemed content to embrace in the light of police sirens -- and then never discuss the Nolans again.
How could no one notice Skip pocketing that laptop!? It was so obvious. We're thinking that must've been a setup for a possible second season (which, sob, we doubt we'll ever get to see).
Were you surprised that Maria Nolan sent Johnny that video of Eddie's final moments? After telling him to butt out, it seemed weird that she'd choose him, out of everyone else in the town she could've shared it with. Why wouldn't she send it to Cliff, Liza, or even Greta? All of them at least knew her son, unlike Johnny. Plus, if Skip finds out Johnny has that tape, Johnny's a marked man.
The finale of Hidden Palms airs tonight at 8/7c, and we really need to know who was behind this whole Eddie murder/suicide/mysterious death. Last week's double-episode evening complicated the who-dun-it even further. Just about everyone has a motive (except Jesse Jo, we hope!), and there's been so much shady, promiscuous behavior going on that we don't know who to trust in Palm Springs. Jason C. brings you up-to-date for the finale!
Here's an early holiday week treat: part two of Jason C.'s exclusive interview with Leslie Jordan. It's a full five minutes packed with Leslie's answers to fan questions. Plus, he discusses the release of his memoirs, working on Ugly Betty, and being pranked by George Clooney. We love this man!
D.W. Moffett is jumping from a luxurious desert oasis to the African veldt, taking the lead role in the CW’s family show “Life is Wild.” Moffett will play a veterinarian who uproots his family from a cushy life in the US to a South African game preserve.
We’re guessing this means things don’t look good for Hidden Palms’ return, but that’s not a great surprise, alas. However, we’re happy we’ll get another chance to bond with D.W. on the CW.
We’re also guessing that after being surrounded by backstabbing and/or lecherous neighbors, hidden motives, mysterious deaths and a pissed-off stepson, D.W. will be thrilled to move to a place where the only thing he has to worry about is being eaten by lions – and pissed-off children. Some things you just can’t escape.
Are you excited to see D.W. take on African wildlife, or would you prefer to see him stay in Palm Springs? Which is more dangerous, Hidden Palms or the African wilderness? Are you more likely to tune into “Life is Wild” now that D.W. is on board? Share all in the comments!
He also spent much of the first hour in bed with various women: “I forgot how fun and perverted you are,” purrs Eddie’s mom. “God, you’re like that little battery bunny!” squeals Nikki. Too bad both women end up mad at him – Nikki, because she saw him making out with Maria, and Maria, because he tries to end it all with her because he really cares about Nikki. Dudes, Maria is a bit psycho. It doesn’t help that Tess finds her in bed with Cliff at the end of the episode. That’s going to be an awkward conversation.
And even when he was doing bad things – sleeping with his dead friend’s mother, having a hissy fit at stolen evidence, confronting Johnny on the missing dress – we couldn’t help but feel for the guy. He’s so desperate for someone to give him a chance. “I’m not the bad guy you think I am,” he tells Liza. The only one who seemed to believe that was Nikki – and he screwed that up. How hard was it to watch Nikki almost give into Cliff at the end of the two hours, and then get the strength to send him away? Poor Cliff – you could just tell he’d lost his last lifeline. There’s no normal left for him anymore.
And poor Nikki – she’s so cute and sweet when Cliff says he wants to be her first official boyfriend (as opposed to her umpteenth drunken hook-up), and so, so heartbroken when she sees Cliff with Maria. Thank goodness she’s got Jesse Jo to help her out – did anyone else get all wibbley when Jesse Jo was talking about his kids, and told Nikki that she might be his favorite?
How awesome was Jesse Jo? We finally got to see him in all his drag-queen glory, taking the stage as Tammy Wynette to sing “Stand By Your Man.” Even better than that was seeing him in protective mode, trying to save Nikki from Cliff – and herself. He’s just such a mother hen, with one hell of a wicked tongue. And you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a man in a silky robe wearing copious eyeshadow threaten someone more than a foot taller than him with a sparkly Lucite stiletto-heel shoe. Which was your favorite Jesse Jo quote?
What's not to love about Hidden Palms's Leslie Jordan? He chatted with Jason C. about his favorite Hidden Palms scene, telling his mother about playing a transvestite, and being the moral compass of the show!
Check back here next week for part two -- Leslie answers fan questions and talks about some cool new projects he's doing!
Jason C. recaps last week's two-hour Hidden Palms event! The clues are pouring in, but who should we trust -- snoopy Liza, mysterious Greta, manipulative Cliff, or that creepy Skip? Well... probably not Skip. But on to the recap!
Creator Kevin Williamson talked to The Desert Sun (a Palm Springs newspaper). Interesting tidbit: he'd wanted the soapy drama to be called "Palm Springs," but The CW changed that.
Williamson doesn't sound thrilled about how the network's promoting his show: "I don't think this show is marketed to the extent it could have been. I feel like we're getting the ratings for the amount of marketing they're putting into us."
What do you guys think? Hidden Palms fans, we know you're out there. Do you think the show should've been promoted more? Would it have done better with a fall premiere? Or would it have helped to air the show after an established hit like OTH? Tell us what you think!
Let's take the mystery first. Liza's looking crazier and crazier, even though there's a good chance she's right that Cliff and Greta had something to do with Eddie's death. IMing Johnny pretending to be Eddie, breaking into Cliff's house and snooping through his things -- she's making it hard for Johnny, or anyone, to trust her. And Cliff's on to her. How creepy was that scene when he got in her face and warned her to butt out? He has a way of making everything darkly hot, even threats! But we have to agree that Liza has a few good points. Why would Cliff have Greta's bloody Halloween costume buried in his floorboards? Something's not right there.
Meanwhile, Johnny and Greta made up after she told him that she slept with Cliff the night before Eddie killed himself. She thinks the suicide is her fault! Rather than question why she'd sleep with Cliff, Johnny just makes out with her and then asks a lot of questions about Eddie. Greta has a suicide note that she claims Eddie wrote, but when Johnny tells Liza, she says there's no way Eddie wrote that note, as it cites a poet he couldn't stand. And she says it very definitively, as if she's the authority on Eddie's likes and dislikes. Hmmm. Could there have been something going on between those two before Eddie's death? It almost seems that way...
We continue to enjoy Cliff in every scene. He's so deliciously creepy -- manipulative, but with a soft side (or should we say, a "soft and chewy center?"). When he was beating up on Travis's car, it was strangely attractive. Nikki apparently felt the same way, since she took that moment to finally give in to Cliff's advances and make out with him.
Doesn't it seem like Cliff's got an almost Oedipal thing going on with his mom, Tess? We get that Travis is a tool, but Cliff seemed to go out of his way to drive the man to the brink of insanity. When Travis saw that Cliff had ruined his ride and almost killed the kid, Tess came to the rescue with a gun (and a witty quip about being Texan to boot), kicking Trav out for good. She apologized to Cliff: "You must think your mama's a complete fool!", and they embraced... and call us crazy, but it seemed like the scene had romantic undertones. Or maybe that's just the beauty of Cliff's character -- he can muster up chemistry with just about everyone on this show, whether they're related to him, in cahoots with him, or his sworn enemy.
But just when we think he's evil to the core, he surprised us by wanting to cuddle post-sex with Nikki. And Nikki cracked us up: "Stop being a girl!" She seems to be calling all the shots in this new relationship. Do you like Nikki and Cliff together?
Is it bad that we find the tempestuous main couple less interesting than their various nemeses? Johnny and Greta are just so earnest and angsty – they don’t seem to realize they’re living in some candy-colored artificial environment. Everyone else – Cliff, Nikki and Liza, Tess and Travis the boytoy, even Karen and Bob, seem to be living with so much more relish. They’re often reprehensible and thoroughly irresponsible, but they’re loads of fun to watch. Who are your favorite characters?
And we have to confess – we kind of adore Cliff. Not that we’d want to actually be in the same room with him, but it’s great to watch him chomp the scenery as a smiling psycho. He just oozes a sort of smarmy peril. Who knew that someone grinning and saying “We’re going to be good friends” could be so menacing?
We loved Nikki this episode – when she wasn’t being a drunken idiot. She’s just so smart, so good at reading people, and so funny – especially when she’s trying to mask her pain. Take notes, Greta: That’s how you do damaged. Plus, we loved her assessment of Cliff: “He’s a crafty one – dark, dangerous … kind of hot, actually.” We couldn’t agree more.
Eagle-eyed viewers of last week's Hidden Palms might have noticed that the mysterious IMs Johnny received came from the handle 08Nova. Still wondering who that might be (besides Eddie, the dead guy who claims to be sending them)?
Well, if you wanted to do a bit of sleuthing on your own, Googling 08Nova gets you this slightly ominous-looking page -- a mix of YouTube videos and character blogs for Johnny, Greta, Liza, and Cliff. The blogs are kind of fun -- Johnny speculates about death: "Not exactly a great icebreaker" -- while Cliff keeps it true-to-form creepy: " I personally do not believe in love. What do I believe in? Obsession. It's amusing to watch people's lives get torn apart by their obsessions."
Could he be referring to Greta's obsession with Eddie... or his own obsession with something else entirely? Intriguing.
If you're in the mood for a more cheerful online read, check out DW Moffet's blog at TVGuide.com. DW's enthusiasm is infectious, and he shares some fun behind-the-scenes tidbits -- example? He had barely shared a conversation with Gail O'Grady before they had to film that heavy makeout session in the pilot when Johnny interrupts them: "And you also have three to four times the usual number of executives behind the cameras on the first day of any pilot. So to sum up, instead of just a crowd of people staring at you making out with a stranger on the first day of shooting, there's a football stadium full of people staring at you! Ahhh... the serene art of film-making!"
Have you guys seen other cool Hidden Palms blogs out there? Tell us about 'em in the comments!
Canada.com has a great story on Leslie Jordan, the actor behind drag queen/AA sponsor Jesse Jo. It seems he’s bringing a lot of his life to the part. For example, Leslie is drawing on his own struggles with drugs and alcohol to play Johnny’s sponsor – a drunk driving conviction once had Leslie sharing a cell with Robert Downey Jr. – and the Tammy Wynette line in the pilot is a reference to his role as a drag queen fixated on the country legend in the play (and later film) “Sordid Lives.”
“I've been a huge fan of [Leslie’s] for a long time, “ Hidden Palms creator Kevin Williamson said. “He has this amazing one-man show, 'Like a Dog on Linoleum,' in which he tells his life story. I've seen it several times, and I mean, he's got so much depth. Not everybody could make you laugh and cry at the same line of dialogue.”
The only bad news in the article? Leslie is so busy that Williamson couldn’t get him for every episode of Hidden Palms. “He would have been in the show a lot more, but he's been too busy,” Williamson said. “Had I had him for all eight episodes, I would have put him in every one of them. He walks onto the screen and WOW! Little man, big presence.”
Check out the article for more on how Leslie came to Hollywood (on a Trailways bus, “with a dream and $1,200 pinned in my undershorts,”) when his career took off, and his plans for publishing a memoir entitled “My Trip Down the Pink Carpet: Or How I Became Insufferably Satisfied With Myself.” “I read some of it and I was thinking, my mother will DIE,” Leslie said. “She told me one time, 'Leslie honey, if I live to be 105, I will never understand this deep-seeded need you have to air your dirty laundry.' She said, 'Why can't you just whisper it to a therapist?
MORE: Did you know Leslie's only 4' 11"? Get more Leslie Jordan trivia on his IMDB page!
Let's rewind. At the beginning of the episode, thanks to Cliff, we found out that Eddie killed himself (not that Cliff seems like the most reliable source!). Like poor Johnny hasn't been through enough! Rehab, his dad's suicide, his mom's too-quick new marriage, a move to Palm Springs... and now he's living in the same BEDROOM where a teen suicide took place? How much bad luck can one guy have?
What bad luck Johnny has had recently is (almost) balanced out by his amazing luck with women. The guy has them crawling out of the woodwork -- and they're all equally into him. There's enigmatic Greta, geeky Liza, and now ex-girlfriend from rehab Nikki. Did you like Nikki?
Continue reading "Hidden Palms: A Boozy Benefit... And IMs From The Dead" »
Check out our interview with Hidden Palms star Tessa Thompson! She talks about playing an alcoholic and keeping cool on the steamy (and by steamy, we mean 100+ temps!) set.
She'll stir things up on tonight's episode at 8/7c!
The show's only aired one episode, but the Hidden Palms cast is already out party-hopping with the rest of young Hollywood. And like many other starlets, some of them are making, er, questionable outfit choices.
Take Ellary Porterfield, who plays science nerd Liza. On the show she's so clearly a gorgeous gal beneath those geeky goggles. But what was she thinking when she chose this ensemble? Over at one of our favorite celeb-watching/mocking blogs, Go Fug Yourself, the Fug Girls have some serious questions about Ellary's taste in footwear. As do we. White vinyl-esque boots are rarely a good idea.
That said, we like to think everyone deserves a second chance, so we'll be watching to see if Ellary steps up her game. It shouldn't be too hard to improve her footwear, right? There's nowhere to go but up!
What do y'all think?
Hidden Palms stars Taylor Handley and Sharon Lawrence talk about why they like playing their characters!
So, what did you think? Poor Johnny – not only did his dad kill himself (right in front of him!) because his mom was having an adulterous affair with said dad’s best friend and business partner, the kid has to deal with mom marrying the guy she was sleeping with and getting schlepped off to the desert in the middle of summer. It’s enough to turn anyone to drink. Lucky for him, his AA meetings feature a quirky, diminutive drag queen whose alcoholic confessions come off like stand-up. Not bad – we’re wishing we could add a quirky, diminutive drag queen to every show on the network.
The rest of the neighbors… well, they’re going to keep things interesting. Cliff is just the sort of amiable sociopath to keep Johnny on his toes. We kind of wish they’d gone a slightly subtler route with his character, however – wouldn’t it have been cooler if we spent the whole time wondering whether Cliff was who he seemed to be? But by the time he started punting small fuzzy house pets, he was telegraphing eeeeeevil to the extent that we expected him to start twirling his mustache and tying damsels to the train tracks while cackling gleefully.
Continue reading "Hidden Palms Premiere: What'd You Think?" »