Showing posts with label grey's anatomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grey's anatomy. Show all posts

Friday, October 2, 2009

For "X-Files" Fans Interested in a Good Cause

Actor Mitch Pileggi ("Walter Skinner" from The X-Files) has reached out to his fans to request for help for a family member. His sister, Judi Ward, has been diagnosed with a very rare, aggressive form of cancer called leiomyosarcoma. Since she won't accept direct financial help from her brother, Pileggi is offering up memorabilia for sale at a fundraiser in Southern California this Saturday and will be appearing in person at the event. Additional "big ticket" memorabilia items will be sold on eBay and a website has been established for direct monetary donations.

In an email to the webmistress of one of the actor's longtime fansites, Pileggi wrote: "As you’ll see in the attachment my sister has become ill and is financially in pretty dire straits. She refuses to accept money from me directly and I’m trying to figure out ways to help her. I will be at the fundraiser mentioned in the flyer and they will be raffling off some memorabilia that I am providing them. I’m also going to have my sister-in-law sell some of my more valuable “stuff” on eBay and give the proceeds to my sis."

The attachment mentioned is the flyer below, which explains that Ward's financial difficulties began when she was laid off last year and subsequently lost her health insurance. The fundraiser at which Pileggi will be appearing will be held this Saturday, October 3 at 2 PM at the following location:

PC's Bar & Grill
4250 Los Angeles Ave.
Simi Valley, CA
805-579-9079

Mitch Pileggi's acting credits encompasses a range of sci-fi and fantasy shows including The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen, Stargate: Atlantis and Supernatural. Most recently, he's been seen on the small screen in the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy reprising his role as Larry Jennings, head of the board of directors for Seattle Grace, and in the second season premiere of FX's Sons of Anarchy in the recurring role of Ernest Darby, head of a rival gang.


(I know this is an unusual post to find on Pop Wenches, but I've lost two family members to cancer in the past 18 months and another family member is currently losing her battle against the same disease, so this hits close to home. I can also say from personal experience that Mitch Pileggi has always been very kind to and appreciative of his fans, which earns him an extra gold star in the karma department.)

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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Live Blogging "Grey's Anatomy"

And now for some live blogging commentary on the sixth season premiere of Grey's Anatomy! Be warned, there will be tons of spoilers. . .



9:00PM - Saw these opening minutes through the online clip I posted last week, but I still love what Sara Ramirez does with her character's grief in these scenes.  And Chandra Wilson just said so much with just her eyes.

9:04PM - Argh.  After seeing this clip, I'm dying to know if the patient who just died on the table is George . . . or if George is actually still out in the world but about to die off-camera in some other way.  How much of a kick in the gut would it be (for the audience and the characters) to think George had died, then think he was okay, then find out they'd lost him anyway?

9:11PM - Loved that moment of quiet comfort between Owen and Cristina in the chaos and pain. Also love the callback to the theme of "my person" in this new context between Arizona and the mom and the mom referring to her son (calling back a "my person" thing between Cristina and Meredith in an earlier season).

9:14PM - MITCH PILEGGI!  In a suit!  In the hallway with Patrick Dempsey!  TOO MUCH HOTNESS FOR ONE TELEVISION SCREEN TO TAKE.  Sorry.  I just shouted, didn't I?

9:19PM - "George would give everything."

9:20PM - I know this is a universal given, but I love Miranda Bailey.  If I ever have to be hospitalized, she's the only one from Seattle Grace that I want to have as my doctor. And on another note, I'm so happy they finally let Mer and Der grow up last year.  That Mer will say to Derek that she just needs him to be there for her right now and not talk instead of flouncing off in a huff, getting drunk and sleeping with a random guy from the bar across the street.

9:24PM - "I bought you some time, but you need to plan." In all my shouty-ness, I forgot that Mitch Pileggi was at Seattle Grace for a reason.

9:30PM - Oh, Cristina. Repress and deny doesn't work for long.  Especially when you've just lost your fellow member of the Dead Dad's Club. Although I can see why she'd be tempted with Kevin McKidd around.

9:32PM - Good job by the director of photography and the cameraman for shooting around Ellen Pompeo and Chryler Leigh's pregnancies without making it ridiculously obvious that that's what they're doing.  RIP George O'Malley.  *sigh*

9:46PM - This show does grief like no other show does grief.  Between people's reactions to George's death and Denny Duquette's death and Ellis Grey's death, they've delved into just about every emotional reaction you can go through and put it right there on the screen to see.  It hurts to see Bailey's fire gone and that dead look in her eyes (no pun intended).

9:49PM - Wow. I hope Arizona didn't need her head . . . seeing as the Chief just handed it to her.

9:54PM - Did Derek just unceremoniously kick the newlywed cancer patient out of the house and into his trailer?  I would so have problems with that.

9:55PM - Oh no.  This scene is not going to end well for Owen, is it?  George's mother is going to kill him.

9:56PM - I thought George's mother was going to realize that Owen gave George the idea to join the army and was going to lose it on him.  The accident survivor brings up another thought-provoking question that's so often debated though -- can medicine go far?  At what point does the quality of life drop so low that it's more of a curse to keep a person alive than it is to let them go?  Talk about a weighty issue.
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10:04PM - *sniff*  Don't want Callie to go to Mercy West. Am coveting that black dress she's wearing though. Holy cow.  Did anyone else just have a heart attack when they saw that car coming at the Chief's car?  No one else is allowed to die in this ep, dangit!

10:10PM - Oh, the irony of the Chief having to go to Mercy West after his accident.

10:13PM - Cristina is so the last person to try to work through PTSD issues with Owen. Hmmm . . . this season is going to be interesting if we're going to get much more of a peek at what goes on at Seattle Grace's rival, Mercy West.

10:20PM - Pop Wench Joia and I used to joke that, on Star Trek: Voyager, you could tell the state of the ship by the state of Capt. Janeway's hair.  If the 'do was dishevelled, then the ship was damaged and in trouble. Bailey serves as the same kind of barometer for Seattle Grace.  If Bailey isn't happy or at least okay, then the hospital is in trouble and someone needs to figure out what the problem is!

10:22PM - It's fun seeing McDreamy and McSteamy bantering like the old friends they are, but I just can't quite seem to buy that they'd be able to go back to being best friends after Mark slept with Addison. Friends, eventually, but best friends?  I don't know . . . trust is kinda important.

10:31PM - Hello McSteamy in the shower!

10:34PM - "Girls talk. You might want to consider that the next time you criticize my Post It."  Burn Karev!  And go be nice to Izzie already.  You knew she and George had a connection before you married her.

10:41PM - And that little speech, folks, is why he's McDreamy.

10:44PM - I wonder how Katherine Heigl felt giving this speech about George being gone when she is such good friends with T.R. Knight. I always like Izzie a little bit better when the edge from her (literal) trailer park upbringing comes out like it did just now when she was confronting the woman George saved.

10:50PM - Kevin McKidd just gets better and better on this show.  Owen's not always my favorite character, but McKidd makes him so multidimensional and dark and good-hearted that you can't help but root for him.

10:52PM - Loving the voiceovers from each of the characters as the show draws to a close.  Love getting the little peeks into each of their heads and where they all are now.  And I'm glad that someone (Derek, in this case) saw that Bailey needed someone and listened to her.  Just listened to her.

10:57PM - I seem to vaguely remember hearing a spoiler about the hospital merger but evidently I wasn't paying much attention to it because I totally forgot that until the Chief said the words. It'll be very interesting to see where Derek's character goes this year, especially since he'll probably have to carry more of the storyline due to Ellen Pompeo's maternity leave (congrats to her and her husband on the birth of their baby girl, by the way) and Katherine Heigl's five-week-leave from from filming.

So Pop Wenches readers, what did you think of the Grey's Anatomy season premiere?
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Friday, September 18, 2009

TV News: Whedon Spills "Dollhouse" Spoilers, View 18 Mins of "FlashForward"

- SCI FI Wire has posted a list of nine spoilers for season two of Dollhouse as revealed by Joss Whedon himself.  If you want to find out juicy tidbits like when Ray Wise's character is joining the show and what role the lovely Summer Glau will be play, click here! [SCI FI Wire]

- ABC has posted some wicked video clips online in anticipation of the series premiere of FlashForward and the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy on September 24.

Check out the 18 minute clip from FlashForward, which boasts an impressive cast including Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Dominic Monaghan, Sonya Walger and Jack Davenport.



This six minute clip from Grey's took my breath away, even though it's well known that T.R. Knight has left the show.  Afterall, Shonda Rimes is more than capable of giving the audience the ending they expect, while still turning everything we were assumed about the path to that ending on its head.  The video caption on ABC's site however, gives away a bit too much considering the shock value of the clip.  And how fantastic is Sara Ramirez ("Callie Torres") in the clip and on the show?


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Thursday, July 9, 2009

McDreamy & McSteamy Join Valentine's Day Cast

Grey's Anatomy costars Patrick Dempsey ("Dr. Derek Shepherd") and Eric Dane ("Dr. Mark Sloan") have signed on to star in the Garry Marshall movie Valentine's Day. As previously reported on Pop Wenches, the romantic comedy's ensemble cast includes Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner and Bradley Cooper, among others.

Dempsey will play a doctor who is dating Garner's character, but fails to mention that he's married (is Garner's character going to be named "Meredith Grey, Season 1"??). Dane's character is a successful, but aging quarterback who is pondering retirement.

Valentine's Day is slated for a February 12, 2010 release. [Entertainment Weekly]
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Friday, June 19, 2009

Who's In and Who's Out on Grey's Anatomy

Warning: this post contains spoilers for the next season of Grey's Anatomy.

"Leaving Grey's Anatomy was not an easy decision for me to make. I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to play this character and will miss my fellow cast and crew very much," said T.R. Knight in a statement that confirmed earlier reports that he would not be returning to the ABC medical drama.
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Knight's screentime as Dr. George O'Malley had been noticably reduced during the past season. Grey's creator and showrunner Shonda Rhimes has said that the change in the character's screentime was done intentionally so that fans would not find it odd when O'Malley was missing from much of the season finale episode. In a stunning twist, fans and O'Malley's fellow Seattle Grace doctors learned that he had been admitted to the hospital as a patient -- as a critically injured "John Doe" who had been disfigured beyond recognition after pushing a woman out of the path of an oncoming bus and being struck himself. O'Malley's fate and the fate Grey's doctor Izzie Stevens were left in limbo at the end of the episode.

Katherine Heigl, who won an Emmy in 2007 for her work as Izzie Stevens, will be returning to the show. The character spent much of the past season battling stage IV metastatic cancer and flat-lined after surgery to remove a brain tumor.

Heigl's relationship with the show has become contentious over the past couple of years as her profile as a movie star has risen. Heigl went as far as to remove her name from Emmy consideration in 2008, stating publicly that the writing for her character had been so poor that season that she should not be considered for the award. In 2009 however, her character had a major story arc and Heigl stated that she wanted to remain on Grey's Anatomy.

Actress Jessica Capshaw, who plays pediatric surgeon Arizona Robbins and Dr. Callie Torres' girlfriend, will also be returning for the show's sixth season. Capshaw has been upped to a series regular. [Associated Press via Yahoo! News][Hollywood Reporter]
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Fate of Grey's Anatomy Character Confirmed?

Warning: this post contains a potential spoiler for the next season of Grey's Anatomy.

Ever since the shocking Grey's Anatomy finale, fans have been speculating right and left about the fates of George and Izzie.

If Michael Ausiello's sources are correct, showrunner Shonda Rimes has finally decided what's happening with one of those characters -- and it looks like George O'Malley is a goner. In business terms, "T.R. Knight's wish to be released from his contract has been granted."

Both Knight, who plays O'Malley, and Katherine Heigel of Izzie Stevens fame have made no secret of their unhappiness with aspects of the show and the treatment of their respective characters.

Rimes has dismissed rumors that O'Malley, who was disfigured beyond recognition in the finale after being struck by a bus, would be played by a new actor next season. [Entertainment Weekly]
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