Good news for those of us who, perhaps surprisingly, became fans of Lifetime's Army Wives last summer.

Cynopsis, a TV trade site, reported last week that Army Wives is about to start production of its second season. That means we'll get to see the second season by early summer. Although I doubt you need a reminder of what, or, rather, who makes this show DVR-worthy, let's review.

Kim Delaney

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The lucky folks who made this week's countdown of dumb celebrity and entertainment news include Lifetime, The L Word, and The View's Sherri Shepherd (two words: "lesbian lifestyle").

We also take on the media coverage of Hillary Clinton, and a Fox employee run amuck. Because black SUV's aren't weapons, boys and girls!

Tonight at 9 p.m. on Lifetime, Carson Kressley's new show premieres. The Queer Eye guy will help women of all shapes and sizes learn How to Look Good Naked. It could be kind of awesome, if this quote is any indication:

"The point of the show is to say you don't have to be perfect to be beautiful. You can still be who you are and find beauty."

The show focuses on self-image, not just fashion — though, come on, it's Carson: There's bound to be a lot of fashion! I hope he'll at least help someone find the perfect pair of jeans. (That's a lot tougher for women, Carson, so good luck!)

In the spring of 1988, I fell in love (or something) with Julia Roberts, and I wanted to become best friends with Lili Taylor. I was a freshman in college — just inching a toe or two out of the closet — and very happy to be attending a university where we got to see all sorts of cool, free stuff, such as screenings of Mystic Pizza months before its theatrical release.

Taylor's character was the most appealing of the three leads. Julia Roberts was pretty, but a mess. Annabeth Gish was smart, but having an affair with the married father of the kid she babysat. Ugh. But Lili Taylor was just a good friend to her friends while she struggled with commitment issues. How could anyone not think she was great?

Since then, I've been loosely following her career as "queen of the independents." She's played a whole lot of lesbians (I Shot Andy Warhol, The Addiction, Pret-a-Porter, Julie Johnson) and told The Advocate in 1996, "I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up with a woman."

She certainly looked comfortable with Courtney Love in Julie Johnson.

And now she's playing therapist with a wee bit of drama in her personal life on Lifetime's State of Mind. … continue reading

After a traumatic day of bra shopping Saturday, I flipped through the channels looking for women kicking ass. (If the logic of that sentence isn't clear, you haven't shopped for bras lately.) I came across a rerun of Missing (aka 1-800-MISSING), a Lifetime show with Vivica A. Fox and Caterina Scorsone.

The show was canceled last year, and while Fox has not strayed far from the public eye, Scorsone has no upcoming projects listed at IMDb. Never one to be deterred in the pursuit of a hot woman, I finally found a link to a recent interview on TheStream.tv, where she was a guest on Merrill Davis' show Merrillwood. Scorsone is smart, funny, engaging and, yes, hot.

The banter between Scorsone and Davis proves that straight women enjoy flirting with each other as much as lesbians do. Scorsone's bit starts about 6 minutes in.

www.theStream.tv

I cleaned up the DVR over the weekend, which means I finally got to watch the first two episodes of State of Mind, as well as the new episode that aired last night. So far I'm really liking the new Lifetime drama, which stars Lili Taylor as a therapist dealing with her own crises as well as her clients'. Here are my reasons to tune in. [Caution: Minor spoilers.]

5. Lili Taylor in a suit.
Let's just get this one out of the way. I've been a Taylor fan for years — ever since Mystic Pizza — and am glad to see her in a role that fits her skills so perfectly. (I was beginning to worry for her career, espeically after the Six Feet Under mess.) As therapist Ann Bellowes, she is both reliably strong and disarmingly vulnerable — the perfect mix for a mental health professional. Plus her wardrobe is just plain lesbionic: … continue reading

When will I ever learn? I've gotten suckered in by subtext yet again. Those deeply meaningful looks held those few extra seconds, the unusual number of little touches, the ardently sincere declarations of undying friendship ... sigh.

This time around I've got Army Wives toying with my affections, and you can bet I haven't missed an episode. And now comes the news that the show has been renewed for a second season. All the better to parse every excruciating (excruciatingly ordinary?) moment of warmth between Claudia Joy (Kim Delaney) and Denise (Catherine Bell).

"I'm here for whatever you need," avows Claudia in the following promo, but do I really need these games again? … continue reading

Lifetime's new series Army Wives, which airs Sundays at 10pm, is breaking all kinds of records for the cable network, with more than 3 million viewers tuning in for the the third episode, including me.

Why? Well, why not? The show's all about women. Yes, their lives revolve somewhat around their relationships with men, but the men are usually not there. And unlike The Unit's much more sexist take on the life of an army wife, the gender roles are a little more equal here (although it still some problematic storylines, like Pamela giving up her job as a policewoman just because her husband wanted her to).

Army Wives also has a great cast, including veteran actress Kim Delaney as Claudia Joy, the de-facto leader of the group, and JAG's Catherine Bell as a mother whose teenage son has an anger management problem that he takes out on his mother. Sally Pressman is great as newbie Roxy, who doesn't know any of the rules of Army Life but knows how to defend herself in a fight. Brigid Brannagh and Sterling K. Brown round out the group as Pamela the former cop and Roland the psychiatrist, whose wife Joan (Wendy Davis) is a Lt. Col. with 400 men in her command, and some serious post-traumatic stress issues after returning from Iraq.

Here are some of the character snapshots from the official websites:

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