Photo Credit: Nicole Rivelli/Warner Bros.

With Clark on modified desk duty, he can’t participate in this week’s active case. But he can look into a case that’s been cold for 10 years, Owen’s first homicide. I love that we get to see who played the role of mentor to Owen back in the day. Turns out Owen was a lot like Clark, but he had someone to teach him the right way to work a case. His voice of reason? Robert John Burke’s Andrew Lightstone. The reason this particular case is so cold? It’s happened the same morning as the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

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Photo credit: Chris Reardon/CBS

The gold standard, and aside from Hallmark Hall of Fame flicks, last remaining network TV movie series, Jesse Stone, debuts its latest installment, Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt, this Sunday night at 9 pm/8c on CBS.

For the uninitiated, Stone is based on the Robert B. Parker character, and the movies have been a mix of based-on-novels and new stories. Series star Tom Selleck has the film rights to all of the books and he’s very lovingly adapted the character and the source material into an impeccable set of movies.

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Each week when you tune into your favorite shows, you never know who you might see as the guest star.  Sometimes it’s new faces you haven’t seen before or perhaps it’s someone you recognize, but can’t quite place the name.  For me, it’s like seeing a long lost friend.

This past week there weren’t too many familiar faces in the shows that I typically watch; but the guest stars that did show up were pleasant surprises.

First there was actor Todd Stashwick, who appeared in the June 12 episode of The Glades.  He played one of the suspects in the serial killings of women in Chicago and Miami.  Todd is best known for his role in Heroes (he was the guy who could replicate himself), but he has also appeared in episodes of Dark Angel, American Dreams, Criminal Intent, CSI: Miami, Boston Legal, Crossing Jordan, Weeds, Burn Notice, Supernatural, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Lie to Me, Dark Blue, and Men of a Certain Age.  His movie roles include The Rundown, Along Came Polly, and You Me and Dupree.

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Photo Credit: CBS

One of the side effects of Blue Bloods’ success is that it ensures the gold-standard movies of the week based on the late Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone book series will continue to have a home on CBS. Tom Selleck, ever savvy, made continuing the series a component of his deal, same as he did over at NBC when he booked Las Vegas — he had to be allowed time off to shoot the films. This series of TV movies has been around since 2005, and I love, love, love them. Innocents Lost, the seventh film, premieres on CBS tonight at 9 pm EDT.

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Photo Credit: CBS.com

Behold the power of cheese! I love this goofy show, and trust me when I tell you I am a discerning cheese TV consumer. I adore finding a show that lets me leave my brain on the charger for an hour without making my head hurt from overwhelming stupidity or badness. Hawaii Five-O is not a great show. It could be someday, but right now it’s a straightforward paint-by-the-numbers procedural with some sex appeal and swagger thrown in and a dash of heartfelt drama. You will call bullshit loudly and often. Go with it, people. Partake of the scenic Hawaiian scenery and the lovely dudes (and Grace) and in this outing, the zip-bang direction of Brad Turner, who knows what he’s doing.

All that disclaimering out of the way, what actually happened this week? The episode opens with a heavily-guarded former NSA operative, Roland Lowry, motoring to a meeting at an air force base at 6:15 am. We know the time because he’s chatting on his cell phone with his son, Evan, who’s unhappy about the  wake-up call (to start studying), when all of sudden the limo is crunched in a deliberate accident and Lowry is whisked away while the kid’s hollering “what’s happening??” into the phone.

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Photo: Neil Jacobs/CBS ©2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc.

Alex O’Loughlin is back on my TV! Alex O’Loughlin is back on my TV! Wheeeee! Ahem. Full confession: I LOVED Moonlight. I cackled loud and long when TPTB at CBS realized their misstep and bent themselves silly trying to get him back into a project. I abhor medical dramas but I sat through Three Rivers for him. Now he’s back in something much more my speed: a reboot of Hawaii Five-O. The names are the same, the setup is different, and the sensibility is definitely 21^st century.

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