The Best Show You’re Not Watching: Leverage (Update #2)

And now for something a little more lighthearted……

…..how about TV commentary?

I have been known to tune into a television show for the sole purpose of watching one actor.

Take “Lost” for instance.  When ABC first started running promos of their new series about a bunch of plane-wrecked people stuck on an island, I thought “How stupid.”  I thought it was a lame premise.  I had no interest in watching the show. 

Then, one of the commercials showed this guy:

Dominic Monaghan.  At that point -most recently known as young hobbit Merry from The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.  I loved Dom in the movies and had been looking out for him in other movie roles.  And there he was – on my TV and about to show up in a new series.  Sign me up!  What channel!?  Where’s my beer and popcorn!?!  Who cares what the story is about – That’s DOM! 

The rest is mostly history.  Became entranced with the series.  Loved the incredible character development.  Got sick and tired of the millions of questions posed without any answers.  Stuck with it like a sap.  Still waiting for the show to redeem itself in this newest season.

Anyway.  That’s what happens.  Lost was a lucky discovery for me.

So, imagine me jumping off my couch over a year ago when Sweetie and I were channel surfing, the TV ended up on TNT, and a commercial for the new series “Leverage” popped up (http://www.tnt.tv/series/leverage/) , and I saw this guy:

“Hey hey hey!!”  I yelled.  “That’s Christian Kane!”

Indeed.  Probably not known to many people, I first “met” Christian Kane when he portrayed evil lawyer (is that a little redundant?) Lindsey McDonald in Angel – the spin-off series from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my all time favorite television series. 

Now, I know what you’re thinking – That Stone Girl.  She just likes the scruffy-looking pretty boys. 

No. 

Well,

ok maybe. 

But I didn’t go gaga for Christian Kane until the second season of Angel when, much to the surprise of the characters and the audience alike, we all discovered that lawyer Lindsey McDonald could SING:

 

*sigh* Color me besotted.  I like a nice voice.  I mean – come on….Jesse Martin? ……hot.  Jesse Martin singing??  Center-of-the-sun-burning-studly HOT.

After that Angel episode, I learned that, while not acting, Christian Kane was the front man for his own country western band – Kane.  I don’t know if they are still active and producing music but I managed to buy a couple of CDs and I love them.  My country music collection is pretty small – mostly Johnny Cash and Diamond Rio.  But I like Kane’s stuff and usually keep that CD in rotation in my CD changer (yes, I still use one). 

Anyhoo –

That quick snip of Christian Kane on the commercial was all I needed to tune into the first episode of Leverage last year.  Sweetie watched with me.  It’s about a bunch of thieves and an ex-insurance investigator who used to track down thieves.  They are now working together to —-hmmmm — basically swindle swindlers.  They take on cases from people wronged by big corporations or evil/greedy people and they set up cons to get back money or bring people down, etc. etc.  It’s a little bit of OCeans Eleven and maybe the A-Team.  But I’m not sure because I never watched the A-Team. 

Sweetie and I were pleasantly surprised by the series.  Some top-notch acting with the lead role played by Timothy Hutton.  Some interesting plots and twists.  Some good characters who have been developing little by little over the series.  And – it is damn funny!  It’s just funny.  The characters are quirky and their stereotypes are played to the hilt.  The geeky hacker is full of one-liners and catch phrases.  The grifter wanna-be-actress who can play any part in any con but can’t act on stage to save her life.  The anti-social thief daredevil who just loves money.  And Christian’s character – the bruiser type who loves the challenge of a good fight and is learning to act as part of a team. 

Much as Sweetie and I enjoyed the show – we kept forgetting to watch it last year.  So, we’ve Netflixed the first one and a half seasons and we are currently watching 2 to 3 episodes a night.  It’s just so enjoyable.  I suppose there are many others watching because I think it just got picked up for a third season.  Happy to hear it because I enjoy the show and I always like to see good Buffy/Angel alums getting steady work. 

Anyway, I don’t plug TV shows that often.  But if you’re sitting at home on……..uhhhh…..hmmm….I think they moved it to Wednesday nights……with nothing to do and a hankering for some quirky characters and a good con, check it out.

UPDATE

By the way, looks like Christian Kane’s music site is still around. Check it out at:

 www.kanemusic.com

UPDATE #2

Drat.  Looks like that site is down.  I’ll just have to refer you here:  http://www.christiankane.com/, where you can check out a whole lotta Christian Kane, including *yea!* his music.