palm springs

(S02E11) Roger is starting anew and Jane is the nectar of life, his rebirth. Is Roger grasping for Jane because subconsciously he knows he blew it with Joan? He's ready to sacrifice everything for her, including a chunk of his fortune. "This is the life I was meant to have," he says. I love George the lawyer telling him the cost: "Think of all the good things in life, then cut them in half."

Don is in paradise. Sun, exotic music, a vision of a woman that looks like Betty, but she passes right by him. The devil appears in the form of Willy, the viscount. He's actually pimping out his daughter Joy, although we don't know he's her father till much later. Joy offers Don a way out, a beautiful life traveling to beautiful places, freedom at an epic scale, including the fact that she's not possessive. "You can have anyone you want," she tells him.

When I first started watching The CW's yet-to-be-scheduled midseason replacement Hidden Palms, the first thing I said was "O.C. RIPOFF!" Then I realized that I'd said it out loud, because I was sitting in a Starbucks watching it on my laptop, trying to look like a writer-type at work. After I mumbled an "Oops, sorry ..." I screwed my earbuds back in and gave it another whirl. After two episodes, I have to say I'm sucked in and want to see more. Curse you, Kevin Williamson.

Saucy Gail O'Grady landed a leading role in Kevin Williamson's new project. Williamson, of course, was the creator of Dawson's Creek. His new project, still untitled, is another teen soap. This time, it's for UPN. Or The CW, I guess. And it will probably include Williamson's ultra-smart dialogue for the teen-agers. This one is about a troubled teen who moves with his family to a gated community in Palm Springs, CA. O'Grady will play his (gorgeous) mom. It sounds like Dawson's Creek meets The O.C., doesn't it?