SkimIt
Spend all week in training for a non-stop Olympics-watching marathon? Here's what you missed on TV.
Skyler's Crack Up
Man, Breaking Bad (season 5/episode 2) is good this season. I mean, even more so than usual. As Mike (Jonathan Banks) tries to handle a dangerously paranoid associate, the family side of the series is getting even more compelling. Skyler (Anna Gunn) has realized just how evil her husband Walt (Bryan Cranston) has become, and how complicit she is in his crimes; her response is to become catatonic, lying in bed with a look of complete existential terror on her face. It's small-scale but powerful acting.
Kelly's Breaking Point
It's not like Kelly Ripa couldn't figure out what was in store when Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern came on Live! With Kelly: she had to have known she'd be forced to eat weird stuff. But the weirdly sticky, mucus-like texture of natto, a fermented soybean dish that's popular in Japan, freaked her out so completely that the rest of the segment kind of fell apart. Especially after she found out that the Italian dessert boudino -- which she'd tasted and kinda liked -- featured pig blood as a major ingredient.
Neal Caffrey's Big Reveal
We finally learned a bit about Neal (Matt Bomer) and his mysterious backstory on White Collar: specifically, that he grew up in witness protection after his crooked-cop father killed one of his fellow officers, presumably under mob orders. He only found out that his real name was Neal when he turned 18, and he took his mother's maiden name of Caffrey at that point. There's clearly much more to uncover here this season, but this information alone explains a lot about Neal's motivations for creating his con man persona.
The End of the House of Hantz
Big Brother is having its weirdest season ever, in large part due to loose cannon Willie Hantz, who was brought in to further the Hantz family's role as go-to CBS reality villains. But on episode 5, Willie's villainy got a little too real for the producers: when it became clear that he was headed for eviction, Willie got into a shouting match with loudmouth fellow contestant Joe, which ended with Willie headbutting Joe hard enough to draw blood. Willie was immediately ejected from the house, and hopefully that's the last Hantz we'll ever see on TV.
Burn Notice Changes The Game
Not a lot of shows survive the removal of their main premise, but on Burn Notice, Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) finally tracked down and dealt with the person behind him getting burned, Anson (Jere Burns). Almost immediately after which Michael's loveable-loser brother Nate (Seth Peterson) was murdered by an unknown assailant. Quick, on to the next big mystery!
