"This Fake Marriage Stuff Is Kind of Fun"

I have a pretty long list of celebrity crushes, some of which I will own up to and some of which I keep to myself. There is, of course, Alexander Skarsgard, Denzel (Washington, of course, but I truly feel that the man needs no last name), and Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots, among many others. One that I don't talk about so much but really do like, though, is Thomas Haden Church.

Church first came to my attention one summer when there wasn't much on TV but reruns of his short-lived show Ned and Stacey, a mid-1990s sitcom that also featured Debra Messing just before she hit it big on Will and Grace. The show didn't last for a reason--it's not the best thing out there, but it was more or less reliable, mindless entertainment, and Church's portrayal of Ned Dorsey, a self-involved advertising executive, was pretty spot-on, whether he was scheming to undermine a fellow ad man or bribing a salesperson to sell Stacey the bed of her dreams. Messing, for her part, was a little uneven as Stacey Dorsey, but you can certainly see glimpses of the skilled comedienne she proved herself to be on Will and Grace.

The premise of the show is simple: Ned and Stacey get married so he can get a promotion at work and she can move out of her parents' house in New Jersey. Unfortunately, it is also unsustainable; there is a time limit (two years) put on it from the very first episode, and the audience only ever expects one of two things: either Ned and Stacey will duke it out until they become boring, or they will fall in love and live happily ever after. This is not the stuff of long-running programs. However, like I said before, it is mindless, a good thing to watch when you want a distraction or an easy laugh. 

Right now, the first season (of two) is available on DVD, but as far as I can tell, there is no scheduled release date for season two, which is unfortunate, because I would really like to have the complete set available for those late nights when I can't sleep but don't feel like doing anything useful and would rather spend my time with one of my crushes instead.

Buy season one through Best Buy for $14.99.

-Cate-

PS  Maureen will be taking over the blog for the next few days while I recover from a trip home. Can't wait to see what she has in store!