Category Archives: tv show

virginia madsen in elementary

Elementary

Elementary is a TV show that was shown on CBS from 2012 to 2019. It was an update on the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories based upon Sherlock Holmes.

Jonny Lee Miller would play Sherlock and Lucy Liu would gender shift the traditionally male of Watson to become Joan Watson. Other shifts in the Sherlock mythos would be updated which would either be well received by fans or turn people off the show completely.

Fortunately, more people didn’t mind the changes than did and the show managed to survive or a respectable 154 episodes over seven seasons.

The show itself presented itself as a typical Police procedural type drama with Holmes and Watson being drafted in to help on cases at the discretion of Police Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn)

Virginia Madsen would join the show in the fifteenth episode of the fourth season, “Up to Heaven and Down To Hell”, as Paige Cowan, a former Police Detective who becomes romantically involved with Captain Gregson. Virginia Madsen as Paige Cowan in Elementary, sitting at a dimly lit bar or restaurant, engaged in an intense conversation with a man across from her. She wears a stylish patterned blouse and has a confident yet serious expression. A glass of wine sits in front of her, adding to the intimate and tense atmosphere of the scene.From there Virginia would appear in two more episodes, once more in the fifth season episode “Render, then seize her” and the second episode of the seventh and final season in the episode “Gutshot”.Virginia Madsen as Paige Cowan in Elementary, standing outside a bookstore on a cold day, dressed in a stylish black coat, gloves, and a patterned scarf. She carries a navy blue handbag and has a composed yet slightly apprehensive expression as she looks toward two approaching men. The scene captures a moment of anticipation and quiet tensionUnfortunately the character of Paige would never really live up to her potential, or to the talents of Virginia Madsen, which is a shame but I guess it’s how these things go, especially in TV.

This would be Virginia’s second time working with Jonny Lee Miller, both having previously starred in the short lived Smith TV show, though this time in very different roles for them both. And, also she previously worked with Aidan Quinn in the magically themed The Last Keepers a few years before. Like a little happy reunion on set then.

Availability:

Good, easily available on DVD in both Region 1 and 2, and probably all the rest you can think of.

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virginia madsen in pickle and peanut

Pickle and Peanut

Pickle and Peanut is a Disney XD cartoon from 2016, which seems to have a bit of a strange legacy.

It’s all a bit, strange, if you ask me… Virginia Madsen, for whatever reason, agreed to give her talents to the show. For reasons I’ll probably never know, or understand.

Her character, Jackson, is in one episode, Night Shift.
Virginia Madsen as Jackson in Pickle and Peanut - Night Shift
The episode, the best I can work out has Pickle and Peanut working the night shift stacking shelves at a supermarket. Jackson is one of the workers they are assigned to work with.

Mistakes are made, hi jinks happen and none of it will appeal to you if you’re of an age, or mindset where you can truly comprehend how nonsensical any of it is.

It’s a cartoon that I’m not sure is meant to make a lot of sense, I’ve got zero tolerance for this kind of thing and I actually spent more time than I care to think about hunting this down.

I can’t find a copy to buy legitimately, there are some sites you can order this from on DVD but I sincerely doubt they’ll be anything but pirate copies put on disc by someone at home.

And, if you live outside of the US you can expect to pay dearly for them, if not the discs then the postage.

As far as I can tell it’s not available on any streaming channels either.

Me? Where was I lurking when I came across it? – Usenet.

Usenet isn’t terribly complicated to workout, but it’s more effort than I’m willing to go to here. You can find all kinds of stuff on there that isn’t stupid cartoons if you do want to put in any effort though.

But. You can find some clips on the Tube of Yous and not being able to find the full episodes might just save your sanity. Or, mine at least.

As far as I can tell, it’s terrible. It’s definitely not something I could sit and enjoy – One of those shows that is just weird for being weird.

Virginia Madsen as Jackson in Pickle and Peanut - Night ShiftNot entirely sure why she’d associate herself with this kind of show, but I can only assume they offered her a boat load of money, or she really needed some money.

Maybe her kid likes the show – That’d make the most sense.

Anyways. There you go. That’s about all I have to say on this.

Availability:

As mentioned, you won’t find this legitimately. You can find people who’ll sell you this on DVD if you look hard enough. The postage rates to the UK are obscene, and after viewing clips online I just wasn’t prepared to pay that much to say that I owned them.

If you’re desperate to get hold of this, and I mean, I wasn’t, but I still managed to find it on Usenet which is probably your best option if you’ve an idea how to use it. And, if not – There are plenty of places that can show you.

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virginia madsen in hell on wheels

Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels is an AMC Television Production which chronicles a mobile encampment of the Union Pacific Railroad as they built the railroad across the Great Plains in the US of A. The name of the TV show got it’s name from the encampment, so, you know – Nice place to work.

The show blends fact and fiction, some of the characters in the show existed as real life flesh and blood, the others not. It aired between 2011 and 2015.

Hell on Wheels mainly follows Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount), who is a fictional character and portrayed as an ex Confederate Cavalry Colonel out for revenge for the murder of his wife and his son. Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney)  is the man in charge of the operation, and who was an actual person, but Hell on Wheel uses his name only, his portrayal is fictionalised. He’s a businessman who doesn’t let much stand in his way and recognises that Cullen could be an asset, as such, Cullen joins up with the Union Pacific Railroad as way to fund his own mission, and is hired to supervise the team preparing the ground for the new tracks.

Virginia Madsen joins the show for four episodes in the second season. She plays Hannah Durant, an ex wife of Thomas. Again, Hannah is based upon an actual person but her antics are made up for the show. She first rocks up for a brief appearance in the first episode before finishing out her run on episodes 8, 9 and 10, the final ones of the season.
virginia madsen in hell on wheelsI won’t lie, I didn’t watch much of this TV Show, I’ve no interest in Westerns as a rule and although I do like Colm Meaney as an actor it wasn’t enough to make me sit down and watch it.

I did however make a go of the second season. Which, wasn’t easy all things considered and I did find myself playing with my phone more often than I’d have liked.

That said, I did half enjoy what I saw. Virginia Madsen, as always, is a delight to watch as she chews up the scenery, obviously having some fun with her period character and giving it a modern no nonsense spin.
virginia madsen in hell on wheelsIt probably helped that she was a fan of show before she landed her role, speaking on the AMC site in a Q&A she said; “I’m a big fan of Colm Meaney, Anson Mount is one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever seen in my life and a really good actor. I know I shouldn’t objectify him because he’s such a good actor, but really, ladies, really? I’m a history buff, and so I knew who the Durants were, although there’s not much about [Hannah]. I just thought, “Oh, that’s going to be really interesting, especially the conflict with the fair-haired maiden of the West.” I just loved the idea that I would come and stir the pot.“virginia madsen in hell on wheelsHard for me to recommend this one as I didn’t watch it, but, as I said – What I did see was better than I expected so if you’re into this kind of thing and you haven’t seen it then it might be worth your time, as a Virginia Madsen fan it’s good to watch her have some fun with a role.

Availability:

This was actually easier to find than I anticipated – Quite easy on both Region 1 and 2 DVD. Episodes are available on both Amazon Prime and Googleplay.

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virginia madsen in teen titans

Teen Titans (The Prophecy)

Having wandered over to the dark side in her last comic book inspired voice over (Spider-Man), Virginia Madsen returned to the DC Universe to voice the character of Arella in the Teen Titans fourth season episode “The Prophecy”. The episode was aired in 2005 and is the 7th episode.

The episode is pretty deep onto a multi episode event so it’s pretty hard to try and give a brief summary without getting myself lost in details you won’t care about.

Virginia Madsens Arella is the mother of the one of the regular line ups of the cartoons Teen Titans, Raven.
virginia madsen in the teen titansRaven is suffering a crisis of conscience in the episode and seeks out her Mother for guidance.

Although I am a fan of the DC Universe, The Titans cartoon show isn’t something I’m overly familiar with, it’s a bit too much for the kids for me – I’ve seen the odd episode here and there and I believe it’s very good, but the art style and the tone puts me off just sitting down and watching it. Which , is a bit odd considering I’m a huge fan of the other animated series. Perhaps it’s all the bright colours or something, I don’t know.

Virginia’s role is short and sweet in this one, Arella has very little actual screen time and it’s the only episode to feature the character at all. As such, it kind of makes it hard to give any real commentary on it other than she brings her best to the role. Once again you probably wouldn’t know it has her just from watching, she brings the right amount of gravitas to it the situation and all in all fits right in.
virginia madsen in the teen titansAvailability:

Not bad, you can find copies easy enough on DVD. I believe it’s a region free DVD, but you might want to check you can play it before you order.

Trailer:

Not for this one.

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virginia madsen in hatfields and mccoys

Hatfields & McCoys

The History Channel had a little success with a TV mini series in 2012 based on the Hatfield & McCoy feud of the mid to late 1800’s. Because of this NBC decided they wanted to a slice of the Western pie and as a part of that, they commissioned a pilot for a new story based in the modern day. They would call that TV Show Hatfields and McCoys.

Never heard of it? No, probably not – And, that’s probably more down to the fact it never got past the pilot stage and was never shown on TV.

The idea of the show was that the feud continued on to the present day and the families are still very much at war with one another. Which, isn’t actually the case at all – The families fighting history is pretty much a tourist attraction now.

The premise being that in the modern day a sudden death in the McCoy family is blamed on the Hatfields and, well, you can probably take an educated guess on the rest.
virginia madsen in hatfields and mccoysHatfields and McCoys had the right pedigree to be a success, Charlize Theron threw her stetson into the ring as one of the producers. The casting wasn’t too shabby, Virginia Madsen was to take the lead as Eloise McCoy, the matriarch of the family (I’ll refrain from commenting about Virginia in this kind of role). Other members of the McCoy family would be played by Sophia Bush as Emma, Jesse Lee Soffer as Patrick, Luciana Carro as Treena and Patrick Flueger as Jack.

There was no slouching on the Hatfields side either, Rebecca De Mornay was set to play Mary Hatfield, James Remar as Joe and Annie Ilonzeh as Shannon.

But, it wasn’t enough for NBC and they ultimately decided to take a pass on the show and didn’t order any more episodes.

All is not completely lost though as the unaired version of the pilot did eventually make it to the internet so at least we can see what we missed out on, unlike Babylon Fields which has yet to see the light of day.
virginia madsen in hatfields and mccoysIt isn’t too bad – A bit generic, perhaps. Virginia Madsen pretty much took on the same kind of role that she had in Scoundrels, and I was really reminded of that more than once with Patrick  Flueger on screen with Virginia once again. Nice to see, I’ve a lot of time for Patrick but perhaps this one was a little close to home.

Availability:

Pretty good, for now at least…

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virginia madsen in swamp thing

Swamp Thing

The Swamp Thing TV show is, at the time of writing, Virginia Madsen’s latest foray into the DC Universe, only this time it’s of the live action flavour. Albeit a short lived one.

Originally commissioned for the short lived DC Universe VOD channel the show made it’s debut in 2019 for ten episodes. The show’s cancellation was announced before it had completed its run. So, pretty much dead on arrival. Great.

And, it’s a shame as it was actually pretty good. I’ve mentioned, several times now, how I’m a fan of DC over Marvel, in the comic book world at least, and a lot of the DC Universe shows were actually right up my street, Titans more than any of the others, but, yeah. What could have been.
Virginia Madsen as Maria Sunderland in Swamp Thing, gazing solemnly out of a lace-curtained window. The dimly lit room, featuring an antique dresser and a warm lamp in the background, enhances the melancholic and introspective mood. Her wavy blonde hair frames her face, which carries an expression of deep contemplation and sorrowThe comic book Swamp Thing is a character that has been around since 1971, a creation of Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. Len Wein would probably be more famous as the co-creator of Wolverine than Swamp Thing in case you’re thinking you know the name.

The TV version of the show follows Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) as she returns home to Louisiana to investigate a virus that seems to be originating in a swamp. A scientist who is also on the case, Alec Holland (Andy Bean), dies tragically but Abby suspects things aren’t what they first appear to be. And she’d be right, funnily enough. Alec, as it turns out has become the titular Swamp Thing, kind of. His memories have at least.

Ohhhhhhhhhh. It’s a comic thing – You have to watch it so I don’t have to go all explain and get myself in a twist trying to do it justice and not spoil anything at the same time.

Virginia Madsen plays Maria Sunderland, a renamed for the TV show character, she’s better known as Bubbles Sunderland in the comic world. Thankfully, she also gets to show off her talents in this one, even if you aren’t a fan of the show itself and just want a taste of what Virginia offered then the fifth episode, “Drive All Night” is the one to watch.
Virginia Madsen as Maria Sunderland in Swamp Thing, standing in a warmly lit kitchen wearing a green dress and a yellow apron. Her expression is a mix of contemplation and quiet determination, framed by soft curls pulled back. Behind her, a brick wall and a dark wooden mantel adorned with silver fish decorations add to the rustic yet elegant atmosphere of the sceneWe already know the show is dead in the water, well, swamp – But is it worth a watch?

Well. Yeah. I’d say so – Most of the events are wrapped up nicely, just remember to switch it off when the end credits roll…

Plus, there is always the chance with these things that the characters / actors will move on even if the show doesn’t, look at Constantine and The Legends of Tomorrow, and more recently the Dead Boy Detectives from the equally cancelled DC Universe project Doom Patrol who have found their way into the Netflix show of the same name as sort of spin off of their Sandman universe.

Availability:

Good, good – Not hard to find on DVD or Blu-Ray.

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virginia madsen in designated survivor

Designated Survivor

Designated Survivor is one of those shows where everything that happens in it is highly, highly unlikely – BUT – You go along anyway for the ride. It ran for a total of three Seasons between 2017 and 2019, originally on the ABC Network but finished its run on Netflix.

This one deals with the idea that the US Government is practically wiped out in a Terrorist Attack on the Capitol Building, all but one man – Thomas Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland), the designated survivor who was previously the Secretary for Housing and Urban Development.

The show deals with the immediate fallout from the attack, the other plots against American Democracy and Thomas Kirkmans own ideals about being President means, all while trying his best to be seen as a legitimate President against those that don’t agree he should hold any power at all.

Quite the plateful for one man. But, in another life he was Jack Bauer, so…

I only watched the first Season of this one, not just because it’s the only one in which Virginia Madsen is a recurring character, but because *something* changed after the first season. Not sure what, but I just didn’t enjoy it the same and so I dropped it after a couple of episodes.

Virginia Madsen played a character called Kimble Hookstraten, the Speak of the House. She was the designated survivor of the Republican Party. She outwardly supported Thomas as the President but, well, obviously this is Politics and she had her own agenda.
virginia madsen in designated survivorShe ultimately becomes unravelled by her plans and she ends up as the Secretary of Education instead.

Virginia does her part as far as the acting is concerned, it’s the “powerful don’t mess with me”thing we’ve seen her do a few times now. Honestly, while she does the part well I can’t help but think it’s lazy casting to have her do these roles. And, a waste. But still, I guess it’s work.
virginia madsen in designated survivorThe show itself. Is it worth watching? Well, like I said, I did enjoy the first season, I pretty much binged it for the most part. But when it came to the second season it just kind of lost its appeal to me. I think it went too far down the political rabbit hole, which isn’t for me. I like my TV to be escapist and not remind me of the, stuff, around me.

Availability:

Good. No problem getting hold of this on DVD, and it’s still available to watch on Netflix

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virginia madsen in american dreams

American Dreams

American Dreams is a show on NBC that ran for three seasons from 2002 to 2005. The show is primarily about the Pryor family who live in Philadelphia in the early 1960’s, more often that not the Pryors daughter, Meg (Brittany Snow) would be central.

Although the Pryor family are fictional, the show has real life events that affect the characters as though they lived through them. The assassination of Kennedy for example is depicted.

The Pryor family are the owners of a TV and Radio store, well, John Pryor (Tom Verica) is at least. His wife, Helen (Gail O’Grady) is a homemaker. As well as Meg, John and Helen have three other children, John (Will Estes) is the eldest, Patty (Sarah Ramos) is younger than Meg and then finally Will (Ethan Dampf) the youngest.

The show itself celebrates American Music, and many classic songs from the time would feature via the inclusion of American Bandstand into the show’s plot. Famous artists from the time would perform on the show and would often be portrayed by famous musicians of the nowadays. Today’s Musicians would also frequently take other roles on the show, Art Garfunkel would appear as the Record Store owner for example. There are too many to list here but a full list can be found on the Wikipedia page for the show.

Virginia Madsen would only appear in the first Season, she played the character of Rebecca Sandstrom, Helen’s Book Club friend. Rebecca isn’t the typical 1960’s stereotypical woman and she encourages the Book Club to expand their minds by pushing progressive literature on the Club.
Virginia Madsen as Rebecca Sandstrom in American Dreams, wearing a dark scarf and jacket. She has a warm, knowing expression while standing in a dimly lit room with vintage decor, including a Zenith electronics sign in the background.If you’ve read any of my other pages in historical films then you’ll know that these kinds of thing aren’t for me. I’ve zero interest in period stuff, even if the music is cool.

I actually did give this one a go but I got to the end of the second episode and I’d had enough.

I do believe it was actually worth the watch though if this is your kind of thing.

Availability:

Region 1 DVD isn’t a problem and is easily found at a reasonable price which is good as it doesn’t appear that Seasons 2 and 3 ever made it. Even more odd that so much effort was put into the Season 1 DVD with a special extended edition.

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virginia madsen in the truth about the harry quebert affair

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair is a 2018 10 part mini series based upon the 2014 book of the same name by Joel DIcker.  It was originally shown on the Epix channel starting in September.

We start off following a young author by the name of Marcus Goldman (Ben Schnetzer). He’s had a successful book published but now his Agents and Publishers want another one and he’s got a bad case of the writers block. He reaches out to his old School Teacher and Mentor, the titular Harry Quebert (Patrick Dempsey) to see if he has any advice for him.

Harry Quebert is himself a much celebrated Author and local hero in the town he lives in. He’s originally from New York but moved there to write his book and ended up staying. The book, The Origin of Evil, was a resounding success and is classed as one of the greatest books of the generation.

Life is good for Harry enjoying his low key celebrity life in the town. When Marcus calls him for advice he offers him a place to stay to blow away the cobwebs and maybe get some inspiration from fresh surroundings.

The visit goes well, but as Marcus  is preparing to leave news comes out that Harry has been arrested for the murder of a teenage girl, Nola (Ryan Kiera Armstrong),  who went missing 33 years before. Nola’s body has been found in the back garden of Harry by the same workers that Harry has employed to do so some work.

Marcus decides he’s to stay and help Harry in any way he can not wanting to believe Harry is guilty. He goes to visit him in jail where Harry manages to slip him a note. On the note are instructions to find some evidence that could incriminate him and burn it.

It turns out that Harry and Lola where in fact closer than they should have been for a man of his age and a girl of her age, but he insists it “wasn’t like that” and that he’s innocent. He knows how it looks however and fears people won’t understand.
Virginia Madsen as Tamara Quinn in The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. She is wearing a retro diner waitress uniform with a yellow collar and a name tag reading 'Tamara.' Her hair is styled in a vintage updo, and she wears red lipstick and pearl earrings. She is speaking with an expressive look, standing in a warmly lit diner with shelves of snacks and drinks in the background.Virginia Madsen plays Tamara, she first appears in the second episode as the owner of the road side restaurant that Harry would go on to write his novel in. In the past we see she’s one of Harry’s biggest fans and instructs the staff to treat Harry like royalty. Later we see her after Harry’s arrest and her tune has significantly changed and she can’t wait to tell everyone how she knew he was no good.
Virginia Madsen as Tamara Quinn in The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. She has curly gray hair and wears a burgundy cardigan over a leopard-print blouse. She is in conversation with a younger man, gesturing with her hand while speaking. The setting is outdoors with lush green foliage in the background, creating a natural and serene atmosphere.We see the story unfold through the eyes of Marcus as he conducts his own investigation as most of the town folk have turned their back on their hero. Obviously there are twists and turns as these things are apt to do. Secrets are revealed, red herrings are, herringed, We see the story play out in both the present day and through flash backs to the time before Lola disappeared and the time immediately after it.

It’d be stupidly easy to spoil something if I continued (I’ve already had to hold back!) and so I’ll leave it at that with a recommendation that if you like this kind of thing then you’d be well advised to seek it out as it’s one of the good ones.

As a Virginia Madsen fan it’s definitely worth a watch. She’s on top form here and it’s good to see her take another role which can show her range. In my head I kind of likened the role to the one she took in the Anna Nicole biopic. It’s perhaps not what you’d expect from her, especially the present day version of her character.

Availability:

I was actually surprised to find you can’t buy this on physical media in any form. Which is a shame. It’s currently available on Amazon Prime if you do want to watch it.

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virginia madsen in dawsons creek

Dawson’s Creek

Ugh. Dawson’s Creek. Well, not necessarily “UGH”, but yeah, a definite ugh. Not my thing at all. BUT it did become somewhat of a pop culture moment, and surprisingly Virginia Madsen was along for the ride,  and so here we are.

In 2003 the TV show Dawson’s Creek would come to an end with its Sixth season. The end of the Sixth Season would feature a double bill with two episodes “All Good Things…” and “…Must come to an End” (Not to be mistaken for the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation…).

For those of you unfamiliar with the show (lucky you), Dawson’s Creek was the quintessential late-90s teen drama, following the emotional roller coasters of a group of friends growing up in Capeside, Massachusetts. It’s got all the angst, love triangles, and painfully earnest teen dialogue you’d expect from a show of this type. It also helped launch the careers of several actors who went on to bigger things, including Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes.

I never really watched it at the time, I was too old for it when it aired and I’ve no real desire to go back to it now that I’m even older. Especially as the whole “Teen Drama” thing was never really for me, even when I was a teen.
virginia madsen in dawsons creekI, didn’t *really* watch the episodes with Virginia Madsen in, it’s a season finale and so I didn’t really stand a chance of really knowing what was going on. She plays  Maddy Allen, an older woman who, in true Dawson’s Creek fashion, finds herself in an “inappropriate” romantic relationship with Pacey (Joshua Jackson). Apparently, he has a thing for older women, so much so that the relationship doesn’t seem to cause anyone to blink an eyelid at the whole thing.

Now, let’s just say that this kind of story line would probably cause more of a stir if the roles were reversed or if it aired today. But it’s 2003, and Dawson’s Creek was never exactly cutting edge when it came to progressive thinking.
virginia madsen in dawsons creekAs for Virginia Madsen’s role, it’s small but memorable. She does what she does best and adds a layer of emotional complexity to what otherwise might have been a one-note character.

Does she save it for me? Nope. But she definitely brings more to the table than what the show would’ve had otherwise, and to actually try and watch an episode…

If you’re like me and this kind of teen drama isn’t your thing, Virginia Madsen’s appearance won’t change your mind. But for die-hard fans of the show, Maddy Allen gives them something else to remember from the finale. And that can only be a good thing…. Right?

Availability:

Easy to get hold of in Box Sets, the Season Finale is actually available to buy separately for this one – It’s how I got it – It’s just the final two episodes as a stand alone thing, and as a collector that’s all you need.

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