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Eliza Dushku is Us Magazine's Cult Fave of the Year 2009

Webmaster — 2009-11-18T14:12:40Z

See Who Made Us' Hot Hollywood List !

Us Weekly is pleased to announce its third annual list of Hot Hollywood honorees.

Cast of the Year : Glee

TV Siren of the Year : Olivia Wilde

Victor of the Year : Kris Allen

Pioneer of the Year : Anika Noni Rose

Glam God of the Year : Adam Lambert

Comeback of the Year : Kristin Cavallari

Chanteuse of the Year : Leona Lewis

Comic of the Year : Joel McHale

Breakout of the Year : Katie Featherston

Sitcom Mom of the Year : Julie Bowen

Crossover of the Year : Emmy Rossum

Girlfriend of the Year : Jessica Capshaw

Employee of the Year : Jenna Fischer

Hot Steppers of the Year : Kelly Osbourne and Mya

Cult Fave of the Year : Eliza Dushku

Action Team of the Year : Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J

Eliza Dushku in 2009 Empire's 100 Sexiest Movie stars

Webmaster — 2009-10-28T19:50:56Z

The 100 Sexiest Movie Stars | Women | #26 | Eliza Dushku

Eliza Dushku has come a long way since hanging off a Harrier as Arnie's daughter in True Lies. Smoky good looks and a brooding bad girl aura make her anything but the girl next door, something Joss Whedon first recognized when he cast her in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and, more recently, as kick-ass mind-wiped automaton Echo in Dollhouse.

Most alluring as... It's tempting to say scantily-clad cheerleader Missy in Bring It On but there's just no getting around the smouldering charms of Buffy's psycho slayer, Faith.

Interests include... Hitting the woods with a bow and arrow and bringing down her dinner Robin Hood style.

Eliza Dushku - "Wet" Video Game - Ign.com Review

Webmaster — 2009-09-15T19:46:47Z

Violent action entertainment fueled more by style than substance.

US, September 14, 2009 - Combining a grindhouse film presentation style with Max Payne and Stranglehold-like slow-motion combat mechanics, Artificial Mind and Movement's WET certainly has a promising setup. You play as Rubi Malone, a raven-haired vixen clad in leather armor. Armed with dual pistols, she's as likely to fire bullets as she is to unload curse words and can flip, slide and swing around combat arenas. For the developer the game represents a spark of originality on a resume populated mostly with licensed products and ports, and its release was not always a sure thing. Amidst the shedding of intellectual property as the publishing giant Activision-Blizzard settled into its new skin, the title was let go, picked up earlier this year by Bethesda Softworks. It's a violent, crude, and often inane title — which fits in neatly with its presentation style and tone — but unfortunately its gameplay isn't as dynamic as it wants to be, falling flat and failing to sustain the experience.

As Rubi you're thrown into a world of murderers, double-crossers, drug runners, impossible action scenarios, and conspicuously dressed villains. There's a film grain effect skittering across the screen the entire time, which can be turned off, but while active reinforces the B-movie angle of the plot, dialogue, and characters. Rubi is wronged and angry, and the game in an appropriately inelegant manner smashes together pieces of story that move you through a series of combat arenas and quick-time event action sequences.

WIth guns or blades, kill with style to score points.

Rubi's combat abilities are upgradeable, but you'll find the basics will be your mainstays throughout the course of the game. At any time while moving around in third-person you can initiate a slide or jump move that if combined with gunfire results in extended slow-motion sequences. There's no limit to the amount of slow-motion effects you can use in the game, meaning there's nothing like Max Payne's bullet-time gauge. As long as you're hopping off walls or skidding on your knees across the floor, the fire triggers are being pulled, and there are enemies onscreen, you'll be in slow-motion mode. Rubi always has two weapons at the ready – either pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, or crossbows – and nothing ever needs reloading. Just fire until you're out of ammo, or in the pistols' case just keep firing forever. And if you're close enough, bust out the katana for a quick and brutal kill.

It's a system that can produce some gleefully violent and cinematic scenes of carnage as Rubi rebounds off enemies' chests while unloading streams of bullets directly into their faces, something made even more interesting by the fact that her aim isn't limited to one foe. She'll auto-target one as soon as slow-motion mode is initiated and then with her other weapon she can blast away at another enemy. This way, if you're quick and accurate, you can wipe out two or more thugs with one slide or dive which, at first, can provide a welcome rush of adrenaline. Keep shooting and chaining kills together and you build up a multiplier, accumulating points and enhancing your sense of reward for fluid play. So what's so bad about that ?

Well, the system doesn't really hold up. Weapon damage and fire rates and new acrobatic moves can be unlocked as the single-player campaign is completed, but nothing ever significantly alters how combat works, just provides a few cool extra frills. While you do get the opportunity to more easily stay airborne and in slow-motion firing mode, after you've learned the basics of battle, there's little reason to stick around unless you're particularly drawn to the title's pulp sensibilities and want to see through the story.

The game mixes up-close action with more cinematic experiences like this car chase. The game just doesn't offer enough variety. As you move through linear levels you'll run into small groups of foes until you hit an arena. Here enemies surge from Gauntlet-esque spawning doors, and the goal is to disable their ability to reinforce while snagging multipliers scattered around and scoring kills in as stylish a fashion as possible. Some sword-wielding enemies require you use headshots to take down, and the enemies that bring miniguns to the fight take a hell of a lot of damage before keeling over, but the challenges wind up feeling repetitive and unrewarding as they're thrown at you time and time again.

Things get Kill Bill-crazy on occasion as Rubi shifts into a rage mode, denoted in-game by blood splattering across her face as she makes a short range kill. The graphics get Killer 7 stylish with swaths of black and red and white, but just because there's a different lens through which you're viewing the action and your multiplier builds dramatically faster, it's still the same action.

Since the roots of the game's presentation extend into the medium of film, it makes sense that A2M wanted to build in a few sequences that felt more like watching a movie than playing a game. A Matrix Reloaded-like car chase has Rubi bounding across the tops of vehicles as they smash into each other, all presented with slick camera movements that makes for a genuinely entertaining viewing experience. It's just not all that interesting to play. The same goes for a silly falling sequence as Rubi tumbles through the air as plane wreckage and armed foes drop around her, eventually leading to an annoying segment where wreckage must be dodged in order to snag a life-saving parachute.

A2M takes this cinematic system a little too far when it comes to the boss characters. It seems the combat system wasn't really set up for single encounters, so you enter into Indigo Prophecy-ish timed button press situations when clashing with these pillars of villainy instead of getting the opportunity to hop around and conquer them with your acrobatic skills. It's a tease, and deflates all the tension and reward built up throughout the course of the game. Like the car-jumping bits, it's still neat to watch, but it's tough to draw a sense of reward from the situation since you're naturally expecting a more interactive fight.

To put some space in between these types of encounters and the arenas are clumsy platforming setups reminiscent of Prince of Persia, but without any of the feel and flow. Instead you're just pulling off standard wall-running and pole-swinging acrobatics that have been done better in plenty of other titles. While it's occasionally cool to combine swinging and climbing with Rubi's gun and sword skills in a fight, they're usually more trouble than they're worth. Out of combat, the sequences are rarely enjoyable, and seem to have been built in more to eat up your time than entertain. A wide range of speed-run and shooting challenges are also offered outside of the story mode where, among other things, you dart and dive through rings and try to peg targets with guns to reduce your overall time, but here the imprecision of the jumping and platforming becomes more obvious. While the added content here is certainly appreciated, it feels too rough-edged and sloppy to really dig into.

When Rubi gets mad, she literally sees red. One of the game's strongest elements is its presentation with its film grain effects, weirdly humorous interstitial advertisements, loading screens, soundtrack, and intentionally simple and crude character dialogue. If more than a minute has passed without an f-bomb being dropped it would be an unusual moment in the world of WET. Rubi's ruthlessness is also effectively conveyed, as she continues to curse while killing as the game goes on and employs a merciless approach to extracting information from those who threaten to jeopardize the success of her mission. None of the characters introduced in the game world manage to escape the clutches of the cliché, but that was probably the point, playing up the world's pitted B-movie aspects while retaining a certain generic flavoring.

While A2M gets the style right and provides plenty of dark and dirty battlegrounds to splatter with blood, the visuals and animations aren't particularly sharp. With the exception of the stylish rage modes, there isn't a lot to marvel at here – though again maybe that's the point given the low-budget, rough-edged themes. The soundtrack, featuring styles from punk to funk to rock, surges to life as the bullets fly, effectively locking in with the action and tone.

And maybe I've completely desensitized myself over the years by regularly absorbing ultraviolent media, but if WET really is trying to be the videogame equivalent of an exploitation movie, it's pretty tame. There's violence and blood – of that there's no question – but it's a game that doesn't come with a high degree of shock value…with the exception of the sword thrusts through the crotch. Ouch.

It's fiction.

Closing Comments Come for the blood, bullets, crude language, seedy characters and piles of dead bodies, but don't expect to find any lasting kind of satisfaction. With overly repetitive enemy encounters and an unsatisfying slice of slow-motion-centric action, Artificial Mind and Movement's WET, like the styles of film it apes, is filled with imperfections. It hits on a lot of the presentation elements, but when its issues are related to gameplay they're much more difficult to endure compared to something like bad lighting or cheesy special effects.

7.5 Presentation

Solid presentation elements, from the loading screens to the camera angles, which reinforce the tone the game is gunning for.

6.0 Graphics

Wipe away the film scratch and there isn't much to be impressed with.

7.5 Sound

A strong soundtrack is used often as you battle through, though the sound effects lack power. The voice acting is solid enough.

6.5 Gameplay

Repetitive challenges paired with a loose combat system that doesn't satisfy like it should.

5.0 Lasting Appeal

Multiple difficulty levels for the campaign and numerous additional challenges, though you'll likely be tired of the game by the time you get around to them.

6.6

Passable OVERALL (out of 10 / not an averag

Eliza Dushku - 5 Reasons to love her on Tvguide.com

Webmaster — 2009-03-27T12:24:43Z

Five reasons we love Eliza Dushku :

1. Despite a tough-chick résumé that includes Buffy, “Bring It On” and now Dollhouse, she's got a softer side. “I'm a big bubble-bath girl,” admits the Massachusetts-bred bombshell. “I love white cotton nightgowns. I went through a stage where I slept in black, lacy lingerie, but there is something sweet and sexy about taking a bubble bath and slipping on one of my frilly nightgowns.”

2. Her softer side could still kick our ass...and make us ask for more. “There is something about fighting all these boys. We're in such close proximity, and we have this physical, animalistic thing going on. We're beating each other, but at the same time, I am straddling them...there is a sexual charge there, for sure.”

3. She does a body good. “I worked really hard this year. I did a triathlon and came in third...won the bronze medal. [And] I work out every day, almost, for the show.”

4. She's a mane attraction. “When I have a little bit of help, I can definitely work my hair. I have pretty good hair, and a lot of it. When it's coiffed by a professional, it's really luxurious, and I can definitely play with it and flirt.”

5. Nerds have a shot ! “I love playing chess, and I love Wikipedia. I have Verbal Advantage CDs in my car. I'm sort of a knowledge nut ! Teach me and I will come to you !”

Eliza Dushku & Nathan Fillion are "Faces to Watch" according to Aol.com

Webmaster — 2009-01-02T22:46:30Z

Click on the link :

http://television.aol.com/insidetv/2009/01/02/midseason-tv-faces-to-watch/

Eliza Dushku - "Alphabet Killer" Movie - Variety.com Review

Webmaster — 2008-12-18T14:13:15Z

A New Films Intl. release of a New Films Intl./Greg Polisseni presentation of an Intrinsic Value Films/Wideye Films production. Produced by Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Tom Malloy, Ross Terlecki. Executive producers, Greg Polisseni, Luzi Filiba, Izak Filiba, Ron Gell, Mark Clark, Nesim Hason, Sezin Sason, Brandon Baker. Directed by Rob Schmidt. Screenplay, Tom Malloy.

With : Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton, Tom Malloy, Michael Ironside, Tom Noonan, Bill Moseley, Martin Donovan, Melissa Leo, Carl Lumbly.

The individually well-executed but mismatched elements of "The Alphabet Killer," helmer Rob Schmidt's latest thriller, are glued together in such a slapdash manner that they still seem to bear the stamps of their origins. Within an open-ended, "Zodiac"-style mystery structure, "Sixth Sense" ghosts get grafted onto "Silence of the Lambs"-style psycho bonding. As a cop obsessed with cracking the case of a serial killer preying on little girls, Eliza Dushku commands the screen but cannot reconcile the script's conflicted and increasingly idiotic agendas. R-rated but non-gory psychological suspenser opened Dec. 12 for a limited New York run.

Though set in the present, pic is loosely based on an actual unsolved case that took place in Rochester, N.Y., in the 1970s. Homicide detective Megan Paige (Dushku), becomes fixated on solving the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl whom, she's convinced, was the victim of a serial killer stalking prepubescents with double initials.

When her analytical genius veers toward madness, Megan is removed from duty and is hospitalized for schizophrenia, losing fellow-cop/fiance Ken (Cary Elwes) and picking up wheelchair-bound fellow loony Richard (Timothy Hutton) along the way. But the killer strikes again, and Megan soon finds herself in the thick of the chase, paired with skeptical cop partner Harper (scripter Tom Malloy), despite trembly hands and runaway hallucinations.

The exact nature of Megan's hallucinations never crystallizes. They start at the very beginning, when the first dead girl opens her eyes and stares at Megan, and quickly escalate into full-bodied paranormal visitations, complete with cadaverous faces and disintegrating garments. But the link between the paranormal and schizophrenia is never articulated ; nor does helmer Schmidt incorporate that ambiguity into any psychologically satisfying seer/seen aesthetic (Schmidt's 2003 "Wrong Turn," also starring Dushku, emitted its own mixed signals).

Nevertheless, pic boasts memorable moments. A single scene with Martin Donovan and Melissa Leo, in brief cameos as parents of the second victim, takes full advantage of the talent on tap as Donovan skates along the edge of a breakdown. Unfortunately, Schmidt fails to link the madness in the air to Megan's mental fragility. Similarly, a strong, highly suspenseful hostage showdown between Megan and a suspect, ending in shocking violence, cannot sustain its emotional charge into the ensuing interdepartmental ass-saving.

Despite his firm visual command of individual scenes, Schmidt seems unconcerned with tonal or emotional consistency and allows pic to spiral into ludicrousness, presumably for the sake of a sequel.

Excellent tech credits and vet character actors belie pic's low-budget indie roots.

Camera (color), Joe DeSalvo ; editor, Frank Reynolds ; music, Earl Perlmutter ; production designer, Alicia Keywan ; costume designer, Lynn Falconer ; sound (Dolby Digital), Tammy Douglas ; supervising sound editor, Matthew Polis ; casting, Nancy Payer Battino, Kelly Wagner, Natasha Cuba, Nicole Abellera. Reviewed at Cinema Village, New York, Dec. 16, 2008. MPAA Rating : R. Running time : 98 MIN.

Eliza Dushku - "Alphabet Killer" Movie - Nytimes.com Review

Webmaster — 2008-12-13T20:04:34Z

“The Alphabet Killer” belongs to the vague genre of supernatural thriller that puts food on the tables of young actresses like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jessica Alba. But though the story (by Tom Malloy) advances with the usual blend of female anguish and tenacious apparitions, it's anchored by the considerable skills of Eliza Dushku and classed up by a director (Rob Schmidt) more interested in facts than in frights.

Believably twitchy and preternaturally pallid, Ms. Dushku plays Megan Paige, a workaholic detective who suffers a nervous breakdown when her hunt for a young girl's killer is accompanied by visions of the decomposing deceased. Two years in an institution and one diagnosis of schizophrenia later, Megan returns to work to learn that the killer has resurfaced using the same M.O. : choosing victims whose first and last names begin with the same letter.

Loosely based on a series of murders that took place in Rochester in the 1970s, “The Alphabet Killer” relies less on the novelty of its premise than on the positioning of solid actors in minor roles (including Melissa Leo and Martin Donovan as the tortured parents of a murdered child) and the intelligence of its star. Yet the out-of-left-field ending, rich with sequel potential, may be its scariest scene : there are, after all, an awful lot of letters in the alphabet.

THE ALPHABET KILLER

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Directed by Rob Schmidt ; written by Tom Malloy ; director of photography, Joe DeSalvo ; edited by Frank Reynolds ; music by Eric Perlmutter ; production designer, Alicia Keywan ; produced by Mr. Malloy, Aimee Schoof, Isen Robbins and Russ Terlecki ; released by Anchor Bay Entertainment. At the Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time : 1 hour 40 minutes.

WITH : Eliza Dushku (Megan Paige), Cary Elwes (Capt. Kenneth Shine), Timothy Hutton (Richard Ledge), Tom Malloy (Stephen Harper), Michael Ironside (Capt. Nathan Norcross), Martin Donovan (Jim Walsh), Melissa Leo (Kathy Walsh) and Bill Moseley (Carl Tanner).

Eliza Dushku on Go Fug Yourself

Webmaster — 2008-02-27T20:57:55Z

Independent Spirit Awards Fug Carpet : Eliza Dushku

You know, I'd been wondering what Eliza Dushku has been working on lately, so it's refreshing to know the answer at long last :

She's been moonlighting on the other side of the Phantom Tollbooth as Plussy Galore, by day the High Priestess of Operational Voodoo and leading Symbols player in the Mathmagician's marching band, and by night the Dodecahedron's nimble mistress. No wonder she didn't have the energy to change her clothes.

Eliza Dushku - "Bottle Shock" Movie - Hollywoodreporter.com Review

Webmaster — 2008-01-30T18:10:17Z

PARK CITY, Utah (Hollywood Reporter) - When a film opens with the title "Based on a true story," one wonders if the filmmakers are trying to bolster a flimsy premise with claims of authenticity.

But "Bottle Shock," which had its world premiere at Sundance, enshrines an irresistible story that happens to be (mainly) true. It takes place in 1976, the year of the American Bicentennial, and in these cynical times, it is nice to be reminded of an American victory that is actually worth celebrating. This might not have been a momentous world achievement, but it was a gratifying victory all the same.

The contest takes place in the world of wine, in a time when California wines competed for the first time in a prestigious competition in France. One of the competitors was Chateau Montelena, a vineyard owned by Jim Barrett, who dropped out of the corporate rat race to pursue his dream of cultivating grapes. Jim is just one of the engaging characters in this tale of American hayseeds taking on French connoisseurs. Because of the wine backdrop, some will compare the film to "Sideways," but the comparisons are not really fair. This is a different kind of movie, a classic underdog tale with lots of humor and heart. With the right handling, it could be a hit on the specialty circuit.

The film begins by introducing an intriguing ensemble. In the Napa Valley, Jim (Bill Pullman) is locked in constant battle with his slacker son, Bo (Chris Pine), who works for him at the vineyard. Another worker, Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez), the son of a Mexican field hand, hopes to launch his own label. Both of the men are infatuated with Sam (Rachael Taylor), a new arrival in town. Meanwhile, in Paris, Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) hopes to revive his failing wine business by sponsoring a competition, and a friend encourages him to visit California to add a new gimmick to the contest.

The film is leisurely in establishing all these characters — a mite too leisurely. The first half would benefit from tighter editing. Another problem is that the characters — the tyrannical father and the rebellious son, the snooty European wine connoisseur — are a bit stock, and the personal stories are not as well developed as they might be. But the film keeps building in intensity, and the payoff sizzles.

As he showed in "Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School," director Randall Miller has real affection for actors, and he brings out the best in performers who haven't always had an opportunity to shine. (Miller wrote and produced both films with his wife, Jody Savin.) Pullman has his best role in years, and he captures the fury as well as the passion of a man in thrall to a dream on the verge of collapse. Pine has enormous charm, and Rodriguez confirms the promise he showed on HBO's "Six Feet Under." Rickman also has one of his juiciest roles in recent years, and he's able to satirize British haughtiness without falling into caricature. Watch his reactions as he samples California cuisine — first a vat of Kentucky Fried Chicken and then a glob of guacamole — and you'll savor the mastery of a truly subtle actor. Two beautiful young actresses — Taylor and Eliza Dushku as a ballsy bartender — give equally winning performances.

Once the film gets past the exposition, it brings off a number of delectable scenes. A high point comes when Rickman and Pine inveigle a bunch of airline passengers to transport California wine in their carry-on bags. And the climactic competition, where the scrappy American interloper has to stand up against generations of French tradition, is as rousing as any finale you'll see this year. Cinematographer Michael J. Ozier magnificently captures the Napa countryside. This intelligent, affectionate, beautifully acted movie gives crowd-pleasers a good name.

Cast :

Steven Spurrier : Alan Rickman

Jim Barrett : Bill Pullman

Bo Barrett : Chris Pine

Sam : Rachael Taylor

Gustavo : Freddy Rodriguez

Maurice : Dennis Farina

Joe : Eliza Dushku

Mr. Garcia : Miguel Sandoval

Director : Randall Miller : Screenwriters : Jody Savin, Randall Miller, Ross Schwartz ; Story : Ross Schwartz, Lannette Pabon, Jody Savin, Randall Miller ; Producers : Jody Savin, Randall Miller, Marc Lhormer, Brenda Lhormer, J. Todd Harris, Marc Toberoff ; Executive producers : Robert Baizer, Erik Clyge, Art Klein, Dan Schryer ; Director of photography : Michael J. Ozier ; Production designer : Craig Stearns ; Music : Mark Adler ; Co-producer : Elaine Dysinger ; Costume designer : Jillian Kreiner ; Editors : Randall Miller, Dan O'Brien.

Eliza Dushku - "Nurses" Tv Series - Thefutoncritic.com Review

Webmaster — 2007-08-14T08:52:43Z

BONUS FIRST LOOK : NURSES (FOX) - (pilot not ordered to series)

The network's description : "From executive producers Barry Josephson ("Bones") and Shed Productions (UK hits "Footballers' Wives," "Bad Girls"), director PJ Hogan ("My Best Friend's Wedding") and writers Samantha Goodman and Andrew Stern ("Return to Me"), NURSES is a hospital show that puts the focus where it truly belongs : on the women and men who spend their days at the beck and call of the doctors, proving once and for all who's truly in charge. And while the nurses of Philadelphia General Hospital work hard, they play hard, too sometimes before their shifts have even ended. Trying to put a checkered past behind her, newbie nurse EVE MORROW (Eliza Dushku, "Tru Calling") returns to, of all places, the hospital where her brilliant and intimidating father Dr. RICHARD MORROW (Gregory Harrison, "Ed," "Falcon Crest") calls the shots as Chief and her smug stepbrother Dr. KURT TAYLOR (Brett Dalton) is a rising star on the staff. Eve joins the nursing team on the fast-paced Med/Surg Unit and immediately finds herself in hot water when she enlists the help of the beautiful BECCA DIMATO (Drew Sidora, "Girlfriends," "White Chicks") who has a penchant for one-night stands and pilfered pharmaceuticals in a quest to help a patient by proving that Dr. Taylor, Becca's latest conquest, has made an incorrect diagnosis. The acerbic JOANNE "JO" MAZUR (Jaclyn DeSantis, "Windfall," "Luis") is a single mom who's enjoying a workplace romance with sexy male nurse PATRICK De LEON (Ramon Rodriguez, "Day Break," "The Wire"), as her envious co-workers wonder aloud what she has that they don't. CHRIS KORENEK (Sara Rue, "Less Than Perfect") is dangerously bored with her marriage to her high school sweetheart and secretly wonders if she has what it takes to be a surgeon. And while tightly-wound charge nurse MARGO MacDONALD (Melinda Page Hamilton, "Desperate Housewives") must play mother hen to them all, she quietly longs to be one of the girls. Few would have the wherewithal to survive all this, but it's just another 12-hour shift for the NURSES."

What did they leave out : Katheryn Winnick was originally cast in the lead role of Eve Morrow but was replaced by Eliza Dushku before filming began.

The plot in a nutshell : Lifelong partier Eve Morrow (Eliza Dushku) has traded in her short skirts and shitkicker boots for a chance to work as a registered nurse at her father's (Gregory Harrison) famed Philadelphia General Hospital. And despite a big save on her first day, she's still got a lot to prove to him (including taking a weekly drug test) and her fellow nurses - the self-described maneater Becca (Drew Sidora), the kind-hearted divorcee Jo (Jaclyn DeSantis), the smarter-than-she-lets-on Chris (Sara Rue), the resident beefcake Patrick (Ramon Rodriguez, complete with "Private Practice"-esque intro) and the floor Nazi Margo (Melinda Page Hamilton) - not to mention her annoyingly perfect stepbrother Kurt (Brett Dalton), who gives her a month before she up and quits like she always does. It's also not long before Eve learns the group's various sleeping arrangements - Jo is with Patrick, much to everyone's chagrin ; Becca has recently bedded Kurt ; and something is going on between Margo and her father. As for the job, it's mostly a mix of "code browns" (just use your imagination) and awkward moments (a patient keeps on masturbating to Martha Stewart) however two cases in particular stand out - a dying cancer patient (an unrecognizable Lynn Redgrave) bonds with Jo and a drug addict's case pits Eve against her stepbrother's diagnosis. Despite being told to never go against the doctors, Eve and Becca swindle a geeky MRI tech ("Buffy's" Tom Lenk) into letting them run a CAT scan, but not before being busted by Kurt. He's the one however that gets fed a cup of humility after their father confirms Eve was right, even if her methods in proving such were extreme. Along the way we learn a little bit about the Morrow's family history - Eve's life of alcohol and drugs kept her from visiting her mother during her final days ; she used to have an affair with the psychiatrist ("24's" Carlos Bernard) her father used to send her to ; and a recent OD while living in Miami forced the aforementioned changes to her life. We also learn the local hangout is a bowling alley/karaoke bar and that in the end, everyone will come together for a coding patient.

What works : This is the first show in a long time that I'm genuinely perplexed why it isn't on the air. Not because it's the greatest show ever made - it's not, for reasons we'll get to shortly - but because it's basically "Grey's Anatomy" minus Meredith's voiceovers, its general cloud of unhappiness and all the baggage that comes from being on the air for three seasons. In other words, it's like "Grey's Anatomy" back when it was good - pretty people sleeping with each other mixed with a few doses of medical and family intrigue. And it's kind of fun. Setting the tone then is Eliza Dushku, who not surprisingly can kick ass (she tackles an out of control patient to sedate him...) and look fantastic while doing it (...but not before getting her shirt accidentally ripped off by him). She's also surrounded by a colorful supporting cast with their own interesting problems - Sara Rue's OR nurse Chris for instance has what it takes to become a doctor, but her cop husband wants her to get pregnant and stay home. All in all, it's a breezy, fun hour the likes of which FOX hasn't churned out in a long time.

What doesn't : Nevertheless, it's very much a show straight out of the new girl/boss's daughter must prove herself playbook - complete with the trademark doing-something-that-could-get-her-fired-but-actually-turns-out-to-be-the-right-thing move, as described above. Not helping matters is that Brett Dalton's Kurt isn't given any sympathetic qualities, making his villainy come off as more cartoonish than actually threatening. Said setup then makes Eve's triumph in the end all the more predictable and empty. In the end though, this isn't a show designed to explore the nuances of the medical drama, this is a show where Eliza Dushku struts her stuff in hot outfits filmed in slow motion not once, not twice but three times. And I'm cool with that.

The bottom line : As mentioned previously, it's a breezy, fun hour the likes of which FOX hasn't churned out in a long time.