THE BORGIAS
Despite the fact that on the surface, Showtime’s THE BORGIAS — complete with copious amounts of sex and gratuitous levels of violence — is equal to timeslot rival GAME OF THRONES in almost every respect. There is one unmistakeable thing that separates HBO’s big budget fantasy from Jeremy Irons Showtime starrer: Have you seen those adorable Dire Wolf Cubs?

SUNDAY NIGHT ON ABC
As much as we hate to be that guy — you know, the Hollywood cliché who swaps his steady squeeze for a hot young newcomer — we recently decided that it was time to trade ol’ reliable Sunday stalwarts DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and BROTHERS & SISTERS for the flashier newbies GAME OF THRONES and THE KILLING. Don’t shoot the messenger.

TREME
As much as we’d like to applaud HBO for continuing to shine a much needed spotlight on a post-Katrina New Orleans — particularly in lieu of America’s 24/7 Cable News Outlets who seem to be far more interested in covering Lindsay Lohan’s legal snafu — nothing screams “bummer of a way to end a weekend” like a TREME viewing party. Worse still, we’re not the only ones who feel that way.

NURSE JACKIE
With apologies in advance to Showtime, no amount of Emmy love for star Edie Falco can make up for the fact that following WEEDS, DAMAGES and THE UNITED STATES OF TARA we’re thisclose to O.D.’ing on cable shows starring incredibly brilliant albeit somewhat damaged woman.

TELEVISION NEWS
You know, those programs media conglomerates spend hundreds of millions of dollars per year on so that they can alert you to news your Twitter feed “spoiled” 7 hours ago! (See: Japanese Earthquake)

In our latest instalment of Advertising Anarchy (Also known as our take on how networks might wish to consider promoting some of our favorite new and returning shows), this TV Addict thought we’d offer up our two cents as to how Showtime might wish market the upcoming season of their critically acclaimed dark medical comedy NURSE JACKIE.

Summer is typically a quiet time for TV watchers, but thanks to the proliferation of cable shows and broadcast networks burning off episodes, this summer was not without entertainment and some surprises. Below are the moments, actors, shows and realizations that surprised me this summer.

The supporting cast of NURSE JACKIE: Yes, Edie Falco is fabulous, but for me, it’s the people surrounding Jackie who make the series, especially Merritt Wever, Eve Best and Peter Facinelli. Each one adds something unique and unexpected to the show. Wever is absolutely hilarious. Best, who has the most amazing laugh, is the perfect juxtaposition to Jackie. Facinelli takes what could have been a jackass character and makes him a lovable doofus. I’m surprised and delighted that NURSE JACKIE has introduced me to Wever and Best. In a way, it feels like I’m also discovering Facinelli for the first time. I’ve seen and enjoyed him before in different movies and TV shows, but I’m pretty sure his shirtless chest did most of the acting in Fox’s short-lived FASTLANE.

Sebastian Stan on KINGS: Thanks to NBC banishing KINGS to summer burn-off theater on Saturdays, not too many viewers watched this epic and imaginative series. That’s too bad because as reliably magnificent as Ian McShane and Susanna Thompson were, the real surprise was Sebastian Stan. I’d seen the actor before on GOSSIP GIRL as Carter Baizen, a role he’ll be reprising this fall, but I had no idea he was capable of this. His Jack was complicated, tormented, selfish, lonely and desperately seeking love and acceptance. Watching him come to accept who he is as he stood up to his mother, was like watching Stan show us who he really is as an actor.

Bonus KINGS surprise: No show got a bigger gasp out of me this summer than when Silas yelled at Jack, “And you’re no prince, you faggot!”

TRUE BLOOD: I’m just not that into you. Earlier this summer, I made my way through the first season of the HBO series and it wasn’t love at first sight. I’m not even sure it was like. Everyone around me seems to be crazy for these vamps, but maybe I’ve had my fill of bloodsuckers because I just can’t get into TRUE BLOOD. I haven’t even attempted to watch season two yet and am in no rush to do so. Maybe my feelings will change if I ever getting around to it, but I’m having a hard time imagining myself getting over my annoyance with almost every character on the show.

DROP DEAD DIVA: The charming, funny Lifetime series and its extremely talented leading lady have captured my heart. Brooke Elliott is simply fabulous at balancing the duality of playing two characters. Congrats, Diva, on becoming the first original Lifetime series to land on my DVR record list. Thanks to you and SoapNet’s BEING ERICA, I’m starting to believe that all hope is not lost for shows about real women. Despite the fantastical premises of both series, they’re more relatable and grounded than the ladies of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.

MAKE IT OR BREAK IT, my new guilty pleasure: I thought it would be 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, which I enjoy and is more well-written, but no… At first, I found this series meh, and I still have my issues with Emily — do all her love interests keep disappearing because they’ve realized she’s really not that special? — but its soapy, teen drama storylines and pileup of secrets have quietly gotten me hooked. I have to give the show props for trying to make the adult characters interesting and integral. Susan Ward has taken what could have been a cartoonish character and given her real dignity and heart. Plus, I enjoy playing “Who will Sasha inappropriately flirt with this week?”

Uli doesn’t make the final four on PROJECT RUNWAY: ALL-STAR CHALLENGE: Yes, Daniel’s red carpet dress was fabulous and would look great on Nicole Kidman, although I’m still unclear about who exactly will be wearing the dress at the Nine premiere. The rest of his collection? Bizarre and boring. I loved Daniel and his designs in season 2 of PROJECT RUNWAY, so I can’t help wondering if the judges crowned him the winner because he was the fan favorite that year who didn’t win. And for that matter, did the judges punish Korto because she’s a sulky, sore loser? Has this women ever smiled during her time on the show? Still, I’d keep her in the top 4 and replace Sweet P’s overly twee collection with Uli’s sophisticated and impeccably crafted designs. But as PROJECT RUNWAY reminds me every season, what do I know about fashion?

What surprised you this summer?

Vlada resides in Los Angeles, where there are stars in the sky and on the ground. She has worked for TVWeek, Starpulse.com, SignOnSanDiego.com and The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, CA. She runs the TV blog Staying In and can be found on Twitter: @stayingin.

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (8PM FX)
Yup, nothing puts the ‘last’ nail into a successful trilogy’s coffin like hiring director Brett Ratner to helm. We’re just sayin’

NURSE JACKIE (10:30PM Showtime, 10PM TMN in Canada)
Is a movie critic (played by special guest star Victor Garber) really in a coma due to an incorrect dosage of painkillers? Or, after a summer filled with Transformers 2 and GI JOE had he simply had enough?

WEEDS (10PM Showtime)
Silas and Doug second-guess their latest pot growing scheme. Which considering how well things have worked out for the Botwin clan as of late, probably isn’t the worst idea in the world.

NURSE JACKIE (10:30PM Showtime)
In a plot that will undoubtedly send the pulse of real-life nurses racing, Jackie substitutes the artificial sweetener in the hospital administrator’s coffee with a narcotic.

NEW & NOTABLE:
JON AND KATE PLUS EIGH (9PM TLC)
As much as we ‘get’ network synergy, we just can’t help but wonder if it’s really the best of ideas for the guys from AMERICAN CHOPPER to visit the Gosselin home and build a custom escape route bike for Jon. We’re just sayin’

Frankly, NURSE JACKIE shouldn’t work.

The new Showtime series is, on paper, little more than a collection of cliches. The drugged-out nurse who knows more than the uncaring doctors she works with. The gay best friend. The annoying chatterbox of a nursing student. The opening and closing voiceovers.

Despite — or perhaps, in some weird way, because of — this seemingly flawed foundation, NURSE JACKIE proves to be yet another feather in Showtime’s almost tackily-over-ornamented cap. Like THE TUDORS, DEXTER and WEEDS, this is another show built around a wildly dysfunctional central character, yet never fear, as she is completely original thanks in equal parts to brilliant writing and a “give-her-the-Emmy-now-and-stop-wasting-everyone’s-time” performance from Edie Falco.

Carmela who?

Perhaps the cliches are meant to lure us into Jackie’s world, allow us to sit back and get comfortable… so that the show can then laugh at us for our complacency by turning everything upside down as if to say, “Ha! We fooled you!” By the premiere’s end, we learn that nothing is exactly as it seems in Jackie’s world. Her relationship with hospital pharmacist Eddie is far more complex than it appears on the surface, and the hotshot doctor has what can only be described as a most unusual way of dealing with stressful situations.

Viewers are likely to walk away conflicted about the lead character, who is — much like DEXTER’s morally conscious serial killer — a study in contrasts thanks to the battle that rages on between her self-righteous nature and the occasionally horrific acts she commits in order to make the world live up to her expectations, not to mention the glaringly obvious hypocrisy evident in her daily life.

To those who have been saying that comedy is dead on television, we point to JACKIE and say, “It’s not dead. It has simply come of age.” Like the best of modern comedies, this isn’t a simple set-up, punch-line type of humor, but something much more mature and complex. We don’t just let loose belly laughs or guffaws, but often find ourselves tittering with quiet discomfort. It pushes the boundaries of what can and can not be done within the 30-minute format, and credit must be given to whoever decided that this would work better in the shorter doses and resisted the urge to make the show an hour.

By the end of the first episode, you’ll be hooked… and thrilled by the network’s decision to pick it up for a second season. And if the major networks want to know what they’re doing wrong, they need look no further than this program, which might serve as a tutorial in how to make great television. Forget the reality that is flooding the major networks; this summer belongs to JACKIE.

NURSE JACKIE airs Monday nights at 10:30PM on Showtime. The pilot will be rebroadcast tonight at 11:30PM

WEEDS (10PM Showtime)
Picking up where season four left-off, a now knocked up Nancy Botwin continues to make life-altering decisions that make JON & KATE PLUS 8′s Kate look like mother of the year.

NURSE JACKIE (10:30PM Showtime)
If star Edie Falco’s Nurse Jackie thinks juggling patients, co-workers and a personal substance abuse problem is tricky, just wait until she has to RSVP to all those Emmy and Golden Globe ceremonies. Those dresses aren’t gonna pick themselves!

NEW & NOTABLE:
KATHY GRIFFIN (10PM Bravo)
Further evidence that there’s absolutely nothing real about reality television comes courtesy of Kathy Griffin — who after two Emmy wins and one Grammy nomination is still pretending she’s on the D-List.

JON AND KATE PLUS 8 (9PM TLC)
Chef Emeril Lagasse visits the Gosselin home and gives the entire family cooking lessons. Which you know, is just what the family needs right now. Cooking lessons. Not therapy or an intervention.

RAISING THE BAR/strong> (a0PM TNT)
Season two begins with Mark-Paul Gosselaar rectifying television’s hairiest situation since Felicity chopped off her iconic locks.