MARISA COUGHLIN IS SO SWEET, YOU WANT TO REACH THROUGH THE SCREEN AND GIVE HER A HUG!

Oh, there's plenty of serious stuff to write about and I will, but let's do the showbiz stuff sooner, rather than later.

The TV folks at Lifetime rolled out two new shows that aired Sunday night just before Lifetime's new hit show, "Army Wives".

Sunday nights at 8 on Lifetime, you can now see a show called, "Side Order Of Life". It stars Marisa Coughlin, Jason Priestley, Vivy Porter and Rick Purdy. Marisa Coughlin plays a magazine photographer who really wants to be a writer. Jason Priestley plays her fiance, Vivy Porter plays Coughlin's cancer stricken best friend and Rick Purdy plays Coughlin's boss. Oh...There's also this mysterious guy the Coughlin character accidentally called on her cell phone. Twice! And then on purpose. And then she wonders if it would be all right to call this guy again.

Is he the Coughlin character's real soul mate, or what?

Yes, I did say the Coughlin character has a fiance. The Jason Priestley character who looks like a great catch, buuut...

In Sunday night's first episode of "Side Order Of Life", the wedding was postponed by the Coughlin character. Will it ever happen?

Let me tell you what did happen and it happened immediately! This character played by Marisa Coughlin looks like one of those dream roles that every actor hopes to land. She flat out gives a new definition to the word "sweet". And not the "gag me with a spoon" kind of sweet. The kind of sweet that makes you want to reach through the screen and give her a hug. That kind of sweet!

"Side Order Of Life", Sunday nights at 8 on Lifetime. If the writers don't screw things up, I can guarantee an Emmy nomination for Marisa Coughlin.

Lifetime's new show at 9 on Sunday nights is "State of Mind" and it's about a group of imperfect shrinks who are paid to listen to problems, but in fact, have plenty of problems of their own. The two actors who impressed me the most in this first episode were Lili Taylor who plays Dr. Ann Bellowes and Theresa Randle who plays Dr. Cordelia Banks. I thought the show was pretty good, but I found myself wondering about eventually watching "Side Order Of Life", skipping an hour and then watching "Army Wives".

OTHER SHOWBIZ STUFF:

Former Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington will join NBC's "Bionic Woman" and play a mysterious person who is brought into the scientific organization responsible for creating the Bionic Woman.

Mandy Patinkin is leaving CBS' "Criminal Minds". Patinkin was starring as an FBI profiler named Jason Gideon and his character will be missed. CBS says the exit of this character will be explained in an early episode. Why is Patinkin leaving this hit show? "Creative differences" is the reason given, but that could mean anything. In addition to being a fine actor, Patinkin is also one heck of a good singer.

NBC's "The Apprentice" will come back for a 7th season after the first of the year. The focus will be on celebrities and the first person Donald Trump wanted hired was someone he's been feuding with. Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell's spokeswoman said, in essence, "Not in this lifetime or any lifetime."

AND NOW THE SERIOUS STUFF:

There are still a lot of unhappy victims of abuse by priests here in the Los Angeles area. After it was officially announced that 660 million dollars would be divided up among victims with large shares going to lawyers, a lot of victims said what I've (in essence) said. Where's the accountability for Cardinal Mahony? After all, he's the guy who kept transferring priests to places where many of them abused children again. Here's what Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said yesterday: "Today's massive civil settlement highlights the institutional moral failure of the archdiocese to supervise predatory priests who operated for years under his jurisdiction. If released confidential documents reveal evidence of criminal activity on behalf of individual priests or anyone else, we will pursue them. The book is not closed on our investigation." Short Commentary: The words sound good. Let's see if action matches the rhetoric spoken by District Attorney Cooley.

A FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT ABOUT A LEGAL IMMIGRANT:

A lot of talk about illegal immigrants and about how we should feel sorry for these lawbreakers who are looking for the easy way "in" despite laws they've already broken here.

Reader Bill Mouzis wrote the following: "My mother and father became legal immigrants in the early 1900's after arriving by ship from Europe in the good ol' USA through Ellis Island, New York. They did it the old fashioned way and did not have to sneak in. They paid their dues, they pledged their allegiance to the USA, they gained citizenship through hard work, they eventually spoke English and they even kissed the ground they stood on. Two of their four boys, born in this country, were wounded in World War II and were proud to have served this great country.

Please, please wake up America!

Thanks for the letter and thanks for your service, Bill.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't forget! You can HEAR this blog! The links to the three stations broadcasting today's blog can be found at the bottom of my links section which is to the right of what you're reading now. It's the last three links. ATTENTION: This links information will change in a couple of days, so be on the lookout for that!

If you read this before pictures have been added, come back! Pictures will be up soon. A new blog is written every morning, Monday through Friday and is posted between 7 and 7:15, Pacific Time. Sometimes earlier. Questions and comments can be sent to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I do write back..

TOMORROW: Another letter sent by a reader and whatever else makes me say, "Whaaat!"