July 2008 – Jae-Ha Kim

“The Hills” — Season 3

July 29, 2008October 16, 2010 Jae-Ha Kim

The third season of “The Hills” is alive with the sound of arguing, crying, and making up (sort of) by the telegenic quartet known as Lauren, Heidi, Whitney and Audrina. Glitzy, fabulous and completely unrealistic, this top-rated MTV reality series thrives on the conceit that pretty girls are jealous of each other when one of them has a boyfriend. But if that boyfriend is Spencer (Heidi’s big-toothed Svengali-in-training), it’s not necessarily jealousy the girls are feeling so much as revulsion.

“I Love New York” — Season Two

July 24, 2008August 22, 2011 Jae-Ha Kim

Programs like “I Love New York” profess to be a legitimate way of finding soulmates for the quasi-celebs. But all they really aim to do is get high enough ratings so that the producers can justify okaying subsequent seasons.

Go Away With…Simone

July 22, 2008August 16, 2022 Jae-Ha Kim

It’s not easy for the child of any celebrity to come out of their parent’s shadow. But Simone — the daughter of the legendary Nina Simone — makes it look effortless. A talented singer in her own right who performed on Broadway in “Rent” and “Aida,” the 46-year-old beauty is nonplussed by the comparisons some critics have made between the songs on her debut album “Simone on Simone” and her mother’s classic recordings.

Go Away With … Henry Winkler

July 8, 2008August 16, 2022 Jae-Ha Kim

It has been three decades since Henry Winkler became a pop culture icon, thanks to his scene-stealing portrayal of the Fonz on “Happy Days.” These days, the actor has a whole new generation of fans, thanks to his Hank Zipzer: The World’s Greatest Underachiever series of children’s books. Hank, an irrepressible fourth-grader, deals with dyslexia, bullies and a potential love interest in the latest installment — “The Life of Me: Enter at Your Own Risk” ($5.99, Gosset & Dunlap).

“The Closer” — Third Season

July 1, 2008October 17, 2010 Jae-Ha Kim

Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) is back in season three of TNT’s crime procedural The Closer. With a couple years at the Los Angeles police department already under her belt, Brenda has proven that her eccentric method works at getting confessions from even the most hardened criminals. But even she’s not quite sure how to handle the season opener, where a slaughtered family’s sole survivor is the stunned, stoned teenage son. Bleak, dark and wonderfully scripted, the opener sets the tone for the 14 episodes that follow it.