Kathy Bates

I love Kathy Bates. I think she's a terrific actor and she's a woman who has aged gracefully, allowing herself to be seen as you and I might be seen in our 40s and 50s and 60s (though I have no idea how old she really is). But look at her here - she's gorgeous. I love her face and her smile.

But especially, I love her acting.

And so I've become addicted to the new show Harry's Law. Kathy plays Harriet Corn - a disillussioned high-end patent attorney - who, almost by accident, ends up in a poverty-stricken neighborhood in a bit city dealing with a completely different type of law.

She deals with crimes engendered by poverty, by face, by stupidity - but she deals with them with an aggressiveness and charm that's truly enchanting.

One of my favourte scenes is when they first move into their miserable ex-shoe store (and when I say shoes, I mean Prada and Laboutin - real shoes - that the receptionist loves and still sells to the occasional customer) and a rat runs across the floor. She pulls out a revolver (no little lady's gun for Ms. Bates, this is a honking big revolver) and shoots the rat. She then points at her young male associate and says "you're on dead rat duty".

I want to be able to say that to somebody some day and make it sound as if it's just a natural part of my life.

You know I don't often blog about television - I try not to watch too much of it - but this show? It's going on my list.

And besides, there's the shoes. And Kathy Bates. 

Remember her in Misery with James Caan? That was one of the scariest movies I've ever seen and also one of the very best adaptations of a novel ever made - Stephen King's writing translates pretty well to the big screen but Misery was amazing. If you haven't seen it, or haven't seen it for a while, take a look. You'll be impressed, I promise.

Kate