It was not a huge week in television by any means (mostly due to the fact that many shows are still on hiatus...slackers), but the few new episodes that were on were big enough to make up for all the reruns and reality show "talent" competitions. (I'm sorry to say I've grown tired of American Idol and its tedium, though I am very amused by Steven Tyler.) So let's review the top five highlights from this week that were worth watching. (Warning: SPOILERS ABOUND)...
It was not a huge week in television by any means (mostly due to the fact that many shows are still on hiatus...slackers), but the few new episodes that were on were big enough to make up for all the reruns and reality show "talent" competitions. (I'm sorry to say I've grown tired of American Idol and its tedium, though I am very amused by Steven Tyler.) So let's review the top five highlights from this week that were worth watching. (Warning: SPOILERS ABOUND)...
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#5) Tina Majorino on Castle - It's pretty much my favorite thing in the world when actors from my favorite departed shows are featured on my current ones. The stars really aligned this week when Tina Majorino (tech-savvy sidekick Mac from Veronica Mars) guest starred on Castle (which, as I'm sure you know, stars Nathan Fillion from my other favorite cancelled show Firefly). This, of course, means I spent most of the episode smiling nostalgically and reminiscing about "the good old days" when Veronica Mars and Firefly were still on the air, and not at all paying attention to the actual storyline of the episode. (From what I can tell, someone got killed and Corbin Bernsen was involved.) And to think, this was only the second most awesome guest appearance by an actor from one of my favorite cancelled shows on Monday night...(see #1)
#4) The Good Wife - What wasn't to like this week? Cary vs. Blake on the stand! Kalinda was even more badass than usual! A hint of bridge-rebuilding between Alicia and Cary! Killer drug dealers! Kalinda slept with Peter! TWIST! (And, to answer your question, yes, all those exclamation points were necessary.) #3) How I Met Your Mother's montage of Marshall's increasingly outrageous attempts to provoke his friends into mocking him - The gang had been going easy on him since his dad died, and Marshall did everything he could think of to get them to "take off the kid gloves," including growing a soul patch, blasphemously declaring that The Phantom Menace was the best Star Wars movie, and (my personal favorite) Rex the possum: "I found him in the trash. He lives with us now." Other notables from this week's HIMYM were John Lithgow as Barney's estranged father (how heartbreaking was their final scene together?), Barney's "Rotating Vietnamese Shame Wheel" (your guess is as good as mine), and the realization that Ted cannot pronounce the word "chameleon." #2) Michael's proposal to Holly on The Office - Well, it wasn't his original idea of writing the proposal in gasoline in the parking lot and setting it (and inevitably himself) on fire, but his final proposal did involve a lot of fire. I loved that Pam stepped in and gathered everyone together to help Michael plan this big moment, since, as Pam said, "I've always felt we should be very involved in each other's personal lives in a very major way." When the time was right, Michael walked Holly past all the other Office employees (all holding candles) as she declined their marriage proposals (even Ryan's!), until she came to her desk (also covered with candles), where Michael got down on one knee and asked her to marry him...in his Yoda voice. By this point, the smoke from all the candles had triggered the sprinklers, which added the perfect note of wet whimsy to the moment. Holly accepted (also while doing her best Yoda impression), and everyone in the office rejoiced. Then Michael announced that he was leaving the office to go to Colorado with Holly to care for her parents. There couldn't be a more perfect way for Michael Scott (and Steve Carell) to exit The Office, but it won't be the same without him. #1) Joan of Arcadia stars reunited on House - Sure, House's prostitute scooter chariot and remote control helicopter shenanigans were amusing, but the reason this episode was so fantastic was that Amber Tamblyn (who played the title character on Joan of Arcadia) and Chris Marquette (who played her love interest Adam) got to share the screen again. And it was glorious. Aside from the fact that I love both actors individually, and that they're both extremely talented, seeing them together reminded me of what great chemistry they have. During their hospital heart-to-heart, it was like they were Joan and Adam again, him with his teary vulnerability, and her with the tender looks of sympathy. It was almost like a deleted scene from Joan of Arcadia...until the end of the episode when we found out Chris Marquette's character was actually a serial killer. (Awkward.) HONORABLE MENTIONS: *This quote from Jeff on Chuck: "If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, you can eat it." (In reference to Kevin Bacon the pig.) *Community + Pulp Fiction *The phrase "Stealth 'R' Us," as coined by Phillip the Special Agent on Survivor. *Jay and the gays on Modern Family - Jay fit in surprisingly well with Pepper, Crispin, and Longines. *Was that Fred Savage playing tennis on Mr. Sunshine? BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK (OR EVER): Fox renewed Fringe for a fourth season! IT'S A MIRACLE! Everyone should celebrate by watching Fringe live tonight on Fox at 9 pm! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go organize my celebratory parade in Fringe's honor. #5) Rachel and Blaine's Duet on Glee - It was Alcohol Awareness Week on Glee, and while the episode was not by any means above average, Blaine and Rachel's drunken rendition of "Don't You Want Me" was positively magical. In fact, it was probably the only good thing to come out of the Rachel Berry House Party Train Wreck Extravaganza. (If I wanted to watch teens get smashed and make out, I'd just watch Skins.) These two are arguably the best female and male vocalists on the show (with the respective charisma to boot), and seeing them perform together was a revelation. They may not have chemistry offstage (at least not when they're sober), but I really hope this wasn't the last time we get to see these fabulous performers sing together. And maybe Blaine can give Rachel some fashion advice, since she seems to think a grandma's nightgown is appropriate attire for a party.
#4) Amy Sedaris on Raising Hope - I love Amy Sedaris, and her sense of humor is a perfect fit for Raising Hope and its blue collar family dysfunction. She was great as Virginia's evil cousin Delilah, who was willing to give up her stake in Maw Maw's estate in exchange for some affection from Burt. For once, it was a blessing that Maw Maw confuses Burt for her dead husband, and her shouting at Delilah about her husband-stealing sufficiently scared her off for a while. #3) Fabio's Return to Top Chef- I wish they would bring back the fallen cheftestants every week, just so I could have Fabio on my TV again. This week's highlight was probably Fabio telling Richard Blais that he thinks they get along so well because Richard reminds him of his ex-wife. #2) Troy and Abed's Election Coverage on Community - "What's up with politics?" My thoughts exactly, Troy. His and Abed's "Decision Gate" show on the Greendale election was almost as big a joke as their college. Their profiles of the candidates included parties like "Legalization," and "Whig," not to mention a category called, "Boobs" ("yes" or "no" seem to be the two possible affiliations). Another fantastic gem of the episode was the unveiling of Jeff's audition tape for The Real World, in which he sang a parody of George Michael's "Faith." Tight jeans and a leather jacket were involved. It was magnificent. #1) Phillip the Special Agent on Survivor - Has there ever been a better-edited segment of television than Phillip's weepy patriotic speech about being a special agent intercut with footage of him hunting a tiny crab while wearing only a pair of pinkish-red briefs? Well done, Survivor. Well done. Did we mention Phillip is a special agent? HONORABLEST OF ALL HONORABLE MENTIONS (AKA #1, Part 2): *Fringe. All of it. Ever. Specifically this week's flashback episode to Peter and Olivia's first meeting when they were just sad little maladjusted children. The scene in the white tulip field was just...perfect. Perfect show. Please watch it. Okay, so due to an immense amount of papers in my final days of college, I was unable to do a full recap of last week's television extravaganza. I know, I know, I'm a slacker and how could I possibly allow academia to take precedence over my television watching/reviewing? (Believe me, I never do.) Please feel free to call me names and read my short and now irrelevant recap of the three shows mentioned above.
Fringe...was fantastic. That's all you need to know. Actually, all you need to know is in the picture above. If you get it, great. If not, you obviously need to be watching Fringe. Get on that, will you? Survivor - NaOnka and Purple Kelly (perhaps the least memorable survivor to ever make it this far into the game) were finally defeated this week by...the rain. Apparently that's all it takes to get (stupid) people to give up a shot at a million dollars. But let's face it, those two never had a shot at winning anyway, and frankly I'm glad to have them gone. Plus, that episode brought us a) extra sass from a perturbed Jeff, and b) this line from Kelly: "I have nothing left to suck." Top Chef: All Stars - I'd like to quote Fabio (from his original season) who said, "This is Top Chef, is not Top Scallops." But the dreaded scallops made another unwelcome appearance this week when the evil Top Chef judges made the All Star cheftestants recreate the dishes that sent them home the first time. (Mean.) Yet somehow neither of the scallops dishes sent people home. As much as I hate scallops, I was elated to finally see the glorious return of Fabio, Carla, Spike, Casey, and the Werewolf Known As Marcel to my television. And although I lament the absence of both Voltaggio brothers (I adore them) and the presence of the obnoxious Richard Blais and his little science experiments, I have no doubt this season will be fabulous. Especially if we can look forward to more tense encounters between Fabio and Anthony Bourdain. Week in Review: Lighthouse Rocket Ships, Conspiracy Theories, and the Return of Robin Sparkles11/21/2010 This week's TV lineup featured a surprising number of hookers/porn stars (see House, Raising Hope, and arguably How I Met Your Mother), conspiracies (see Castle and Community), fake guns (see Modern Family and Community), and crying (see Modern Family, Terriers, and Cougar Town), which are always fun plot points. Throw in some exciting guest stars, and it was a pretty great week of television. Here's the rundown...
This week in television was ripe with new faces (Darren Criss on Glee), old faces in new roles (Amber Tamblyn on House), old faces in old roles (Taylor Momsen back on Gossip Girl...barf), and rotting faces (the zombies on The Walking Dead). All in all it was a quality week of November sweeps, with some shows faring better than others. Let's dive in...
The leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping, and the creepy mannequins in the Old Navy commercials have changed out of their swim suits and into their scarves. That's right, people. It's November! And you know what that means: November sweeps. Sure, there were plenty of repeats and sub-par episodes this week (with some exceptions, like the ever-stellar Terriers, and The Vampire Diaries, which somehow seems to maintain the quality and excitement of sweeps every week), but that's just the quiet before the storm, laying the groundwork to pave the way for the wonderment of sweeps, which should kick in this coming week. Until then, let's recap this week's TV highlights (and some medium-to-low-lights)...
This week brought good news for some shows and ambiguous-but-probably-foreboding news for others. CBS surprised everyone by ordering full seasons of all five of their new series, including the critically scorned Twitter-based sitcom $#*! My Dad Says, Tom Selleck's new hit Friday night cop drama Blue Bloods, and Hawaii Five-0. The CW also announced which shows they'd be picking up for a full season: the eight season wonder One Tree Hill (the show that won't die), and freshman series Hellcats and Nikita. Notably absent was Life Unexpected, whose hopes for a full second season are not looking good. But let's move on to some recaps of this week's noteworthy shows, only two of which were mentioned above (yes, that was a shot at all the stupid shows that got full season pick-ups CBS and The CW)...
It was another week of great TV, darkened only by the news of what we'd all feared: ABC will be premiering their new reality competition Skating With The Stars this November, allowing them to continue wasting three hours of air time a week on has-beens and celebutantes making fools of themselves to music, even after this season of Dancing With The Stars has ended (God willing). If this premise sounds familiar to you, it's probably because it's nearly identical to Fox's Skating With Celebrities which only aired for one season in 2006. But by all means, please try it again, ABC.
But enough bad news, let's discuss the good news, namely the winning shows of the week... Another exciting week of television has come and gone, and it seems that the new shows are starting to distinguish themselves as either "keepers" or "soon-to-be-canceled." The first new show to get a full season pickup, I'm happy to say, was Fox's comedy Raising Hope. The outlook isn't as good for some other new shows (Chase, The Whole Truth, and Running Wilde, for instance), but more on that later. Let's start from the beginning...
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