How I Met Your Mother - This week's episode was possibly the saddest we've ever seen of this usually-upbeat comedy (including Ted getting left at the altar, sorry bro). The episode featured a countdown, with numbers appearing on every prop, backdrop, and actor, counting down to the final scene in which Lily told Marshall that his father had died. If that alone wasn't enough to get your tear ducts going, Marshall (Jason Segel) ended the episode with the heart-wrenching line, "I'm not ready for this" as he hugged his crying wife. Ted's romance problems are looking a little trivial right now, huh?
Pretty Little Liars - Never having watched the show before, the only things that really struck me were, 1) I found Ryan Merriman! (And now I really want to break out my Luck of the Irish VHS tape), 2) thirteen years after playing Kendra on Buffy the Vampire Slayer Bianca Lawson is still playing a teenager (WOW), and 3) Ian Harding is really pretty.
Greek - My favorite college dramedy is back for its fourth and final season! (*sobs*) The season started off with Casey, Ashleigh, and Evan's graduation, which included a speech from the hilarious Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) reprising his role as Dean Bowman. (I hope we get to see more of him in this final season.) Then we fast-forwarded a few months to the beginning of next semester, and Casey managed to get herself accepted into Cyprus Rhodes law school despite their initial rejection (by proving that her only bad recommendation was written by a bitter douchebag who resented her for not going out with him) so she can stay at CRU with her brother, her ex-boyfriend, and the rest of the cast. That's great and all, but what we really want to know is what the hell happened on Cinco de Mayo?
Castle - I am still in awe of Laura Prepon and her transformation into Beckett for her character's role as Nikki Heat, the fictional character invented by a fictional character and based on a fictional character. And now my brain is about to explode from trying to comprehend the meta-ness of this.
WEDNESDAY
Top Chef - The all-star cheftestants cursed Tom Colicchio when they all had to match his time (just over eight minutes) to create a dish in the Quickfire Challenge. When it came time for the Elimination Challenge, they pretty much crashed and burned, and despite being responsible for two bad dishes (not to mention the fact that she didn't even serve her food in two of the recent Elimination Challenges) Jamie somehow did not get sent home. Everyone (including her) was surprised. But the most exciting development of the week was definitely Fabio's announcement (and accompanying video footage) that he has a pet turtle which he takes on walks (with a leash and everything) once a week. How does this man not have his own show yet? I'd rather watch him walk a turtle for an hour than watch Bristol Palin "dance."
Modern Family - James Marsden James Marsden oh my God James Marsden. In case you didn't catch that, James Marsden was on Modern Family this week. And he was fabulous. I wish he could somehow become a part of the regular cast because his interactions with Cam and Mitchell (like this one) were some of my favorite scenes of the season. Oh yeah, and Gloria learned to ride a bike and Claire was crazy or something. Whatever. Did you see James Marsden though?
Cougar Town - The cul-de-sac crew was still reeling from the death of Big Joe (watch the memorial video here) when tragedy struck again this week. (Actually, it was Jules that struck...various animals--by accident--leading to their deaths.) Jules didn't take the deaths of Grayson Dove (Jules Dove's mate), Tuffie L'Rue the squirrel, and Lizard very well, leading her to question her relationship with Grayson. But it all worked out in the end (except for Grayson Dove, Tuffie L'Rue, and Lizard, of course) because it gave (human) Grayson the opportunity to finally tell Jules that he loves her, which, like every meaningful and important moment in their lives, had to be done in front of the rest of the cul-de-sac crew, since these wonderful people have absolutely no sense of boundaries (and I love it).
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That's it for this week. Yes, you read that correctly. Nothing important happened on television on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday this week. At least not in my opinion. Next week even more shows return from hiatus (The Good Wife!) and some new ones premiere (Off the Map, Lights Out). Things are about to get interesting again.