MONDAY
House - After last week's hour-long Huddy love fest, House returned to what it does best: controversial medical cases, delusional clinic patients, and inter-employee groping. To those who feared that House's relationship with Cuddy would change the show's dynamic for the worse, I think this week's episode showed that you have nothing to worry about.
How I Met Your Mother - I can't remember the last time I loved an episode of this show as much as I did this week, but I think it might have been as far back as two seasons ago. HIMYM was back in great form this week with a Barney-centric episode in which he comes to terms with the fact that Bob Barker is not really his biological father. The highlight of the episode was Barney's unique contribution to the classic song "Stand By Me." You can see the hilarious extended scene here.
Hawaii Five-O - The gang chased bad guys, dangled some off the roof, and Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan fought like an old married couple. Seriously, this show is quality entertainment.
Chuck - This week's fabulous-as-usual episode featured guest appearances by the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno) and Isaiah Mustafa (also known as the "I'm on a horse" guy from the Old Spice commercials). More importantly, this week marked the return of Jeffster. (That's Jeff and Lester's band, in case you haven't seen their music video.)
The Event - Questions were answered ("Where did the plane go?"), and others were raised ("Aliens? Really?") in the second episode of this new serialized drama which resembles the lovechild of FlashForward and V.
TUESDAY
Glee - We were promised Britney, and we got Britney. Unfortunately, it was more of a music video homage to Miss Spears than a Britney-themed episode of Glee. Don't get me wrong, they went all out recreating Britney's greatest moments, but if I wanted to see that, I'd just YouTube Britney's videos. Hopefully in future artist-themed episodes, the songs will be better incorporated into the plot (as they were in the Madonna episode) rather than just splattered randomly throughout the episode. Best moment of the episode? That would have to be a three-way tie between Artie's rendition of "Stronger," John Stamos telling Will, "You gotta get ridiculous, bro," and Sue Sylvester announcing, "It's a Britney Spears sex riot!"
Raising Hope - This new Fox comedy is shaping up to be one of the best new shows of the season. The proportion of wit to sincerity is perfect, and the show is genuinely well-written, rather than relying on crude humor and sight gags, as some shows do... Ahem...
Running Wilde - Disappointing. I don't see this show sticking around for long. I want it to be better than it is.
The Good Wife - I get chills just thinking about the season two premiere of this fantastic show. The first episode had the difficult task of wrapping up the cliff-hanger from the season one finale, establishing where everyone stands (for instance, Cary is alienating coworkers while helping Glenn Childs make Alicia's life even harder), and introducing two new characters: Michael Ealy as Derrick Bond, the new partner at the firm, and Scott Porter as the new in-house private investigator. The episode somehow managed to accomplish all of this without feeling cluttered or disjointed. That, plus the realization that Eli Gold's (Alan Cumming) most threatening opponent yet might be Peter's mother makes me think that season two is going to have little trouble living up to the high expectations set by season one.
WEDNESDAY
Better With You - I'm finding this ABC comedy surprisingly funny. It has almost the same kind of dynamic and sense of humor as How I Met Your Mother, but more focused on familial relationships rather than friendships and dating.
Modern Family - The theme of this episode was the psychological damage inflicted upon children by their parents' inability to show affection for them. But mostly it was just a really funny half-hour of television that involved ghosts, kissing, and Ed O'Neill screaming at raw chicken while he beat it.
Cougar Town - How many times do I have to tell you to watch this show? This week Travis left for college, and Jules (Courteney Cox) was understandably upset. It's amazing to me how the writers and cast of this show manage to make the dysfunctional relationships (like Jules' super-clingy-to-the-point-of-concern relationship with her son Travis) so funny and so real. And how many shows can get away with uttering the phrase "dead baby tacos"? (In case you're curious, this refers to a meal prepared by a neighbor who thinks Ellie's baby boy has died, probably because Ellie told him that... I know that sounds terrible, but trust me, it's funny.)
Terriers - This week's episode was quite possibly the strongest yet. We met Hank's (Donald Logue) brilliant-but-mentally-unstable sister and witnessed the best on-foot chase scene since last week, when Alex O'Loughlin lept onto the hood of a moving car on Hawaii Five-O. By the end of the episode, there was a dead guy in Hank's bath tub, and the police were starting to ask questions.
THURSDAY
Community - Two words: Break. Dancing. (Or is it one word?) You haven't seen breakdancing until you've seen Jeff (Joel McHale) and Abed (Danny Pudi) do the puppet while Señor--I mean, student--Chang writhes on the floor in agony from dancing for four straight hours while his Pop 'N' Locktoberfest dance teammates were busy crashing Jeff's lawyer party and chloroforming janitors. Funniest show on TV.
30 Rock - Paul Giamatti, Kenneth the Phantom Page, feet fetishes, Tracy gets into the Cash Cab, Liz does her Julia Roberts laugh, and Jack Donaghy reminds his unborn child that beloved children's author Shel Silverstein was a Communist.
The Office - I know some people say The Office isn't as funny as it used to be, but I have to say, I've found the first two episodes of the seventh season to be highly amusing. This week Jim and Andy gave Dwight a Pretty Woman makeover (or the man version thereof) so he could stick it to the shop employee who denied him service (due to his menacing looking beet-stained hands, we later found out). Meanwhile, Pam made Gabe extremely uncomfortable as she bluffed her way into the made-up position of office administrator. Oh, and Michael had to spend six hours with Toby during their "counseling session," which yielded mixed results.
The Vampire Diaries - The quote of the week is this exchange:
Mason: "I've heard great things about you." Damon: "That's weird. 'Cause I'm a dick."
My Generation ...has been canceled. Show of hands, is anyone surprised? I thought so.
The League - This week on this uproariously funny (albeit inappropriate) FX comedy, Ruxin and Pete used a kid with cancer to make their own wishes come true and meet the professional football players on their respective fantasy football teams. (NFL star Josh Cribbs guest starred as himself.) The major crisis of the night, however, was Taco's ill-fated rap about his naginata (a kind of spear-like weapon) at Andre's accidentally-racist work party.
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In case you hadn't noticed, I don't watch any Friday shows (not since Dollhouse was canceled, at least), so my "Week in Review" is actually just "Four Days in Review." But my recaps are already too long as it is, so it's probably best this way. That's all for this week.