Chuck: A Buy More Christmas

Chuck: "Chuck Versus the Santa Claus"

Just the highlights:

• The Buy More-ians commenting (and betting) on the outcome of a car chase reminds me of first season Alias.
• These elf outfits the poor Buy More employees have to wear are awful. Poor Morgan in the yellow tights!
• Ellie: "So my present to my fiance is a ticket to death?"
• Chuck: "This store has a very strict no-bravery policy."
• General: "It's an electronics store, not Basra. Get it under control, Major!"
• Carl Winslow from Family Matters!!!
• That is a terrible picture of Ned.
• Ellie: "A lot of people get by with 9 toes."
  Jeff: "I'm getting by fine with 8!"
• Jeff: "Yes, I'd like to speak to Prisoner 20158 a.k.a. Mom."
• Why doesn't Ellie have the bracelet that her dad gave her mom when she gave birth to Ellie? Maybe she doesn't want it because she doesn't like the dad?
• Ned: "You've been a really good friend to me, Chuck, so I'm going to let your girlfriend go."
  Chuck: "NO!"
  Jeff: "Ouch!"
  Lester: "It's going to be a cold Christmas at the Bartowski house!"
  Buy More girl: "Oh no he didn't!"
• I knew this hostage negotiator was going to be in the Intersect. Saw that one coming for miles.
• Oh no, Fulcrum is all over this situation. Ugh.
• Oh no, now Fulcrum finally knows that the Intersect is in Chuck's head!
• Ned doesn't find anything suspicious about all the boys huddling up and putting their hands in the middle and saying "break!"
• Oh poor Lester! He took quite the kick!
• I knew Morgan would save the day. He usually does, despite is reputation for being a do-nothing.
• Where's Casey? Why was Sarah in the tree lot alone with the Fulcrum guy? Casey went in there with her. Is he easily distracted by a good Fraser fir?
• I guess Sarah doesn't have much confidence in the CIA being able to keep Fulcrum from breaking an agent out of their detention facility, huh? If the situation is that bad, maybe they should just beef up their security.
• The reunion between Big Mike and Carl Winslow was adorable.
• Oh, poor Morgan.
• Doesn't Sarah notice the look of sheer terror that Chuck keeps giving her? She's not a very perceptive spy...
• Whoa, this episode was actually kind of heavy.
  

The bad news: no new Chuck until February 22nd?!?! That's kind of harsh, especially since Chuck has been flat-out tearing it up this season.

Privileged: Hidden Palms Reunion! (Seriously?)

Privileged: "About the Ripple Effect"

Raiding the cast of Hidden Palms, are we, Privileged? Does that seem like the best idea to anyone? Anyone? I'm all for employing Michael Cassidy, but I would have quit there. Now we've got Cliff's mom playing Megan's mom. And then there's the dude who was the AA sponsor guy on Hidden Palms hanging out in Lily's hair salon! Enough. If Johnny (Oliver from The O.C.) shows up, I'm turning this off.

Observations:

• Lily got married!? Holy heck.
• Sage: "Oh, you are an assortment of nuts."
• Rami: "I don't think he's that cute." (Me either.)
• Since it seems like all the existing magazines are folding or laying off workers, it's probably not the best time for Will's dad to be trying to start a new magazine (esp. one that sounds boring and like something Betty Suarez would come up with).
• Hey, look, it's Little Franco! (His name is Dave.) I can tell he's a Franco: he's a cutie and has an array of James-like mannerisms.
• Little Franco (about Titanic): "I loved that movie!"
  Sage: "You probably don't want to tell that to everyone."
• Is there a way that we could write Megan out of this show? Because she's driving me flippin nuts.
• Mandy and her no-crap attitude are kind of fun. She refuses to put up with anyone's B.S.
• Little Franco plays the French horn!
• Little Franco: "Hey, you know how when you play it, you stick your hand in the open end? Well, I used to hide Starburst in there..."
• Aww, Rose, forget about the cook guy; don't make Little Franco sad!
• Dude, Megan don't touch the restaurant's mints! Don't you remember the story Rory Gilmore told about the article she read about people touching the mints after they had gone to the bathroom but not washed their hands?! Urine mints, Megan! Eew!
• Charlie: "I'm not your problem, buddy! ...You do have a problem, and it's you."
• Yes, Charlie is so much better when he's not being whiny and pathetic.
• I gotta agree with Megan's mom's opinion about the philanthropist magazine being a snooze.

(photo: cwtv.com)

Gossip Girl: A Wedding and a Funeral

Gossip Girl:
"O Brother, Where Bart Thou?"

Today my sister saw this in the Wall Street Journal:

"Stayin' alive. Buried in the tax law is a powerful incentive for many wealthy people who care about their heirs to stay alive at least until the dawn of 2009. The basic federal estate-tax exclusion, now $2 million, is scheduled to soar to $3.5 million next year. Thus, if someone survives until Jan. 1, an additional $1.5 million of that person's estate will be sheltered from the federal estate tax, where the top rate is 45% both this year and next."

So, do we think that the real reason Chuck Bass is so upset is that he would have gotten an extra $1.5 million tax free if Bart had just held off on succumbing to the fatal automobile accident for one more little month? Or is it because his unclassy skank of a step-mother marries people she doesn't love for money? A mixture of the two, perhaps?

I now hate both Rufus and Lily more than I hate Vanessa. Vanessa! Rufus is just smug and self-righteous and whiny. Lily is a terrible person. What the hell was she even thinking blaming CHUCK for Bart's accident (in the scene in Bart's office)?!? (She said that Bart wouldn't have been driving to the party if Chuck hadn't called him.) WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HER? Why would you say that to a grieving teenager? And then she freaking slapped him!!! Like I said last week, slapping a kid during his father's funeral just is not okay. Evil, crazy woman.

Poor, poor Chuck. The boy is not handling this well (as we would expect). Yea for Blair for doing her best to stand by him. And hurray for one of those two finally having the balls to say "I love you." How much better is it that she said it in a situation like this instead of as a ploy to get him in bed? Unfortunately, grieving Chuck is a hard nut to crack, and he could only accept her comfort for a short period of time. (Don't fall asleep when you're on Chuck-watch, Waldorf.)

Highlights and observations:

• Wow, so Bart's already dead, huh? No long, drawn out coma storyline or anything?
• Eric: "We know that's gin in your coffee cup."
• Lily: "We're doing comfort food! Nobody's comforted by a tuna tower!"
• Eleanor!
• Cyrus: "Because, my dear, in the midst of death, we are in life!"
  Eleanor: "Genius."
• Oh, so Dan's been a rock for Serena these last few days, huh? Speaking of rocks, Serena's wearing a whole mineral collection around her neck! At least she's not displaying her typical amount of cleavage to go to her step-father's funeral.
• Oh, Rufus is waiting for Lily this time, huh? So he's not going to start bedding random 23-year-olds a week from now?
• Oh, my freaking gosh, Chuck killed me in the first scene with the PI in the bar. He looks devastated.
• Do Dan and Aaron need to stand together? Awkward.
• Eric looks tiny compared to towering Jenny in her heels. At least Jenny's gothic, all-black wardrobe is finally appropriate.
• Blair: "Am I going to have to stick my finger down your throat? Nate will hold back your hair."
• Wow, Chuck is crazy mad at Dan! It's too bad Rufus didn't show up--I'd like to see him feel some of Chuck's wrath too.
• Is Jenny going to get kicked out too? I'd love to see Chuck turn on her now.
• Here's my proof the Ed Westwick would kill as a vampire. (He's even got the dark circles under his eyes.) No one should ever doubt my casting decisions again.
• Oh geez. Now we have to listen to whiny Rufus' stupid song?
• Blair: "I'm not maternal. I've just been spending too much time with Cyrus, and I'm turning Jewish."
• Eleanor really wants to get married in an outfit Jenny made? She must not have seen the dress Jenny made for Penelope to were the the Snowflake Ball...
• Geez, just go away, Aaron! Even Serena wants you to leave now.
• Ok, was Jonathan always this much of a dork? Is there a point to him coming back? I mean, it's nice that Eric has someone who cares about him, but I don't really care...
• Why did Blair and Nate leave Chuck alone upstairs?
• No, Nate, Blair should not just let Chuck go; he's a freaking wreck. Nice to know that Nate's still worthless in a crisis. Jenny dodged a bullet here.
  
• Blair: "But I am me and you're you. We're Chuck and Blair. Blair and Chuck. The worst thing you've ever done, the darkest thought you've ever had--I will stand by you through anything."
  Chuck: "And why would you do that?"
  Blair: "Because I love you."
• Aww, poor Blair; she started to cry when Cyrus told her he loves her.
• Blair: "Only a masochist could love such a narcissist."
• No, Lily, there are no subtle nuances to what you did (loving Rufus and marrying Bart anyway). You just suck.
• Nice use of an accent by Dan when he said "going off to Buenos Aires with Aaron."
• Jenny: "You still have feelings for her, right? Okay, do you think you can put them into words and speak to her out loud?"
• Geez, I hope Chuck takes every cent of Bart's money away from Lily. She is so beyond unclassy. Going away with Rufus the day after her husband's funeral? I think even Julie Cooper waited a little longer than that after Caleb's funeral to hook back up with Jimmy.
  
• Hmm, so Lily's mom wants the truth out there? Interesting. Because she knows it will break up Rufus and Lily?
• Dan: "I carried the garment bag."
• Blair's dress for the wedding is gorgeous. Probably because Jenny didn't make that one.
  
• Wow, Dorota looks fantastic! It looks like she got to wear one of Blair's headbands.
• I hope Dan beats smug Rufus and his turtleneck the hell up.
• Don't burn it, Chuck! You don't have to go public with whatever info is in the document, but I'd keep it around just in case.
• Awww, the scene with Blair holding Chuck was the sweetest thing I've ever seen.
• Biggest. Eye roll. Ever. I was hoping so much that Lily's big secret wouldn't be that she had Rufus' love child. Who couldn't see that coming from about 300 miles away? And, frankly, if you're Gossip Girl, it's embarrassing that the new 90210 beat you to this storyline.
• Oh no, the previews indicate that Chuck's going to continue to spiral out of control. I just hope the poor kid doesn't fall of the roof. There's no reason for him to go all Cassidy Casablancas on us.
  

Headband Monday: I wore the blue one with criss-crossed ribbons. Probably should have gone with black though since it's the color of mourning and poor Chuck is in pain.

(photo: cwtv.com)

Gossip Girl: Nastia and a sequined Chuck

Gossip Girl:
"It's a Wonderful Lie"

Two weeks between new episodes of Gossip Girl is rough. It was such a relief to have it back.

The big news of the episode for those of us for whom watching gymnastics is a way of life was that Nastia Liukin made a cameo. The big news for those of us for whom watching Gossip Girl is a way of life was that this episode was pretty fantastic.

Nastia's cameo: For a second there, it looked like she was about to land herself a Bass, but then Blair showed up to abruptly shove her aside. Only Blair Waldorf would have no qualms about pushing away a five-time Olympic medalist... As far as cameos go, at least Nastia's was decidedly less creepy than poor Shawn Johnson's appearance on The Secret Life of an American Teenager. And at least no one did cartwheels down the hallway after Nastia left.

Fantasticness: The Chuck and Blair scenes were awesome as usual. The Chuck, Blair, and Dorota scenes were crazy amazing. And I think I even enjoyed the Nate/Vanessa/Jenny/Mean Girls story line too.

Favorite quotes and observations:

• Chuck: "Who's in the lead to play the Man With No Future?"
• Serena: "Dan Humphrey, the scourge of high society, is going to the ball!"
• Jenny: "Otherwise I'll start thinking about my future, and then there'll be a Jenny Humphrey-sized hole through my wall."
• Vanessa's such a dirty liar.
• No way can Jenny make a whole dress in one day. She must be the fastest little sewer in the history of the land.
• Lexi: "You know, I feel inspired to shop at the Gap!"
• Eew, Nate and Vanessa are kissing now? Um, Nate really does get around at a pretty fast clip.
• Ha ha ha, Gossip Girl captioned the picture of Nate and Vanessa kissing with "Ew ew ew!" That's what I said!
• Bart really is going to die soon--he's making nice with everyone!
• Serena, I can see your boobs again.
• Not loving this dress Jenny's making at this point.
• Jenny (to Vanessa): "Are you really that desperate?" Yeppers, Jenny, she is. Are you really that surprised?
• Chuck is playing the piano!!!
• Blair: "If you like your date, I get your limo for a month."
  Chuck: "And if you like yours, I get Dorota!"
• Chuck (to Dorota): "I take my breakfast in bed."
• OMG, how amazing would a spin-off sitcom with Chuck and Dorota be?
• Geez, Lexi is annoying. She's even more annoying than Vanessa.
• Serena: "Can't she just vote?"
• Ahh, good, Bart's back to being an ass. Now we won't feel so bad when he bites the dust.
• No, Blair, no. Aaron is NOT hot. Not hot, Blair!!! And what happened to Blair's "wait until you're in love" philosophy that she was spouting just a few weeks ago?
• Blair: "Don't you know that Chuck doesn't like his fruit pre-picked!!!"
• Blair and Dorota picking Chuck a date was hysterical. Poor Dorota joined Facebook groups.
• Blair's party dress is fabulous.
• Eew, whose friends like having conversations with other people about their friends' sex lives? ("Aaron told me that tonight's the night with Serena...") Gross! Way too much information. (BTW, if the dude runs to tell his ex-girlfriend that his current girlfriend said she wants to sleep with him tonight, isn't that weird on several levels?)
• I feel like Lily should be getting a big "I told you so" regarding marrying Bart right now.
• Wow, soooooo much of Serena's boobs are on display, I don't think that anyone's even going to notice Vanessa's see-through dress.
• Serena seriously needs to learn to not dress like such a skank. It's become an embarrassment.
• I'm glad Little J still dresses like the Wicked Witch of the West occasionally.
• Vanessa likes Nate better than she liked Dan? Really? Him?
• OK, you can just see the outline of Vanessa's legs. It's not that bad. It would be one thing if she were wearing underpants with dolphins on them or something, but she's not. This is no where near the Nair-tini incident.
• Wow, when did Nate get so preachy? I'm sorry, in this scenario, Vanessa looks much worse than Jenny. I mean, the see-through dress was not that bad. And why's Nate so shocked--Jenny pulls crap like this all the time!
• Blair: "But she's me. Only less--I gave her that headband!"
• Ok, we're at least finally getting some kind of explanation of why Rufus let Lily go on her wedding day. Which is nice, because it made zero sense at the time. The explanation doesn't seem to make a ton of sense either though.
• Luckily for Vanessa, Nate is really fickle.
• I think Blair's wearing the necklace Chuck gave her for her birthday last year. I love that necklace. I hope Erikson Beamon's Target line includes something similar.
• How can you say no when a boy in a sequined tuxedo jacket asks you to dance?
• Oh no, is Chuck going to blame himself for Bart's accident since he told him to come to the party?
• "Bart's been in an accident." Well, that's the worst kept secret of the year.
• Next week's promo: Wow, grieving Chuck really does look like a sexy vampire. And what the hell is wrong with Lily? You don't slap your step-son right after his father just died, no matter what he says to you. Have some compassion, van der Woodsen.

(Is it just me or in the above photo of Chuck and Blair, do they not look like they're auditioning for roles in the sequel to The Other Boleyn Girl or some other Renaissance courtesan romance?)

Headband Monday: white band with the bow.

(photos: cwtv.com)

My Take on Twilight's Casting

I know that everyone and their little sister have already weighed in on the Twilight movie adaptation's casting decisions, but I can't help but throw in my two cents as well.

Of anyone in the whole world, I think the person who best embodies the vampire's combination of excessive beauty and inherent scariness is Jonathan Rhys Myers. There's certainly something other-worldly about him. Unfortunately, Twilight couldn't really capitalize on Jonathan's clear vamp-ish qualities, because he doesn't really fit any of the book's characters. Perhaps one of the other myriad of vampire related films and shows will be able to take advantage of them at some point.

I'm not sure entirely which Twilight role they should have given him, but I'm convinced that Ed Westwick should have been in the movie. These photos prove that he's got the pale, beautiful, and brooding thing down. Masterfully.

Personally, I don't have a problem with the casting of Twilight's leads. Kristen Stewart is okay by me, and I think she fits Bella pretty well. And Robert Pattinson has certainly turned out to be quite the find. What confuses me is the supporting cast. And namely that several members of the supporting cast were featured in the sub-par season three of The O.C. I don't think Josh Schwartz even liked that season, so why would anyone look there for casting inspiration? And if you had to scavenge amongst The O.C. season three actors, why wouldn't you pick Willa Holland or Johnny Lewis or Eric Mabius, who were definitely the bright spots among the new cast members that year? Why would you pick Volchok and Sadie and Caitlin's boarding school boyfriend? The choices just seem bizarre to me.

Frankly, I imagine I'll always hold some sort of grunge against Cam Gigandet for playing the guy who killed Marissa Cooper and Nikki Reed for her stint as whiny Johnny's annoying jewelry-making cousin. Ick. It's been years, and I still don't even like to think about that whole debacle. What's especially weird about Nikki's casting is that she's playing Rosalie who is supposed to be tall and blond and Nikki is neither of those things. And it's not like tall blondes are rarities in Hollywood, right? I would think you could walk down the sidewalk and swing your arms around and hit 20 or 30 of them.

But this necessary hair dying thing seems to be a trend with the Twilight casting selections. The blond kid from 90210 (Kellan Lutz) had to dye his hair brown. Peter Facinelli had to dye his hair blond. It seems like they were trying to force certain people into certain roles whether they really fit or not.

Peter Facinelli, for instance. I like Peter; I thought he was great in Damages. But I don't think I'd necessarily classify him as "more handsome than any movie star," which is what Dr. Cullen is supposed to be. (And especially not when he's got this freaky blond hair and white makeup.) My suggestion for Dr. Cullen, and I'm pretty confident about this one, would be Ryan McPartlin a.k.a. Chuck's Captain Awesome! I cite his appearance in Mad Men as proof of his handsomeness. I mean, Betty Draper wouldn't put down her gimlet and have a tryst in the back room of a bar with just any guy, right?

Oh, and I've also been pretty turned off to Elizabeth Reaser in general by her messing with poor Alex on Grey's Anatomy and her love of combining Ugg boots and shorts in The Ex List.

I am kind of excited that Rachelle Lefevre landed a role in the film. She keeps popping up in various television shows I watch, and I always wonder what else I've seen her in before I remember that it was Big Wolf on Campus. Yes, I'm admitting that I used to watch Big Wolf on Campus.

So, anyway, my copious television watching has certainly colored my opinions about the Twilight cast. Will any of this stop me from going to see the movie at my earliest convenience? No, it absolutely will not.

(photo: Twilight Official Movie Site)

Pushing Daisies: Do You Believe In Magic?

Pushing Daisies:
"Oh Oh Oh... It's Magic"

Speaking of magic, Pushing Daisies could have used a little magic in the ratings department for the episode that aired on Wednesday, but unfortunately none materialized. In fact, the ratings were even worse than usual, which is something I totally saw coming. After two weeks off the air and no promotion by ABC to speak of, even I (who have sent postcards to ABC to plead for it to continue to air PD) almost forgot that PD was going to air this week. Would it kill ABC to substitute every third Desperate Housewives commercial for one about Pushing Daisies? Whatever, ABC, PD's 11/19 ratings woes fall directly on your shoulders. The show is delightful, and it shouldn't take too much of a marketing genius to be able to convey that to the people out there in the world who want to watch some delightful television. Where is Don Draper when we need him?

In any event, "Oh Oh Oh... It's Magic" was a delightful episode, and Pushing Daisies viewers should really cherish every episode we get. Ned started off the episode a little whiny for my tastes, but he rallied and ended up bonding with his half-brothers. He even figured out a way to trick Lily into admitting to Chuck that she's her mother, while not spilling the secret that Chuck's alive. The scene in the car of Ned and Chuck listening to Lily's stories and holding their hands up to the glass that separated them was simply beautiful.

I'm wondering if Ned's dad had some kind of a secret that drove him into repeatedly abandoning all of his family members. Some Ned-like magical ability, perhaps?

Highlights and thoughts:

• Young trick-or-treating Maurice and Rawlston were cute!
• The "Magicians? Illllluuuuuusionists!" exchange was straight out of Arrested Development.
• Quote of the episode:
  Emerson: "A magic show?! Where did I put that rat's ass I could give?"
• Wow, Chuck got all kinds of dressed up to go to the magic show. I didn't realize that magic shows were such formal occasions.
• Emerson: "I was just going to tell you all to shut up, but you stopped talking, so I didn't have to."
• Well, at least Chuck's unsuccessful crank calls to Lily are giving her the opportunity to practice her accents.
• "Cementia" turns out to be quite the involved trick...what with the blow torch and all.
• Ned's dad ditched the twins at a Sunday matinee magic show! Ouch! At least he was nice enough to send Ned to a school before disappearing on him.
• Chuck's dad and Ned's dad were both in the Peace Keepers? Neither Charles Charles nor Ned's dad strike me as much of a do-gooder.
• Olive: "He's also dead, so that's why he really can't talk."
• What in the heck is going on with the collar of Chuck's coat?! She looks like she has a black lion mane or is dressed like a black Big Bird! Holy moly!
• Ned: "Herman will be avenged. I don't mean vigilante style justice, because what kind of an example would that be?"
• Ned: "Rawlston, we're two grown men with dad-related bodily fluid issues."
• Emerson: "You need to get yourself a bigger human shield; you're hanging out all over the place."
• Ned's shirt/sweater combo is very grandfatherly.
• Lily: "Tell me, when you were a jockey, did you ride the horses or just beat them when they were dead?"
• This pesky former-Peace Keeper friend guy knows way too many secrets now.

(photo: ABC/Pushing Daisies)

Gossip Girl: More Holiday Drama

Gossip Girl: "The Magnificent Archibalds"

So, if last week Gossip Girl achieved a Nabokovian real tower by bringing Clueless' Mr. Hall into the already fantastic Waldorf family, it was ten times awesomer this week to have sitting around Blair's dining room table: Mr. Hall (Wallace Shawn/Cyrus), Lisa Wiseman (Margaret Colin/Eleanor), and Lois & Clark's Lex Luthor a.k.a. John Shea (to whom I wrote a fan letter a couple of lifetimes ago and received a very nice signed photo back from). Blair Waldorf might not always realize it, but she's got one crazy-awesome family.

Unlike poor Nate, who has a ridiculously horrible family. His dad was trying to con him and his mom into going away with him so he could extort Nate's grandparents for ransom money?! Oy vey! I guess we shouldn't be surprised by anything Mr. Archibald comes up with at this point, and it figures that the guy can't even hide in the Caribbean without messing it up. Finally, finally, finally, however, Nate did find a way to coerce his dear old dad into doing the honorable thing and turning himself into the FBI. Congrats go out to Nathanial on that impressive achievement, and I wish him a hearty welcome back to his old, swanky life.

Other holiday highlights:

• Why would you (Serena) want to introduce a guy who is dating you and several other people to your family?
• Eric is condoning Jenny's emancipation scheme?! Come now, that boy has more sense than this.
• Ahh, Nate's prodigal father returns...
• Uh oh, I get nervous when Gossip Girl goes radio silent (blog silent) during the holidays, and I don't have her to guide me through the treacherous world of the Upper East Side!
• Mr. Archibald has been living in a house on the beach in the Caribbean all this time while his wife and his son were floundering? This guy just keeps getting better and better.
• I like Serena's hair flat ironed like this. It's nice. And more proof that she's way too good for this artsy punk.
• Bart knows that Eric's Jonathan is cheating on him?! That is creepy.
• Chuck found the "most amazing photos of Gina," his Italian au pair, in Bart's vault ;-)
• Geez, even the stupid artsy punk's sweater is a disaster.
• Gasp, Cyrus is eating Blair's pie!!
• Blair (to Darota): "Who do you work for?!"
• Oh, Dan, how do you manage to work in all of Serena's character flaws into one random conversation in the supermarket?
• Vanessa is working on paperwork at the gallery on Thanksgiving?!?! (The guy who writes EW.com's recaps is going to have a field day with this one...) Could this girl be any more pathetic?!
• Umm, no, Nate you didn't already alienate Chuck. He tried to talk to you yesterday, and you blew him off (again). If you're so bummed that you alienated him, how 'bout you talk to him nicely for a change, and you'll find that you haven't alienated him! It's that easy.
• Geez, how short is that skirt Serena's wearing?! I know I should be used to it by now, but I'm not. My sister said, "Serena's outfit is ridiculous. Looks like she belongs in Moulin Rouge."
• Chuck: "You have my word, whatever that's worth."
• 8/7/69: Chuck's mom's birthday. As in, were she alive, she'd be 39 years old. And have an 17-year-old son. You'd think they could have stretched the generation gap a little more between her and Chuck since she's dead and they don't have to cast her and embroil her into steamy love triangles. Especially since Bart is clearly not 39. So he was marrying younger women even back then. I mean, this means the poor lady died when she was only 22.
• Darota's ring tone for Eleanor is "I'm a Slave 4 U." Hahahahaha, that's classic.
• Blair: "If we have to wander the Upper East Side like outcasts in a Jane Austen novel, so be it!"
• Did Dan really think he'd be welcome in the Bass home after the stunt he just pulled on Bart?
• Ha ha, I kind of enjoyed watching Dan get called a liar even if it wasn't true.
• "The annual van der Woodsen diner family dinner."
• Lily was in an institution when she was 19?! How does that figure into her already jam-packed back story? That lady lived a pretty darned packed life before the age of, what, 22 when she had Serena. There was her relationship with Rufus that lasted for awhile, hanging out in the back of the Nine Inch Nails tour bus, getting blackmailed into dumping Rufus by her mom, finding and marrying Serena's (never mentioned) father, and now a stay in an institution?! Maybe she just checked in because she was tired and need a rest.
  
• Lily: "How did you get so wise?"
  Eric: "The nanny."
• Poor Jenny doesn't even have a coat. She just keeps getting more and more pathetic. Aww, Eleanor gave Jenny her wrap! That was so sweet! (Except now Jenny really looks homeless.)
• Wow, so it turns out Eleanor is a better mother than Lily after all. Lily lets train wreck Jenny stay at her house and hide from Rufus for days while she flounders around about what to do, but Eleanor takes one look at Little J and drives her straight home where she belongs. Thank you! Finally someone with some sense.
• Harold! Yea!!!
• How can Serena even lie down in that skirt without displaying her entire butt?
• Eeeeew, Aaron's hair is even worse when he's not wearing a hat or whatever he normally has on to cover it up! It's really awful, and should not be exposed to the world.
• Lily calls Eric "E"? That's just silly.
• Oh, that Nate's such a pretty little liar: he sent Jenny a letter to the effect of: "I don't know how to stay away from you, but I have to. I don't know what to do; I really care about you." I have to admit that despite the creepiness factor, I like Nate/Jenny better than Nate/Vanessa.
• So, is Lily's stay in the institution in anyway correlated to her pathetic parenting skills (a hidden mental illness)? And if poor parenting is a sign of a concealed mental illness, when is Rufus going to check in to the Ostroff Center.

I'm including not just one, but two promo pics for this episode in the post. The first one made it because I love John Shea. The second made it because I wanted to provide proof of just how short Serena's skirt was.

Headband Monday: I've forgotten to document my headbands from the last few weeks, but I have been wearing them. Today I wore a headband that is a row of faux pearls.

(photos: cwtv.com)

The Ghost of Grey's Past...

Grey's Anatomy: These Ties That Bind

In the past two episode of Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Izzie has been besieged by the hauntings of the incessant ghost of her dead fiance Denny Duquette. Now I love Denny as much as the next person (and people do still like him a lot, considering he was killed off three seasons ago), but seriously?

The unrelenting haunting story is certainly causing a ruckus (examples one and two), but my objection to it is not so much that Denny's back as a ghost, but that Denny's back as a ghost AGAIN.

It's hard to not get the feeling that when the Grey's writers are sitting around and brainstorming ideas, invariably someone says, "Hey, remember Denny? He was great." And then someone else says, "Yeah, I love Denny and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is adorable." And then Shonda says, "I also love Denny and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and it stinks that I was never able to finish working on that pilot about foreign correspondents that I was writing for him before the network made me devote all my attention to Addison's spin-off/character assassination." And then they all decide to write an episode (or, better yet, a multi-episode arc) where Denny comes back as a ghost.

So far, my hypothesis to explain the whole Izzie-sees-hears-and-touches-a-ghost thing is that Izzie has a brain tumor (I learned from previous episodes of Grey's that brain tumors can cause hallucinations) or aneurysm (a la Eli Stone). Which conveniently feeds into the Izzie-is-getting-killed-off rumor that's been floating around out there since Katherine Heigl ticked off the show's writers by taking her name out of Emmy consideration. I'm okay with giving Katherine something more important to do than performing CPR on a deer, but I don't want to see her killed off. I firmly believe that there's more story to tell about Isobel Stevens; the writers just have to find it.

I'm also a bit annoyed with the timing of this whole incident. Why do all of Alex's girlfriends end up crazy? That hardly seems fair; the poor guy's been through enough. Also, there's already precedent for this: the first time Alex finally manned up and admitted he wanted a relationship with Izzie, Denny showed up and derailed the whole thing. Now, three years later, Alex and Izzie are finally making another go of it, and darned if it isn't Denny showing up to ruin it again.

Where the heck was Denny during the debacle that was Gizzie (George and Izzie)? I would have gladly welcomed undead Denny showing up to ruin that disastrous coupling (preferably before that bathtub scene).

Speaking of Gizzie: what has happened to George? He used to be a main character, but I don't think he has had a darn thing to do all season (I guess he did get to retake a test...fascinating). Wasn't one of Isaiah Washington's weird post-firing assertions that T.R. Knight leveraged his gayness into juicier story lines? Seems like it's time for T.R. to gay himself into something more interesting than one line asking someone to fill out some paper work.

(photo: abc.com)

Chuck: Kissing Casey

Chuck:
"Chuck vs. The Ex"

Yea, college flashbacks! I was excited to find out the whole story about Jill. It was interesting to find out that she dumped Chuck and got together with Bryce after Chuck had already been kicked out of Stanford. For some reason, I had been under the impression both of those things kind of happened at once. Also, we found out that she and Chuck had more or less broken up before she got together with Bryce, which was also not my original understanding of the situation. Obviously, though, it makes sense for the storyline, because if they want to make Jill sympathetic at all, she can't have had cheated on Chuck with Bryce while they were still together.

Interestingly, it turns out that Chuck might not be as over Jill and onto Sarah as we thought. Plus, it's nice that for once someone who Chuck knows outside of the CIA actually knows the truth about what he does. That's gotta be a load off his mind. However, I doubt that this situation will last very long, since it seems that Chuck is destined to be lonely.

BTW, this episode was flat-out hysterical. Highlights were: Chuck not realizing that his microphone was live and ending up in Jill's phone conversation; Morgan and Lester getting Jeff to choke on the pen cap on purpose so that they'd find out the answers to the Heimlich maneuver portion of the test; and Chuck kissing Casey in a misguided attempt to save his life. My goodness, it just kept getting funnier and funnier.

Thoughts and observations:

• Chuck was a tall, adult-like college student. He hasn't aged a day in 5 years ;-)
• Oh dear, Chuck still listens to his "Jill 2003" playlist? This is worse than I thought. Hasn't Sarah (and Lou) made him forget all about Jill by now?
• Jill: "Is there someone who can help me with the tech requirements for my lecture?"
  Guy: "Under the table."
• Chuck: "When you say reconnect, you mean send her an e-mail or invite her to be my new Facebook friend, right?"
• Chuck: "And by the way, she slept with Bryce Larkin."
  Casey: "Who hasn't?"
• Morgan: "Please, we lost Big Mike to doughnuts years ago."
• Buster: "I shudder to think how you would respond to a real catastrophe: a fire, an earthquake..."
  Lester: "An all-out race war."
• Wow, that's quite a car the CIA got for Chuck (that he can't drive).
• Casey's disguise is no good. He looks like John Tesh.
• Chuck: "It doesn't matter... now that I'm alarmingly well-known at this particular restaurant."
• Chuck: "I understood completely 'do you remember biochem?' but after that you lost me."
• Jeff: "Man, if I wanted to take tests, I would have been a boat captain."
• Lester: "So what happens if we don't pass?"
  Morgan: "Oh, we get lousy jobs and live a small, under-realized life in the Valley. Oooh, scary."
• Casey: "I'll just tranq her; she'll wake up in an hour thinking nothing of it."
• Lester and Jeff did a terrible job of making a diversion.
• Chuck's reaction at Jill's boss landing on the roof of the CIA van.
• Jill's last name is Roberts? Is she related to Summer?
• I like Sarah's green glasses! And her Australian accent is nice too.
• The guy who released the bioweapon is CIA? Ahh, he's a Fulcrum agent. Wow, I really don't understand this Fulcrum organization at all. I think I better understood the endgames of SD-6 and the Covenant and all the random Alias terrorist organizations.
• Chuck: "I thought I could spread the anti-virals through saliva."
  Jill: "That's ridiculous."
• It's good that Jill showed up when she did, or Chuck would have had to go all around the room kissing everybody ;-)

(photo: nbc.com)

Gossip Girl: Being Grace Kelly

Gossip Girl: "Bonfire of the Vanity"

In Vladimir Nabokov's Ada (don't worry, I'm not going to talk about the incest...), Ada has a philosophy that that three things occurring at the same time form a "tower." And, if the they are three good things, it's called a "real tower." Well, we had a pop culture real tower on our hands in this episode of Gossip Girl. First, it was an episode of Gossip Girl, which in and of itself is pretty great. Second, it featured another appearance by Margaret Colin, who has been a favorite of mine since Now and Again. And, third, Eleanor's new boyfriend, Cyrus, was played by Wallace Shawn, who played Mr. Hall in Clueless, which is definitely one of my favorite movies ever!

The highlight of this episode was the interaction between Blair and Cyrus. And the coolest part of all was that Blair got out-foxed by Mr. Hall! Who knew he had it in him?

Other highlights and thoughts:

• Rufus = the worst parent ever. His whole don't-force-Jenny-to-come-back-so-she'll-come-back-on-her-own philosophy was asinine. Did he learn nothing from episode 1 of the second season of The O.C.? Seth didn't come home on his own, and Jenny's not going to either. You gotta go get them!
• Yea!!! It's Blair's 18th birthday! Happy birthday, B! It's always nice when TV characters get birthdays (and especially if the get to have them every year like real people and not just one time only).
• That Agnes is a firecracker. Who'd have guessed? Umm, anyone who knew her as Kaitlin Cooper. I guess Little J didn't watch seasons 3 or 4 of The O.C., or she would have known this was coming.
• We're testing Margaret's acting chops here: how believable can she be when she says that Cyrus is the most attractive man she's ever met?
• Why is Bart SUCH an ass? Wait, I know, (SPOILER ALERT) it's because he's going to die soon and they want to make him extra despicable right before he goes.N
• New York Magazine editor about Dan's story: "It's not really fiction though is it?" (Thank you.)
• New York Magazine makes a practice of printing things without putting the writer's name on it? Come on. I called BS when the college newspaper did that on Greek last year, and I'm really not buying it now.
• Dan's article isn't going to open any doors for him if he doesn't put his name on the stupid thing.
• Aaron's hair is tragic.
• Having to watch Serena kiss Aaron is kinda ruining this new Kings of Leon song for me.
• Blair laments that Cyrus has a catch phrase.
• Blair (explaining the pitfalls of being a muse): "But it's only a matter of time before he's into cubism and it's some other girl's eye coming out of her forehead!"
• I can't believe Bart even took the time to talk to Dan. I wouldn't, and I'm a lot less important than Bart.
• Wow, Dan's not only selling out Chuck, but now he's dissing Rufus too. Scum.
  
• Sweet mother of God, Bart invited Dan to the hockey game! This is unbelievable!!!
• Blair: "I am Grace Kelly, Grace Kelly, Grace Kelly..."
• If Jenny's so big on professionalism, does she really think all this black eye makeup is the way to go?
• We're taking a lot of pictures on this show lately... First it was Agnes' creepy boyfriend, now it's Serena's creepy boyfriend...
• Gossip Girl: "Every Bass will have his day."
• Does Aaron's Serena projector show (oh, I'm sorry, "instillation") remind you of the fake snow thing she did for Dan last Christmas? It feel like we've seen this before.
• Blair: "Screw Grace Kelly."
• Who is this random street urchin who knows secrets about Bart Bass, and how did Dan just stumble upon him? And why has no one else found out about this big secret by now? It didn't seem too hard to uncover.
• Sirius: "Your mother is a diamond in an ocean of coal."
• Oh, Blair, he's a sweet guy, just be nice for once.
• Serena! What is the hang up with this Aaron kid?! He's bad news! And he's got gross hair. Move on. This is pathetic.
• Is it wrong that I'm laughing as Agnes burns Jenny's dresses? I feel like Little J had this coming.
• Is it just me, or (except for Cyndi Lauper) is Blair's 18th b-day party pretty lame? It's no where near as cool as her 17th b-day party last year with the sushi and Guitar Hero and Chuck with the Erikson Beamon necklace. I mean, Chuck wasn't even at this party! I'll be darned if I were Blair Waldorf and would ever celebrate a birthday without being in the presence of Chuck.
  
• Cyrus is Aaron's father?! Whaa? If Cyrus is so nice, how did Aaron turn into such a loser? (Hey, normally on GG, it's the parents who are the losers and the kids who are great.)
• Blair: "I wanted a Harry Winston choker for my birthday; instead, I got a conscience."
• Wait, someone died in this building fire? Bart is pretty stupid if he fell for that lame-o Humphrey trick... First Eleanor turns out to have no idea what she's doing, and now Bart? How did these people make it to where they are without the help of their (and other people's) children?
• Blair: "You deliberately let me win factoring in that Cyndi Lauper would prey on my emotions!"
  
• Blair: "You're not what I had in mind."
  Cyrus: "Well, you're not what I had in mind."
• Geez, Dan, can you please name a story something other than a date?! Come on; this already feels soooooooo old.
• Holy crap--Chuck was born in 1991? Did I see that correctly? That's depressing.
• Where did Little J sleep? (Was it Rufus' gallery?)
• It figures Bart apologizes now--(SPOILER ALERT) right before he's about to die.
• Ugh! Rufus' shirt is terrible!
• No kidding, Rufus' plan didn't work out--I told him that was going to happen 55 minutes ago.
• What does not wanting to have forced conversations and social obligations have to do with needing to have multiple girlfriends at once?! I think we're talking apples and oranges here, Aaron.
• Why should Serena have a moment's pause at going outside in her slip? It covers more of her than her "clothes" do.
• Hey, Nate's back next week--I actually kind of missed him. Vanessa, however, not so much.

(photo: cwtv.com)

Gossip Girl: Guerrilla (Fashion) Warfare

Gossip Girl: "There Might Be Blood"

Little J continues her downward (upward?) spiral, Chuck and Blair still have each other's backs, Serena continues her tradition of wearing extremely inappropriate clothing to college interviews, Rufus continues his tradition of being a terrible parent, Nate flip flops on whether it's too smarmy to date a 15-year-old with an unfortunately haircut, and Dan trades his moral code for a letter of recommendation.

Quotes and observations:

• Jenny's making a whole clothing line in, what, a week? Come on.
• Nate already forgot about hooking up with the TA at Yale? Geez, boy.
• Serena is wearing THAT to meet the prominent Yale donors? Not only is the neckline plunging, but it's extremely short too. Oh, at least she's put a jacket on to go outside...
• What is with Jenny's miniature hat?! And too much makeup! And extremely short dress! This is not her best look.
• Ick! The donors' daughter is a little hussy!
• A guerrilla fashion show?! Do those really exist?
• Is Agnes going to model all of the dresses? One at a time? That could take days.
• Blair: "I'm not losing Yale because of that little tart's libido!"
• It's kind of fun watching Blair look like she's in hell.
• Chuck: "Looks like you've just hooked yourself a Bass."
• Oh, Blair should know better than letting Emma run around the house when Chuck's lurking.
• Can Nate drive?! I've never seen any of these people drive.
• How does this artsy geek (Aaron) have so many girls? I must be missing something, because I don't get it at all.
• Chuck: "Let's not ruin it with you talking."
• I love Blair's dress (as usual).
• It's nice that Chuck still does whatever Blair wants when she snaps her fingers in his face.
• Blair: "EEW!" (Taking a page out of Summer Roberts' book there.)
• The look of relief on Blair's face when she got the money shot of the donor lady having an affair was hilarious. Luckily, B knows how to blackmail people like she knows the back of her hand.
• Why are Rufus/Dan/Vanessa acting like Jenny's about to hold up a bank?! She's having a fashion show. Why do they seem to think this is wildly illegal? Does everyone besides me know that guerrilla fashion shows are a Class A felony or something?
• Rufus: "You've got to be kidding me?! You're letting the Mr. Softy truck pass us!"
• Blair: "Thank you, God, so much! I won't let You down!"
• Wow, Dan called Nate out for kissing his "15-year-old sister."
  
• Nate: "Don't act like I'm some creepy older guy."
  Dan: "No, you're the guy who traded sex for money!"
• Blair and Chuck's reactions to seeing (naked) Serg.
• Jenny's dress is waaaaaaaay too short. I guess she ran out of time when she was making that one and had to stop when it was half finished.
• Jenny's ad campaign photos look very Marc Jacobs, and her dresses look like a cross between Kenley from Project Runway and Alexander McQueen.
• At least Agnes did find some other models to help with the fashion show.
• The people at this event are amused by these shenanigans? Or at least don't find this whole thing to be completely ridiculous? Vanessa and Lily were especially quick converts.
• Just let Vanessa and her yellow boots walk away, Jenny.
• So what did Chuck have to do to get Gossip Girl to post the fake story? I suppose it could involve money, but my early Chuck-is-Gossip-Girl theory is making a comeback.
• "Muffy the lacrosstitute"
• Emma: "Was your first time with someone you loved?"
  Blair: "Yes, it was."
• Lady donor to her daughter: "You're lecturing me? No wonder I don't to spend time with you!"
• Gossip Girl: "Poor Jenny. All that glamour almost led to the slammer."
• Eew. Serena's showing so much cleavage for just hanging out with Blair. Is that even a dress, or is it lingerie?
• Blair: "Princeton is a trade school."
• Ugh, Dan's trading in his moral code and selling out Chuck. Boooo.
• Rufus hadn't bothered to even check to see if Jenny was in her freaking room?! Worst. Dad. Ever.
• Where does Jenny think she's going?
• Next week: If some (reputable) publication wants an expose on Bass Industries, why would they hire a high schooler to write it? Especially a high schooler named Dan Humphrey.
  

(photo: cwtv.com)

A 'Mad Men' Halloween

Several weeks ago, the perfect Halloween costume idea came to me: Joan Holloway from Mad Men. It was brilliant: I already had the hair, I just needed to add some '60s-esque office attire and a gold pen necklace. Here was the end result:


Aside from me not being stunningly gorgeous like Christina Hendricks, I think the whole thing worked out pretty well.

The costume's main downside was that I couldn't think of a single place to wear it where anyone would have any idea who I was supposed to be. I don't think I personally know a single other person who watches Mad Men. If only I'd been invited to a party with only entertainment bloggers and television critics comprising the guest list, the costume would have been a hit. (Do those parties exist, and how can I score an invite?)

Happy Halloween (a day late)!

(picture of Joan: amctv.com)

Greek: Rusty Swallows Three Baby Fish

Greek: "Hell Week"

The highlight of Greek's third "season" finale was by far when Rusty assumed he was supposed to swallow the (alive) fish, did it, and then found out that's not what he was supposed to do at all. It was absolutely horrific! But the genuinely stunned reaction from the Kappa Tau brothers was hilarious. Poor Rusty. And poor Beaver, because he took the whole incident pretty hard. At first, I had made the same assumption as Rusty, but I couldn't believe that even the Kappa Taus would so flagrantly fly in the face of PETA with their hazing techniques.

Exchange of the Night:
Cappie: "You were supposed to take care of the fish this week, not eat them!"
Rusty: "Then why'd you give us bibs?!"
Cappie: "This is a baby fish papoose pouch!"

Aside from that ordeal, I didn't find this episode to be particularly spectacular. After reading about the humongous "game changer," I was expecting more than Frannie being a pain in the butt again (this time by starting her own sorority). I don't don't think the will-Rebecca-go-with-Frannie-or-stay-at-ZBZ cliff hanger holds up very well. For 90% of the series, Rebecca has been nothing but aggravating. If Frannie wants her, she can have her, for all I care. Good riddance to them all. Think how much better ZBZ will be when all the losers go with Frannie.

I think what most surprised me was that Cappie and Casey did not actually have their customary season finale make out session. I'm not sure how I feel about Max (apparently) turning down Cal Tech. I like his character and I like him and Casey together, but I can't help but feel that he's wasting his time with Casey, who will probably end up getting back together with both with Cappie AND Evan during the course of her senior year (which will probably stretch through at least four of Greek's "seasons"). I see a rocky road ahead, but if Cappie wants her back so badly, it will be nice if he has to get off his butt and fight for her a bit.

I also thought that Calvin was going to drop out of Omega Chi after finding out that Evan hit Rusty in the face with the paddle.

Highlights and observations:

• The circling people's body issues in permanent marker idea came straight from Veronica Mars, and Cappie can't deny it.
• No one should give this much power over other people to Cappie. Or Evan (obviously).
• Cal Tech really just got back to Max now? That's kind of last minute.
• Frannie and Evan having appointments with realtors sounds like trouble.
• Dale: "You two wouldn't know hell if it stuck you in the bottom with a pitch fork."
• Beaver: "I accidentally scooped you three fish, Rusty."
• Rebecca: "Can I please get a ZBZ patchwork quilt? I'm redecorating my cabin up at Lake Tacky-crap."
• Beaver doesn't seem to have gotten over his obsession with Wikipedia.
• Eew, mayonnaise potstickers? I like potstickers, but that's disgusting.
• Dale: "Nine months of temptation, God, and I proved myself."
• Rusty: "Now I have to prove to the actives why I'm a true Kappa Tau."
  Dale: "Well, you could just show them a biopsy of your decayed liver."
• I loved Dale's last scene. They usually play his ardent religious beliefs for comedic relief, but in this scene, he talked about his faith and came off seeming very wise and comforting. That was a very classy scene on Greek's part.
  
• Ugh, it's L.C. Didn't I get enough of her when she was on Privileged for no reason? Ick, Casey dreams that she's getting life advice from L.C.? No wonder she's messed up.
• Did Casey really not expect that Cappie would be in the bar? I'm not buying that.
• Cappie: "Let me guess, Max is having an emotional affair with his World of Warcraft teammate, right?"
• Not sure taking life advice from Cappie is much better than taking it from L.C. Especially since Cappie's got one huge ulterior motive here.
• I do totally agree with Casey when she says, "I can't keep making decisions based on the guys in my life."
• Poor Max is about to burst into tears. This week has been rough on my favorite TV relationships: first what went down between Chuck and Blair and now this!
• How did Evan recognize the back of Rusty so quickly?
• Rusty and Evan are both really fast!
• Wow, the sound of Rusty's scream really carried! He was still a long way away.
• That was a very ugly fight in the middle of the street. I'd say I was surprised that Evan sucker-smacked Rusty in the face with the paddle, but I'm not. Evan has sunk very, very low these past few months.
• I am surprised that Rusty doesn't have more nose damage after that smack.
• The school is just allowing Frannie to start her own sorority? Aren't there rules about that?

While this wasn't my favorite episode of Greek, I'm going to miss this show a lot while it's on hiatus. Time and time again moments like Rusty swallowing the fish prove that this show is head and shoulders better than it needs to be.

Gossip Girl: Falling Down The Rabbit Hole

Gossip Girl:
"Pret-A-Poor J"

Just bullets:

• It's nice that if we can't see Blair and Chuck together for real, we can at least watch it in Blair's fantasy.
• If Jenny's running around like a crazy person, when did she have time to get so "bored" that she cut and colored her hair? Ugh, and it's so not an improvement.
• I could tell Chuck was bluffing in the limo and was just going to shut the window in Blair's face. She should have known better.
• That jumpsuit thing on Willa/Agnes is not great. No wonder Jenny's dress looks good compared to that.
• Jenny: "He thinks of me like a little sister."
  Agnes: "Yeah, a little sister he'd like to do!"
• Dan trying to give Blair advice with her Chuck issues without judgment is funny. Blair and Dan have potential to be a dream team. All of their collaborations seem to turn out pretty well.
• Blair: "Well look for finally got a little interesting."
• Dan: "I'm sure it's a fluke."
• If the buyers want stuff for NEXT season, why didn't Eleanor have anything prepared? That seems like extremely shoddy business. She is an established designer; how has she made it this far?
• Wow, Chuck and Blair both changed clothes before they went out for the drink?
• Blair: "I've wanted to change my signature scent. I'm trying out a new one and I can't decide if I like it. Do you mind?"
  Chuck: "It smells a little like desperation."
• Blair spilled her drink on Chuck's pants! Oh, Blair.
• Chuck: "While your efforts were admirable, I'm bored, and you ruined my pants. Goodnight, Blair."
• Aaron/RISD guy's glasses are a little out of hand.
• Serena "knows a lot about spelling"? Really? I'm not sure I buy that.
• Aaron is not the best actor ever. He's a little mumbly.
• Blair: "I didn't even get a chance to show him my necklace tangled up in my hair!"
• Dan: "So he left abruptly?"
  Blair: "Like a Bass out of hell."
• You can tell Blair loves Chuck because she must devote an awful lot of time to coming up with puns on his name.
• How is Dan doing a good job of helping Blair plot this when he is so bad and managing his own relationships?
• Blair: "I'll let you know what happens."
  Dan: "Ohh, please don't."
• The bar's serving 15-year-old Little J?
• Nooooo, Chuck, you care! Don't fall for Blair's trick. There you go, good recovery.
• I don't really need to see this much of Little J's big night out... even if Willa Holland is involved.
• Why doesn't Jenny have a pattern for the dress? She just cut the fabric out haphazardly and it worked out?
• Dan: "Wow. Someone loves Chuck Bass!"
• Yeah, Eleanor, you should have know better than to give so much responsibility to a child.
• It looks likes like Serena's wearing a college visit outfit tonight. Isn't that what short dresses with plunging necklines are for?
• Since when is this Vanessa's opening?
• How often does Aaron really have to give the "I'm not dating right now" excuse to people, really? Come on.
• Serena: "The roof?"
  Blair: "Yeah, that way if he doesn't say it back, I can just jump."
  Serena: "No, don't do it, Blair, you don't want your obit to say that you died in Brooklyn."
• Why do I feel like Willa is a white rabbit that leading us straight down a rabbit hole?
• Wow, Nate--the voice of reason! And he even points out that the photographer looks old. Thank you!
• Chuck: "At the White Party when you were on your way out with the Count? Did you really think I was going to say it then?"
  Blair: "Yes, and when you didn't, I wanted to die!"
• Well, that Chuck/Blair scene wasn't pretty, but at least no one jumped off the roof.
• Duh, Dan, Blair really loves Chuck--you knew that 10 minutes ago before you talked to Vanessa and she sapped your intellect.
• The creepy photographer taking pictures of himself kissing Agnus was creepy.
• We've got some ominous music here.
• Oh, Little J! It just keeps getting worse and worse. Don't let people take pictures of you when you are in your bra and tights! Thank goodness Nate has these streaks where he acts like a parent.
• At least put your dress on before you go outside, dumbass.
• Chuck: "What we like is this."
  Blair: "The game."
• Well, compared to that other guy, Nate is age-appropriate for Jenny.
• Whoa, Nate, don't pull up her dress in the middle of the street! I thought you were trying to keep her clothed in public.
• Yes, lock Little J up! She has a tendency to be a great, nice person for a while and then, all of a sudden, she just goes totally bonkers at the drop of a hat. (Come to think of it, several people do that on this show: esp. Serena, Nate.)
  

(photo: cwtv.com)

Mad Men: In the Event of an Emergency

Mad Men: "Meditations in an Emergency"

It's no secret that I didn't love Mad Men the first time I saw it. But, for some reason, I could never really shake this show. When it was on, I'd occasionally check in on it, and I kept abreast of the larger plot points by reading the articles and spoilers about it on tvguide.com and ew.com, etc. It was definitely, though, the show's second season that really hooked me. Somewhere along the line, I found myself watching one of the season 2 episodes and not being able to turn away. Then I watched the next one and then the next one and then the next, and suddenly a full-on obsession was born. With starling precision, Mad Men turned from a show I begrudgingly respected to a show I couldn't stop thinking about. In fact, it's now easily among the 5 shows that I'm most emotionally invested in at the moment (I suppose the others would be Gossip Girl, Greek, Pushing Daisies, and Chuck).

What's most amazing is that the characters I didn't like from the pilot have turned into people I literally spend time worrying about. (Will Don ever get his act together? Will Joan be able to find the strength to leave her asshat fiance? Will Betty float away? etc.) Impressively, Mad Man takes a bunch of characters who are not overly likable on the surface and makes you truly care about them anyway. It's kind of like a show full of Chuck Basses. So of course I'm loving it.

I thought this season 2 finale episode was fantastic. Set during the uncertainty of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the characters struggled with uncertainly in their own lives. The episode was packed with new developments: Betty finds out that she's pregnant, Don finally mans up and makes a better effort at trying to get Betty back, Pete reveals that he knows he should have picked Peggy, Peggy reveals to Pete that she had his baby, Don threatens to leave Sterling Cooper, etc. But even with all of that, Mad Men still found time for some of those heart-wrenching moments of quiet desperation that define the show. This episode was a tour de force from beginning to end, and I think somebody wants another Emmy. (Speaking of Emmys, if the women of Man Men get shut out again, there is no justice in the world.)

Highlights and mediations:

• I adore this show's fantastic opening theme and credits. It's addictive. I just want to keep watching it over and over again.
• I loved how the episode began with Betty looking at the deer panting in the doctor's office. She definitely has a Bambi quality to her and also a deer-in-the-headlights look and attitude.
• Oh, poor Betty is pregnant. Which is just awesome, because Betty and Don make such fantastic parents.
• Doctor: "Are you concerned with your appearance?" (What a butthead.)
• Finally, people are speculating about what Don's problem is and where he disappeared too!
• WHAT?! Don came to the stables? Holy moly, even the slightest show of (normal) effort from him floors me sometimes.
• I have a feeling that "I was not respectful to you" might be the closest thing to an admission of the affair(s) that we're going to get out of Don.
• But, it's not good enough for Betty. No, no, Betty, this might be the best you're ever going to get. It's time to stop being an ice queen.
• Poor stupid Pete is scared out of his mind about the Clearasil thing.
• Oh no, don't promote Pete! That seems like something we might regret.
• Duck's banking on Don having a non-compete clause in his contract with Sterling Cooper.
• Don (to Peggy): "Do I work for you now?"
• Wow, Peggy looks hot today; she's wearing a form-fitting dress. So, what happened, she heard about the Cuban Missile Crisis and decided to tart up her look?
• Pete: "What happened? One minute I'm standing next to you in the car port and the next I'm tap dancing for General Dynamics!"
  Don: "Sorry, I missed that."
• Don: "You wanted to see me?"
  Roger: "About three weeks ago."
• Roger: "Kennedy's daring them to bomb us right when I got a second chance."
• Sally: "Mommy doesn't like to eat."
• That was a gorgeous shot of Betty looking in the store window.
• Well, I guess with all of Betty's drinking and smoking, there's a chance the baby isn't going to make it anyway.
• Wow, Bar Guy is hot! And he sounds familiar...do I know him from somewhere? OMG, I looked it up, and he's Captain Awesome from Chuck!!!! I couldn't even tell from looking at him. Oh, that's so cool.
  
• Whoa, Betty! Making out with Bar Guy in the bathroom hallway! She looks like she's going to pass out. Betty! I know the guy's hot, but this is not the appropriate way to deal with your issues.
• Yea, Betty's eating something! (I guess it takes adultery to make her hungry?)
• Pete's wife (Trudy) is evacuating to Rehoboth Beach!! Count me in!
• Harry: "Bad news! ...I checked the fridge and there's canapes--really good ones!"
• Wow, Pete told Don about Duck being president; he's kind of redeeming himself.
• Don's letter to Betty: "I understand why you want to move on without me, and I know that you won't be alone for long, but without you, I'll be alone forever."
• Roger: "Don, is this necessary?"
  Duck: "It is. Because he likes this room and hearing the sound of his own voice."
• Don doesn't have a contract! He can start his own agency. Wow. That could be very interesting.
  
• Any way the Russians can just nuke Joan's fiance and no one else?
• Pete: "You're perfect... I wish I'd picked you then... I love you and I want to be with you."
  Peggy: "Pete, I could have had you in my life forever if I had wanted to."
• Despite the threat of impending nuclear war, Pete had been having a pretty good day: he was promoted, he got praise from Don...but this scene with Peggy has brought his good day to an abrupt end. He just poured his heart out to her, and she rather calmly replied by telling him what has to be one of the most devastating things imaginable. I know Pete's a schmuck, but you have to feel badly for him now. My guess is that this experience hardens him and he turns into an even bigger jerk than he was before.
• So the Drapers are going to try to get it together for Baby Number Three. I'm sure it won't be an easy road, but it's nice that they're actually going to give it a try.
• I liked that they showed footage from the Mad Men wrap party after the episode. It's nice to see all of the actors in modern clothing (Elizabeth Moss looks so much better). I didn't know that Christina Hendricks has a Southern accent. I wish they would have shown some footage from the Mad Men review as well!

It sounds like it might be a long wait before Mad Men returns, but I can't wait for this fascinating ride to continue.

(photo: amctv.com)

Pushing Daisies: Rent a Friend, Save a Show

Pushing Daisies: "Frescorts"

Although I'm very much not on board with the whole Lily-is-really-Chuck's-mother-and-Charles-is-
her-father-and-he-used-to-be-Vivian's-fiance-
so-they-are-just-pretending-to-be-her-aunts thing, I am still very, very much on board with Pushing Daisies in general.

The way I see it, PD's PD's second season has been composed of two very good episodes (Bzzzzz!" and "Bad Habits") and two fantastic episodes ("Circus, Circus" and "Frescorts"). Despite the show's continued exceptional quality, its ratings have been sup-par at best. So it looks like it's time to dust off the old save-our-show fan campaign skill set: send letters and e-mails to ABC, sign the online petition, tell people you know to watch, etc. If you care about this show (and you should, trust me), you can stay abreast of the fan campaign at pushingdaisies-tv.com and at savepushingdaisies.blogspot.com. Hopefully some sort of daisy-mailing will happen soon too.

As for "Frescorts," I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. I thought that Ned opening the door to reveal the (happy-looking) taxidermied Golden Retriever holding a guitar was hands down one of the funniest moments of this new TV season.

Also, it was nice to see Ned making more of an effort to get along on his own a bit--he's been acting awfully needy towards Chuck this season. And now he might even have a new (albeit creepy) friend, who at least didn't kill anyone (that we know of) and whom he doesn't have to pay to like him.

I also liked seeing Olive and Chuck try to be friends, only to discover that their baggage proved impossible to ignore when they were forced to confront it when they were both stuffed in the same locker. It was convenient that they're both so skinny that the two of them could fit in the same locker. But they both decided that they're relationship is worth working on, which was nice.

And Emerson got to have some fun with his entertaining PI mother. (Boy, was Emerson one cute baby!)

Also, this episode featured a star turn by Dana Davis, who--like Chi McBride--was eons more likable in Pushing Daisies than she was in The Nine (and also much better than she was in Heroes, but that's an entirely different story).

Exchange of the Episode:
Ned: "It's tough. You share your life with someone and suddenly there's an abyss where a person always was before."
Randy: "You lost a roommate too?"
Ned: "And girlfriend. Same person."
Randy: "Your roommate slash girlfriend died?!"
Ned: "Yeah. I mean no. She moved out. Sorry, doesn't compare. Not even remotely."
Randy: "You're not completely alone though. Golden Retriever, right?"
Ned: "Yeah! Digby...would be a source of comfort if he didn't prefer living with my girlfriend, her new bestie, and their pig!"

Runner-up:
Olive: "Here comes the center of the universe, pulling us all into her gravitational orbit of blame."
Chuck: "Oh, well, FYI, um, there is no center of the universe because our universe is forever expanding."
Olive: "Like your neediness."

Sorry, I can't end the post without reasserting my annoyance with the Lily-is-Chuck's-mom story line. I don't mind it on principle, but when you think about it, it doesn't make sense. Supposedly, Vivian was the fiancee of Charles Charles (we'll call him CC) until he told her he'd knocked up someone else (Lily, but Viv doesn't know that). So Viv and CC break up, and CC raises Chuck by himself after Lily gives birth to her in the convent. So then, why when CC died would Viv (the jilted fiancee) and Lily (the jilted fiancee's sister who "has nothing to do with any of this") rush to Chuck and adopt her, becoming her surrogate "aunts"? It doesn't make any sense. Why would you go raise the child that your cheating fiance fathered with someone else while engaged to you? Why would your sister go along with it?

Anyway, the rest of the show is still awesome. Help to save Pushing Daisies!!!

(photo: abc.com)

Greek: Three's Company

Greek:
"Three's a Crowd"

The Phillies are in the World Series for the first time in 15 years, and I've been an avid Phillies fan for 13 long seasons. So, obviously, I'm watching the series when it's on, which means that I have to play catch-up on my other television commitments. It's hectic, but I finally got to this week's Greek, which is the second to last episode before a mini-season finale (and please don't ask me which season it is).

The best part of this episode was the further exploration of Rusty and Dale's "bromance" (to borrow a term from Chuck Bass). Those two are just so adorable. It was fun to see Rusty get jealous of Dale's Purity Pledge brother Kirk (played by guest star Dan Byrd of Aliens In America) who was extremely hyper-active--a.k.a. "totally baked." But it was even better to see Rusty stand up to Kirk and defend Dale when they all landed in the slammer. I'm hoping that Rusty's stay in the Kappa Tau house next year is short and he finds his way back to rooming with Dale quickly.

Highlights:

• Ashleigh did say she wanted fewer responsibilities next year, but now she's got more.
• Thank goodness--there are only two more weeks in this year! This second semester has lasted forever!
• Ha ha ha, Kirk hid behind Dale's bed for 4.5 hours.
• The Omega Chis are really planning a party for next year already? They're really on top of things.
• Beaver: "You've turned into a serial monogamist."
  Cappie: "Where did you even learn that phrase?"
  Beaver: "Wikipedia."
• Cappie: "'Serial monogamist' is just a stone's throw away from being 'the marrying kind'!"
• Kirk hid in Rusty's clothes hamper and jumped out at him ;-) That does sound pretty amusing.
• Dino! There he is again! And then he's gone...
• Dale: "Hey, how 'bout a little Bible Boggle, huh? Remember that time you spelled Leviticus and Harvy Brewbauer cried?"
• I love Rusty's annoyed facial expressions.
• Kirk: "Hey, Dale, your pajamas just blew out the window!"
  Dale: "Huh. Must be the light weight cotton, you know 'cause my winter flannels never have that problem."
• Kirk's on Rumspringa! (Except he's not Amish.)
• Oh my gosh--Rusty wasn't even alive during the '80s. That's depressing.
• Casey overhears Cappie tell Rusty that "there are worse things than being the odd man out of a threesome."
• Casey could get held back like Frannie so that she can run for president again for her super-senior year.
• Casey's big plan was sending girls in bikinis over to the Omega Chi house? Couldn't she have come up with a classier plan?
• They should have invited Max to this '70s party for a nice Swingtown inside joke that no one would get.
• Calvin: "Is Ferret human?"
• Calvin: "And what does one have to do to be labeled the 'house slob' of Kappa Tau?"
• Wow, Heath really goes all out with the costumes for the theme parties.
• Dale: "You know, he once brokered peace between a Presbyterian and a Methodist."
• Poor Casey, she was actually right about this situation, but she just looks bitter.
• I bet Dan Byrd had a fun time playing Kirk. He just got to show up and jump around and act like a crazy person.
• Cops! They do exist in this town! And they're patrolling for underage drinking!
• Dale: "And we'll never watch the E! channel again, because it's full of temptation."
• Uh oh, the new president of ZBZ is Evan Chambers. That's not good.
• Ha, Beaver's not positive that he, Cappie, and the other guy (whose name I don't remember) didn't have a "round one."
• Cappie: "Nice pajamas, Beav."
  Beaver: "Thank you! They floated down from the sky."
• The Omega Chis walk through the street singing? And they're the "number one" frat? Really?
• I think Ash could have won by more than 3 votes if she took off her silly hat.
• Dale: "Hey Chip!"
  Cappie: "Hey Dale!"

So, are we ready for the obligatory mini-season finale make out session between Cappie and Casey (that leads to nothing) next week? Because that never gets old at all...

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Chuck: Boy Meets Russian Mafia

Chuck: "Chuck Versus the Cougars"

This episode of Chuck was especially exciting for several reasons, not the least of which was that it featured a guest star appearance by Ben Savage a.k.a. Cory Matthews from Boy Meets World. Like most members of the T.G.I.F. generation, I imagine I'll always have a special place in my heart for Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and even Minkus (although my allegiance to him thankfully doesn't mandate me to watch him on One Tree Hill). The last time I saw Rider Strong was his horrifying turn on Veronica Mars where he brutally harassed poor Neil from Freaks and Geeks during a prison simulation. I've made a point of checking out The Dish, Danielle Fischel's new The Soup-esque program on the Style Channel, so I now have semi-regular Topanga fixes. But how I've missed my Cory...and his amazingly hilarious facial expressions (see above).

Another interesting aspect of this episode was that we finally got some back story on Sarah and what her life was like pre-Chuck and pre-Bryce and pre-CIA. Like Chuck, I was really excited to find out that Sarah's real name is Jenny Burton...that is, until we found out that Sarah/Jenny and her father were seasoned con artists and "Jenny Burton" was just one of a long line of aliases. Still, we learned more about her than we knew before: her dad went to prison, she was nerdy, Nicole Richie terrorized her in high school, she joined the CIA as an alternative to going to jail, etc.

Highlights and observations:

• Wow, high school Sarah had terrible hair.
  
• Sarah used to live in San Diego and now works in LA and her cover hasn't been blown yet?
• Oh no, Cory's in the intersect. That's not a good sign.
  
• Chuck does not seem to spend much time in the BuyMore these days. Luckily for him, the management is lax.
• Shades of The O.C.: Chuck talks about cilantro, which Caleb Nichol notably hated. What is it with Josh Schwartz and cilantro? It seems like it's bordering on an obsession ;-)
• Chuck: "Cilantro--very controversial. You either love it or you hate it. I love it."
• Chuck and Cory are not a very unbeatable combination.
• Chuck: "A self-defense class I took at the Y. It was very comprehensive."
• How gullible is Cory if he believes Chuck is "Mad Dog"?
• Lester is the worst manager ever.
• I'm surprised the BuyMore is only out $3700 after these stupid sales practices.
• Whoa, they decorated the reunion with humongous yearbook photos? That's harsh!
• "Mmm Bop"! I hope high school seniors didn't like "Mmm Bop."
• This Dick Duffy joker was on the last episode of The Ex-List. Ugh, I'm embarrassed that I know that.
• Hahahaha, Casey being the deejay was hilarious.
• Ahh, Nicole Richie is Russian mafia. Who'd have thought?
• Sarah should be able to beat up skinny little Nicole Richie.
• Why did Sarah go back into the reunion all wet and bleeding from the mouth? That would seem a bit suspicious.

Next week we meet Chuck's ex! The one that Bryce stole from him? Who we haven't heard a thing about since the very early episodes? The one who was seemingly forgotten all about? Awesome! I've been wondering what was up with her.

(photo: nbc.com)