Greek: Happily Ever After?

Greek: "I Know What You Did Last Semester"


GREEK! I'm both excited to have the Cyprus Rhodes gang back and very nervous that this might be the beginning of the end. There's a lot of speculation going around that ABC Family may be trying to push Greek out in favor of the (vastly inferior) Secret Life of the American Teenager and Make It Or Break It and other new programming, and after what happened to Wildfire and Kyle XY (see may rants here, here and here), I'm inclined to believe that there may be cause for worry. ABC Family seems to have developed quite a knack for abandoning its well-liked, established shows for whatever is new. I could rant about how ABC Family should not hang its high-quality show (Greek) out to dry in favor of its more lowest-common-denominator fare, but that seems like it should be obvious. If it's not, we've got bigger problems.



Until we know more, if you love Greek, it can't hurt to visit http://www.savegreek.com/ and send some postcards and a red cup or two.



In any event, Greek returned with a delightful episode, as usual. Honestly, I can't think of too many other shows that can make me laugh as loud as Greek does on a regular basis.

The play-by-play:

• Betsy: "With all the stress of burning down the Gamma Si house, I couldn't eat all winter break, so I look fantastic!"
• Lol at Cappie's "Hello, Clarice."
• DALE!!!!!!
• Dale has interns now! Really nerdy interns.
• Dale: "Really? Cappie didn't mention that in his Christmas newsletter. It did have a fantastic date nut bar recipe."
• I'd pay money to get my hands on Cappie's Christmas newsletter.
• Hang on, I just realized that Greek is finally taking place at the same time as real life! Usually, it's winter there and summer here or fall there and spring here, etc. But now, it's winter here! It's winter there! This hasn't happened in a while. It's so exciting.
• Fisher and Ash broke up? Again?! Boo, I liked his cute face.
• Ash: "It's a fun way to start of the semester. You have a boyfriend. I'm single. We're arsonists."
• Aww, I miss Wade too.
• LOL at the KT's "secret knock" (which is "knock, knock").
• EVAN!! And he's wearing a tie! However, Evan cannot compete with the ensemble Calvin's sporting: checked shirt, all-over argyle sweater...very nice.
• NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! IF THIS HAS EVEN THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING THE LAST SERIES OF GREEK, DO NOT MAKE ME SPEND IT WATCHING EVAN AND REBECCA! PLEEEEEASE!
• Ha ha at Beaver looking menacing with the golf club!
• Well, I guess this is why my college never let us have candles in our dorm rooms (even unlit ones).
• Cappie: "If I'm late, she'll make me go as the least attractive dwarf, which I happen to think is Sneezy."
• Yeah, Calvin, it's time to cut Grant loose. This guy just isn't doing it for me.
• Ha ha at Casey freaking out when she walked into the firefighter costume and then the guy in the devil outfit.
• Yea, yea, yea, yea! The Dale/Calvin/Rusty trio is back in action!
• Rusty: "I never liked that Grant!"
• NOoooooooooooooooooooo--this is Evan/Rebecca! I said that is NOT what I want to see!
• It's a little late for Ash to get on the anti-Cappie bandwagon. Where was this input when Casey was trying to decide whether to get back together with Cappie or not?
• I'm sorry, what is with this commercial for Pull-Ups airing during Greek?
• Rusty: "We performed magic together. It would have been awkward."
• Rusty: "I can't see puffy paint making an impact on Dump Truck."
• Ha ha ha at Rusty bringing Dale in to shape up KT's pledges!
• OMG, Rusty just cut off that kid's toe!
• Cappie: "My, she's tall!"
• Cappie: "Apparently your brother cannot handle cutlery."
• The ZBZs sure watch a lot of television. They're my kind of girls!
• They could have burned the clipboard, but I guess they're understandably a bit leery of fire right now.
• Casey: "I remember stepping over a log at some point."
• Ha ha at Evan's wolf nose.
• Calvin: "That is the weakest Big Bad Wolf I've ever seen."
• Noooo, Grant, why did you have to come around? I just wanted rid of you.
• Evan: "They're your brothers! Get out there and support them!"
  Omega Chi brother: (pause) "Do you want to..."
  Evan: "With girls!"
  
• Fisher cheated on Ashleigh again! Fisher is such a little bitch.
  
• So is it time to finally make a go of a Rusty/Ashleigh pair? The idea still intrigues me.
  
• Casey: "We should burn down his house!"
  
• Casey: "And we got away with it until Ashleigh kept the clipboard but we couldn't keep it in the trunk because of Scrubs..."
  
• This Cappie/Casey stuff is actually kinda nice. Ok, Evan, you're so going to start messing it up next week though, right?
  
• Rebecca: "My, what a half-assed costume you have."
  
• Noooooo....Ahh, saved from an Evan/Rebecca kiss by a Casey/Cappie sighting! Phew, that was close.
  
• Cappie listened to Nora Jones and had a good cry.
  
• Jeremy wore eyeliner?
  
• HEATH!! Health was so upset about everyone getting expelled that he bombed all of his finals! Yeaaaa!
  
• If Heath really bombed all of his finals, is med school really still going to be interested in him?
  
• Can we please cut "that Grant" loose and revisit Calvin/Heath? I don't accept "he liked sports and I didn't" as an acceptable reason for them not to be together.
  
• Rusty: "The pledges can't get enough of me!"
  
• Wow, congrats to Rusty on winning the grant. But poor Dale :-(
  

Promos for the season: Ha ha, I can't wait to see whatever inspires Dale to tell Ashleigh that he can't be her boy-toy! I can, however, wait to see Evan tell Rebecca he wants to be exclusive with her. Barf.

(photo: abcfamily.com)

The Big Bang Theory: The Mean Streets of Pasadena

The Big Bang Theory: "The Bozeman Reaction"

This episode was funny! Granted, it is rare that an episode of The Big Bang Theory isn't funny, but I thought this one was really funny. It had me at "mobster sauce" and didn't let up until Sheldon revealed who the "treasured acquaintance" was.

Oh, Jim Parsons, why you weren't nominated for a Golden Globe (and the winner of one), I'll never understand...

The highlights:

• Raj: "Alright, I'd kill a hobo if it would get me laid."
• Sheldon: "Did the chef lose confidence in the dish or in himself?"
• Sheldon: "Shrimp in 'mobster sauce.' What is mobster sauce?"
• Sheldon: "Perhaps this restaurant is now a front for organized crime."
• Sheldon: "The more I think about it, the mobster sauce couldn't actually contain chunks of mobsters."
• Leonard: "Would I be completely out of line to ask you to shoot him?"
• Sheldon: "Well, they could monitor scientific publications..."
• Leonard: "Does that mean you've ruled me out as a suspect?"
  Sheldon: "Oh, I wish I could."
  
• Penny: "I'm not scared. I would have gone all Nebraska on their asses."
  
• Sheldon: "(knock knock) Leonard and Penny. (knock knock) Leonard and Penny. (knock knock) Leonard and Penny."
  Penny: "Who is it?"
  
  
• Penny: "I don't know... Star Wars?"
  
  
• Penny's face when Sheldon is explaining his Pictionary clue.
  
  
• Leonard: "He's right, Penny. It's all there."
  
  
• Sheldon: "What if somebody kidnaps me, forces me to record my voice and cuts off my thumb?"

  Leonard: "I'll send him a basket of muffins."
  
  
• Sheldon: "Nice security system if we're attacked by a school of tuna."
  
  
• Sheldon: "I've seen the underbelly of Pasadena."
  
  
• HA HA at Sheldon tapping on the outside of Leonard's window, while Leonard and Penny were...well, Sheldon doesn't need to know what they were doing. You knew it was coming, but OMG was it funny.
  
  
• Oh no, the net's electrocuting Sheldon!
  
  
• Sheldon: "Windows 7 is much more user friendly than Windows Vista. I don't like that."
  
  
• A town gets crossed off Sheldon's list of possible relocation sites because it has no model train shops.
  
  
• Sheldon crossing out all of Nebraska due to it being Penny's home state.
  
  
• Sheldon: "The four of you are three of my closest friends and one treasured acquaintance."
  
  
• Oh, Sheldon.
  
  
• Howard: "Hey, look who's back!"

  Sheldon: "Interesting. The acquaintance is the first to greet me."
  
  
• So Raj must have made some strides in Sheldon's estimation in the last year or so, because last season when he decided to befriend Barry Kripke and thought he should cut a current friend loose, he picked Raj to let go. They must have really bonded last week when they picked up girls at the mixer.
  
  

The Big Bang Theory: The Wonder Wingman

The Big Bang Theory: "The Psychic Vortex"

Since the last new episode of The Big Bang Theory aired in mid-December, I've watched basically every single episode of TBBT from seasons 1 and 2 (the only exceptions were the first few episodes of season 1, which I watched between Dec. 11 and 14). So, in other words, I've watched all of the season 1 and 2 episodes in the last month. It would be completely fair to throw around the word "obsession" at this point. Honestly, I'm bummed that I've exhausted my supply of past episodes; I love the show so much, I wish I had 7 seasons of episodes to catch up on!

Tonight's new episode was thoroughly enjoyable as usual. I couldn't, however, believe that Leonard was even entertaining the idea of dumping Penny because she believes in psychics. Like, come on, dude! This is Penny we're talking about! You've been pining over her for three years and now that you've finally (and somewhat unbelieveably) succeeded in getting her, you're going to dump her over something you should have known all along?! We knew that Penny did Leonard's horoscope in Season 1--surely it's not too much of a jump to then realize that she also believes in psychics. Even if Leonard was taken completely by surprise by this turn of events (and he shouldn't have been), I would fully expect him to completely ignore/gloss over all of Penny's perceived shortcomings for a long time so as to not scare her off now that he's finally won her over.

Sheldon, meanwhile, seemed particularly hammy in this episode, what with his imaginary 2D world, the Green Lantern lantern and the Hulk hands (and the Hulk impressions). It was all great.

And props to Raj for landing Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar) from The Wonder Years! Kevin Arnold didn't even ultimately succeed in pulling off that feat. (Those Savage boys just aren't in enough stuff these days...) I wonder if Danica going to stick around for any more episodes? That would be awesome--but how weird would it be if Leonard, Howard and Raj all had girlfriends at the same time? (Well, it's really just weird that Howard has a girlfriend...)

The highlights:

• Leonard: "Got it!"
  Howard: "Seen it!"
  Sheldon: "Detailed analysis posted online."
  
• Raj: "Great, they get girlfriends and they just abandon us!"
  Sheldon: "It is great, isn't it!?"
  
  
• Everyone looks older in this episode. Oh, wait, that's probably because I've been watching so many episodes from seasons 1 and 2.
  
  
• Raj: "The Salute to Zoot. Sounds like a hoot!"
  
  
• Sheldon: "The Zoot Suit Riots?"

  Raj: "Ohh, I always thought that had something to do with after-Christmas sales."
  
  
• Raj: "I'm a young, virile visitor from a foreign land and I need to strut my stuff!"
  
  
• Sheldon: "Oh, look, there's a sexually attractive line segment! You should chat her up!"
  
  
• Howard: "Good job not making fun of her!"
  
  
• LOL at Sheldon bringing the Green Lantern lantern into the party.
  
  
• Sheldon: "I don't drink."

  Raj: "Well, I do, and when my wingman is carrying a Green Lantern lantern, I drink a lot!"
  
  
• Ha ha ha! The Green Lantern lantern is a hit!
  
  
• Leonard coming home to find Sheldon, Raj, Winnie and the other girl playing Rock Band.
  
  
• Leonard looks like Bono in those big red safety goggles!
  
  
• Sheldon: "I won't say anything; I'll just offer you a facial expression that suggests you've gone insane."
  
  
• Wow, Raj really does want Winnie Cooper! He's giving up his Incredible Hulk hands signed by Stan Lee!
  
  
• Penny: "Wow, that's all you got after you were the most obnoxious person on a double date that included Howard Wolowitz?"
  
  
• Oh Sheldon! This girl is basically perfect for him and he doesn't even care/notice.
  
  
• OMG, there's a girl in Sheldon's room!
  
  
• Sheldon: "I'll sleep in Leonard's room. Good night!"
  
  

One bad thing about this episode was that there was no Penny/Sheldon interaction. I thought he might have something to add to the psychic debate.

Chuck: Finally!

Chuck:

Seriously, how good is it to have Chuck back on TV again? How I've missed it! After seeing this amazing promo poster, watching the Chuck marathon on SyFy last week, and seeing all the commercials featuring Chuck showing off his fancy new skills, I was so excited for the third season premiere that I could barely contain myself!

Did tonight's two-hour offering live up to my expectations? Absolutely. The first episode was very strong, while the second was probably not as good but still featured a lot of great moments (Chuck's acrobatics in the vault come to mind).

Before I get to discussing the actual episodes, I'd like to declare my love for the special Honda commercials with Morgan, Ellie and Awesome! They were so much fun! At first I didn't know if I was watching the actual show, a Honda commercial or a promo for the Olympics, but I didn't care! I loved when Morgan popped up in the back of the car and everyone screamed. And then when he took them to the monument for the "lost curler." Morgan: "They say if you listen quietly, you can still hear him sweeping." The whole thing made me proud that I recently bought a Honda. More please!


"Chuck vs. the Pink Slip"

The play-by-play:

• Chuck's almost too good at this spy thing!
• Wow, Chuck looks hot with this haircut!
• I totally called that this was a training exercise.
• Awww, Sarah wants to run away with Chuck!
• Chuck's going to get huge, eating all these cheetos!
• Look at his beard! Ha ha ha!
• Ellie: "Sleeping with his cheeseballs!"
• OMG, I can't believe he went to the BuyMore looking like that!
• I didn't know they sold cheesepuffs at BuyMore. Surely he could have gone somewhere else to buy them.
• Um, the CIA/NSA really shouldn't let Chuck roam around with this version of the Intersect in his head! He's a danger to public welfare.
• Lester: "Oh, captain, my captain!"
• Um, Chuck, you are not going to get Sarah back looking like this!
• Chuck: "If this works, maybe Beckman will put the old team back together!"
  
  Casey: "Mmm, then all my dreams come true!"
  
• Cleaned-up Chuck looks far too hot to be a BuyMore employee now!
  
• Wow, that was quite the smack Sarah gave to Chuck! She should watch out; couldn't smacking him cause him to flash and unleash the kung fu?
  
• So, how exactly did they want Chuck to react to being slapped in the face?
  
• Ahh, Chuck panicking; this feels like home.
  
• Chuck trying to knock down the door, bouncing off and saying "Son of a..."
  
• HA HA HA at Chuck in the mariachi outfit and getting pushed up on stage. HA! He knows how to play the guitar now!
  
• LOL at him mouthing "assassin" mid-song to Casey.
  
• Yeah, I figured the "musician" he beat up would turn out to be the bad guy.
  
• Awesome: "Still playing the loser cover! You're nailing it!"
  
• It hasn't occurred to Chuck yet that the CIA's not just going to let him leave? I'm surprised they've let him out in the world for this long. (They were going to shoot him several times in the past when he just has version 1.0 of the Intersect in his head, which was less of a threat.)
  
• Oh no, Morgan got fired from Benihana and Anna took off with one of the other employees. Oh, Anna Wu, why?!
  
• That was nice of Casey to stand up for Chuck to Sarah.
  
• Buster (Emmet) listening to "Hold On (For One More Day)"
  
• AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! He shot Buster (Emmet)! (I guess Big Mike can have his job back now...)
  
• Sarah's wearing some fancy shoes for running away.
  
• In addition to not wanting to give up being a spy, Sarah should have realized that Chuck wouldn't want to run away from his family and friends. We've established that he really likes them.
  
• I don't like to see Chuck breaking both his and Sarah's hearts, but it was kind of amusing to see the look on her face when the nerdy boy dumped her (at least to the evil side of me).
  
• I wonder if there's a secret reason why he didn't go with her.
  
• Sarah: "Break out of your cell and come and get me. I can't pick the lock."
  Chuck: "There's no way that we could reverse those roles, is there?"
  
• So, to get Chuck to flash, we just need to threaten Sarah? Keep that in mind, everybody.
• Casey to the rescue again!
• Casey's face when Beckman said that Operation Bartowski was back on.
• Beckman: "Now we have to protect the world from Chuck."
• Oh well, if Ellie and Awesome have to move, at least they're just moving across the courtyard. And that is the world's coolest apartment complex, so I can see why they wouldn't move out of it.

"Chuck vs. the Three Words"

• Morgan: "We're just here to help you forget about Sarah for awhile. Look, there's Sarah!"
• I think Sarah already broke the cardinal rule at least once, when she fell in love with Bryce a while back. It seemed like she had been in love with him at some point anyway.
• Lester: "Oh, Morgy, there's no way a girl like you could get a woman like you're describing."
• When does "the whole mission" ever not depend on Chuck?
• How come during the gratuitous scene of Sarah getting dressed, she was wearing a black bra with straps, but now, when she's in the dress, she clearly doesn't have the bra on underneath it?
• Lauren Graham in Parenthood! YEA!
• Chuck, seriously, just shut up. Your insistence on having extemporaneous conversations is even annoying me now.
• Ha ha at Casey trying to string out his speech.
• To get Chuck to flash, Sarah should just say, "Chuck, if you don't go through those lasers and get that weapon right now, I'm going to slit my wrists!"
• Ha, last year when there was nothing really going on between Chuck and Sarah, Beckman was asking every 15 minutes if she needed to get a new agent to watch Chuck, but now that Sarah freely admits that there's something going on with them, she can't get Beckman to reassign her.
• Morgan: "If there was a Japanese word for 'no,' I'd be saying it to you right now!"
• Ha ha ha at Morgan capping off his big speech by drinking the tranquilizer alcohol and passing out!
• Ha at Sarah giving Chuck the tiki torch as a weapon.
• Shaw? Is that the name Beckman called the mystery guy? Who's Shaw? (For a second there, I thought it would be Bryce Larkin, alive again. I guess White Collar will keep that from happening.)
• How long was Chuck's speech in the vault?! The footage just keeps on coming!

Wow, this season it looks like it's going to be hard to figure out if we're watching Chuck or some form of Superman/Smallville with both Brandon Routh and Kristin Kreuk joining the show. I'm glad that Kristin's going to be on this show; Lana did get rather annoying at times on Smallville, but I still liked her overall.

(photo: NBC)