Greek: A Four Pack of Disaster

Greek:

"Fight the Power"

I liked this episode (although, to be fair, do I ever actually not like an episode of Greek?), but I've had more than enough of this whole "the ZBZs are fourth, and it's a big disaster" story line. But of course I'm going to like an episode that featured this much Evan/Casey interaction as well as a healthy smattering of Dale.

Highlights and my observations:

• Ashleigh: "Look at the happy faces on all the children!"
• Beaver: "It's harder than it looks. You have to stop drinking at the end of the snore."
  Heath: "Or you get penalized."
  Beaver: "Ha, you just said penalized!"
• Beaver: "You're on the moon right now, aren't you! You're a hologram!"
• Evan: "Fore!"

  Ashleigh: "We get it, we're number four. You don't have to rub it in."
• Evan: "You know, some people appreciate my sense of humor."
  Ashleigh: "Some people appreciate Crocs."
• Evan: "Oh, and watch out for those sand traps! ...That wasn't funny at all."
• Lana messing with Rusty is pretty entertaining.
• Cappie: "Again, can you just assure me that we're not having sex with Spitter tonight?"
• Good for Cappie for leaving money on the table instead of dining and dashing. (That would probably be a bad thing to do at an establishment that they frequent.)
• Except for Evan and Calvin, these Omega Chis are a bunch of jerks.
• Hahahaha! Ashleigh's dress has a lobster on it! I kinda love it.
• I can't believe everyone in the sorority sits down and eats dinner at the same time! Does that actually happen anywhere in real life (in sororities)?
• Ashleigh: "And then I introduced her to tweezers, and she stole my boyfriend."
• Rusty: "I never watched so many episodes of one TV show since that Joan of Arcadia marathon with my parents."
• Rusty is kind of acting like he recently sustained a head wound.
• Rusty: "Oooh! That whale just ate that whole seal!"
• Ok, Calvin, let's just kick that Grant to the curb. I'm totally over him. Calvin needs to hook back up with Heath before he graduates.
• DALE!!!!
• Can Rusty please date Lana? Because that would be all kinds of awesome.
• Frown-y cupcakes! I think being fourth is worth it if the ZBZs get free baked goods!
• Lana: "I don't date guys with issues."
  Dale: "Someone without a college degree shouldn't be so choosy."
• It is kind of curious that the Omega Chis put up with Evan when he was super rich and very mean, but now that he's nice and poor, they're planning a mutiny.
• No wonder the Gamma Psis are the new number one sorority--they've got a bowl full of chocolate bunnies in their living room!
• Ha ha, Dale at a strip club.
• Dale: "Hi, I have a friend of mine I'd like to introduce you too! His name is Jesus, and He pays much greater dividends than those dollar bills in your underpants."
• This is quite a fancy party.
• Rebecca: "What was that? Do you have something against mid-fielders?"
• Oh HELL nooooooooooooooooooo!!! DO. NOT. START. ANYTHING. WITH. EVAN. AND. REBECCA! I will LITERALLY barf!
• Rusty: "Are you growing up?"

  Cappie: "You shut your damn mouth!"
• I think Rusty has lost his darn mind. He seriously seems like he's been concussed recently.
• Katherine: "My policy on parties is basically a 5-minute walk-through, but I rather enjoyed the caricatures this evening and he captured my likeness, so I stayed a little longer."
• This Natalie girl (the Gamma Psi president) kind of cracks me up too. The Gamma Psis seem like an entertaining bunch. I'd rather watch them than Rebecca and the annoying ZBZ pledges.
• Dale: "Why was that dollar bill wet?"
• Now Rusty has a head wound! He finally has an excuse for how strangely he's acting.
• Dale: "Jesus knows how to party! The dude makes His own wine."
• It's nice to see Dale back to his old prostelytizing.
• Ha ha at Cappie, Rusty and Dale doing shots of sparkling cider.
• So Rusty really can't date Lana now that Cappie doesn't want her anymore?
• Dale: "Oh no, I think I see where this is headed."
• Ashleigh: "And they sleep where they poop. You can't trust a bunny."

And--what has it been now?--nine or so episodes after Casey dumped her boyfriend for him, it looks like Cappie is finally going to get around to try to get with her in next week's episode. Ugh, I want to like the prospect of Casey finally getting with Cappie, but I'm just so tired of him. I feel like we've had at least four different versions of Evan so far during the run of Greek, but Cappie has remained basically the same this whole time. Not that it's a bad thing that Cappie hasn't veered from jerk to sweetie to paddle-hitter to depressed guy and then back to sweetie--it means that Cappie is actually the more stable of the two. But it also means that we've had an awful lot of exposure to Cappie's shtick. And, while I still find him funny, I've grown tired of his overall act. (And Evan is just so cute!)

So are we headed for the re-pairing of Cappie and Casey, to be followed by her drifting towards Evan due to a combination of Cappie's Cappie-ness and Evan's sweetness (in other words, a complete repeat of what happened during their freshman year)?

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Greek: A Different World

Greek:
"Our Fathers"

I announced months ago how excited I was when I heard that Kadeem Hardison a.k.a. Dwayne Wayne from A Different World guest starring as Ashleigh's dad. I was a big fan of A Different World back in the day, so it is awesome to see an actor from that show on my current favorite show about college. Also, since Greek relies heavily on relationship shipping (Casey/Cappie, Casey/Evan, Casey/Max, Cappie/Rebecca, Rusty/Jordan--wait, are there actually any Rusty/Jordan shippers?), I feel like it's somewhat relevant to mention that Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert was probably one of the first TV relationships of which I was ever a shipper. (Remember when Dwayne crashed her wedding to that Byron guy? That was so amazing!)

Because I loved A Different World so much, I actually would have liked to see more of Kadeem Hardison in Greek. I'm not really sure what I would have liked for them to have him do though--it's not like they could suddenly re-center the whole show around Ashleigh's dad. Maybe if they'd just given him some flip-up sunglasses to wear...

Can't resist embedding A Different World's fantastic opening credits, just for old time's sake:



Anyway, Greek:

• The KT game of totally silent charades is entertaining.
• Cappie: "Well, as far as I know, Casey and I both have two working kidneys."
• Rebecca: "Well, with my dad, extramarital sex with hookers is always a conversational option."
• Poor Casey--her knowing about Fisher and Rebecca when Ash doesn't is not a fun situation to be in.
• Dale: "Yeah, but I had sex! With my landlady!"
• Pastor Dan really didn't give much thoughtful, helpful guidance.
• Rusty's dad: "You know those Friday nights we used to hang out and we'd say, 'It's too bad Joan of Arcadia isn't a real girl because Joe Mantegna and Mary Steenburgen would love you.'"
• I LOVE that they did a callback to the Joan of Arcadia story. That still cracks me up.
• What is Rebecca doing?! Wow, she really is just not happy unless everyone hates her.
• As a general rule, if you're going to tell someone something horrible, you probably shouldn't do it when she's standing atop a ladder!! That's just dangerous.
• Why is Rusty telling Jordan's dad about the first time he drank tequila? This is pathetic.
• Calvin: "Make it stop, please."
• Dale: "She was making noises like a banshee. It was like a farm animal in late-stage labor."
• Mary Elise: "Why don't you join me at mass tonight?"
  Dale: "Alright, I'll be there, but I won't be doing an kneeling."
  Cappie: "Don't worry, I will."
• Rebecca: "I don't not have a big old butt!"
• Poor Ashleigh--this should be about her, but it's turned into round 1,000 of Casey vs. Rebecca.
• Rebecca: "At least I didn't sleep with a 16-year-old!"
  Mr. Cartwright: "O.M.G!"
• As much as Rebecca irks me, I'm glad somebody else still remembers Casey's debacle with the 16-year-old. Because that's still not ok.
• Rusty: "So I just have to help you lose? I can do that!"
• Calvin: "Oh, Rus, Rus! Don't let him see you run."
• Didn't Ashleigh give her loser ex-boyfriend all kinds of extra chances? Why's she being so decisive and uncompromising now? Is there more to the story here?
• Dale: "You know, the idolatry wasn't nearly as distracting as I was expecting!"
• Dale: "Especially due to our shared pasts with the same woman." (Blank look from Cappie) "Casey. Casey Cartwright."
• Why is Jordan's dad in the dorm?
• Mary Elise: "As for your messages, Dale, I didn't appreciate your threatening tone."
• Ashleigh's dad: "Yeah, wide open like your daughter!"
• Casey (on The Sun Also Rises): "And then he got his junk blown off in World War I... "
• Ash's dad: "You wouldn't have caught it; you're wearing sandals!"
• Cappie: "Have I walked into a transgendered Cathy comic?"
  Dale: "Ack."

(Greek photo: abcfamily.com)

Greek: Friday Nights with Joan

Greek:
"Isn't It Bro-mantic?"

I freaking loved this episode. I enjoyed the Evan/Cappie interaction and the revelation that Rusty used to watch Joan of Arcadia so much that I didn't even mind that Dale was MIA because he was at a barn raising trying to convert Amish people (to what?).

Highlights (and there were a bunch):

• Calvin: "For dinner with Jordan or Desert Storm?"
• Calvin: "You've been together for like a week. I'm sure she already knows that you can't dress yourself."
• I found the conversation about Rusty's inability to dress himself to be funny since I was seriously distracted by how ugly one of his shirts in the last episode was.
• Rusty: "Is this still stylish?"
  Calvin: "Was it ever?"
• Rusty: "She just broke up with Andy, who dresses like a pop star, so I've got to step it up."
• Calvin needs to just move in with Dale and Rusty once of for all.
• Rusty: "Dale's at a barn raising this weekend, trying to convert some Amish people."
• Rusty is wearing Dale's shirt!
• Casey: "Since Max has been gone, I've gotten so much done: cleaning, organizing... I'm thinking of taking up an instrument."
• Betsy: "Really? Do they still have television on Friday nights?" (Yes, Betsy, they do. In fact, next season four shows that I watch will be on Friday nights.)
• Um, I'm not sure I'm loving Rusty's hair tonight. The part/slicked back thing looks strange.
• Calvin: "It's like watching an episode of Entourage, except cheaper...and actually watchable."
• Betsy: "I never said anything about you being drunk. She asked where you were and I said 'Asleep in the bushes.'"
• Casey and Betsy's table is ridiculously close to Rusty and Jordan's.
• Dean Bowman: "You are the most accomplished and promising students at CRU."
  Cappie: "Believe me, if I could shoot myself a quizzical look right now, I would."
• Now the secret society is making them all dish their most personal secrets? That's straight out of Veronica Mars too.
• Aww, poor Casey. She's not trying to be annoying; she's just lonely.
• I bet Calvin is glad he can go back to talking to Ashleigh instead of Rebecca.
• Calvin: "Everytime you out an Omega Chi to his house, a fairy looses its wings."
• Casey: "I could help you pick out some new shirts that are a little more...of the same! Because your shirts are so handsome."
• Evan: "Why do you feel the need to call me by my full name every time we talk?"
  Cappie: "I like it. Makes you sound like a comic book villain. ...So why don't you trust me, Evan Chambers?"
• Evan: "It's like a compulsion."
  Cappie: "Your face is like a compulsion."
  Evan: "That doesn't even make sense."
  Cappie: "Your face doesn't make any sense."
• Cappie: "First I'm not trustworthy and now I'm the runt of the society? Evan Chambers, you dastardly menace, now you've got me questioning everything!"
• Ashleigh joined the curling team? Lol.
• Ashleigh: "You are not Rusty. You have much, much daintier features...except his hands."
• Casey should just tell Rusty that she's lonely and bored. But where would the drama be in that?
• Alice played "swing the gerbil"? Oh geez...
• Cappie and Evan's reactions to Alice's array of animal horror stories were funny.
• Rusty: "You're so not the remote. You're more like the whole entertainment center."
• Evan: "I would much rather see you with her than me."
• Cappie: "We just started talking and we end up fighting over the first pet-killing lunatic we meet."
• OH NO! We didn't get to hear Cappie's deep, dark secrets!
• Calvin: "First of all, 'man hump'? No."
• Rusty: "Now you're not alone, and I am. I guess everything's right in the world again."
• We didn't get to hear Evan's deep, dark secrets either! And that boy's got some skeletons in his closet.
• Alice: "You both are just so tortured! I just want to hug you!"
  Evan: "No!"
  Cappie: "No!"
• Dean Bowman: "Nothing teaches us more about who we are than seeing ourselves in the people we least expect."
  Cappie: "Ahhhhhhhh! No, I don't get it."
• Cappie: "Conflict in the Cartwright clan? Paging Danny Tanner!"
• Rusty: "Do you realize how many nights in high school I sat alone watching Joan of Arcadia with my mother while Casey went out will all of her friends."
• Cappie: "Joan of Arcadia was the one with all the Navy lawyers, right?"

  Rusty: "No, that's JAG. Yeah, I watched that afterwards with my dad."
  Cappie: "You know I missed a lot of great television by having friends. It's a shame."
• Since when does Cappie miss any television? I thought he watches everything. He's the one, after all, who makes constant references to Full House, Jon & Kate Plus 8, Days of Our Lives, My So-Called Life, Reba, etc., etc., etc.
• I used to watch Joan of Arcadia too, and I was ticked off about it as well. Not because it was on a Friday night and I had nothing else to do, but more because I really didn't like that show.
• Rusty: "I wish I'd gone to MIT."

  Cappie (sees mostly naked Calvin): "What the hell is that?"

  Rusty: "It's a school...in Massachusetts..."
• Ha! Rusty gave Casey the Joan of Arcadia DVD.
• Um, I want to know what Rusty did to Casey's blanket that make it smell weird! Lol.
• Next week's preview: What in the heck is going on with Ashleigh's eye makeup?

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Addison's Anatomy

On Thursday ABC showed the long awaited "pilot" for the Grey's spinoff centering on Addison. It was an interesting way to introduce us to the show: mashing up scenes of Addison in L.A. in with scenes from Grey's 1.0.

Grey's (the flagship):

Remember when the show first started out and Meredith and Christina were so dramatic and messed up and wishy-washy and Burke and Derek used to just look at each other and go, "Sheesh, these women..." Well, now, it's totally Burke and Derek who are freaking out for no reason and being all annoying. The craziness is not as endearing coming from the 40ish men. Get over it, boys.

My other problem was that after Meredith's stepmom died (and what even happened to her, by the way?), the Chief and Bailey have Meredith go tell her dad. Meredith? How is that her duty? The Chief should have told him--if he got slapped in the process he at least had it coming for having an affair with Thatcher's first wife. Poor Meredith--things are just not going her way these last couple weeks. First she almost dies, then her mom does die, then her stepmom dies, then her dad slaps her, and then Derek chats up the girl from Reunion in a bar.

The scene of Christina trying on the wedding dress was awesome. There should have totally been more of that.

Private Practice:
Ugh. Seriously... Grossest. Show name. Ever. Apparently, Shonda's goal for Grey's 2.0 was Grey's but slower, older, and soapier. Well, it was definitely slower. And its cast (except for Piz) are all about Addison's age, so it's older. (I actually think this was one of it's problems. One of the cool things about Grey's is the three different age groups and how they interact.) And I guess it was soapier too, which is saying a lot now that Grey's has almost-deaths, amnesia, and Gizzie.

I thought Addison's Anatomy was going to be good. I like Addison. I like Piz. I like L.A. I like Taye Diggs. I love Tim Daly. And I love Merrin Dungey. So I was excited. Then I see during the credit list that David Anders was in the episode. David freaking Anders! Then I was crazy I-can-barely-sit-still excited. So it's understandable that they didn't live up to my expectations. It would have been hard to meet them, actually. The show does have potential--I think it just needs some tweeks.

1. If you have David Anders in your episode, use him for frak's sake. Give him more than one line ("do you know who the father is?") and something more interesting to do that just stand around. And, come on, like Sark knocked up the weird girl from Joan of Arcadia. Sark is sooooooo out of her league. Sark is out of everyone's league.
2. Make Francie/Merrin/Naomi more funny. She can be hilarious (Kitty on Malcolm).
3. Let Taye be funny too. He was a little funny, but there's room to improve.
4. Give Tim Daly's character a distinct personality. Don't just make him a Dreamy/Steamy hybrid with a dead wife.
5. Either change Shrinking Voilet or lose her. She was painful to watch.
6. That other guy? Lose him.
   
7. Piz needs to be more than the hot receptionist. Especially since he's the nerdy nice guy on Veronica Mars. Make him goofy or something.
8. More interesting patients. It must be hard for Shonda, etc. to come up with interesting patient stories after making 3 seasons of them on Grey's. Maybe they should have a few patients who are recurring characters.
9. And question: if Francie/Naomi is the best fertility specialist ever, can she not do something for Addison other than just say, "You can't have a baby."

Oh and this isn't about TV, but Spider-Man 3: love!

Harry painting a picture + Harry making an omlet = Fantastic movie!!!

(I love Harry.)