SYTYCD: Putting on Boogie Shoes

So You Think You Can Dance: Top 7 Performance Show

• Umm, now where's Ashley?! Come ON!
• Cat is wearing a slamming multi-colored artistic print dress with a purposefully messy side fishtail braid.
• After rehearsals on Monday, Ash was taking to the hospital with severe rib pain. She has been advised not to dance tonight. Oy vey! At this point, the winner is going to be the one who can make it the longest without getting injured.
• Same rules apply to Ashley that applied to Alex. (Is this the first time ever on SYTYCD that the same rules apply to different contestants? Just kidding.)
• Alex had surgery on Monday and it seems to have gone well.
• Anya's doing some double duty this week. Which is odd, because they have lots of boy contestants to go around.
• A gold star means Dominic? Lol. So, Dom's going to remind us what a good b-boy looks like?

Lauren with Mark (Tiana's Tahitian dance):

• The featurette: Hmm, Tahitian dance sounds interesting. Mark certainly is the man for the job.
• The dance: OMG, Mark's wearing a loin cloth. I don't really know what I should be watching for, but Lauren is good at wiggling her butt, which is about 90% of what she's being called on to do. Mark looks like a natural; I wonder if he ever did similar dancing in Hawaii before.
• The judging: Nigel doesn't know what to say. Adam says Lauren's hips don't lie. Nigel is rather flustered. Mia says it was absolutely fascinating and it looked like a duck in heat. Mia can't believe they were able to do this in the amount of time they were giving. Adam: "Mark, who are you?!" (Mark: "Why do all you judges love me so much now, but you weren't nice to me at all when I was actually on the show?" Ok, he didn't really say that.) Cat hands the mic to Lauren, and she gives a speech like she just won an Oscar.

AdeChike with Anya (Liz Lira salsa):

• The featurette: The dance is fast, it's intricate, and there are death-defying stunts. The dance drew blood in practice.
• The dance: Wow, AdeChike's outfit is tragic. Anya's is really, really neon. I think maybe they should have focused more on teaching AdeChike the proper salsa technique and less on the stunts, because something doesn't look right about his general performance. All of the lifts/twist/general-flinging-around-of-Anya, however, was quite good. The opening throw-twist thing was insane.
• The judging: Nigel thinks Liz Lira is a crazy person. Nigel says salsa is a totally alien subject for a contemporary dancer like AdeChike, but he totally pulled it off. (Really?) Mia thought the choreo was great and that the tricks were awesome. She saw some little bumps though. And she thought his hips were a little awkward, but thinks he got through it. Anya says this routine was truly competition style. Adam commends AdeChike fighting through the "hard-ass choreography" and never showing a sign of weakness. So I guess the judges are going for the old "when we are mean to you, you get lots of votes, so we're going to be fairly nice to you in hopes that people don't think they have to vote for you."

Jose with Courtney (Joey Dowling Broadway):

• The featurette: Joey's being a lot nicer to Jose than she usually is to the dancers. They seem to be focusing entirely on working on Jose's sad face, when I'm thinking they should be doing a little more dancing.
• The dance: Well, Jose's doing a fairly good job, but this routine is also ridiculously slow. Oh, it's the "Mr. Cellophane" song that Curt sang on the Glee pilot! As for the routine, I didn't have a giant problem with it, but I wasn't impressed either.
• The judging: Nigel thinks the routine took Jose's happy personality from him, which took away his greatest asset, leaving you to see only his dancing, which isn't very good. Ouch, Nigel! How many weeks in, you finally realize he's not a great dancer? Mia wants to say something harsh, but she's having a hard time saying it to Jose because he looks so sad. Mia says there was no hope in the performance and he didn't have technique to back up the performance. Adam says Jose needs more extension in his moves. Nigel cuts in to say that Jose needs dance lessons. Adam says Jose's bell kick was "neither here nor there." Courtney tries to stick up for Jose a bit. Cat says Courtney's going to put the showgirl outfit back in Adam's dressing room now.

Robert with Allison (Travis Wall contemporary):

• The featurette: Allison's all better! Yea! Travis says this routine is about his mom, who just had major surgery. Robert can relate because his mother has had similar experiences. Ok, the footage of the three of them doing the moves together was exceptional! Travis should do the routine with them!
• The dance: Ok, I love that to play Travis, they put Robert in cargo shorts and a partially undone button-down shirt. Wow, son of a gun, Robert is totally holding his own next to Allison in the side-by-side section! Color me surprised and impressed. Ok, that routine was good. That was like a moderately less emotionally-exploitative version of the cancer dance.
• The judging: The judges give it a standing O. Robert and Allison (and Cat) are fighting tears. So is Travis. Nigel compares it to Mia's "Addiction" and Tyce's cancer dance. Nigel says if the audience doesn't support Robert this week, we're crazy. He calls Allison one of the "greatest dancers we've ever had on SYTYCD." Mia's crying too, because the dance reminded her of the week before her mom passed away. Mia thinks that dance was bigger than the show and that our moms are everything. She thinks it was the best Robert has danced this season. Adam says if Travis doesn't get an Emmy nomination for that, there's no God. Personally, I wouldn't tie God to Emmy nominations, because those things are notoriously ridiculous. Adam thinks it was one of the performances of the season.

Cat plugs the Season 7 tour, but, seriously, at this rate who is going to be healthy enough to perform in it?

Billy with Anya (Louis van Amstel jive):

• The featurette: Poor Anya is the hardest working girl in show business tonight. Anya's presence makes Billy laugh awkwardly.
• The dance: I'm going to call this one of the best jive's we've seen in a while. Billy certainly kept the energy level very high, and I actually believed him in the rock-and-roll, I-want-to-sleep-with-Anya character.
• The judging: Nigel thought Billy worked harder at a connection with his partner this week than other weeks. Nigel thinks he needed to "get down" a little bit on the jive technique but thought it was pretty good overall. Mia thought it was a great performance. Mia thought his technique and training were everything in that piece. Cat tries to ask Billy a question about Anya being a "sex bomb" and Billy can't understand what she's trying to say at all. He thinks she's saying "sex bum" and can't for the life of him understand what she means. It's hilarious. Adam thinks Billy was totally in control during the routine. And Nigel cuts in again to try to make yet another reference to the World Cup.

Kent with Neil (Tyce Diorio Broadway):

• The featurette: It's the wholesome (and somewhat cheesy) combo of Kent and Neil. The dance has a baseball theme.
• The dance: This would be better if there were a few more baseball player dancers on stand up there with them. It's just a little bizarre with only two guys. Baseball isn't a partner sport. They both did a good job though. Very high-energy and athletic performances.
• The judging: Nigel says Tyce threw every trick in the book. Nigel says he went to see the All-Star Game last night. He says Kent was the MVP tonight and said that Kent was out-dancing All-Star Neil. Mia says she loves boys so much. She enjoyed the strong male dancing. Adam tells Tyce that the routine was so awesome. He thinks Kent has a huge future in Broadway. He liked how effortlessly they made it look. The judges keep raving about Kent, but Neil looks better in the baseball uniform at least.

Lauren and Billy (Mandy Moore jazz):

• The featurette: Billy tells us that Lauren eats like a squirrel. Lauren says that Billy is obsessed with soda. The concept of the dance is that two shoes meet up and want to boogie. Um, ok.
• The dance: Whoa! The boogie shoes are sparkly! I'm loving Billy in this. Like hardcore loving him. He just looks like so much fun! Lauren's doing well too. Her dress could be better though. To me, this routine for Billy was like the hip hop routine for Alex: it's the moment where you realize that not only is he an awesome dancer, but he's also legitimately fun to watch.
• The judging: Nigel says it was absolutely adorable. Nigel says Billy was again really connecting with his partner and that the jazz style suited him well. Nigel tells Lauren: "Don't go clicking your heels three times, dear, because you're not going home yet." Mia says the choreo and performance was "completely in the pocket." Not sure I know what that means, but it reminds me of when P.J. said "The lotion is in the basket" on My Boys. Mia thinks it was quirky and groovy at the same time. Adam says Billy finally got lost in a dance. Adam thinks Lauren could get way up there in the standings.

Jose with Dominic (Napoleon and Tabitha b-boy routine):

• The featurette: Cat says Jose "randomly picked" the gold star. Yeah, I don't believe that for a second. Dominic says that Jose has to put toilet paper on the seat every time he goes to the bathroom. Dom says they have different b-boy styles (Jose is more on the ground and flowy; Dom is more up in the air on his hands).
• The dance: Choreographing breaking too much just seems weird. In the side-by-side regular hip hop steps, Jose wasn't matching up to Dom. His breaking stuff seemed ok, but I don't think he's at the level of a Legacy or a Hok, although I'm certainly no breaking expert. At the end, Jose pulls a sword out of a rock in the middle of the stage.
• The judging: Nigel doesn't want Jose to hold the sword while he critiques him. Cat and Dom fight over the sword. Nigel says that Jose redeemed himself. And Jose starts crying again. Nigel says no other dancer on the show could have done that routine. Well, yeah, but Jose couldn't have done any of the other routines as well as any of the other dancers. Mia thought the beginning was amazing, but she still wants more training and strength, strength, strength from Jose. Adam says the criticism earlier really hurt Jose, and he still managed to come out and "school" us. Oy vey. If Jose is such a delicate little flower that he can't stand to hear honest statements about how his dancing is not up to the level of other dancers on the show, then he needs to start improving his dancing really fast, because he is just not up to the level of the other dancers on the show.

AdeChike and Kent (Dee Caspery contemporary):

• The featurette: AdeChike really likes food and wants to become a chef. AdeChike says Kent has a crush on Lauren (the non-Gottlieb Lauren).
• The dancing: I kinda missed the explanation about what the chairs mean, so I'm a little lost, but the routine itself is quite good. Lots of "strong male dancing" as Mia would say. This is a good week for Kent. AdeChike was good too, especially when he leaped over Kent.
• The judging: Nigel thought it was very good. Nigel liked AdeChike's leap. He liked that Kent underplayed it instead of being all "Hi! I'm Kent!" Nigel says that Kent stands a remarkable chance of being this year's champion. Well, duh. I could have told you that during Vegas week. Or earlier. Mia thinks Kent was great. She liked having two male dancers bringing strength but also vulnerability. Mia says it was a great week for AdeChike. She liked his lines and power. Adam says that they just taught America that a super athlete can be a super artist. He says they were both brilliant.

Robert with Kathryn (Doriana Sanchez disco):

• The featurette: Kathryn is filling in for Ashley. Robert says Ashley is in love with him. Ashley says Robert laughs really loudly.
• The dance: So how many days did Robert and Kathryn have to practice this routine together? If Ash got hurt on Monday, I guess they had like two days. Kathryn's outfit is a little bit scandalous. I can't believe they're closing such a good show with a disco. Even well-performed discos are kind of eh. They did a good enough job.
• The judging: Nigel says that back in the day, they'd do a hard disco routine and then go throw up. Thanks for that anecdote. Nigel thinks Robert gave lines and strength. He thought it was tremendous for this style. Mia says she loves Robert, but hopes she never has to see him do this again. Mia didn't think he was masculine enough to sell the routine. Adam thinks he sold fun, which is the point of disco. Adam says it's hard to look masculine when you're doing the silly disco moves. Robert's lucky he had Travis' contemporary routine to balance out this disco.

HA! I just realized who Billy reminded me of in that boogie shoes jazz number. It was Sheldon Cooper! I probably should have kept that to myself.

My favorites:
Billy and Lauren's jazz
Robert and Allison's contemporary
Kent and AdeChike's contemporary

My Boys: Failure To Transition

My Boys: The Transitioning
Well, I called it! (Technically, I guess I just said who I wanted it to be, but whatever--I'm taking credit for it.) P.J. chose Bobby! Yea! Of course, Bobby didn't seem to know that she chose him to be anything more than a traveling buddy. Oops.

And, thus, My Boys was back to start its, um, second or third season (I'm not sure anyone really knows which one it is). Before discussing the episode further, can I just say how annoying it is that TBS is now airing My Boys opposite the second half of the So You Think You Can Dance results show? My Boys aired on Mondays last summer, and that was so much more convenient. I mean, come on, why make it so hard on me?

Back to P.J. and Bobby: Well, she made the right choice, but a fat lot of good that did her. Absolutely nothing came of it at all, as P.J. couldn't find the right opportunity to "transition" her friendship into a romantic relationship. And so--in one episode, mind you--P.J. decides that she's over Bobby and abandons the whole darn thing. Which seems strangely familiar because it's exactly what happened with her and Brandon during the last season premiere. Why does P.J. always try to convert one of "her boys" into her boyfriend in the season finale episode, only to have it completely peter out in the first episode of the next season? It's becoming a pattern and it's a little disturbing. Will Kenny be next?

Perhaps all is not lost completely though, because Bobby did seem rather peeved when P.J. acted like sleeping with him would be so ridiculous. (Although, if he didn't want her to think that way, he probably shouldn't have whipped out the sleeping mask and mouth guard on the airplane.)

A thank you goes out to Steph for pointing out that trying to start relationship with her "friend" and then giving up has become a theme with P.J. And even P.J. admitted that she has a problem, saying, "When I figure out how to transition a friendship to a relationship, I'll write a book." To be fair, P.J. doesn't do a particularly great job of transitioning a relationship into a relationship either. She seems to have commitment issues in general, a la Meredith Grey. Or, perhaps, the root of the problem is that the writers want to her remain single so as to not upset the confines of the show.

Speaking of the confines of the show, this episode's best development was that P.J.'s voice over did NOT include an annoying, cliched, clumsy baseball metaphor. Hallelujah! (Not to toot my own horn again, but I also have previously said that the metaphors needed to go.)

Unfortunately, the use of a voice over in general didn't get the kabosh too. The voice over is still absolutely unnecessary. In this episode, it didn't tell us a darn thing that we haven't already figured out for ourselves. Jordana Spiro may have been on One World (I pulled that reference out of nowhere, huh?), but that doesn't mean she isn't a good enough actress to show us in her face that she is sad without having to also tell us, "I am sad." We get it.

Highlights:

• Steph: "What exactly did you say?"
  P.J.: "Uh, I think I said, 'Hey, how about coming to Italy with me?' Then I might have said, 'dude.'"
  
• I can't believe the waitress fell for Mike hitting on her using "the McConaughey." It was repulsive!
  
• Romantic aspirations aside, bringing Bobby on the trip to Italy was genius--he's rich and he's like a walking travel guidebook.
  
• Steph: "And you should have seen this fleabag place I had to stay in! I mean, there's charm and then there's dirt."
  
• Bobby: "I don't even know him, and I haven't talked to a man in like two weeks."
  
• P.J.: "Maybe we shouldn't have goals."
  
• Andy: "This is my new car... This watch is new. What else is new?"
  P.J.: "You started tying a sweater around your neck."
  
  
• Brandon's adult contemporary radio voice is hilarious.
  
  

My Boys: Who is it?!

My Boys:
Here we go with yet another summer season finale! Sheesh. September is starting to be as crazy as May. My Boys was renewed for a third season, so at least we know that P.J. and her boys will be back at some point. I don't know if anyone knows exactly when though--hopefully we won't have to wait until next summer.

There were two episodes on finale night: the first focused on P.J. trying to balance her boys and her new Hot Botanist (Evan/Michael Landes/Jimmy Olsen). Something about the-boyfriend-not-fitting-in-with-the-guy-friends storyline smacks familiar... and I think it's because My Boys does this same storyline all the time. Oh well, Andy bought a boat and never went anywhere with it :-)

Episode 1 Highlights:

• Aww, poor Hot Botanist/Evan/Michael Landes/Jimmy. He's so cute and I totally know how he feels when telling a story that suddenly doesn't seem anywhere near as interesting as everyone else's stories.
• The scene where the guys purposely get beaned in the batting cage was hilarious! Probably the funniest scene on My Boys ever. I was a little disappointed that P.J. didn't take a turn getting beaned, but I guess it's nice to know that she's too smart to try that.

The second episode focused on P.J. preparing for her Italy trip and rapidly going from having no date to having the possibility of three (or technically six, as Stephanie pointed out). Go P.J. for suddenly getting three potential boyfriends in one day! That is a freaking coup.

My question: isn't it kind of presumptuous to try to invite yourself along on somebody else's vacation like Thorn and the baseball player tried to do? I don't think I would ever assume that someone who had planned a vacation for months would suddenly just want me to come along. But, good for Thorn and baseball player guy being so flexible that they'd up and fly to Italy with some girl on a day's notice. That displays an impressive amount of spontaneity.

Episode 2 Highlights:

• Evan: "Italy? Oh, you don't want to go there. This time of year it's all mosquitoes and fat people and that annoying accent...oh, wait, that's Michigan. "
• Bobby splashing in the lake and getting algae foot or whatever.

And then came the cliffhanger we all saw coming about a mile away: P.J. picked a date, told him she had feelings for him, and he shows up on the plane at the last second...and, of course, all of this happens off-camera and we don't even get to see which guy it is. Not only is this kind of a lazy cliffhanger, but it's also annoying that this possibly huge event in P.J.'s life (declaring her feelings for someone) didn't make it onto the sitcom about her life.

But, ACK! Who was it? In my soul I hope it was Bobby. He's so cute and adorable and if, in this context, I am ranking him higher than both Michael Landes and Jeremy Sisto, you know how much I like him. What makes me sceptical is that there really hasn't been any building of the romantic tension between Bobby and P.J. in a long time. She kind of gazed at him happily in the museum, but all the other guys were doing that too.

Cliff hangers like this are annoying because I really care for like an hour, but by the time My Boys comes back in 2008 or whenever, I imagine that I will have totally forgotten all about it :-P

Labor Day Round-Up: Greek and My Boys

Greek:
The ABC Family promo makers sure wanted us to think that a Cappie/Senator's Daughter hook-up was coming, but I think it's probably a good thing that didn't materialize. At least not yet. Their scenes together were cute though and I especially liked the background we got on Cappie. So, apparently, he is the result of somewhat irresponsible hippie parents. Things are beginning to make sense.

Best part by far of this episode though was the Rusty/Dale roommate war. Something about it just rang true to me and probably everyone else who has ever been involved in a passive-aggressive roommate battle. I loved it.

• Rusty's "Dale Tracker" was fantastic!
• I loved Dale's comment that his class on thermodynamics and heat transfer (or something like that) was a waste: "My little sister could teach that class!" He he.
• Rusty: "Dale canceled our cable after accidentally watching three minutes of the Dawson's Creek marathon."
• Passive aggressive roommate battles over milk. I've actually heard about one or two of those before :-)
• I would seriously not want to mess with Dale, but Rusty held his own. His bringing his most annoying friend (Beaver) over to hang out was especially well played.

Could I be beginning to love Clark Duke as much as I love Michael Cera? I love Michael an awful lot, so the bar is set rather high, but Clark grows in my estimation every week. And now that Ausiello is reporting that Clark is forming a band with Kristen Bell a.k.a. Veronica Mars? Well, it doesn't get much cooler than that.

My Boys:
I love anything with Michael Landes in it. He's adorable. My one problem is that his botanist character seems to enjoy using bug metaphors almost as much as P.J. likes using baseball metaphors. And if there is one thing this show does NOT need, it's more metaphors.

Wow, so next week P.J. has to pick her Italy date, and both Michael Landes and Jeremy Sisto are choices? That's fantastic. Sign me up for one of those "tough" decisions. Although, honestly, I'm still hoping she'll take Bobby. He's just so darn cute. (Oh, seriously, the best part of this episode was Bobby's suburb doppelganger! That was hilarious.)

Kyle XY: Hallucinating, Keclan, and skinny pants

Kyle XY:

Hmm, you can tell we're approaching the end of Kyle XY's summer season because things are getting intense and Kyle's striking out on his own to save the world for the good of the Tragers. I guess there weren't a whole lot of new revelations emerging in this episode, but it was interesting to see Kyle's inner battle about whether he owes Jessi his help. But, first things first:

Kyle's pants were really skinny tonight! When did Kyle get so trendy?

I liked how Kyle told Amanda that there wasn't anything physical going on between him and Jessi and she just decided to believe him without asking the obvious question, "Then why in the heck were the two of you lifting up your shirts in front of each other when I walked in the room?" Seems to me that she deserved some sort of explanation for that strange behavior.

Speaking of the lifting up of shirts and such things: I like Josh and Andy together, but watching them making out and groping each other was just awkward and kinda gross. Especially because Kyle and Amanda have been in love with each other for over a year and we've only seen them kiss like twice!

Speaking of Kyle and Amanda not kissing: Amanda is having a hard time deciding whether to go away to school or stay with Kyle and she decides to play the piano to help figure it out. Umm, how about you make out with your gorgeous boyfriend for awhile? I know kissing Kyle would sure help my decision-making process...

Speaking of illogical strategies: Lori's goal for her big revenge on Jessi is to ruin Jessi's reputation? Like, how could you make Jessi's reputation any worse? Everyone already thinks she's weird and creepy.

Speaking of weird and creepy: Back to Josh and Andy. I'm pretty sure he said that it was the last time he could touch "them boobs." Was that ridiculous grammatical error not worthy of doing another take on that scene?

Cool that Kyle now has the power to hallucinate himself having philosophical conversations with anyone he wants. Or, um, he's becoming schizophrenic. Unfortunately, all Dream Adam can do is ask questions and restate what we already know, which is not super helpful.

While Kyle clearly is more in control of his special abilities, I've noticed that Jessi has certainly surpassed him in the ability to express human emotion. This episode really did a lot for turning her fairly unsympathetic character into someone you really felt sorry for.

And back to the mythology... It was nice that Nicole and Steven finally realized that something is still going on with Kyle. I'm a little confused though why Foss can withstand the brain scan thing but the general consensus is that Kyle wouldn't be able to take it? I guess they're going to use it at a higher power, maybe.

Good quotes:

Amanda: "Kyle, usually the whole multiple question thing is cute, but I'm really struggling here."

Hilary: "The intensity of the Kyle/Declan friendship--we'll call it 'Keclan'--helped ruin the Lori/Declan relationship."

Declan: "You really want to run this metaphor into the ground, don't you?"

Lori: "It's what I do."

and boy is that the truth....

Greek:

I enjoyed Dale IMing Rusty while they were both in the same room, because the IMing-your-roommate-while-you're-both-in-the-room thing definitely does happen sometimes.

Other highlights were Clark Duke singing (rather well), the band name "Darwin Lied," Rusty asking what in the hell kind of show they were putting on (because I was also confused about that), and this rather astute observation about the strippers and their money:

Rusty: "Look where she's putting those bills!"

Other guy: "Which will be put right back in to circulation. By the end of the week it could be under some kid's pillow."

Yuck.

My Boys:

This episode was all right. It lost major points from me though with it's handling of the Mary Lou Retton leotard. Although I'm a hardcore gymnastics fan, I do enjoy a good gymnastics joke... but this scenario didn't result in any. They did do a good job of making fun of Brendan's behavior though (ex. calling him "Seacrest"). I thought it was kind of weird that they spent a good portion of the episode skewering Sex and the City, seeing as that's the show that comes on right after My Boys on TBS. I suppose that was the 'in-joke.' Some of the SATC spoof was pretty funny, especially how P.J. thought all of those women were horrible.

Oh, and didn't P.J. do the "player gets called up to the majors" metaphor before? Like, at least five other times? I've said it before: the voice over has got to go, folks.

But, the big news: Michael Landes is in next week's ep! Yea! I love Lois & Clark's original Jimmy Olsen! First Jeremy Sisto and now this! Score!

Kyle XY, Greek, My Boys

Kyle XY:

I'm weeks behind posting this, so we're going to go with a list:

• Kyle remembers what Amanda was wearing when he first saw her! That's so sweet. Oh, wait, of course he does; he remembers everything.
• Steven is really dense that he hasn't noticed how weird his new job is. There's no reason a normal office has to look this creepy. Does none of this strike him as weird?
• Oh my gosh! For a second there, Kyle was quoting "Lose Yourself"! I knew he liked Pachabel, but I didn't know Eminem had left such an impression on him :-)
• And finally, Nicole notices the freakish similarities between Jessi and Kyle. All it took was hitting her over the head with it...
• Ok, there's probably more pressing stuff in the safe than info that Paige exists... Jessi needs to keep her eyes on the big picture.
• Ha ha--Declan's part in the plan is vandalism? Playing to our strengths, I see...
• Declan: "Why not just taser me?"
  Foss: "I considered it."
• Shoot! Lori shows up just in time to entirely ruin the big, elaborate plan! See? This is what I was talking about last week: you have to let the girls in the freaking loop!
• Paige is a cutie.
• It was brilliant how Kyle timed the elevator so that Valentine would reach in just as the doors were closing and Kyle could snag the ring off his hand! How did he know though that Valentine would reach in with the correct hand?
• Oh, Declan, for God's sake, why'd you fall down the stairs?!
• Wow, Jessi drew Paige one heck of a lion. Especially using just that one crayon.
• And I missed the whole end (and next week's previews) because I switched over to SYTYCD to have my heart broken by Pasha getting kicked off. Poor Pasha.

Greek:

Quote of the Night:
Besides girls, Cappie's other interests are "beer, Days of Our Lives, and mentoring youth."

Whoa and they followed up the hilarious Days of Our Lives reference with a Sydney Bristow reference (though not quite seemlessly used)? This is getting out of hand.

My Boys:
Hmm, one way to keep me from wondering why PJ and Bobby don't hook up (again) already is to bring in Jeremy freakin Sisto as a love interest! Nicely done. (Although I guess I missed Jeremy's episode thanks to the Great Pittsburgh TV Shortage of August '07. Crap. Perhaps it's online; I'll have to check.)

Kyle XY: We're not twelve-year-olds at summer camp.

Kyle XY:
Lori's having a bit of a rough time getting over her attack, so she.... decides to go hang out in the woods right near the former Zzyzx headquarters. Wow. For once I agree with Declan; that was a really horrible idea...and an extremely slap-dash, ill-conceived and heavy handed plot device on the part of the writers. But once you got past the stupid premise, this episode was rather good.

Hmm, this episode did, however, bring my hopes for a Loryle hook-up crashing down around me, a la the weird, automatic metal doors in the old underground Zzyzx headquarters. My bet is that the Kyle XY execs realized there have been some Lori/Kyle sparks flying the last few eps and decided to squash them as hard as they could in this ep. Why else would Kyle make such a point of calling Lori his "sister" and Lori make such a point of calling Kyle her "brother." There were three sibling references in the episode. Crap!

Not that Kyle really has much room in his life for Lori now that both Amanda and Jessi want him. But question: did Jessi suddenly forsake Declan for Kyle because Zzyzx reprogrammed her, or because she got a good look at Declan's hideous shirt? What was that thing? I welcomed the ill-conceived outing to the woods just because it meant he would put a jacket over that weird, shiny thing.

Notables:

• Kern was back. I had forgotten all about him. He was a jerk!
• Josh: "Tell her 'no' and feel free to slap her upside the head."
• Declan: "We're not twelve-year-olds at summer camp." (Declan speaking reason kind of disconcerts me sometimes.)
• Amanda: "Kyle's totally Fred, minus the blond hair and the scarf." (Whoa, Amanda said something funny! Write down the day!)
• Andy: "I can't believe you brought Sour Patch Kids, but no matches." (Oh, Andy, if you had seen an episode of Kyle XY before, you'd believe it. Trust me.)
• The reprogramming was unnecessary. Even if Jessi hadn't been in love with Kyle before, she definitely would have been after he saved her in the tunnel. Who wouldn't be after that?
• More proof that Kyle XY has tapped into my iPod: the use of "Fire Island AK" and "The Funeral," two of the songs from my Best Songs of 2006 play list. (And, incidentally, the second time today I've heard "The Funeral" used; the first was in the trailer for the movie Penelope, which I really want to see...but we'll save discussing my undying love for James McAvoy for another time.)
• So the real person we're not supposed to trust is Taylor? That's kind of anticlimactic since we haven't even seen that guy in weeks.
• And we finally kind of have an explanation for Andy's headaches. Perhaps Josh will learn some life lessons from this situation--he needs a few.

I realize that TV shows about boys with superpowers don't tend to like letting the girls on the show know anything at all, but it seems to me like Kyle would have much fewer problems if he let Lori and Amanda in the loop a little bit. For one, there would be no daytrips to abandoned tunnels. Also, Amanda would understand that Kyle can withstand more methane exposure than the rest of them. And, next week, she wouldn't be taking a page out of the Lois Lane Handbook for Girlfriends of Superheroes and bitching Kyle out for missing a date because he was off dealing with some superhero problem.

Sweetest Exchange of the Night:
Amanda: Does this mean that you're impressed with me too?
Kyle: I'm always impressed with you.

Greek:

I didn't enjoy this episode as much as I liked last week's. There were, after all, no references to running on vomit :-)

Rusty's new girlfriend was cute. It was nice that Casey's boyfriend got to be not a complete jerk this episode. Dale (Clark and Michael's Clark) stole the show. My favorite part was when he was trying to have a conversation a dumb kid at the party was like, "You go to college?" Ha ha. I definitely ran into a few kids I was baffled were college students during my college career too.

My Boys:
I loved the comparison of Bobby to "a young Harry Hamlin." Hilarious. Too bad Harry Hamlin scares the crap out of me thanks to Veronica Mars.

A Very Solid Monday

Wow. A solid 3-hour chunk of original television on a Monday night in July? Crazy! But thoroughly enjoyable.

Kyle XY:
So now Kyle can telepathically communicate with coma victims. Who does he think he is? Marlena from Days of Our Lives? ("Come to me in dreams, John! In dreeeeeeeeams!") Oh well. Anything that causes Kyle to wake up covered in pastel powder is fine with me.

I assume that I wasn't the only one who saw that it was Jessi who knocked Lori out and stole her necklace coming from a mile away. Next week looks interesting, as it seems the reprogrammed Jessi likes Kyle instead of Declan. So, I guess, "reprogramming" just means giving her some common sense. (Sorry, Declan and his frosted tips, vapid personality, and somewhat strange-looking eyebrows do nothing for me.)

I suppose the big news from tonight's ep was that Kyle and Amanda finally kissed. Not sure why the "timing wasn't right" while they were having the heart-to-heart in his bedroom earlier, but I guess it finally was in the gardens after talking about her dead father again. Those two are certainly a strange lot. The kiss was pretty hot--but would have been much better if ABC Family hadn't already been showing it in the promos all week.

Speaking of promos, next week they're touring through an underground metal maze. What happened: did they accidentally end up in an episode of second season Lost? Poor Lori. She doesn't get to have any of the boys, but she sure seems to have a lot of crap happening to her lately like getting beat up in the alley and locked behind weird automatic metal doors.

Greek:
Hmm. I'm definitely glad I gave this show another try last night. I enjoyed last night's ep much more than the other 1.5 episodes of it I've watched.

Cappie is growing on me. My major reservation about him is still that he makes me really miss his apparent role models, Hidden Palms' Cliff and Veronica Mars' Dick Casablancas. And missing those two makes me depressed because they are gone. But even though the kid playing Cappie is no Michael Cassidy or Ryan Hansen, he definitely didn't deserve the senator's daughter saying that he looks like Rob Thomas! Ouch! Seriously low blow.

Cappie definitely is the comedic highlight of the show. He has a tendency to over do it, but often he's very funny:

"We're down three goals, there's a minute left. There's only one thing to do: start drinking now."
and,

Quote of the Night:
"We may be puking, but the Omega Chis are not used to running on puke like we are."

My other favorite part of the show is Dale a.k.a. Clark of Clark and Michael. No surprise though: Michael Cera has good taste. Dale's a riot. I love whenever he and Rusty talk physics (because physics geeks really are that nerdy), his borderline-scary religiousness (going to "the most fantastic Left Behind party ever!" and pointing out that "the next one might be in heaven"), and his hot yellow shorts!

What I definitely don't like about this show is the senator's daughter pledge girl. She's so annoying. And are there really people like her in real life? I would recommend that the people in charge of Greek write her off the show and give all of her airtime to Dale.

Two final observations:

Whatever town this college is in is extremely lax in enforcing the underage drinking laws. Does no one ever card Rusty at the bar? He looks like he's 14.

ABC Family is a product placement whore. If it's not Sour Patch Kids, it's Andy Samberg movies... ("Hot Rod? Hilarious." First of all, I seriously doubt that, and somehow I really don't think Casey would find that movie funny either.)

My Boys:
This show is much better if you can somehow train yourself not to pay attention to the voice-over.

Highlights from the two episodes:

• Bobby's NASCAR sound effects
• A cameo from 30 Rock's Kenneth! He's so cute.
• "What am I, a heroin addict? How am I supposed to sleep in the chair?"
• "You put the lotion in the freakin basket!" (he he, what was she talking about?)

I personally didn't find P.J.'s performance on the talk show to be any worse than everyone else's, but whatever, it was funny.

Voice-Over(whelmed)

My Boys:
Yesterday afternoon I found myself watching some of TBS's My Boys marathon (and, heaven help me, 1.5 Lifetime movies, but that's another story). The second season of My Boys begins tonight at 10 p.m. and all the Season 1 episodes are online, which is pretty cool.

At first, I was impressed with My Boys yesterday. The cast is funny and the writing isn't bad at all. It's not the edgiest or most revolutionary comedy ever, but it's fun. But then I remembered why I'd given up on this show last year: the voice-over.

The events of each episode of My Boys is put into the context of a baseball analogy via P.J.'s voice-over. Ok, we get it: she's a tom-boy. That's already obvious--you don't need to constantly remind us! And we especially don't need to hear the same freakin baseball analogy episode after episode.

I'm sick of the V.O. in general. Admittedly, some shows use voice-overs very well: Arrested Development, Sex and the City, Veronica Mars, The Wonder Years, early Desperate Housewives, etc. But now it seems like every show on T.V. is trying to use one, and that, my friends, is just really lazy storytelling. If the action and dialogue of a show are so confusing that a disembodied voice has to explain it to viewers, then the writers just aren't doing a very good job. And if, as in the case of My Boys, the action and dialogue of the show are rather self-evident and the writers add a V.O. anyway, then they're just hitting the audience over the head. Viewers are not that stupid. We watch Lost for crying out loud and that doesn't have a voice-over.