TV News Roundup

What I'm paying attention to:

• Based on a behind-the-scenes Gossip Girl feature I saw on Access Hollywood a few days ago, it seems like Blair Waldorf has spent her summer vacation figuring out how to turn Chuck Bass' name into swear words. So far she's got: "Chuck Basstard" and "mother-Chucker."
• Uh oh. Art imitates life as Scott Michael Foster (Cappie) drinks too much, gets in trouble. Evan Chambers is going to have a field day with this...
• Wildfire's Kris Furillo is hooking up with one of Rory Gilmore's ex-boyfriends on Supernatural! Genevieve is seriously brave to sign on for this job, as Supernatural fans have been notoriously harsh critics of some of the show's past female characters. I'm kind of missing Kris and the Wildfire gang, though, so I might tune in for this even though I don't watch Supernatural. Wildfire, Junior, Matt, and the wind turbine are all going to be so jealous though.
• Speaking of the Wildfire gang, Nana Visitor (still can't believe that's her real name) a.k.a. Jean Ritter is in the soon-to-be-released film Swing Vote (you have to scroll down the list to find her). I know about this because she delivers what seems to be a fairly important line in the trailer.
• Even after spending a year working on Private Practice, Chris Powell is still hilarious. Is it just me, or does he seem pretty serious when he's comparing the rest of PP's cast to a group of elderly people who need someone young to reassure them that they're still attractive?
• Grunberg comes dangerously close to admitting that he thought the second season of Heroes sucked too.
• My favorite season 2 Chuck Bass outfit so far.

Premiere Watch '07: Round Up!!!

Well, I'm exhausted. Who knew that blogging about television could be so tiring ;-) It sure didn't help matters that there are now about a billion shows that I wanted to a least sample this season. Here are my rankings for the first episodes of almost everything a whole lot of new and returning shows (scale of 1 to 10):

Pilots:

• Pushing Daisies...............9.5
• Reaper..............................8.5
• Chuck...............................8.0
• Gossip Girl.......................7.5
• Dirty Sexy Money..........7.0
• Samantha Who?..............7.0
• Aliens in America............7.0
• Moonlight.........................6.5
• Kid Nation........................6.5
• Private Practice...............5.0
• Big Shots...........................2.5
• Viva Laughlin...................1.0

Returning Series:

• The Office.........................8.0
• 30 Rock.............................8.0
• Ugly Betty.........................7.5
• Grey's Anatomy...............7.0
• Brothers and Sisters........6.0
• Men In Trees....................6.0
• Heroes................................5.5
• Desperate Housewives....5.0

Whew. It seems like no sooner did we wade through all the premieres, than it's time for November Sweeps! Oh well, bring on the weddings, births, deaths, surprise pregancies, etc....

Wednesday Wrap-Up

Gossip Girl: "Poison Ivy"
This episode was out to prove to us that not only are these kids rich and pretty, but they're also smart. At least some of them are... it doesn't look like Nate's going to be winning any academic decathlons any time soon. I loved though that one of Blair's lackeys turned out to be some sort of science genius! I didn't see that coming.

Best Dan Line:
"Dartmouth is my dream. And I've never asked Dartmouth, but I believe it's dreaming of me."

I seriously love this show:

• Jenny's singing group performing an a Capella version of "Glamorous" was hilarious.
• In my opinion, Nate has very few redeemable qualities, but, in his defense, his father is one ginormous tool.
• If Serena gets into Brown, I wonder if she'll ever run into Summer Roberts, another of Josh Schwartz's creations.
• Look at the belt Blair's wearing with her field hockey uni!
• Gym teacher: "I'm running out of colors here, Blair."
• Chuck: "Why should I be chosen to be an usher? I'm Chuck Bass."
• These kids are phenomenally good at social networking.
• The Ostroff Treatment Center is run by Dr. Donald Ostroff. I'm sure the similarities between his name and that of Dawn Ostroff, head of The CW, aren't coincidental, but I'm not really sure what we're supposed to make of them.
• I liked Eric's attempts to sell his "trip to Florida" cover story: "Go Marlins!" and "Save the manatees!"
• Blair reached a whole new level of bitchiness tonight outing Serena for her alleged rehab stint. At least Blair got her facts wrong and didn't reveal that it was actually Serena's little brother in the center... that would have really been a new low for her, surpassing even the mention of Cedric the Cabbage Patch Doll.
• Mrs. van der Woodsen was a little heavy-handed with the application of her blue eye make-up today...
• Why does Nate always sleep on Chuck's couch?

Dirty Sexy Money: "The Lions"

Ooh, more intrigue among the rich of NYC. It's kind of intense watching all the excess and debauchery of GG and then DSM. We still don't know much about who killed Dutch, and Tripp gave Nick a lead that is steering him in other directions, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Darlings end up right in the middle of it again.

We got some interesting insight into Tripp's character in this episode. He knows about his wife's multi-decade affair with his best friend, but still acts as though he doesn't to spare her feelings. That's actually kind of sweet. The scene where he told Nick to try her birthday as the combination for Dutch's briefcase was wrenching. I wonder if maybe one or two of the "Darlings" might turn out to actually be Nick's half siblings. That would be scary.

Highlights and observations:

• Nick's daughter is not Dakota Fanning's little sister anymore.
• Juliet: "I want to be normal-sized and independent."
• Rev. Brian: "She'll take you back if I have to shoot you at her with a cannon."
• Tripp talking Swedish to the illegitimate son and then saying, "Is he deaf? Was he in the train with his parents when it crashed?"

Private Practice: "In Which Sam Receives an Unexpected Visitor..."

Ok, so, Private Practice: take 3. I'd say this episode was the best so far, but still not great. They really seemed to stumble onto something there with the switched baby story. All of the guest actors playing the parents of the babies were great and the scene between the two mothers was devastating. If the episode had ended there, I'd have been left thinking, "Hmm, that was pretty good!" But the episode did NOT end there, no matter how much we wished it had.

Instead, we had to sit through 10+ more minutes of the annoying main characters being annoying. To a person, the main characters on this show are mopey, whiny and pathetic. I loved it when Cooper told Violet that her "fatal flaw" was "honesty." Because here I've been thinking that her fatal flaw is extreme, paralyzing patheticness! She needs to get a grip now. The guy who dumped her cannot possibly be worth all of this. Also badly in need of a grip is Naomi, whose character was strong and tough in last year's backdoor pilot, but is now just a more surly version of Violet.

And Tim Daly's "I like real women" speech just seemed like awful writing to me. It came out of absolutely nowhere and you could just tell that there was no reason this man would feel the need to give this women this long, heartfelt speech other than the fact that the people behind PP thought that their audience of 40-something women would eat it up. Gag, gag, gag.

And I'm not sure I'd want my doctor to be wearing flip flops.

Premiere Watch '07: Grey's Anatomy

One day after Addison got off to a lackluster start with her Private Practice, we got a new episode of the flagship to enjoy. And, yes, I did actually enjoy this episode of Grey's, which is much more than I can say for last May's one hour crapathan of a Season 3 finale.

The Season 4 premiere got off to a great start with each of the previous interns (except poor George) trying their hand at giving their new interns the same speech that Bailey gave them on their first day. Their "Nazi" impersonations resulted in various degrees of success, with Izzie fairing the worst and Meredith losing credibility when she hilariously went off the script: "On call room. Sleep when you can where you can...but not with anyone...especially not attendings. Sleeping with attendings: not a good idea."

After a great start, the episode lost some steam. Callie was in over her head and I don't feel sorry for her; Lexi seemed a little too perky and excited to meet Meredith; Izzie was doctoring a deer for crying out loud and then lectured her interns saying that she "did the impossible" (please just get over yourself, Stevens); and Meredith still just can't handle a relationship with Derek for, oh, some combination of reasons. But, even considering those things, this episode was better than any of the Grey's we've seen since at least last November.

Highlights and random observations:

• I'm not loving Karev's new facial hair.
• Christina: "Why is everyone so tinkly and hurt? I'm the one who got left at the alter." Tinkly? Do they have to go to the bathroom?
• Bailey: "You and Grey aren't smelling each other in the elevator anymore."
• With the addition of all these new interns, doesn't it seem like there are a ton more people working in the hospital now than there were before? It just seemed like most of them were getting in the way.
• Lexi picked a bad time to introduce herself.
• Steamy: "You want to rub up against me, you're going to have to buy me a drink first."
• Callie needs to get her head in the game. Weird comment about George being a daddy since she's not pregnant...or "maybe" is. I found it all borderline creepy, but maybe that's because T.R. Knight was giving her a look of sheer terror the whole time she was talking.
• That's one fake looking deer.
• Hey, another pregnant chick who's all alone. Maybe Karev can have this one.
• The scene with all the interns conversing around the severed arm had a lovely, vintage GA feel to it.
• Meredith: "Spiritually, Bailey's over everybody's head."
• So the Chief's wife still won't talk to him? Come on! They reconciled! That was the one even half-way positive thing that came out of that train wreck finale and now that didn't even stick! Geez!
• Ha! George thought Izzy was talking about him when she referred to "Bambi."
• Thank you, Derek, for finally sticking up for Meredith. Too bad that you were the one complaining about her for all of last year.
• Well, that was a ridiculously easy childbirth, considering the mother was out cold having an arm reattached.
• So why did Lexi change her plans and do her internship at Seattle Grace if she really wanted to go somewhere else?
• McSteamy to McDreamy: "I didn't come to Seattle for Addison. I didn't come to Seattle to be chief. I came Seattle for you, okay? I came to get you back." Hilarious.
• I liked the Alex/Christina alliance at the end and also that George found a new friend in Lexi.
• And then George goes and tells Izzie that he loves her. Well, I guess I'm glad someone does, because that girl is on my last nerve. I would like to point out that George didn't have to watch her doctor the deer. Maybe if he had, he'd feel differently.

The dynamics of the show have changed with departure of Burke and Addison and the original interns now holding positions of power. It will be interesting how the characters and show deals with this shift. Now we just have to wait and see if this season will be full of good Grey's moments (the chat around the severed arm, McSteamy's proclamation to McDreamy) or if those painful Grey's moments (Izzie and the deer, anything from last year's finale) will continue to creep in.

Premiere Rating: 7 / 10

Premiere Watch '07: Private Practice

Well, based on what I had heard about this episode from critics, I was expecting this first actual episode of Private Practice to be pretty bad. And I guess it wasn't horrible, but it was pretty boring and kind of grating. That is not something it can afford to be when it's on at the same time as the very entertaining Gossip Girl. If there's any justice in the world, at least half of PP's (PP, ha!) viewership should switch over to GG next week.

I found the opening scene where Chief Richard questioned Addison's decision to quit Seattle Grace and move to the holistic hippie practice to be oddly fitting. His comment, "This is not my Addison," ended up being pretty prophetic. The L.A. Addison was not my Addison either. My Addison was a hardass hotshot surgeon who, except for making the big mistake of cheating on her husband, had her shit together. She was not silly. She did not dance around naked. And that was ok! I liked her just the way she was. Why does she have to change herself in order to have her own TV show? Oh, and most annoying of all, why did she have to use the phrase "Addisoning me," three times in this episode?! Just shut up.

My problem with the other characters on this show is that (like Addison does now) they seem very much like TV characters and nothing much at all like actual people. They're mostly either whiny or kind of buttheadish. It takes talent to make me not particularly like Tim Daly, and PP did it, so I guess congratulations are in order? Those pink scrubs he was wearing certainly weren't helping. Merrin Dungey, you may have dodged a bullet here.

Parts of the episode were just kind of boring, but some parts were flat out ridiculous. Such as:

When someone's boyfriend dies, who immediately demands his sperm? Like I realize that's what they were in the process of dealing with when he died, but come on: if you're boyfriend leaves to go get some milk from the convenience store and gets killed in a robbery, the first thing you say when police show up at your door is not going to be, "I want the milk!" And then the whole thing got even more stupid when the ex-wife showed up and said she wanted the guy's sperm too. Did he have some kind of fantastic DNA code that I was unaware of? It sure didn't seem like it, seeing as he keeled over and died in his middle age. It was especially ridiculous because why would his wife, whom he left because she got older, want to have his kid? There are other men out there for crying out loud. How about you have a baby with someone who is actually nice to you? This guy was clearly not that fantastic.

And another really stupid thing was that the teen girl just happened to come to the clinic to deliver her baby on the same day that Addison showed up. Because who was she expecting to deliver her baby? No one knew Addison was going to even be there! Were they planning on letting Piz the receptionist take care of it? AND this whole thing got dumber too when it was revealed in an "oh, by the way..." type of moment that the teen's mother died in childbirth. Shouldn't a girl whose mother died in childbirth be delivering her baby in an actual hospital?! It didn't occur to anyone there might be some sort of problem? GAH!

And how dumb is it that it takes so long for them to get people from their clinic to the hospital? You'd think that if you were going to have a stroke, a doctor's office would be one of the better places to do it, but apparently you'd be very wrong.

All that said, I do still like Piz. He managed to get a moderately funny line: "You think I'm eye-candy. You have no respect for me or my midwifery skills!" I was curious, though, about who was watching the front desk while he was helping Addison deliver the baby. But, seriously, Chris Lowell, if you could find your way to Gossip Girl or Reaper or Chuck or Dirty Sexy Money or Ugly Betty or almost anything other than this tired show, I'd appreciate it.

Premiere Rating: 5 / 10

2007 Fall Outlook

I'm going to have a lot of television on my plate this fall. Even though three of my favorite shows ever (The OC, Gilmore Girls, and Veronica Mars) were canceled last season, there are still about a million shows that I want to watch. Actually, I'm planning to check out 23 shows this fall. Even I think that's excessive.

Something's gotta give at some point though. Right? Thankfully, Damages is going to wrap up its first season in October, but if everything on this list is still going strong by the time Lost, Kyle XY, Monk, Greek, and Psych come back, I'm going to be screwed.

I'm most excited to see the pilots of all the new shows because we've been hearing about them for almost six months now! It's go time!

The following is a list of shows that I plan on watching (or at least monitoring). I also included a ranking (high, medium, or low) of how excited I am to have each (so far unpremiered) show back.

Sunday:
Desperate Housewives (low), Brothers and Sisters (low)

Monday:

Chuck (high), Heroes (medium -- escaping "low" only because of the addition of David Anders and Kristen Bell to the cast), Aliens in America (medium), Samantha Who? (medium)

Tuesday:

Beauty and the Geek, Reaper (high), Bones (medium), Damages

Wednesday:
Pushing Daisies (high), Private Practice (low), Dirty Sexy Money (high), Gossip Girl, Kid Nation

Thursday:

30 Rock (high), The Office (high), Ugly Betty (medium), Grey's Anatomy (low), Smallville (medium), Without a Trace (low)

Friday:

Moonlight (medium), Men In Trees (medium)

Yikes. And this list doesn't include Viva Laughlin, which I want to watch because it is supposed to be ridiculous and terrible, and Big Shots, which I will try (due to allegiance to Michael Vartan) to watch at least once even though it looks awful.

Hmm. I guess it's good that I really don't have anything else to do...

Oh No!

According to Ausiello, Merrin Dungey is going to be replaced on Private Practice (yep, that show name still makes me cringe). This is very upsetting to me. She's being replaced by a Broadway actress who is apparently pretty awesome, but I still think that there is no replacing Merrin. She's fantastic. And Private Practice's lack luster debut can hardly be blamed on her. Stiff acting plagued the entire cast--Taye, Tim and Amy included. Oh and the talking elevator wasn't helping anything either.

And does this mean that now I'm never ever going to see a Francie/Piz hook up? That's depressing.

Silver lining: maybe Merrin can find a better role on a better show. For example, she'd be fun on Heroes. Or Lost. Merrin could be a really scary Lost villian. She could also out-desperate all the desperate housewives. She'd be good on Judy Greer's new show too--they'd get along great. See? It's so easy to find roles for her.

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.)