The Big Bang Theory: Some Like It Goth

The Big Bang Theory:

"The Gothowitz Deviation"

Since I enjoyed reading The Big Bang Theory's fancy article on NYTimes.com today, I decided to blog about tonight's episode, which was hilarious as usual.

Highlights and my observations:

• Sheldon: "While I subscribe to the many worlds theory that posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldons in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them am I dancing."
• Sheldon: "Dear Lord, are you still going to be here on french toast day?"
• Sheldon: "I can't be impossible; I exist! I believe what you meant to say was 'I give up! You're improbable!'"
• Sheldon: "Ohh, Penny, it's as if the Cheesecake Factory is run by witches!"
• Ha ha ha at Howard in the goth outfit! He's kind of cute as a goth :-)
• Leonard: "They're going to get beaten up at that club."
  Penny: "They're going to get beaten up at Walgreens."
• Holy crap! That's totally Mickey (Molly Morgan), Stephanie's friend from middle school on Full House! And, yes, I recognized her instantly.
• It's been quite the fall for guest appearances by Stephanie's friends--first Duckface was on Glee, now Mickey is on TBBT. Now we just need Marla Sokoloff, Andrew Keegan and the guy who played Harry Takayama (Nathan Nishiguchi) to show up somewhere, and we're set!
• Leonard: "You can't train my girlfriend like a lab rat."

  Sheldon: "Actually, it turns out I can."
• Lol at Sheldon using the spray bottle on Leonard.
• Mickey pressuring Howard to get a tattoo is reminding me of when Gia and Mickey tried to get Stephanie to smoke in the bathroom. Mickey never seems to be a good influence on anyone, does she? (To be fair, she did end eventually side with Stephanie over Gia on Full House. However, then Steph and Gia became BFFs and Mickey disappeared, so I don't know what the lesson is there.)

Oh, and speaking of TBBT, look at this! How adorable! That Sheldon doll looks exactly like Jim Parsons (to the extent that a crocheted doll can look like an actual person). Unfortunately, I don't think my crocheting skills are quite up to that level yet :-(

(Photo: CBS)

Glee: Jolly Good Acafellas

Glee: "Acafellas"

Glee offers up another great episode. Highlights and my observations:

• WHAT?!?! WILL'S DAD IS VICTOR GARBER!!!!! OMG. Does this mean that Will is Sydney Bristow's half-brother?
• And Victor's wearing a bow-tie--how adorable.
• Aww, Victor/Will's dad says he has no guts. (That is very unlike Jack Bristow.)
• The Cheerio spies in glee club have set a plan into action to get a ridiculous choreographer to bring about the downfall of glee club.
• Emma: "They say it takes more certainty than talent to become a star. Look at John Stamos."
• The cake Terri got for the shop teacher whose thumbs got cut off has two hands giving the thumps-up guesture. Oy vey.
• Ken: "I live in a YMCA, and I only have one pair of long pants..."
• Sandy writes Desperate Housewives fan fiction. Ahahaha!
• Will: "Apparently I don't know how to dance."
  Henri: "I have no thumbs!"
  
• Will: "Sandy, we voted: when you're in the group, it's creepy."
  
• Terri: "Will! If I don't get some sleep, I could miscarry." (She is horrendous!!)
  
• Finn: "See anyone else in here with a plate of 'I'm sorry' cookies? I don't. Just you."
  
• Mercedes: "Have you ever kissed anybody?"
  Kurt: "Yes, if by someone you mean the tender crook of my elbow."
  
  
• Why do all of Will's performances (first "Gold Digger" now "Poison") involve him rapping? LOL.
  
  
• Acafella's dance moves aren't bad.
  
  
• I can't believe the Acafellas were written up in the newspaper.
  
  
• Sandy: "'Who is Josh Groban?!' Kill yourself!"
  
  
• Kurt: "My dad got it for my sweet 16 when I swore I'd stop wearing form-fitting sweaters that stop at the knee. What he doesn't know won't hurt him."
  
  
• First this rival glee club (Vocal Adrenaline) did "Rehab," now it's Duffy's "Mercy." And the dance moves these people do are unreal. I bet half the members of the group don't sing and are just there to do back flips and fancy dance moves. (Obviously in real life their are probably two different sets of performers: the singers we hear and the dancers we see.)
  
  
• I see Lauren from SYTYCD!!!
  
  
• Finn: "I tried to talk some sense into Rachel, but she's gone all chick-batty."
  
  
• Puckerman wants to be in the a cappella group? So he can hit on moms?! Eeeew! I don't doubt that he's tired of dating high school girls, though, since he clearly looks at least 35.
  
  
• Puck: "Dude, my bowels have better moves than you."
  
  
• Rachel: "We need to have a gay-vention. That's a gay intervention."
  
  
• Rachel: "He wore a corset to second period!"
  
  
• Kurt wasn't being "sweet" to Mercedes last week when he was telling her that she looked like a Technicolor zebra.
  
  
• Mercedes' hair looks super cute at the car wash.
  
  
• The Cheerios do make good backup dancers.
  
  
• Mercedes is a fantastic singer.
  
  
• So they guy playing Dakota, the crazy choreographer, played Walter "Duckface" on Full House. Wow.
  
  
• Dakota: "Artie, you're cut. You're not trying hard enough."

  Artie: "At what?"

  Dakota: "At walking."
  
  
• I kinda loved how Finn stood up for Rachel when Dakota said she needed a noise job.
  
  
• Dakota: "What's wrong with me is that you're freakishly tall! I feel like a woodland creature!"
  
  
• Rachel: "Our point is that you're fired. And I'm taller than you."
  
  
• The Acafellas are awfully dressed up for the PTO meeting.
  
  
• Wow, they've got some fancy lighting for this performance. This song ("I'm Going To Sex You Up") is ridiculously inappropriate for the PTO! Ha. All the better to distract the parents from the prison food scandal, I guess.
  
  
• Josh Groban is hitting on Will's mom!
  
  
• Victor's going to law school! Yea!!! (I still wish he'd gotten the chance to sing something though.)
  
  
• Why did the costume department insist on dressing Victor Garber like Tiny Tim thoughout this entire episode?
  
  
• Kurt: "My dad took my baby away after he found my tiara collection in my hope chest."
  
  
• Sue: "I'm revoking your tanning privileges for the rest of the semester."

  Cheerleader (bursts into tears): "No!"
  
  

Episode music list: "This is How We Do It" (Acafellas), "Poison" (Acafellas), "Mercy" (Vocal Adrenaline), "La Camisa Negra," "Bust Your Windows" (Mercedes), "I Wanna Sex You Up" (Acafellas)

The Big Bang Theory: Games People Play

The Big Bang Theory: "The Barbarian Sublimation"

This episode is one of the ones that I did manage to catch earlier in the year, but I decided to watch and blog it anyway. I'm glad I did, because this episode is hilarious. I think Sheldon managed to spend the entire half-hour saying nothing but wildly funny things. Jim Parsons = very deserving Emmy nominee.

Aside from my utter love of Sheldon, I enjoyed this episode because I think I like video game-themed sitcom episodes in general. The episode of Full House where the entire family became engrossed in playing Michelle's video game was pretty hilarious ("Go up!"/"It's a kayak, it doesn't go up!"/"It's enchanted, isn't it?"). Are there other stellar video game-themed episodes of TV shows? (If anyone is actually reading this and can think of one, feel free to leave a comment!)

Highlights (aka "Ode to Sheldon"):

• Sheldon's knowledge of lock and key technology is impressive.
• Penny: "...and just now when I was walking up the steps, a fly flew in my mouth and I ate it!"
• Sheldon: "Well, let's see. She attempted to open her apartment with her car key because her face is overly Midwestern, she hasn't had sex in six months and she ate a fly."
• Sheldon: "Level 3 and she thinks she's rich! What a newb."
• Sheldon: "You can't slay the guard captain with the bronze dagger! My Lord, it's like the car key and your apartment door all over again."
• Raj: "It's like some kind of weird comic book crossover."
• Sheldon: "I can't wear different pajamas! These are my Monday pajamas."
• Sheldon: "These Hungarians are just using you for dragon fodder."
• Sheldon: "If it is a crime in ensure that the university's resources are not being squandered to chase sub-atomic geese, then I plead guilty."
• Sheldon: "You have to do something about Penny. She's interfering with my sleep, she's interfering with my work, and if I had another significant aspect of my life, I'm sure she'd be interfering with that too."
• Penny: "Fritz, I need you on my flank! ...I don't know German. Flanken Sie! Flanken Sie!"
• Sheldon (about Leslie): "We have to concede her undeniably expertise in the interrelated fields of promiscuity and general sluttiness."
• Sheldon trying to get a date for Penny but actually picking up the guy at the next table himself without realizing it was beyond hilarious.
• Sheldon: "Wouldn't you prefer to socialize with Tom, who is a sexually passive outdoorsman?"

P.S.--Boo to CBS.com for not having photos from this episode posted in the photo gallery on The Big Bang Theory's page. Did they accidentally delete them like NASA did with the moonwalk video? (That was my attempt at a nerdy science analogy.)

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)

Premiere Watch '08: 90210

90210: "We're Not in Kansas Anymore" and "The Jet Setters"

Da da da da, da da da da (clap clap). Well, 90210 is back, or rather, the new 90210 is here. But is that a good thing? Let's discuss...

The show is all right. It's certainly not the complete disaster that it fairly easily could have been. It's also not a life-changing or ground-breaking foray into the teen soap world like The O.C. was. I also remember the original 90210 as having more of an edge.

One flaw I'm noticing out of the gate for the new 90210 is that is seems a little light. As in, the stakes don't seem that high. After two episodes into The O.C., Ryan had been in and out of the juvenile detention center a couple of times, there were several ass kickings, a house was burnt down, and the main character was abandoned by his family, among other major developments. During two hours of 90210 tonight, we had a couple break ups, a couple shoving matches, some groundings...nothing too heavy. Even on Gossip Girl, everything certainly feels important, even if it's ultimately not that big of a deal. People on Veronica Mars were freaking murdered. The point is, how long are we going to care about the relationships of high schoolers if nothing much else is going on?

One way to make us care about characters (no matter what their doing) is to make them ridiculously charismatic. The Seth Cohens, Chuck Basses, and Dick Casablancases of the fictitious world don't need to be involved in great story lines for us to love them. We just love them already. On the new 90210, there were a few characters with the potential to be lovable (Mr. Matthews, maybe Ethan, Silver), but I don't think any of them quite got there yet.

I'm nervous that many of the main characters (Annie, Dixon, Naomi) didn't give me much to like about them at all. Annie was over-the-top. Dixon was bland. Naomi looks like she's 35 years old.

The new 90210's ace in the hole: Jessica Walter. She's freaking hilarious, and any show could use a Lucille Bluth (and, let's face it, that's who she was playing).

I think the most interesting aspect of the pilot episodes was trying to piece together the back story of the original 90210 characters. I'm no doctorate-level 90210 historian, but I can remember some of it. Tonight's interesting developments: Silver is the child of David's dad and Kelly's mom (they got married during the original series) and Kelly has a 4.5-year-old son. The conversation between Brenda and Kelly seemed to suggest that the child's father is Brandon, which is a shocker since Kelly ended the original series with Dylan. So, I guess we're to believe that after the show ended, Kelly continued to flip flop back and forth between Dylan and Brandon, neither of whom ultimately stuck. My theory is that the new 90210's producers think they have a better chance of getting Jason Priestley to do a guest appearance than Luke Perry.

I think we could have done without both episodes tonight. I think the first one would have stood on its own quite nicely. However, I'll be watching next week to see how episode 3 goes.

Other observations on episode 1:

• I'm having some problems understanding Dixon a la Chris Brown's The O.C. season 4 cameo. I did get "Sucks. Bites. Blows." though.
• Jessica Walter is so awesome. I think she's considerably nicer on 90210 than she was on Arrested Development.
• Is MGMT's "Time to Pretend" the "Young Folks" of 2008 (in terms of ubiquitous plays in pilot episodes)? I hope so!
• Navid is cool. He's fast-talking like a journalistic Cappie.
• Hannah Zuckerman-Vasquez does the morning news... Mr. Matthews: "What is that girl, like 30?" (ha!)
• Mr. Matthews is adorable. (The actor was on one episode of Veronica Mars as Logan's real secret half brother.)
• The Kelly Taylor I remember would never have been a guidance counselor.
• Silver is amusing.
• Speaking as a former Writing Center instructor, I can diagnose Naomi as having a serious case of writing anxiety ;-)
• So which student is the hot teacher going to have a illicit affair with? My guess is Naomi (and I wouldn't have been too surprised if it was already going on).
• Grandma: "I say it was racially motivated!"
• It's nice that Annie and Dixon really seem to crack each up...because they might not end up with any other friends.
• It's gotta be beyond awkward to run into your (current) English teacher at a bar.
• Aunt Becky used to date a guy who lived in a tepee? Now he sounds like an interesting character.
• Grandma: "I won't tell the rest of the story, because I don't remember it."
• Silver: "Yeah, well, that's what blogs are supposed to do: cause problems."
• Since when do you have to read your term paper in front of the class? What would that take, like 15 minutes?
• Whoa, Dixon is already going to a dark place with his tipping Naomi off that Ethan is cheating via text message.
• Sorry, Annie's singing performance was just scary.
• Told you Dixon's revenge text was hasty.
• Dude, Naomi's crazy mom and Annie's dad have a son together! And she's all indignant about it. Even though he never knew about it. Not sure why she's still so mad.
• Was that Marissa's lifeguard station on the beach?

Episode 2:

• Grandma: "I need to finish my memoirs before my friend does. We've slept with all the same people!"
• Wow, Harry actually told Aunt Becky that he has a secret kid! Normally, it takes months for that kind of news to drop.
• Mr. Matthews: "Well, you're too easy. Anyone ever tell you that?"
  Kelly: "Not lately."
• These kids do actually remind me more of kids than the Gossip Girl "kids" do. They also seem more kid-like to me than The O.C. kids ever did, but that could be because I'm (shudder) getting older. Eek!
• It's Brenda! And Kelly and Nat are happy to see her! Really?
• So porn producers don't mind if their sons take their pigs and let them loose never to be seen again?
• So, Annie isn't allowed to have any more dates on school nights, but she's allowed to go hang out by the pool with Ethan right now? Come on, parents!
• My new guess for the student/Mr. Matthews hookup is Adriana.
• Anyone else getting a Mean Girls vibe from this Silver/Naomi "we used to be friends" stuff?
• Why did Annie take a match box from the San Francisco restaurant? What is this, 1947?
• A Kelly/Mr. Matthews/Brenda love triangle perhaps? We haven't seen anything like that before...
• Frankly, I think that Dixon not being allowed to text message is a good idea.
• Poor Ethan and his "pentapus."

Premiere Rating: 6/10

(photo: cwtv.com)

Grey's Anatomy: Extraordinary Expectations

Grey's Anatomy: "Freedom"
Well, here's to Grey's for proving that it still can be rather extraordinary, as Ellis Grey would say.

Grey's season 4 finale last night was worlds better than the monstrosity of depression that was its season 3 finale. During last year's finale, there was just horrible thing after horrible thing after horrible thing. In this year's finale, sure, several horrible things did happen (one of the clinical trial patients died, Ava/Rebecca proved to be unfixable by Alex, etc.), but then--amazingly, mercifully--several really nice things happened too! And that, my friends, is how you make your season finale both touching and watchable.

The episode even got off to a great start with some very vintage Grey's banter among the core group of former interns. Izzy's play-by-play of how Alex and Rebecca were acting was amusing ("And he was like, take a bite, take a bite!"), and also great was Meredith's "Now, George, we have had this discussion and we decided it's not appropriate to call Izzie crazy. She's sprited!" It's important for Grey's to not lose sight of the fact that it can be pretty darn funny when it wants to be.

Another highlight was Jurnee Smollett's guest role as the first person to survive Meredith and Derek's brain tumor/virus treatment. Jurnee certainly made a strong play for the Best Acting by a Former 'Full House' Child Actor award, not that she has all that much competition in that area these days. After tearfully parting with her boyfriend before his surgery, I absolutely loved her delivery of the line, "Do not kill him."

I do wonder, though, how it is that all the people who find their way into MerDer's clinic trial seem to have such complicated/unusual/dramatic love lives. There was that first guy and his supposedly unextraordinary wife, the gay soldier with his soldier boyfriend, the lady with her "made up" boyfriend, and now two kids with brain tumors who are in love. Who knows what the other 8 people we didn't see were up to?!

I liked that George demanded his second chance (nice job pointing out that everyone else in the hospital seems to have gotten at least one second chance). I could do without the Hahn/Callie/McSteamy stuff, probably because I don't like Hahn and I'm not a huge fan of Callie. I did like Christina finally telling Hahn to shut up and the chief giving Hahn a lecture. And Bailey coming through on her promise to save the boy encased in cement was great.

I was a big fan of the Izzy/Alex stuff (but, then, I'm always a fan of interactions between those two). It's nice that lately they've had Izzy toughen up. She handled the Ava situation very well. And, poor Alex, with his admission that as a child he used to have to take care of his mother. The scene of him crying at the end was heartbreaking (very nicely done by Justin Chambers). We've always known that there were some painful secrets in his background, so it was nice to finally learn a bit about them.

Also sharing some painful childhood secrets was Meredith. After hearing about Ellis' half-assed suicide attempt, it's no wonder Meredith is so messed up. But good for her for finally working through it and figuring out that she can try to do better in love than her mother ever did. Her candle/blueprint grand gesture was lovely, but what was great was that she was annoyed and ranting about it by the time Derek showed up. I don't think Meredith should apologize at all for admitting that she still doesn't really trust Derek, because he's certainly had his moments of buttheadedness. But, yea for them finally reuniting to be "extraordinary together."

I cannot refrain from one final dig at McDreamy: he knew he was going to find Meredith. He knew he loved her. He knew they were going to open the champagne and make out. But he didn't bother to break up with Rose before going to find Mer? So he had to kiss her and immediately run away? What a loser. It's like he seriously wanted to string that other poor (pathetic) girl along just in case things didn't work out... Whatever. The important thing is that this year--unlike last year--things did work out. Hallelujah.

100th Post! (And Happy Birthday!)

Happy 100th post to me. In honor of my own birthday a few weeks ago, I was planning to do a post on good birthday-themed TV episodes, but I never got around to it. However, I think it kind of applies to the blog's 100th post anniversary in that it's some sort of milestone, so I'll give it a whirl now. Plus, December birthdays always get overshadowed by the holiday season, so here's something a little special for all the people with December b-days. (And, yes, I realize that the chances of one of the 1.7 people who occasionally read this blog actually having a December birthday are not good, but oh well.)



Best Birthday TV Episodes:

• Rory turns 16, Gilmore Girls, season 1: Rory's b-day causes a stir among the Gilmore generations (what doesn't?) when she doesn't appreciate the snooty party Emily throws her. All is tenuously patched up though when Richard and Emily agree to attend Rory's Stars Hollow party...even thought Lorelai accidentally yells, "Get your ass in here!" at them.
• Michelle turns 3, Full House, season 3: It sure seemed like Michelle Tanner had a lot of birthdays (the sun sure seemed to shine on that child), especially since I can't remember Stephanie having any. Hmm. That's a topic for another time, I guess. Anyway, my favorite Michelle b-day was when she, Steph and Uncle Jesse accidentally get locked in a gas station on the day of her party. Things initially look dire, but Jesse and Steph dress like clowns, do a sock puppet routine and juggle, so everything turns out awesome.
• Caleb turns ??, The OC, season 1: Ok, I can't make a complication list without including something from The OC, but I sure wasn't going to include the season 3 ep where Ryan turns 18. Anything that seeped in (dead) Johnny, Sadie and Volchok will never find a place on any Best Of... list of mine. The season 1 ep where we meet Caleb for the first time, however, was great, even though it threw a big monkey wrench (in the form of Caleb's hot and very young girlfriend) into the blossoming Ryan/Marissa love affair. Episode highlights include some freaky foreshadowing about Sandy and Kirstin moving back to Berkeley, the obligatory witty banter, the first mention of the "I Wish I Was a Mermaid" poem and Seth and Summer's first kiss.
• Michael turns ??, The Office, season 2: Michael is never good at sharing the spotlight, especially on his birthday, so things go awry when Kevin has a skin cancer scare on Michael's big day. The episode features a trip to the skating rink, Dwight playing a Billy Joel song on a recorder (ugh), a Pam and Jim shopping trip and lots of funny quotes, including my favorite:

Michael: When I was seven, my mother hired a pony and a cart to come to my house for all the kids. And... I got a really bad rash. From the pony. And all the kids got to ride the pony. And I had to go inside, and my mother was rubbing cream on me, for probably three hours, and I never came outside. And by the time I came out, the pony was already in the truck and around the corner. So that was my worst birthday.

• George Michael turns 16, Arrested Development, season 3: I can't remember how much of GM's b-day is even really in the "Mr. F" episode, but I'm including it on the list because of this hilarious exchange:

Michael: Besides I already got George Michael the big present for his birthday...
George Michael: A suit! Dad, is it Jack Welch?
Michael: I want you to look under the pants.
George Michael: Quicken! Premiere! Dad, I hope you kept the receipt.
Michael: You want to return that?
George Michael: What? No, I want to deduct it!

• Fiona turns 21, Shameless, series 1: In the midst of a tearful scene in which he and Fiona profess their devotion to each other, Steve nearly gets carted away to prison when Tony busts him on his car thieving. Steve thankfully manages to talk his way out of the situation (as he usually can), and surprises birthday-girl Fiona by buying the house next door (and promptly blowing it up for the insurance money). Other highlights: Frank fakes his death, Monica and Norma make an appearance (until the kids kick them out) and Sheila's pregnant.

Premiere Watch '07: Kid Nation

Kid Nation:
"I'm Trying to be a Leader Here"
Wow. This show turned out to be a lot more intense than I was expecting. I'm not sure that Kid Nation's critics are going to be pacified after watching the pilot episode; some of those poor kids were pretty distressed (especially poor little Jimmy). I was kind of surprised at the direness of the conditions of the ghost town. It was a pretty intense situation for kids (or anyone) to be put in. Luckily, they had that kid who needed a haircut (ok, I realize that doesn't narrow it down very much, but I don't remember his name) to give a good motivational speech whenever things were getting out of control. And of course having the chance to win a gold star worth $20,000 always helps raise morale too.


In addition to the shaggy-haired motivational speaker, I most enjoyed the little kids with Southern accents. They were super cute. My absolute favorite was Alex, the little Asian boy who is a dead-ringer for Stephanie Tanner's friend Harry from Full House.


It's kind of mean that the producers made up a whole backstory about Bonanza city that's totally not true at all. These poor kids totally believe it and I imagine they'll be a little let down to find out later that it was all a bunch of crap.

Speaking of the producers, I think they might have over-produced this show. I was interested in Kid Nation because I thought it would be a bunch of kids left alone to come up with whatever "society" they saw fit, Lord of the Flies-style. Instead, the producers imposed a town council, the division of the kids into four different teams, an employment hierarchy, team competitions, and a reward system. Frankly, I'd be more interested to see what the kids would come up with than what reality show executives think up.

My other complaint is that sometime these kids were a little full of themselves and listening to that just takes you back to when you were a kid and had to listen to other full-of-themselves kids. And that's kind of unpleasant. Luckily, by the end of the episode, most of the kids seemed to be devoted more to the greater good than to tooting their own horns. (And, speaking of kids who were awfully full of themselves, scroll up to see my review of the Gossip Girl pilot.)

One part of the episode that I found especially amusing was when the host told them they'd be able to run stores in the town and the kids freaked out. One girl's reaction: "Wohoo! Running stores! Wohoo!" Ha ha. Let's hope these kids keep their enthusiasm, because they could be the retail workers of America in a few years...

And I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with the kids' decision to take the seven outhouses instead of the TV. Even with my 22-year-old wisdom, I'd have a hard time turning down that TV set...

My Premiere Rating: 6.5 / 10

Ann's Favorite Series Finales Ever

In honor of the Gilmore Girls series finale tonight (sniff, sniff), I've compiled a list of my favorite series finales ever:

• The OC: I still get sad thinking about this show being gone. Thankfully, one of my favorite shows of all time ended with one of my favorites finales of all time. The finale 15 or so minutes of this ep especially were fantastic. Ryan standing in the Cohen house remembering the early days was so touching. And I'm such a sucker for the shot of Marissa standing in the sun while Ryan drives by. I was bawling. Also awesome were the flash forward clips: Seth and Summer getting married, Julie graduating college, MiniCoop excelling in school, Sandy teaching at Berkley Law, Ryan working as an architect and helping kids. It was so nice to see that our favorite characters (minus Marissa, of course) all getting happy endings.
• Alias: This was another show that was hard to say goodbye to. Sydney, Sark, Vaughn, Jack, Sloane, Marshall, Will, Francie, Irina and Dixon all meant so much to me. The episode was complicated, of course, what with Irina falling through a skylight, Sloane becoming immortal, Jack trapping immortal Sloane in a tomb/cave, etc. Loved Sydney and Vaughn living happily-ever-after on the beach with their kids...while Sydney still goes on the occasional mission to take down Sark. Sydney and Sark forever!
• Arrested Development: George Michael and Maebe aren't related after all!
• Full House: Michelle gets amnesia...but then remembers everyone. Phew. In even better news, Steve takes D.J. to the prom and Steph is the Juliet to a cute boy's Romeo.
• Angel: I didn't even really watch this show, but I loved this episode. Fade out on Angel and friends taking on thousands of evil demon things. ("Personally, I'd like to slay the dragon."--so cool)

And, just for the heck of it, bad series finales:

• Lois & Clark: A mysterious baby shows up in their freaking house when they find out that Clark can't have kids (Earth kids, at least). Lois was so sappy. Ugh.
• Due South: The flash-forward scenes were so discouraging!
• Three's Company: Jack and Janet did not end up together. Enough said.

Now only a few hours until we find out where the Gilmore finale will rank on this list :-(