Greek: Happily Ever After?

Greek: "I Know What You Did Last Semester"


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



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



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

The play-by-play:

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

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

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Premiere Watch '09: FlashForward

FlashForward: "No More Good Days"

I liked this pilot. Sure, it was trying awfully hard to be Lost at times, and some parts worked better than others. For example, I wasn't particularly infatuated with any of the characters. I'm sure we'll get to know more about them and hopefully grow to like them more in future episodes. It would have been difficult for a show to both showcase its characters and establish this kind of high-concept premise all in the pilot episode. (Not that it's impossible--Lost was able to do it, and I think that Life on Mars did a pretty good job of it last year.)

But I did find the high-concept premise to be really interesting. Everyone time-hopping to the future all at once!? How strange and interesting. It actually seems a bit like a Fringe plot, but I like that it's this one strange occurrence that we're going to deal with in this series, where as Fringe has a never-ending parade of weird events.

One good/bad thing about the FlashForward pilot was that it made me feel very, very nervous. Like Lost, I think FF has the potential to be a very interesting show, but it's not exactly low-stress entertainment. I'm interested to see if FF begins to work in some occasional comedic relief (like Lost has done masterfully), because watching it might give me an anxiety attack if it doesn't.

Play-by-play:

• So apparently everyone blacking out at the same time can cause some major problems.
• Penny has no accent!
• Those balloons are awesome!
• The cinematography looks Lost-esque. Be on the look out for Jacob. I would not be at all surprised if he's behind all this.
• OMG, for a second, I thought the guy talking about his Marine daughter was Richard Hatch!
• Demetri: "I cannot dance to 'Islands in the Stream'! I will never live it down."
• I like the rapid-fire jumping around from person to person to this jazzy music.
• The pickup truck flying through the air wasn't a sign that they needed backup?
• Oh no! There go the balloons!
• Charlie dreamt that "there were no more good days." That's not good.
• Where'd the kangaroo come from? Is that like the polar bear on Lost? Six years from now, are we still going to be wondering where the kangaroo came from?
• Oh geez, airplanes!
• "People probably died walking up the stairs."
• Wow, Mark is perceptive for noticing a calendar and putting together that his consciousness jumped to the future. Well, maybe not--everyone else seems to have noticed a calendar too.
• They jumped to April 29, 2010, 10 p.m. So can there be a second season to this show or does it all become a mute point after April 29?
• Go Demetri! Even with all this going on, he still managed to haul the blonde into the station.
• The guy who saw himself in London during the flash looks familiar. (Holy cow, how mortifying is it to admit that I think I recognize this guy--Lee Thompson Young--from The Famous Jett Jackson? Oh wow.)
• That was not a very realistic looking view of London from the window. It kind of looked like a cartoon.
• OMG! Big Ben's on fire! Put it out!!!
• Convenient that people were undergoing brain scans at the time.
• Uh oh. Demetri saw nothing.
• Aww, this poor dude was in the bathroom. That's embarrassing.
• So who thinks Mark knocks this girl up? She did laugh at his "sweetheart" crack.
• They're going to need a really big web site if everyone's posting their visions on it. I bet someone's already started the web site anyway. Twitter probably crashed from all the traffic.
• You don't always dream when you're asleep, do you? So wouldn't it be possible that someone who saw nothing was asleep?
• So because he's alive in April, does that mean that Bryce wasn't going to kill himself anyway? Or him being alive in April proves that the visions were always supposed to happen? (Oh geez, it feels like we're plunging into the debates we've already had for Lost.)
• Aaron's daughter is Kris Furillo from Wildfire!!!!!!!!!!!
• Whoa, this guy's daughter was alive in the flash forward. That's strange.
• If Olivia (Penny) didn't want to talk about what she saw, she probably shouldn't have asked Mark what he saw. That kind of invited a follow up question.
• I know who the guy Olivia was with was! He was on Swingtown.
• And there's the friendship bracelet. Never has a friendship bracelet seemed so ominous.
• This FBI girl has no life. She's been watching hours and hours and hours of surveillance tapes all day long? Can't anyone else help her with this? And how did she spot that guy? Crazy good eyes!
• I'm very unnerved by all of this.

Premiere Rating: 7.5/10

Make It Or Break It: Falling Off the Beam

Make It Or Break It:
"Pilot"

I love gymnastics. I also tend to love ABC Family original shows (The Secret Life of the American Teenager being the glaring exception to that). So, therefore, I should love Make It Or Break It, an ABC Family original show about gymnastics, right? Mmm, not so much. Turns out, I kind of hated it. For both its complete lack of knowledge about gymnastics and its complete lack of the elements (humor, witty dialogue, interesting characters, etc.) that make/made shows like Greek, Kyle XY and (to a lessor extent) Wildfire so enjoyable.

Full disclosure: I've been a fan of Chelsea Hobbs since Beach Girls. I think I mainly like her because she looks like Rachel Melvin from Days Of Our Lives.

There was so much ridiculousness in this episode that I have to do a play-by-play account to document some of it:

• Whoa, the dude on still rings has some seriously floppy hair.
• There's going to be a Sports Illustrated cover on gymnasts before Nationals even happens? Yeah right. Did we learn that lesson after the Kristy Phillips situation?
• Why are they talking about "team order" at Nationals? Since when is gymnastics Nationals a team competition? (Answer: it's not.)
• Why is orange leo (Lauren) so worked up after seeing someone do a couple of back handsprings through to a single tuck on floor? She shouldn't be threatened by that.
• Ok, that 2.5 twist/punch front was a little more impressive.
• Emily watched "the Northern Open"? On TV?! Gymnastics can barely get decent coverage of Nationals on TV most years. Let's be honest here: if she saw this "Northern Open" anywhere, it almost certainly was by tapping into a Dutch television station's feed on the Internet in the middle of the night. (Yes, I'm speaking from experience.)
• Payson just did a brilliant Gainer layout off beam. (Please detect my sarcasm.) Lauren's back tuck dismount was also fantastic (eye roll).
• Oh great, Lauren's already barfing up her breakfast. We're less than 10 minutes in, and someone's already got an eating disorder.
• They're seriously concerned about losing to a girl who is afraid of the vault?
• Does everyone's entire family have to show up and watch every practice? Gymnastics lessons are expensive--don't these people have to go to their jobs?!
• Candace Cameron Bure! Playing someone religious. How surprising. Seriously, though, why's Candace with Lauren's sketchy dad?
• Payson is way over the top. She can't talk to her family because she's needs to "focus" during the car ride home?
• Uh, if "getting caught with a boy" gets you immediately kicked off the team, shouldn't Kaylie and Floppy Hair (Carter) park and make out a little further away from the gym?
• Emily: "How was the new school?"
  Brother: "Different dog, same poop."
• Emily's mom needs to be a little more organized.
• Kaylie: "If he finds out, he was kill you. No seriously, like blood-and-cops-and-teddy-bears and-candles-on-the-sidewalk kill you."
• Ooh, the boy in the pizza shop is cute! A little on the creepy side, however.
• Uh oh, the manager of the pizza shop is a meth-head.
• It also seems kind of unlikely that a gymnastics competition would start that early in the morning. (With the exception of NBC messing up the scheduling of some of the Beijing competitions so that they could be aired live in the U.S.)
• Ok, folks, gymnasts qualify for Nationals as individuals. Each gym does not get to send a team of a certain number of people.
• There's a PA announcer at an inter-gym comp?
• Kaylie was 8th in US at Nationals on uneven bars last year with a whole lot of nothing in her routine and a double tuck dismount?
• At least MIOBI got the flame leotards right. (The Inferno leos went into rotation in 2003, but the flame trend is apparently still alive and kicking.)
• Wow, Lauren did a double front dismount. That's actually a legitimate move.
• Emily also pulls out a (back) double tuck dismount (without pointing her feet).
• Just for the record: The UB scores were Payson 16.075; Kaylie 16.070; Lauren 15.325; Emily 15.100. (Lauren got screwed--she's the only one who did a legit dismount.) For reference, in last year's Olympic All-Around competition, Nastia got 16.65 and Shawn was pulling around 15.275. And they were, you know, actually doing skills.
• After floor: Payson: 31.450; Kaylie: 31.125; Lauren 30.125; Emily 30.050
• The floor tumbling was pretty weak too. You can usually see more impressive tumbling on the results show of So You Think You Can Dance.
• Oh, and NO legitimate competition would ever have people compete bars then floor then beam then vault. Olympic order is vault, bars, beam, floor.
• The Rock gym gets to send 18 people to Nationals?!?! 18!! That's like half the entire field of athletes! What kind of nonsense is this?
• Lauren: flip flop-flip flop-layout stepout (fall) on beam. A skill series rarely seen since 1996. And this is the unbelievable beam routine we've heard so much about?
• If Payton is soooooooooo focused, why is she so intently watching her competitors? Seems like that would be distracting.
• Emily nails her flip-flop, flip-flop, layout stepout like it's 1992. And caps the routine off with a full twisting back tuck dismount!? UGH. (Shawn Johnson did a full twisting double tuck dismount last year, BTW.)
• Payson 46.900; Kaylie 46.375; Emily 46.100; Lauren 43.875
• Why is Lauren "out" if Emily beats her?
• Payson's vault is the hardest in the comp and "has never been landed in competition before." Well, we sure couldn't see much of it, but it looked like a Yurchenko layout (no twists). Hate to break it to you, MIOBI, but girls are landing that vault with an extra 2.5 twists in it.
• I have NO IDEA what vault Emily was just trying to do. She was doing a front flip between her roundoff and touching the vault? What the hell is that? I don't care where the spring board is located, that wasn't going to go well.
• Waaaaaaait. Now they're doing their second vaults?! As in, they got warmed up (actually they didn't, but let's pretend), everyone vaulted, and then they are going to start from the beginning and all vault again after standing around cooling down for however long this process has taken? There better be room for more than one girl in that ambulance, because this is freaking dangerous.
• Kaylie does a Yurchenko pike (or tuck).
• Why does the mom from Fresno have a Southern accent?
• Noooooooooo! Don't let the girl who just fell on her neck go vault! These people are asking for it.
• Ohhhh, Emily was apparently trying to do a Tsukahara entry. She "nails" her Tsuk back tuck this time.
• Final results: Payson 62.250; Kaylie 60.925; Emily 60.800; Lauren 58.050
• I thought the two vault scores were supposedly averaged? There's no way that Emily's score for her second vault averaged with her 0.00 on the first one would allow her to have a higher all-around score than Lauren.
• Because I'm taking this way too seriously, I've compiled everyone's scores on all four events. For reference, I've added Nastia and Shawn's scores in the Beijing all-around. Going by MIOBI standards, I think Shawn has a serious beef with the bars judges. And Nastia needs to complain that she got a lower score on vault than Payson, despite doing the same vault with 1.5 extra twists.

• Wow, Lauren's a peach. Selling out Kaylie to get back in the top three was real classy. Of course, she learned her tactics from her father, who hired a PI to dig up dirt on Emily.
• Not surprisingly, the PI found found more juicy dirt on the head gymnastics coach than he did on the teenage girl.
• Scores of media are now camped out on Payson's front lawn. Uh huh.
• There are no other coaches in this gym? And now there's no electricity either? This place is a disaster.
• Seriously, the girl in the Playtex Sport commercial just did more bona fide gymnastics skills in this 30 second ad than all of the girls in MIOBI did in 60 minutes.

Um, I'm not impressed. If they are going to make this show this gymnastics-centric, they need to do a hell of a lot more research about how things work the world of gymnastics today. If they made the show more of a teen soap, just with some gymnastics in the background, they would have a better chance of pulling this off.

A good example of what I'm talking about is Wildfire. Yes, it was a show about horse racing. A lot of the drama and plot points came from events involved with horse racing. And, yes, Wildfire's depiction of the world of horseracing was probably no more accurate than MIOBI's depiction of gymnastics. But, when Wildfire was at its most entertaining, it was a show about Junior, Kris, Matt, Dani, their parents and the supporting characters (and sometimes the wind turbine) and horse racing just served as the background. After all, if I want to watch a horse race, I'll watch a horse race not a television show on ABC Family. And if I want to watch a gymnastics competition, I'll watch a gymnastics competition (even if I have to get up in the middle of the night and queue up the Dutch channel on the Internet). MIOBI needs to bring something else to the table.

(It occurred to me that this show would have worked soooo much better if they made it about a college gymnastics team. Then all this "team" mumbo jumbo would have made sense. As would having a "scholarship kid." And it would be cool to have some girls on the team be famous former Olympians and other girls be unknowns. But in that scenario, you wouldn't get to have the crazy stage parents, but that's no big loss in my opinion.)

Update:
After watching episode 2, "Where's Marty," I'm feeling a little better about MIOBI, because ep 2 focused more on the drama and less on the actual gymnastics. The show is still nothing to write home about, but I did enjoy Lauren's dad getting all excited about her two-foot half turn on beam. I mean, yeah, it would have been impressive if she were age 2 or 3 at the most. And the girls scaring away the creepy guys via roundoffs and back handsprings was just too ridiculous.

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Kyle XY: Kyle of the Pure and Beautiful Soul

Kyle XY:

My thoughts on the third-to-last and second-to-last episodes of the series.

"The Tell-Tale Heart"

Kyle and Jessi spend some intense moments in the bathtub trying to figure out what really happened to Jessi's mom.

• Oh, geez. Frankly I'm surprised that Amanda didn't walk into to see Kyle and Jessi hugging, etc. She normally gets to witness that sort of behavior.
• The Tragers don't mind if two of their kids cuddle all night?
• I didn't know that Kyle could sleep out of the tub.
• Why didn't Steven bother to explain to Josh why letting Andy move in with them is not a option? He just said no and left it at that, which seemed dumb and mean.
• Jessi: "I can make him tell us what he knows."
  Kyle: "That not acting normal."
  Jessi: "It is for me."
• Declan walking in on Lori while she was dancing was funny.
• Lori: "For all I know, she lured him out of the house to some remote cabin to turn him into her love slave."
• Kyle should have come up with a more interesting distraction than a computer program.
• Declan's actually cracking me up in this episode.
• How did Declan not foresee that locking Lori and Hillary up together would eventually backfire on him?
• Lori (to Hilary): "Maybe you should think twice before leaving home with half an outfit."
• Well, Kyle, you're not really invading Jessi's privacy if you were there for all of the memories in the first place.
• Shut up about Kyle and Adam Baylin, Amanda! Geez--this is why Kyle can't tell you anything; you have no filter.
• Seriously, Nicole, what kind of doctor are you going to call to help Jessi?
• It sucks that it turned out that Jessi's mom is dead, but on the bright side, Jessi did get to spend a lot of time in the tub with Kyle.
• Screenwriting 101: If you introduce the materials for a food fight in an episode, they've got to be put to use before the episode is over.
• There must have been lots of storage space on Sarah's disposable cell phone.
• Oh, Nicole, like you didn't see the Kyle/Jessi kiss coming. You should have, anyway.

"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"

The Children of the Pod enact a plan to find out why Cassidy killed Sarah and what Latnok is really up to.

• Oh geez! Jessi's sleep-choking Kyle! Dude, enter her bedroom at your own risk...
• Oh, Amanda, it's looking like you're toast. This Kyle/Jessi thing does not seem to be going away.
• Spock ears are going to impress Andy?
• Shouldn't Kyle and Nicole have made sure that they were having this conversation somewhere that Jessi wouldn't overhear it? I mean, the girl hears everything.
• Why does Nate partnering with Kyle on a project ingratiate him with Amanda? It wouldn't impress me much. If anything, I think I'd be uncomfortable that my new boyfriend and my ex-boyfriend were spending time together. But I am not Amanda...
• Oh, Jessi, yes, you are as fragile as Nicole thinks.
• Jessi: "Kyle kissed me."
  Lori: "Eew."
• Lori: "Because it's Kyle of the pure and beautiful soul, and we want whats best for him."
• See, Jessi? You are fragile. Everything everybody says upsets you immensely.
• Andy: "It makes me sad to think that his ambition might stop when I leave." Wow, Andy, you're kind of full of yourself, aren't you?
• Wow, Andy's moms just create one annoying situation after another for their poor daughter, don't they?
• Hold on--Cassidy's first name is Michael? As in Michael Cassidy of The O.C., Hidden Palms and Privileged? If that's really his name, couldn't we just have had Michael Cassidy play him?
• I like Lori's outfit. It looks very professional. Oh, except for the visible bra straps.
• Ugh, Jessi. Why must you be like this?
• Lori doesn't eat cooked fruit?
• Eew. Nicole is worried about Kyle and Jessi being romantically involved while living in the same house, but meanwhile Josh is having sex with his girlfriend in a coffee shop? Eew.
• Oh, come on! It's not Jessi's fault that she killed the hunter! She didn't know what was going on. She had just gotten out of the pod, and she was alone.
• Kyle, if there's ever a time to tell someone to get the hell out of your house, now's it.
• Cassidy: "You've spent an excessive amount of time being her anchor. That's got to be draining."
• Um, Cassidy, I'd watch where you're going. You know Jessi's going to come after you, right?
• Oh, Josh and Andy are sneaking into his house to have sex. That's a little better than doing it right in the coffee shop, I guess...if for no other reason than it has to be a major health code violation.
• Cassidy: "You need help."

  Jessi: "Actually, I think you do."
• Jessi has quite a future as a torturer...
• Whoa, how did Kyle throw Jessi against the wall just by holding his hand up? And how would that kill her? Jessi should be able to stand up to a lot more than that...
• Ahh! It's all an elaborate trick! And Foss is in on it! Yea, Foss!
• Wow, Cassidy is dumb if he can be fooled by two pod kids who are unable to lie.
• Kyle: "I hadn't had much experience with lying. But when it was necessary, it turned out I was good at it."

I can't believe there's only one more episode of Kyle XY left. It feels like there is way too much left to resolve. I mean, we don't even know who Cassidy's Latnok bosses are, so taking down the whole organization in one episode seems like too tall of an order. Plus there's the whole Kyle/Jessi/Amanda situation, which seems like it will need a couple more years to fully play out into any sort of conclusion. And Lori and Declan seem like they might be sliding back into like with each other, but getting them back together in one episode would seem like it was rushing things.

This article indicates that we're not going to get the full closure we'd like, since the Kyle XY producers didn't know the show was going to be canceled after this season. Seems like ABC Family could have at least given them a heads-up so that they could give the show a proper ending. I certainly think that ABC Family owes at least that much to this show, which was instrumental in establishing a new brand for the network. Wildfire met a similar situation last year, and--while the ending was a little rushed--at least that show was able to reach acceptable conclusions for most of its main plot points. It doesn't look like Kyle will be as lucky, and we Kyle fans will just have to take whatever resolution we can get.

No matter how the series wraps up, I know I'll be sad to say goodbye to Kyle.

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Premiere Watch '08: Greek*

Greek: Crush Landing

*Tech- nically, last night's episode of Greek was not it's premiere. Unfor- tunately, when Greek did premiere it's fall series last week, I was in the midst of a complete computer breakdown, and no blogging was getting done. Also, it's so hard to figure out what season it is on Greek anyway. Did it just premiere it's 2nd season? Is this just season 1, part 3? I'm sure I could find out if I really wanted to, but instead I'm blogging this episode and calling it a day.

Just a quick note on last week's episode: Dale stole the show (shocker). Calvin is also quite funny, and the Rusty/Dale/Calvin odd trio makes for some entertaining TV.

Also, it bugs me to no end that we're still supposedly in the second half of the second semester of the school year that started in real time last summer. This has been the most eventful school year ever.

Anyway, last night's episode: Not a bad effort. I liked the Casey/Ashleigh/Hotness Monster interactions and also enjoyed Rusty's identity crises. I'm glad he got himself sorted out (it made me smile when was already up and dressed when his alarm went off the next morning).

Oddly, or not oddly, Cappie is back to being Super Immature Cappie, who pops up every once in awhile until Sage and Wise Cappie turns up. That kid is kind of hot and cold. I've seen nothing to suggest that Cappie isn't perfectly emotionally capable of sensitively helping Rebecca through her parents' divorce, but he sure ain't doing it. He's helped plenty of people through plenty of problems over the past couple semesters, but now he's worthless. Is he just having an off night, or does it somehow involve who he's helping? In next week's promo, Rebecca implies that, were she Casey, Cappie would be perfectly capable of being the serious, helpful boyfriend. Let's hope she sticks to that rationale and we get rid of Rebeppie (Cabecca?) for good.

Also, Evan is now totally back to being all kinds of sleazy. Remember those four episodes where he was the sweetest guy in the world? Ahh, those were the days...

I always scream bloody murder when Dale isn't in an episode, and I'd like to expand that condemnation to now include episodes with no Calvin.

I'd also like to raise a question: how many boyfriends/love interests does Casey need in one semester? Holy cow. By my count in the spring semester, she's had: Evan, Cappie, the 16-year-old, Junior from Wildfire, the Mr. Purrfect guy, and now Hotness Monster. I mean, good for her, but doesn't that seem a little excessive?

Highlights and observations:

• Ashleigh: "I have a lot of nice things in here, and I don't want blood on them."
• Rusty: "Can't talk, Cappie. I'm late for class."
  Cappie: "Are your pants already down there?"
• Hmm, an RA who hides in his room...I had one of those too, actually.
• Rebecca: "I have new respect of Chelsea Clinton."
  Cappie: "Me too! Now that she's grown into her face, she's foxy."
• Drew Collins: "I have a favor to ask you. Please save me from having to read about the pregnant man by telling me your life story."
• Dale: I'm about to regurgitate if this RA doesn't show up soon."
• Sorry, this Max character is a way better RA than mine was. (And Max is pretty darn cute...it's too bad the actor is still rocking his Swingtown hairdo.)
• Cappie: "Your skipping classes, you're avoiding schoolwork... It's like you're a real, live boy."
• Casey: "I believe that's a case of the flip flop calling the sandal black."
• Ashleigh: "Maybe we can share him. I'll take the top half--wait, let me think that through."
• Max: "Is it too hard for you?"
  Rusty: "Not really."
  Max: "Well, that's pretty arrogant."
• Ashleigh: "Tell you what, I'll wear flats if you take out your chicken cutlets!"
• Dale: "Oh, well, I used my last bottle of chloroform when I was on Murder, She Wrote."
• Casey: "Ash likes to keep little mementos too, don't you?"
  Ashleigh: "I keep things that mean something to me--objects, not ex-boyfriends."
• Ashleigh: "Yeah, we've seen each other through good times and bad. Like that time you hooked up with that 16-year-old! Oops!" (Ha, go Ashleigh!)
• Dale (after describing Samir's failed attempt with the "dynamite"): "But I ended up getting in with this clothes hanger. I mean, it really couldn't have been easier."
• Wow, all of a sudden Dobbler's doesn't serve alcohol underage people.
• I think Max is Rusty's sole mate.

Premiere* Rating: 6.5/10

(photo: abcfamily.com)

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.

Wildfire: The Home Stretch

Wildfire: "The Ties That Bind Part 2"

Monday night marked the last race of Wildfire (the horse) and the last episode of Wildfire (the show), and both were bittersweet.

I have to admit that I was let down that the whole "Wildfire's been stolen" story line quickly turned into "Wildfire just wandered away for three days because some dumbass named Ernie forgot to lock his stall and then made it look like there was a break-in to cover his butt." Perhaps the switch wouldn't have seemed quite as abrupt if we'd ever met Ernie before or at least heard someone mention him and his questionable moral code before. But, at the same time, I understand that opening the Junior's-dad-is-so-awful-that-he'd-resort-to-stealing-horses-who-are-more-like-family-members can of worms might have been a bit much, as it was the series finale and all.

The miraculous return of Wildfire allowed Kris to have her "last race" (which turned out to not be her last race at all) and said race turned out to be so lengthy that it took what felt like a good 10 minutes to finish. I remember them mentioning last episode that the Tucker Stakes was a long race, but this was ridiculous. It did made it all the more amazing that the race essentially ended in a three-horse tie. If I were Wildfire (a formerly retired horse with a broken leg who had just gone AWOL for three days), I'd be pretty proud just of finishing in the front with hot shot Tamarack and Dani's promising filly. However, as is appropriate on the series finale of a show called Wildfire, Wildfire ended up prevailing on the photo finish. A sincere congratulations to both Wildfire and Kris. (And the scene of Junior in the airport bar was really cute.)

After the race, we could all refocus on resolving Kris' off-track life with a "surprise" wedding to Junior (more of a surprise to her than it was to us, since they've been showing clips of it in promos for months). The decidedly no-frills ceremony was performed with the alacrity of a wedding ceremony in the last five minutes of a series finale, and that was that.

There was nothing particularly shocking or revelatory about this series finale, but it was filled with exactly what we wanted to see.

Highlights and (final) observations:

• It's no use trying to talk sense to Kris when Wildfire's missing. She accuses you of giving up on her and then she shoves you.
• There are still wild mustangs in the vicinity?
• It's nice that Matt's friend Pete keeps up-to-date tabs on the mustangs' location.
• It was kind of weird that no one seemed to be wondering who took this too-famous-to-sell horse and set it free/made it disappear and why.
• Junior: "If I thought Dad stole Wildfire, I wouldn't be out here looking for wild mustangs. I'd be in a gun shop."
• If Kris is Junior's priority now, it's too bad that she seems to have gone nuts.
• I was already hard on him, but I'll say it again: Ernie is such an idiot! Where does Raintree find its employees? We know Kris is an ex-con, but I didn't know all the staff members were.
• Poor Kris, she thought Junior vs. Matt was a tough decision, but Junior vs. Wildfire is even worse.
• Junior's taking a lot of suitcases to Alaska. More than Blair Waldorf took to France, I believe.
• The horrific Mr. Davis did manage to deliver a fairly lovely apology to Kris.
• Riley, the jockey on Dani's horse, needed to stop looking around at Wildfire and concentrate on riding her own horse. Geez, focus.
• Wildfire won $1 million! Yikes! I never want to hear any complaining about Raintree's finances ever again. (And I might get that wish, but only because this is the series finale.)
• The "final ride" around the ranch was a nice Matt/Kris moment.
• People randomly appearing in the forest is creepily reminiscent of Lost. I definitely found it unsettling when Pablo just popped out from behind the tree. I expected the Smoke Monster to show up next.
• Did Kris have to change clothes in the middle of the field? That's awkward
• Dani: "I never had a sister, which is probably a good thing because I would have eaten her alive."
• Ha, when Kris said "someone's missing" from the wedding (meaning Mr. Davis), I thought she meant Wildfire and that Junior was supposed to go call Wildfire.
• Wildfire was quite decked out in a lovely array of flowers for the occasion. Who dressed him up? Matt? Pablo?
• Good, I'm glad Junior and Kris are not moving to Alaska. That was a dumb idea. I really expected Mr. Davie to redeem himself by finding Junior a similar, better job close to home.
• Is Matt serving as Kris' Man of Honor?
• The wedding ceremony was shorter than the horse race!

Wow, even with wrapping up story lines as hard as it could for 5 episodes, Wildfire still had to power through a lot of stuff at break-neck speed in the final few minutes to complete the story (the wedding, Junior reconciling with his dad, Pablo and Jean giving Wildfire to Kris, the decision to not move, etc.). I was expecting more Kris/Matt stuff or more Junior/Matt stuff (since they were beating the hell out of each other just a few episodes ago) and more of Kris protesting Junior's decision not to move, etc. But that's ok; it was still a lovely finale for a show that was better--and more addictive--than you would expect.

Happy trails, Wildfire.

Wildfire: Preparing for the Last Race

Wildfire: "The Ties that Bind Part 1"

I'll begin with the obligatory reference to The O.C.: If you're going to give your episode the same title as the iconic season 1 finale of The O.C., you'd better bring it.

And, for the most part, I think this penultimate episode of Wildfire did bring it. The beginning seemed a little slow, but the last half was pretty bangin'.

Although I never want to be in agreement with Matt, I'm not on board with the move to Alaska. Alaska? Can't we find a "geothermal energy project" to work on a little closer to home? I mean, Junior managed the darn wind turbine project from his living room. I'm also not a big fan of people moving away in the series finale for the sake of moving away in the series finale. And I guess I'm also just personally leery of having to make such life-changing decisions on such short notice. The whole thing makes me a little nervous. Although, to be fair, Marin Frist moved to Alaska on Men In Trees, and everything worked out quite nicely for her (until ABC started to mercilessly eff with her show).

The episode's other big development was that Kris is going to bring Wildfire back for her farewell race. I should be embarrassed to admit how awfully excited I was about the prospects of Wildfire coming out of retirement. I believe my exact thought process was along the lines of, "Wildfire!!! WOOooo! Race him! Yea!" Yep. I'm 23. Moving on...

The army of people fighting tooth-and-nail against a Kris/Junior marriage finally backed off (with the exception of Mr. Davis), and everything else was beginning to fall into place with Pablo finally kissing Jean and Matt kissing Dani, when: we discover that Wildfire is not only missing, but has been stolen!

It would seem that the obvious culprit is Mr. Davis, Sr., since he acted like nothing but a world-class jerk all episode long. I mean, whoa, no wonder Dani's so down on the man. Firing Kris as Tamarack's jockey was just nasty. And then calling her an opportunistic ex-con at the bar was just ridiculous. Thank goodness Junior took the opportunity to cut his father out of their lives for good after that. Enough is enough.

Highlights:

• So Tamarack's good enough for the Kentucky Derby, huh? Sweet.
• Matt's determination to enter Flame in races he's ill-suited for made me very nervous. You can't make those kind of mistakes in a world where horses die from broken legs.
• Geothermal energy projects are the new wind turbines.
• Matt is acting like a jerk, but to be fair, he keeps getting worse and worse news thrown at him--first Kris and Junior are dating, then they're engaged, then they're getting married imminently, now they're moving to Alaska... That is a lot to take in.
• No, Matt, I don't think Kris moving to Alaska is the stupidest thing you've ever heard. Unless you can't hear the crap that's coming out of your own mouth half the time.
• Wait, Junior's mom and Dani's mom are not the same person? Whoa, more back story I don't know about. I keep getting confused and thinking that Dani is older than Junior.
• Kris: "I can taste the turf on Churchill Downs I want it so badly." Eew.
• The look Pablo gave Matt when he snapped at Dani was funny.
• I'd say it's always a triumph if a show can get by with writing a scene in which, for several minutes, the characters do nothing but yell, "Go [title of the show]! Yea [title of the show]!" I'm having a hard time coming up with other shows that could pull that off. Veronica Mars maybe, but it would have been a weird moment.
• Hey, (speaking of Veronica Mars...) it's the "All My Life" lady! Her name is apparently Lissie, although the song is listed under DJ Harry on my iPod.
• Just when I was thinking that they were doing a pretty good job to hiding real life Dani's pregnancy, she showed up at the bar looking rather pregnant. It's a little disconcerting watching her "drink" alcoholic beverages.
• So there's no age limit for the horses in this race?
• Junior: "I'm laying down the law: no swan napkins and plenty of barbecue." (Ha! His dislike of the swan napkins was one of the highlights of the season, I think.)
• Whoa, Matt and Junior just made a truce? Matt is listening to reason? Wha?
• Hey! Pablo finally kissed Jean! It's about freaking time.
• Matt: "Look! Mom and, uh, Pablo. Pablo!"
  Dani: "Oh, Matt, everyone knows, honey."
• Now Matt and Dani are kissing too! I do rather like them together, actually.
• Junior: "Do you think I can change my name to Furlow? I'm not really loving being a Davis anymore."

  Kris: "Well, Furlows aren't really role models either."

Ok, next week all we've got to do is get Wildfire back, win the Tucker Stakes, and get Kris and Junior married. Let's do it, Team Raintree.

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Wildfire: Marrying Rich

Wildfire: "Being Mrs. Junior"
Maybe Wildfire's imminent departure is making me overly sentimental, but I thought this episode was pretty great. And not just as compared to other episodes of Wildfire, but as simply an entertaining hour of television.

First of all, Kris and Junior were all kinds of cute together in this episode. The opening scene of them in the kitchen was so super adorable that I almost got a toothache. Like rivaling-Jim-and-Pam-for-cutest-TV-couple cute.

And the other highlight of the night was the return of the wind turbine!!! Yea! How I've missed you, wind turbine. (I really was going to call B.S. if that thing was never mentioned again.) And darned if the thing isn't worth $3 million. Not bad.

One of the more messy developments of the episode was Mr. Davis' attempts to scare Kris away by showing her that she doesn't fit into "Junior's world." Kris needn't feel too badly, though, because this scenario is something every outsider character has to deal with when they snag a rich significant other. Dan on Gossip Girl, Rory on Gilmore Girls, Ryan on The O.C., and the list goes on. Kris is in good company. Some more good news for Kris is that in the other shows, the outsider ultimately prevailed. I have a sneaky suspicion that she will too.

As for Matt and Dani, I really thought that they had eons more chemistry together than Matt and Kris ever did. I say, go for it! Especially if they have this history has been referenced but I don't know about. Plus, Matt is considerably less of a miserable human being in his scenes with Dani than he is at any other time.

What I could do without, however, is the unceasing bickering about the ranch. Eesh. Ok, they all work a lot, they need to be profitable, dude ranchers pay money, horse racing is a gamble, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It just reminds me of vintage Smallville when they used to argue about the farm. Who cares? I sure don't when Junior is off somewhere else being adorable. Let's watch that.

Best Quotes:

Kris: "What about next month?"
Junior: "Or the year 2050! We could get married and get Medicare at the same time."

Matt: "What happened? What are you doing back so early?"
Junior: "Hey, if you're going to punch me again, can you punch me on the other side? My left side is still a little swollen...see?"

Kris: "How'd the pitch go?"
Calvin: "I lost my voice!"
Junior: "You did get it back."
Calvin: "Yeah, like ten minutes later."
Junior: "We got off to a rocky start... Of course, the end didn't go that well either."

Mr. Davis: "Like I said, it's nothing personal."
Kris: "Well, it's personal to me and don't you forget it."
Mr. Davis: "Are you threatening me?"
Kris: "Yeah. I am."

Random observations:

• I guess it's ok to show up an hour late if you bring a rock like that with you. Yikes.
• At least Wildfire is always there to stand with Kris while she mopes.
• Geez, these Kris/Junior naysayers just do not give up: they're still going at it next week! Give it up and move on, people.

photo: abcfamily.com

Wildfire: Too Much Too Soon?

Wildfire: The Comeback
Ah, Wildfire, a world where horses can hurt their legs and don't have to be put down. I like it better here.

So, basically, Jean's not dead and Kris and Matt take on too much to prove to her and Pablo that they're not incompetent. Except they kind of are. At least Matt is. (Just my personal opinion.)

Don't have too much to say one way or the other about the plot of this episode, but it did add a certain realism for Kris to only win one of the six horse races. I've felt before that Wildfire lets her win a few too many races to be realistic, but humbling her and Raintree a bit in this episode was a nice touch.

While watching this episode, it occurred to me for the first that that the actress who plays Dani (Nicole Tubiola) is pregnant in real life. Suddenly it made sense why she's always standing behind boxes and wearing empire waisted shirts.

Best part of the episode was, as expected, Matt and Junior wrestling on horseback and then down the hill and into the river. That was entertaining. Also funny was how they both just kind of gave up mid-fight and walked away with Junior muttering something like "what's the point?" Those two boys certainly have their issues. It's awkward because just when they had basically worked through the issues that resulted from Matt stealing Kris from Junior, Junior goes and takes her back.

Highlights:

• Girl Camper: (when told to go make a lanyard): "I'd rather make a noose." Ha, she's an edgy little one. I kind of liked her until she went and got herself lost in the wilderness. Could have lived without that.
• For a second there, I thought they were foreshadowing that Dani's filly was going to get hurt in the race against the colts. That would have hit way too close to home this week.
• Noah is kind of a wet blanket. But, guess what, he turns out to be right. Oops. Good riddance anyway.
• I enjoyed the amusing timing in this exchange:
  Matt: "Where were you?"
  Kris: "At the stable."
  Matt: "Doing what?"
  Junior: "Hey guys!"
• I was super glad to see Kris (figuratively) knocking Pablo off his high horse for once. It's about time someone finally turned on his smug self.
• Oh, Dani... back so soon to using morally questionable means to win horse races.
• Chris riding in all 6 races seems like an awful lot for one jockey. How's she supposed to keep track of all the horses, strategies, etc.? Apparently, she's not doing a very good job of it.
• Noah was brave to root around in the trash can in a horse stable. Eew.

Sadly, I think there are only three episodes left. Now that Pablo is back at Raintree, it seems like everyone is where they should be. Things are falling into place. Let's just see if Kris and Junior can pull off this wedding despite the fact that their relationship upsets EVERYBODY.

And, the best news I heard today is that Ausiello is reporting that Wildfire's Ryan Sypek will show up on Greek to play a love interest for Casey! If we can't have Junior, we might as well get to see him on Monday nights anyway. But, seriously, congrats to Casey--now she's got Cappie, Evan, and Junior?! Is there anyone she doesn't get to have?

Wildfire: The End Is Near

Wildfire: "Vows"
Well, let's just say that as soon as I started to watch this episode of Wildfire, I realized that I missed this show more than I care to admit. I mean, I graduated summa cum laude and it's Wildfire. But, whatever, I've decided that for these last five epsidoes, I'm going to stop trying to rationalize why I enjoy this show and just enjoy it.

There were several moments in tonight's episode where it seemed pretty obvious that Wildfire is well aware that there are a finite number of episodes left. The plot lines were speeding right along (a la Junior in his Porshe). There were a number of things that were dealt with quickly that under normal soap opera circumstances would probably have been dragged out for an agonizing number of episodes. I mean, Junior got Kris her racing license back before the opening credits even rolled! And then Kris and Junior had a talk about how they need to tell Matt that they're back together as soon as possible, and then Kris just flat out tells him the next time she sees him! After seeing the whole you-tell-him, I'll-tell-him, I-didn't-tell-him, you-need-to-do-it saga play out so many times on so many shows, it seemed kind of amazing to see someone just cowboy up and tell the truth.

I feel a little bit awful for Kris and Junior. Like Kris said (with absolutely the correct inflection), their relationship upsets EVERYBODY. I understand why Matt would have an issue with it, and, too a smaller extent, why Jean might also disapprove, but Pablo? Come on, dude, get over it. I'm not quite sure why Jean and Pablo both seem positive that Kris and Junior can't have a relationship and still do their jobs. I understand that running a ranch and training horses might both be require a substantial time commitment, but it's not like they're the President of the United States or playing Sydney Bristow on Alias--they have to have some free time! Plus, it's a tremendous double standard that Pablo told Kris she couldn't work for Raintree and love Junior right before he, who is a partner in Davis Farms, was about to tell Jean, who owns Raintree, that he loves her.

Nevertheless, I'm fairly confident that Junior and Kris will prevail (the scenes in the promos of their wedding seems to confirm my suspicions). Not sure if Jean's going to make it, although I image she will since killing her off in the last episodes of the show would be extremely dark.

Before I get to the bullets: I've previously mentioned that the acting on this show isn't exactly Emmy-caliber, but I do want to note that I thought Nana Visitor (I still cannot believe that's her name) did a great job of playing post-coma Jean. So often on TV shows, characters wake up from comas and a few minutes later seem ready to run a marathon, but Jean actually acted like she's just woken up from a coma. She was talking quietly, looked drained, coughed occasionally...it was actually quite novel.

• Whoa, Junior and Kris definitely shouldn't be making out while speeding down the highway...that's a little dangerous.
• Junior: "Ok, let's start with the cons."
  Kris: "Ok, well, we're really young."
  Junior: "Not if this were 1956."
  Kris: "And we've never officially been together for more than a few weeks."
  Junior: "This is fun. Let's move on to the pros."
• My limited Wildfire background is showing: Is there a history between Matt and Dani that I don't know about? His "nothing about us ever scared me" comment seemed laden with meaning.
• I hope Kris hasn't been spending her time away from racing eating too many burgers and chocolates, or she's not going to make weight to be a jockey at the upcoming race.
• I'm still loving the clip in the promo of Matt tackling Junior on horseback and the two of them falling into the river.

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Greek Wars

Greek: "War & Peace"
Well, it's the last week for me to savor not being forced by the television PTB to chose between my favorite high school soap and my favorite college soap. Greek and Gossip Girl airing at the exact same time? Come on. That's completely unfair. Add to that the fact that Bones--which I would totally watch if it ever aired in a time slot in which it weren't competing against at least one of my favorite shows--is now on at the same time. And so is Dancing With The Stars...but, yeah, I guess I don't really want to watch that.

Ack! And Wildfire is coming back at 9 p.m. in two weeks! Yea! Chris! Junior! Matt! The wind turbine! (If the wind turbine is not mentioned in these last few eps, I'm going to be peeved.) I'll admit it; I'm pretty excited for the Junior/Matt horseback fist fight. But, holy too-much-of-a-good-thing TV night! Suddenly Monday is the new Wednesday (which was the new Thursday).

Anyway, tonight's Greek was pretty good. It contained some interesting developments: Frannie's back, Lizzy finally left, Rusty and Calvin's friendship took a hit, the two frats forged a tenuous cease fire. The main two downsides to tonight's episode were the very little girl/boy interaction and the complete and unacceptable lack of Dale. (There was also, mercifully, a lack of Rebecca, so thanks to whoever gave us that gift.)

The episode, of course, contained it's share of witty one-liners and pop-culture laced quips. Best quotes and observations:

• Rusty's haircut looks good.
• Poor Ashleigh wakes up at 4 a.m. since Lizzy makes them go to bed at 10 p.m. That's rough.
• The show sure seems to like throwing around that Ben Bennett kid's name an awful lot. I wonder if it's an inside joke of some kind.
• I think Spencer (Casey) looks prettier than normal in this ep.
• Whoa, how many people are in Omega Chi? In the house raid scene, it looked like several hundred. Spraying fish oil and hot sauce from water guns...eew.
• Casey: "We as ZBZ kittens are wondering when we will be ready to be weened from your, uh, teet."
• Count me on Casey's side. I am also very skeptical of kinder, gentler Frannie.
• Frannie: "I want to come back to ZBZ."
  Casey: "I want Jessica Simpson to stop putting out CDs, but you can't always get what you want."
• I'm surprised how quickly and thoroughly Ashleigh fell for the jerky nerd. Ah, I guess it was a Travis hangover thing. I loved Casey's "Jason is Travis in a nerd suit."
• That Evan--still rocking the tie. That's class.
• Poor Rusty. He repeatedly tries to change the system and it keeps biting him in the butt, yet he keeps trying it anyway.
• Rusty: "And then what? You and the brothers are going to go club some baby seals?" Ha, with that mopey mug of his, picking on Rusty does seem akin to clubbing baby seals.
• "Evan Longoria." Ha! That's a good one.

Ooh, looks like Greek is pulling out all the stops for its first head-to-head battle with GG: a Casey/Evan moment, Cappie punching Evan, a Casey/Cappie moment, a Rebecca gets what's coming to her moment. Wow, that's pretty undeniable.

So, Greek or Gossip Girl? That is the question. Last fall, I'd have side unequivocally for GG, but my love of Greek has reached new heights this spring. It's going to be a tough choice.

The "Greek" Gatsby

Yea for Greek being back! I'm so excited about it that I'm finally blogging again. I really like Greek a lot. Maybe because it always airs in kind of a down time (summer, post-strike), but I've come to think it would hold up even against some stiffer competition.

I must start out by saying that my big complaint about this episode was that there was not enough Dale. Come on, folks, Clark Duke is a revelation! Give him more to do. I loved the opening scene with Calvin (how proud am I that I now finally remember that guy's name?) and Rusty trying to figure out what to do, and Dale mentioning gatherings of his geeky friends:

Dale: "And there are girls! Well, there was one once...at least I'm pretty sure it was a girl..."
Calvin: "Let's keep looking."
Rusty: "The circus is in town."

And then Clark's disco dancing at the 1970s party was adorable. They need to figure out some more ways to bring his character into the fold with the other characters.

As a flapper-enthusiast, I loved the Roaring '20s party. I'm also wildly impressed that these college kids are able to adopt a theme so wholeheartedly. They certainly all didn't just happen to pack flapper dresses when they came back to college after winter break.

A shining moment of the episode was the return of Ferris Bueller's Day Off's Cameron as the dean. It's been quite a week for Ferris Bueller guest stars with the secretary on a great episode of Miss Guided last week and now Cameron on Greek. And, kudos to Greek for coming up with an inside joke to acknowledge his presence--while not being too obvious--with Ashleigh's "...which is why, in many ways, I think that Ferris Bueller is my generation's Gatsby." Nicely done.

Other highlights:

• Last summer I called that the Kappa Tau's wouldn't care that Calvin is gay. The KTs are the picture of tolerance.


• Evan is always awfully dressed up. He's wearing a tie for crying out loud. I do not recall ever seeing frat boys who wore ties. On the upside, Evan has been displaying a surprising amount of integrity through the Calvin situation.


• Rebecca looks totally different with that bobbed wig.


• Ashleigh is quite the singer!


• Casey (to a ridiculous looking Rusty): "You look..... are you having fun?"


• Calvin's ex-boyfriend looks like he dressed for a Charles Dickens-themed party. Perhaps he got the wrong memo.


• Cappie's in over his head with balancing Casey and Rebecca. He'd better watch it though, because he doesn't want to make Rebecca too mad; she's dangerous.


• Beaver reading The Great Gatsby aloud was great. "...minute? Minute...it's probably minute." Ok, that joke doesn't translate well when it's written down, but it was funny when Beaver said it.


• Did Cappie just call Evan "bing"? What does "bing" mean? I've only been out of college for a year and I'm out of the loop on the lingo already?


• I'm excited to see Cappie's retribution on Evan!! The Cappie/Evan fight in the previews they showed last week looked hot! Bring it on. With Ryan Atwood and Logan Echolls gone, the instances of fist fights on shows I watch seem to have gone way down.


• Remember when the show at least pretended to be about Rusty? ;-)

So, after giving some good marks for the second episode of Greek's spring semester, I want to add that I thoroughly enjoyed the past series of Wildfire too. I probably should be more ashamed to admit that I like that show than I am. But darn it, I find the whole Chris/Matt/Junior/wind turbine love rhombus to be captivating. Granted, the production value of the show isn't awesome (there's usually at least one scene in each episode where you have no idea what's happening, such as the scene where the barn was on fire), some of the acting could be better, and it seems like a show about horses should display a better knowledge of horses, but whatever: I like it. I'm excited to see all heck break lose when Junior and Chris tell everyone they're getting married. I just wish the next chunk of eps weren't the end of the series.

And also: they should have just given Kristi Yamaguchi the Dancing with the Stars trophy after the first ep. There is no competition. Don't mess with figure skaters.