Agreed.

Pacey-Con with Joshua Jackson from Joshua Jackson

Also with the Awesome:

http://www.jamesvandermemes.com/

Actor Obsession of the Week

As I continue on my epic journey of marathoning Dawson's Creek, I'm realizing that this time around I'm much more fond of Jack McPhee than ever before. Why? I'm not really sure. But as I make my way through season 4, his best season, I realize that Kerr Smith's charming football player is a much more endearing character than I've ever given him credit for being. He's cute, he's sweet, he's a loyal friend, a caring brother, a part-time jokester and the best darn little league soccer coach ever.

Add on the fact that Smith is the perfect guy to round out the cast of the CW's schmultzy darling Life Unexpected (which I'm catching up on now), and he quickly becomes an all-star of my TV week.

Further investigation reveals that the 6-foot-tall actor has a BS in business administration, taught himself to play the piano and the bass and was the face of the first gay kiss on primetime network TV.

Colour me impressed.

In related news, I'm also catching up on The Good Wife. And among that brilliant cast (Josh Charles I adore you!) is Mary Beth Peil, the Creek's erstwhile Grams. Which got me thinking: Jack is on Life Unexpected, Grams on The Good Wife, Pacey on Fringe, Audrey on Cougar Town and Dawson on Mercy. Add in 2 certified movie stars in Michelle Williams and Katie Holmes and the Dawson's Creek cast, it turns out, completely transcended any trace of a teen show curse: almost all of them going on to successful careers. I knew there was something special about that show.

Kelly's Week in TV

The Bachelorette finale and "After the Final Rose" special: The finale goes exactly as planned as Jillian chooses an ecstatic Ed and stomps on the hearts of Kiptyn and Reid (who returned to propose and finally declare his love). The "After the Final Rose" special, however, contained one of the more awkward segments I've ever seen. When Reid returned to face Jillian again, the reunion was filled with unasked awkward questions, unbearable silences and a creepily enthusiastic young woman who came to the mic to ask Reid if he would go out with her. As for the Jillian/Ed interview, they seem pretty happy and may eventually turn out to be one of the few couples who actually make it after the show. The highlight of the night came with host Chris Harrison's line "as a talented country singer [infamous bachelor/slimeball Wes] once said, 'you know love, it don't come easy'."

Dirty Sexy Money: I love this show and I'm so glad to have it back (however briefly). Saturday's episode was the first offering of this final batch (that started last week) that reminded me how great this show really could be.

Psych: I have no idea where the episodes that show up weekly on my PVR are from in the chronology of the series but I really love this show. Dule Hill is a god.

More to Love premiere: In theory, I like this show. I like the idea of a show in The Bachelor format that doesn't over-emphasize the need for a perfect bikini body. That said, for a show like this to work, it needs to not dwell on what it is that makes it different. After the first episode, all I took away from More to Love is that all these women, who swear they're looking for someone who can see beyond their exteriors, are inextricably caught up with their own weight; it's all they talked about. Sure the guy's kinda cute but he carried with him a bit of a douchy vibe and I can pretty much guarantee that the couple that comes out of this show at the end is not going to last. In fact, my guess is that some skinny girl watches the show and introduces herself to Luke when all is said and done and he leaves his chosen "big girl" for the prettier one. More to Love just seems like one of those shows that has the exact opposite effect than what it is striving for. I think the only thing the audience will take away from it is that girls who are overweight can be just as vapid and self-involved as the itty bitty ones on The Bachelor.

Better Off Ted: Veridian Dynamics goes green (without their knowledge); Ted invents a fake project called Jabberwocky; Portia De Rossi takes back the lead she lost after last week's SYTYCD in the epic battle of 'who's funnier: Portia or Ellen'; and corporate ignorance, the trend of flashy business presentations, employee fraud and the green obsession all get delightfully satirized.

Triple Sensation finale: Kaitlyn finally impresses, Hailey steps it up, Leah's acting chops (rightfully) snag her the win despite some rough notes in her song and my week brightens when I find that 2nd place finisher and My TV favourite Liam Tobin is sitting behind me during last night's production of BARE at Hart House Theatre. (Here it's worth noting how much I enjoy the fact that an old friend of mine made the top 12 in season 1- super proud to have once shared the stage with him).

Merlin: I'm about 3 episodes in. I'm still making up my mind but I think I like it so far.

Big Brother: Jessie further pisses me off by making exactly the right moves for his position in the game, further harming the side of the house that I was rooting for, perpetuating the Athlete rule and keeping the game's most annoying players around (aka Ronnie and Lydia). He may be driving me crazy but I may have no choice but to become a Jessie fan. Quite frankly, he's the best player in the house right now (though he does have a giant target on his back for when one of the few weak people who can and would put him up gets HOH) and that bizarre love triangle is the most entertaining thing going on this summer guilty pleasure.

The West Wing: I'm re-watching. Season 2 really is perfection.

Dawson's Creek: I'm re-watching. Season 2 is nowhere near perfection. Pacey, on the other hand, comes pretty close to perfection in his best season of the series (remembered fondly by me as 'the Andy season').

The Guild: On the grand scale of Joss Whedon's friendship circle, Felicia Day has never been a favourite of mine. But yesterday I caved after hearing her talk about her web series The Guild for the millionth time in an interview with Michael Ausiello at Comic Con. The sweet little webseries that she created, writes and stars in is a shoestring budget story about a group of gamers. Understated, amusing, boasting a colourful supporting cast and running only about 5 minutes per episode, The Guild is actually a nice way to spend your time. It's available (yes, even in Canada) at www.watchtheguild.com.

Jeopardy: Last week saw the reign of the most engaging champion in a very long time: a young video game tester/camp counsellor with long blond locks and a goofy grin. Against all expectations, Stefan won game after game with some seriously impressive skill. Not only is he surprisingly brilliant, but this nonchalant dude is always cracking jokes (adorably bad ones), never takes the game too seriously, often comes from behind to win big and has proven himself to be a big better on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy questions (which always keeps the game interesting). Multiple times he bet between 4 to 6 thousand dollars on a single Daily Double question in the first round; and during one game he bet more than $20,000 on a Final Jeopardy question about food (which he then got wrong but had a score high enough to still win the game). He'll be back soon to kick off the show's 26th season as reigning champ, keeping things interesting. In the meantime, the Teen Tournament has been very boring.

RIP Dawson Leery

Remember the kid who had film posters arranged on his wall in order of box office gross? The kid who believed that the answers to all life's questions could be found in a Spielberg film and that it was possible to find From Here To Eternity kind of love. That 15 year old hopeless romantic who shot horror movies on his camcorder and said that "edge is fleeting, heart lasts forever". Well he's officially dead. 

The boy I'm talking about is Dawson Leery, the title character of Dawson's Creek,who was played by James Van Der Beek until the show's final episode in May 2003. 

Now, Mr. Van Der Beek is back on TV (on the modern equivalent of his old network for that matter, and opposite his former "Creek" co-star Chad Michael Murray) and playing Dixon, another filmmaker. Only this time he's a coke head. He's a megalomaniacal self-indulgent sell-out who re-appeared in tonight's episode of One Tree Hill to manipulate his way into the coveted director's chair for Lucas' movie. 

Forget the "heart" that Dawson believed would last forever, this new incarnation is nothing but soulless edge.