Stealing My Heart on TV This Week

A Chuck hero and a villain, Tara's sweetly understanding husband, a softspoken Dillon Panther, a lovesick West Beverly student and a Tree Hill hottie... time for another picture list!

My Current (and shameful) Obsession

I have no reasonable explanation for this but I've recently taken to watching incredibly bad TV shows on a regular basis. It started with Big Brother and One Tree Hill. I've always watched them (the residual effects of being 14 at exactly the wrong time) and have comforted myself with the reassurance that I'm allowed a couple hours of mindless drivel to break up the intelligent scripted fare I've always been loyal to. 

But, in recent months, it started to get worse. All of a sudden I was back on the Amazing Race bandwagon (not too shameful as far as reality TV goes, but it's a gateway drug!). Then came a renewed interest in 90210, and before I knew it I was hooked on ABC's heinous hidden camera show True Beauty. 

But that's not the worst of it. 

The worst came this week (the week True Beauty ended... Julia, the former Miss Teen Texas, won, by the way, in case you were wondering). First it was High School Reunion, which had me both horrified and transfixed for its entire premiere episode. But I only watched 1, just the one episode, I thought I was still in control of my problem. 

I wasn't.

Yesterday I started The Bachelor. I don't know what made me do it but I watched the entire season in 2 days and now I'm hanging on a thread until Monday when I hope the slightly skeezy single dad from Seattle will choose the sunny former cheerleader from Dallas over the boring girl who I don't care about. It's sexist and materialistic and noticeably scripted and hinged on an out of date value system, but I'm horribly and traumatically hooked on The Bachelor. And just for the record, I am also and have been since week 1, on team Melissa!

Also for the record, I am ashamed of myself and am currently seeking help for my apparent lack of taste in TV. 

Hillbilly Wisdom

Alright, I'm just going to come right out and say it: the hillbillies are not the dumbest Amazing Racers of the season. 

Sure they could barely walk straight and she spent more time blubbering than a four year old, but Steve and Linda exited The Amazing Race this week with words of impressive perspective.

Meanwhile, the almost-eliminated flight attendant team spent what seemed like hours searching for something that wasn't hidden while Amanda walked around embarrassing her boyfriend Kris with linguistic gems like "that's the greatest thing I've ever gotten to done". 

In any case, it's not the dumb folk who make The Amazing Race worth the watch year in and year out, it's the impressive ones; and this season's got a nice slew of them. 

With the first of what promises to be many victories, Tammy and Victor have stepped up as the new sibling team to watch. With Nick and Starr-like resilience and trust paired with Harvard educations and sure-fire street smarts, Tammy and Victor are my current picks to win. 

Other teams who deserve your attention are the impressive mother/son combo of Margie and her deaf son Luke as well as married couple Brad and Victoria who haven't stepped it up yet but I really think are going to be major players in the coming weeks. As for redheaded cheerleaders Cara and Jaime, they run the serious risk of getting on my nerves but they also seem like they could turn out to be a pleasant surprise. Screenwriter father/son team Mel and Mike as well as tiny stuntmen/brothers Mark and Michael are amusing and endearing but most likely won't go the distance (though Mark and Michael have definite dark horse potential). The final sibling team, sisters Lakisha and Jennifer, are the perfect racers on paper (siblings and serious athletes- a winning combination) but won't go the distance unless they learn to work as a team. 

So basically, there are only 2 more dumb teams to go before The Amazing Race 14 takes off as a show full of fantastic people doing fantastic things in fantastic places- get excited!

That's Better: Dollhouse, Week 2

In its second week on the air Dollhouse may have missed the mark (but met expectations) in ratings (failing to break 5 million viewers again) but, in my opinion, it found its ground creatively. 

Truth is, I'm not sold on the premise yet; the mythology is interesting but doesn't offer up a central character I can root for. 

But what made this week's episode an improvement on the last is that, unlike last week, you could feel Joss Whedon's fingerprints in this episode. Pilots have never been his strong suit but the pilot of Dollhouse didn't even seem like it'd been written by the beloved Buffy mastermind. But this episode had a Whedon-sized dose of female empowerment; it had big, fun weapons; the characters and relationships began really showing signs of complexity; and it had plenty of his trademark quippy dialogue. 

So while I'm not there yet, after this week's episode, I'm confident that with time I'll become a Dollhouse fan. After all, Whedon's back to sounding like himself, and that's a voice that's never yet let me down. 

My TV Question of the Day

Should Shonda Rhimes be Fired?

Consistently, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice are among the most disappointing shows on the air. The only characters with interesting development belong to actors who are clearly pulling more than their fair weight, the stories are repetitive and uninteresting, the dialogue contrived and the sets rife with discontent. 

I love TV. I love writers. And there are thousands of writers out there who dream of even the smallest bit of Shonda's success. So why does so much power and and creative freedom belong to a writer without much to offer? 

I've devoted more hours than I can count to the TV shows of Shonda Rhimes, and keep coming up underwhelmed. So isn't it about time for a change of regime?

OBSESSIONS

What I love this week....

Maria Schneider. Big Band is back people!

Slings & Arrows Season 2. Particularly the Romeo & Juliet stuff. 

Yvonne Strahovski on Chuck. Proving week after week that Buffy was really kind of a lame character afterall on the grand scale of hot blond super crime fighters. 

The fact that it's Oscar week. I love the Oscars. 

"Why I Love Chick Flicks *and why I hate them" by Lisa Schwarzbaum in last week's Entertainment Weekly

The Deathly Hallows Lectures by John Granger (the Hogwarts professor) 

The Amazing Race 14. It's back! and already people are being chased down hills by killer runaway cheese wheels. Also, the guy who wrote "School of Rock" is running with his dad, there's a mother/son team (the son happens to be deaf), THREE sibling teams and a very promising married couple (the ones who don't refer to themselves as "hillbillies")

Tristan Wilds. Not only is he adorable on 90210, but there was a woman across the aisle from me on a plane the other day who was watching The Secret Life of Bees and I couldn't take my eyes off her screen whenever he was in the scene. There's something to be said for being that captivating when sharing the screen with poohbahs like Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifa and Paul Bettany. 

Highschool Reunion Confuses Me

I vaguely remember loving Highschool Reunion the first time it aired, back in 2003; what isn't fun about watching the former nerd finally get a shot with the head cheerleader he's harboured feelings for for 20 years? Well, I have no idea what I was thinking in 2003 because it turns out that while that storyline may be a lot of fun on Gossip Girl, it's not as much fun to watch unattractive and unimpressive 38 year olds from Arizona play it out. 

But let's assume I come to terms with the generally dismal content. I still find TV Land's new season of the show (it premiered last night) troubling. The reason for this is simple: I like the wrong people. 

In the fictional worlds I usually choose to inhabit, Joey Potter (the tall girl from the wrong side of the tracks), Rory Gilmore (the quiet bookworm) and Winifred Burkle (the quirky idealist) all get the guy in the end; Chuck Bartowski and Seth Cohen are ladies men, Xander Harris rarely gets his heart broken and Harrison John has the whole highschool fighting for him. I'm used to cheering for the underdog, the nerd, the person who, for all intensive purposes, is an outcast. 

Here, in the world of Highschool Reunion, the "ugly duckling" who's finally getting her big crush to notice her is actually a playboy bunny who looks like the product of a Mattel Halloween experiment gone wrong and seriously seemed like she may have invented her own tragic backstory to match that of her date. Meanwhile, the girl who confronts a former classmate with a cry-me-a-river "I developed early" story turns out to have made someone else's life hell in high school. But you can't feel bad for that tortured girl either, because a) all she's done so far is complain and gossip about people and b) she sort of deserved it (you can't just tag along with other people, get your own friends or amuse yourself you crazy wannabe!). 

And now for the biggest twist of all... after 1 episode, not only are the "ugly duckling" and the "wannabe" my least favourites (along with the "cheerleader" who claims to have been teased about having boobs... by the way, as if!), my absolute favourite so far is the homecoming queen! You're not supposed to like the homecoming queen! Isn't she the main villain of like half of Freddy Prinze Jr.'s movies? But no, in Highschool Reunion-land people actually voted for someone because she was nice and had a pretty smile, not because she bribed them with snickerdoodles and handjobs. (Also, I'd like to point out that Kara, "the homecoming queen", seems to be the only woman there who has aged exactly appropriately: no over-processed hair, no sun damage, no obvious plastic surgery, clothes that actually fit, etc...)

So apparently if I decide to waste my time again next week I'll be cheering for "the homecoming queen" and her ex husband "the jock" to work it all out (something that the show seems to want to tease me with but is absolutely never going to happen) and that maybe something heavy will fall on "the ugly duckling"

...I'm a disgrace to outsiders everywhere! Excuse me while I go watch season 1 of Veronica Mars. 

Recipe for Success

Set Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas free on a low-pressure network like Starz. 

Add a winning comedy concept (a catering company full of wannabes). 

Then give him a plethora of Mars alum to work with (Vinnie Van Lowe, Dick Casablancas, Logan, Meg and Veronica herself... just for starters).

And add a sprinkling of other winning cast members (the incomparable Jane Lynch, the always likable Lizzie Caplan, and Ryan Devlin, whom some may remember as the guy who appeared on my TV for 1 hour of Valentine this fall and made me giddy for months).

The result is Party Down, a new comedy premiering Friday, March 20 on Starz; sure to be a treat for any Thomas fan. 

For the full story, visit "Watch with Kristin" at Eonline by clicking here

Charles Carmichael Always Comes Quickly

This week's Valentine's Themed CHUCK offering was everything I could hope for as a diehard. The Chuck and Sarah tension was perfect. This week's mystery (involving a cul-de-sac full of Fulcrum) was satisfying, intense and funny. Even the Buy More stuff (so often the downfall of other wise fantastic episodes) was spot on and heralded new awesomeness to come (although speaking of Awesome, where was he all episode?). But even more than the awesomeness that was this week, I can not wait for next week and the week after. When did Chuck become the most exciting show on television (save possibly for BSG, which has the unfair advantage of being a precious commodity)? This season, it hardly ever disappoints, and more than likely is elevating its game each and every week.

The best part of this episode was also one of the most downplayed, and it actually fixed something that I've long thought needed fixing on Chuck. You see, up until this episode, the only truly special thing about Chuck is the intersect Bryce put in his head. Sure, we've seen flashes (haha) of brilliance, and there were indications that the CIA would have picked him up if it hadn't been for the sabotage of Bryce, but still, it was basically the computer in his skull that made Chuck a commodity and therefore it seemed like his usefulness to the CIA would run out. But this episode it was made abundantly clear that not only is Chuck the only person on Earth with a computer in his head, he's the only person on Earth who COULD. That's right, Chuck Bartowski, every man, has his very own, very geeky superpower. And I love it.

Plus John Casey (Adam Baldwin) consistently bringing the Bad Ass goodness and Sarah
s heartfelt goodbye to the closest she'll ever get to domestic bliss made this episode one for the record books. I can't think of another show on (Network) Television that has been this hot in a while.

Random awesome quote from the erst-while Buster Bluth:

• "Where do you meet people where you don't have to pay for sex?"

I Know They Can Dance... because

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you already know about my love of all things So You Think You Can Dance. This past Friday that love doubled in size when I got to see the So You Think You Can Dance Canada concert from the very first row. 

The show was amazing- oodles better than it's cornier American counterpart, which I'd seen in October from far inferior seats. We got to see all of the best dances of the season as well as a new one or two (most notably a breathtaking group number choreographed by Mia Michaels). The heavily-scripted chatty bits between dances were kept short and to-the-point (unlike the American tour, which felt like a sad Gev comedy show). Even the solos (which are usually pretty underwhelming) were very well danced and entertaining. And, because I saw the show in Toronto, host Leah Miller even made an impromptu appearance to announce that show had just been picked up for a second season. 

And yes, these photos (in the previous post) and videos were all taken with my camera- that's how close I was!

I Know They Can Dance

Can We Put Don Draper in Every Show?

Seriously?

(In honor of Valentine's, I thought you all would like a little Jon Hamm. Enjoy, but as a warning, he gets a bit needy when his pyro daughter shows up and his mother/grandmother dies.)

Oh Jenna Fischer, How I Love You

Lots of weeks on The Office, the big funny gets carried by folks like Steve Carrell, Rainn Wilson, Ed Helms, and Angela Martin. Jenna Fischer's Pam mostly gets to be sweet and witty. But the past two episodes, Pam played comedy-routine side-kick on the Michael Scott tour and the result was, well, this-



I really do just love everything about that clip (and I also love that Hulu lets you make your own adorable subclips out of full shows. Oh this crazy Internet and all the fun things it provides for me. Avenue Q was wrong about you!)

A Diehard's Perspective

There was no way I was going to watch tonight's premier of Joss Whedon's new show Dollhouse and think anything other than "WEEEE." If just the name Joss Whedon weren't enough (which it most certainly is for me), add in Eliza Dushku (who I think was tremendous and heart wrenching as Faith), Tahmoh Penikket (and those fantastic six pack abs), and a fantastically far out science fiction conceit rife with thematic possibility, and, baby, I pre emptively put up magazine articles about it on my wall. So it's not interesting for me to list why I liked Friday night's episode of Dollhouse, although I'll list a few compliments at the end of this post. I'm more interested in talking about what I'm worrying about/ hoping will come to fruition in the next few episodes:

1) JOSS WHEDON- I can feel his hand behind the plotting, and the way that some of Echo's personalities are shaped, but I want to feel him. Lots of people criticize his distinct voice, but it's part of what draws us back to his work again and again. I'm not saying every line has to be a quip (and I think I'd throw something through the television if dorky Dollhouse worker Topher said "She's not big with the memory" or anything else that conjures up images of bad nineties clothing and my favorite redheaded, wiccan lesbian), but I'm hoping future episodes wont have the semi-strained, this-show-is-SO-serious vibe I'm getting from its pilot ("Ghost" for those of you wondering). I'm all for stretching as a writer, but the real joy of Whedon's creations is the way he balances laughter and pathos.

2) PLOT- this week's mission for Echo felt generic (she has to rescue a rich guy's kidnapped daughter) and hinges far too heavily on coincidence (the memory's with which she's been implanted happen to belong to a woman who was raped and kidnapped by one of the kidnappers of the rich guy's daughter). If this show is going to survey primarily on standalone episodes, then those standalones need to be damn good.

3) NOT SUBSITING ON STAND ALONE EPISODES- I'm fairly certain this will happen, and with an idea like Dollhouse's, that's so intensely character based, it's almost inevitable. But I hope that they find the right mixture between creating the mythology and the world of the Actives alive and interesting and creating good individual stories to tell us every week.

4) MORE TAHMOH PENIKKET SHIRTLESS- pretty self explanatory. Boxing is preferable, although not required.

With those reservations, I'm pretty pumped about Dollhouse. Joss's shows tend to only grow after the first episode. The idea is DAMN cool. The supporting cast seems excellent, and I'm looking forward to watching these characters grow. If Dollhouse can survive Fox Fridays (and FOX is certainly trying here, if those super sexy and super creepy commercial breaks featuring Dusku and Terminator's Summer Glau are any indication) then I think it will probably grow into being every bit as brilliant, fun, and exciting a piece of my must-see tv schedule as I hoped it would be.

Breaking Good News

Beloved Everwood alumnus Chris Pratt is now slated to star in Amy Poehler's new comedy Parks and Recreation. 

So we've now got the best of The Office (Greg Daniels, Executive Producer), the best of SNL (Amy Poehler, Star) and the best of Everwood (Chris Pratt, New Cast Member)- is there any way this show WON'T be good? 

and while we're on the subject of Chris Pratt- WHERE ARE THOSE EVERWOOD DVDs? It's been years since season 1 was released and I know multiple people still sitting on the edge of their seats to find out if Colin made it through surgery. 

WTF Obama?

Now, I'm not one of those people just looking for the Daily Show proclaimed President Gallant to fail. I'm willing to give him time on the Stimulus plan, on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on closing down Gitmo and getting the educational system back on the right track. I don't shake my fists in anger when I hear about the muddled beaucratic chaos going on in the Congress right now.

But let me just say, new President Barack Hussein Obama, you may have gone to far. Your presidential address this past Monday really got my goat. I understand the need for the Face of Hope and Change to address his adoring throngs, but couldn't you do it sometime other than Primetime Mondays? Do you realize what you've done?

Isn't our country in dire enough straits? With thousands laid off every day, the price of gas looking to sky rocket, and the war in Iraq no closer to over, what does this country truly need more than geeky Buy More employees, semi-vapid upper East Siders, and a fivesome of Friends that say "Awesome!" a lot? Good God man, how are we supposed to move forward without our favorite television shows?

Okay I'm kidding slightly, big guy, but seriously, next time you make a television appearance do it on a less awesome night of television. Try Tuesdays. I don't watch anything on Tuesdays.

Valentines

It's that time of year again. Flower prices are skyrocketing, restaurant reservations are hard to come by, jewelry stores are bustling and all around North America people are wishing that life were as romantic as their TV. 

So in honour of this most auspicious holiday, that of St. Valentine, I thought I'd revisit the issue of TV's greatest couples. In the months since my last list of this kind, circumstances have changed for some of the list toppers (I'm talking about you Mr. Grubstick, how dare you become annoying) but some remain eternally perfect for each other. So, without further ado, here are my favourite television valentines (and some of their sappiest lines) in no particular order:

Marshall Erikson and Lily Aldrin (How I Met Your Mother): "I love you because, one, you made me a sack lunch, and two, you laugh every time you say the word 'sack'"- Marshall Erikson. 

Jim and Pam (The Office): "When you're a kid, you assume your parents are soulmates. My kids are going to be right about that"- Pam Beasley.

Tammi and Erik Taylor (Friday Night Lights): "I bring this up because as usual my wife is always right"- Erik Taylor. 

Paul and Jamie Buchman (Mad About You): "Do you know how long I waited for you? My mother used to say I was too picky, or afraid of commitment, and that's why I was still unmarried by the age of almost 30. But the truth is, I was just looking for you"- Jamie Buchman. 

Monica Geller and Chandler Bing (FRIENDS): "I thought that it mattered what I said or where I said it. Then I realized the only thing that matters is that you. You make me happier than I ever thought I could be; and if you'll let me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way" -Chandler Bing (proposing)

Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence (Boy Meets World): "Ever since I was young I never understood anything about the world, and I never understood anything that happened in my life. The only thing that ever made sense to me was you" -Cory Matthews (his wedding vows). 

Seth Cohen and Summer Roberts (The OC): "for me it's always been you Summer, it's always been you. I've tried to fight it and I've tried to deny it and I can't. You're undeniable" - Seth Cohen.

Scotty Wandell and Kevin Walker (Brothers & Sisters): "I am completely, completely in love with you. I even love the things about you that I hate. Because you make me feel like I don't have to be anyone other than who I am, and to me that feels like family"- Kevin Walker. 

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Winifred Burkle (Angel): "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey"- Fred Burkle. 

Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl): "I am me. And you are you. We're Chuck and Blair. Blair and Chuck. The worst thing you've ever done—the darkest thought you've ever had—I will stand by you through anything" - Blair Waldorf. 

Meghan Rotundi and Sean Blumberg (Felicity): "I love Sean. I love guys. I wish I didn't, they're such idiots" - Meghan Rotundi. 

CJ Craig and Danny Kincannon (The West Wing): "So, if I'm gonna jump off the cliff, and you're gonna get pushed off the cliff, why don't we hold hands on the way down?"- Danny Kincannon

Geoffrey Tennant and Ellen Fanshaw (Slings & Arrows): "We're both big fat losers"- Geoffrey Tennant; "you're my only friend, isn't that pathetic?" -Ellen Fanshaw. (pictured at top of post)

Why I Love Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights is like nothing I've ever seen. 

This week's episode, entitled "Hello, Goodbye" was a perfect example of everything that makes this show so remarkable. No one slept with their best friend's brother or keeled over from a heart attack; there was no brain surgery, no malicious plotting, no robots, no aliens and no perfectly-timed, unrealistically witty jokes. In fact there was nothing in this episode that I hadn't seen before, not on my TV but in life. 

The stories of Friday Night Lights resonate far more clearly than anything else on TV because they don't, by status quo standards, belong there. A main plot this week was a girl choosing her new boyfriend over caring for her loyal friend who'd just gotten his wisdom teeth taken out- that was the entire story; her guilt, his sense of abandonment and the fact that the audience could undoubtedly relate to one or both of them, that was the drama. 

The real world quality of these stories may make Friday Night Lights seem small but it's the show's ability to find the big drama in small things that gives it it's gravity. 

Few stories on TV are as dramatic as Matt Saracen's quiet struggle to care for his grandmother and none are more inspiring than Smash Williams' pursuit of his college dreams (a storyline that was wrapped up perfectly this week and will be truly missed; Gaius Charles was one of the show's brightest gems). And the inherent passion that sports inspires gives the show a dramatic center to fall back on; what's more exciting than Arizona's big comeback touchdown that put the Superbowl on the line or more dramatic than a Red Sox ninth inning rally? 

But the real reason that Friday Night Lights flourishes with such small, human stories is that the characters within them are supremely human. They're jeans and t-shirt wearing, high school sports playing, mistake making, not always particularly eloquent people who spend far too much of their time at the local Applebees. But I care about them; in all their unimpressive splendor, the residents of Dillon Texas are so inspiring that I am on the edge of my seat when one of them goes in to get his wisdom teeth removed. 

I Would Like to Direct Your Attention...

North of the Border. 

After catching up on a week's worth of Jon Stewart, I figured I should check out what was going on in my own country. This was a good idea for many reasons: 1 being that as the only Canadian in my group of friends here in Boston I am expected to possess a working knowledge of the country, another is that citizens should always be informed, and perhaps the most pressing reason is that my political bigwig of an older brother is not opposed to punishing ignorance with violence. 

So I looked up The Rick Mercer Report on CBC. For any of you who may be unfamiliar, Rick Mercer is an obnoxious and self-important pale imitation of Jon Stewart and his show combines the Daily Show studio format with the most pointless and contrived field pieces you've ever seen. But naturally, instead of the insightful studio segments, the clips that are available on cbc.com are mostly of field pieces. 

Except for this one. This one is hilarious. 

So I would like to direct your attention to the video clip AVAILABLE HERE, where Rick Mercer explains "everything you ever wanted to know about Canada but were too afraid to ask". 

Salty Celery?

Salty celery was the downfall of my favourite chef this week on Top Chef. Up against the Hosea the mediocre and Leah, who is not only horribly unpleasant but also can't seem to cook anything well, Jamie was sent home because her celery over-reduced and was left too salty. Worst decision ever! Padma and Tom I thought I could trust your decision making skills, why is Leah still there? If she's in the top 4 with Jamie gone I'll be so upset. 

So now I'm cheering for Carla and assuming Stefan will win. At this point I think it's inevitable that Stefan will win, he's simply the best chef there, he has won almost every challenge. Whether you like him or not, his not winning Top Chef would be absurd at this point. 

Goodbye Charlie, I'll Always Love You

...even if Megan can't. 

This week's Privileged was, despite being a wonderful episode, really really sad. This marked Michael Cassidy's last episode as the sweetest man alive, Megan's best friend Charlie. 

Before he left to go to school in California, Charlie finally confessed his love to Megan, and she promptly broke his heart. And while I wanted to yell at Megan for that, I actually found her completely sympathetic in this episode. Mandy calling her out on the selfish crap that's been bothering me all season finally alerted Megan to the fact that she may not be the fantastic person that she thinks she is. (By the way, I'm totally with Mandy, the worst kinds of people are the ones who are bad but think they're good). And with this realization Megan told Charlie how she really felt and apologized for hurting him. Charlie, in turn, told her she couldn't be a bad person if she tried. Yes he's in love with her but I really think that that was him loving his best friend- in a best friendly way. 

And when I gave it some thought I understood Megan too. Charlie is the most important person in her life and she does LOVE him, the fact that she can't be IN LOVE with him is beyond her control. She definitely wishes she could be in love with him, that is, after all, what stories are made of, but can't lie to him and herself when she just isn't. So she stays with Will, and loves Will, but when it comes to a fight between the two men she stands behind Charlie, because what she has with Charlie may be a different kind of love, but it's the strongest in her life. 

Rose and Sage were also lovely this week (Sage has REALLY grown on me, though I fear where this newest storyline may lead), Lily was used effectively and in moderation and for the first time I kind of liked her. And there were no extraneous adult characters bogging the episode down. So even though it made me sad to see Charlie go, I'm still happy that the show was so good. 

I'm just going to put it out there... Privileged, the best show of the week so far? 

Barrell Full of "Meh"

Each week, my two most hotly anticipated shows vary. But this week, after two weeks off, they were 100% Gossip Girl and How I Met Your Mother.

Both of which had pretty "meh" episodes, with sprinklings of the brilliance we normally see.

Gossip Girl this week told us the tale of Blair's seemingly-apocalyptic quest to bring down the inappropriately informal new Constance teacher, Rachel. At the end of last week, this seemed to be a takedown that would consist of fire, brimstone, and all manner of bitchy remarks, bringing the show to new heights of lunacy and awesomeness. What we got instead was a rushed week of furtive glances and posts to Gossip Girl.

Blair got expelled over the stupidest thing I've ever heard (seriously, the school that let Chuck off for smoking Hash IN FRONT OF THE PRINCIPAL and let Serena off with community service for breaking into the schools after hours where a student almost died decided that an inappropriately bitchy gossip girl tip regarding a teacher and a student should be punished with expulsion sans trial and despite the fact that Blair has tons of money and prestige, and rules the school with an iron fist?).

Dan and Rachel really DID act inappropriately, because, as Rufus pointed out, just having dinner with a student (especially a student of the opposite sex) was grounds for investigation.

Serena, with very little motivation or emotion, as it turned out, brought her third try at a relationship with Dan to an end. Mostly, I've been a fan of Dan and Serena, but it seemed after last week that it had become obvious that they were over. So it was incredibly anticlimatic to watch them hem and haw over it for a week, and it felt like a disservice to the legitimacy of their past relationship to have it end so (and I hate to keep using this word, but...) stupidly. In fact, much of this episode seemed to be trying to tie up the loose ends of previous stupid plot lines.

So let's talk about the new stuff, shall we? Well, at the end of this week's offering we got Dan and Rachel making with the practically-jail-bait copulation, and while it was nice to see Rachel do something other than make judgmental, innocent girl faces, it doesn't change the fact that Rachel illustrates one of the biggest Gossip Girl weaknesses: the complete inability to write new characters that are meant to be with either Dan or Serena. Rachel is basically the female equivalent of Aaron: she's dull, judgmental, older and can't act her way out of a paper bag. I was hoping that like Dan's last, incredibly boring love interest, Amanda, she would turn out to be an evil operative in someone else's scheming. Alas, she's just a horny 23 year old ex-idealist bunkering down with our Brooklyn everyman. Blah.

And you'll notice that in a grand change of pace for me, I haven't even mentioned the Chuck storyline. At first I thought it was the kind of goofy sordidness I love from Gossip Girl, but now I think it might just be dumb. I hope the investigation into Bart's past gives Chuck some kind of closure, and I hope this storyline doesn't turn into a melodramtic tale of Chuck's obsession with this new girl. But we'll see.

There was definitely good stuff in this week's episode (Dorota, dorota, dorota!), and an off-week for GG is still better than a lot of other stuff, but after two weeks of anticipation, I wanted more explosions, and less Rachel.

As for this week's How I Met Your Mother... blah. Like Gossip Girl, the last new episode of HIMYM was one of the series' best. And like GG, this week's outing felt like a place holder for other, better episodes.

Robin finds out that her VISA's up thanks to her unemployment. She now has seven days to find gainful employment or it's back to the frozen north. The "well maybe you should just marry Barney" idea thrown out relatively early by Marshall as impractical (does anyone else find it funny that the king of the anti-marriage lobby was jumping up some exuberantly at the chance to be Mr. Scherbatsky?) , she resolves to get a job. And she thinks the best way to do this is by letting Barney take new footage of her and make a ridiculous, Michael Bay-esque video resume. Okay...

At first I hoped this would lead to the line straddling goofiness I occasionally enjoy in my HIMYM (see also: the Best Burger in Town, The Bracket). But instead it jumped the line over into just goofy and unbelievable, to the point where I didn't blame Robin for running out on the shooting process, and found the final outcome a little unbelievable for a show that normally errs on the side of reality rather than exuberant sitcommy fiction. They were letting Robin off easily, getting her a great job despite everything else, and it felt like the writers had just decided that Robin's unemployment had given them all it was going to. Still, I loved the satisfied look on Barney's face after he saved Robin from deportation and paved the road for her to see him differently, and I'm grateful the show didn't go full on cliched and have her kiss him in gratitude.

On a completely extraneous note, how much fun is it to watch the creators try to hide the pregnancies of Alyson Hanigan and Colbie Smulders? Especially Hannigan, whose stomach they gleefully took advantage of in a Daphne-goes-to-the-fat-farm Z-story about her winning hotdog eating contests.

The Best Characters to Survive on Terrible Shows

Every show, even the terrible ones, has at least one character who's worth your time. Whether they're the only one to make you laugh, the only one who's remotely sane or the only one who you can relate to, they make the show worth watching. So here's to the characters that have managed to shine through even the murkiest of material. 

Gary Unmarried- Tom Brooks (Ryan Malgarini), the son of one of TV's least funny former couples, Tom makes me laugh every week. 

Felicity- Meghan Rotundi (Amanda Foreman), Felicity's Wiccan roommate was the only character who felt remotely human without being loathsome. 

Back to You- Gary Crezyzewski (Ty Burrell). As the overlooked field reporter Burrell was the best thing about this boring attempt at recreating sitcom gold. 

Private Practice- Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein), Dell Parker (Chris Lowell). Sweet and caring without any premise of assholery, Cooper and Dell are the exact opposite of my favourite Grey's Anatomy characters but they leave their immature Private Practice co-workers in the dust. 

Land O' Plenty

After the draught that was last week, let us take a moment now to celebrate that already this week there have been new helpings of The Office, United States of Tara, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, True Beauty, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill and Chuck. And that's just 2 days' worth. 

Oh Happy Day! for it's just the beginning of a happy week. 

I Pledge Allegiance to the United States of Tara

I haven't been this excited about so new a show in a very long time. After only 4 episodes United States of Tara has become one of my absolute favourite things on TV. With every half hour installment I invest more fully in the lives of the characters. 

As unfamiliar as the central premise of the show may be, the problems facing the characters are supremely human. The show deals with issues in poignant and real ways. Unlike a certain ABC show I know, Tara treats the issue of the young and clearly homosexual character, Marshall, as a non-issue (as it should be); Marshall is given the same romantic story opportunities as his heterosexual sister (Justin Suarez, however, does not appear to be as lucky). Max and Tara's sexual frustrations are dealt with with a similar maturity, as is Katie's teenage rebellion. The drama (and the comedy) come from the realities of humanity, and all those realities are explored but never exploited on Tara. 

The alters (Tara's alternate personalities) serve to highlight Tara's turmoil. While they do advance plot (causing her problems at work, creating tension between her and her kids, bringing up marital issues for Max) their main purpose is to reveal parts of Tara that she can't let herself possess. The psychology of Buck's appearance when Tara had made romantic plans with Max, for example, is fascinatingly revealing. And the consequences of living with multiple people inside you? An intriguingly solitary existence (beautifully exemplified when Tara's new friend abandons her and she retreats into her childhood self to play clapping games with her sister). 

With Tara, Diablo Cody has created more than just a show about dissociative identity disorder, she's created an engaging ensemble dramedy about life. The plights of Tara, Max, Katie, Marshall and Charmaine are all complicated by T, Buck and Alice (Tara's alters) but they're every bit as relatable as those of the average Joe. 

Post-Superbowl Supersizing

Tonight's post-superbowl supersized episode of The Office somehow managed to remind me that the show has lost it's way while also reassuring me that the things that I loved about it in the first place still linger there somewhere. 

There was a lot in the episode that was hopelessly idiotic. Falling, once again, into dangerous and re-curring patterns of absurdity, Michael and Dwight reached new lows this week with moronic plans, out of line behaviour and a general annihilation of the English language. 

Aside from how incredibly depressing the un-funny absurd humour can be, the episode was, for a large part, depressing on purpose. The cruelty that the employees displayed at Michael's roast showed not only that they don't appreciate their boss but that they don't understand his fundamental sensitivity and desire to be liked. Michael may not be a great boss but he's a really good guy and for a big part of this episode his co-workers seemed to forget about that. Add on to that a B story about divorce and you've got yourself an hour of unpleasant TV. 

But there was hope. 

Michael was able to show back up at work after the roast and stand up for himself, showing that he's stronger than you might think. Stanley was able to laugh with Michael at himself and his co-workers, showing that there are no hard feelings left in the office; because, after all, all Michael wants is for people to laugh with him. And America's favourite TV couple, Jim and Pam, resolved their story with an incredibly corny but sweet reminder of why they are America's favourite couple; if anyone didn't understand how perfect they are for one another, Pam set them straight at the end of this episode. 

But the one thing in this episode that most reminded me why I love The Office was the opening credit sequence. Gone are the days when only the 5 top billings are part of the theme song. Starting tonight, the all-important supporting cast has a new spot in the credits. I've always said that what makes the NBC version of The Office better than the BBC one is that they developed their supporting cast, so it's about time that the credits reflected that. After all, tonight's best laughs came from Andy's misunderstanding of Jim and Pam's movie critique prowess and the pleasure Angela got in her comedy routine.