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sanalaylaMy TV season is back in full swing!! YES!!
House: I’m a Huddy shipper. I don’t care if the quality of the show has gone down or the medical stuff makes no sense. I don’t care if these guys should have their medical licenses taken away because everything they do makes zero sense ethically. I don’t care if Cuddy is the most unprofessional Dean of Medicine EVER. She looks damn hot in those low-cut blouses and House/Cuddy make my screen sizzle. I remove all brain function when watching this show and focus on the sexy and the pretty. And this episode was pure shipper delight for me. I loved the reactions that House has when Cuddy lets her mom walk all over her. I also love that he calls her on it and makes a comment about how ten years later she’s going to look over at him and blame him for her mom’s death. That comment was SO telling. House sees himself with her TEN YEARS down the line!!
How I Met Your Mother: Not a fan of Katy Perry, but she was OK in this episode. I really enjoyed the running gag that Marshall had regressed to his high school self when at home in Minnesota. (Doesn’t that happen to all of us?) Barney being a man slut is becoming VERY boring. I want them to bring on the story of his father already and then he needs to hook back up with Robin. I’m a Barney/Robin shipper and I’m still pissed at how they handled that ship. I don’t really know what to think about Zoey. This show is a little bit like “Smallville” to me – since I know that Ted ends up with “the mother”, I find that I can’t get emotionally invested in any relationship he has with people who are NOT the mother.
The Good Wife: Oh my God, I adore this show. I am loving the internal politics and how the Will and Diane are trying to regain control of the firm. Loved the little moments where they burst into giddy laughter at how much they’re enjoying playing mind games with their colleague. Will’s girlfriend annoys the pants off of me and I can’t decide if it’s because of how they’ve written her or because she’s played by Elizabeth Reaser. The woman has annoyed me since her stint on “Grey’s Anatomy”.
Alicia continues to be fun to watch and her games with the lawyer played by Michael J. Fox (whom I adore with the passion of a thousand suns) was interesting. I was really glad to see Kalinda get a bit of a backseat in this episode, but her goal to become the Chloe Sullivan of this series continues as she grabs a hold of Alicia’s computer and instantly solves the mole problem. (But since this is NOT “SV”, she solves it wrong and Will pieces it together later.) As usual, Eli Gold was awesome and I really loved the expression on his face when he hears why the high school music teacher wants to back up Peter. For a second, his cynical heart melted. And then he kind of shakes his head and reminds himself that a job needs to be done, even though he’s not as happy about doing it as before.
This series should be a lesson in how to create a story that SHOWS instead of TELLING all the time. I am very much a Will/Alicia shipper, but the moment where Alicia giggles with Peter in bed made me have some weird kind of hope for their marriage.
Glee: I thought this episode was WAY better than the Superbowl episode. I liked seeing Blaine suffer a little (he's been way too perfect on this show). But I'm not really liking what Finn is doing. Does he not see what a hypocrite he's being? And what's up with Quinn? Are we taking all her character development and flushing it down the toilet?
The Middle: I must admit that I felt a little bit of understanding for the mom as she went around trying to “date” her teenage son. As my son gets older, I see him getting more and more involved in a world that doesn’t include me. I’m lucky that my son still wants to hang out with me, but I can easily imagine a time when that will not be the case. Sue Heck continues to portray adolescent angst in a way that is very relatable. I really wish this new guy will do more than walk down a very short hallway with her, but – knowing this show – I don’t see that ever happening. And I want to know how to get banned from my kids’ schools! I hate going to these party things. If only I could get banned.
Modern Family: Delightful sequel to last year’s episode. The return of Clive and Julianna! Hilarious. My only gripe is that you could see the punch line coming from a mile away. It’s a well worn TV trope. (Unlike last year, when it was a genuine hilarious surprise that Claire’s belt got caught in the escalator and she bumped into her dad wearing nothing underneath.)
I also found the Cam/Mitchell storyline to be a little cliché. I also couldn’t quite figure out why Cam and Mitch assumed that the assistant had a crush on EITHER of them. Maybe he just felt lonely during the holidays and was jealous that his gay boss was in such a committed and loving relationship. I really wish that Cam/Mitch would get better storylines, because they are a hilarious couple when they’re written well. They’re annoying when they’re not.
The winner for the episode, for me, was the storyline with Gloria and Jay. The final, “I WEEN!!” was a laugh out loud moment for me. I adore Gloria and the look on Jay’s face was priceless. You know he wishes he won, but he realizes – in that moment – how incredibly proud he is of Gloria for one-upping him. I love that this show takes a May/December romance and makes is so profoundly romantic and believable. (“I am the second wife, Jay. Why do you keep treating me like a FIRST?” will go down as one of the best lines of TV ever.)
The Big Bang Theory: Not a fan of this episode. The only genuinely funny moment was the Skype call between Sheldon and Amy Farah Fowler. The horror at the money going to the humanities was laugh out loud funny to me (I work in a university at a humanities department). But the cliché story of a man who has to have sex with an older woman to “take one for the team” just seemed outdated. Also, it seemed to be the sort of story that would have made sense in the first season (where three of these four geeks were desperate to get it on with ANYONE). Now, though? Leonard has been in a relationship with Penny and seems to get around otherwise. With the exception of Raj, they all seem to have found some sort of peace with themselves when it comes to relationships with women. Perhaps this episode would have worked better if Raj had been the one to take one for the team?
Community: This show owns my heart. It has fast become the show that I look forward to every single week. (Last week’s episode made me do something I never, ever do with my TV: I hit rewind as soon as it finished and watched it AGAIN.) Like many shows this past week, the series focused on V-Day. Of course, this is “Community”, so they did with a dance. We had Britta (“the needlessly defiant”) decide to be friends with a girl because she thought that said girl was a lesbian (and that it would make her cool, natch). The problem? The girl was straight and was only friends with Britta because she thought BRITTA was a lesbian.
I’m going to be honest and say that the only reason this story worked for me was because of Annie’s reactions. Having her stand by with a girl very similar to her and just REACT to everything Britta was doing was awesome. (Alison Brie – please win an Emmy at some point in your career. I fell in love with you during “Mad Men” and have carried over my love to “Community”.)
Pierce has been a total jerk for the past couple of episodes and we finally find out why. I don’t follow spoilers for this show, so – last week – I was incredibly pissed at what they were doing with Pierce and thought they went overboard with his cruelty. I should have known better and trusted the writers of this brilliant show. We learn now that he’s suffering from a pill addiction. I’m interested to see where they are going with this.
I loved the Abed/Troy storyline. The bromance between these two surpasses roma ships on other shows. (How HOT was that librarian? And where have I seen her before?) Jeff hosting a soccer game party in his apartment? Quite funny. But not the part of the episode I liked the best.
Smallville: Jade and I will be posting our recap/review of “Beacon” soon. So I won’t go into it here.
Fringe: Oh, for the love of all that is holy. I had heard rumblings on various message boards that this was going to be coming up. I don’t know what to make of it. I am not a Fauxlivia fan. Last week, when they told us that Peter still had feelings for her and that the fate of the world depends on which Olivia he chooses, I started to bang my head against the wall. Really, show? That Olivia killed people in cold blood and Peter still has feelings for her?
My only other comment about this episode is that I found it to be a very “romance” focused episode. (Was it in honor of V-Day?) We’ve got Fauxlivia reuniting with her boyfriend and he proposes to her (she accepts) and then he finds out she’s pregnant and that he’s not the baby-daddy. Add in that her new boss has the hots for her (can’t remember his name) and that Bug Girl has a crush on her partner. Not only that, but even Walternate is getting some from a hot Asian chick who is not his wife.
I felt like I’d stumbled onto some THIRD alternate universe called “what would happen if this show aired on the CW”. For crying out loud.
It was such a contrast to “our” world, where Peter/Olivia have some angst when it comes to their ship, but they’re fairly businesslike about it and the whole world doesn’t obsess over love. Well, it does a little (everyone has their opinions on the Peter/Olivia ship) but not to this extent. They don't all act like hormonal teenagers. Still – “Fringe” definitely has me on the edge of my seat as I wait to see how this all pans out.
Supernatural: I’m just so done with this “Sam has a soul but it’s damaged” storyline. This season long arc is not working for me. (Maybe it’s because I’m not a Sam fan and I hit the snooze button when it’s a Sam-centric episode.) This episode was light on Dean, so I should have known I wouldn’t love it. But I still wasn’t prepared for being as BORED as I was by it. Even my husband (who really likes this show) turned to me and remarked that he found the Sam-plot to be overdone and boring & that he just wants the show to move on. Last week’s episode (Like a Virgin) was very strong and it really left off on a cool cliff-hanger regarding the season’s monster/purgatory arc. I want to get back to that. I don’t follow spoilers for this show, so I have no clue where this is all headed, but I do hope that Sam’s soul problem gets resolved – once and for all – in next week’s episode.
Monday | 02.07
How I Met Your Mother: Not a fan of Katy Perry, but she was OK in this episode. I really enjoyed the running gag that Marshall had regressed to his high school self when at home in Minnesota. (Doesn’t that happen to all of us?) Barney being a man slut is becoming VERY boring. I want them to bring on the story of his father already and then he needs to hook back up with Robin. I’m a Barney/Robin shipper and I’m still pissed at how they handled that ship. I don’t really know what to think about Zoey. This show is a little bit like “Smallville” to me – since I know that Ted ends up with “the mother”, I find that I can’t get emotionally invested in any relationship he has with people who are NOT the mother.
Tuesday | 02.08
The Good Wife: Oh my God, I adore this show. I am loving the internal politics and how the Will and Diane are trying to regain control of the firm. Loved the little moments where they burst into giddy laughter at how much they’re enjoying playing mind games with their colleague. Will’s girlfriend annoys the pants off of me and I can’t decide if it’s because of how they’ve written her or because she’s played by Elizabeth Reaser. The woman has annoyed me since her stint on “Grey’s Anatomy”.
Alicia continues to be fun to watch and her games with the lawyer played by Michael J. Fox (whom I adore with the passion of a thousand suns) was interesting. I was really glad to see Kalinda get a bit of a backseat in this episode, but her goal to become the Chloe Sullivan of this series continues as she grabs a hold of Alicia’s computer and instantly solves the mole problem. (But since this is NOT “SV”, she solves it wrong and Will pieces it together later.) As usual, Eli Gold was awesome and I really loved the expression on his face when he hears why the high school music teacher wants to back up Peter. For a second, his cynical heart melted. And then he kind of shakes his head and reminds himself that a job needs to be done, even though he’s not as happy about doing it as before.
This series should be a lesson in how to create a story that SHOWS instead of TELLING all the time. I am very much a Will/Alicia shipper, but the moment where Alicia giggles with Peter in bed made me have some weird kind of hope for their marriage.
Glee: I thought this episode was WAY better than the Superbowl episode. I liked seeing Blaine suffer a little (he's been way too perfect on this show). But I'm not really liking what Finn is doing. Does he not see what a hypocrite he's being? And what's up with Quinn? Are we taking all her character development and flushing it down the toilet?
Wednesday | 02.09
The Middle: I must admit that I felt a little bit of understanding for the mom as she went around trying to “date” her teenage son. As my son gets older, I see him getting more and more involved in a world that doesn’t include me. I’m lucky that my son still wants to hang out with me, but I can easily imagine a time when that will not be the case. Sue Heck continues to portray adolescent angst in a way that is very relatable. I really wish this new guy will do more than walk down a very short hallway with her, but – knowing this show – I don’t see that ever happening. And I want to know how to get banned from my kids’ schools! I hate going to these party things. If only I could get banned.
Modern Family: Delightful sequel to last year’s episode. The return of Clive and Julianna! Hilarious. My only gripe is that you could see the punch line coming from a mile away. It’s a well worn TV trope. (Unlike last year, when it was a genuine hilarious surprise that Claire’s belt got caught in the escalator and she bumped into her dad wearing nothing underneath.)
I also found the Cam/Mitchell storyline to be a little cliché. I also couldn’t quite figure out why Cam and Mitch assumed that the assistant had a crush on EITHER of them. Maybe he just felt lonely during the holidays and was jealous that his gay boss was in such a committed and loving relationship. I really wish that Cam/Mitch would get better storylines, because they are a hilarious couple when they’re written well. They’re annoying when they’re not.
The winner for the episode, for me, was the storyline with Gloria and Jay. The final, “I WEEN!!” was a laugh out loud moment for me. I adore Gloria and the look on Jay’s face was priceless. You know he wishes he won, but he realizes – in that moment – how incredibly proud he is of Gloria for one-upping him. I love that this show takes a May/December romance and makes is so profoundly romantic and believable. (“I am the second wife, Jay. Why do you keep treating me like a FIRST?” will go down as one of the best lines of TV ever.)
Thursday | 02.10
The Big Bang Theory: Not a fan of this episode. The only genuinely funny moment was the Skype call between Sheldon and Amy Farah Fowler. The horror at the money going to the humanities was laugh out loud funny to me (I work in a university at a humanities department). But the cliché story of a man who has to have sex with an older woman to “take one for the team” just seemed outdated. Also, it seemed to be the sort of story that would have made sense in the first season (where three of these four geeks were desperate to get it on with ANYONE). Now, though? Leonard has been in a relationship with Penny and seems to get around otherwise. With the exception of Raj, they all seem to have found some sort of peace with themselves when it comes to relationships with women. Perhaps this episode would have worked better if Raj had been the one to take one for the team?
Community: This show owns my heart. It has fast become the show that I look forward to every single week. (Last week’s episode made me do something I never, ever do with my TV: I hit rewind as soon as it finished and watched it AGAIN.) Like many shows this past week, the series focused on V-Day. Of course, this is “Community”, so they did with a dance. We had Britta (“the needlessly defiant”) decide to be friends with a girl because she thought that said girl was a lesbian (and that it would make her cool, natch). The problem? The girl was straight and was only friends with Britta because she thought BRITTA was a lesbian.
I’m going to be honest and say that the only reason this story worked for me was because of Annie’s reactions. Having her stand by with a girl very similar to her and just REACT to everything Britta was doing was awesome. (Alison Brie – please win an Emmy at some point in your career. I fell in love with you during “Mad Men” and have carried over my love to “Community”.)
Pierce has been a total jerk for the past couple of episodes and we finally find out why. I don’t follow spoilers for this show, so – last week – I was incredibly pissed at what they were doing with Pierce and thought they went overboard with his cruelty. I should have known better and trusted the writers of this brilliant show. We learn now that he’s suffering from a pill addiction. I’m interested to see where they are going with this.
I loved the Abed/Troy storyline. The bromance between these two surpasses roma ships on other shows. (How HOT was that librarian? And where have I seen her before?) Jeff hosting a soccer game party in his apartment? Quite funny. But not the part of the episode I liked the best.
Friday | 02.11
Smallville: Jade and I will be posting our recap/review of “Beacon” soon. So I won’t go into it here.
Fringe: Oh, for the love of all that is holy. I had heard rumblings on various message boards that this was going to be coming up. I don’t know what to make of it. I am not a Fauxlivia fan. Last week, when they told us that Peter still had feelings for her and that the fate of the world depends on which Olivia he chooses, I started to bang my head against the wall. Really, show? That Olivia killed people in cold blood and Peter still has feelings for her?
My only other comment about this episode is that I found it to be a very “romance” focused episode. (Was it in honor of V-Day?) We’ve got Fauxlivia reuniting with her boyfriend and he proposes to her (she accepts) and then he finds out she’s pregnant and that he’s not the baby-daddy. Add in that her new boss has the hots for her (can’t remember his name) and that Bug Girl has a crush on her partner. Not only that, but even Walternate is getting some from a hot Asian chick who is not his wife.
I felt like I’d stumbled onto some THIRD alternate universe called “what would happen if this show aired on the CW”. For crying out loud.
It was such a contrast to “our” world, where Peter/Olivia have some angst when it comes to their ship, but they’re fairly businesslike about it and the whole world doesn’t obsess over love. Well, it does a little (everyone has their opinions on the Peter/Olivia ship) but not to this extent. They don't all act like hormonal teenagers. Still – “Fringe” definitely has me on the edge of my seat as I wait to see how this all pans out.
Supernatural: I’m just so done with this “Sam has a soul but it’s damaged” storyline. This season long arc is not working for me. (Maybe it’s because I’m not a Sam fan and I hit the snooze button when it’s a Sam-centric episode.) This episode was light on Dean, so I should have known I wouldn’t love it. But I still wasn’t prepared for being as BORED as I was by it. Even my husband (who really likes this show) turned to me and remarked that he found the Sam-plot to be overdone and boring & that he just wants the show to move on. Last week’s episode (Like a Virgin) was very strong and it really left off on a cool cliff-hanger regarding the season’s monster/purgatory arc. I want to get back to that. I don’t follow spoilers for this show, so I have no clue where this is all headed, but I do hope that Sam’s soul problem gets resolved – once and for all – in next week’s episode.
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 09:56 am (UTC)Anyhoo, sorry for how random this is, but I found myself nodding along while I read this, so I had to drop you a line.
Well, have a good one!
P.S. Of the shows you listed, the only shows I don't watch are The Good Wife and your Friday list (minus Smallville of course). Strange how similar tastes can be right? I guess we will see just how similar after you answer the Jeff/Annie, Jeff/Britta question, lol.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 04:15 pm (UTC)Hhhmm.... why do I feel like the shipping question for "Community" is a trick question? LOL
I don't think I watched "Community" through shipper eyes early on. But, to be honest, the Annie/Jeff ship has grown on me. I've missed quite a bit of S1 (I need to go back and re-watch) and so I didn't watch a lot of episodes that focused on Britta/Jeff as a ship. So it could just be that I'm not being fair enough to that ship.
For now, in S2, I don't see Britta/Jeff that well suited for each other. She seems a little too... brittle... to me. She can see though Jeff's bullshit, but she seems to be too much of a bullshitter herself. (Oh, God, I cannot get the "Britta, the Needlessly Defiant" description out of my head, because I thought it was so spot on.) Annie, though... I feel like she can see through Jeff's BS, but also has the ability make Jeff want to be a better person. I don't think Britta inspires Jeff like that.
Having said all that, I'm not a rabid shipper on "Community". That may change as time goes on, but - for now - I'm content to just sit back and watch what they give me. Because I actually do think that no ship is going to 'win' in Community. I don't imagine that the show will end with Jeff getting an HEA with any of the girls.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 09:19 pm (UTC)Annie/Jeff was the "correct" answer. LOL. I just started watching Community, but the two of them caught my eye right away.
Dan Harmon (the creator) said in the dvd commentary on the season 1 dvd (which there is Commentary on EVERY episode, SO cool), that the Jeff/Annie thing came out of nowhere. Then once he watched it, Joel/Alison's chemistry exploded and the fans responded. He has said also that he looks to the fans for the relationship stuff, which I think is pretty awesome.
Here are two cute clips from the debate episode in season one, if you are interested (and have not seen it yet). Annie and Jeff have to partner for debate (man is good v. man is evil) and Jeff only gets into it after the other school makes fun of Annie. Oh and the rest of the group is freaked out because Abed's movies appear to be predicting the future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZHm1eZ288o& --preparing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj-J_NKiqlY& --the debate
If you do become a bit more shippy in the Jeff/Annie direction, you should check out the Milady_Milord Live Journal. Have you seen how Jeff and Annie call eachother that yet? It is a fun time over there and we would love to have you.
Oh and I know you write AMAZING Smallville fanfiction, but should you ever feel the need to write some for Community, I would selfishly welcome it.
Anyhoo, thanks for the great SV ff and keep up your amazing taste in tv, lol.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-27 05:58 pm (UTC)Yeah, I could see how the Annie/Jeff thing stems from the fantastic chemistry that Brie/McHale have together. (I got the sense that the show as trying to set up Britta/Jeff as an OTP, but just veered off somewhere else in mid-S1.)
So there is a chance that Jeff/Annie shippers could be vocal enough to get MORE of the ship? Sign me up.
And "Community" fanfic? Hhhmm... I'll have to see where my muse goes. The honest fact is that I'm trying to get back to working on original fiction. (I'm attempting to write my first romance novel.) So once SV goes off air, I was hoping to channel my writing energy back into that. But - who knows - Annie/Jeff just might make invested in writing fic outside of SV.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-27 06:31 pm (UTC)And yes, I believe that Britta/Jeff was the OTP, but then the debate episode happened and the response to Jeff/Annie changed things. I think the Jeff/Britta relationship has run dry. I think they are funny, but they remind me of a brother/sister pairing. Plus, did you see the season 2 opening? Gross. However the season 1 finale...I am not sure what you have seen and therefore do not want to spoil anything, but I think that it is a very telling episode.
And yes, Dan Harmon enjoys hearing from the fans about pairings. Please be vocal. Comment on those weekly behind the scenes videos he posts on youtube.
I wish you luck on your novel. Maybe reading some Annie/Jeff fanfic will inspire your mouse. There is plenty on M/M (Milady/Milord). One of my favorites is "There is Only One Girl in the World for You." It is long, but really good. Here is the link (just scroll down a bit)...
http://community.livejournal.com/milady_milord/tag/author%3A%20lapacifidora
Plus, I find M/M one of the easiest LJs to navigate. The way they tag authors and posts makes finding things very simple.
Anyway, happy reading and writing.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 04:36 pm (UTC)Sana i just wanted to say that for some reason or another thanks to your reviews and very intriguing series poster i'm now completely hooked on Fringe.
I was a little skeptical before i began but after i started watching it, (after reading this review, which i understood nothing of btw cause Fringe is so complicated. It just made me curious enough to watch the first few episodes.) i've come too a conclusing.... Fringe is one of the best series on tv right now! I've almost caught up now and i every single episode of season 3 i'm on the edge of my seat too! The suspense is almost killing me, can't wait to see how it ends.
Anyway sorry for the ramble. Just wanted to say thanks for hooking me to this awesome series.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 05:02 pm (UTC)Yes, "Fringe" is definitely the most confusing show on TV right now. I'm glad you're liking it. I hope that they get another season, because there is so much more they can do with this show.