Boatload of quick TV Thoughts
These aren't all the shows I'm watching, just the ones I started thinking of while writing the post. Some are more than a few paragraphs (hello, TBBT) while others are a line or two (TAR, I still love you, though!) So read on ...
Community - This is closer to the show I love, but as I told zombieboogie, I need more episodes like this to get me back. In my opinion, Dan Harmon and co. have gone so completely off-base in what made this show such a wonderful little gem for me. And even with what I did love about this episode, I still had issues. I've tried to hold back my shipper tendencies because I loved this show so beyond the shipper aspect, but what they've done to Jeff and Annie and the beautiful growth of their relationship last season has really soured me. I couldn't even fully enjoy their interaction in this one because (a) Jeff called Annie a bitch! and (b) Britta was right there with the two of them involved in that heated, stripping moment.
Also, while I feel that the Jeff/Annie stuff has mostly been downplayed, pushed to the sidelines or flat-out ignored, we've continued to get tons of Jeff/Britta, and it feels to me (although, I could be completely wrong, I admit) as if Harmon is showing his colors. He may say that he's not into shipping, he may say things now or then that point to positivity for Jeff and Annie, but it appears to me through the continuous Jeff/Britta stuff that they are his couple, and likely always will be.
With that said, I did love most of this episode. And I really did love the little Jeff/Annie smile at the end. I adored pretty much every Troy moment. The return of Annie's Boobs was hysterical, and it cracked me up that the Dean so completely overlooked the destruction to the study room when Abed called him a non-miraculous believer. And any episode that highlights Alison Brie is always a-okay for me. I hope I'm wrong about my fears; I really hope that the last episode and this one are the road back to the show I love with the OTT meta episodes popping up only now and then. I hope so.
The Big Bang Theory - Well, this episode proved it. My dislike of Leonard/Penny has absolutely nothing to do with my love Sheldon and Penny. Why? Because I love Amy now. I think she and Sheldon are hysterical together, and even with my S/P love still strong because of that dang Parsons/Cuoco chemistry and the characters' yin and yang, I kinda think they are adorable. On the other hand? Leonard and Penny and ANYTHING that hints at the laughable (and not in a good way) idea that Penny actually loves Leonard is just ludicrous.
My God, show, THEY DO NOT WORK. THEY REALLY, REALLY DO NOT WORK. No chemistry, no believability, nothing. Nada, zilch, zip, zero. How can a show that gets so much right, with producers with so much experience refuse to see that this pushing of Leonard and Penny is so very wrong. There is so little support for this pairing, and the show is so very much better when they are just friends. What started out as a marvelously, girl-driven B-plot fell flatter than a pancake once they veered into the Leonard-Penny territory because ... it makes no frickin' sense. Nothing we saw prior to and, especially, during their relationship showed a Penny who could possibly be in love with Leonard. Unless, she's a masochist and truly only falls for guys who see her as nothing but a great lay and disrespect her ... because that is all Leonard did with her. Ugh. The utter loathing I have for this pairing knows no bounds.
As for the Wil Wheaton plot, sigh, again, I wasn't crazy about it. So far, out of three appearances, I've really only liked one (the second), but to be fair, that episode was one of my all-time favorites, and this one I did like better than his first appearance. And I must point out that I did ABSOLUTELY adore one aspect of it. As I suspected, Wil Wheaton really did tweet those tweets that Sheldon read on his actual Twitter feed here and here. HAH! LOVED THAT SO MUCH! I also loved the little moments between Raj and Sheldon, him wanting to be Short Round, and then Raj being the one who knew how to get Sheldon's attention. Aww! I love those two together.
I also continue to squee over every single moment Bernadette is onscreen. Dang, she's utterly delightful and adorable. And, yes, I meant what I said above, I do love Amy now. I still think Mayim Bialik did a terrible job in the finale last season, and I don't see her as Sheldon-ish, with Amy, she really does seem to have some sort of medical condition, but she's still sweetly endearing in a different way than Sheldon is. I particuarly loved her repeated: "I'm a girl." Hee!
Still with all I did love, I was bummed about the episode overall because of the damn Leonard/Penny "romance" rearing its head again. UGH! But, hey, it did give us Amy and Penny making out ... erm, sorta.
Fringe - Oh, I love this so show so much. Who do I not love? Fricking FOlivia. Go away, I hate her! Stop touching and kissing Peter. He belongs to the real Olivia, damnit, not you, you stupid poser! I really hope that promo for next week is legit and not leading us on, I want MY Olivia back where she belongs, there to unmask that non-Olivia-person.
Ahem, moving on ... there were so many little moments I did love. I smiled so widely when Walter decided to help Peter at the end, and I loved Peter's answer to the poser -- he would look for a better way. Take that, loser! I also loved seeing Astrid kick intellectual ass. You go, Astrid! And the Nina/Walter scene was just lovely. Finally, I love how our Statue of Liberty changed to their copper one (which I'd noticed last week), very cool. All in all, just another solid, awesome episode with an interesting case that nicely dovetailed with the overarching conspriracy, and also gave us some little character moments that were great. Love this show so.
Just Desserts - I know I have barely posted about this, but I'm loving it. Gail Simmons is ten times the host that Padma is, and they hit jackpot with just about every contestant. I'm shocked that not only is Danielle the last woman standing, but that she made it to the final three AND won the last challenge before the finale. Shocker! I'm not surprised at all that Morgan and Yigit were in the final three, I've been calling that since about half-way through the season. My sister ADORES Yigit -- more than any reality contestant ever for her, while Morgan was my early favorite, then he lost me, but in recent weeks, he's gained me back. I want Morgan to win, but I like Yigit, so if he wins, I'm cool, and I'll be happy for my sister that her fave won.
Survivor - Great season so far, I'm just loving it. My favorites are Brenda, Jane and (hah!) Fabio. I didn't like Marty, and I'm shocked -- but thrilled with the actual intelligent decision -- that the tribe actually voted him off. He was a smart cookie, and the longer he went in the game the more chances I think he'd have to worm his way to the top, so good move on getting rid of him. That Dan is still there is almost comical, LOL! Naonka? I don't know. Sometimes I'm amused (if in a flabbergasted way) over what she comes up with, other times I'm appalled, but I can't help but respect that I don't think she's putting on a show for the cameras, I think she's just being who she is and very, very few reality show contestants do that. I have a feeling that she's the kind of person who in normal life is a total trip to have as a friend. But again, reality tv, editing, I could be completely wrong, LOL!
The Amazing Race - Great season this time around! Woohoo! I love that we have two kick-ass all-girl teams, and I could see either win ... and be quite happy with either win. I prefer the doctors, but I love the hosts too. Uhm, yeah, that's about it.
Dancing with the Stars - My favorite (Kurt) went home last week because the political voting block kept the awful Bristol Palin in. I'm not saying Kurt was great (he wasn't), but he was better than Bristol. Ugh. I like Jennifer Grey, and I still mostly like Derek, but even I'm getting sick and tired of the show handing him such obvious front-runners every frickin' season! I want Maks to have a shot at winning (finally!), but I have to admit that I don't really like Brandi, and she and Maks have no chemistry.
With Kurt gone, my favorite is now Kyle. I loved Kyle on That's So Raven -- What? Before Raven began to work for that fashion designer, the show was fantastic!, and Kyle's character was my favorite -- and he's bringing so much joy, humor and heart to DwtS this season. Him and Lacey have a sweet, fun chemistry and I'm loving the two of them ... even if I'm still not digging the blonde hair. Oh, Lacey. I know they won't win, it'll be Jennifer/Derek or Brandy/Maks. I'm torn because I'd want J/D to win for Jennifer Grey (because nobody puts Baby in the corner!), but I'd want B/M to win for Maks because, dangit, he deserves a win. Either way, I won't be 100% happy, but, eh, whatcha gonna do?
As always, Tom Bergeron is fantastic, and Brooke Burke has improved mightily since last season and is heads and tails above Samantha Harris. So yay!
The Good Wife - I had a few issues with the last few episodes of the last season so I was worried about how things were going to play out this season, but I have to say that it's as good as it ever was, and last night was no exception. I adore Lili Taylor so anytime I get to see her on my screen is a great thing, and her Donna and Kalinda were hot together with an interestingly angsty backstory. I want more! Michael J. Fox was, well, Michael J. Fox, in other words ... fantastic. I'm missing the Alicia/Will moments lately, but I'm sure we'll start to get some juicy stuff as the season progresses.
Castle - Oh, you remain as delightful as ever! I love Castle, I love Martha, I love Esposito and Ryan, I really like Beckett and Alexis. I find myself utterly charmed by almost every closing scene and any show that has me smiling at the end of each episode is a definite winner in my book. And I really love how they're writing the Castle/Beckett romance, the will-they-wont-they aspect of it is being stretched out just believably enough that it totally works for me.
Community - This is closer to the show I love, but as I told zombieboogie, I need more episodes like this to get me back. In my opinion, Dan Harmon and co. have gone so completely off-base in what made this show such a wonderful little gem for me. And even with what I did love about this episode, I still had issues. I've tried to hold back my shipper tendencies because I loved this show so beyond the shipper aspect, but what they've done to Jeff and Annie and the beautiful growth of their relationship last season has really soured me. I couldn't even fully enjoy their interaction in this one because (a) Jeff called Annie a bitch! and (b) Britta was right there with the two of them involved in that heated, stripping moment.
Also, while I feel that the Jeff/Annie stuff has mostly been downplayed, pushed to the sidelines or flat-out ignored, we've continued to get tons of Jeff/Britta, and it feels to me (although, I could be completely wrong, I admit) as if Harmon is showing his colors. He may say that he's not into shipping, he may say things now or then that point to positivity for Jeff and Annie, but it appears to me through the continuous Jeff/Britta stuff that they are his couple, and likely always will be.
With that said, I did love most of this episode. And I really did love the little Jeff/Annie smile at the end. I adored pretty much every Troy moment. The return of Annie's Boobs was hysterical, and it cracked me up that the Dean so completely overlooked the destruction to the study room when Abed called him a non-miraculous believer. And any episode that highlights Alison Brie is always a-okay for me. I hope I'm wrong about my fears; I really hope that the last episode and this one are the road back to the show I love with the OTT meta episodes popping up only now and then. I hope so.
The Big Bang Theory - Well, this episode proved it. My dislike of Leonard/Penny has absolutely nothing to do with my love Sheldon and Penny. Why? Because I love Amy now. I think she and Sheldon are hysterical together, and even with my S/P love still strong because of that dang Parsons/Cuoco chemistry and the characters' yin and yang, I kinda think they are adorable. On the other hand? Leonard and Penny and ANYTHING that hints at the laughable (and not in a good way) idea that Penny actually loves Leonard is just ludicrous.
My God, show, THEY DO NOT WORK. THEY REALLY, REALLY DO NOT WORK. No chemistry, no believability, nothing. Nada, zilch, zip, zero. How can a show that gets so much right, with producers with so much experience refuse to see that this pushing of Leonard and Penny is so very wrong. There is so little support for this pairing, and the show is so very much better when they are just friends. What started out as a marvelously, girl-driven B-plot fell flatter than a pancake once they veered into the Leonard-Penny territory because ... it makes no frickin' sense. Nothing we saw prior to and, especially, during their relationship showed a Penny who could possibly be in love with Leonard. Unless, she's a masochist and truly only falls for guys who see her as nothing but a great lay and disrespect her ... because that is all Leonard did with her. Ugh. The utter loathing I have for this pairing knows no bounds.
As for the Wil Wheaton plot, sigh, again, I wasn't crazy about it. So far, out of three appearances, I've really only liked one (the second), but to be fair, that episode was one of my all-time favorites, and this one I did like better than his first appearance. And I must point out that I did ABSOLUTELY adore one aspect of it. As I suspected, Wil Wheaton really did tweet those tweets that Sheldon read on his actual Twitter feed here and here. HAH! LOVED THAT SO MUCH! I also loved the little moments between Raj and Sheldon, him wanting to be Short Round, and then Raj being the one who knew how to get Sheldon's attention. Aww! I love those two together.
I also continue to squee over every single moment Bernadette is onscreen. Dang, she's utterly delightful and adorable. And, yes, I meant what I said above, I do love Amy now. I still think Mayim Bialik did a terrible job in the finale last season, and I don't see her as Sheldon-ish, with Amy, she really does seem to have some sort of medical condition, but she's still sweetly endearing in a different way than Sheldon is. I particuarly loved her repeated: "I'm a girl." Hee!
Still with all I did love, I was bummed about the episode overall because of the damn Leonard/Penny "romance" rearing its head again. UGH! But, hey, it did give us Amy and Penny making out ... erm, sorta.
Fringe - Oh, I love this so show so much. Who do I not love? Fricking FOlivia. Go away, I hate her! Stop touching and kissing Peter. He belongs to the real Olivia, damnit, not you, you stupid poser! I really hope that promo for next week is legit and not leading us on, I want MY Olivia back where she belongs, there to unmask that non-Olivia-person.
Ahem, moving on ... there were so many little moments I did love. I smiled so widely when Walter decided to help Peter at the end, and I loved Peter's answer to the poser -- he would look for a better way. Take that, loser! I also loved seeing Astrid kick intellectual ass. You go, Astrid! And the Nina/Walter scene was just lovely. Finally, I love how our Statue of Liberty changed to their copper one (which I'd noticed last week), very cool. All in all, just another solid, awesome episode with an interesting case that nicely dovetailed with the overarching conspriracy, and also gave us some little character moments that were great. Love this show so.
Just Desserts - I know I have barely posted about this, but I'm loving it. Gail Simmons is ten times the host that Padma is, and they hit jackpot with just about every contestant. I'm shocked that not only is Danielle the last woman standing, but that she made it to the final three AND won the last challenge before the finale. Shocker! I'm not surprised at all that Morgan and Yigit were in the final three, I've been calling that since about half-way through the season. My sister ADORES Yigit -- more than any reality contestant ever for her, while Morgan was my early favorite, then he lost me, but in recent weeks, he's gained me back. I want Morgan to win, but I like Yigit, so if he wins, I'm cool, and I'll be happy for my sister that her fave won.
Survivor - Great season so far, I'm just loving it. My favorites are Brenda, Jane and (hah!) Fabio. I didn't like Marty, and I'm shocked -- but thrilled with the actual intelligent decision -- that the tribe actually voted him off. He was a smart cookie, and the longer he went in the game the more chances I think he'd have to worm his way to the top, so good move on getting rid of him. That Dan is still there is almost comical, LOL! Naonka? I don't know. Sometimes I'm amused (if in a flabbergasted way) over what she comes up with, other times I'm appalled, but I can't help but respect that I don't think she's putting on a show for the cameras, I think she's just being who she is and very, very few reality show contestants do that. I have a feeling that she's the kind of person who in normal life is a total trip to have as a friend. But again, reality tv, editing, I could be completely wrong, LOL!
The Amazing Race - Great season this time around! Woohoo! I love that we have two kick-ass all-girl teams, and I could see either win ... and be quite happy with either win. I prefer the doctors, but I love the hosts too. Uhm, yeah, that's about it.
Dancing with the Stars - My favorite (Kurt) went home last week because the political voting block kept the awful Bristol Palin in. I'm not saying Kurt was great (he wasn't), but he was better than Bristol. Ugh. I like Jennifer Grey, and I still mostly like Derek, but even I'm getting sick and tired of the show handing him such obvious front-runners every frickin' season! I want Maks to have a shot at winning (finally!), but I have to admit that I don't really like Brandi, and she and Maks have no chemistry.
With Kurt gone, my favorite is now Kyle. I loved Kyle on That's So Raven -- What? Before Raven began to work for that fashion designer, the show was fantastic!, and Kyle's character was my favorite -- and he's bringing so much joy, humor and heart to DwtS this season. Him and Lacey have a sweet, fun chemistry and I'm loving the two of them ... even if I'm still not digging the blonde hair. Oh, Lacey. I know they won't win, it'll be Jennifer/Derek or Brandy/Maks. I'm torn because I'd want J/D to win for Jennifer Grey (because nobody puts Baby in the corner!), but I'd want B/M to win for Maks because, dangit, he deserves a win. Either way, I won't be 100% happy, but, eh, whatcha gonna do?
As always, Tom Bergeron is fantastic, and Brooke Burke has improved mightily since last season and is heads and tails above Samantha Harris. So yay!
The Good Wife - I had a few issues with the last few episodes of the last season so I was worried about how things were going to play out this season, but I have to say that it's as good as it ever was, and last night was no exception. I adore Lili Taylor so anytime I get to see her on my screen is a great thing, and her Donna and Kalinda were hot together with an interestingly angsty backstory. I want more! Michael J. Fox was, well, Michael J. Fox, in other words ... fantastic. I'm missing the Alicia/Will moments lately, but I'm sure we'll start to get some juicy stuff as the season progresses.
Castle - Oh, you remain as delightful as ever! I love Castle, I love Martha, I love Esposito and Ryan, I really like Beckett and Alexis. I find myself utterly charmed by almost every closing scene and any show that has me smiling at the end of each episode is a definite winner in my book. And I really love how they're writing the Castle/Beckett romance, the will-they-wont-they aspect of it is being stretched out just believably enough that it totally works for me.