We’re now two episodes into Parenthood, and I’m still not sure about it. It’s certainly not a bad show, but it just isn’t as tight and polished as I want in a drama. With so many extremely high quality dramas out there these days (see: Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Damages, The Good Wife, et al), I’m not sure that I have room in my viewing schedule for an hour long family drama that is just “ok.” There’s nothing fresh about this show. Even though some of the story lines are unique, they all feel a little stale.

It seems like the show is positioning Max’s Aspergers as the central plot line in the show, and honestly, I think it is the story that I’m finding the least interesting so far. Maybe I just needed more time to connect with the characters before all of this went down to really be invested in their struggle. I’m actually more interested in spending some time with Haddie and her issues. Even if the “perfect” teen acting out is one of those stale story lines I was complaining about, the character seems a lot more interesting than Max.

There were things I liked in this episode, and I’m enjoying the show overall; don’t get me wrong. I like Julia, and really felt for her in this episode. Everyone puts their foot in their mouth from time and time, most of us usually aren’t holding a microphone at the time, though. I think Erika Christensen is doing a nice job, making a pretty cold character relatable. Or, perhaps I can relate because I am also pretty cold by nature.

I’m also continuing to enjoy Lauren Graham and her character, though I can definitely see the constant yelling between her and her kids growing tiresome real quick. For me, though, this show really shines when all the characters are on screen together. That sense of close family is really great, and we got to see it tonight after the school auction, as the siblings got high off Haddie’s stash of pot. More moments like this could really help to pull the show together.

I’m certainly not giving up on Parenthood yet, there’s far too much potential here, but I would love to see something that really sucks me in. How are you feeling about the show after two episodes?

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• Parenthood – A well cast family drama, but where is the hook?
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• Community – I’m in love with Abed

After the massacre that last week’s episode of Lost turned out to be, I figured this week was going to be a quieter affair. It certainly was, as it focused much more heavily on character than action. The character in question was Mr. Ben Linus (or is that Dr. Ben Linus?). He received the flashsideways treatment this week, as we saw what his life was like after the blast. I was discussing what his flashsideways might look like just today, and I was very hopeful that we would get some information about what happened with the island. Unfortunately, the show didn’t get into much detail, but I think we learned that the timelines did indeed diverge at that moment in 1977. Ben and his father were on the island and were working with Dharma Initiative. How they survived “the incident” and got off the island, I have no idea.

Overall, I thought this episode had the most clever use of the flashsideways so far. I loved how in a fairly mundane setting like a high school, Ben was still up to his old tricks. He was still manipulating people, playing them against each other, and making plays for more power. Oddly enough, he was even still looking out for Alex. More ghosts of Lost past showed up in this episode, namely Alex (who was presumably being raised happily by her mother and only knew Ben as a teacher), and Leslie Arzt. Is it wrong that I was really hoping they could find some way to have him explode again? I loved all the parallels that the flashsideways had with Ben’s weakest moment: the death of Alex. Luckily, in this revised history, Ben was able to do the right thing by Alex and sacrifice his own chance at power for the good of her future. With Ben seemingly entrenched on team Jacob, it will be interesting to see how much redemption is in store for him before the end of the series.

The episode may have been focusing on character, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any significant mythology/big story revelations. We learned a lot more about Richard Alpert. Many of us figured that Smokey’s reference to Richard being in chains during the premiere was an allusion to the Black Rock, and that was pretty much confirmed in this episode, as the ageless Other led Jack and Hurley to the crashed ship. He was almost certainly a slave on the boat when it came to the island back in the days when the statue was more than just a four-toed foot. We also learned a little bit about the nature of his “immortality.” He claimed that when Jacob touched him (as he touched each of the candidates), he gave him a “gift.” He explained that he could not kill himself, and presumably couldn’t die of natural causes or age. We saw a similar situation with Michael in season four, when he was continually trying to off himself with no success. I would have to assume that the other candidates are in a similar situation. Whether or not any of them will age is another question altogether. It certainly makes me wonder what would have happened if Jack jumped off that bridge, though.

We also found out who was coming to the island. I may have thrown out a bunch of possibilities a couple weeks ago, but the obvious choice was the correct one. I’m glad that Widmore is getting into the final battle. There’s clearly a lot to be resolved between he and Ben, and he’s going to add a great element of tension to the show as it finishes its run.

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Gossip Girl is finding itself in a pickle. When they started, they had to make the characters at least driving age, so that they could do things like have sex in the back of limos and not be 100% creepy (just, like, 85%). However, that means that they aged out of the world that was created for them very quickly. The result is a third season in which all of the characters are cast out in the wind, with only the most tenuous of plot-lines holding them together.

So while the first two seasons were about the Humphreys trying to fit in among Upper East Side social climbers in the insular world of a Manhattan prep school, season three is about sex in fur hats and pills sewn into jackets. There’s just no direction to the show anymore. There are no stakes; nothing to which they are striving. Which is why Jenny Humphrey should die.

Gossip Girl needs a good shakeup. There isn’t a single storyline that interests me right now. Nate and Serena are together, but they’re probably going to break up, Vanessa is MIA, Dan is depressed, and Rufus and Lily are fighting. In other words, it’s like every episode ever.

The whole point of having Jenny and Eric is to have regular cast members who are young enough that we still get the school setting and all of its inherent drama. While we’ve seen a little bit of that this season, the focus has been on Jenny out of school, where her ambitions have shifted from becoming a fashion designer to an international drug dealer, or some damn thing.

Her story is boring, the dude drug dealer is weird-looking and has an abnormally-large head, and I just don’t care about this entire plot even a little bit. If they’re not going to show the school, then there’s no reason for Jenny to be on the show. Kill her off. Give the characters a story that will unite them. Use it as a tool to either bring Lily and Rufus together for good, or split them apart for good. Use her death as a cautionary tale that teaches girls why 16-year-olds should wear pants.

90210 and Melrose Place are crashing and burning. Soon, Gossip Girl is going to be the only trashy teen drama CW has. They need to represent, so let’s kill Jenny Humphrey and move on.

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After a couple of slow weeks, things pick up again this week down at the DVD emporium. A pair of newer shows, Greek and In Plain Sight, are joined by a host of classic crime-time offerings. Given the choice of The Commish, Matt Houston, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Walker Texas Ranger, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, and Wiseguy, there’s something for everyone. And if none of that works for you, perhaps you’d be interested in something new from the Hannah Montana section. My pick of the week though, is Dalziel and Pascoe. Partly because I haven’t seen it, but also because it sounds so good.

Charlie and Lola: Volume 10 – I Can’t Stop Hiccuping
The Commish: Season 1
Dalziel and Pascoe: Season 1
Greek: Chapter 4
Hannah Montana: Miley Says Goodbye
In Plain Sight: Season 2
Matt Houston: The 1st Season
Scarecrow and Mrs. King: The Complete 1st Season
Tenspeed and Brown Shoe: The Complete Series
Tremors: The Complete Series
Walker, Texas Ranger: The Complete 7th Season
Wanted: Dead or Alive: Season 2
Wiseguy: The Collector’s Edition

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• TV on DVD – Alice, Doctor Who, and Paladin
• Ratings Clack – Idol, Olympics, and the Kardashians

Also be sure to check out the behind-the-scenes video of Zach Galifianakis shaving his beard, just for this sketch!

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• Bonding, breastfeeding and mind blowing – Things That Didn’t Suck This Week

Between the ages of 14 and 22, I went to school right smack in the middle of New York City. I attended a lot of people’s fair share of parties. And never once did I hear that Mardi Gras was a regularly celebrated holiday. Not even in college. Is that really an event?

Apparently it is at CRU, because Greek turned an entire episode into one giant Mardi Gras celebration. With parades, flasher beads, and debauchery. Not that I’m offended, but do these kids really need an excuse to party?

Casey could have used one, because she was busy preparing for her LSATs, which come unusually soon for a test that takes time to prepare for. But I guess the point is that she’s running out of time now that she’s finally chosen a path for herself. For herself … not for everyone around her.

Which is a lesson she needs to learn with regard to Cappie. I get her frustration at his inability to plan for the future, and the idea that he might never be ready to graduate — an exaggeration, I’m sure, but still — is kind of hard to grasp. But whether or not it means they’ll never work together, that’s his decision to make about his own life. I’ve always had a problem with people putting pressure on others to do what they want them to do. Everyone should get to decide the trajectory of their own life — we each only get one person to steer. Let’s keep that balance in order. Discuss it. Talk through some options. But applying pressure on Cappie to move on before he’s prepared to? That doesn’t sit well with me.

Neither does Dana (Martha MacIsaac). I know he’s a nerd, but is Rusty incapable of befriending or dating normal girls? I think Rusty should have balked at the idea of helping Katherine check something like losing her virginity off of a list, but I really can’t stand Dana and her judgmental ulterior motives. And how about the unnaturalness of Katherine’s emotional distance? I don’t buy that that’s just social awkwardness. She’s too removed from everyone around her. I think her character needs to be fine-tuned a bit. But I also think that Rusty should have discussed his misgivings with her instead of just walking out. That was weird too.

Anyway, there were actually a lot of poor couplings last night. Aside from Rusty and Dana, creepy Washington guy Joel (Sam Page) and Casey turned my stomach. And while I’m glad Evan is hip to Rebecca’s game, seeing how brazenly she could go behind his back was even more sickening than Joel — what’s he still doing in Cyprus?

It was great to get some Daley again, but as the ZBZ sober sister? With Rusty more involved at the KT house and with his independent research, it looks like the writers only idea for how to involve Dale is to shoehorn him into the ZBZ house. Bad idea. Make him something for the KTs if you must, but he has no time for humor if he’s cooking for Casey and escorting drunk girls home.

By the way, did we know that Rusty’s full name was Russell Alan? I liked how Casey pulled out the full name in frustration.

“I always thought that Al Gore was rather hunky.” – Katherine, on her “bad boy” fetish

“I am prepared to dance for you.” – Katherine to Rusty, before they were going to have sex

“… And if he doesn’t find his way back to Cyprus tonight, well then res ipsa loquitur….” – Casey, on Pete
“Ooh; is that Harry Potter talk?” – Ashleigh
“It’s lawyer talk, for ‘the thing speaks for itself’.” – Casey
“Fancy!” – Ashleigh

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• Greek – What’s amazing is that the KTs had the foresight not to use real arrows
• Greek – Who wouldn’t be after Dale just for his body?

It is amazing to me that people still don’t know what blogging is on TV shows. Can’t the same networks that set up fake blogs done by their characters (who don’t exist, hello, people) at least acknowledge that by now we all know what a blog is? Okay, maybe FOX doesn’t do that, but the writers presumably don’t live under rocks. Nor, presumably, do the characters. /end rant.

For some reason, the writing seems tighter, more cohesive, better now than it did in the fall. Even though we still have House and Wilson pranking each other, and we still have sub-plots involving the interns (oh, Chase, you’re such a pretty face), the focus seems to be back on the patients and their ailments. Unlike Heather Armstrong, Frankie (Laura Prepon) doesn’t have any children. However, she is clearly a popular blogger, because she has readers from Singapore calling to offer their kidneys. Frankie’s perturbed husband mentions her audience and her desire for “hits.” Heather Armstrong supports her family with her blog.

The episode touches upon how much you can really know someone when you only know them on the Internet, whether Eric Foreman can sound condescending if Frankie only writes down what he says, and why it’s sometimes easier to be intimate with people when they aren’t looking at you. At the same time, in a parallel story line, House is reading a book of sermons by a minister. He is hiding this by replacing the dust cover with that of a Henry James novel called The Golden Bowl. Wilson and Chase cannot figure out why House is reading the book, until Chase calls the author and distributes copies to everyone. The author is a man Chase recognizes as House’s biological father.

So, now we can start with the fun facts of the episode and how everything fits together:

1) When House is speed dating, he can tell by visual clues and cues that a woman is lying to him, because she has entered fake words into her crossword puzzle. She tells people what they want to hear, after meeting them. The corollary to this is that you can’t do this on the Internet: all you have is the words. Ironically, in a world where all patients lie and everyone on the Internet lies, this patient is almost Radically Honest.

2) Laura Prepon’s character Donna on That ’70s Show dated a guy named … Eric Forman. Both are FOX shows.

3) Instead of talking to his biological father, House reads his book, trying to make a connection with the words.

4) Instead of having friends, Frankie writes her blog, trying to make a connection with the words.

5) Thirteen and Chase agree that being able to look into someone’s eyes has value: How much success would Chase have with dating if he didn’t have his pretty face aiding him?

6) The Golden Bowl is about marriage and fidelity. It is not only the book jacket House used to disguise his book, but also, he was the product of infidelity; the book was also Cameron’s favorite book, though Chase does not know what it is about. It is also about a father and a daughter– if it had been about a father and son, it would have been even more perfect, but as it is, it was a pretty neat wink.

Finally, Frankie’s case is solved because of the one thing she does NOT blog about: Poop. If it were truly Heather Armstrong’s blog Dooce, the patient would have perished. Please, somebody, tell me the writers knew that Dooce always writes about poop so they deliberately set that up.

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“Cuse and Lindelof sure better have a good explanation for why you just found a giant fucking flute in the grass, or there’s gonna be a lynch mob waiting for them this summer.”

I can’t tell you how many times I kept typing “Linux” in the title for this post before I got it right — damn IT job! Join us here again for our weekly Lost chat, where we’ll be talking about the episode as it unravels, answering some polls and trying to piece together just what in the hell is going on on this show. See you at 9 PM EST!

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I hate to say it, because I was really looking forward to the China meet, but last night’s season one finale of Make It or Break It was perhaps one of the worst season finales I have ever seen on television. And I don’t get what happened.

There were so many plots that were ripe for either exploration or conclusion last night. The second half of season one hasn’t been as stand-out as the first half, but in the last few weeks we’ve been introduced to a number of issues that were seemingly being aligned to crescendo last night. Yet somehow, one after another, each imploded on its way to the top of the mountain.

I can’t even begin to express my disgust with Sasha for allowing Kaylie to compete in the meet. Her no-show up until the last minute proved definitively that she’s no leader, and he sent the wrong message to the rest of his team by letting her back in. We didn’t see that anyone was upset about it (in fact, we didn’t even see the other members of the squad that we don’t know during Kaylie’s pep talk at all), but that’s because the script was written without anyone taking issue with Kaylie’s selfishness. But the reality of the situation? Sasha had an opportunity to pull a Coach Herman Boone from Remember the Titans, when he benched a newly repentant Petey Jones. Instead, he just reinforced the image that his only concern is his own ego.

And I say that with respect, but come on; do you imagine for one second that his asking Kaylie to perform a move that she’s never perfected was about her? Or that sending Payson in to compete was for the sake of the team? This was about Sasha proving that he was right, and mean lady from the National Committee was wrong. And I was incredibly disappointed in him for that.

Sending Payson in, Payson going in, and Kim letting her go in, was about the dumbest thing that any of them could have done. Do you realize how dangerous that was? I don’t care how simple her routine was. Had her hands slipped while she was holding herself upside down, then what? Sasha would say, “At least she tried”? Not only was the move incredibly easy to anticipate, but it was also the height of stupidity, recklessness, and poor plot direction.

As was Leo taking the note that Not-Razor left for Emily. And Carter choosing Lauren in the end, only after we knew (but he didn’t) that Kaylie had chosen him. Or no one knowing who Emily was during her interview. Or the stupid “Trust” catchphrase. It was as if everything that any casual watcher of the show could have guessed would come next, did. The entire episode was one giant dramatization of “But then why does that surprise me?”, as Kaylie said to Lauren at one point.

And Kaylie’s championship was a fluke, despite her protestations otherwise. She absolutely beat Kelly Parker head-on, but Payson would have walked away with the gold at Nationals had she not gotten injured. Is it in poor form to acknowledge that truth? Kaylie can be defensive about her lack of recognition for the accomplishment, but she had yet to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was a winner, and she knows it.

And I couldn’t wrap my head around what the meet actually proved in the end. As a competition between Sasha’s six and the National Team’s, okay. But the big picture was that it just meant that his girls sucked a little less than the National Squad when compared to the Chinese. Congratulations? Yes, if you take the medals that Emily, Lauren, and Kaylie won (amazingly, the only ones to win) and add them to the winners from the previous meet, you might have a strong team. But that’s all hypothetical. They and we can make as many guesses as we want to, but the episode failed to show how, with Emily and Kaylie added to the equation (just because she did better here doesn’t mean that Lauren’s failure in China can be erased), the new National Team would perform. All I saw were two team losses.

Look, the significance of the meet aside, these last eight episodes did not meet the high bar set by the initial run of twelve. I could call it the In Plain Sight factor, but then I’d just be poking the bear (wink). But whatever it is, they fell short, the finale in particular. I don’t know what needs to be fixed specifically, but a major overhaul is in order. That was not good.

What did you think of the finale? How about season one part two? What’s next for our ragtag crew? Let me know in your comments below.

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I don’t know what it is about it, but I love the entire genre of married life minutia jokes. All the little stuff that goes on behind closed doors (and I’m not talking sexually) that are just a part of life for married couples, and that so often go unmentioned, are ripe for comedy.

Take last night’s episode of Rules of Engagement. The effect that the snooze button has on your spouse. Oh yeah, I know that one well. I’m not a “bonus sleep” type of person like Jeff; I just like getting in another ten minutes, whether I have the time for it or not. My wife is not a heavy sleeper, so when that alarm goes off again and again every ten minutes….

Which would have been a fun joke even if it were confined to a cold open. But the entire episode evolved from that point, and culminated in a naked Jeff climbing into bed for nothing more than some sleep.

Which was all Adam and Jennifer’s fault. They really are an unconventional type, even though there’s nothing technically wrong with their nude sleeping (although I loved how Jeff reacted to their use of their sheets as one giant pair of underpants). But the whole “no side of the bed” thing? I have a great quote, which you can see below, but I feel the need to address this issue directly.

No side of the bed? Forget for a moment that getting the good side of the bed is one of the triumphs of a new marriage. What about the nightstand issue? If you don’t have a side of the bed, you can’t rely on the fact that your stuff is just an arm’s-reach away! Can you imagine that? Your book is over there. The good tissues. Your watch. The alarm clock that’s set for your needs. And if you’re my wife, your collection of paper scraps and receipts are in the other drawer. Can you imagine the madness? It would be anarchy!

Jeff and Audrey are usually my champs on this show, but never more so than last night. I enjoyed Jeff’s Jell-O theft/domestic abuse confusion, although the plot, combined with Brick getting hit by a flying beer bottle on The Middle, does make me wonder why abuse has become a source of comedy these days. But I loved when Jeff said, “I’ll pay for the damn Jell-O!”

But he and Audrey weren’t alone, joined by the battered personal assistants’ club. I’m enjoying Timmy, but in the last two weeks we’ve seen Russell turn into nothing but a caricature of himself. Is it possible that David Spade is being phased out, as we just see him sending Timmy on mission after mission? If that’s the case, I have to say that while I love the addition of Adhir Kalyan to the cast, Timmy can never fill the role that Russell plays in this group. Timmy’s cool as an extension of, but not as a replacement for, Russell.

And I must give a congratulatory shout to Jeff for his methods of cutting Audrey’s spending while she was in Cancun. Reporting her credit card stolen so that she couldn’t charge anything? Brilliant!

“We don’t have set sides of the bed.” – Jen
“We sort of lie down wherever.” – Adam
“What are you, farm animals?” – Jeff

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I’ve got to be honest with you. It’s going to be incredibly difficult to make it through an entire post about Trauma without making eighteen different brought back from the brink of death analogies, but for you, fair readers, I will make a very concerted effort. I’m sure you don’t want to read every bad pun I came up with, and trust me, they are myriad, so I leave you with only the post title.

Trauma is back, though, and back with a bang … er … well, a crash. The new and improved version of the show is supposed to see less of a budget for the big stunts, but I guess you can always drive a Jeep off of a bridge and make it work.

Where Trauma has always shined, and never gotten its due credit for, isn’t necessarily the action pieces, but the interesting character work. I’ve waxed rhapsodic time and time again about the great dynamic that is Rabbit and Nancy, but it’s not just them. The teaser saw the six medics, pilots, and EMTs complete a long shift, start to relax as a team, before collectively coming back for more. The interplay was great, as they made their decision without even speaking.

We’re going to see more of Rabbit in the next part of this season, and I think that’s a good thing. He’s one of the more interesting characters to come to our television screens this season (The other is The Deep End’s Rowdy Keiser, but you aren’t watching that, either), and taking a deeper look into his … what’s the technical term … jacked up psyche, is going to be fun for us to watch. Nancy somehow grounds him, but I think he’s going to go a bit further down the hole before he gets better (Get it? Rabbit hole? I promised no death puns, but not rabbit jokes).

Notes & Quotes:

• So Billy Riggins (the bank robber played by Friday Night Lights’ Derek Phillips) has continued the life of crime?
• Alias’ Carl Lumbly played the FBI guy (Wonder if his name was Agent Johnson?) that I have a feeling we’ll be seeing again after his run in with Rabbit.
• So if the Captain asked Boone to cover the desk, why did he go out on the hostage call?
• Then Boone totally gets thrown under the bus having to handle Rabbit? (Though, he did a damn fine job of it)
• Nice to finally see that Nancy has a flaw.
• Glad they paid Scottie Thompson guest star money to walk through two scenes.

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Jack Bauer is a very persuasive man. He always manages to figure out his opponent’s soft spot. Tonight, all the action centered on Markos, the crazy-eyed young America-hater, who locked himself in an oxygen chamber last week. I’m so used to Jack yelling and screaming, so it got my attention when he tried to reason with Markos in a calm, reassuring voice. Raise your hand if you thought that gently telling a terrorist, “Nobody’s going to hurt you,” would actually work.

Poor mom — I really felt sorry for her, especially when I thought that she might see her son blow himself to pieces in front of her eyes. Not that he doesn’t deserve it, but she at least seems like a decent person. Too bad her pleas to his sanity failed to sink in. “Sorry, mom. Gotta go kill myself now. Love ya.”

After observing Markos’s emotional attachment to his mother, Jack identified the kid’s soft spot and found a sharp stick to poke it. The video surveillance goes off (always a bad sign for the terrorists), and Jack finally turns on his persuasive voice. Yes, that voice. “Look into my eyes. LOOK INTO MY EYES!!!” *Death stare into camera* Terrorist in suicide vest bursts into tears and wets himself. Markos obviously did not want to die, because as soon as he gets out of the oxygen chamber and realizes that his vest is going to go off, he’s like, “Oh no! Get this vest off me!!!” Big, bad terrorist indeed.

This is kind of horrible, but I thought the explosion and the big red splatters were cool.

In other news, Tarin is a bad guy, and Kevin Wade is still getting Dana into trouble. Ah, the predictable fun never ends. The more we see of Tarin, the more obvious it is that he’s up to no good. Why else would we have to endure him and Kayla for this long? The old plot twist of someone suddenly realizing that their lover/relative is a terrorist has been used so many times on 24 that it no longer qualifies as a twist. If Tarin turned out to be innocent and Kayla turned out to be a terrorist, that would be a twist. Although I don’t like Kayla, I’m glad that her mother Dalia is back. The Ice Queen knows how to handle President Hassan.

What more can I say about this continued drama with Dana? When I heard the probation officer’s voice on the phone, I thought the ghost of Kevin had come back to haunt her. Dana needs to just turn off that phone and sit at her desk.

I feel like not that much actually happened this hour. I enjoyed it though. How about you — what did you think of this latest episode of 24?

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Well, that didn’t take long. At this rate, everyone in Chuck’s life will know everything there is to know about him. That said, the reveal this episode was handled masterfully, and I was so glad to see unexpected twists and turns in every direction, including the potential implications at the end.

This also marks the first time in a little while that every member of the Chuck cast had an important role to play in the developing plotlines. The Ring was front and center in the spy world, while the Buy More was facing  a potential hostile takeover by another corporate entity, leaving the staff to fight for the jobs … and maybe more.

They absolutely had me fooled with the buyout attempt being The Ring’s latest tactic to uncover the identity of one Agent Charles Carmichael AKA Charles “Chuck” Bartowski. I couldn’t help but get memories of Office Space when Diedrich Bader showed up as on of the efficiency experts interviewing the staff at the Buy More. I know he was the burnout neighbor, man, but he was in it so it counts in my book!

But what really impressed me this week was Morgan. The same guy who was afraid to stand up to his own employees when he was promoted to Assistant Manager was ready and eager to take on the bad guys. It was more luck that he discovered the Ring’s involvement, but it was pure courage that had him follow them down into Castle.

It was a fantastic way to ingratiate Morgan into Chuck’s world. Actually, the entire process was handled perfectly, as having someone to talk out his emotions and feelings about his crazy new life with is exactly what Chuck needed to get himself back in gear with the Intersect.

But before we get to that, Morgan managed to sneak in to Castle filled with Ring agents, overhear their plans and get completely out undetected. He may not be much use in hand-to-hand combat, but he’s a sneaky little bastard. At this point, now that Chuck has spilled everything to his buddy and regained his Intersect abilities, it remains to be seen what will be done with Morgan on the show.

He’s proven a great and loyal friend, as Chuck indicated, but he’s also a bit of a loose cannon, and prone to acting on terrible ideas. Whereas Awesome has done everything in his power to stay as far away from Chuck’s double-life as humanly possible — more on that in a minute — Morgan has already expressed interest in being part of the team. I smell trouble with his eagerness.

That said, he could prove a valuable ally in helping Chuck manage his spy work with his work at the Buy More, though Chuck has surprisingly little difficulty with that now. Do you think the government is signing receipts for all his on-calls and paying the Buy More for Chuck’s “Nerd Herd” services every time he has to use that as a cover? Otherwise, there should be questions raised as to where his payments are for all this work he’s doing.

I do feel bad for Ellie now, though, as she’s the only one in Chuck’s network of close friends and family now who doesn’t know his secret. It almost seems inevitable she’ll find out, now that Morgan has. Awesome already knows and is in danger from the Ring, as they think he’s a spy as well, so it no longer makes sense to have one person oblivious to Chuck’s secret.

Granted, everyone else at the Buy More is oblivious, but they’re hardly close friends with Chuck. What a disaster if Jeff and Lester found out!

There are bigger problems with Ellie and Awesome now, though. Well, problem may not be the right word for it. However, I don’t think joining Doctors Without Borders and going to Africa will be enough to deter the Ring from tracking down Awesome and Ellie if they’re convinced Awesome is a spy that needs to be dealt with.

Supposedly, though, they now know that he is not Agent Carmichael, though at least this one division of the Ring deduced that it was Chuck, which means they can easily track down the identities of his family. Perhaps that was information that also didn’t get back to Ring headquarters, along with the location of Castle, though I thought I remembered them saying they’d uploaded all the intel that was at Castle to Ring servers already, which would be enough for a good tech guru to trace back.

Other highlights:

• The return of Jeffster in a song of protest and freedom.
• The two (that I caught) classic war photo recreations, the raising of the flag and the sailor dipping and kissing his girl.
• Jeff helping Casey out by stoning his assailant out of his mind.
• Morgan polishing his singing fish … and let’s face it, his “office” in general.
• Morgan poking the guy at the end after knocking him out.
• And one more for Morgan. When Chuck was trying to talk him out of trying to take on the Ring agents in Castle, and Morgan abruptly agreed suggesting they go out and grab a couple of burgers. Joshua Grimes was on fire tonight!

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Hold it right there. Did Castle just do an homage to CSI? If you followed CSI at all back in the Grissom days, the thought must have crossed your mind as well. For those of you that missed it, CSI had a recurring character named Lady Heather. She was a redhead dominatrix that crossed paths with the team during an investigation. See what I mean? Also, Lady Heather was played by Melinda Clarke, who I think makes a perfect other-side-of-the-coin to Dina Meyer. We’ll probably never know if it was all a coincidence, or a tip of the cap to the aging champ. Either way, I liked it.

The introduction of Dungeon Alley had a whole different feel on Castle. It really does play right into the show’s strengths. The opportunities for comedy and innuendo were endless. A few of those stood out to me. Beckett’s non-answers about her impressive bondage knowledge, and how they vexed Castle, were great.  Ryan and Esposito’s trip to Lady Irena’s was good fun as well. My favorite though, was just how off his mark Castle was. He likes to play the cool and smooth cad, but it really doesn’t take a lot to start him bumbling.

We saw that in two forms this week. First, with Lady Irena (Dina Meyer). I really liked how all of that played out, and it takes me back to the fact that Lady Heather was recurring on CSI. I wouldn’t mind seeing Irena turn up again in the distant future. There was also a bit of bumbling as Castle approached his latest fatherly hurdle. Cheerleader Alexis? “If she wants to join a team, why not Mathletes?”

As to the case, I totally missed on the roommate, Danielle (Amy Gumenick). I think I gave her a pass because I still think of Gumenick as Young Mary Winchester. That’s more a reflection on my TV obsessions than her performance. I thought her breakdown at the end was actually quite good.

As the twists and turns built I was most focused on Irena. That is, right up until Esposito noted that he’d never seen a knot like the one on the dominatrix’s boot. That is such an obscure detail to mention, I was sure it had to come back. Alas, it didn’t. The big clue was the relationship that Jessica (Vanessa Motta, who is totally a badass stunt double) struggling to end. It wasn’t my favorite Castle case, but it was solid, and did a fine job setting the stage for the Castle magic. And really, more than anything, I was just happy that the show was finally back.

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“We can love it and take it out occasionally when we go to the park to reenact our favorite scenes from the movie!” — Sheldon
“No! I want a jet-ski!” — Koothrappali

Tonight’s episode of The Big Bang Theory was a fluff episode. Yes, I’ve decided the show has two types of episodes — the nerdy geeky fanboy episodes are fluff while the science jargon laden ones are um … er … science-geeky. I guess I’m going to have to work on my descriptors just a bit. Fluff is fine, fluff is good, fluff is even fun. To be honest, I have a better understanding of the fandom world than I do of quantum physics. But I bet you knew that.

Okay, instead of getting Chinese food, the boys happened upon a garage sale and bought a box contents unseen. Now, you know that if you and I bought a box without knowing the contents, it would probably have dead cats or something equally odd in it. Lo and behold, the boys happened to find a box full of fanboy geeky stuff. Who woulda thunk it? I personally liked the Mr. Spock body with the Mr. T head. But the real find was a precious stage prop ring from the movie, The Lord of the Rings. Hobbit that?

But when you introduce something like that, you just know friendships will suffer. Raj wants a jet-ski, Sheldon wants to treasure it forever, Howard is struck with dollar signs, and Leonard wants to return it to Peter Jackson because it was stolen. Tsk, tsk … the boys are falling apart.

Now, the physical comedy came in a few different stages. I think I guffawed when Penny automatically broke Sheldon’s nose as he was trying to cop the ring with a grabber! Then, when they decided to all grasp the ring and the last one holding on gets it — well, that sort of reminded me of the final episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show when they all huddled together and had to go back for tissues. It was funny then, it’s funny now.

Raj once again had a bit more good airtime tonight with his cousin, the attorney, on his laptop and, need I mention, his “Your me-maw …” shots at Sheldon. Oh, he does have a mean streak. His unrequited sexual attraction with Howard had them cuddling, too. I don’t even want to talk about him rubbing the penis drawing off of Aquaman. Like I said, a fluff episode, but at least I didn’t have to know my physics!

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It seems like we are seeing Ellen turn into Patty right before our eyes this season on Damages. Certainly, Ellen’s been able to keep up with the mastermind in the past, but I feel like this season she has really been trying to get out in front of Patty. I don’t know what I liked better in this episode: Ellen using Alex to mess with Patty, or Patty seeing right through it. I do feel a little badly for Alex at this point, though.

I’m enjoying the Alex character. She’s a great reminder of the innocence that Ellen used to have, during the first season of the show. She’s also a perfect illustration of how much Patty really does care for Ellen. I’m not sure that “care” is the right word here, especially considering that little attempt on Ellen’s life. There is, however, a certain bond between the two women, and Patty definitely wants Ellen back. Perhaps it’s just a desperate need to “win” on the part of Patty, who sees Ellen’s leaving the firm as a loss. Regardless of the motivations, I’m immensely enjoying the give and take between Patty and Ellen.

With the flashforwards coming closer and closer to the present, the case took some significant steps forward in this episode. Patty and Tom tracked down the Tobin money to a bank in Antigua and even managed to find “help” from a government official. Unfortunately, he is also under the employ of Mr. Zedek. It will be interesting to see if Patty and Tom can find a way around whatever obstacles this man is sure to put up.

As we move forward there is certainly no shortage of suspects for Tom’s death. It could, indeed, be Patty, as the flashforwards have suggested, but I don’t think it is. I would certainly believe that any of the Tobins are capable of offing Tom. Heck, it could even be the financial advisor that he beat up at his daughter’s school. Time will tell.

This episode also gave us a look at Leonard’s past and why he considers himself a member of the Tobin family. It will be interesting to see how those revelations play out through the remainder of the season. I imagine that the Tobins are going to find out about his secret past as a con man, I’m just wondering about what the repercussions will be.

What are your thoughts on this season of Damages so far?

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“Where’s the D-bag taking you? Aw, that’s not a good nickname for Don, I’ll think of another one.” – Marshall to Robin

We know we all love the non-linear storytelling of How I Met Your Mother, which we got tonight in all its glory. I loved the very first line of this episode, the way they made us think a corpse was pulled from the river, when in fact we later learn it was just a sexually frustrated Barney. But for me, the best part of tonight’s episode is the way HIMYM shouted-out to itself.

When they showed a clip of Robin’s show, with her interviewing Jennifer Lopez’s character, Anita, Robin started off with her signature “But um….” When that little quirk of Robin’s was highlighted in “Jenkins” back in January, it was definitely the funniest part of that episode. When they bring back the great stuff, it reminds me of why I still watch HIMYM in the first place. Sometimes it’s worth suffering through the weakness of this season for the little moments like this.

I’ve got to say that I’m also really enjoying Mike the cameraman. The dude reminds me of Kenneth from 30 Rock with his eagerness to please, but watching him go from Robin’s laundry slave to waiting hand and foot on Anita, both in the studio and back at her apartment was pretty awesome. I hope they keep bringing Mike in for these little gems when appropriate … he’s great.

They also reminded us of just how comforting Robin finds her firearms, something that hasn’t come up in a while but is always so funny to me. She’s a quirky one, and when they play that up, it almost always works.

What didn’t work for me was pretty much the rest of the episode, in no particular order:

• Am I the only one that remembers how socially deviant Don was, from working in his underwear to, well, trying to date Robin in his underwear? Nice to see him in clothes, but don’t know how he went from sociopath to awesome.
• I didn’t need Lily and Marshall singing the Bang Bang song in bed together. I just don’t find them cute.
• The Super Date song doesn’t hold a candle to “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit” — if you can’t match it or top it, don’t try the same thing twice.
• I suppose it’s realistic that Robin would mourn Barney, and it’s nice that he sent her and Don on the Super Date, but I just didn’t find it believable … more contrived for the content of this episode.
• The jury’s still out on Of Course You’re Still Single, Take a Look at Yourself You Dumb Slut. Too much?

I leave you to ponder the answer to this question: Does the set of HIMYM have really excellent lighting, or has J Lo had way too much work done? On the one hand, she really can’t even change her facial expressions, there’s so much Botox pumping up the lines in her face and forehead. Then again, the whole time I was watching “Jenkins,” I thought I was looking at a really young look-alike of Amanda Peet. So what’s the answer — Botox or good lighting?

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Greek chapter four comes out on DVD tomorrow, and I’m sure you’re all wondering the same thing: Should I run out and buy this set for my collection?

We actually had the opportunity to follow chapter four together last spring as it aired. In fact, Greek was one of the first show’s I regularly covered here at CliqueClack. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so good. Let’s do a brief rundown.

Guest star Jesse McCartney appeared as Andy, a high school football teammate of Calvin’s who was new to CRU. An introduction to Rusty and Kappa Tau led him to rush the KTs, and also to steal new transfer Jordan from right under Rusty’s nose. Rusty and Jordan’s budding romance led Andy to flee in a huff.

Rusty and Dale, meanwhile, settled into an off-campus apartment that Casey rented for them. Clark Duke was far from around regularly, but his lady friend Sheila (Kristen O’Meara) definitely provided him with a juicy storyline that continued into chapter five.

Casey was dating Max, who forewent getting his PhD at a real school in order to be with her. But a stint in England left Casey open to renewed interest from Cappie … who was busy secretly rebuilding a relationship with Evan in their newly joined Amphora society.

Ashleigh was dating Fisher (Andrew J. West), Rebecca tried being a lesbian, Frannie and the IKI house caused trouble for a while, and Evan went nuts when he got his trust fund. A lot happened, but it all seemed very haphazard.

The chapter ended at the KT’s “At World’s End” party, with Ashleigh and Cappie talking about love. We now know that Cappie went after Casey only to be stopped by Evan — keeping Cappie and Casey apart until mid-chapter five — but at the time, we were left wondering.

And that was chapter four. So what did the good people of Greek provide us with by way of extras?

Episode Commentaries – For 12 episodes, there were just two commentary tracks. I said it in reference to the chapter 3 DVD set, and I’ll say it again — the commentaries on a show where you can imagine having fun with the actors usually live up to that image. But for me Greek fell flat once again. The first commentary pairing included Scott Michael Foster (Cappie), Amber Stevens (Ashleigh), Dilshad Vadsaria (Rebecca), and Jacob Zachar (Rusty). I couldn’t believe the amount of hysterical giggling that laced the entire track. I certainly enjoyed the few insights that we were provided with (in a segment everyone discusses working with Jesse McCartney), but I felt as if the show and the episode were almost ancillary to the discussion.

The second commentary included Spencer Grammer (Casey), Scott Michael Foster, and Tiffany Dupont (Frannie). The biggest insights I gained from this one were that the KT backyard is a lit basement set, Spencer Grammer had her foot in a boot cast for the entire chapter shoot, and none of the actors watch the show. At least that’s the impression I got when scenes with the boys left Grammer and Dupont out, or ones in the ZBZ house left Foster silent. Plus Grammer said in reference to Casey’s kiss with Rebecca: “I was looking forward to seeing how that turned out; I haven’t watched it yet.” Really? A year later and she’s never seen it? But I also got that impression from the interview I participated in with Grammer — if she wasn’t in the scene, she didn’t know anything about it. Doesn’t that seem a bit odd?

At World’s End – Not so much a documentary on the making of the finale as much as a funny piece about what all the interviewees would do if they knew the world would end in 24 hours. I liked that lesser characters were included, like Derek Mio (Wade), Andrew J. West (Fisher), and Aaron Hill (Beaver). Funniest were Clark Duke and Paul James (Calvin), whose entire segment was bleeped out for some nasty things that they were supposedly discussing doing with Dilshad Vadsaria (Rebecca). But as one of only four extras on the DVD set? Not good enough.

“How Do You Sleep?” – music video by Jesse McCartney – I’m sure there’s a segment of viewers who will love this, although I hope that no one buys the set solely because of it. It’s exactly what it sounds like. My 22 month-old son made me replay it a bunch of times because he enjoyed it.

Bloopers – A couple minutes of fibbed lines, and not much else. My son laughed every time the cast did, so there’s that. But I feel as if that was the wrong way to go with this one. Think about any of your favorite sitcoms, and the blooper tracks that come on their DVD sets. We’re talking missed cues, accidents, bad adlibs, and intentionally sabotaged takes that are hysterical. Now think about dramas … what makes for the funniest moment in a drama? A missed line in the middle of a deathly serious scene. Heightened emotions lead to the most laughs when they’re rudely interrupted.

Greek’s a soapy comedy, but a comedy nonetheless. We know this cast can be funny. So why aren’t those the bloopers we get to see? The practical jokes they play on each other, the in-jokes that they lob at one another instead of reading their lines. Think more Everybody Loves Raymond, and less ER. Let’s shake it up a little!

Doesn’t sound so good, right? But I’ll tell you something that I did discover. Re-watching the episodes was fun! The problems persist, and Cappie and Dale don’t appear any more frequently than they did the first time around (which is the crime of the century), but this is an extremely re-watchable show. Whether you want to pay $25 for that pleasure is up to you, but the episodes are most definitely worth many more looks. The extras? Not so much.

Disclosure: This review is based on a commercially available copy, provided complimentary to CliqueClack TV by ABC Family for the  purpose of review.

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This week, to celebrate the fact that the lame-ass Olympics are done with, I’ve decided to celebrate some comedies. There were a lot of shows that made me laugh a lot and pee a little this week. From Abed’s Don Draper impression to Pam breastfeeding the wrong baby, television was pretty amazing this week.

Luke and Phil bond on Modern Family

This entire episode of Modern Family was pretty genius, but I really adore the way Phil and Luke bonded during it. Teaching my son that the treasure we find doesn’t matter, but on what we spend the money we get for it that matters instead. I want an indoor pool in my condo real bad.

Pam breastfeeding the wrong baby on The Office

This isn’t a parenting blog, so I won’t rant about what an evil bitch Pam’s nurse was on The Office (but she totally was). The entire birth/aftermath portrayal was pretty realistic, which made it even funnier. The hands-down funniest moment though, was when Pam found out she had been breastfeeding the wrong child. My jaw hit the floor, and then I laughed hysterically, mainly because she and Jim reacted in the exact same way I would have.

Abed’s Don Draper impression on Community

I’ve already talked about how brilliant this is, and how my mind was completely blown after I watched it, so I’ll just say this: Abed and Annie really should have kissed on Community. Also, as a bonus, we have Troy talking about how dope Calvin not Coolidge is.

Zach Galifianakis pops up on some NBC shows on SNL

Zach Galifianakis was arguably the best part of The Hangover, so it’s great that SNL had him host this week. Although his monologue was pretty genius, I have a special spot in my heart for Law & Order, so it was great to see Lupo and Bernard incorporated into an SNL short.

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Boston Legal, the show that lasted five seasons over on ABC, starring James Spader and William Shatner, is now airing in syndication on TV Land every weeknight at 11 PM EST. To celebrate that, TV Land wants to give one of our readers a $50 Visa Cash gift card, just for leaving a comment to this post!

Entries to this giveaway must be made by Monday, March 15th at 5 PM ET. We’ll pick one winning comment completely at random and alert the winner in the coming weeks (make sure your spam filter allows @cliqueclack.com addressed email!) Only one entry per person and you must have a valid U.S.-based mailing address. Not following these guidelines voids your entry. Good luck!

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