Television Recap (Oct. 4th- 10th)

This is merely a place holder. Normally I get this up in the morning, but with this being closing weekend, I have been too busy to watch a few of the shows, so I will get this done tonight instead. Sorry for the hold up.

EDIT

Okay, I am back and have watched everything I need to watch, so here we go.

10. The Big Bang Theory- The first truly hilarious episode of the season has finally arrived. Sheldon trying to condition Penny to good behavior with the help of chocolate was absolutely a great use of Sheldon and Penny together. Then the b-plot of the other two friends going to a Goth club was a really nice use of the second tier characters. In fact, this is kind of the best use of all 5 characters I have seen on this show in quite a long time.

9. Melrose Place- Some how this show keeps finding its way onto my television. Do I dare call it appointment television? I am still most interested in the hooker med student and now she has a madame, for real. She also had a very sexy strip tease, awesome. Then, the murder plot picked up a bit with us finding our about Ella's back story which was very well done, but mostly, Ashlee Simpson's character turned on the crazy to another level, which was wonderfully entertaining. I like the "normal" couple more on this show than on many shows, but I would not mind it if they got at least a little bit sexier overall.

8. How I met your Mother- I wanted to hate this because of the dig at having a degree in English, and it did not really further Ted's story, but You have to love an entire episode dedicated to all of Robin's quirks and dating habits. The Ted's douchey professor side came out and Barney was straight up hilarious and then in the b-plot, Marshall is used in perfect Marshall fashion, waiting for someone to take his old barrel. It is hard to explain, but Jason Segal commits so perfectly to the bit that you cannot help but laugh. I am looking forward to the show getting back to Ted's search, but I like these one-off episodes every so often.

7. Grey's Anatomy- I have to admit I am pretty impressed with the show this season. This week was a little too "Oh god" for me with Meredith being the sister with a match for her not-there father, but I thought it was handled very well. However, the combination of Izzie and Owen Hunt really worked for me this week. I think Heigl really rose to the occasion and McKidd is definitely the strongest male on the show, acting wise. I am very curious to see where this whole merger takes us, but so far it has made for such better drama than relationship drama. On the relationship front, though, I am loving Callie and Arizona, they are adorable!

6. The Office- Much like The Big Bang Theory, this has been a horrible season for this show. However, this two part wedding episode was absolutely delightful. I still had too many cringe worthy moments, as I am prone to have anytime Michael Scott makes big events worse, but the Jim and Pam stuff is just so darn adorable! A lot of the side stuff was truly hilarious, but Oscar getting downright offended when someone thought Kevin was his boyfriend, was far and away my favorite moment. The Chris Brown "Forever" Youtube inspired dance was pretty dumb, but I did not like the Youtube video much, and it was funny to watch Dwight kick a girl in the face. I hope this is the turning point of the season.

5. Modern Family- Far and away the funniest show on television right now. It is too early to say how funny it will be, so I am not going to make comparisons to classic comedy shows, but this is cooking on all cylinders early in the season. I am still a little unsure of the "awkward father" character, but the gay couple in Costco more than makes up for it. I loved their story of how they met and they are just super adorable and funny. Also, Ed O'Neill is really finding his groove as the more-than-a-little-mean grumpy man. The show is also finding a balance of sweetness, which is a welcome surprise, especially from the Hispanic wife character, sorry I have not learned the names yet, nor has anyone else.

4. Dollhouse- There are still some questions as to the relevancy of a place like the dollhouse and one has to wonder how a place with so many malfunctions can stay operational, but this week featured Eliza Dushku playing a kind of dumb, super peppy college girl in a little skirt and knee high socks, so I cannot complain. Dushku does tough well and she does sexy well, and in this episode she gets to do both, so score one for Dollhouse. This episode also featured some creepy serial killer moments and then some of the great comic moments the show is generally missing. I really liked the idea of the dolls transferring their imprints and having Dushku turn into the serial killer and Victor thinking he was a peppy college girl who loved to flirt and shake her ass. Also, Ballard's level of discomfort at having the dolls get "dressed up" is intriguing and his serial killer line was perfect, maybe he is not so humorless!

3. Dexter- When Dexter does something that I typically hate on television shows, it almost always gets it right. It is stunning just how rich this show can be. Michael C. Hall is having his best season acting wise and we are only two episodes in! Also, John Lithgow is such a joy to watch. So far he has not said much, but just watching him watch people is super cool and super creepy. I love where the season is headed and I hope they can keep up this break neck pace for 13 episodes. I believe this is the fastest moving season thus far. I truly cannot wait to for the moment where Dexter and the John Lithgow character meet. It is going to be like Dexter vs. Jimmy Smits all over again and that made for perfect television.

2. FlashForward- I still am unsure if this show can keep it up week after week, but so far, so effing good! This week brought us more knowledge as to John Cho's fate, as he worries he is going to die, but his fiance saw him in her FF? Hmmmm, is she lying? Is the mysterious phone woman lying? Also, we got another awesome cliff hanger, but this time instead of revealing another person, we get the reveal that this blackout has happened before, just in a much smaller sample size. Who or what is doing this? Joseph Fiennes is turning out to be a fabulous television leading man and his marriage to Sonya Walger is really the heart of the show and I think they are playing it just perfectly thus far.

1.Supernatural- This could be first based merely on the fact that Paris Hilton is in it and she gets her head chopped off. However, it is actually more than just that. First off, we have Sam and Dean doing an old school one-off mission to see if they can work together again. Then, we have all this tension between the two brothers that leads to some uncomfortable moments. But you also have some hilarious moments, like Ghandi attacking Dean, or Dean knowing random Ghandi facts. Paris Hilton playing some kind of creature who used to be famous ages and ages ago was pretty good stuff. It shows that Hilton is kind of in on the joke that is her life. The writing made good use of the idea that celebrity is so dumb these days and how there was a time when you needed a talent to be famous. This point was made by having the creature come in the forms of James Dean, Abe Lincoln, Ghandi and then eventually Paris Hilton. Well Played Eric Kripke.


I am starting to feel very torn about Glee. The musical moments are fantastic and I love the acting, but the stories are just not working for me. Pregnancy in high school is one of the stupidest television plots, ever and this show is not handling it well at all. What I want is more Lea Michelle in little skirts, please!