Television recap (Nov. 8-14)

Modern Family did not have an episode this week and I found myself very sad about that. It really has become appointment viewing for me. It is right up there with my favorite shows.

10. The Office- I really only want to talk about a specific moment in this episode. The show is actually annoying the crap out of me, but Creed is amazing. Creed shows up late for work and does not know everyone is playing a game and when Michael tells Creed a murder has been committed, he just leaves the office and gets back in his car, like someone found out where he hid a body. Creed is one of my all time favorite throw away characters. He gets these amazing throw away jokes and bits and he makes them memorable. He almost never figures into the stories of the show, but he makes the show worth watching so often for me.

9. The Big Bang Theory- Penny and Leonard had their first big fight and it leads to Sheldon freaking out and everyone who watches this show knows that a Sheldon freak out is always the best thing. I like how the show dealt with the fight between the hottie and the nerd. It seemed believable and I like that Leonard did not back down just because she is way hotter than he would normally get. It was clever writing and I think it stayed true to the characters. However, the key moment was the end with Sheldon huddled in a corner of the comic book shop with comics and action figures. I loved it!

8. So you think you can Dance- I was trying to think about what my favorite dance was this week, or my favorite couple, or something, but for whatever reason the thing I kept coming back to on this show this week, was the whole group number at the beginning of the results show. I loved the caveman theme, the song and how each member of the group was used to create the story. I loved the aggressive dancing and how it showcased some awesome hip-hop, especially Legacy. Honestly, I have not seen someone break dance the way he does in such a long time. I know I keep going back to that, but it consistently amazes me.

7. How I met your Mother- I am not going to lie, fat suits almost never work for me. I thought maybe putting NPH in one would make it work for me somehow, but it really didn't. This would not even be on the list this week except the end of the episode ended the storyline and Alen Thicke was involved. There were some really great callbacks, including the song from James Van Der Beek's character's band from last season. However, the big reveal that somewhere there is a video of a failed variety style show starring Robin Sparkles and Alen Thicke is already making me weak in anticipation. All of this saved the fact that the show used the obnoxious fat suit gimmick.

6. The Vampire Diaries- I feel like this episode was meant for a season finale or something leading up to a season finale. We had a way too short story arch of a witch's ghost, Damon revealing he wanted to save Katherine, Damon and Stefan are now going to leave Fall Rivers and we may have a new vampire in town in the body of the new history teacher, who may also have a ring that allows him to be in the light and then the reporter came back from the dead, meaning he is probably also a vampire. If all of this happened only 9 episodes into the season I can only imagine what the hell else is going to happen. It is exactly what I expect from Kevin Williamson, the guy who killed Drew Barrymore in the first 10 minutes of a movie.

5. Grey's Anatomy- Izzie came back for an episode that had all kinds of good stuff, which was good because I was worried when Izzie and Meredeth came back I would go back to hating the show, but I didn't. I loved it. Of course, I loved it mostly for Owen, Christina and the pretty boy new doctor. I was disappointed in the lack of sexy short haired new doctor, but I loved the episode for Bailey and the chief and the idea of the work-husband/wife. Mostly though, it was to see how all of these cuts and budget problems finally took its toll on the chief. I am very excited to see where this new revelation take us and I hope it brings us some great Derek the hero moments. I could always use more Arizona, too.

4. Californication- Hank Moody decides he needs to not have sex with the three women anymore so he can be prepared for Karen when he goes back to NY. He does alright in breaking up with the unbelievably sexy stripper and then he plays gay to help out the sexy teacher's assistant, but is not so sly on breaking up with her, but then it comes to the sexy head of the English department and he just cannot bring himself to stay away when he realizes she is about to sleep with a douche bag just because she wants to cheat on her husband. None of this is nearly as important as the big finish with Moody's daughter going crazy on him and making Hank realize his years of being a bad influence are starting to work against him. I found it to be a powerful moment, and wonder what is in store for the final few episodes.

3. Glee- This was, hands down, my favorite episode of this show. Not musically, because it did not do too much musically that excited me, but in terms of the show and the story. I think what makes this show popular among young people and maybe people in general is that it gives voice to the voiceless. It takes the idea of the people in high school that no one liked and gives them personality and spark and humor. Sure, we have football players and cheerleaders, but the heart of the show resides in the people like Kurt, who is playing his confident, but sensitive gay youth with such gusto and heart that it really lends something deeper to a show that is too often all style. I did not like how the too brief romance between the wheelchair kid and the shy Asian girl ended, but I guess tragedy is so much more interesting than happiness.

2. Dexter- Taylor, this is getting tough to keep it inside! I hope you appreciate this! Dexter is defying his dead father more and more and I have been wondering when it would hurt Dexter. We get a flash of that this week. Mostly though we get some amazing stuff between Dexter and Trinity. John Lithgow is incredible every week and this week he even took it a step further with the whole hitting a deer thing. This week was kind of a set up episode, but rarely are set up episodes this intense and amazing. I know that the next episode is where shit really starts to get going, but this was an episode we needed to get us prepared for the shit storm!

1. Supernatural- Last season there was a character introduced who had been writing a series of books called Supernatural. It turns out he is writing the gospel of Sam and Dean, but the show took this moment to have some fun with the fandom of Supernatural. The show;s wicked sense of humor was evident here at a Supernatural convention, which included a bunch of people dressing up and pretending to be Sam and Dean, a fake ghost hunt, that turned real and a bunch of jokes at the expense of the fans. They also included "Jumping the shark" jokes and a whole bunch of jokes poking fun at people who write fanfiction where the brothers have sex with each other. The ghost stuff was actually pretty cool too, but as a one off, stand alone episode, it provided levity. I think, because they are battling the devil in this season, they need these lighter episodes more than ever and this was a wonderful break in the peril and death of the end of the world.