About Last Night…GOSSIP GIRL, BIG BANG THEORY and more…

I think it is only fitting that I watched Monday night’s HOUSE as well as all of my other Monday night shows hopped up on Vicodin. What can I say? I’m a method viewer. It wasn’t easy but I watched almost all my show on my Monday night agenda.  I said almost…

While I share some quick thoughts on my Monday night shows, I wanted to open up the forum for you to let us know what YOU watched last night.

Jen already shared her thoughts on last night’s HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, but may I just add that the high school version of me flipped out with the appearance of Nuno Bettencourt playing alongside Marshall in the music video found on www.itwasthebestnightever.com. For those of you who don’t know (or are just too young to remember), Nuno was the guitarist for the rock band Extreme.  The video was a spoof on Extreme’s big hit “More than Words”. But long before “More than Words” became a hit, Extreme was our hometown band, with some of the guys coming out of my hometown of Malden, MA. Lots of good memories of high school friends and my sister whenever I see one of the guys from the band. Oh and the episode was pretty great too. Not my favorite, but enough laughs to keep me entertained.

I know many of you have given up on GOSSIP GIRL but I’m sticking with it.  It’s flawed, for sure, but it’s still my Monday night guilty pleasure. In perhaps the most bizarre wedding episode ever, Lily and Rufus finally got married. Finally.  The event was overshadowed by the revelation that Scott was their long lost son. It was ridiculous how quickly everyone adjusted to the situation, but since I look to GG for pure fluff and not real storylines, I easily overlooked it.  The subtle ways in which the writers are maturing Chuck Bass are really working for me.  Has Blair really changed him all that much?  I’m not sure, but I like him.  Nate continues to bore. Serena continues to be pointless (although Carter makes her that much more interesting), and the writers/producers continue to show us that they are clueless on how to write storyarcs that last more than 3 episodes.  Bree Buckley is already gone? Hilary Duff as Dan’s new gf Olivia disappears after only one episode? Scott is revealed as the brother and then heads back to Boston right away? I know the show was built for the ADHD generation but give us all a little credit. But yet I keep watching. I just don’t know how to quit you. Oh, and can someone please explain to me how Serena kept that strapless dress on last night?  Seriously, it defied gravity.

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HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: Sexless Innkeeper

Hey HIMYM fans, it’s Jen here, not at all ready to talk about last night’s episode. Please be advised that I would like to have “more than words”** with the writers of this episode.

I read a few articles and Tweets before this episode aired, raising my excitement for what was to come. After watching this episode, I felt like Ted, the episode’s titular sexless innkeeper – used. This is the one show I praise for keeping up with the mythos of the series and always delivering but tonight’s episode left enough plot holes for Whiskers the cat to lose many of his nine lives and left me unable to sit still.

The majority of the episode centered on Marshall and Lily being the over-eager couple during double dates. While this doesn’t totally ring untrue, I have two major issues with this. First. We know that Lily and Marshall had a wine and cheese double date at the apartment they shared with Ted and they were actually the ones annoyed and bored by the other couple (S1 “Okay Awesome). Second, how could Robin never have experienced a double date with them during her entire relationship with Ted? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

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Tonight’s TV Spotlight…Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Hey GMMRers. Happy Tuesday. I’ve got a quick update for you before we get into tonight’s TV spotlight. If you follow me on Twitter then you might know I tweaked my back last month. With 12 weeks of PT ahead of me I was on the mend. Unfortunately I had a bit of a set back this weekend. The doc gave me some good meds to manage the pain, but I might be a little MIA from GMMR over the next few days until I’m feeling better.  Team GMMR will still be covering shows so we’ll still be updating, but if things are quieter than usual, I wanted you to know why. Oh joy.

But enough about that. Here’s some TV for you to check out tonight. What will YOU be watching?

The Biggest Loser | 8pm on NBC
“Someone Goes Home”
A challenge winner gets to divide the contestants into two teams; one contestant gives another a special gift; a difficult elimination results in another player being sent home.

90210 | 8pm on The CW
“Wild Alaska Salmon”
Silver and Kelly deal with shocking news about their mother; Adrianna turns Navid’s world upside down; Jen asks Naomi to loan her a large sum of money; Jasper saves Annie from a bad date.

NCIS | 8pm on CBS
“Good Cop, Bad Cop”
When a Marine’s body surfaces halfway around the world, the investigation forces Ziva to dig up a lost chapter of her life.

NCIS: Los Angeles | 9pm on CBS
“Search and Destroy”
When an Iraqi businessman is murdered, the team searches for the former Marine who was hired to protect him.

(More of tonight’s TV spotlight after the jump)

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DEXTER: Blinded by the Light

While we didn’t have a Dexter-caused death this week, we definitely dealt a lot with Dex’s personal life and how the edges of it might be cracking in certain spots.

This week we were introduced to a lot of the members of Dexter and Rita’s community. Apparently, there’s been a vandal in the area, and, what do you know he comes to hit Dexter’s home. Dexter’s paranoia comes in the form of Harry, who doesn’t want Dexter having any questions raised about him. It’s a good point, I suppose, but it seems to be the behavior of someone with something to hide…which Dexter is, so my entire point is both valid and invalid at the same time.

Anyway, I was very interested to see the tug of war that is taking place between the Vacation and Trinity Killers right now. LaGuerta is getting pressure to solve the Vacation Murders quickly, but Deb is stubborn and won’t let Trinity, and Lundy, go. I like the character of Anton, so I hate to see him get pushed to the side by Deb, but Lundy and the Trinity case are so intriguing, it just might be worth it.

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DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: Never Judge a Lady by Her Lover

Last night’s episode of Desperate Housewives is all about the past and how it comes back to haunt you. Gabby’s former lover John is back to cause some problems between Gabby and Carlos and the Bolens are desperately trying to hide their problematic past.

John Rowland is back in town and now owns a restaurant. And who applies for a hostess job there? Ana, of course. John goes to visit Carlos to ask for his permission to hire his niece and he gets it, albeit reluctantly. John’s reemergence immediately causes tension for Carlos and Gabby. Carlos thinks Gabby still has some semblance of feelings for John based on her reaction to the news that John hired Ana to work in his restaurant. In typical Gabby style she proves her point by making a scene; her speech to Carlos in the restaurant was dramatic but she proved her point. And I believed her- until she whipped out a hidden photo of her and John later on. I’m hoping she doesn’t end up back in bed with John but I have a feeling that I’m going to be disappointed.

Carlos offered Lynette a new job as senior vice president; a job that comes with a company car, an expense account, and a 50% salary bump. Lynette of course accepts, only for Carlos to immediately reveal that he chose her because the other candidate was pregnant. Lynette now has no choice but to hide her pregnancy from both Carlos and Gabby until she can prove that she’s able to handle her new position. There’s no way this is going to end well. Carlos is certainly going to find out sooner rather then later but I don’t think he’ll be legally able to fire her. Lynette’s decision to keep this a secret from Gabby is also likely to cause tension.

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Tonight’s TV Spotlight…Sunday, October 11, 2009

It’s Sunday morning. I hope wherever you are it’s as beautiful outside as it is here in Boston today. It’s the perfect Fall day.  And as for Fall TV, let’s take a look at some of the highlights of tonight’s TV schedule.

What will YOUR Sunday night TV lineup look like? Definitely leave a note in the comments so I know which Sunday night shows you are most interested in.

The Amazing Race 15 | 8pm on CBS
“Sean Penn Cambodia Here We Come”
Teams scramble to spot royalty in Cambodia’s jam-packed streets; one team loses its passport while monkeying around.

The Simpsons | 8pm on Fox
“The Great Wife Hope”
The men of Springfield become obsessed with mixed martial arts; Marge and her friends decide to stage a protest.

The Cleveland Show | 8:30pm on Fox
“The One About Friends
Afraid that Cleveland Jr. has no friends, Cleveland invites his neighbor’s son, Ernie, to the house; when Ernie gets too attached to the family, Cleveland has trouble getting him to go home.

Family Guy | 9pm on Fox
“Spies Reminiscent of Us
When Stewie and Brian discover that the guys who moved into Cleveland’s old house are spies, they follow them on a mission to Russia.

Desperate Housewives | 9pm on ABC
“Never Judge a Lady by Her Lover”
A chance encounter reunites Gaby with her ex-lover and gardener, John; Bree contemplates a weekend getaway with Karl; Lynette and Tom tell their children that she is pregnant; Susan believes that Angie’s son is responsible for her daughter’s attack.

Three Rivers | 9pm on CBS
“Ryan’s First Day”
The team struggles to save an 18-year-old in need of a double-lung transplant but runs into an obstacle that may prevent her from being eligible for the procedure.

More of tonight’s lineup after the break…

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SMALLVILLE: Rabid

Is it me or is Smallville slightly more violent this season and loaded with graphic scenes? It’s strange I didn’t pick up on it until tonight when I saw Tess killing off zombies with a sword or Zod finishing off the doctor in the end of the episode. I’m not complaining or anything but the series has definitely matured and is darker than the season’s before. Lois’s daydreams even seem more risqué and vivid for Smallville! I guess this change is just proof that the characters have really left the innocent Clark Kent farm days behind.

Rabid was a great episode either way! The gang somewhat pulled it together to save the human race from the airborne virus floating through the atmosphere with Clark’s blood as an anecdote. Chloe and Dr. Hamilton seem to be the new team in Smallville as well as Lois and Clark. There was a lot of chemistry between the pair in this episode. I wasn’t really loving Erica Durance and Tom Welling on screen together in the beginning. When they would argue back and forth it seemed natural but when things began to heat up between them it just didn’t seem to click for me.

Now after a couple of seasons they seem to have a smoother interaction on screen with a believable scenario. The extra long gazes and Lois’ face when Clark picked her up tonight to bring her to safety after she was bitten by a crazy zombie really seemed to pop out and show their feelings for one another. Lois actually has a softer side and admits that she doesn’t want to be alone anymore now that she has shared so much with the Blur. And while where on the topic of confessions. The whole Oliver/Lois pining storyline I didn’t seem coming. It was surprising to hear Oliver confess his love to Lois. Luckily she was passed out on the floor becoming a full fledged zombie right in front of him while he continued to pop pills.

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FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Season 4 Promos

I wish I had DirecTV. The idea that some people are just a few weeks out from the return of the best show on television and I have to wait months and months just makes me sad.

If you just need a little FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS fix any way you can get it, check out these new FNL promos for S4, premiering October 28th only on DirecTV. The premiere date for S4 on NBC has not yet been released.

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PARKS & RECREATION: The Practice Date

I feel obligated to reveal a few fun facts about myself before recapping this week’s PARKS & RECREATION. On my first attempt to drive, I totaled a car and almost killed an innocent horse. During college, I sold popular toys like Tickle Me Elmo and Power Rangers to pay for cheap pizza and Mountain Dew. While I enjoy a variety of live music, I have seen Dave Matthews Band in concert 35 times. Finally, there is an image floating online of me wearing a Tweety Bird hat, a fashion faux pas that I cannot explain or justify.

Now cleansed of a few embarrassing foibles, I can get back to business. In the midst of a gigantic night of comedy on NBC, the P&R team offered a fast-paced and hilarious lead-in to Jim & Pam’s nuptials.

Harris Wittels may not be a household name, but his script for “The Practice Date” provided moments for each cast member to shine. There were hosts of moments to celebrate, but I want to focus on the cold open. The 24 hour cable networks have been fed a steady diet of political confessionals recently. It would be easy to attach a left or right leaning tilt to the P&R creative team, were it not for an absurdly entertaining speech given by Councilman Bill Dexhart:

“And to my wife, I apologize. All I can say is, I wasn’t just having sex. I was making love to a beautiful woman…and her boyfriend…and a third person whose name I never learned! Furthermore, it was wrong of me to say I was building houses for the underprivileged when I was actually having four-way sex in a cave in Brazil.”

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Another GLEE Musical Number (SPOILERS)

I’m so torn. As we’ve talked about recently, I really hate that so many of the GLEE musical numbers are released early. I think it takes away from the surprise and delight of the episode. But I also hate it because I have zero will power and if someone sends me a musical spoiler I can’t NOT look.

Be better than. Be strong than me. Don’t watch the musical number posted after the jump. Wait for it to air, you’ll like yourself better for it.

If you are a weak human like me, please be sure to have that Kleenex handy. I sobbed.
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THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: You’re Undead to Me

I don’t know you guys … I just don’t know. I really like this show a lot, and I loved the Stefan and Elena stuff, and the Damon storyline was good too. The other stories have so much potential, but this episode crossed the line of waaay too much cheese a few too many times for me last night. But let’s start with the good.

Elena being annoyed at Stefan was good—I like Nina Dobrev playing her with some attitude, and I liked Stefan being forced to make it up to her. That dinner scene was BEYOND adorable, and I love them showing Stefan’s interests throughout the years (and that he can eat garlic!). And getting a little Katherine backstory was good. And I loved the car wash, where she was taking her top layer off and got stuck, and said, “So not sexy,” and then he fixed her hair and disagreed. I mean, HELLO. So freaking adorable, right?

And Damon trapped in his vervain prison was interesting too. I was completely fascinated by what was going to happen to him (a living mummy), and the mind games he was playing to try to escape. And it was really interesting to note how powerful he still was, even in an extremely weakened state, especially over Caroline. Which does raise questions of how much of that has to do with how much of her blood he’s had or with that crystal that she picked up. There are still a lot of holes in our knowledge about exactly what kind of control Damon exerts over Caroline and how it affects her when she is and isn’t under his spell, but it appears that she isn’t currently aware that he’s a vampire and she has big blank spots in her memory … but she obviously knows Damon, so it’s not ALL the time they spend together. So is it selective? But I’m still really engaged in that story so the mystery hasn’t become tedious or frustrating yet, and I’m pretty okay with it.

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BONES: Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

“Wrong-ology; keep your grubby anthro-hands off my psych!”

Those are fighting words, BONES fans!

Really quickly, here are some questions for you all to consider.

1. Were Booth and Brennan OOC in this episode, or is this all part of a natural progression? (I’m talking Brennan’s comfort level around Parker and Booth’s comfort level around…whips.)

2. Do you think Booth ‘does fine’, or did he just say that last season?

3. What significance is there in Brennan offering Parker and Booth the guest key to her pool?

THE CASE:

At the beginning of this episode, I felt like I’d stepped into “The Sandlot”. But before Ray Charles could start singing ‘America, the Beautiful’ and I could say ‘you’re killing me, Smalls’, we had ourselves a dead body (albeit not that gross of one!). I always like the cases where I don’t know who the murderer is till the end. And for this case, I was def curious the whole way through. Would it be the jealous wife, Kelly? Bob, the man whose wife and daughter BOTH had affairs with the victim? The neighbors whose dog died of mysterious causes? The landscaper, the therapist, or her husband? Oh, what a tangled suburban cul de sac of a web you weave, BONES writers!

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FRINGE: Momentum Deferred

I’m going to be honest and admit that it was hard for me to make the decision to watch Fringe at its regularly scheduled time tonight. If it weren’t for this blog, I would have been glued to The Office for the big JAM wedding extravaganza. It’s not that I don’t consider Fringe to be must watch TV – I definitely do — but my Thursday night TV line-up is way too crowded! Please, Fox, move Fringe back to Tuesday nights so that I (and the other viewers who are dropping off like flies) can give it the time and attention that it deserves!! That being said, I now don’t regret my decision to postpone the Jim/Pam love fest one little bit since “Momentum Deferred” was completely AWESOME!!! So many questions were answered, that I hardly even know where to begin!

He’s Baaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!
Last week I was wondering when we would get to see good old William Bell again and I am happy to report that we did not have to wait all that long. He was back tonight, albeit just in Olivia’s memories, but on screen long enough for the big reveal of what it was that he told Olivia during their time together “over there”.

Here are the facts, as I understand them:

• Walter and William had been trying to create a “guardian” — someone who could protect the gate between universes.

• It is difficult for humans to cross from one side to the other/not many can do it successfully.

• Bell is unable to leave the alternate universe for reasons yet to be disclosed.

• Those “over there” who are waging the war have created hybrids (part organic material/part machine), i.e. the shape shifter soldiers, which can cross over more successfully than humans.

• The hybrids have already crossed over and are referred to as “The First Wave”. They are searching for someone, a leader, who can open the door between universes.

• The leader’s body has a symbol on it (looks kind of like the Greek letter omega or a pair of headphones, depending on your perspective). Olivia needs to find it before the hybrid/soldier shifters or a “storm” will be coming. Bell doesn’t elaborate on what the “storm” is, but Nina later explains to Olivia that it is Bell’s theory of what will happen if the gate is opened – the two worlds will collide and only one will survive.

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THE OFFICE Wedding Dance Down the Aisle

“I’ve been waiting my whole life, for this one night.”

THE OFFICE: Jim & Pam Get Married

“Plan A was marrying her a long, long time ago. Pretty much the day I met her.” – Jim

For those of you worried that tonight’s episode was going to be an hour long sappy lovefest dedicated solely to celebrating Jim and Pam’s love, I give you puke. From the literally nauseating cold open to the ridiculous yet touching final moments of tonight’s episode, “Niagra” was THE OFFICE through and through.

It’s well documented that THE OFFICE is one of my favorite shows of all time. And without getting overly sentimental, it has been a very important show in my life on a few different levels. It’s been my go to show from it’s very first episode (ok, that was a lie, I was hooked with the second episode, “Diversity Day”). I’ve seen the good (“The Injury”), the bad (sorry, but “Phyllis’s Wedding”) and the perfect (“Casino Night”). Tonight’s episode might not have been perfect. It was a bit predictable at times and a little self indulgent, but to me it was satisfying. I’m not sure you can ask more than that.

The episode showcased the ensemble so well and reminded us all that whether we want to believe it or not, Michael Scott got what he wanted – the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin is a family. An incestuous, completely dysfunctional family, but family all the same. And tonight we got to see the family at their finest (which of course is also their worst).

The episode started to really get going when we entered the “The Beesly-Halpret Wedding Rehearsal Dinner in the Passion Package Room”. Jim’s speech was beautiful and sweet. A toast not only to Pam but to all the viewers that have stuck by the couple since the beginning. It was a fantastic toast – well at least the part before he spilled the beans that his fiance was pregnant. As Jim talked about how long he waited for Pam to be his wife, the mental montage of all their moments throughout the years couldn’t help but be played in my mind. John Krasinski’s delivery was so perfect. Whether he was caught in the moment, or is just a really good actor (I vote for both), true emotion could be heard through the slight tremor in his voice.

“Four years ago I was just a guy who had a crush on a girl who had a boyfriend. And I had to do the hardest thing I ever had to do, which was just to wait. Don’t get me wrong I flirted with her. Pam, I can now admit in front of friends and family that I do know how to make a photocopy. I didn’t need your help that many times. And do you remember how long it took you to teach me to drive stick? (Pam: Like a year). I’ve been driving stick since high school. For a really long time that’s all I had. Little moments with a girl who saw me as a friend. And a lot of people told me I was crazy to wait this long for a date with a girl who I worked with, but I think, even then I knew, I was waiting for my wife.”

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