THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: Family Ties

Man, you guys, I REALLY enjoyed last night’s episode. A lot happened, but it was focused, which I liked. And there were parts that were seriously, SERIOUSLY funny. And cool. Shall we … sink our teeth in? (Sorry, I had to.)

I was hooked on this episode before we even got to the title card. It was fun to start the show without a kill of the week, and instead go for Stefan having a nightmare about Elena. And I love how that transitioned straight into brotherly bitchiness.

Damon KILLED me this week (no pun intended, although you know I’ll never apologize if it is). I am usually not into the super pretty boys, which he undoubtedly is, but I’m also a sucker for villains, as we’ve discussed. Every time the camera panned between Stefan and Damon, I couldn’t decide who I had a bigger crush on, so way to go, casting department! It’s a good problem to have. Anyway, Stefan throwing the knife at Damon was pretty great, but the real pay off there was when Damon jabbed it between Stefan’s ribs, telling him, “Dude, this shirt is a [blah blah designercakes]. Dick move.” Hee! I love those two.

The first part was loaded with Damon goodness as he watched Caroline picking out a dress for the founders’ party. I love how she’s so strong-willed and sassy with him, but then he finally gets irritated and gets in her head to get his way. They have such a great dynamic—not as a functional couple, obviously, but a real treat for the viewer. Like when he finally made her invite him to the party, and he just turned back to his book, and was like, “Not if you’re wearing that dress.” Hilarious!

And speaking of hilarious, that’s a perfect segue into Damon reading Twilight. GENIUS. Of all the characters on this show to pick that one up, he is THE ONE you would want to see do it. Loved the complaining about Edward being whipped (Damon would hate that) and the sparkling (“I live in the real world, where vampires burn up if they go in the sun,” and, “I have a ring. It’s complicated.”), and saying how he missed Anne Rice and how she really got it right, which I’m thinking may provide some insight into the mythology (and I have GOT to get my hands on a paperback of “Interview With the Vampire”—I am too into vampires and it gets referenced way too often for me to put that off any longer—we really need a TV book club, no?).

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THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: Friday Night Bites

You know, I’m kind of loving this show. I feel a little bad about it because I’m definitely not a teenager anymore, but then I also have no shame so I don’t feel THAT bad. I’ve been excited for it to come back on all week—it’s basically the fall equivalent of summer beach reading, and who doesn’t love that?

I continue to love Stefan, but once again, Damon (and more to the point, Ian Somerhalder) stole the show. And while I thank the editors for the shirtless Damon sleeping shot, it was more the subtleties of the character that drew me in this week. There has been some discussion over the past few weeks about the dialogue being uneven and sometimes a little cheesy.  There are many who find  it all a bit on the hammy side, which I can see, but I feel like this week eased those concerns for me, at least when it comes to Damon.

I had been hearing a bit about how the Stefan, Elena, Damon connection was going to form into a love triangle of sorts, but I wasn’t seeing how it was going to come together.  I just wasn’t feeling it between Elena and Damon in either direction.  I thought maybe we’d see Damon tricking Elena into a false romance for his own evil entertainment, but then again I really didn’t the show was going to go there.  But with no real connection between Elena and Damon, what was going to be the catalyst to draw these two together.

But then this week happened.  The turning point came when Elena shared her condolences for Damon with regards to the loss of Katherine.  Not one to usually receive human sympathy, Damon looked genuinely shocked. And it was SUCH a great moment of acting—I REALLY bought it. That look, coupled with Stefan’s accusation that Damon was torturing Stefan because big brother too loved Katherine really gave us some important insight into Damon. But none more so than the sweet (or was it evil) way Damon stroked a sleeping Elena’s cheek. But if Damon’s really feeling for something for Elena, it’s not going to be easy to win her over.  Although, that slap in the parking lot was pretty major – the thin line between love and hate?

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TOP CHEF: Deconstructing the Dish

Okay, so I know that I carried on about how much Top Chef Masters* (minus Hubert) sucked more than anyone, and it kind of did, but their magic challenge was probably one of the greatest Top Chef challenges they’ve ever done, at least for me, and I had really high hopes for this Penn and Teller episode.  And I’ve gotta say, in spite of its strong start with Penn and Teller actually deconstructing their magic trick, it was sort of a let down.

The thing is, Penn and Teller are awesome.  I’ve been reading articles about Teller participating in actual psychological research about how your brain runs really efficiently, basically by creating shortcuts for you, and so even as your told what’s happening (i.e., in their tricks), your brain is still showing you something else because it’s what it expects.  And I think Penn is a riot—did anyone NOT laugh at the bull testicles discussion?  I want to hop on a plane and go to Vegas and see their show RIGHT NOW.  And I do get how they deconstruct their magic tricks and I do think that’s the right terminology for it, but I’m not entirely convinced that it was as related to deconstructing food as the producers might have liked.  For me, the Masters challenge of taking the steps of a magic trick and making the chefs apply that to the dishes was a more successful correlated challenge.

That said, it’s not that this was a BAD challenge, it’s more that I was a weird combination of bored and stressed out.  Mostly stressed out, actually, which we’ll get to—but bored because there are certain clichés on Top Chef that I’m just kind of over, and “deconstructed” is one of them.  I think it’s interesting when it’s done well (which it usually isn’t) and lame when it’s a situation of someone trying to throw out a word to cover their own ass (which it usually is).  It’s just like … I’m also bored with scallops, ceviche (thank you, Season Six, for adding that one to my list), braised short ribs, purees, foams, and duos/trios, which we also got stuck with during the Quickfire, to name a few.
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THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: The Night of the Comet

And here you thought it was just going to be a love story.

Talk about dark and brooding…and a little scary. While last week’s premiere episode did it’s job of introducing to the inhabitants of Mystic Falls, and drawing us in to the potential romance of Stefan and Elena, this week was all about the seemingly infinite power of Damon Salvatore. Talk about a pain in the ass older brother. Or should I say pain in the neck?

Besides being mesmerized Damon, last night’s episode also was effective in setting up important storylines that will likely to continue through this first season –  Aunt Jenna’s insecurities about raising Jeremy and Elena, as well as Jeremy’s obvious issues with how he deals (or doesn’t deal) with his personal issues. That, and oh, you know…all these high school girls being attacked my a vicious vampire.

Apparently this town likes its parties and I can actually kind of identify with that, having grown up in a small town myself where everyone was in the same place on Friday night, especially if there was a high school sporting event or some kind of thing going on, so I guess the comet would count, especially if legend tells you that it brings sexy, sexy vampires to your town. Shoot, I’d head outside right this second.

A lot of things were coming together this week and a lot of characters were crossing paths with Stefan, Damon, Vicki, Matt, and Jeremy. I thought all those actors did a good job this week—Jeremy does that hurt puppy look SO well, and he’s so cute too when he’s trying to be sweet to Vicki. Likewise, Matt is good at conveying a lot of emotion with his face, Damon is perfectly snarky, and Stefan is perfectly intense while still seeming appropriately worn out.

Gotta say, though, the big winner (and surprise) for me this week was Vicki, who I really wasn’t that taken with last week. She just seemed so grumpy and one-note. This week, she continues to not have any parents AND to have the most beautiful post-attack victim hospital patient hair I’ve ever seen. But I don’t know—she showed a lot more range this week. For one thing, she was AMAZING at acting scared—someone should seriously give her the lead in a horror movie right now. And for another, when she kind of started liking Jeremy, after finding out he rescued her from the woods, she was really cute. And then she did that drug haze thing pretty smoothly too. I think she’s going to keep growing on me.

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TOP CHEF Recap: Camping

Now, you guys all know that we try to keep it pretty PG-13 or calmer around here, but I still don’t think that anyone will be shocked to learn that I am like straight up, world championship level at cussing at the TV. In fact, cussing at the TV is probably tied for #1 in my favorite television-related activities, along with the social element—having friends over to watch, talking about my favorite shows online, etc. So needless to say, I have some practice.

Anyway, all this to say, that some of the stuff I was yelling at Top Chef last night probably would’ve made a sailor blush, because I have a new person to hate, and that person is Michael Voltaggio. For every sentence that you read from me about him, please know that you are missing at least one F-bomb that is going off in my head. I can’t handle him right now.

Really, it started right at the beginning of the episode, when he was saying that he, Bryan, and Mike Isabella were the strongest chefs there. And then it showed them getting up from their little frat bro meeting by the pool or whatever. UGH. FIRST OF ALL (oh yeah, here comes the all caps), I don’t think it’s ever anyone’s place to make that kind of claim about themselves. You can be confident in your abilities and know that you do good work, but claiming superiority over other people is always something that should be said ABOUT you, and not BY you. Secondly, yes, Bryan is awesome. Mike is okay and even good a lot of the time, but he’s inconsistent and you have just COMPLETELY disregarded the supreme talent of both Kevin and Jen, and that irritates me, especially since he partnered with Jen last week and KNOWS how good she is. So there’s the first part.

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THE VAMPIRE DIARIES – Glamoured, Dazzled…Hooked

You know, I have had a lot of TV loves in my life, and I’m sort of an enthusiastic person in general (to say the least), not to mention a little obsessive, so when I saw that The CW was doing a teenage vampire love story, I was OMG EXCITED. From the very first preview, I knew I’d be watching. There was no question, no maybe, no flicker of doubt in my mind.

My boyfriend Bill tried to temper my excitement by countering that THE VAMPIRE DIARIES is a blatant rip off of ‘Twilight’, he went as far as calling TVD “Twi-lite”.  Of course those in the know are aware that “The Vampire Diaries” series was published a good 14 years before Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’, so I’m not sure if TVD is “ripping off” Twilight as much as it may be more a matter of the producers leveraging the current success of the ‘Twilight’ movie franchise. But really at the end of the day I didn’t care.  I’m really into vampires right now! I love Twilight, I love True Blood, I’ve read all but the last Sookie Stackhouse novels, and I just finished a book called Bloodsucking Fiends. Of course I was going to watch this show.

Gotta say, I was really ready to just enjoy this show for the cheese and make fun of it relentlessly, while loving it shamelessly, but it was really better than I expected. I haven’t read the books, but I’ve got plenty of things to compare it to, which is mostly what I did and, given the current vampire craze, is what I bet a lot of people did, so I’m just going to go with it.

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TOP CHEF Recap: Vivre Las Vegas

Well, the obvious place to start here is OMG THE HIGHSTAKES QUICKFIRE! Am I right? That WAS high stakes, and intense. I was gripping the heck out of Billy’s arm, on par to when we see horror movies (which is like, every weekend, because I’m a huge fan). And really, it seemed like a VERY difficult challenge and I really felt like it was up in the air, especially given how many of the chefs said they hadn’t worked with escargot, and even the ones in the top (except everyone’s favorite, Mike Isabella) commented on how difficult they were to work with.

As far as the bottom three were concerned, it was no big shock to see Jessie there, and I felt like Ashley’s admitted complete lack of experience with snails was what landed her there. I was REALLY hoping she wouldn’t get sent home because I thought of all that group, she is easily the most talented. Robin is just sort of a non-entity to me, so I was just meh about her.

I did like that they let them have a little cook-off and didn’t base it entirely on the escargot, and I actually thought that Jessie had a shot at staying, since that was a pretty cute little amuse bouche, but they sent her packing and you know, I think it was time. I liked her exit interview and how what she really wanted people to know was that she didn’t suck this much, and that she hadn’t felt like herself in the competition at all. And you know? I believed her. Some people aren’t cut out for the competition thing, as we’ve seen in numerous previous seasons and on a variety of other reality shows. It happens, and I think she’ll be fine out in the real world.

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TOP CHEF Review: Thunderbirds

Well, all I can really say about this episode is that you start to really get to know the chefs, and more or less, your suspicions about them are confirmed. Especially given that this was a group challenge, it seemed pretty telling.

But first, the Quickfire! Man, I love potatoes. But still, the thing that stands out here is how much of a douche Mike Isabella is, what with claiming that Jen (who I have been referring to as “Jill” by mistake) won because of “favoritism”. Seriously, Mike? Are you kidding me? She’s been in the top of almost every challenge and she’s clearly very talented, not to even mention the fact that the winner was chosen by someone who doesn’t know any of you, so suck it!

As for the Elimination Challenge, I thought it was interesting how they decided to go about it, and I did think that Jen was awesome as the head chef. I mean, she definitely is not my favorite from a personal standpoint, but homegirl knows what she’s doing and I don’t think anyone can argue with that. I think the producers would LOOOOVE a Brian and Michael showdown at the end, but for me, it’s all about Jen and Kevin (and I will cheer for Kevin the whole way—he’s my official favorite). And I thought it was interesting how splitting up in pairs was Mike’s idea AND the very thing that came back to bite him later. I was impressed with Gail for accurately pointing out that they didn’t require the chefs to do that, that was something they did on their own, AND I agreed that just because something fills a “niche” in the menu, doesn’t give it a pass to be bland.

In the end, I was satisfied with Preeti’s elimination for all the reasons that they said. While I know that Mike’s dish wasn’t good and he’s an ass, he has been stronger along the way than he was tonight. I felt bad for Laurine, in a way—I thought she cracked under the pressure of the questioning, which I actually thought was much, much more intense than we usually see. I don’t know WHAT got into Padma last night, but good LORD! I was all, you go girl! when Preeti brought up the clam chowder in 90 degree heat, and Padma put the smackdown on how their version of clam chowder was better than her version of a pasta salad. Oh snap! Because seriously, the “I’m so much better than these people” attitude was really rubbing me the wrong way.

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TOP CHEF: Bachelor/Ette Party

Can I just say that two episodes in and I’m already loving this season? I felt like last season was a little bit of a dud (minus Carla and Fabio), but this one feels fresh and fun and like there’s a LOT of talent. Of course, that said, I’ve picked an early top three—Kevin, Jill, and Michael V. I think that last spot will be a bit of a toss-up. How about you guys? Any early faves or people that you really think came to play?

This whole Vegas thing has really added a lot to the competitions, I think. I loved the craps quickfire challenge, and how everyone actually looked excited during the standing around and rolling part. And it was just a really clever idea. And besides that, the $15K really does “raise the stakes” or “up the ante” or whatever other gambling pun you want to insert here.

I think this quickfire was also when I realized that there are a lot of people in this competition who are really, REALLY good at plate presentation, which I think was kind of lacking last year. Mattin’s soup thing was SO cool looking, and Kevin’s egg looked cool, and even though Bryan V. was in the bottom, his LOOKED neat too. I’m just pretty impressed all around, and since I mostly watch this show for the artistry of it, and not so much for the love of food, that’s a big deal for me.

I was probably a little less excited about the elimination challenge, but I suppose the bachelor/bachelorette party thing had to happen sometime, so it might as well be early, and the pairing with shots was something kind of different. But you know, I just really wasn’t crazy about that bride.

Plus, I kind of feel like I’m getting beaten over the head with editing and talking heads, especially about Michael and Bryan. It’s like, oh really, Top Chef? They’re brothers? And they’re competitive? Are they brothers who are competing with each other? BECAUSE I’M NOT SURE I GET IT YET! Why don’t you tell me some more?

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TOP CHEF Season Premiere Talk!

I think I speak for all of us when I say, WOO HOO, TOP CHEF IS BACK! You may have noticed that we kind of dropped out on Top Chef Masters, and needless to say, it was because it sucked. Big time. They pissed me off right to the bitter end, not so much with Rick’s loss but with Hubert losing to Michael. Are you effing kidding me? And that’s all I have to say about that.

So needless to say, the return of Top Chef was a huge breath of fresh air, and I was really surprised by how much I’d missed Padma and Tom. Tom cracking up at Wolfgang Puck was hysterical, and all I really needed from Padma to complete the experience was the Padma Pukeface, but we’ve got a lot of episodes ahead of it and I’m confident it’ll be back before we know it!

It’s still the point in the season where I haven’t learned the cheftestants’ names and don’t feel like looking them up, so I’ll just hit on a few that really made an impression. Sound good? Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments!

The first one I loved and actually remember the name of is Kevin, who was a James Beard Award either nominee or winner. I remember this because I feel that Kevin’s beard deserves an award. And he won the first challenge, which usually indicates that they’ll make it either almost or all the way to the end. And he’s funny—I loved his walrus slide.

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TOP CHEF MASTERS Recap: Episode 2

I think the most jarring thing to me about this episode was how completely different it was from the first one. It’s weird because you don’t realize during an entire season of regular Top Chef how used to everyone you get, to their dynamic and reactions and so forth. In the first episode, everyone was lighthearted and having a great time. This one was much more subdued and intense.

I think the most familiar face to most of us was Wylie Dufresne, who’s a regular judge on Top Chef. Like Hubert, I was completely cracked up by how totally different his competition persona was from his judging persona, but in a totally opposite way. He seems so mellow, so quiet and sweet when he judges, but he is an INTENSE competitor and knows how to drop a serious F-bomb (or fifty). I was so entertained.

The other judge I knew of ahead of time was Elizabeth Falkner, and I know she’s judged on TC before, but I actually am more familiar with her from the Food Network Challenges, and I am not predisposed to liking her. On FNC, she’s always “artistic” and then freaks out when people don’t “get it” and she doesn’t win. To me it’s like, it’s a competition and you know who you have to please, so if you want to win, make them happy and shut up. So I was kind of expecting that from her on Top Chef. She was much, much more tolerable than I anticipated, and I loved her whipping up chocolate chip cookies while they were waiting on the judges, and she was much more gracious than I had anticipated.

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TOP CHEF MASTERS Recap: Episode 1

Top Chef! Woo! Seriously, you guys, I don’t know when Bravo’s lineup became straight up television crack, but I am beyond hooked. As we’ve discussed (at the end of last season), I’m not even into food and I cannot get enough of this show. I’ve been lobbying hard, both on GMMR and to anyone who will listen, for a Top Chef All-Stars season. This isn’t it, but it’s pretty close.

As anyone who watched will know, this incarnation is a bit different from the normal seasons, in that they’re going in rounds. Four chefs compete, and the winner goes on to the final round. Billy pointed out that this is probably easier on their schedules, and I’m sure that’s right. Also, no Padma! And no Tom! I wasn’t overly crazy about any of the critics, but I think I’ll warm up to them before long. The host was kind of useless, but … well, that probably sort of comes with the territory. Padma is great eye candy, though, and I love her puke face when she eats something really gross. Hopefully we get to see Kelly’s puke face before all is said and done.

The tone of the Masters version is also just really different from the regular seasons. The chefs are playing for charity, and they’re already established and/or famous, so the stakes are really practically non-existent. I did love the one guy at the end who said that it had been a humbling experience, and every chef needs that sometimes. I don’t remember his name, so if he’s reading this, I’m just happy to serve up his next piece of humble pie! (I kid, I kid.) It was so great to see them laughing and happy and having such a great time, though. The suspense and drama wasn’t really there, but the jovial moods of the chefs was really contagious for me.

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Chuck Season Finale: Chuck vs. The Ring

WARNING! This post contain spoilers for the season finale of CHUCK. STOP reading if you haven’t seen it. Trust me…you don’t want to be spoiled.

Before I turn it over to SB I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for being such wonderful supporters of CHUCK.  I know we’ve made a lot of new friends around here because of CHUCK and it’s so nice to be part of something so special.  An extra special thanks to SB for her amazing reviews for the past two seasons. Through her weekly take on CHUCK we’ve built up a great community of TV watchers who meet here to discuss the show every week — it’s what GMMR is here for.

So thank YOU and thank SB.  See you next season!

– Kath

———-

I kind of can’t believe that I’m writing my last Chuck recap of the season already! It’s totally flown by. I know that everyone was really excited to discuss the finale last night and have been talking about the episode in the post that GMMR was kind enough to open up, so I’m going to take a slightly different approach than usual on my recap this week and focus more on the future of the show, my opinions and speculations, and just a couple thoughts about the episode. The comments can be used for discussion of anything Chuck related—we’re free spirits here, people!

Alright, I know there’s a lot being made about it saying “series finale” on the NBC site, but as someone pointed out, it also says “season finale” right next to it. I want to address it so it’s not an elephant in the room, but I really think we shouldn’t freak out about it yet because it just seems to me at this point like a stupid little error on the part of someone involved with the website, and I’d rather just save my freaking out (one way or another, there will be freakage) for the official announcement.

I really do feel like we’ve done about everything we can—we’ve mounted a huge internet campaign, convinced people to watch, bought footlongs, wrote letters, watched online (hint hint Hulu hint) … I can’t think of any bases that we haven’t covered, and now it’s just a waiting game. Thankfully, we’ll know by May 5 (the day of the NBC upfronts), which isn’t too far off. And I really do feel cautiously optimistic about Chuck’s chances. I think it’s natural to be a little nervous nonetheless, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at all, but for now, I’m going to try to put it aside and focus on the show.

You know I totally loved the show last night—I was actually really excited that Ellie and Awesome’s wedding got ruined so spectacularly (and it WAS spectacular) because then they could have the wedding they really wanted, and that was really them. And of course, we got to see Casey the wedding planner.

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CHUCK vs. The Colonel

Who wants to hear a confession of how dumb I am? What? Everyone? Okay! I totally thought this was the season finale. I know, I know. I guess I got confused. But it turned out alright because I was completely watching with heightened emotion and suspense. You cannot IMAGINE my relief and excitement when I realized that we still have one more glorious episode to go!

I don’t even know where to start because this episode was just that good. I’m one of those people who, to the irritation of anyone who has ever lived with me, can enjoy something over and over and over (and over), whether that’s eating the same thing for dinner four or five nights in a row, watching one movie on a constant loop, playing one song on my iTunes on repeat, etc. And last night, I was so ready to do that with this episode. If only stupid sleeping and hygiene didn’t get in the way. But I did save it on my DVR, so YEAH!!!!

We really hit the ground running on this one. Chuck and Sarah in the hotel was a little amazing, and how much did everyone love Sarah’s hot ass in those panties? It just has to be said—if you’re going to put it out there, I’m going to pick it up and run with it because that’s how I roll, okay? I know I was totally excited to see some spooning and some cute hand holding, but I’m sure that the average collective heart rate in America took a jump during that makeout scene! Oh, HOT. But I’m still a little glad that we have the sex to look forward to. I mean, yes, we have had like two years building up to it, but I felt like this was a good audience tease. And that whole Morgan taking the condom thing … oh, that was a visual I just wasn’t sure I wanted to have. So I kind of tried in my mind to go to a place where Morgan was making water balloons out of condoms or seeing how many pieces of chicken he could stuff into it … but then you know Anna’s a freak, so the illusion was lost.

Okay, while we’re talking about Morgan … WHAT?!?! Morgan QUIT the Buy More? Seriously, are they writing him off? Are they getting rid of the Buy More? I NEED TO KNOW THESE THINGS! Interestingly, I could totally see Morgan as a Benihana chef, and I have had plenty of them who weren’t Asian so I say follow your dreams. I did think it was funny that he picked another chain place as his dream job, except in Hawaii. But I was like … actually feeling really emotional during his quitting scene, even amid all the chest hair and applause. And I realized that I’m not ready to let go of Morgan! He and Chuck are supposed to be together forever!

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CHUCK Superlatives Part Deux: Poll

I’m bringing polling back! Yeah, that’s right, sung to the tune of “Sexy Back”. Since we had so much fun with it earlier in Chuck Week, it just makes sense to bring polling back in anticipation of tonight’s episode. Remember—eyeballs on the screen! Please do everything you can to watch live and spread the word!

And now … let’s see what you think! I’m going to totally enjoy the discussion of your choices in the comments, so don’t be shy! Be part of the fun. Vote in these polls and then throw out new polls in the comments for others to play along with!

For the latest updates from around the web, check out our ‘Inside the Intersect‘ page. Get tips for promoting Chuck AND lend your voice to the show on our ‘Be a Nerd. Join the Herd. Save Chuck.’ page. Vote for CHUCK in the ‘Save One Show’ poll

More polls after the jump…
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