TV Tues. - Bob Loblaw's Law Blog

In keeping with the last couple of weeks, I'll go ahead and link to the TV Gal's top 10 list of the week, even though I only agree with one of her top moments of the year. What would my top ten moments be?

Not exactly sure, but do know that only one of her choices resonated with me on any level: Nick being buried alive on last season's finale of CSI. Now that, my blog monkeys, was one powerful hour of TV. Nick has always been my favorite character on the show (with Greg being a close second), and I was glad to see George Eads get a chance to flex his dramatic muscles.

I would also substitute a few moments from some of the series she mentioned; interestingly enough, they seem to revolve around the same characters, even. For example, for me the biggest chill moment on Gilmore Girls this season was the scene between Lorelei and Emily in the airplane; likewise, while my Everwood moment always involves Bright and Hannah, for me it was the recent ep when Bright locked Hannah in the bathroom and made her listen to him tell her how beautiful she was. First kisses are nice and all, I suppose, but kind of old hat; seeing further demonstration of the growth of Bright as a character in a scene that was both touching and funny at the same time: chills, man, chills.

Anyone else have a big TV moment from this past year they felt needs to be included? Or am I just talking to myself yet again?

I thought so. Oh, well, on to the reviews, then.
Arrested Development: Oh, please, let the talks with Showtime to save this show come through, oh please oh please oh please. The musical montage was great with its rotating soundtracks and the assurance that "It was actually funny with Yellow Submarine, but who can afford that?" And the only thing funnier than hearing people saying Bob Loblaw's name over and over was hearing people talk about his law blog; yes, its silly, but cracks me up every time. I've been glad that they've kept up the "Maebe as movie exec" storyline; I had been sure it was going to be a throwaway gag when it started, but I really should have known better with this show: NOTHING is a throwaway gag. It all comes back around.

Two and a Half Men: This season has been all over the map; this Christmas ep was no exception. The intense weight gain of the brothers was a bit over-the-top, but the ep did have one exchange which made me laugh out loud: when the psycho woman Alan was dating wakes him up in the middle of the night to make him go put stuff out for Santa so that they won't get coal in their stocking, Alan's response is "So you believe in the vengeful Old Testament Santa, then."

The Amazing Race: I can not even begin to describe to you the joy I felt when the Linz siblings won the race. I had been pretty worried early on that the Weavers were going to luck out into one of those insane leads that nobody else could match, and was very glad when they stunk up the stadium task so much that not only did everyone else catch up, but passed them as well; true, it was only luck that they got the last charter flight, but they had exhausted themselves so much mentally and physically there that even if they had gotten the first flight, I don't know if they would have been able to do capitalize on the lead. Anyway, I'm pretty this is the first time ever that the team I've been rooting for since the very first episode has won the whole shebang; halle-frickin-lujah.

The Apprentice: Don't have a whole lot to say about the finale; I understand The Donald's decision, even if I don't like it. I will say that I'm of two minds about that move at the end where the Donald asks if he should hire Rebecca as well, and the oh-so-gracious winner say "No." On the one hand, if he really does feel that there should be only one winner, I guess I can respect him for sticking by his guns; on the other hand, I have to wonder if his decision was more of an ego one a "but if you hire her too, then I don't seem as special" sort of thing. Or maybe he didn't think she was as great as he kept saying, and was really being highly hypocritical the whole time; people kept talking about how nice he was, but man, he let some not-so-nice stuff fly in her direction during that final debate. Nothing downright nasty, perhaps, but definitely not the "sugar and spice and everything nice" image he'd projected the whole time. I felt bad for Rebecca; you know as soon as The Donald made the comment her hopes were raised, and then to have Randall basically just crush them underfoot . . . just plain mean.

The O.C.: Not the best Chrismukkah ep ever, what with the horribly overwrought "Johnny's Got a Gun" storyline, but it had its moments, most of them revolving around Seth's Barmitsfukkah excitement. I look forward to seeing how Summer reacts to the replacement of the unseen step-monster with the possible new, extremely visible step-monster of Julie Cooper.

Saturday Night Live: I seldom make it a point to watch SNL anymore, but knowing that Jack Black was hosting made the ep a must see, J.B. being one of those people who can make me laugh no matter what he's in (the intensely unfunny and unredeemable film Envy being the exception that proves the rule). As might be expected, the two highlights of a J.B. hosted episode involved comedic songs: however, the two songs had nothing to do with J.B. First there was the TV Funhouse "Christmas for the Jews" song which was pretty catchy, but it paled in comparison to the rap song by Parnell and . . . that new guy. "It's the Chronic (What?) cles of Narnia! The Chronic(What?)cles of Narnia!" Awesomeness. I also got a chuckle out of the spelling bee skit, thanks to the combination of the guy's deadpan delivery and the rule of "anything's funny if you repeat it enough." Oh, which reminds me: Flunky doesn't return emails and G'ovich is Eeeeeeeeevil. See? Comedic gold right there.

Gargoyles Season 2 Disc 1: One of my all time favorite animated series; I'm glad I'm finally getting a chance to see all the eps in order, since this was one of the rare American cartoons of its time to have a season-long story arc, which is saying something, since it was a season of 52 episodes. The animation in the first couple of eps is really, really bad, making me wonder if I had built the quality of the series up in my memory, but by the third ep it was back on track with the smooth and normally-proportioned style. It was nice to see the unfolding of Xanatos and Fox's romance, as well as the introduction of the Phoenix Gate, Eye of Odin, Grimorum, and everyone's favorite trickster Puck. All in all, an incredibly well thought out and executed series that has appeal for kids and adults as well; I look forward to watching the rest of the season.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: my caving into pressure and reviewing shows I wouldn't normally watch because I'm a shameless sell-out. I hope you're happy, Dr. G'ovich, I hope you're happy.

Dirty Jobs: Thanks to Zinger, I was able to catch the "Dirtiest Animals" clip show this weekend. Have to say, I actually enjoyed the show quite a bit. Yes, my gag reflex was triggered a few times (squeezing the crap out of baby chicks *shudder*), but the show was informative, the segments were entertaining, and the host was pretty funny. You have to admire his willingness to dive into the truly disgusting tasks while still keeping his sense of humor intact, even if his dignity wasn't. While this isn't automatically going on my "can't miss" list, I will probably try to catch it when I can. So, score one for the Doc.

Viva La Bam!: So, how's this for irony? The show I thought I wasn't going to catch this week, I saw, and the show I thought I couldn't help but catch, I missed. Okay, so as far as ironies go, it's not that great, but it’s better than rain on a wedding day, I can tell you that much. So, next week I'll be sure to have a nice review of this show that I have watched in the past and not cared for all that much but which I shall watch with a totally open mind nonetheless, honest, I mean it, would I lie to you, of course not, banish the thought from your pretty little heads, my blog monkeys.