TV Tues - Well, She Did Save Chrismukkah . . .

This week The TVGal posted her list of the year's Top 10 Shows. I agree whole-heartedly with 7 of the 10 choices, and can understand the other 3, but none of them would have made my list; I'll get back to you on what 3 I would have picked in their place once I figure it out for myself. Until then, here be some reviews to tide you over.

Arrested Development: Could have down without all the Tobias slapstick falling, but that was a small price to pay for getting to see the elementary school production of New Warden. "Enjoy the chlamydia."

My Name is Earl: Loved Catalina's attempt to fake Randy out, as well as the constant refrain of "Don't judge me" from Joy's mother.

The Office: One of those eps where Michael's moronic behavior was almost too much for me to take. Almost. Was glad that his plan to liven up the party actually panned out; nice that he's not a total mess-up 100% of the time. The red-head shedding her shirt at the end: unexpected. The camera flash: genius. And what's with all the women going for Dwight? The mind wobbles, it really does.

The Amazing Race: Team Linz made the final! Team Linz made the final! Woo-hoo! So did the Weaver family! Dagnabit! Not that I was really excited about the bickering sisters being in the finals, but at least they don't sicken me with their self-involved hypocrisy.

Grey's Anatomy: Didn't really care for any of the medical storylines this week, but I loved all of the scenes with the gang helping Alex study for his boards.

Veronica Mars: Interesting twist on 12 Angry Men, although it bugged me a little that Veronica was slower to pick up on clues than the knitting woman.

Everwood: Poor Scott Wolf: destined to play recovering addicts. Meanwhile, this ep helps showcase just why Bright is one of the top 10 characters of the year; first his conversation with Ephraim about showing off his manhood, and then his pep talk with Hannah. Funny and touching at the same time.

The O.C.: Seth/Summer stuff: greatness. The slacker strip-club frequenter: awful. Johnny/Marissa/Ryan triangle: make it stop! But, again, the Seth/Summer stuff, pure greatness; even on the soapiest of eps, their interplay makes the show worthwhile. Favorite part of the show was Sandy and Ryan's completely independent reactions to the news that Summer was actually smart: "Well, she did save Chrismukkah."

The Apprentice: You know who I want to win? Mark, that's who. Yeah, I know he's not eligible, but dang! I thought he was fired for bogus reasons to begin with, and then to watch him working his butt off and thinking about 20 times clearer than his project manager . . . such a shame. Barring The Donald chaning the rules and rehiring Mark, I would like Rebecca to win. She just seems like a much more focused, more determined person than Randal.

E.R.: I should have known: no sooner do I have the thought "Boy, I'm really enjoying Kristen Johnston on this show" than wham, they cut her loose. And I wonder how long its going to be before the virus that caused both Sam's ex and son to transform into totally different people becomes an epidemic. Wouldn't that be an exciting episode? "I swear, he used to look a lot that guy from Pitch Black . . . no, not Vin Diesel the other guy, the cop. Anyway, yeah, he used to look like that, but now he looks like the guy who killed Wild Bill on Deadwood . . what do you mean you don't watch Deadwood? It rocks! But that's beside the point! If I didn't know any better, I'd swear my ex husband was suddenly someone else entirely. And then it happened to my son too! You gotta help me, before I suddenly start to look like Kelly Osbourne or something!" Yeah, now that would make good TV right there.

Survivor: "The Curse of the Car"? Give me a break. Nicely melodramatic, but pointless; while Cindy consoled herself with the thought that giving the others cars wouldn't guarantee they would give her the million dollars, she really should have thought that denying the others cars would almost definitely guarantee they wouldn't. As for the finale, think that could be my favorite final immunity challenge yet, just for the image of all three contestants swinging from the ropes, legs flailing madly. I still can't believe that Steph was able to make it all the way to the final two, I guess that pissing all of those people off along the way paid off for her . . . oh, wait. Was glad that Danni wound up winning, mainly due to her being one of the underdogs in the post-merge numbers game. I still wish that the producers would stop wasting our time with the whole "walk down memory lane" junk and allocate that time to the live portion of the show, which is always way too rushed, although they did a much better job of covering everything this time around.

Ultimate Fighter Season 1 Discs 1 & 2: Despite my dad's constant barrage of "Have you watched Ultimate Fighter queries, I totally missed out on the first season of the series which is responsible for me moving up in The Squatch's "Man Book"; he in return, moved up several notches in my "Geek Book" when he got hooked on Firefly independent of any prompting from me (see, Squatch, one comment, and already you're getting mentioned; behold the power of shameless sell-outism!). Even though I already know who the big winners are, I'm enjoying seeing the process that led them there, especially knowing that the folks I dislike the most won't be making it to the finals. Biggest surprise for me is how much I've come to like Chris Lieben; after the first ep I was ready for him to get his butt kicked out, but over time the drunkard has grown on me. Was happy to see that he was the one brought back to replace his injured friend, even though I know he won't make it to the end.