TV Tues. - As the Season Winds Down, the Drama Ramps Up

Sunday evening I returned home from an enjoyable evening of hanging out with The Singles at Cap'n Bumper's place only to discover that in my haste to make it to FAITH beforehand I had forgotten to set my VCRs for the Sunday night shows, and am now having to track them down.

Bummer

Anyway, here's my thoughts on the rest of the week's shows.

Bones: And the award for "sappiest episode ever" goes to the killer bone graft episode; and oh, look, it also wins the "most contrived," "least believable," and "clunkiest writing" awards too; they must be so proud.

Prison Break: Watching this last night I'd almost have sworn it was the season finale, so much crap was hitting the fan.

Everwood: What a downer of an episode. The Abbots' disappointment, Reed's expulsion, and, worst of all, the Bright/Hannah meltdown.

Gilmore Girls: Loved Rory's phone call to the elder Huntzberger; loved Lorelei swooping in to save the day; loved the fact that Luke's reticence was revealed to be partially due to a fear that April would like Lorelei more than him; hated hated hated April's mom's wig out. And after stumbling upon the season-ending cliff-hanger spoiler (darn you, Michael Ausiello!), I'm really, really nervous about where things are going to head sans Team Palladino next season.

Top Chef: Very very glad Stephen's gone; his cocky attitude drove me to distraction. The fact that he still was unwilling to admit any fault whatsoever after being booted and then waxed poetic about how he was going to revolutionize the world of cooking sums up everything I couldn't stand about him

One Tree Hill: I haven't watched this show (which doesn't balance the soap elements half as well as, say, The O.C.) in ages, but I'd seen several critics raving about how great the play within the show based on Haley and Nathan's relationship was, so I taped it and fast forwarded to that section of the episode; man, that time would have been much better spent playing Sudoku.

Amazing Race: And my top two teams squeak through yet again: as long as either the Frat Boys or the Hippies win, I'll be really happy.

Supernatural: I'm not sure exactly what it is about Meg that I don't like, but she's just not an enjoyable villain for me; outside of her "That's funny, John" line, there hasn't been anything in her character that has made me hope that she survives the season finale to plague the brothers again. Of course, I'd take a season's worth of Meg storylines if it meant that the show was picked up for next year.

Veronica Mars: Was I the only one kind of hoping the elevator would get stuck on the way up to the alterna-prom, resulting in Mac finally losing her mind and pummeling Veronica into unconsciousness for setting her up with Butters? I was? Well, moving on then.

The O.C.: Nice to see the Summer/Seth relationship finally get fixed, just in time for everything else to go to hell in a handbasket. I really hope that the reports that next season will focus more on mini-Coop are greatly exaggerated; she's an okay character as a brief foil for the others, but having her around non-stop could be the death knell for the show.

E.R.: I've never liked Pratt, always felt that his name was all too appropriate; I suppose the trip to Africa could serve to make him grow up a bit, but I don't really expect any changes to be permanent.

The Apprentice: I was pretty disappointed when The Donald fired Charmane, not because I thought she deserved to stay, but because I though that it meant Tariq was going to get another stay of execution; but as soon as he told her to sit down, I knew it was going to be a double firing. I always enjoy the multiple firing episodes where the people have been at each other's throats the entire time, just for the fun of watching the incredibly uncomfortable cab ride afterwards.

Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch House: One of the first installments of Showtime's Masters of Horror anthology series to be released on DVD. This ep was Stuart Gordon doing what he does best (or at least, what he does most often): adapting H.P. Lovecraft. Pretty good performances, but is hampered by some really cheesy and distracting FX, especially the rat-thing, which is horribly hilarious looking.

Masters of Horror: John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns: This ep was based on an original script co-written by Aint It Cool News critic Moriarty about a long-lost film rumored to cause madness and death in whoever views it. Widely regarded as the best of the Masters of Horror episodes, and I can see why; well written, well acted, well directed, and a tad creepy. Honestly, Udo Kier's death scene was the only thing which made me roll my eyes at all; I thought the idea was inventive and fitting, but the FX took me out of it. But other than that brief moment, I was pretty impressed with the show.

SPOILER SPACE FOR 24

24: Don't have much to say about the ep, other than the fact that I loved watching Chloe wield the stun gun, and I hope that she gets a chance to use it on the extremely annoying Homeland Security guy.