TV Tues. - You Say That Like It's Famous

Still playing a bit of catch-up with some of the stuff I missed due to our time without cable, which is why there's no Supernatural review, and why the Monday night CBS sitcoms are still a week behind.

**Mon Oct 16**

How I Met Your Mother (CBS 7:00): A highly Barney-centric episode, and therefore the best ep of the season so far.

The Class (CBS 7:30): While I enjoy this show a lot more than The TV Gal does, I do have to agree with her recent comment that the amount of adultery on the show is somewhat troubling. The Duncan/Nicole affair has bugged me from the beginning, and then to find out that Richie is running around on Darlene Conners . . . troubling. I do have to disagree with her assertion that Ethan and Kat have no chemistry; their scenes together have been some of my favorite moments on the show.

**Tues Oct 17**

Gilmore Girls (CW 7:00): The new creative team is still stumbling a bit here and there, but I think this ep was an improvement over the last few, which could be largely due to the fact that we didn't see Lane and Zack at all; I swear, the writers have absolutely no clue how to handle those two. Of course the highlight of the episode was Lorelei's reaction to Emily's jailbird experience; her giddiness at her mom's discomfort was right on target.

Veronica Mars (CW 8:00): Although I liked the idea of Weevil working for Keith, I think the custodial position is going to work a lot better in terms of giving Veronica access to the campus; he's basically the new Wallace. Which reminds me; did we see Wallace at all in this ep? Don't think we did. Anyway, still loving the show, and really looking forward to tonight's ep in which Logan from Gilmore Girls guest stars as Logan from VM's half-brother.

Help Me Help You (ABC 8:30): Normally, the "main characters lies to impress a girl" storyline drives me crazy, but for some reason it worked for me in this ep. Don't know if it's because of how the doc approached it, or because of his ex-wife's constant skepticism, or just the fact that the lie was not totally idiotic (a la "milking cats") or something that would blow up in his face if the relationship lasted longer than a one night stand (a la Frasier and his "I'm Jewish" or "My dad's gay" lies). I think it probably is because of the latter, and an understanding that his lies were born out of a combination of ego and desperation; his motivation made sense to me, so I could accept it. Which is a whole heck of a lot of thought to put into why I found this funny rather than annoying, but I know if I hadn't, somebody would have called me on it. Best part of the ep had to be the "love song" he wrote for her; classic.

Boston Legal (ABC 9:00): Yes, I'm still watching this show; no, I'm not sure why. There's usually a couple of things each ep which make me laugh, and I'm curious about how the murder trial is going to turn out, but I'm not sure how much longer this is going to stay on my radar.

**Wed Oct 18**

30 Rock (NBC 7:00: Okay, Zinger (president of the "I Hate Tina Fey" Club) is going to call me names and question my sanity for this, but, heaven help me, I'm actually enjoying 30 Rock. Somehow the combination of three actors I generally don't care for (Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, and Tina Fey) has created something greater than the sum of its parts. Baldwin is definitely the ultimate scene stealer, but the oddball NBC page is a close second.

Lost (ABC 8:00): I find it endlessly fascinating just how disparate each Locke flashback is from the others, but I think that the wide changes in attitude and occupation fit well with the character. At the core, John is a Hunter with a capital H, and he's not just hunting for sustenance, he's hunting for a purpose, he's hunting for direction, he's hunting for validation, he's hunting for a connection to something greater than himself; it looks like he may have finally reconnected to that something greater this week, so we might see a full-on return to cool Locke from season 1, and not self-doubting Locke from season 2. I also find it endlessly fascinating that we still have no #$*(# clue how he wound up in the wheelchair. The big question the episode left for me is just how the hatch implosion affected Desmond: did he just get a glimpse of the future, or is he full-blown psychic now? And if the former, how much of the future did he see?

The Nine (ABC 9:00): The critics raved and raved about this one, but I'm still not feeling it. I'm still sucked in for now, just out of curiosity for how the robbery is going to play out, but outside of Foote I don't have a connection to most of the characters.

Jericho (CBS 7:00): And the mysteries deepen on Jericho as more and more hints are dropped about Skeet's past and Hawkin's purpose; I'm happy that this has gotten a full season order, since that means there's a good chance we'll actually find out the answers to some of the questions.

**Thur Oct. 19**

My Name is Earl (NBC 7:00): Not one of the better eps overall, but pretty much every scene with Giovanni Ribissi was pure gold.

The Office (NBC 7:30): I wish someone would post the opening sequence with the riddles online so I could send it to riddle-master Magic Pants. Once again, so much great stuff in the ep that I don't know where to begin. Dwight's attempts to mold Ryan were great, especially his series of questions: "What is the Dharma Initiative?" Although seeing Jim out of his element in the first ep or two was fun, I like seeing him warm up to his office-mates, and vice versa. I'm also glad that they do occasionally show that Michael is actually good at being a salesman, so that the fact that he's been able to keep his job isn't totally ludicrous, only partially ludicrous. Oh, and I loved Stanley's excitement over Pretzel Day; never thought I'd live to see the day when he voluntarily gave Michael a high five.

Ugly Betty (ABC 7:00): I liked the fact that Betty semi-bonded with the other assistants; curious to see if it will last.

Grey's Anatomy (ABC 8:00): Was I the only one hoping to see Bailey leap at the condescending doctor and rip his throat out with her teeth? I'm sort of sorry that they've decided to have Izzy come back as a surgeon; I was kind of hoping that they'd find other things for her to pursue. Although, I suppose her going off in other directions would have made it more difficult to interact with the main cast, so I suppose it's for the best.

Six Degrees (ABC 9:00): The basic mystery of why May was on the run has been solved a lot faster than I expected, but there's still the deeper question of what exactly is in the box, which I'm betting won't be resolved for a while. I'm wondering if there will ever be a point when all six characters intersect at once, or if the show will forever keep them at a max of two or three together at a time.

**Fri Oct. 20**

Battlestar Galactica (SciFi 8:00): You have no idea how happy I was that the long-rumored female character death was Tigh's slutty, slutty wife, and not just because it meant that we're not losing Starbuck, Rosalind, Cally, or Dualla anytime soon; no, I have despised Tigh's wife from pretty much her first moment on-screen, and the fact that I won't have to see her manipulative face anymore made me a very happy viewer. I'm hoping that the next ep will jump forward several months so Jamie Bamber can get out of that fat makeup; it's a practically seamless makeup job, but distracting nonetheless.

**Mon Oct 23**

Heroes (NBC 8:00): My two biggest complaints with the show right now are (a) how skeptical Dr. Suresh has become all of a sudden for no good reason and (b) just how conveniently the characters lives keep intersecting. The intersections work on Lost because you have this sense of some greater force shaping the characters' destinies; here, it's just "Oh, hey, we need to have them meet up, so why don't we have the flying congressman happen to land outside the diner with time traveling Asian?" Some over-riding directive force might be revealed at some point, but right now it's coming off more as a horribly inorganic plot contrivance. All that being said, I'm still enjoying the heck out of the show; favorite non-super-powered moment of last night's episode had to be the negotiation between Nathan and his would-be blackmailer; it's like he's playing Profit again, only this time with super-powers. Oh, and I guess I must have blinked and missed it, but when exactly did Peter draw stick figures predicting the future?

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC 9:00): Taste is a funny thing; I loved the first two eps of this show with a bloody passion, and have felt a little let down by everything after that. Meanwhile, a co-worker didn't really care for the first few eps, but now thinks that the show just keeps getting stronger each week. Lot of stuff to like this week (Matt and Simon recruiting the new writer, some insight into Simon's past, Jack trying to pick a fight with Danny, any and all scenes with Jordan) but there was also some stuff that felt forced (the senile writer, Tom's dad's outburst about the brother overseas). Favorite part of the episode was Tom's tour guide mention of Abbot and Costello's "Who's on First" routine, and his dad's reaction: "You say that like it's famous." I can identify with Tom's shock at someone not recognizing what can only be described as one of the most classic comedy bits of all time; I mean, it was just a couple of week's ago that I discovered that PigPen had never heard of Happy Fun Ball. Kids today, huh?