No I Won't Shed No Tears...

Well, How I Met Your Mother was hilarious.  I give you the best use of auto tune of all time.  I love when Barney is naive (Papa!); even though it's unrealistic, it makes him seem more human.  Not needing to meet his father because his mother was enough was really sweet.  Plus, now we don't have to worry about a "who is Barney's dad?" plotline.  Bob Barker is just fine by me.  Marshall and Lily were a bit boring this week, but Robin and Ted's light story line was entertaining.


I'm still not sure about Mike & Molly.  When Mike said, "I'm going to marry that girl someday," all I could think about was the episode of HIMYM when Ted and Marshall, as college students, get stuck in a snowstorm.  Marshall says the same thing about Lily to Ted.  Maybe I'm just partial to my old friends at  HIMYM, or maybe because I know Marshall and Lily do get married, but I feel like it was more sincere when Marshall said it.  As much as I like the characters of Mike and Molly, Molly's mother and sister aren't enjoyable characters to watch.  I'll keep watching, but I'm not sure this show will last very long.  I hope I one day have to eat my words.  Pun not intended.


I'm pleased with how quickly story lines are developing on 90210 this season.  We already know what Annie's manager wants (her eggs -- how lucky she is to be asked and not just harvested), Javier's manager/uncle knows Adrianna stole the songs (what will she have to do to prevent him from exposing her), Teddy has already hooked up with a guy (just when Silver's going to forgive him), and Silver knows Naomi wasn't lying about Cannon (close one, Silver!).  Ivy and Dilxkmla;weknoaer... sorry, just fell asleep there.... Didn't see much of Liam (or his brother) this week -- maybe next?


I'm so happy Blair and Serena joined forces.  I'm sick of their fighting, although I have a feeling being roommates is going to spark a lot of tension between them.  Is Gossip Girl part of Hamilton House?  Is Katie Cassidy's mouth bothering anyone else?  Blair's insults to Fleur were harsh, but amazingly-Blair.  I like Fleur and am glad that she's sticking around... for now.  Is Milo gone?  That's it?  Just 4 episodes (this season's 3, plus last season's finale) of Georgina's craziness?  Pretty weak, writers.  Vanessa's moving in.  Gross.


Also, can somebody please tell the sound mixing guy at CW that I still can't hear dialogue over the music?  It's extremely annoying.


Britney episode of Glee tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!  I know they're not using this song, but who can resist?  Oh hey Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier.

 

Revising the DVR

Last night marked the first tv-heavy night of the season. I wanted to watch old favorites like 90210 (8-9pm), Gossip Girl (9-10pm), and How I Met Your Mother (8-8:30pm), as well as new shows like Mike & Molly (9:30pm), Lone Star (9-10pm), and Hawaii Five-O (10-11pm).  The problem is, the DVR only records two shows at once, and you can only watch one of those shows live.  How I wish I could record two shows and watch a third live.  Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) has a previous series recording, probably saved from last season.  Although I do enjoy watching DWTS, especially after it's been recorded so I can fast forward through the commercials, it's 8-10 time slot was forcing me to chose between other shows I love.  I decided to cancel that series recording.  Apologies to my roommates if they were looking forward to DWTS.  But I still had a problem with my 9-10 slot; I couldn't record Lone Star, Gossip Girl, and Mike & Molly.  Not recording Gossip Girl is not an option, and if you know anything about me you know I love seeing my name in print, so I decided to forgo recording Lone Star.

I liked Mike & Molly.  I thought it was cute and I found Mike to be funny and charming.  I was a little surprised at how sitcom-y it is (the beginning scene back from every commercial break included a shot of Chicago with some cheesy music.  It reminded me of Family Matters), but I definitely laughed out loud at some parts.  I'm not sure where the series is going to go, but I will keep watching for now.  I love having Sookie back on my TV.

90210 had some great points, none of which include Adrianna's terrible make-up.  Mr. Cannon is creepy as hell.  Is Liam's brother linked to the playhouse woman?  Shouldn't Ad be going back to school now?  Why didn't she yell, "Hello! I was just in a huge car crash!" when Naomi almost ran Cannon over?  Ivy and Dixon are BORING me.  Oscar's gross.

I want to know if the Gossip Girl writers are forced to include, "I'm Chuck Bass." in every episode.  Either way, last night was the best use case.  I'm glad he's bring Fleur back to the States.  Will she be appalled by all the UES drama?  Or does she have a secret of her own? As Desi pointed out last night, why would Nate want a friend who's meddling like that?  I'm SO HAPPY Serena is single.  She's much more interesting that way.

I'm so glad I get my weekly Jason Segel fix.  Whose wedding was it?  Barney and Robin's??  I wish Rachel Bilson was in the episode more.  I seriously love her.  "Fourteen seconds! Fourteen seconds and already some ding-dong is stepping up thinking he can get some of this broke. off. ho. I still got it.” Love me some Robin.


GLEE is back tonight!  MODERN FAMILY and COUGAR TOWN are back Wednesday!  And pretty much every other great show is back on Thursday.  Welcome back friends.  I missed you.

Holy Mondays

Maybe it's my television, but did anyone else notice that at some points during 90210 and Gossip Girl that the music was too loud to hear the dialogue?  I had to re-wind the last few minutes of GG with Chuck to hear it, and it wasn't until I read some re-caps yesterday morning that I knew what had been revealed.


Gossip Girl
Juliet can't be Gossip Girl because Katie Cassidy is not Kristen Bell.  But who the hell is she?  Well we know she has pictures of Serena, Nate, and the whole gang on her cork board, she uses Rent the Runway, and lives in a small studio.  

Georgina (and her Georgina) left Dan and Milo while they were sleeping.  1) Why would Dan sign a birth certificate without conducting his own DNA test?  Surely Georgina could have conned the "doctor" to back her up as well as creating fake paternity test results.  2) Why wasn't Dan a little nervous when she said she did the test on her own?  Doesn't he feel creeped out that she stole some of his hair or something without him knowing? Especially when he told her he wanted one done anyway?  Any normal person would've said, "okay, it's time to do the paternity test." Alas, this is Georgina we're talking about. 3) Why is she doing this?  If she didn't want anything to do with Milo, she could've given him up for adoption.  Her name is right on the birth certificate... why abandon him?  And if the baby isn't Dan's, who is the real father and why didn't she leave Milo with him?

Shouldn't someone have realized earlier that Chuck hadn't been paying the rent?  An even better question: why would Chuck be in charge of paying the rent himself?  Wouldn't he have someone do that FOR him?  Why is he "Henry" and not Chuck?  Amnesia?  New start?  If the latter suggestion, why on earth does Chuck Bass not want to be Chuck Bass anymore?  Is that what that montage was all about?  I think next week's episode is when he and Blair meet up in the scene from the previews.

90210

So I was wrong about Naomi's reaction.  Although it kind of pissed me off that Silver walked in at that moment.  I think I rolled my eyes at the writers for that one.  Really? How many "it's not what it looks like" moments can this show possibly have? But anyway, Cannon still being a teacher here and as Silver and Annie's adviser is going to be interesting. 
Adrianna's gonna get screwed when people find out she stole those songs from Javier, who is now dead.  That was a pretty shocking scene, although not as shocking as this Alias cliffhanger.
Also, what is up with the lady from Annie's internship??  Hasn't Annie gone through enough?  Desperate enough to do what? Ahhhhh. I'm pretty satisfied with how they handled "what happened over the summer" in regards to the hit and run, and Harry.


Upcoming...
How I Met Your Mother returns Monday @ 8pm on CBS.  This season is supposed to move the mother story along further, thank goodness, and be more reminiscent of earlier seasons of HIMYM.  Woot woot!  This past season really wasn't up to par so I'm really looking forward to season 6.  What I hope to see:  Ted being a more romantic and lovable character, Marshall and Lily not being as cartoon-ish, Robin delivering more clever lines and generally being the strong woman she was in the beginning of the series, and Barney being a more dimensional character.  Basically I want better character development and smarter jokes.


Mike and Molly premieres on Monday @ 9:30 on CBS.  Two overweight characters meeting at Over Eaters Anonymous and fall in love.  Halas and I are planning to make waffle fry nachos, but we're not sure what else.  Maybe just some really delicious Mexican sides?

Lone Star premieres on Monday @ 9:00 on Fox.  This show is about a man living two lives, and Tyra Collette plays his wife!  She's the sole reason I'm watching this show.

I also hear that Hawaii Five-O, 10pm on CBS, is going to be good.  I didn't watch the original, so I wonder if I'll be able to catch up (or if I'll even need to).

Jeez, so right now I have 6 shows on Mondays.  My DVR is going to get a lot of exercise this year. 

More CW tonight...

Tonight is the return of 90210 and Gossip Girl!

90210
Melissa heard that they're basically going to let the whole Annie killed Creepy Jasper's homeless uncle story line.  As much as I don't like a dragging story line, this seems like sort of a cop out.  I want to see how this admission affects her and her parents.  Speaking of her parents, I didn't realize that Harry is gone for good.  What does this mean for Aunt Becky?


I'm so worried for Naomi.  Even though she can be heinous at times, her girl-who-cried-wolf story line was so excruciating to watch.  I bet she'll go through a period where she won't want to tell anyone because of her earlier lie, but I really hope she tells someone the truth.  Dear Lord, DO NOT let it be Jen.


Teddy coming out???  CRAZY.  I bet Silver's going to go off the deep-end.  Alyssa made a good point that they pretty much ignored her bi-polar disorder in the latter half of the season so it should come up again amidst all of this.  90210 writers have said that they're taking this story line very seriously, but knowing Teddy for a year now, I just don't see it.  It just seems kind of random to me.


I love Liam and Annie together, but that surely will get messy once Naomi finds out.  And I don't care too much about Ivy and Dixon, although I thought it was pretty bad ass of Dixon to say "eff it" and go to Australia with Ivy.  It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and his parents will get over it.  You made the right choice, kid.


Gossip Girl
We know from the previews that Chuck Bass is alive and looking better than ever.  That cane really does something for him.  It's nice seeing him out of a suit... and for some reason that outfit makes me feel like he should be in Newsies.  Did anyone catch the season 3 bloopers that Perez posted?  I'm a sucker for the ones in which Ed Westwick slipped into his British accent.  The big questions, however, are: will he and B reunite?  Is that gorgeous ring lost forever?  Where does Fleur Delacour fit into all of this?


I hope that Serena and Nate do not get back together.  I never really understood that pairing anyway.  She denied you and slept with your married cousin? And you STILL WANTED TO BE WITH HER?


Dan and Georgina.  Sigh.  I bet the baby won't be his, but we'll have to see how it plays out. Knowing Georgina,  it will be dramatic and juicy.  I seriously love Michelle Trachtenberg in this role.  And what about Vanessa?  I believe it was Ausiello who said that they're still together, but really? Does ANYONE like Vanessa?


And Jenny is supposed to make her grand entrance back into Manhattan's elite during NY Fashion Week... with an appearance by Tim Gunn!


GOOD STUFF I CAN'T WAIT!

Welcome to my DVR, Vampire Diaries and Cougar Town

Desi and Super Meg watched Vampire Diaries last season, and although they said it was awesome, I was a bit skeptical.  I've read the Twilight series twice, and Robert Pattinson is officially on my bucket list (although I'll always be more of a Cedric Diggory fan than an Edward Cullen one).  I just thought that vampires were taking over the entertainment industry, and this show was just jumping on the band wagon.   Yesterday afternoon, however, I got sucked into a "what you missed last year on Vampire Diaries" slide show on ew.com... conveniently just in time for the season 2 premiere.  So Desi and I sat down with some tomato, basil, mozzarella on toasted baguettes last night and watched the premiere.  I have to say, I was very impressed.  It's extremely fast-paced, juicy, shocking, and dramatic with a few comedic lines delivered perfectly by Damon (the "is he a hero or a villain?" character).  Nina Dobrev was also impressive, playing both Elena and Katherine.  In a scene as Katherine, she runs into Elena's ex-boyfriend Matt (right?) and has to be pretend she is Elena.  Her seamless transition showed her acting chops, as well as how creepy Katherine truly is.  There's still a lot to learn about this show, but ew.com's slide show certainly prepared me for season 2.  Here's the link: http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20302134_20419815,00.html.

I'm also generally impressed with The CW's line-up.  90210 got significantly better in season 2 than it was in season 1, and Gossip Girl continues to suck me in, even though I find myself yelling at Serena every week.  Don't worry: these shows will never make me forgive The CW for canceling Everwood and renewing freaking 7th Heaven during the WB/UPN 38 merger.  I don't think anything will.

Since Ausiello is my guide to new TV shows (http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/), I also decided I needed to watch some Cougar Town.  What a terrible name... it honestly kept me from watching this hilarious show starring 3 amazing leading ladies.  I thought Courteney Cox was one of the strongest points on Friends (Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc reallly didn't do it for me), Christa Miller was one of my favorite characters on Scrubs, and Busy Philips is amazing in anything... anyone who stars in Freaks and Geeks, Dawson's Creek, and How I Met Your Mother is okay by me.  So I watched the five available episodes on hulu.com yesterday, the first being when Jules (CCox) crashes through a fence and into the pool of a potential client because she was distracted by talking on her cell.  In an attempt to prove she can change, she decides to give up drinking wine for a month.  Even though I missed the first 17 episodes of the first season, I knew this would be an unlikely accomplishment... girlfriend fills her wine glasses up to the BRIM.  I learned that in the first 2 minutes of the ep.  "They say you can get 4 glasses out of one bottle of wine, but I'm only getting about one and a half."  A week into her resolution, Jules is super chipper, getting up really early to paint her friend's mailbox, learning Mandarin, calling her friends at ungodly times in the morning since she doesn't have to sleep off a wine hangover anymore.  Naturally, her friends stage an intervention, telling her she needs to start drinking again.  The intervention of course reminded me of HIMYM, but in a fond way... not a "Jim and Pam get secretly married first by themselves and then get married in front of their families ripping off Marshall and Lily's wedding from THREE SEASONS earlier in himym" way.  Anyway, I'll be sure to checking in on Jules and the gang for season 2.

Side note: I noticed this year during the Emmy's that I really only watch comedies.  Apart from Grey's Anatomy and Friday Night Lights, I don't watch any dramas.  Any suggestions?