This Week in Television - Dec. 11-18, 2011

Once Upon a Time
I think it was too early to kill off Graham. Because of all the time spent on a weekly fairy tale character, there hasn't been that much time for chemistry to brew between he and Emma, and it was really only this episode that they started trying to force it down our throats that the two of them might be in love. I barely even considered them friends given how much more time Emma spends with Henry than with him.

Glee
The black and white Christmas TV special was kind of fun because it was so awfully cheesy, but I think it would have served them better to just make that the entire episode. No need for the farfetched frame narrative about how a local TV station decided to not only give some high school kids a bunch of airtime, but trust one of them to direct the special. And there's no way it cost less than $800, either. The ending when they showed up at the soup kitchen to give Sue a hand was very easily predictable, but I did like Sue's scene at the beginning when she was asking Artie, Kurt, and Blaine for help, because Sue Sylvester monologues remind me why I keep watching this mostly garbage show.

New Girl
I don't know why they always stick Winston with kids at parties, but this time he befriended one and it led to a possible job opportunity for him, so it wasn't exactly the same as his rivalry with the kid at the wedding, but if this becomes a common thing then it will get weird quickly. Kind of sad to see Paul go, but in TV land these things have to happen since guest stars can't stick around forever. The ending with the Christmas lights was a nice note to go out on, though I think people usually leave them on all night. Doesn't make sense that every house on the street would have turned them off, but for the purposes of the show it made for a nice moment.

Survivor: South Pacific
Too much religion in this episode. Do religious people not realize how extremely arrogant and self-centered it is for them to keep saying that God does things specifically for them? Or even to ask God to do things specifically for them? As if, out of the billions of people on the planet, a mighty omnipotent being would be greatly concerned about a game on a reality show. Anyway, it was stupid of Brandon to give up immunity, but since I don't like him I didn't mind seeing him pay for it.

Survivor: South Pacific (Sunday Finale)
I thought Ozzy was going to win it, but once he got voted out I figured it would be Sophie. I would have voted for Sophie too if I was on the jury; Albert has that fake used car salesman quality, and Coach disappointed me when he voted out Ozzy. I understand he was stuck between two promises, but why break one when you can leave it up to fate with a firemaking challenge, thus breaking neither? But I'm glad Sophie won, I'd been rooting for her the last few episodes. And I'm pretty sure Ozzy does have the record for most torches snuffed now: three times in one game, four times total.

Hero of the Week: Jess from New Girl, because "eating cookies and avoiding confrontation" is pretty much my strategy at parties, too.

Douchebag of the Week: Albert from Survivor, because he's sneaky and immoral, and thinks he's more charming than he is.

And that concludes our 2011 television year. See you in 2012!