This Week in Television - Dec. 7-11, 2009

Glee
So the glee club won because one of their competitors was a group of deaf kids who couldn't sing, and because the judges were incompetent? I think I actually kind of approve of that, because I would have been outraged if they had won simply because they bested the competition. Would have seemed too kitschy. Too bad Sue got suspended, but she will come back even awesomer.

Modern Family
The problem I am starting to have with Modern Family is that I see many of the jokes coming. I knew the two sisters were going to sabotage their brother when they told him their idea to get Christmas back. I knew the scary monster face was going to pop up again in the video at the end. A punchline is no good when you already know it, folks.

Survivor: Samoa
They should've called Russell's bluff. I knew he wasn't going to play his idol, he was just trying out a way to use it without using it.

Bones
I don't watch Bones, but I did this week to see special guest star Zooey Deschanel. The reason I can never get into cop/detective shows - and this one is no exception - is that I really do not care about solving the mystery of a weekly anonymous character's murder, and all of that crap takes time away from proper character development, which is the other reason I would watch if there were enough of it. Bones and Booth are likable characters, sure, but not them or anything else about the show managed to pull me in. Maybe if Zooey's character were a regular castmember - the Benjamin Franklin quotes were annoying but she added a kind of sarcastic tone to each one to make them funny.

Fringe
That was some heavy stuff, removing pieces of Walter's brain and hiding them in the brains of others so that he wouldn't remember some dangerous info. I hope John Noble gets an Emmy someday.

Parks and Recreation
Once again, some good satire in this one: the media loves to blow things out of proportion and give false reports on something that would make an awesome story if it were true. Sounds especially like FOX news. I like the ridiculousness of their observations, such as, "Normally when two women stand so close to each other, we have to assume...lesbians." They weren't even standing that close. I am rooting for April and Andy to get together, they seem so weirdly appropriate for each other.

The Office
I never realized until Andy brought it up, but it is funny how the 12 gifts of Christmas are mostly birds. So Dunder Mifflin will be under new management. Interesting. But not as interesting as Phyllis and Bob Vance dressed in Santa outfits and making out with each other. lol gross.

30 Rock
It was cool to see Julianne Moore guest star, but unfortunately she didn't have much to do except for a mildly amusing Boston accent. Usually the guest stars get wackier parts. I knew Liz's zero dollar gift to Jack would be bringing Julianne Moore back.

Kenny vs. Spenny
Who can win a cock fight? I thought this episode was going to involve roosters. I should have known better.

Overall rating for this week's shows: A-

This Week in Television - Nov. 16-20, 2009

Heroes
The stuff with Tracy getting help from Claire after losing control of her abilities was kind of pointless and pretty much the same story we got last season when Elle had the same problem. So if Samuel gets stronger around others with abilities, but he was somehow unaware of this without having seen the film, then the question of why he's gathering people is still up in the air. Disappointed that Sylar left Matt's body since watching those two duke it out was awesome, but maybe it will just continue with Sylar vs. Nathan.

V
Tyler is terrible at lying to his mom and stalling for time. Whatever the V's are planning to use him for, I hope they didn't need an intelligent person, because if so they will fail miserably.

Glee
No Sue at all this week, just some crazy obsessive teenage girls and Kurt trying to convert Finn to homosexuality. In a real life situation I would say it wouldn't happen, but since Glee tends to be unrealistic I wouldn't really be that surprised if Kurt and Finn hooked up at some point, even if it's temporary.

Modern Family
This episode was saved by its guest stars, Elizabeth Banks, who is cool, and Edward Norton, who I don't think of as a character actor but he does a good British accent. I also like the role reversal in having the wife be the one who is terrible with gifts and special occasions instead of the husband. Manny's attraction to Haley just seems like a recycling of the George Michael and Mayby thing from Arrested Development, although in this case I think Manny is Haley's... half uncle?

Survivor: Samoa
I didn't like Laura anyway. I'm still not really rooting for anyone in particular though, and there's only 8 left. Kind of a forgettable season in that sense.

Fringe
Awesome, I always found the observers really fascinating. Glad we got an episode to learn more about them. So if they are observing time, it must be that they are trying to either find something or learn something. And given that they are so bizarrely inhuman, why did that one guy start to have feelings?

Parks and Recreation
The hunting trip was kind of funny, but the best part was April and Andy wasting time doing mundane stuff like playing Marco Polo and practicing spit takes. I think they might get together at some point and would actually make a good couple (albeit a slightly weird one) since they're both so lazy and unmotivated.

The Office
Dwight's Recyclops costume was awesome. Kudos to Jim for punishing Ryan, because sometimes he can really be a smug prick. The ending was great when Dwight was so disgusted with the lineup for questions that he just ended up making suggestions for more efficient lineups.

30 Rock
Frank being the greenest person at TGS: funny; Dr. Spaceman making another appearance: awesome; Kathy Geiss's lawyer being a Teddy Ruxpin doll in a suit: priceless.

Flash Forward
Even back when Olivia first got the text, I knew it wasn't from anyone that Mark told. It's gotta be someone who was involved with the blackout. I like that the majority of the episode was about Bryce, because until now I thought of him as more of a minor supporting character. However it seems too soon to be introducing the girl from his flash forward and setting them up to be situated in the same country, because it looks like the first time they meet is in the vision, which would take place (and air) in the spring.

Kenny vs. Spenny
Season 6 kicked off this week with two episodes. The first was "Who Can 69 the Longest?". I read some of the competitions online and was wondering how they were going to do this one without it being too literal - there was no disgusting oral sex involved, just harnesses keeping them attached to each other in a 69-like position. The funniest part was watching them try to move around, and having the crew decide that it was a boring competition so they tortured them to provoke surrender.
The second episode was "Who can touch the most breasts?", and within minutes the term was quickly distorted to include the breasts of men, cows, chicken, and plastic mannequins and dolls. Surprisingly, I don't think Kenny even touched any bare lady breasts and Spenny got several (They're worth 3 points!).

New record: 11 shows this week! Also, for the first time in... possibly ever... I have at least one show on every weeknight.

Overall rating for this week's shows: A+

This Week in Television - Oct. 12-16, 2009

Heroes
What a weird coincidence, Ernie Hudson guest stars on Heroes as a cop who meets invincible Sylar, right after I just watched The Crow, where Ernie plays a cop who meets an invincible dude. So it looks like the deaf lady can use sound as a weapon now? That's much cooler than just seeing sound. I still don't get this carnival stuff though and why they're so obsessed with having a complete "family". P.S. Told you Gretchen was hot for Claire.

Glee
Another solid episode heavily featuring Sue Sylvester. I loved the use of "O Fortuna" as Sue and Will struggle for control of Glee Club, because I always thought it was the most epic-sounding battle song ever composed. Also like that they performed "Keep Holding On", as it is one of my favourite Avril Lavigne songs.

Survivor: Samoa
Ugh, sea slug guts.

Fringe
Wow, you really gotta give this show credit for coming up with the coolest/weirdest/creepiest concepts every single episode. A sleep doctor secretly addicted to stealing and experiencing other people's dreams, rendering the victims exhausted so that they suffer delusions and commit murder-suicides? Genius.

Parks and Recreation
Fred Armisen is good at playing foreigners. I liked that little montage of him explaining all of the things you go to jail for in his country.

The Office
The best part was Oscar telling the cameras that without Jim and Pam, the sane/insane ratio in the office is severely off balance. So true.

30 Rock
Yay, 30 Rock is back! Not the strongest debut but still a good episode. I liked the jokes about everyone forgetting who Josh is since he hasn't been around much in the last two seasons.

Flash Forward
Not much really happened in this episode except for Dominic Monaghan's crazy appearance at the end. This show likes to be somewhat average for about 40 minutes and then spring a surprise cliffhanger ending during the last two.

Modern Family
Not as good as last week's episode. I saw several of the biggest gags coming before they happened, and the storyline seemed like textbook family sitcom stuff: eccentric relative coming to visit, daughter has a boyfriend the parents don't like, blah blah blah.

Overall rating for this week's shows: B+ (That's right, I went below A.)

This Week in Television - Oct. 5-9, 2009

Heroes
I found this episode to be a bit...dull. I even predicted Sylar popping out of the dirt at the end. But really, not much happened. Nathan turned back into Sylar, Tracy decided not to be a whore, Bennet decided to go back to doing what he's been doing all along anyway, and Hiro told his sister he was dying. Yawn.

Glee
I actually really liked this episode and for once I have no complaints. Easily the best episode so far. The best scene was Sue writing in her journal, funny stuff, and the ending was awesome because Sue being co-manager of Glee Club means more of her in future episodes. For a villain, I don't even hate her in the slightest. Maybe because I don't care about the fate of the Glee Club. It's the least appealing part of the show for me.

Survivor: Samoa
I still don't have anyone to root for yet. Someone has yet to step up and start being cool. I don't think they should have voted off Yasmin. Yes, she does nothing around camp, but she's helpful in challenges, and if you vote her off she still does nothing around camp but your team sucks more at challenges without her. Smart thinking, guys.

Fringe
Hey, we finally got to see Olivia Dunham's meeting with William Bell! And she finally caught Flancis and gave him some lead injections! And Walter finally sort of almost had a love interest! And Dunham screwed up a little and let the enemies resurrect their leader! This episode was so good that all of these sentences have to end with exclamation points!

Community
I've never seen this show before but I watched it this week while waiting for Parks and Recreation. I have to admit I found it bland. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't awesome, it was just very average in my opinion. A lot of the jokes were almost funny but not quite. It felt realistic in the sense that it was the kind of jokes you might hear real people make rather than witty comedy writers. Yes, that is an insult and a compliment at the same time. That's kind of like what watching Community was like.

Parks and Recreation
I just realized that so far this season there hasn't been any talk at all about trying to turn the pit into a park. But I'm okay with that, it's still a funny and enjoyable show, and I loved the idea for this episode about everyone playing a game where they try to find the biggest dirt on each other. I found it really funny when Tom approaches Ron at the end of his performance and says "Duke Silver! I'm a big fan!" and Ron veeeery slowly looks up at him. Other than it being a really cheesy night job I don't even see why that would be considered a "skeleton in the closet", but that's the joke I suppose. I also thought it was hilarious that the congressman on TV reportedly had sex with a prostitute on the way there and back from his apology press conference for having affairs. That's real politics for ya.

The Office
So, the big wedding episode... Jim and Pam were cute, and it had some funny moments. The beginning was the best, when everyone in the office started barfing except Creed, who casually watched while eating some spaghetti. That is a classic scene right there. Also enjoyed Kevin's kleenex box shoes, Andy tearing his scrotum, Dwight pretending to give Michael his hotel room, and Michael hooking up with Pam's mom, of all people. For a little while I almost thought he was going to get with Pam's grandma though, which would have been even funnier.

Flash Forward
I don't believe Demetri's fiancee. I mean I do believe her, but I don't think it was him she saw in her flash forward. She saw him from a distance, first of all, but I think it was just someone else's wedding. He's probably still going to die, but the "maybe you were just sleeping" explanation from previous episodes brings up an interesting point: maybe some people were sleeping and what they saw were actually just dreams, not visions of the future. That would explain why that one guy's daughter was proven dead even though he saw her alive. Unless someone is just covering it up... P.S. I have no idea what dead crows mean.

Modern Family
I had never seen this show either, but unlike Community I enjoyed this one. I am a fan of the mockumentary format and I didn't know this show had talking heads, so that helped me jump on board, but also it was funny and the characters were entertaining too. I like the running gag (at least I hope it continues to run) that the one family has a second daughter we never see because she is literally always upstairs in her room. Also nice to see Ed O'Neil working again after disappearing for about 10 years. The last time I saw him was a guest spot on 8 Simple Rules.

Wow, 9 shows this week! I don't think I've watched that much TV in years.

Overall rating for this week's shows: A- (Maybe I should lose the rating thing, it's generally going to be high since I tend to only watch shows I like.)