Say It Ain't So

Jeez, the more I try to adhere to a strict TV schedule so I can update this thing, the more I want a DVR. The advent of family visiting usually means a compromise in what gets watched for the evening. Let me tell you, two and a half hours of tennis is the lesser of two evils (the greater evil would be having to sit through a full hour of 2.5 Men), Dancing With the Stars could easily make me a convert, and I must be old to get nostalgic over Degrassi: The Next Generation circa 2005 episodes.

Times like these make me happy that channels like FX and USA are liberal in their reairings of current episodes. This means that I can catch Tuesday night's Law and Order: Criminal Intent premiere (sacrificed for two hours of Roger Federer battling a Czech guy who was ranked 16 at an Open in Florida) later this week without chewing my nails off wondering what will happen to Goren and Eames. Well, I already know since D'Onofrio and Erbe's departure from the cast have been discussed in the blogosphere, and thanks to some spoilery conversation with a friend. Whatever, I want to see how things play out now that Goldblum's Detective Nichols is taking the lead. I seriously hope the writers don't trap him in that twitchy "know-it-all plagued by his past" mode. That deteriorated Goren's character for me over the past few seasons, and he became a one note character. Big hopes for this season, y'all.

For my Monday night lineup:

Damages

I'm happy that I took a class back in college that introduced me to several new shows. Most of these are now staples in my weekly TV watching, and rather up there on my fandom list. I am so hooked on this season I rewatch episodes whenever I can catch them. The fact that Patty, Ellen, and Tom are all closer than acquaintances and colleagues, but nothing near enough to describe as friends is compelling. The three continually defend, assist, and still! lie to one another for their own purposes. Tom's conflict of interest in the Tobin case has been slowly revealed over the course of the season thus far, and now that we now how he died, I'm curious to see who actually delivered the mortal wound that got him there. He's getting more erratic in his behavior, troubled by the weight of his family's and his in-laws' financial woes, so it's understandable that he would lash out to Tessa Marquetti in order to get her to reveal whatever she knows about where the Tobin's stashed their money. His wife doesn't seem like she's got her financial priorities in order (seriously, keep the vacation home? sell the damn thing!) so the weight of it all falls on him. The fact that he handed Patty a resignation letter last week, and got her suspicious of his personal dealings this week makes me wonder if she had a hand in his death. I wouldn't put it past her.

Speaking of Patty, it's good to see her and Ellen on the same page. The latter is a lot like her mentor, and I rooted for her when she told her sister that she could help with alleviating the drug charges, but that she wouldn't. It was a very smart move to look out for herself in spite of the opposition and anger she'd receive from her parents. The dream sequences were weird, but at least they made more sense than Patty's pony party with Uncle Pete. When Ellen asked her sister if she remembered the taunts she used to make about her (Ellen) being adopted, the wierd dreams about the former babysitter made a bit more sense. I wonder if she really is Ellen's birth mother...

Martin Short's Leonard Winstone is fantastic. There, enough said. Just kidding, I thought his backstory with origins in a trailer park and hick father would be cliche, but boy was I wrong. His father's a low life extortionist jerk who pocketed the money Len sent home for his ailing mother, and now that she's passed, he's followed his son up to New York with threats to expose him to the Tobins unless he gets a continual hefty sum in return for his silence. Short definitely can put on a scary face when the role permits, and when he glowers at his father masquerading as a retired former law professor, I thought his jaw would snap from the tension. Well done! I have a feeling old Wiggins has some nefarious role to play in the Tobin case, but I would kind of like to see Ray put a hit on him.

Law & Order

Guest starring: Buster Bluth! I'll never get over the mind trip that is casting comic actors in dramatic roles. It's jarring, and I kept thinking Lucille was going to show up and drag him off to a Mother-Boy pageant to cheer him up. Okay, that's cruel. The episode was actually very good, sharply written, and left me feeling kind of down at the end. The best L&O episodes usually do for some masochistic reason. Buster played a divorced father whose last name was Shoemaker (I thought it was Schumacher, as in: ruined Batman & Robin) that was accused of poisoning his ex-wife's Brazilian husband so that he could regain custody of their daughter. Of course, since this is L&O we're talking about, there was a twist. Turns out, the ex-wife's parents had teamed up with their former son-in-law to poison the new hubs, and get Shoemaker's daughter back to the US. The wife had taken their daughter to Brazil against court order, and kept her there for three years and ultimately was rewarded for that. All thanks to D.A. Michael Cutter.

Linus Roache's Cutter really is a good successor to Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy; he's a tenacious, by the law, hard nosed driver who managed to get Shoemaker to confess on the stand that he was a co-conspirator in the attempted murder of his ex's husband. After the defense attorney brought his paternal abandonement issues into question in court, he made no qualms about pressing charges against the desperate father who wanted to see his daughter again. I thought he should have left it alone, the girl's mother was worse off as a caregiver, and now the poor child will have one hell of a mess to come to terms with when she gets old enough to understand it all.

By the way, Detectives Bernard and Lupo were once again fabulous, and I love that the energy between the two is reminiscent of the prickly and drily humorous Brisco and veerrry early Logan. I can't believe this show is in it's twentieth season! It's practically as old as I am!

United States of Tara

I won't claim to know what's really going on this season as a resolution to the last one, since I missed a significant portion of that, but I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Diablo Cody's snappy dialogue.

In the second episode of this second season, Tara lost time by slipping into her hick alter, Butch. He subsequently seduced the ditsy bartender at the local bar, caused a whole hell of a mix up for Tara, and reduced her to hiding out in the closet of their suicide victim neighbor. Kate scored a comission at her debt collecting job, and befriended a feirce artist, while Marshall fell for the glbt+some ally, Courteney, putting him at odds with the flamboyantly gay kid. Charmaine flaunted her engagement ring to all, and moved in with Tara's family (only till she ties the knot), while Max coaxed Tara into putting an offer on the neighbor's house, and giddly set to work with plans to flip the property. Best moments in the episode have to be Tara attempting to piece together the awkward run in with bartender girl, subsequently putting said pieces together, and then arguing with Buck over use of "the body."

And.....last but not least, Tuesday night's offerings:

Southland

I can't believe this show only has one episode left. The hiatus between this season and the third had better not be too long or heads will roll. I don't even know where to begin, except that Lydia Adams absence was duly noted! The presence of the rest of the awesome detectives did make up for that though. I'm elated that the writers kept to the ensemble format even though the show jumped networks, I had serious fears before season two started, that the focus would be limited to three of the characters, and I'm glad this isn't the case. This show is too good for NBC, can I just come out and say that? I do sometimes wonder what it would be like if HBO had it instead of TNT. For all of the censured F-bombs that get dropped, I'm surprised the violence isn't tampered down as well. Not that I want it to be, mind you, the show excels in expressing the violent brutality of murder and crime that the detectives and street cops have to deal with on a daily basis.

This episode continued the gang related case that resulted in Moretti's daughter becoming involved with one of the thugs and reunited him with his old narcotics partner who butts heads with every one of the detectives in his current department, and makes Bryant jealous. Moretti's daughter becomes involved in the case when she witnesses the murder of two of the thugs in a nightclub, and actually refers to him as "daddy," when he comes home to find her still covered in the victim's blood. Bryant's idiot wife really takes the cake this week; between photographing gang members tied to several open cases, getting stoned with a much younger skater kid, who subsequently steals her 2k camera and Macbook, she blatantly ignores her husband's warnings about the dangers of her thoughtlessness and accuses him of failing to see the artistry in her work. WTF woman. I can't even get started on her failure to control Richter, who lunges at the skater kid during their initial meeting and starts ripping at the kid's backpack. Good thing the loser was too stoned, or he would have pressed charges *snark*.

I felt terrible for Sammy Bryant this week, the poor guy just couldn't catch a break. On top of his wife's monumental FAIL, Detective Bryant tried to mentor a hyper-literate kid in the hopes of preventing him from joining a gang. Sammy gets called to a crime scene where a second middle school age boy has been found dead from a gunshot wound. After asking a nearby witness for details regarding the murder, the detective is faced with the gut punching revelation that his young protege was seen fleeing the scene of the crime. In the most heart breaking scene ever, Sammy runs down the street to the boy's house, busts in and charges into the boy's room to find him crying on the bed, cradling the murder weapon. Both are openly weeping, and poor Sammy struggles to cuff his once promising charge while the boy apologizes.


The subsequent scene where Tammi apologizes profusely for her mid-day smokeout and camera/computer handout was like a fist to the face. Her histrionics fade into white noise as Sammy gets up without a word and leaves the room, turning the television sound up. I hope season three (MAKE IT HAPPEN TNT) brings about a divorce, or at least a separation for the Bryants. Watching Sammy hobble around in his personal life with his ball and chain is too depressing. Plus, the realization that Sammy and Tammi are a rhyming couple is gag inducing...BARF.

YES!!!

You guys, I'm so excited! This week everything returns to my telly.

L&O: Criminal Intent on Tuesdays (even if it's going to become the Jeff Goldblum show, I'm still happy)...

In Plain Sight on Wednesdays is back! WHOO HOO MARSHALL.

Plus, if you've noticed the awesome/fantastic/sublime counter to the right of the blog, you will note that it is T -3 days and counting till we get Peter Bishop's backstory, and the desperation that led Walter to majorly screw up the balance between "our" universe and the alternate one. I CAN'T WAIT. THURSDAYS are less than 3. <3

I think the returning episode of Bones is going to introduce how Booth and Brennan became partners, yay more backstory!

Caprica may be over until the season starts up again *boo*, but thanks to SyFy's marathon of the BBC's Merlin, I'm hooked. Season two starts up on Friday and I've got my calendar marked. It's by no means historically accurate (or as much as a legend based on historical figures can be), I mean, Morgana wears evening heels that look like something from my childhood Barbie, and Arthur sports a knock off red leather jacket that makes him look like he's trying to emulate Thriller era Michael Jackson. These are good points, by the way, costume choices like these made me fall for the equally over the top campy Robin Hood (as did the good looking cast and hilarious sheriff), and I always appreciate a show that throws in a wildcat with the head of a cobra. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT. You think I'm kidding? Check it out:


Thanks to the BBC and Youtube for this.

Sadly, it doesn't seem like there's going to be a new episode of Legend of the Seeker this week. Although, given the pretty spiffy episode we got this past weekend, I can take the mini hiatus, maybe I'll do something productive with my Saturday for once (yeah right, I'm going to see that Dreamworks Dragon movie). This past Saturday, we got to see The Creator, or at least someone who claimed she was one. She had the powers to go with, but only because the Sisters of Light gave her all of their Han. As per usual, someone was out for Richard's head, this time it was the so called Creator, who claimed to follow the prophecy everyone and their mama believes. Cara called bullshit, Zedd stood around and confessed that he pretty much doubted Richard (thanks a lot old man!), while Kahlan tried to rally all of Richard's good points.

Turns out, the Keeper and the Creator used to be lovers once upon the beginning of the world, before he betrayed her and they moved to the Underworld, and...wherever the Creator exists. Keisha Castle Hughes guest starred as the Creator, and I really think she should be in the Hobbit, if filming ever starts. She totally looks like an elf. Long story short, Darken Rahl failed to open a crack in the earth and cause everyone and the "Creator" to fall in, the Keeper creeper actually got a disembodied voice, banelings were killed, Richard and co. saved the day, and we still don't know what the "Creator" really was. A deluded nut job who abandoned her mortal husband when the Sisters of Light came a-knockin', or the actual deity realized.

On an unrelated note, Sam Raimi's brother Ted always has some guest spot in his work, most notably in my mind as the fantastic Joxer the Mighty. Raimi brother number two also did a single episode stint on Legend, and I know it's crazy because she's on Spartacus currently, but I would LO-O-O-O-O-O-VE for Lucy Lawless to guest spot. Or heck, even Karl Urban, I'll take that.

Manic Mondays and Twisted Tuesdays

I'm starting to wish that every channel, cable and network alike, would follow USA's model of rotating their series so everything isn't playing at once. I'm also dead serious about wanting a DVR. Why must every show be on Monday? The stinkin' CW stopped replaying Life Unexpected for ANTM on Wednesdays, so I'm relegated to watching it online. I think I'm starting to lose count of what I watch.

So, Mondays....

Damages
How many more episodes of Damages are there going to be this season? I'm hooked, and if we're getting near the end, I can't wait for an all day marathon. The entire Tobin family is chock full of drama and they make Arthur Frobisher look like child's play for Patty. It's been said before, but I've got to reiterate that comedians do drama so well it's twisted. Love Ted Dansen, and if you missed out on Martin Short's super creepy sex offender on SVU, you can catch him straddling the line between just short of mercenary and sympathetically desperate on Damages. I think his Ray Winstone is one of the best characters on the show, and after the writers have highlighted his crappy background, it's understandable that he would latch on so closely to the Tobins.

I had a feeling Ellen's sister was a good for nothing druggie, seriously, meth? Yikes. But I'm hoping she won't cave to her mother's pleading and risk her career for in spite of the fact that it is her sister who's in trouble. She just reeks of the type of situation that would drag Ellen down and eventually come back to bite her in the you know what.

I need to consult the almighty Wikipedia for analysis help regarding Patty's dreams. They're triping me out, and making me wonder what the hell is going on in her head. Although, that latter bit is something that I always wonder when I watch this show. Whatever happened to her divorce? At least her son's back in her life, sort of. It's interesting that he's with an older woman, and coming to see Patty about family history? Ooooh.

I'm so torn about the fact that Tom gets killed off this season! I love the mystery that it's given to the show, and how clues and events are revealed week by week, but I'm going to miss him! After finding out that he and Ellen were going to start their own firm, I'm wondering if Patty really did kill him. I wouldn't put it past her, she did put that hit on Ellen in season one.

How I Met Your Mother
Lily turns 32! And we learn that Ted has a rude and sort of sweet habit of bringing random girls to the group's milestone events. AND that the Barnacle is so photogenic he can't take a bad picture. This is such an improvement over that episode a few weeks back when Carrie Underwood guest starred. I swear that was so boring I fell asleep and didn't bother to catch up. I love it when the group's makeshift family dynamic comes into play, and their devotion to one another is highlighted. HOW ADORABLE IS MARSHALL ERIKSSON?! The sweet couple-y things he and Lily do for one another are alternately hilarious and "aaaawwww"-inducing. I'm still surprised they don't make me want to retch. I also loved Robin's multiple attempts at catching a lousy picture of Barney. Hilarious.

The Big Bang Theory
Sheldon+stage fright+liquid courage=Laugh out loud

I have got to get my shizz together and get thee to a taping of this show. This season's been pretty rocky, and skating awfully close to Two and a Half Men in terms of humor at times (that's an insult, because the latter is dreadfully unfunny in my opinion). I still wish Leonard and Penny were just an awkward memory that no one bothered to remember, but at least they weren't cringe inducing in this episode. I liked that the buddy dynamic returned this week, and that the gang banded together to help Sheldon overcome his stage fright. There have been times this season where I've wondered why the guys even hang out together due to their irritation with one another, but thank goodness this returned them to the season one goofballs who help each other out. LOVED the shopping scene with Penny, dark, fitted suits are super flattering on tall, thin men. I know it's cliche, but alcohol as liquid courage (and an actor who can play a hilarious drunk) never gets old for me. All I ask for next week is more Raj. BBT ALWAYS NEEDS MORE RAJ.

L&O
I never expected Anthony Anderson to be so good on Law and Order, or that I would like the new line up of characters so much. I miss McCoy irking judges and defense lawyers alike in the court room, but Cutter has an edge as well, and it's awesome to see him and McCoy clash over cases. This week dealt with the shooting of four cops by an informant that two of them used as a pawn to become detectives. It was a really good case, and the defense pushed that the shooter was driven to protect his mother from the cops, who had pretty much given him an ultimatum of death by the crime lord (inevitable if he ratted), or being the cause his mother would go to prison for. It was eventually revealed that he was bitter over the fact that they didn't pay him enough under the table for his informant tips. On the sideline, the two detectives struggled over loyalties to their police brethren, or sticking by the book and allowing justice to play out in the courts. I adore this show, and it seems like it's really sinking its teeth into some complex stories, even if some are "ripped from the headlines" while SVU vears off into crazy-land with Stabler, Benson, and company pulling all sorts of shenanigins (so help me I still love it). Criminal Intent might just be on the rocks too, since it seems that Goren's getting written off. Okay, that I understand, because even though D'Onofrio is awesome, his character was becoming a slightly buffoonish parody of the detective he was in earlier seasons. I don't want to see his partner, Eames, go though! She's such a great character, tough and analytical but not off her rocker like Goren. If it becomes the Jeff Goldblum show (and he starts to go the route of Goren in terms of character) I might have to give it up altogether. Gah. Oh L&O, why do you do this to me?

Trippy Tuesdays....

Southland
DirecTV lied. LIED! The prompter said that this week's case had something to do with a USC student, and instead we get a weird mash-up of USC/our rivals, UCLA/and some Cal State in SULA (Some University, Los Angeles possibly?!) as the highlighted school. I wonder why they didn't just throw in some school that actually exists, like the Closer's done before (thanks, and yes, that was USC too). Sheesh, just cause we're located in South LA doesn't literally mean there's gangs everywhere. Anyway, some girl who was supposedly an "A" student-athlete, turned out to be a crack whore (seriously) who stole from her dealers and made enemies all around because of that. Her footballer boyfriend turned out to be a real louse, and the school tried stonewalling the supremely awesome Detective Lydia Adams as she tried to get to the bottom of the whole thing. Epic fail fake school, because Det. Adams kicks so much ass she has a safe in her home that houses a shotgun which she uses to snipe out gang members. Booyah. I know it wasn't supposed to be funny, but the idiot who was contracted to "take care" of the murder victim said he aimed for her legs so she wouldn't run, and missed. I laughed out loud, literally.

In other news, John and Ben went to see Dewey in his resort, um, rehab center way out in the desert. I wonder if Dewey's really sobering up, since his apology to Ben seemed sincere. Although, John wasn't having any of it. Talk about pot calling kettle black, I mean what with John's shady perscription drug habit? He's clearly in denial too.

Oh, and while I loooove Det. Clarke, I got to like Det. Cordero, and the chemistry between him and Lydia. So, where the heck was he this week? We get a new guy, whose name I can't remember, and he ends up being background scenery! Okay, he had a few lines, like verbally re-confirming how amazing Det. Adams is a character, but seriously, bring Cordero back! This new guy had a creeper 'stache anyhow. Eek.

This show needs more Moretta! I like that he and Sammy Bryant are buddies as well as partners (Sammy's jealousy when Nate's buddy from narcotics pops up was undeniably cute), and they still manage to be fantastic as detectives. More squee inducing moments from them? Sammy pretending to hussle one of his youth informants to help the kid get a rep as a tough guy on the street. Thank GOD TNT had the foresight to see what a great show this is and could be, and snapped it up when NBC stupidly canceled it. I'm never going to get tired of saying it, but seriously NBC? Forsaking the mighty 10 PM drama for a talk show with Leno? Lameness to the tenth power.

This last one is way past its write up date (I'm also missing a couple of shows from the weekend, but that's for later), but I have to gush about it. I never got into BSG (Battlestar Galactica), although I should have, because apparently Xena was in it?! OMFG. However, I happened to flip through to SYFY (the spelling is still horrible, by the way) and catch an episode of Caprica a few weeks ago, and now, I'm hooked. It's ridiculous; Frak has snuck into my vocabulary and is threatening to overtake my pirate's like swearing! It's so good, SO SO SO SO GOOD. I'm reduced to babbling. I'll admit, I only half know what's going...okay, my understanding of the plot is probably about 35%-40% in terms of where things are. However, Daniel Graystone's machinations are twisted, and his treatment of cylon-daughter, Zoe was wicked this past week. I'm starting to wonder how he would treat her if he ever finds out Zoe is in the cylon. Anyway, I don't know quite enough about it to comment on how it is relative to BSG (gotta watch that!), but I'm keeping my eye on this one. Looks like SYFY is starting to churn out some good shows; I'm a sucker for Warehouse 13, when is that one coming back?


Can't wait for next week: In Plain Sight and L&O: CI are back, whoo! It's April I'm really gunning for, I NEED FRINGE. What will Peter do once he finds out that Walter stole him from the alternate universe? Will we see Walter Bishop and his old frenemy, Mr. Spock William Bell join forces to stop the rift? Or will they clash? I am so excited, I LOVE THIS SHOW. It's edged Bones out as my Thursday favorite. I can't take watching Hodgins suffer over Angela anymore, she's becoming less endearing with her relationship hopping, and his mooning is so sad! I do stick around because Sweets is adorable, and Booth and Brennan rock.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that The United States of Tara is on Monday too? What the frak.

Southland / White Collar

Tuesdays are a tango of time management. Thank goodness the two shows I slavishly follow are on cable channels so they get played multiple times in the span of one night.

This week's White Collar was a vast improvement over last week's snorefest. I adore Mozzie, but even his quips couldn't save last week's dredge. It's getting close to the end of the season, only two more episodes left, or one, but it doesn't seem like we're getting any closer to finding out what Kate's deal is with Fowler, or if Neal is ever going to get that music box. Personally, I think he should just listen to Peter, Mozzie, and everyone else and just give up on Kate. I always do a double take because she looks too much like Peter's wife, Elizabeth. Anyway, Neal went toe to toe with an old rival in some race against the clock to save the kidnapped daughter of one of the tycoons he victimized in his old con artist days. I wonder if the "scary" handler will make a reappearance, he didn't seem all that intimidating when Mozzie and Neal conned him out of suitcase he was supposed to deliver.

Neal's aversion to guns is adorable, and I love the secret "codes" he and Mozzie have, especially when they explain them to Peter. Oh! It was great to see Diane Neal as a guest star, it's fun to see female characters interact with Neal and be completely unaffected by his charm. I hope her character returns.

Southland is one of those shows I wish I had gotten sucked into the first time it was aired on TV, even though it had a short run on NBC. It's such a fast paced, smartly written show, that handles its ensemble of characters so well that I don't mind it when one story jumps to the next. Plus, it's based in my hometown, and I get such a kick out of playing "spot the location." NBC really tripped themselves up by failing to keep this show (in favor of Jay Leno at Primetime?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) but at least TNT stepped in to save it and give it a new home.

After replaying the truncated first season, TNT debuted season two of Southland and it was UH MAY ZING. AMAZING. Where do I even start to express my love for this show? I love that there are strong female characters, like Detective Lydia Adams, who is excellent at her job, loyal to her partner, and doesn't take guff from anyone. She had so many great moments in the first season, from chewing out a superior in her boss's office over homicide priorities to sticking up for a single mother, and finally in the season finale, sniping gang members who had invaded her home while she was harboring a witness in a gang related case. She's just made of so much win.

I love all of the characters, really, from the detectives to the cops, and I love that their flaws as well as their better points are presented. Southland gives us the mundane calls, and general idiocy that cops have to deal with which offsets the darker, grim cases that usually deal with homicide. I am so excited for this season, I hope it gets a greater audience now that it's on TNT and seems to be getting the attention it so rightly deserves.

Monday Night Madness

I'll just come out and say it, I'm terrible at this blog thing. After a hectic February, the Winter Olympics (and my futile attempts to catch most of the figure skating, thanks NBC :P), and half of primetime TV going on hiatus I'm going to try and reboot this. Starting off with this crazy weekend and leading up to the most busy night of the week...Monday.

Sunday:
Every Saturday, or Sunday, depending, I try to watch Legend of the Seeker. It's delightfully campy in the vein that Xena: Warrior Princess was, and beautifully shot. Of course, it's filmed in New Zealand so that gives it ten zillion bonus points and my automatic vote. Sunday's episode centered around Richard and the gang saving Kahlan from the nefarious Sisters of the Dark and this evil king whom they'd made a deal with. Basically, it was Richard, Cara, and Zedd going undercover as a princess, her brother the prince, and their aunt (the scariest looking man-woman in drag ever O_O). Highlights of the episode included Cara's attempts at rhyming prose, trying and failing to act in a overtly feminine manner, and of course, the requisite fight scenes. Those always rock.

I've only become addicted to Big Love in the past year or so, but I've fallen hard. This show has too many things to focus on, and this season is making my head spin with all of the varying plot lines. It's still good, and even though the eps seem to be hit or miss, this week was a solid one. Some thoughts:

I go back and forth on who my favorite characters are, but I have a solid admiration for Nicky and I love that this season she seems to be discovering herself and building a life separate from the compound and her polygamist upbringing. Her ex, JJ is super creepy, and I'm seriously suspecting that he uses his sister, Wanda for disturbing egg harvesting practices or something. He's getting close to Roman Grant 2.o. Nicky's brother, Alby, has always had that aura of "creeper," and even when he was courting his illicit paramour, Dale, he did it in a decidedly cringe-worthy fashion. Still, it's so heartbreaking to see what he's being put through this season! I thought I'd lose it when he found Dale's body hanging in the apartment they'd rented for their meet ups, and this week, when he got so close to reaching to his sister and finally, shut down after hearing the disapproval from his deceased father (Papa Grant) it was shattering to see him retreat from Nicky, essentially shutting down and closing off all emotion. I'm surprised he didn't catch on to Laura's admission of guilt in outing him and Dale to Bill Hendrickson.

Speaking of which, I wanted so badly to throw something at the TV every time Bill blabbed about his beliefs and polygamy in Sunday's episode. It was so good to hear Marilyn call him a hypocrite to his face, and watch Ana not buy into his bullshit. That scene highlighted how blind Bill is about the hypocrisy of his beliefs. How interesting that Margie's gone and snagged a second husband, even if he's only her hubby on paper. I doubt that's going to last for very long, since Goren seems to have a developing interest in her.

Sarah's up and leaving to Portland with her husband, and although I wish Amanda Seyfried wouldn't leave the show, at least her character is getting away from the mounting snowball of drama that's brewing back at the Hendrickson household.

Good for Barb in sticking to her convictions regarding her fellow housewives and their RX addictions. It might throw a stick in the road for Bill's campaign, but I'm glad she stood up to him, and the naysayers and kept with it. Thank goodness she stopped trying to be the unintentional condescending big boss to the casino workers.

New Teenie: do not want :|

Monday:
Monday nights are making me wish I had a DV-R. At least with satellite we get multiple replays in the same evening, so I can stagger my viewings. Yes, I do watch far too much TV and yes, I do analyze how I'm going to get my fix and yes, I do realize that episodes are on Hulu, however I like my shows on my telly. Anyway, I tried to squeeze in Damages, How I Met Your Mother, Law and Order (original flavor), The Big Bang Theory, and a bit of Life Unexpected. Whew.

Like Big Love, I've only gotten into Damages in the second season or so. I staggered the show then, and was a little fuzzy on the conclusion of the season. This season is great. Where to start? Well, for one thing, I'm devastated that Tom Shayes is getting killed off. By now I'm pretty sure it's got to do with his attempting to retrieve money from the Tobin ponzi scheme for his own family. Whatever thing he was involved with Ellen in seems to have been forgotten. I vacillate between rooting for and hoping Joe Tobin fails spectacularly during any given episode. He's a little like Bill Hendrickson in that, just when you're ready to write them off as completely self absorbed idiots, they do something that surprises you and brings you back to just this side of hoping they pull through okay. For the former it usually kicks in when he actually practices what he preaches with his family, and I guess the same applies for the latter.

I always wonder what Patti has up her sleeve, what she means by making her newest hire meet up with Ellen, and what role the architect dude is going to play in her life. I'm starting to wonder if she did have a part in Tom's death...

I missed most of HIMYM, but the bits I did catch didn't really bring the laughs. What gives?

Law and Order OG has moved to Mondays?! AUGH. That's both a boon and a blessing. The old dinosaur came roaring back to life with back to back episodes and I gotta say, I think Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson's detectives are growing on me. I was so used to the young old dichotomy of Orbach and whatever hot young cop he got paired up with for the longest time that I gave up on the show after he left (okay, I stuck around for a while because Jesse L. Martin was fab as Det. Green). Anyway, it fell into this schlump of ripping stories from the headlines without putting enough of a fictional spin on them that made them seem like serialized hour long news spots. It feels like SVU is starting to hit a snag with their plots, but they've gone the over the top crazy route instead.

I thought the two storylines were going to be related, or connected somehow, but they turned out to be completely different. The first had to do with the murder of an entire family due to some type of metal music influencing a highly disturbed teen. The second had to do with the brutal death of a charter school student at the hands an inner city boy jealous over the impact the kid had on his little brother as a role model, and his friends who had some issues of their own to work out. Both plots were a lot better than I'm making them out to be, but by golly, they really got the feel of old school Law and Order episodes down. This show is practically as old as I am, which is ancient by Hollywood standards, and it's still ticking!

When the Big Bang Theory gets it right, they really get it right. I loved Raj's speaker shirt (how cute is Kunal Nayar? So cute), the whole plot about the boys seeing Stan Lee at their usual haunt, the comic book store, and repurcussions! Yay! for Sheldon's driving Penny to the hospital a few episodes back. I love it when things that have happened in a TV show's universe are referenced in later episodes. Continuity for the win. I'm also glad the judge didn't kowtow to Sheldon's smarminess over his presiding over traffic court instead of some major case. The little script he wrote up for Penny was funny, and Leonard wasn't a huge prat in this one. Sheldon's glee over his restraining orders is weird, and giggle worthy.

That's it! For now anyway.