My Top 10 TV Moments of the Year: 2008

OK, so tis the season for Top 10 lists, and now I'm doing my first one ever. These are not necessarily the best, just my favorites, so here we go:

10. Perfection, always - Dancing With The Stars: Kristi Yamagucci's Win

Yes, I'm starting my list with my top guilty pleasure, that I don't really feel that guilty about. DWTS has had some kick ass champions in the past. Drew Lachey, Emmit Smith, Apollo Anton Ohno, but no one ever dominated like Kristi and Mark did. They got a 28 on the first week out, achieved a 30 earlier than anyone in the competition ever (For an amazing jive that would have and did made the Hough siblings jealous.) Of course they didn't have the stiffest competition. Jason Taylor was closest, and he couldn't touch them. Christian De La Fuente was good and loveable but again, Kristi and Mark just dominated. They had a perfect 30, 30, 30 and the fans behind them. It was nice to see a woman win for once...of course it repeated with Brooke Burke, and I keep meaning to check out the new cast, or see if its posted, but I seriously doubt anyone will ever beat Kristi's pure domination, it just won't happen.

9. "I can see Russia from my house" - Saturday Night Live: The Vice Presidential Debate.

I would be the world's worst TV writer if I overlooked the best political impression SNL's had since Will Ferrell's W. And no, I'm not talking about Tina Fey's Sarah Palin (Although it is amazing) I mean Jason Sedakis's Joe Biden. He even got the crazy eyes. And his declaration about the great city of Scranton, that "No one but me has ever come out of that hell hole!" had me laughing harder than I've ever laughed. And it would be just plain pop culture ignorant to overlook the fantastic impression of Governor Palin that Ms. Fey did. I'm still quoting it, "I'm going to ignore that question and talk about Israel...I'm not saying this to pander to Florida voters, since I was a little girl my two biggest loves were Israel and Cuban food!" It might have been the funniest speech ever done on SNL. I'm grateful for SNL's resurgence and Tina Fey's acceptance by the mainstream, it's been about seven years since I decided I wanted to be her. As my friend Katie put it, "It's a little strange. Everything that Tina Fey has accomplished, the first female head writer of SNL, the Mean Girls screenplay, all those Emmys for 30 Rock, what she gets mainstream recognition for is looking like some other lady."

8. "I want to call my mom!" - Entourage: Tree Trippers

This might be my new favorite episode of Entourage, replacing "One Day in The Valley," or "The Sundance Kids," which were always battling for first in the past. Anytime you take the boys out of LA or their natural habitat is always interesting. This episode, where they decide to take shrooms to make Vince's next career decision is a tour de force of their bonding pattern. Ari runs off on his own and spends the episode on the phone with Lloyd, trying to find his way back to the boys. Arnold, the boys lovable pitbull runs away from the group and the other four search after him. E loses the ability to speak, and Turtle realizes his own uselessness, and begins to beg for his mother. My favorite element of this whole season was the switch of focus from Drama to Turtle. I've always found Turtle endearing and wonderfully sweet and I was happy to see more of his stories told. And happy to see him made romantically fulfilled with Jamie Lynn Sigler.

7. "Same Sideburns, Same Commitment Issues." - 90210: The Bubble

I don't think anyone who's read this blog since September can possibly argue how excited I was when we found out the Dylan was the father of Kelly's son on 90210. Granted I was hoping for Brandon, but it really was an exciting little bit of taste of future plot lines. First of all, I'm still praying for Terminator's cancellation, so that we can get some David in, but honestly, the door is open for Dylan now, come on in Luke. We know you want to. Granted, it was after this that we got that positively classic 90210 moment, Brenda deletes Dylan from her cell phone, to save her friendship with Kelly...*sob* Dylan McKay, Brenda Walsh, soul mates no longer. OK, maybe they were never soul mates, I guess it was established in that episode where Dylan saw his past life and he and Kelly were married in the wild west and Brandon was like the sheriff or something that he and Kelly were soul mates. Whatever, those episodes right before Dylan left were pretty god awful. Let's hope when they bring him back stronger than they did when he came back for the last season of the original, personally I'm thinking Dylan and Brandon smackdown. Then Steve can say something obnoxious. It'll be great.

6. "I have stretch marks, I have a butt, that's who I am!" - America's Next Top Model: Cycle 10 Finale

God Bless Tyra Banks and all she's doing for women in America...that was sarcasm. But for real, Whitney, the first ever plus size model to with ANTM was a cool choice. Granted, Paulina Poriscova clearly hated her, and maybe she was a little more pageant queen than model (My sister would kill me if I didn't disclaim that), but seeing a girl with actual curves, who's an admitted size 14 win this competition which is normally dominated by stick figures and anorexic ghetto girls was really cool.

5. "Her parents have a pool." How I Met Your Mother - Sandcastles in the Sand

This episode is one of the best examples of what makes How I Met Your Mother great. Combining the oddball out there humor, and real friendship heart. Sandcastles in The Sand brings back Robin Scherbotsky's early nineties teenage alter-ego "Robin Sparkles" the Canadian pop sensation who created the hit "Let's go to the mall." "Sandcastles in The Sand" is Robin's other single, which never made the charts. It did however introduce her to Simon, a loser who she dated for the 2 1/2 weeks of Canadian summer. These things aren't what made the episode great, it was three things, 1. Simon was played by James Vanderbeek, who on his return to Robin's life had a receeding hairline and a beer gut. I always appreciate the Creek kids trying to get back in the game. 2. I forget what it was that got Barney upset, but in the end Robin ended up comforting him, which established my new favorite hopeless couple to root for, Barney and Robin. and 3. The actual "Sandcastles in The Sand" video and song which were both as awful as you would think they would be.

4. "I would eat Tangerine Chicken but I don't have Tangerine Chicken" - The Big Bang Theory: The Tangerine Factor

Just like Sandcastles is the best of How I Met Your Mother, the season finale of Big Bang was the perfect storm of this hilarious one note joke show. Adorably awkward Leonard finally made his move on sweet and sexy Penny. In the second season we learned that this didn't work. But it was nice anyway. The B plot line was Sheldon trying to get to the bottom of a mystery, was the chicken at their favorite chinese place tangerine chicken or orange chicken. Oh right and Wollowitz was being pervy looking for Penny's ex boyfriend's blog which detailed their sex life. Largely, brilliant.

3. "It's Not What I'd Have Done." - Heroes: Dual (Much thanks to my brother for helping me pick!)

Peter Petrelli has his powers back. Thank God for it! I'm not among the people who think that this season of Heroes has been horrible so far. I think it's a hell of a lot better than last season. But the pivotal, "We're Baaack," moment for me came when Peter injected himself with the newly perfected formula and got his powers back and flew himself and his brother Nathan out of a burning building. Nathan's response was that it wasn't what he would have done, and at last the Nathan/Peter dynamic was restored to what it always should have been. Nathan is a dick and Peter saves him anyway. Oh right, and we saw how Peter got his scar. Which is kick ass. Between that, Claire forgiving her dad and walking away from the "Petrelli lifestyle" and "killing" Sylar, she's well on her way to fulfilling her destiny, you know becoming a brunette. I can't wait to see what happens next which is part of the redemption. Heroes is on it's way back to what we loved, I promise it is. Oh right, and Milo with the scar...totes hotter than Milo without the scar. Meow!

2. Meeting Half Way - Weight Loss: The Office

The moment Office fans all waited for. Jim proposing to Pam in the most Jim and Pam way possible. They met at a gas station half way between Scranton and New York (For your information, no such place exists.) and he got on one knee in the rain. It was the squeal heard round the world. Jim and Pam's relationship is so wonderful, and sweet and pure, it's nice to see it come to this step. We'll see what happens after the holidays, but I think things will keep being good, don't you?

1. "This is me! And I love you!" - Gossip Girl: Oh Brother, where Bart Thou

Nothing, and I mean nothing captivated me this year like the Gossip Girl fall finale. Chuck's breakdown, the revelation of Lilly and Rufus's baby...and most importantly, as usual, my favorite part of anything Gossip Girl, Blair showing her humanity. Her sobbing begging confession of her feelings to Chuck and his subsequent rejection and then acceptance and then his running away...it's like everything amazing about the Blair and Chuck romance all wrapped up into one angsty perfect hour. I can barely contain my excitement for the coming return...it's only two weeks away, thank God!

So there you have it. Yes 2008 was hard. The economy collapsed, my presidential candidate lost, but there were good things too. Like Turtle finally got a girlfriend, The Heroes began to fulfill their destiny, a fat girl finally won ANTM, Barney and Robin hooked up and Blair and Chuck confessed their love. Perhaps that makes up for it. Maybe.

A Place Called Home

So this weekend I watched my favorite ever, A Christmas Carol: The Musical, you know with Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge. And one of my favorite elements of it is it exposed the world at large to Jesse Martin as musical theater GOD not just as hard boiled cop guy, but also Jennifer Love Hewitt is in it. I adore Jennifer Love Hewitt, I like she's fantastic. She's beautiful and talented enough for television (She tried the movie star thing, wasn't for her, she's a TV actor.) and I think she's a really good pop singer. So what happened to Jennifer Love Hewitt? I mean, one minute she's about to finally break through and the next she's doing The Ghost Whisperer...yeah, I know. Anyway, after giving it some thought, I realized what it was...

Anne Hathaway happened.

Anne Hathaway is a far more talented much prettier version of Jennifer Love Hewitt. So now, every time a producer gets a part that would suit them both, Jennifer Love Hewitt has to wait until Anne Hathaway says no. Also Jennifer Love Hewitt doesn't show her tits, Anne Hathaway does. See where I'm going with this? Anyway, Anne Hathaway stole Jennifer Love Hewitt's career.

Personally I think the Wicked movie would be the perfect comeback vehicle for JLove. She could play Nessa, get a Golden Globe nod for best supporting in a Musical or Comedy and Matthew Fox says in an interview that he's proud of her, and poof, people are buying Party of Five DVDs, and watching I Know What You Did Last Summer on Surfthechannel, it'll be great. It'll be like the late 90s all over again. But better, with high speed internet, and a Wicked movie, and cell phones that fit in your pocket, so even better.

Oh right, and Anne Hathaway can go back to making makeover story movies. She's really good at them.

Points that made the new Muppet Christmas Special the best thing I've seen this Christmas

1. Mayor Bloomberg makes the first celebrity cameo as himself, telling Miss Piggy that New Yorkers are famous for their politeness. Those Muppets and their irony.
   
2. Jesse Martin as the cheeriest damn mailman ever. And singing of course. Only Jesse Martin could sing a song about mail with Muppets and still be sexy. Then again Jesse Martin could sing about his own toe nails and it would be sexy. He has one of the sexiest voices ever.
   
3. Jane Krakowski as the little girl from that movie where The Rock wore a tutu's mom. She really is quite the cutie. The little girl, not Jane Krakowski. Although it was nice to see Jane playing a character besides a self absorbed actress.
   
4. Sam Eagle reminding us all that opening someone else's mail is a federal offense. It was a funny little moment, and a great reminder of the things that make the Muppets great.
   
5. Mob movie parody. Pepe and Rizzo went to see if the mob guys could get the letters to Santa the gang was trying to get mailed, mailed. The two mob bosses then declared, "You can never trust a rat!" and threatened the pair. They ran away. Then the Sweedish chef brought out a shellfish pizza. Yay Sweedish chef!
6. Animal destroys Skeeter's laptop with a club...it was a pun on hits on a web site he'd set up. Muppets love puns almost as much as they love irony
7. Muppet choreography. Always a happy bonus.
   
8. Whoopi driving a cab.
   
9. Uma Thurman as a ditzy ticket agent at JFK, and all the Muppets drooling over her.
10. Pepe and Rizzo having trouble with airline security
11. Nathan Lane as an airline security officer. He wanted a tricycle, he didn't get one. Now he's bitter.
    
12. "It's federal offense to tell jokes in an airport security line!"
13. The Old Balcony guys heckling from a brownstone window.
14. It takes 3 hours to get from New York to the North Pole by plane...fun fact huh?
15. Gonzo and Fozzie duet. They're like the Ringo and George of the Muppets. Totally underrated but possibly the best part.
16. Uncle Vernon as Santa
17. Kermit wishing us a Happy Holidays. There's nothing like Muppets to make Christmas just that much better.
    

ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL ME?

OK, so it's bad enough that they've replaced Catherine Hardwicke with the guy who did The Golden Compass for New Moon (BTW, according to anyone who actually read The Golden Compass, I did not, although I did enjoy the film, he butchered it) but now they're talking about replacing Taylor Lautner with Ben Barnes for Jacob!


NOOO!

Taylor Lautner was perfect. And I like Ben Barnes. I do, I mean, Prince Caspian...swoon. But he's not Jacob. And you can't do that. Recasting of a big role rarely works out. Like in Hannibal, I like Julianne Moore, but she's not Jodie Foster. Or Val Kilmer as Batman, yuck. (OK, I actually like Batman Forever, but because of Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey and Nicole Kidman) Whichever Darrin Stevens was second, just not as good. If Ben Barnes wants in on Twilight, he can play Sam or something. Actually Ben Barnes would make a really good Sam, now that I think about it. Or maybe Embry. But not JACOB! You can't give me the perfect Jacob, who btw is actually Native American not British and bizarrely good at accents and then just take him away. Why does Robert effing Pattinson get a free pass? Edward is barely even in New Moon. He's in it as much as Jacob is in Twilight.

And don't even get me started on the Catherine Hardwicke thing. She did an amazing job on Twilight, with next to no budget and tremendous pressure. Not to mention part of what I love about Twilight is the feminine tour de force that it is. Think of Sci Fi/Fantasy/Horror authors who are household names. Guess what? Chances are they AREN'T WOMEN...with the exception of JK Rowling (who had to abbreviate her name because her publisher didn't think that if people knew right away Harry Potter was written by a woman they would buy it) there are very few women who are famous in that genre, and guess who the other two that I can think of are? Stefanie Meyer and Anne Rice. So having a woman direct the movie really meant something, especially to a young woman who has an interest in the entertainment industry. But now it's, "Oh, we can afford a man, so we're going to use him this time." It really puts me off, a lot. Luckily Stephanie said she's got her eye on him. I'm so glad they're letting her be involved. She better keep him from butchering it.

And the wolves better not look cheesy.

You know you love me.

So I've been reading the "Next Generation" Gossip Girl books. These are to be known as "The Carlyles." I'm thoroughly annoyed by them. Every single character is a pale imitation of the original characters.

You have Avery Carlyle, who just so desperately wants to be popular and important at Constance. She continually fails miserably at this. Just a little bit like, umm, Jenny Humphrey. Maybe Avery will ultimately triumph and go away to boarding school, who knows?

Then there's Baby Carlyle, who's effortlessly beautiful and perfect, and can't stick to a boyfriend for longer than five seconds...like Serena (Book Serena, obviously, not TV Serena, who's still in love with Dan.) Baby ended this most recent book impulsively flying off to Barcelona for no reason whatsoever, after dumping cute boy who she likes, because it just didn't work between them...like you know Serena and Dan (Again, in the book)

Owen Carlyle, who's tall and blond and has no real personality whatsoever, but he really likes girls...Nate Archibald anyone?

Jack Laurent...Poor Jack, her crazy mom has made her life a living hell. *COUGH* BLAIR WANNABE *COUGH* And Baby stole her boyfriend and boo hoo, woe is me. No one cares, Blair did it first, she did it better and managed not to be annoying!

JP...JP is an idividual, kinda. Except that he and Jack are sort of Nate and Blair-ish, that is they've been together forever, and he's also really into Baby.

Then there's Rhys and Kelsey who just ARE Dan and Vanessa, just take away the artsy-ness that made Dan and Vanessa interesting.

That being said I know I'm going to continue spending money on these books. It's kind of a problem.

Odd Man Out

Hey, so I was watching The Daily Show, and I saw that commercial for the new Guitar Hero, you know the one where A-Rod, Kobe, Michael Phelps and Tony Hawk are all playing, and Kobe's totes lame because the rest of them are in their underwear and he's wearing shorts. Anyway, Kobe's not the odd man out in that group...he sort of is, but he's not the one I'm thinking of.

A-Rod has never won the top prize in his sport. He doesn't have a World Series Ring. Kobe has multiple NBA Championships, Tony Hawk must have won some skateboarding thing, I don't know how that sport works, and Michael Phelps has more Olympic medals than any human.

This strikes me as strange and granted its not all his fault, but I'm just saying. Maybe Derek should be in the add, Derek has several World Series championships.

Bling Bling Bling

So I've been watching my Office DVDs while I've been studying for my finals, and I don't know why but I was thinking about something my mom and I discussed a while ago, and that's how NBC successful shows have a certain something to them.

NBC's biggest successes come in a certain package, ensemble casts of mostly unknowns with a few familiar faces.

St. Elsewhere's made most of its cast stars, sure people knew William Daniels (But that was about it.)

Cosby, they knew Cosby. But Lisa Bonet, Phylcia Ryshaad, Malcom Jamall Warner, all unknowns, made into stars.

Cheers. All unknowns. Entirely.

Seinfeld. No one knew those guys, Jerry Seinfeld was a mildly successful comedian, Jason Alexander was a failing character actor. Now look at them.

Friends. Courtney Cox was in a Bruce Springsteen video and David Schwimmer had done some theater. I mean just look at that cast now, especially Jennifer Aniston who's biggest credit was Leprechaun.

The West Wing. Martin Sheen was a big movie star, and John Spencer was somewhat known. But the entire staff was really only known for playing small roles in movies.

Scrubs. Um, wait isn't that the black kid from Clueless? Granted NBC then destroyed the show by moving it to a different time slot every year, but still.

The Office. The Office is like the best show on television right now (Besides GG) and it was all these people you'd never heard of, unless you watched The Daily Show, then you knew Steve Carrell. Now they're all doing things, they're recognizable

Heroes. The Heroes cast were all "Oh That Guy!" type actors. Except Milo...*sigh*...OK, I'm back, but think about it. Ali Larter, "Isn't that the girl who wore the whipped cream bikini in Varsity Blues?" Or "Hey, that's the little girl from Remember The Titans?" or "Wasn't he in Top Gun?" Now, they're, well, not so much famous, as "Oh that's Matt Parkman!"

So there you have it. That's why shows like, mm, My Own Worst Enemy don't work for them...you watch NBC to see the future, not to be sad because all Christian Slater can get work doing is some pathetic Fight Club rip off show.

And of course there are exceptions...like 30 Rock. Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski and Alec Baldwin are hardly unknowns. They're actually pretty famous and have been for a while. There are always exceptions.

How the Idiot Box Blew My Mind Tonight

OK, between Gossip Girl and Heroes, I'm going to go CRAZY!!! Seriously, my television needs to chill out.

Let's start with Gossip Girl:

1. Lilly and Rufus have a baby! A BABY! Which means that Dan and Serena share a sibling which only furthers my cause...NERENA!!!! Seriously, it's not going to last with Aaron, and Nate and Vanessa can try their best, but it's Nate and Serena they will be together. Even if I'm the last person one earth to believe it.
2. Chuck loves Blair, Blair loves Chuck, but Chuck RAN AWAY and asked her NOT to follow him. Except we know she will, because they LOVE each other and they told each other.
3. Jenny's back, but you know, good Jenny, who we love, Jenny who just wants her brother to be happy and stuff. Bitchy Jenny gone, thank God! She was awful.
4. Blair wore the most spectacular blue velvet headband. I wants it.
5. If the television academy was less snobby and paid attention to The CW, then Ed Westwick would sooo deserve an Emmy for tonight's episode. He was so good it was unreal. Yes, he did his whole "I'm Chuck Bass, and I'm going to whisper, and purse my lips and wear ridiculous suits" thing, but the scenes where he flipped on Dan and kicked him out of the funeral and then when he told Erik he wasn't his brother (poor Erik, really, although he got back together with his boyfriend, which was sweet.) were so good I wanted to orgasm all over the place. Also I've decided that I'm going to marry him...Ed Westwick. So yeah, that'll be good.

And then Heroes...WHOA!

1. Sylar not a Petrelli. THANK GOD! But he also killed Elle, which makes me sad. I loved Elle, and I was really digging the Sylar/Elle love story. But I guess Kristen Bell had to focus on being Gossip Girl at the moment. Those voice overs must be killer.
2. Masi Oka should also win an Emmy. Hiro rocks. Hiro's scene with his mother was so awesome.
3. Claire warning Baby Claire about what boys are trouble. HILARIOUS.
4. Super Strong Marine and Nathan being a bad guy...SCARY.

I basically was shouting "OH MY GOD!" And "WHAT THE FUCK!" for two hours. Seriously, I feel SUPER bad for my room mates.

Well that's a new one...

OK, so, last night was a very exciting night for me. At least the pop culture nerd inside me who tends to this blog was very excited.

TNT has a series of made for TV movies. They star Noah Wyle, and they're ridiculously corny and the special effects suck, and they rip off Indiana Jones like it's nobody's business. These are The Librarian Movies. The Librarian: Quest for The Spear and The Librarian: Return To King Solomons Mines. I love these movies. They are everything that is good in entertainment, with the added bonus of Noah Wyle running around jungles and deserts all sweaty. Yum.

This new one The Librarian: Curse of The Judas Chalice. What is the Judas Chalice? Well, it turns out that the Judas Chalice is the yang to the Holy Grail's Yin. Yes, it's an evil grail. Process that for a moment. What does the evil grail do? Well, it doesn't bring eternal death, because you know that would be dumb...dumber than what it does at least. The evil grail brings dead vampires back to life and gives living vampires increased speed and strength.

Let me say that again...VAMPIRES! I'm a little sad that even the Librarian has been corrupted by Twilight-mania. But I was also very very excited to see what they did with it. Well, not a lot, actually. Except that Judas was the first Vampire, and then Flynn fell in love with a vampire, in New Orleans, obviously, because apparently vampires love Louisiana (Interview starts there, True Blood, um Jasper is from there.) and then they kill Dracula.

Yeah, I know it's sort of hard to explain and is actually pretty stupid, but its the third movie and if you know the characters it was fun. Flynn is a whole lot smoother than he used to be, but he's been doing the whole Librarian thing for like six years now.

Oh right and he killed Dracula and they totally set up more movies...SWEET!

God F*cking Bless Us...

Last night while watching A Muppet's Christmas Carol Jen and I started coming up with some ideas for our own version of the Charles Dickens Classic.

An HBO Original Christmas Carol

We came up with a few bits, and I came up with some myself. If anyone has any other suggestions feel free!

Obviously there's Scrooge: Tony Soprano is the obvious choice. I mean, the cheating the killing the whole mob boss thing, he's a good fit.

Marley: Larry David...Come on, Larry's whining combined with those clinking chains, terrifying. Also hilarious.

Bob Cratchet: Say it with me folks LLOYD!!!! Ari's poor put upon assistant has the right amount of cheer and lovable subservience to fit into poor Cratchet's icey cold desk. God knows he's good at putting up with the abuse.

Tiny Tim: Eric Murphy. OK, maybe it's just because of all those little man jokes Ari always makes, but think about it. E would be a welcome relief from all of those perky happy Tiny Tims. A sardonic Tiny Tim who's always on his cell phone, it would work.

Belle (Scrooge's Fiancee in the past): Carrie Bradshaw. After her relationship with Scrooge bites the big one she can make some bad pun about how he loved money more than her. Plus you know, he can criticize her about spending all of her money on shoes.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come: Sookie from True Blood. She has visions. It works. Also she reads minds and is in love with a vampire who could kick Edward Cullen's ass. Not that that has anything to do with A Christmas Carol but I just like saying it.

The Ghost of Christmas Present: Turtle. Mostly cuz he's chubby and round and adorable. Not to mention you know, he's Turtle, he's all about living in the moment.

That's all I've got so far, but I'm totally open to suggestions if you've got 'em!

Prop 8

Prop 8 The Musical

This might be one of the most brilliant internet viral musicals since Dr. Horrible. If you haven't watched Dr. Horrible you absolutely should.

But this is amazing. It basically says everything I think aboutGay marriage. Yes, as a Catholic I think marriage is a sacrament meant for the spiritual union between man and woman for the further procreation of the human species.

But as a human rights activist (hardly militant, I mean, I shop at Wal-Mart for Christ's sake.) It does annoy me that the same people who quote Leviticus consider themselves Christians. Pretty much the whole love your neighbor thing wiped out the whole stone your mother, sell your daughter, abomination thing. I'm just saying.

That and it's HILARIOUS and Allison Janney plays one of the evil republicans...granted I am a republican but I agree that the whole Prop 8 thing is totally evil, and not a constitutional issue, btw.

Granted I got into an almost fight with my roommate last night about our school providing contraception to female students.

Could I find a lamer source to rip off from?

OK, so I was on the IMDB front page and I saw a link for the trailer for a movie called 17 Again. Now, last I checked, there already was a movie out there called 17 Again. It was a Disney Channel Original Movie and starred the Mowry kids, and I think Tamara played the grandmother who Taj turned into a 17 year old again and she and Tia became best friends.

This version however, Matthew Perry is a workaholic Dad who gets changed into The Zefron. Now, I love me some Zefron, but the very thought that Chandler and Troy Bolton could ever share a role just puts me off. Zac's whole earnest young guy thing does not blend with the sarcasm that oozes out of Matt's every pore. Even when he played that lawyer on West Wing, dude was still Chandler.

That being said the movie does actually look pretty funny. Zac enrolls at his kids high school and fixes their lives. Michelle Trachtenberg is the daughter, and well, I'm all for Harriet The Spy having her career. And the wife is played by Leslie Mann, who rarely if ever misfires, although maybe that's just because lately she's only been in her husband's movies, and really only the good ones (She and Paul Rudd were the best part of Knocked Up, except maybe for Steve Carrell's cameo)

Anyway, I'll probably wait for it to be on cable, although maybe on a boring Sunday I'll sneak to a matinée. I do like to see the Friends working (WHERE ARE YOU MATT LEBLANC? Has anyone seen Lisa Kudrow's Gameboy commercial?) and like I said, I am fully in favor of The Zefron.

That being said, there's a good chance that all of the funny stuff is in the trailer. Wouldn't be the first time.

Woo HOO!

OK, so this week's Gossip Girl had everything I like in an episode.

We had a fantastic Chuck and Blair storyline. We all know I love my Chuck and Blair. They're amazing, and they're the only best part of the whole show. For the annual Snowflake Ball (Yes, this is annual, although it wasn't there last year??) anyway, they make a bet, if they can find the other a date that they like they exchange, Blair gets the limo for a month, and Chuck gets Darota, (Poor Darota, she's so good and so put upon. If it wasn't clear how much Blair really loved her you'd probably really hate Blair for the way she treats her) and they find each other younger versions of themselves. These versions are also less pretty. There is a lot of banter. Then the fakeys hook up and this sends their world into disarray and they get back together. YAYS! Also, Chuck was wearing sequins. It was fantastic.

Then there was some Lilly and Rufus. LILLY AND RUFUS!!! They are the number 2 reason to watch the show. I mean, we all know that Lilly and Rufus are the most amazing grown up couple to ever grace a teen soap. Sure, sure, Jackie and Mel had their ups and downs on BH90210 (mostly downs) and Mitch and Gale were good times, you know with their open marriage and second wedding and whatnot, and Sandy and Kirsten with their perfect stability, and their completely endless income, and Ryan and That Drug Cop seem to be doing well on 90210, but none of them can touch the epic generation spanning romance of Lilly and Rufus. She was about to leave Bart for him, and then he was in a car accident, and on scenes it looks like he died. This will add to the epicness. But seriously poor orphan Chuck.

Oh yeah, and Jenny was a total bitch, and Nate and Vanessa got their shit together. So that's going to be fun. Seriously? Let's send Jenny to Waverly already, her shit's getting old. Also, I want to see Callie and Easy...also Heath Ferro...although TV Chuck and Heath Ferro are kind of the same. But still I want my It Girl characters.

Also, I wouldn't mind seeing the Carlisles and their group. Or Baby at least. Avery's kind of a pain in the ass.