Monday Recap

Monday, the most crowded night on TV. We'll just dive right in!

So, last night's Gossip Girl was the intended backdoor pilot for the spin off about Lily growing up in LA, the spin off plans have been canceled, and I'm pretty grateful now, after seeing it.

As much as I love Brittany Snow, she was completely ineffective as Lily. She was either just doing an impression of Kelly Rutherford, or being Meg Pryor but in The 80s in LA. The rest of the cast was OK, although we did meet Serena's dad, who looked like the smarmy blond guy in a teen comedy but sleazier and was a music video director? (EW) and it was probably the biggest let down ever. However Owen, obviously meant to be Lily's love interest until Rufus came around was pretty good. He was equal parts all of the GG boys, plus a little bit of And the fact that the episode ended with Young Lily staring out a bus window the same way Serena did the train window coming into Grand Central in the pilot was fantastic.

The B-Story of the episode was much better. St Jude/Constance prom, where Chuck made sure that Blair got her perfect prom night...behind the scenes, and Blair and Nate broke up, realizing that their relationship, while defining high school to them, didn't have a future. Serena and Dan went to prom together and were adorable and fun. I like them as friends, like a lot. Oh and the Blair drones looked really ridiculous in their prom dresses.

OTH was cute, with Lucas and Peyton's wedding, but the whole Lucas and Peyton get this close to happiness and then it gets torn away thing is getting SUPER old. And as much as I love Julian and Mia as characters, I really want Brooke and Chase to get back together. I love them as a couple. And I really like Skills's new girlfriend. I love that they've given him such a clear type.

Castle also upped the cuteness, with Alexis going to the prom and having her first kiss. I love the character of Alexis Castle. Like a lot. Anyway, the mystery was about a plastic surgeon murdered by the mob, basically it amounted to Castle and Beckett flirting a lot (I know shocking!)

Greek: Which I finally got caught up on...I'm really enjoying the direction this season is going, with the focus much more on the group dynamics of the houses than on the individual characters, especially on KT where we're getting more Beaver, Wade and Ben Bennet action than ever. And I like Jesse McCartney's character quite a bit. The Evan Cappie conflict is better than its been in a while, because without Casey between them, they're starting to see there's not much of a conflict. Including last night's episode where the stash of stolen goods from past KT regimes was found and decided to be return to their proper places. Evan was given the opportunity to have KT officialy disbanded and all its members expelled, and didn't take it. After all, there cannot be one without the other.

How I Met Your Mother was a substandard episode. It was funny, not particularly memorable. Even Sarah Chalke's return was kind of eh. I've never particularly liked Stella's character anyway.

The Big Bang Theory send the guys to the North Pole for the summer, with Penny and Leonard saying good bye. Leonard realizes that perhaps Penny missing him will further their relationship. Season 3 is about the right time for them to really give the relationship a go, so we'll see how that works out next year.

Season finales abound this week, both NBC and ABC have theirs. CBS and CW's are next week. And the summer seasons are at midpoint, plus the HBO season starts in a few weeks. TRUE BLOOD AND ENTOURAGE! YAYS!