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!

You Can't Take The Sky From Me

It was a good night for Browncoats last night.

1. Summer Glau guest starring as herself on The Big Bang Theory...where Raj hit on her. If I were Summer Glau I would hook up with Raj. If I were me I would hook up with Raj. He's adorable! Then Howard ruined it. Summer Glau is awesome.

2. The premiere of Castle! WOW! My roommates and I literally squealed through all of it. My God is Nathan Fillion attractive. After all you know these are not the hammer...Oh right, the show. Actually it was really good. Kind of by the numbers, it reminded me a lot of Bones...in a good way, and that's kind of funny because Bones stars another Whedonite (Really, if I have to say who, then you don't deserve to be on the internet...just Google it!) Anyway, Rick Castle is a lot more complicated than you'd expect, much like Mal Reynolds and I'm really interested in seeing where they take the show. Unlike on many of these sexual tension fueled shows, both of the characters acknowledge that the tension is there. I'm interested in seeing how the show turns out. Plus you know, nothing else is on after DWTS...WHAT UP!

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.