Monday night gut reaction

Quick (very quick) review of the season premieres before bed:

HIMYM: A
Big Bang Theory: D
Chuck: A+
Heroes: B+
Journeyman: C

Yeah that doesn't really tell you very much. Let's just say...
- Chuck and HIMYM were amazing, as expected
- Heroes was good and will undoubtedly get better as it gains momentum (Here's an idea... let's start by shaving Nathan's beard. Good lord.)
- Big Bang Theory not surprisingly blew (it's by the creators of Two and a Half Men, so...)
- Journeyman was disappointing... not necessarily a bad show, but probably a bad programming move on NBC's part.

And that's my brief, snap-judgment rundown. Tomorrow is another night of season premieres. And my life has order again.

Premiering tomorrow (Monday)!!

TV roundup

Hey TV fans. Just a quick recap of stuff I watched this week, stuff I read about today, and one special show I've just fallen in love with.

Notable stuff I watched:
- Gossip Girl. I'll preface this by saying that I feel some sort of six-degrees-of-separation type of thing with this show. First of all, they've been filming this all down 27th street in NYC, and they've done a week or so right by where I work. (Their wardrobe trailers were outside my building... and I accidentally walked through their breakfast tent one day and saw some of the beautiful gentlemen cast members. Hell yeah. One of them even glared at me! Be still my heart.) Secondly, my coworker's friend wrote the books the series is based on. Anyway, I've gotta say, this show was pretty smutty. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. A good way to sum it up is that while I never watched The O.C., I'm not surprised that it's by the same creators. But Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) is the narrator, and I love her. And I think it really captures the culture of the teenage set these days - with the sidekicks and the texting and the blogs and whatnot. It's interesting to me from a cultural perspective, and I always love a little drama. It's classic CW/WB, so I'll be tuning in again.

- Back to You. It's hard to judge sitcoms by their pilots. I was a little disappointed by this show's premiere. I'd flag it as mediocre so far. But hey, I'm not giving up on it just yet. Who doesn't love Kelsey Grammar?! Plus, it reminds me of Murphy Brown, News Radio and Mary Tyler Moore. So I'll hang in there.


Notable stuff I read:
- Tony Almeda is returning to 24 this season! Maybe the plot lines, character development, and, oh, say, anything interesting at all, will return too. We can only hope.

- Insight on Pushing Daisies from Slate.com: "...anyone who's seen the Pushing Daisies pilot has to wonder: How long can the studio keep up that expensive look? The same question applies to the premise—guy touches dead people, they come back to life; he touches them again, and they die permanently. The girl of his dreams dies. So, guy loses girl, guy touches girl, guy can never touch girl again." We'll have to see how that plays out. I've thought from the beginning that this might be one of those shows that would make out better as a movie. But here's hoping.

- NBC's co-chairman Ben Silverman threw a pre-Emmy party that included girls in underwear and a tiger in a cage. Formal attire only. Assumedly that applies to everyone but the g-string-clad women. And the tiger. So... there's that.

- "How to Sound Like an American." This Slate video article investigates how all these British actors drop their accents to sound so utterly American. (House is the best example. Damn, he's good.)

My new love:

HEROES. Seriously, I missed out last season by not watching this. Now I understand what all the hype was about. It's so much better than I expected!!! It's everything I always wished Lost and 24 could be. And for someone like me, who loves reading novels, the fact that this plays out like a novel is fantastic. The writing is phenomenal, the characters are so complex, and the plot is revealed just enough at a time. And like my sister said, the story arc was planned from the beginning, so nothing that happens is an accident. Plus, I love superhero stories. So this is like my dream show. I am wondering, though, how this got scheduled in a 9pm time slot. It's pretty graphic, racy, dark, and scary. (Especially if you watch it with all the lights off and only candles lit, like I've been doing. Very "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark"-ish.) Anyway, seriously, watch this show. I always knew I'd like it, but I never knew I'd love it to the point of addiction, which is how I feel now. Season 2 starts Monday, but you should DVR it, Netflix the season 1 DVDs right now, and have a marathon over the weekend, like I'm doing, so that you can start watching season 2. (You definitely have to start with season 1.) I'm holding out hope that it won't lose momentum in season 2. This show is extremely powerful. And you know what they say... with great power comes great responsibility. Crossing my fingers that that means season 2 plays out just as fantastically as season 1!

Beauty and the Geek is back!

I have mixed feelings about this season of Beauty and the Geek, with the various changes to its format. But I'm crossing my fingers!

So in case you didn't watch last season, I'll refer you to my posts about it. I was very unhappy with how most of the season went, because I felt like the point of the show was being lost (see my post here) - but the producers redeemed themselves in the end (see my post here).

This season, though, they started things off right. (Yay Ashton Kutcher!) First of all, they've added in a lot more explanation by the host about the point of the show. They've also added in IQ tests for the beauties and social IQ tests for the geeks at the beginning of the show, which are designed to determine the starting point for each contestant - putting the focus back on personal growth for each individual.

After the tests (and a night with everyone sleeping outside), the lowest-scoring beauty and the lowest-scoring geek were announced. Those two were then charged with interviewing each contestant and then choosing all nine pairings. This is different than the format in previous years, where the partners were chosen at first meeting, solely on face value, usually with the more obnoxious and assertive people getting to make first selection. I always thought that process was bogus, so tonight I was pleased with the change. This exercise made people think a lot harder about who they wanted to be paired with and why, and it helped them get to know each other instead of judging a book by its cover. It also worked out better that the lowest-scoring contestants got to pick each team - they really put a lot of thought in to the decision, and although some of it was strategy, it was more about who they thought could learn the most from each other. All of this aligned much better with the point of the show, which made me very happy.

The part I'm uneasy about is the surprise twist at the end. The host announced that they'd be adding a 10th team to the mix - a "geek" who's a girl, and a "beauty" who's a guy. Don't get me wrong, I saw this reversed format coming from a mile away. But I worry about implementing only ONE team like this, instead of having a whole separate version of the show with all teams' genders reversed. Although, like the host said, this show has always been about the social experiment. And this is a social experiment indeed. So, we'll see how it goes. Maybe it will end up teaching everyone a lot -- that's it's not what they can learn from female beauties or male geeks, but it's what they can learn from other people who aren't like them, regardless of gender. I'm worried that it will create more stereotypes, but hopefully it will go one step further in breaking them down.

Emmy Emmy Emmy

As promised, loyal readers, a brief post of Emmy goodness. God I love the Emmys. (Despite my bitching every five minutes about how nobody cares about all the bullshit in between the good awards.) I really do though -- the Emmys are like my Superbowl.

Ok, so here are my thoughts...

1) YAY for 30 Rock!! I'm so proud of my little show. As Tina Fey so graciously said in her speech "and thanks to our dozens of viewers!" Ugh I LOVE Tina Fey. My only worry with this win is that it's like when Arrested Development kicked major Emmy ass - appreciation by critics and Emmy voters, but not by those damn Nielsen viewers. (I ask again, HOW do I get to be a Nielsen viewer? How?)

2) Did we really have to start the night with Family Guy (ugh I can't stand it... sorry to those who love it... I just really hate it) - AND an Isaiah Washington joke?! And then a cut to T.R. Knight?! Could that be any more awkward and inappropriate??

3) BOO to Fox's censorship. Give us a break, Fox. Also, BOO to the classlessness of the local Fox reporter in charge of the post-Emmy coverage on the red carpet, which I'm watching right now... she's currently SCREAMING at these celebrities who are trying to get the hell out of there. Wow she's so annoying and tacky. "I JUST GOT BLOWN OFF BY TOM SELLECK! HOW HOT IT THAT?!" "HEIDI! HEIDI! HEIDI! HEIDI! She's on cable and she won't even stop and talk to us." sigh... she's also Heidi Klum the model, you local-news jackass. Ugh.

4) Boo for NPH not winning for How I Met Your Mother. There's always next year, Barney. It's going to be legen- wait for it -dary. High five.

5) Yay for Locke from Lost winning. He rocks. And so did his outfit (only Locke can pull off a black sequined tie and a Desperate Housewives joke in one fell swoop).

6) No shock that The Sopranos won... I'm kind of glad they're out of the picture now though, so that other dramas can start winning awards. The shock of the night was probably James Spader winning over Gandalfini for best actor. I'm a huge Spader fan (Sex Lies and Videotape, anyone?), but that was kind of crazy...

7) BIG BOO to no wins for The Office. (Well, except for winning an episode award for Gay Witch Hunt.) I'm sorry, but Pam totally should have won Supporting Actress. I don't get My Name is Earl. At all. Damn. Although, maybe this will teach the writers a lesson - you mess with Jim and Pam, you mess with your Emmys. Crossing my fingers for Season 4.

8) Maybe I should start watching Amazing Race... that shit is the Helen Mirren of reality tv...

9) What's with Ugly Betty winning all that stuff? I've only seen one episode, but... is it really Emmy material? Maybe I should watch it again. Speaking of shows I haven't seen, this week is Heroes week for me - so that I can catch up in time to watch the new season. That reminds me, I've gotta watch Weeds, too... I love Mary-Louise Parker.

10) Seacrest... out. No, seriously, get out, Seacrest. Everyone in the audience blatantly thinks you're a joke. Poor guy. He was out of his league.


Okay, now, last but not least, the best moments of the night:

SECOND-RUNNER-UP: Sally Field's speech. Sally, you're a MESS. Pull it TOGETHER, woman! At the beginning of your speech, I was like, "Wow, she's almost like the white version of Phylicia Rashad, what with the political nature of her speech and..." -- and then, Sally, you went INSANE on the stage. I take it back... you're kind of just a mess. It's okay, Norma Rae, I like you anyway.

RUNNER-UP: Elaine Stritch and Stanley Tucci's presentation. Elaine kicked it off with a yawn. Hahaha. And then WHAT was she even saying?! Haha that was SO great. She's a mess, and I love it. She STILL kicked ass. As always. (Sally Field, take note - Elaine Stritch can pull off crazy. Pay close attention.)

HANDS-DOWN WINNER: The Daily Show reunion -- My boys Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert ended their hilarious presentation with the announcement that Ricky Gervais won for best actor. And then, because Gervais wasn't there, they said they were gonna give it to their friend Steve Carell instead. But the best part was when Steve Carell actually CAME UP ON STAGE and they all hugged and jumped around. Ugh, you are my three favorite men, and you're all hilarious. Thank you, boys, you made my night.