this week in tv
Oct. 16th, 2010 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhI was up at bhanesidhe's this weekend and finally watched the Undercovers pilot! And … it was cute! Like Castle, it reminds me of a USA show with higher production values, and Val and I talked a lot about Undercovers vs. Covert Affairs. I wonder, have the networks ceded not just super high quality shows but also middling-but-pleasant actionish shows to cable?
HIMYM: Lily: Never get off a train that's not moving unless a train appears on the other tracks, and often not even then. It will always pull away after you've left.
Marshall: You can outrun a lot of city buses. You can't outrun the subway.
Ted: Never, never, NEVER look yourself up on Rate My Professor. Also never stop being an architecture nerd! I would have sat next to you on the bus! (And I also love the bus. Deeply.)
Robin: I also am mocked by posters on the subway that remind me of my failures, so I feel you.
Barney: I think your heart grew a size and a half! Good job!
(Also, himym, nice bing placement.)
Castle: ooh boyfriend. I like that Castle goes into these alternate communities—vampires last year, steampunks here—and unlike, say, CSI, it doesn't imply that they're full of scary perverts. I love that Castle knew one of the door questions off the top of his head. And I thought it was interesting how Esposito was the comic relief this episode, while Ryan was on fire, especially with his reasoning why the killer couldn't actually be a time traveller. But I didn't get why the Delorean was parked outside—is that really steampunk?
Hawaii 5-0: I like that sidelined Danno = more Chin action. I'm so asking for Chin or Kono for Yuletide this year. Surprise!DL Hughley (has he had work done?) asking how long Steve and Danno have been married was also nice. 5-0 fandom is barely getting off the ground, and in these early days is surprisingly not as Steve/Dan centric as one might think.
Dancing with the Stars: Eliminations seem to be marching along in expected fashion, but we're going to start hitting muscle soon. I found it kind of interesting that The Situation just this week on Jersey Shore (according to my tumblr pals) acted a fool; I wonder if that lost him the good-will vote that bad dancers need to stay on the show? No bad dancers left now, and Jennifer and Derek continue to be awesome.
Glee: The problem with the "competitions" on the show is that they're always plot points and then the performances don't entirely support them. So of course Quinn and Sam were going to win, because the writers wanted them to go on a date. But Shue did say that everyone voted for themselves so only the people who hadn't performed actually voted for someone else, which in this case was Brittany and Artie, and Brittany wouldn't vote for Santana.
That aside, I missed Puck and whatever inappropriate comments he might have made along the way. As I said Tuesday, my favorite duet hands down was Kurt and Rachel at the end, though I did love Santana and Mercedes and Tina and Mike were adorable. Finn and Rachel got that stupid song in my head for a day, and sorry but Barbara and Julie Cooper own "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."
Top Chef Just Desserts: Another reality show where the weak are all leaving in order. Heather C was no Chris March, who deserved a second chance and made a lot of it; she clearly would have gone home last week if Malika hadn't taken herself out as the judges loved what Malika did and really liked Zac's showpiece. And Erika continues to avoid the bottom, so good for her; I hope Eric can find his confidence.
Community: I wish the bloggers weren't comparing this to Modern Warfare or Contemporary American Poultry. It was adorable, but had a lot of other things it was trying to do other than be a parody. I'm hoping we're going to see more of the weird City College rivalry that was introduced in Debate 109. And for me, the best part of the parody was the Dean's presentation at the beginning, with the City College simulator labeled "CCCP" and the red spreading across the map. And I really liked that they did KFC product placement essentially by making fun of product placement. (Also the viewscreen as a sticker, and Troy as the captain.)
Project Runway: Ugh, cue TLo yammering about conspiracy theories, whatever. I don't care about Michael C, because he isn't going to win, and with so many dummy collections at fashion week it doesn't matter that much that April didn't officially show because she probably wasn't going to win either. It's down to Mondo or Andy with a possible but doubtful Gretchen spoiler. I don't know that I even really care that much who goes out next week so long as it isn't Mondo or Andy.
Also, The Soup made a Polanski joke about the Chilean miners, and Joel looked super hot in his three-piece suit plus stubble.
bhanesidhe's this weekend and finally watched the Undercovers pilot! And … it was cute! Like Castle, it reminds me of a USA show with higher production values, and Val and I talked a lot about Undercovers vs. Covert Affairs. I wonder, have the networks ceded not just super high quality shows but also middling-but-pleasant actionish shows to cable?HIMYM: Lily: Never get off a train that's not moving unless a train appears on the other tracks, and often not even then. It will always pull away after you've left.
Marshall: You can outrun a lot of city buses. You can't outrun the subway.
Ted: Never, never, NEVER look yourself up on Rate My Professor. Also never stop being an architecture nerd! I would have sat next to you on the bus! (And I also love the bus. Deeply.)
Robin: I also am mocked by posters on the subway that remind me of my failures, so I feel you.
Barney: I think your heart grew a size and a half! Good job!
(Also, himym, nice bing placement.)
Castle: ooh boyfriend. I like that Castle goes into these alternate communities—vampires last year, steampunks here—and unlike, say, CSI, it doesn't imply that they're full of scary perverts. I love that Castle knew one of the door questions off the top of his head. And I thought it was interesting how Esposito was the comic relief this episode, while Ryan was on fire, especially with his reasoning why the killer couldn't actually be a time traveller. But I didn't get why the Delorean was parked outside—is that really steampunk?
Hawaii 5-0: I like that sidelined Danno = more Chin action. I'm so asking for Chin or Kono for Yuletide this year. Surprise!DL Hughley (has he had work done?) asking how long Steve and Danno have been married was also nice. 5-0 fandom is barely getting off the ground, and in these early days is surprisingly not as Steve/Dan centric as one might think.
Dancing with the Stars: Eliminations seem to be marching along in expected fashion, but we're going to start hitting muscle soon. I found it kind of interesting that The Situation just this week on Jersey Shore (according to my tumblr pals) acted a fool; I wonder if that lost him the good-will vote that bad dancers need to stay on the show? No bad dancers left now, and Jennifer and Derek continue to be awesome.
Glee: The problem with the "competitions" on the show is that they're always plot points and then the performances don't entirely support them. So of course Quinn and Sam were going to win, because the writers wanted them to go on a date. But Shue did say that everyone voted for themselves so only the people who hadn't performed actually voted for someone else, which in this case was Brittany and Artie, and Brittany wouldn't vote for Santana.
That aside, I missed Puck and whatever inappropriate comments he might have made along the way. As I said Tuesday, my favorite duet hands down was Kurt and Rachel at the end, though I did love Santana and Mercedes and Tina and Mike were adorable. Finn and Rachel got that stupid song in my head for a day, and sorry but Barbara and Julie Cooper own "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."
Top Chef Just Desserts: Another reality show where the weak are all leaving in order. Heather C was no Chris March, who deserved a second chance and made a lot of it; she clearly would have gone home last week if Malika hadn't taken herself out as the judges loved what Malika did and really liked Zac's showpiece. And Erika continues to avoid the bottom, so good for her; I hope Eric can find his confidence.
Community: I wish the bloggers weren't comparing this to Modern Warfare or Contemporary American Poultry. It was adorable, but had a lot of other things it was trying to do other than be a parody. I'm hoping we're going to see more of the weird City College rivalry that was introduced in Debate 109. And for me, the best part of the parody was the Dean's presentation at the beginning, with the City College simulator labeled "CCCP" and the red spreading across the map. And I really liked that they did KFC product placement essentially by making fun of product placement. (Also the viewscreen as a sticker, and Troy as the captain.)
Project Runway: Ugh, cue TLo yammering about conspiracy theories, whatever. I don't care about Michael C, because he isn't going to win, and with so many dummy collections at fashion week it doesn't matter that much that April didn't officially show because she probably wasn't going to win either. It's down to Mondo or Andy with a possible but doubtful Gretchen spoiler. I don't know that I even really care that much who goes out next week so long as it isn't Mondo or Andy.
Also, The Soup made a Polanski joke about the Chilean miners, and Joel looked super hot in his three-piece suit plus stubble.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-16 05:29 pm (UTC)Just Desserts. Part of me felt for Seth. Panic attacks are horrible and can be embarrassing when they happen in public. OTOH, I'm glad to see him go. I don't prefer drama on my reality TV (an oxymoron, perhaps?), or at least drama that is not . . . natural? Seth is nuts, he's like a 12 year old in a 34 year old's body, and God knows if he can even cook seeing as he refused to do any of the challenges. I thought Malicka's self-elimination was underwhelming, and while I don't know what was going on in her head, from the outside looking in, it seemed like a big flounce, because she hadn't done well up to that point (at which time she did well, so, yeah, LET'S LEAVE THE COMPETITION!). There was no way she could have left gracefully on her own. Self-elimination never goes over well with me. It just comes off as bratty. Head Wound Heather was an uncompelling contestant as well. I'm relieved that the three most uncompelling contestants are off the show. Maybe now we can focus on baking. I have to say that I'm not really fond of the other Heather (Heather C?) especially when she tantrumed about not winning the challenge where she took styrofoam topiary balls and pinned them to a giant triangle and created the chocolate Eye of Sauron or whatever the hell that thing was. I felt she was inappropriate in her anger and so very ungracious to Morgan, who, hello, was also there trying to win the competition. She is an angry person, WAH!
Still on the fence about Hawaii 5-0.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 12:18 pm (UTC)I didn't feel Malika was flouncing as much as she just doesn't have that competitive fire, and didn't realize it until she was in that situation. Like, it wasn't so much that she was flailing as that she just wasn't happy and couldn't do her best work. Seeing really great chefs falter on Masters has given me a little more sympathy for that; some chefs are real craftsmen whose first drafts are really learning experiences. As Tom has said, Top Chef is more about shooting from the hip, and Tom at least is very aware that they can only reward one kind of cooking style on the show; the more deliberative chefs can be just as good, but they won't survive on the show.
Poor Seth. I felt badly for him but god, take responsibility for your shit. (By which I don't mean his panic attack but rather, the general disruptive behavior. Not only unfair to the other chefs but also to all the producers and PAs that had to deal with him, Gail, the guest judges, everyone.)