this week in tv
Nov. 12th, 2010 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhI know, I'm getting better about keeping up with things, even this week where my DVR totally failed to record Glee.
HIMYM: I thought it was completely charming! I find CamWinona to be completely irritating, and the entire storyline a drag, which makes me sad because Ted had so little to do last season. But her husband was a hoot, especially with how he kept calling Ted by his random nickname. And the way Marshall and Lily were dealt with I really enjoyed, especially the idea that Marshall won't be at GNB forever, either. But the best was definitely Barney and Robin. More goofiness, more maturing shippiness, a lovely and appropriately prosaic resolution to the who's-my-dad storyline (and I really adored that the engine of that revelation was Robin's refusal to believe one of the few of Barney's outlandish stories that was actually true) and also Barney dressed like King Tut.
Castle: Really good mystery, the kind this show does best, where it's not like we know everything up front, but where each clue leads to the next one and the next one and eventually we go in a circle, back to where we started. I was so relieved that the dad wasn't in the end revealed to be in on the scam--Castle can do that double reversal on occasion, and many other shows would do it as a matter of course. One niggle: For a show that makes such an effort to find LA locations that look like NY, and make their NY geography work, the entire subway thing was a mess. The LA subway doesn't look like the NY subway at all, and the ACE don't terminate at Canal or whatever that stop was; they only needed to know it was where the dad worked. Stuff like that bounces me out of my suspension of disbelief, and on a show like Castle seeing the bones is not so good.
Hawaii 5-0: I mean, you know, here's the show. I did enjoy, in a kind of bad way, Steve's smug smile while Danno was driving into the parking garage with Balki strapped to the hood of his car, but it was definitely another instance of the show not taking civil liberties very seriously which I've discussed before. (Short version: I was brought up on the cop shows of the 70s, which scoffed at civil liberties even harder than this, so I'm inured to it.) The Bing product placement was in and of itself lame, but the Kono surprised at Chin Ho's art world knowledge made it worth our while. A show like this, so into the bromance of Danno and Steve, would often marginalize Chin Ho and Kono completely, but this one makes a lot of effort to bring them in.
Dancing with the Stars: I'm not annoyed yet, more like unsurprised, but if Bristol lasts past Kyle into the finals I'll be really annoyed. While I love Jennifer Grey and adore Derek long time, I'm actually pulling for Brandy and Maks because Maks hasn't won yet (an eternal bridesmaid, that one) and because they had a rough start to their relationship that's smoothed out in recent weeks. I want to see Kyle in the final because you know his freestyle dance is going to be bananas. Mark and Bristol's will just be schticky. I'll have to actually vote next week!
Glee: I don't really know what to say here. I liked the episode all right. I was mostly glad we were out of stunt-land and that Puck had returned because omg I missed him so much. I know that both AV Club and Monkey See really, really hated it for the lack of realism and emotional truth in Kurt's storyline, not to mention all the Bieste stuff, and I have to say, I don't come to Glee for emotional truth as it rarely gets there anyway. The treatment of Bieste all season has been beyond lousy, so the point that a show that wants to deal with bullying should stop bullying one of its characters, I'll agree with. Karofsky's whole I'm-really-closeted thing was a lot of wish fulfillment, even if that kind of thing actually happens, and I'm more surprised that they went there with a character we've seen bullying for two seasons rather than some random day player. I do look forward to Kurt having an actual boyfriend, and any episode that has little to say about Rachel and Finn is going to be high up on my list anyway. Oh, and nice to see Rachel and Mercedes as actual co-leads on the girl song, and Mercedes continuing to strut around in pretty damn sexy clothes--at least they don't treat her like Carly from Wilson Philips or Ann from Heart. I also saw some sarcasm about a girl reforming a man which I can only assume was about Puck, to which I'd say: Puck is reforming himself. I don't see that Santana is or wants to reform him, and Artie, well, Artie is going to make that kind of offer. Also, Puck has always been on the path to reform since day one; otherwise he'd never put up with the shame of being in glee club in the first place. True, I adore Puck, but I also believed that he'd be scared by juvie (his comment about how some of the kids don't have families was particularly telling, given that he feels his lack of a father so keenly and is so loyal to his mother and sister) and have no intention of going back.
OMG there's music in this show? Well, I thought "Teenage Dream" was beyond beyond, just fan-fucking-tastic, and the boy medley was super cute (I liked that Kurt took a step back on the singing in a week where he was doing a lot of acting, AND that he was dancing sexily in front of a giggling Mercedes) and the girls did well though their mashup was more awkward than the boy's.
I just realized, damn, New Directions is nothing but couples: Rachel/Finn, Quinn/Sam, Tina/Mike, Santana/Puck (sort of), Brittany/Artie (sort of). I hope that they get Mercedes a romance soon after they get Kurt one.
Top Chef Just Desserts: Oh Zac. Well, at least you were realistic about what you'd done, and you just sold your little heart out. And you're from Maine (of course you are, god, the moustache on your dad proves it, because that is a central Maine moustache if I've ever seen one, and you know I have) so then I started rooting for you just as you were about to leave. Le sigh! Can Yigit stop Morgan from winning? Do we want him to? And how adorable is his bf?
Community: OMG this really was one of the best episodes EVER. I need to watch it again and again. I love who actually stole all the pens; I love getting undressed; I love that Shirley was forced to not only share a little more with the group but also said a bit of her not-so-nice to the girls and got it out there; I love that Pierce is still in a cast from last week; I love that Jeff is dating random ladies; I love that Troy and Abed are still bonding over things like puppy parades; I love that we even got to see part of the puppy parade and it included a kitten; I love that Brita freaked out and is carrying lots of condoms; I love that Jeff let Troy explain why ghosts were stealing pens; I love that it was kind of a ghost stealing the pens.
I love this show.
HIMYM: I thought it was completely charming! I find CamWinona to be completely irritating, and the entire storyline a drag, which makes me sad because Ted had so little to do last season. But her husband was a hoot, especially with how he kept calling Ted by his random nickname. And the way Marshall and Lily were dealt with I really enjoyed, especially the idea that Marshall won't be at GNB forever, either. But the best was definitely Barney and Robin. More goofiness, more maturing shippiness, a lovely and appropriately prosaic resolution to the who's-my-dad storyline (and I really adored that the engine of that revelation was Robin's refusal to believe one of the few of Barney's outlandish stories that was actually true) and also Barney dressed like King Tut.
Castle: Really good mystery, the kind this show does best, where it's not like we know everything up front, but where each clue leads to the next one and the next one and eventually we go in a circle, back to where we started. I was so relieved that the dad wasn't in the end revealed to be in on the scam--Castle can do that double reversal on occasion, and many other shows would do it as a matter of course. One niggle: For a show that makes such an effort to find LA locations that look like NY, and make their NY geography work, the entire subway thing was a mess. The LA subway doesn't look like the NY subway at all, and the ACE don't terminate at Canal or whatever that stop was; they only needed to know it was where the dad worked. Stuff like that bounces me out of my suspension of disbelief, and on a show like Castle seeing the bones is not so good.
Hawaii 5-0: I mean, you know, here's the show. I did enjoy, in a kind of bad way, Steve's smug smile while Danno was driving into the parking garage with Balki strapped to the hood of his car, but it was definitely another instance of the show not taking civil liberties very seriously which I've discussed before. (Short version: I was brought up on the cop shows of the 70s, which scoffed at civil liberties even harder than this, so I'm inured to it.) The Bing product placement was in and of itself lame, but the Kono surprised at Chin Ho's art world knowledge made it worth our while. A show like this, so into the bromance of Danno and Steve, would often marginalize Chin Ho and Kono completely, but this one makes a lot of effort to bring them in.
Dancing with the Stars: I'm not annoyed yet, more like unsurprised, but if Bristol lasts past Kyle into the finals I'll be really annoyed. While I love Jennifer Grey and adore Derek long time, I'm actually pulling for Brandy and Maks because Maks hasn't won yet (an eternal bridesmaid, that one) and because they had a rough start to their relationship that's smoothed out in recent weeks. I want to see Kyle in the final because you know his freestyle dance is going to be bananas. Mark and Bristol's will just be schticky. I'll have to actually vote next week!
Glee: I don't really know what to say here. I liked the episode all right. I was mostly glad we were out of stunt-land and that Puck had returned because omg I missed him so much. I know that both AV Club and Monkey See really, really hated it for the lack of realism and emotional truth in Kurt's storyline, not to mention all the Bieste stuff, and I have to say, I don't come to Glee for emotional truth as it rarely gets there anyway. The treatment of Bieste all season has been beyond lousy, so the point that a show that wants to deal with bullying should stop bullying one of its characters, I'll agree with. Karofsky's whole I'm-really-closeted thing was a lot of wish fulfillment, even if that kind of thing actually happens, and I'm more surprised that they went there with a character we've seen bullying for two seasons rather than some random day player. I do look forward to Kurt having an actual boyfriend, and any episode that has little to say about Rachel and Finn is going to be high up on my list anyway. Oh, and nice to see Rachel and Mercedes as actual co-leads on the girl song, and Mercedes continuing to strut around in pretty damn sexy clothes--at least they don't treat her like Carly from Wilson Philips or Ann from Heart. I also saw some sarcasm about a girl reforming a man which I can only assume was about Puck, to which I'd say: Puck is reforming himself. I don't see that Santana is or wants to reform him, and Artie, well, Artie is going to make that kind of offer. Also, Puck has always been on the path to reform since day one; otherwise he'd never put up with the shame of being in glee club in the first place. True, I adore Puck, but I also believed that he'd be scared by juvie (his comment about how some of the kids don't have families was particularly telling, given that he feels his lack of a father so keenly and is so loyal to his mother and sister) and have no intention of going back.
OMG there's music in this show? Well, I thought "Teenage Dream" was beyond beyond, just fan-fucking-tastic, and the boy medley was super cute (I liked that Kurt took a step back on the singing in a week where he was doing a lot of acting, AND that he was dancing sexily in front of a giggling Mercedes) and the girls did well though their mashup was more awkward than the boy's.
I just realized, damn, New Directions is nothing but couples: Rachel/Finn, Quinn/Sam, Tina/Mike, Santana/Puck (sort of), Brittany/Artie (sort of). I hope that they get Mercedes a romance soon after they get Kurt one.
Top Chef Just Desserts: Oh Zac. Well, at least you were realistic about what you'd done, and you just sold your little heart out. And you're from Maine (of course you are, god, the moustache on your dad proves it, because that is a central Maine moustache if I've ever seen one, and you know I have) so then I started rooting for you just as you were about to leave. Le sigh! Can Yigit stop Morgan from winning? Do we want him to? And how adorable is his bf?
Community: OMG this really was one of the best episodes EVER. I need to watch it again and again. I love who actually stole all the pens; I love getting undressed; I love that Shirley was forced to not only share a little more with the group but also said a bit of her not-so-nice to the girls and got it out there; I love that Pierce is still in a cast from last week; I love that Jeff is dating random ladies; I love that Troy and Abed are still bonding over things like puppy parades; I love that we even got to see part of the puppy parade and it included a kitten; I love that Brita freaked out and is carrying lots of condoms; I love that Jeff let Troy explain why ghosts were stealing pens; I love that it was kind of a ghost stealing the pens.
I love this show.
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Date: 2010-11-13 04:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-22 09:05 pm (UTC)