Weekly TV Rundown

My weekly digest of the shows I watch, and new shows I'm trying out! 

Colette, from ABC's Pan Am

Sunday:
Pan Am:  This episode kept me tuning in, but I was kind of disappointed with Maggie's obsession with seeing President Kennedy.  It made her seem very weak and effeminate, when I viewed her as more of a rebel stewardess who was more in tune to current events/whatnot.  It made her seem weak.  I also didn't care for the spy thing going on, it is becoming too much of a storyline.  What I DID appreciate was Colette's back story, and her emotional trip to Berlin.  It seemed a bit overly dramatic, but it was still moving to watch.  If it continues this way, I'll skip the show.

Real Housewives of New Jersey:  My review of the season finale is here.



Monday:
Terra Nova:  I had already decided this was Terra Nova's last week to win me over before getting deleted from the DVR.  Well, due to some baseball game, I only got to watch about 10 minutes recorded... and decided it didn't bug me I didn't have to stick around.  Terra Nova is getting deleted from my DVR.

The Sing Off:  This show is too long.  I hate to say it, but it's true!  Two hours?!  It should be an hour maximum.  I still skip everything but the performances, fast forwarding the whole way through.  There are too many groups this year; this back-and-forth thing sucks, and one set of groups was definitely stronger than the other, making the eliminations seem unfair.  I liked the 'Edge of Glory' performance by the Deltones.  The old guys in North Shore were cute on Bruno Mars' 'Lazy Song'!  But these guys were pretty fun.  The 60s songs I liked less, because people don't take as much risk in the arrangements... it's very literal.  The North Shore guys kicked BUTT in it though, because that's perfect for them!  I think they won the lottery on song choice for the episode.  I wasn't surprised when Sonos got voted off, because they are overly dependent on pedals to synthesize performances and therefore had trouble translating to straight a cappella.

Weekly TV Rundown...

Fox

I watch too much TV.  So aside from my Project Runway and Glee recaps, I'm going to roll all of my TV reviews up in a weekly entry instead of spamming you with a dozen summaries/comments.

AWESOME NEWS... Arrested Development is coming back!!!  I can't wait!  As my friend JTal Tweeted, "I think I just blue myself."  LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

Sunday:
Pan Am-I like this show!  It's pretty much the only 'retro' show among the many new ones available that I liked.  It's campy and improbable (spies?) but I really like Christina Ricci as Maggie, as well as the drama between the Cameron sisters.  The moment that tugged at my heartstrings was when the overbearing Cameron mother showed Kate her passport, which she got the summer Kate became a stewardess, despite her disapproval for the lifestyle.  Also, I love hearing the cast speak French without subtitles, because I can understand everything!  :)

Monday:
Terra Nova-  I don't know if I'm going to keep watching this one; I'll give it one more week.  The entire episode was about little pterodon 'birds' tormenting the pilgrims.  It's going to be like this every episode I'm thinking, though I want to know more about Taylor's missing son and what 'secret' is hiding in Terra Nova.  But they're going to have to do better than a bunch of creepy birds to keep my viewership.

Welcome back, Grey's Anatomy!

My girl Cristina (credit)

Grey's Anatomy is back!  The two-hour premiere was a lot to process.  I'm going to keep it short, because I've been blogging SO much about TV lately.

• BOO Derek.  BOOOOO Derek.  I am so over you, McDreamy.  And who does Patrick Dempsey think he is, declaring he is leaving the show after this season?  You're no George Clooney, mister.  Not a leading man, that "Man of Honor" movie sucked.
• Meredith, calm the eff down!  Your rash decision cost you that baby... you need to CALM DOWN.
• Bailey, I missed you!  YAY!
• Alex, glad you are working to redeem yourself.  I know Meredith messed up, but you turned the hospital upside down.
• Avery, you're the Gunther!  Kudos!
• Owen, I'm so happy you were there for Cristina.  I am pro-choice, and actually kind of proud of ABC for airing an abortion story like that on TV.  It's not that I'm saying it's what people should do, but the reality of it (and not always preaching a pro-life stance) is important to represent on TV.
• Chief... you're a good man.  You're flawed, but you're a wise man and you care so much about Meredith.  Bless you.

Last thing I'll say... sinkhole?  Getting a civilian to do an amputation on his wife?  Come on, producers... stop throwing implausible disasters and situations on Seattle.  Normal freak accidents will be just fine for these surgeons.  There are slow days in every hospital. :)

Welcome back, Grey's!  My Thursdays were lonely without you.

Gleek Peek: Season Finale "New York"

Okay, there are definitely some folks who are going to disagree with me on this one, but I think the Glee season finale episode had more good than bad!  I think that with so many 'weak' episodes this year, this one actually stands out as a decent one.  Not a terrible way to end the season!
For starters, even though I wasn't a huge fan at first, I liked the mash-up of "I Love New York/New York, New York."  Santana totally carried that song, and I loved her hooks.  I didn't even know those songs existed, and I didn't like it much because I thought the lyrics were lame, then realized they were from Madonna.  Okay, Glee is forgiven.  Madonna is not.

Finnchel (Finn/Rachel) ANNOYS ME.  Can we PLEASE get over this?  And Quinn being angry about it.  COME ON.  If we could have eliminated this portion of the episode, and spent more time wrapping up the season back at McKinley, I think it would have been an improvement.

Best song?  Hands down Rachel & Kurt singing one of my favorite Broadway songs ever, 'For Good' from Wicked.  I've seen the musical twice, and that song in particular tugs at my heartstrings.  I loved it.

I am definitely optimistic about next season, though I am wondering what they are going to do after Rachel (and most of the cast) "graduate" high school.  I think this New York episode, where Kurt/Rachel discuss relocating to NY, may have been an allusion to what we might see in the future, but I can't imagine ALL of the McKinley kids could move to NY... am I right?  Looks like I'll be singing along to my Glee Karaoke games until new episodes return.

_____

 In other TV news, I was definitely left crying after the Grey's Anatomy season finale... I think there's a lot going on, and I can't believe they left so many issues unresolved.  Oh wait, I can believe it.  They need us to keep begging for more!  The other guilty-pleasure show I've been watching regularly, Make It or Break It (an ABC Family drama about gymnastics with terrible acting and implausible storylines), left me disappointed.  They have totally left out a major character for the past few episodes, and the girls' win at Worlds was unlikely and just unbelievable.  Sigh.  What can I expect though, right?  It's ABC Family.

Looks like a summer of reality TV for me!  Real Housewives of Orange County and New Jersey (I don't bother with the others), shows like Spouse vs. House and Extreme Couponing, and cooking shows.  At least I'll save money because I'm not downloading Glee songs on iTunes every week.

Don't forget to get Season 2 of Glee so you can practice your karaoke and dance moves all summer before the new season starts!

Grey's Anatomy

Confession: I watch a lot of television. Alright, you already knew that. But there are very few shows that I watch with dedication, and by dedication I mean from the time the pilot airs to the time the show ends. Sometimes I catch a show late, but sometimes I know from the very start that I'm going to love it. 'Gilmore Girls' was one such show (I even got to visit the set on a trip to L.A.) and you all know that 'Glee' is another. Still, I have yet to blog about the other 'G'-named show that I adore, 'Grey's Anatomy'.

Back in 2005, I watched this show from the very beginning. I really ought to have a coffee mug that says Seattle Grace (Mercy West) Hospital. I have never been able to stomach the idea of surgery. The sight of my own blood may induce me to faint. But the drama of this series, both in and out of the operating room, was (and continues to be) something I can't get enough of.

My favorite character? Cristina Yang, played by Sandra Oh. And it's not because she's Korean. Her incredible focus and drive, her flawed perfectionism, her stunted emotional reactions... I find we have more similarities than differences sometimes. I love her friendship with Meredith Grey, the next character I relate to the most. I live and breathe the traumas they go through, the camaraderie they build with each other, and the endless metaphors for life that come out of surgery.

I have not missed a single episode of this show, albeit sometimes viewing them a bit late. Two episodes ago, the show ended with a quote that spoke to me, and perhaps speaks to why this show is so poignant to me. Perhaps it's one you should catch up on, if you're bored sometime and need a new addiction.

"Surgery is extreme. We cut into your body, take out pieces, and put what's left back together. Good thing life doesn't come with a scalpel because if it did, when things started to hurt, we would just cut and cut and cut. The thing is what we take away with a scalpel we can't ever get back. So, like a said, good thing."