TVSquad

Remember that slogan NBC had in the 80s, "NBC let's all be there!" They'd run commercials with it and you'd have stars like Philip Michael Thomas pop up in a box and point his two index fingers at you. I think that "be there" philosophy is gone for good at NBC, at least when it comes to stars being on certain shows.

Last week, the now-on-ABC show Scrubs filmed the probable series finale, which will air next spring. The epic episode will feature many of the guest stars that have appeared on the show over the years, but two of them are now on NBC shows and the network won't let them appear on it, even though both wanted to appear. The two stars in question are Masi Oka from Heroes and Sarah Lancaster from Chuck.

I'd love to hear NBC's side of this story, but if true, it seems like another of the dumb moves that NBC seems to be making nowadays. You would think that the network would just say "fine, you can be on the show," since it seems like a really trivial thing. Maybe even to just look good. I guess there's real animosity between NBC and creator Bill Lawrence.

There are only so many hours of television I can fit in a day, so I'm picky and particular about what I watch. Chuck is one of those shows that I watched early last season, I liked it, but for reasons I can't think of, it didn't make the cut. Seeing as it was good enough and is clearly popular enough to have a second season, with the first season DVDs out in a couple of months, I may have to do some catching up and find a way to fit it in.

This session was great for fans of the show, as the first five minutes or so were filled with a video montage of scenes from next season. I'll describe some of those scenes in my summary below, but I'll start them off with SPOILER in case you don't want to know.

(S01E04) "I thought you were supposed to be good at lying" - Chuck

So it was another satisfying episode of Chuck, funny, hip, referential. They still haven't worked out all the kinks in the show yet, but for the most part the structure and humor of the show is beginning to really solidify, giving us something that might last beyond a season.

"Chuck Versus the Wookie" introduced us to red-haired, blue-eyed bombshell Karina -- I can't seem to find the name of the actress who played her on any websites or press releases, so if you recognize her please tell me; I would like to see more of her ... work.

(S01E03) "Now that's what I call moving some merchandise." - John Casey

If you've already seen the episode, which I assume you have, you'll know the quote above comes at a very tense point in the show. The writers had two ways to go: have Casey say something very serious or have him say something so ridiculous it counters the "bad-ass"-ness of the previous scene (i.e. a microwave straight to a thug's head).

(S01E01) "Working on a five year plan, just need to choose a font." - Chuck Bartowski

Last night was the premiere of the shortest-named show in primetime. Shhh ... what do you mean Cane and Life are only four letters? I don't care about House and Bones tying at five letters. I refuse to acknowledge that CSI and ER are still on the air. I think my first line was clever and I am keeping it no matter how wrong it makes me.

Meandering back to the point ... it has been a long time coming for Chuck. For months there have been teasers and web ads bombarding people with its existence and now it is finally here. So let's see if it was worth the wait.

(S02E13) This show is good again. It's been building and building with great episodes the past two weeks, and if it's possible after last week's stellar installment, this one was even better.

Way back last spring when I first reviewed the pilot episode, I had this to say about What About Brian:

"This show has got it. Whatever it is. It's got the quirkiness of Ed along with the "at the end of the day it seems like everyone just wants to get laid" mentality of Grey's. Plus it's funny. That sounds like something that should work... right?"

Well, the show lost "it" for a while and it wasn't working. Now, If you ask me, What About Brian is poised to be the hit that I always hoped it would become. Now if only ABC has the sense to move it out of the Mondays at 10:00 PM time-slot.

(S02E12) You'll have to forgive the lateness of this review folks. I've been on a business trip for the past week and the hours I worked were crazy. I missed pretty much every TV show I like. That being said, I finally got to see this episode (thank goodness for ABC's online video player) and all I have to say is wow. This is precisely the way this story needed to be told and it's exactly the type of episode that What About Brian needed for a recharge. Despite the recent string of decent episodes, this show is now officially back on track and I'm excited to see how it develops during the rest of the season.

(S02E11) Yes! Yes! Yes! This is the episode we've all been waiting for. We're at the midpoint of the season and everything that happened at the very beginning is finally coming full circle. Fans of the show - you know what I'm talking about. So bear with me as we go through everything else. You have to admit, the way this episode culminated, it was well done. It didn't feel canned... OK, I'm stopping. Plenty of other plot points to discuss before we get to the good stuff.

The good stuff being Marjorie's return.

What About Brian, the show that desperately needs punctuation, has been picked up for a full season by ABC. This is much bigger news than last week's report that ABC just wanted to see four more scripts.

What About Brian is a J.J. Abrams drama that was flying under the radar, but has picked up some momentum in the past few weeks. It even beat out NBC's Studio 60 on a couple of Monday nights. What About Brian is about a lone bachelor in a group of married or attached friends. It's one of those shows that I keep meaning to watch, but keep forgetting about. If you're like me and you want to pick up the show, read Jonathan's reviews. It airs on Mondays at 10 pm.

(S02E04) Is Marjorie being written out of the show and I just missed reading about it? Sarah Lancaster is still in the opening credits as part of the cast, but she's barely been in the show since she skipped out on her own wedding and last we saw her it was Minneapolis or bust. At this point, I'm thinking she will be back but it might be a few more episodes and the writers will spring her on us at the moment we least expect it. The only question that remains is who will she come home for, Brian or Adam?

Regardless, I'm kind of liking the show without her. It forces everyone to keep doing what they're doing with the possibility that she isn't coming back looming over their heads. And what better way to start the post-Marjorie era than with a contest between Brian and Adam? At least that's what Ivy suggests. The first one to get laid doesn't have to pay for the damages they caused in last week's bar brawl.

Interesting piece in Slate today, on all of the TV shows on ABC that writer Troy Patterson calls a "nauseating lineup of yuppie dramas."

Which shows is he talking about? You can probably guess: Men In Trees, Brothers & Sisters, What About Brian, and Six Degrees. I think that Patterson's whole viewpoint can be summed up with this paragraph:

These shows share a view of the human mind modeled on Dr. Phil's and an aesthetic sense shamelessly cribbed from a Pottery Barn catalog. When you watch them, you're mostly watching people feel bad over beverages. Despite it's pseudo-literary ambitions, the genre's got a certain soap-operatic streak, and the soap's an orange-lavender bath wash.

Ouch.

(S01E05) Boy oh boy, do I love adultery! Let's be honest, we don't want to see shows about things deemed acceptable by society. We want to see buildings collapse, surgeries go wrong, and adultery!

In last night's season finale, we go plenty of it. At least we thought we did. I've got to hand it to the writer's because they tied this one up very nicely, but it still left us hanging. Enough that I'm hoping we see the show come back for a full season next year.

A large portion of the show focused on Dave and his continuing dislike with this whole "open marriage" he reluctantly agreed to with his wife Deena. In part because she seems to be cashing in on the idea while he's not into it at all. When the guys take off for a golf trip, Dave spills the story to them and even shows them the video of Deena and Richard fighting at the party from last week.

(S01E04) What about him? For this episode, they should have changed the title to Everybody Needs Brian. I felt bad for the guy. All Brian was trying to do was have a lazy Saturday full of mindless sex, and the entire day his phone won't stop ringing.

After bumping into Lisa B. at the end of last week's episode, Brian brought her home, proceeded to undress her, and then spent the next 24 hours with her. As I said, his phone wouldn't stop ringing and the problem with that (especially when you have someone new in your apartment), is that they might hear something they shouldn't when the answering machine kicks in. Like what you might ask? Perhaps Marjorie, calling to tell Brian that the two of them need to figure out whatever it is that's going on between them. You do not, under any circumstances, want the girl that you just spent the entire day with hearing a message like that. Goodbye Lisa B.

(S01E03) This is just a feel good show. I watch it and I feel good. Simple as that, no prescription required. Then of course, I wonder what's wrong with me... that a show about semi-consensual adultery, dishonest relationships, lying, sex, and dirty thoughts about your best friend's fiancée is something that eases my mind and puts a smile on my face.

Who am I kidding? These days, that makes me the norm. The status quo. The guy next door. Which means I'm just like you and you should be watching this show too. It's awfully enjoyable and it's going to be a crying shame if ABC gives it the boot because it lacks in the ratings department. Three episodes in and I can say with certainty that no one should be forgetting about Brian.

(S01E02) I love this show. Usually that's a bad omen though. Shows I like get canceled. Take Love Monkey... hooray for the last 5 episodes on VH1 though. Then consider The Unit. I was not a big fan, yet it's getting plenty of rave reviews and lots of viewers. Balderdash I say! Let's just hope that Brian doesn't suffer from the curse of me. What if I say I hate it? Maybe it'll stick around.

Anyway, last night's "premiere" picked up right where Sunday night's "sneak preview" left off. Did anyone understand the point of advertising the two episodes like that? By calling Sunday's episode a sneak preview, at first it made me think that I didn't need to see the episode. Like it was some sort of season overview. I don't know, that whole plan didn't make sense to me. But I'm glad I saw both hours, because folks, this is good television.