(S05E09) Things were getting too exciting during the competition episodes, so the producers brought in Toni Basil to join Nigel and Mary on the panel. Even though it's a big deal to be receiving a prestigious award, I still found myself dozing off when she started talking about it.
This year, the competition is so tight that it's hard to figure out who's going to be in the bottom three from week to week. So many of the contestants are really impressive in picking up the different styles, and that continued tonight.
What also continued was couples who were great last week being not so great this week. And there are still so many couples that there are only a few favorites sprinkled throughout. In other words "What have you done for me lately?" is in full effect. So what did they do?
(S04E22) The two night season finale is here and there are only four dancers left. On the guys' side we have Joshua and Twitch, two hip-hop dancers with very different styles. The girls are representing contemporary and jazz this year, with both Katee and Courtney. I can't say I would have expected this top four at the beginning of the season, but with the range of talent we had this year, it was hard to guess who might make it here.
With Mandy Moore joining Nigel and Mary on the judging panel, we were treated to a two hour extravaganza of dance dance dance! Each of the four finalists danced no less than five separate times, sometimes with only a commercial break between them. Those whiners at American Idol talk about how exhausting that show can be, but can you imagine the physical strain these dancers go through? Especially as they ramp up to a show as demanding as this finale. Thankfully, it was packed from beginning to end with amazing numbers and amazing dancing!
(S04E08) Two down and seventeen more to go until we find "America's Favorite Dancer" for the summer of 2008. Have you found your favorite yet? I'm narrowing it down, but it's a bit early yet to be picking favorites and there are still a ton of dancers left, as the lo-o-o-ong intro sequence showed us. Nigel and Mary were joined this week on the judge's panel by contemporary madwoman Mia Michaels (of the inspired "Tim Burton wedding" piece last week). And her hair was shockingly bleached very blonde.
I think I prefer Michaels choreographing than judging. She focuses almost too much on her own interpretations of the emotions in the pieces rather than what the dancers had to bring. I think she's insane and brilliant in choreography, but maybe a bit too "out there" for really constructive criticism.
(S03E01) Welcome to season three of How I Met Your Mother. If you read my Early Look post on the season premiere, you'll know that season three picks up where season two left off.
Well, kinda. Yes, Robin and Ted have gone their separate ways after a year together. Yes, Marshall and Lily have just gotten married (and I guess are back from their honeymoon, but they never say).
But something didn't happen --at least not right at the start of the episode -- that I think almost every HIMYM fan expected to happen.
When we last left the group of five intrepid twenty-somethings from How I Met Your Mother, Ted and Barney were smoking cigars after Lily and Marshall's wedding. Ted had just finished telling the tale of how he and Robin broke up. And, after some uncharacteristic sympathy, Barney gets all charged up about being a wingman for Single Ted. The season ends with Barn launching into his signature line: "Ted, my boy, this is going to be legend... wait for it..."
Well, we waited all summer. And Carter Bays and Craig Thomas know how long we waited; they named the third season premiere, which airs on CBS at 8 PM ET on Monday, "Wait For It." Was it worth the wait? Some non-spoilery thoughts after the jump.
(S03E20) Holy smokes. Call me crazy if you don't agree, but I'm calling this the best episode of the season. There hasn't been a standout number one performance every week, but there has always been something that didn't quite work, or didn't quite measure up to the rest. I didn't find that here.
It would seem that the talk about the choreographers stepping things up wasn't just talk as all of them delivered great routines for the dancers to perform. The criticisms were few and far between this week, from me, and from the judges. That would be Nigel and Mary as usual, joined this week by Debbie Allen. After the jump, we'll get to all of the performances, and a rant about Fox scheduling.
Buck Mitchell [after causing the Duff blimp to crash]: This is the worst blimp crash ever!
Grandpa: Too soon!
Okay, that exchange cracked me up, as did a few other moments during this episode, such as the television show "Hunch" the family watches in the beginning of the episode which list JD Salinger as a writer in the closing credits. I also liked the "Sexy Marriage Land" song performed by Tabitha Vixx (voiced by Mandy Moore), and Homer becoming indignant towards Marge because she insists on judging him on things he's done, which is so totally unfair.
"Scott Free": The White
House Chief of Staff, Josh Bolten, recently told his senior aides, "If you're thinking about leaving, now's the
time." Ooh, ominous. Now, I must admit I got a little overexcited by the following news because the 19th was my
birthday, and I considered this to be yet another reason to celebrate... Scott McClellan resigned from his position as
the White House's Press Secretary. The Daily Show crowd and I burst into applause. I couldn't even correctly type
"OMG" in my notes.
I have to give props to Reuters for its headline for this story, ABC Matches Heche with "Men". As Mandy Moore would say, "that's funny."
Heche will play a shrink who moves to Alaska when she learns her husband has been cheating on her, only to discover Alaska is full of single men (it is?). Also cast in the pilot are Derek Richardson, from the movie Hostel, and Emily Bergl, who played Francie Jarvis on Gilmore Girls. We last saw Anne during an arc on Nip/Tuck where she played a woman in the witness protection program.
November sweeps stunts brought us stormtroopers on The
Apprentice, a live debate on The West Wing, a dead chick on Lost and Medium in 3-D. Why
are February ratings so tame? One word: Olympics.
NBC is expected to kick some television tail when it covers
the Olympics every single night from February 10-26. Going into this month, the networks are touting some pretty
uninteresting guest stars on the shows that need a boost. And that's about it. Oh, there is also going to be some sh*t
going down on The O.C., but you don't want the spoilers, do you?
Here are some highlights
for February sweeps, which began yesterday and run through March 1:
Scrubs is finally returning to television tonight! And guess
what? The writers, directors, and actors have all been locked in a hospital in the San Fernando valley, thinking that
this could the last season, so they're doing it all for us, the fans. You know what that means? Extra wacky voiceovers,
imaginary sequences, Mandy Moore, and an homage to The Wizard of Oz (100th episode, airing Jan. 24th). In
several recent interviews, Zach Braff has said that everyone on the show went no-holds-barred on the scripts because
they had no idea whether anyone would ever see the show. NBC inexplicably kept them off the schedule for the first half
of the season. So, as Braff says in the Indianapolis Star, "It's about going, OK-- these are our hardcore fans,
let's make shows for them." They are producing a full season of 24 episodes, which means that we will be treated
to back-to-back episodes of Scrubs for the rest of the season. The season premiere airs tonight at 9 pm,
followed by another new episode at 9:30 pm.
(S05E09) Things were getting too exciting during the competition episodes, so the producers brought in Toni Basil to join Nigel and Mary on the panel. Even though it's a big deal to be receiving a prestigious award, I still found myself dozing off when she started talking about it.
(S04E22) The two night season finale is here and there are only four dancers left. On the guys' side we have Joshua and Twitch, two hip-hop dancers with very different styles. The girls are representing contemporary and jazz this year, with both Katee and Courtney. I can't say I would have expected this top four at the beginning of the season, but with the range of talent we had this year, it was hard to guess who might make it here.
(
Charlie Rose: Nancy Pelosi 
Charlie Ross: Adam Moss 
Charlie Rose: Sam Nunn and Steven Bach 
(S17E22) 
"
I have to give props to Reuters for its headline for this story, ABC Matches Heche with "Men". As Mandy Moore would say, "that's funny."
November sweeps stunts
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
