review-related stories
Posted Mar 13th 2009 2:03AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: OpEd, Grey's Anatomy, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E17) "There's no fixing you. You're a lemon." - Derek
It's official: I'm an emotional loser. After two weeks without my weekly Medical/High School drama,
Grey's is back and even more dramatic than I remember. Has
Grey's Anatomy been this good in a while? I always thought that with such a big ensemble cast, the show was bound to have loose ends. With this episode, it seems as though each character is what I remember from the first two seasons.
With no big guest stars this week, the characters developed amongst themselves. I appreciate the return of the Meredith/Christina friendship, now back at full strength, but why does it seem like when Meredith solves one thing, another falls apart? She suffers from the Chaos theory.
Continue reading Grey's Anatomy: I Will Follow You Into the Dark
Posted Feb 21st 2009 12:10PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Episode Reviews, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Reality-Free
(S02E15) Have you ever been to a funeral? They're not usually very thrilling. All that awkward silence, standing around, and the hard-to-watch mourning will deflate anyone's day. So why set an episode of
Sarah Connor at a funeral?
I guess the writers wanted to remind us about the Skynet war death toll. It's high. We get it. Can we move on now?
Continue reading The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Desert Cantos
Posted Sep 13th 2008 10:06AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Monk, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S07E08) Monk should have wrapped the season with last week's episode, ending on a high point, because this show was in many ways a downer. The case, such as it was, was pretty flimsy. The clues were presented so early and rather ungracefully that unless you were really unfamiliar with the
Monk formula, it was a cinch to guess who was really the "guy."
The real novelty was Monk's getting in touch with his inner child. That and Tim Bagley returning as Harold Krenshaw. It's always fun when Monk's nemesis shows up, but this was a reborn Harold. Thanks to his new shrink, Dr. Kleinman, Harold wasn't interested in competing with Monk. He just wanted to embrace the wonders of life.
Continue reading Monk: Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized (season finale)
Posted Sep 10th 2008 11:09PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: America's Next Top Model, Episode Reviews
(S01E03) I'm really kind of freaked out by the contestants that we've seen so far this season. No, not because there's a transgendered person in the house; the reason I'm so confused is that there seem to be several girls who are kind of awesome.
Of course Hannah is an idiot; she's the small town girl that ends up on the show every season and goes through the competition completely unrepentant in her ignorance. While the other girls in the house usually just go with this, this season they're actually confronting her about her stank behavior, which includes pushing Isis and saying that since she's the "stereotypical white girl," she doesn't come into rooms screaming, (like black people do).
When they have the confrontation, which to me, seems very calm and respectful, Hannah actually likens it to "gang rape," and says it's "like gang violence." She is a ridiculous individual. A ridiculous, horrifying, ugly individual.
Continue reading America's Next Top Model: The Ladder of Model Success
Posted Sep 10th 2008 7:39AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, 90210
(S01E03)I was pretty unsure of the new
90210 last week. My initial impression was that it wasn't bad, but it could use some work. Now, however, it is week two and I'm pretty sure I was just blinded by all of the curly hair and porcelain veneers--because this was not good.
Now I'm not trying to say that everyone who lives in Beverly Hills is stuck up and/or unfriendly, but
come on. I know I'm not the only one who thinks that Annie and Dixon are having the easiest transition into a new school in the history of the world. I moved around a lot when I was a kid, and while I was lucky enough to stop moving before I got to high school, I still went to nine elementary schools. Nine different elementary schools and not a single guy flew
me to San Francisco.
Continue reading 90210: Lucky Strike
Posted Jun 7th 2008 12:27AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Video, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E09) I've been reading a lot lately from people who've become disappointed with this show the past few episodes or so. I've felt the same way. I'm happy to say, though, that while this episode didn't exactly make up for the lack of luster, it was certainly enjoyable.
Even without seeing the previews for this week (which, I admit, I can't even help but watch), we knew this episode would start with a flashback to what happened when Roslin and the occupants of the stolen Base Star jumped away. Right away we saw that a Cylon ship jumping has a strange effect on humans, though it's not clear if anyone other than Roslin had those brief visions.
Continue reading Battlestar Galactica: The Hub - VIDEO
Posted May 31st 2008 12:32AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Video, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E08) After two weeks of waiting, and through several other shows having their season finales, we're back for more frakking
BSG, baby. And speaking of season finales, after watching
Lost last night with all of its flashbacks and flash-forwards, it almost seemed as though we may be seeing a bit of flashbackery next week to explain what happened to Roslin and the others aboard the hijacked Base Star.
In case you're wondering what the title means, it's a
latin legal term, of course.
Continue reading Battlestar Galactica: Sine Qua Non - VIDEO
Posted May 16th 2008 1:19AM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, Video, The Office, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Episode Recaps
(S04E14) I performed tonight in Hartford, CT. Coming out of the comedy club, a woman who wasn't at the show checked me out. I heard her say
helloooooo in a guttural way, like I was a really good looking guy. A few seconds later, though, once she got a better look at me, she said, "Never mind." Then, she and her friends laughed for as long as I could hear them.
Apparently, I'm only good looking when someone is looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
I bring this up not to inform you that I'm unattractive -- my blogger profile photo does a better job of informing you of that than I ever could -- but rather because I didn't think I could be any more depressed than I was after that comment. I honestly thought their derisive laughter was going to be the low-point of my evening. Then I watched tonight's
Office finale...
Continue reading The Office: Goodbye, Toby (season finale) - VIDEO
Posted May 13th 2008 1:17AM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E15) Do you remember what you were doing on May 16, 2004? Think hard, it's important. Seriously, that information could determine
exactly how you feel about tonight's episode.
On May 16, 2004,
The Sopranos aired an episode called "The Test Dream." Tony, reeling from an impending separation and problems in Mafia-town, went a little funny in the head and spent most of the episode engaged in the longest, most weirdly
symbolic dream sequence in the history of television (until, that is, the show broke its own record two years later). If you remember, fans of the show were pretty angry; my father, for instance, shot out his screen, Elvis-style.
Anyway, I'm going to guess that you either loved that episode or hated it. How you felt about it probably informs how you felt about tonight's
House. My own feelings about it are simple...
Continue reading House: House's Head
Posted May 9th 2008 2:22AM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, Video, The Office, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E13) Remember that movie
The Chase? Okay, you probably don't, but believe me,
it exists [link NSFW]. Anyway, Charlie Sheen takes Kristy Swanson hostage, and over the course of the movie some major league Stockholm Syndrome kicks in (like, really major league: they do it while he's leading the cops on a high speed chase). The lesson of the movie is obvious: if you kidnap the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she'll eventually fall in love with you.
I bring this up because I'm becoming scared that I might have lost perspective on
The Office. I've sincerely loved every episode that has aired since its return from the break. Now, here's the question: is this because the writers spent the entire strike doing brain push-ups? Or is it because
The Office is Charlie Sheen to my Kristy Swanson? My (glowing) review after the jump...
Continue reading The Office: Job Fair - VIDEO
Posted May 8th 2008 1:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Watercooler Talk, 30 Rock, Reality-Free
In
reviewing tonight's season finale of 30 Rock, Robert Bianco of
USA Today took the opportunity to bemoan how the show has declined in quality since it came back from the writers' strike. Essentially, his argument centers on how the show has gotten increasingly absurd, when the show's initial attraction was how the relatively-sane Liz Lemon reacted to the insanity going on around her. Now, according to Bianco, even Liz is getting wacky, screaming for her sandwich in "Sandwich Day," for instance, or getting entangled in one romantic situation after another. According to Bianco, the show is "ditching plot and character in a desperate, scattershot search for laughs, as if its new goal were to become a live-action version of
Family Guy."
Hm. Sometimes a critic picks up on subtle changes in a show others can't, at least not until it's too late and the show they loved is irreparably damaged. That might be the case here. But right now, I'm not quite seeing what Bianco is complaining about.
Continue reading Is 30 Rock going downhill?
Posted Apr 11th 2008 11:06PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Video, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E02) Let me start out by saying that
Sci Fi airing these episodes online at noon is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing that we all get to see our favorite show well ahead of time. It's a curse because it's smack in the middle of a workday for some (though at lunchtime) and at the start of a workday for others. There's no pausing or rewinding, so if you get a bad connection or miss something, you still need to tune in that night to keep up. Not that that's such a bad thing, really, but man it's frustrating.
Continue reading Battlestar Galactica: Six of One - VIDEO
Posted Apr 4th 2008 11:00PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Video, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E01) Starbuck is dead. At least the Starbuck as we knew her before the events of
'Maelstrom'.
Now don't go thinking I've revealed some sort of spoiler pre-jump here. What I said is merely an observation of how Starbuck appears in this episode and how others perceive her now. It's also from something Katee Sackhoff was told by Ron Moore (as
she mentioned in an interview). And can you really blame all parties involved for behaving quite a bit differently now, since then?
Continue reading Battlestar Galactica: He That Believeth In Me (season premiere) - VIDEO
Posted Feb 12th 2008 9:43PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Kyle XY, Episode Reviews
(S02E18) "Nothing ever happens on a Sunday." - J.T.As soon as J.T. said that line after telling Josh he was in charge of The Rack, we knew that something would indeed happen on this particular Sunday. What happened? A newbie makes tons of mistakes, there are a lot of customers, money is missing from the cash register, there is a fit between two enemies, two customers clash, a couple must reevaluate how truthful they are to one another, a father figure plays mastermind games, and someone from the past resurfaces! Not an ordinary Sunday indeed!
Continue reading Kyle XY: Between a Rack and a Hard Place
Posted Feb 8th 2008 12:45AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Lipstick Jungle
(S01E01) Earlier today, I gave you a take on what I thought NBC's new dramedy
Lipstick Jungle was like. The series, based on a
novel penned by
Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell, premiered with a slightly revamped pilot and a whole lot of promos for Maybelline.
I won't rehash what I said in my
early look post since there weren't enough changes between the two versions of the pilot. The main change is the recast of Wendy's husband (Paul Blackthorne took over the role held by Christopher Wiehl); a good move if you ask me. Wiehl's performance in the pilot wasn't believable and strong enough. Blackthorne is more fitting in the role and will bring in a nice flavor to the show thanks to his English background.
Continue reading Lipstick Jungle: Pilot (series premiere)
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