TVSquad

Bravo's resident house flipper, real estate guru and OCD interior designer, Jeff Lewis, is a very complicated guy. When I spoke to him recently, I was actually a little concerned. If you've seen Jeff on Bravo's Flipping Out, you've seen him lose it on occasion. Would he yell at me on the phone if I asked the wrong question?

In fact, Jeff Lewis was extremely friendly and funny. We had a great talk and he couldn't have been nicer. He was also really forthcoming about the past seasons of Flipping Out, including this one that's concluding tonight.

What has it been like to be turned into a reality TV star?
Because of the reaction of the show, some people see me as a villain and that could be the way I do business. I handle my employees in a rather non-traditional way. I was concerned about how people would react in public, but it's actually been pretty positive. Overall, it's been a very positive experience. Many people are very nice and complimentary and supportive.

While a lot of ABC soap fans are flipping out about Thorsten Kaye's exit from All My Children, and others are giddy about James Franco bringing his movie star luster to General Hospital, there's more big news coming about those soaps. First, the original Lucky, Jonathan Jackson, is returning to General Hospital after 10 years off the show. And the original Greenlee, Rebecca Budig, is coming back to All My Children after leaving the show in March 2009.

Both these returns are exciting... and fraught with drama. While Jonathan is a three-time Emmy-winner and a superb Lucky -- he originated the role -- his choosing to resume the part means that Greg Vaughan has been dumped.

To be really, really honest, Greg was a great looking Lucky, but he never had a good grasp on the character of Lucky.

(S21E01) "Sorta." - Ryan, after his girlfriend asks him if the eight people in the house are four guys and four girls

It goes without saying that I am way, way beyond the demographic for The Real World. I kept thinking while watching this 21st season (yes, 21 seasons - 17 years) opener, "wow, I'm glad I'm not 23 anymore and worried about stupid stuff."

This season is the usual mix that the show always seems to put together, and here are the notes that I made while watching the show.

Last night Adam won $500,000 on Big Brother 9. Now, I know I heard Julie Chen tell them she'd be giving Adam his check and Ryan his winnings of $50,000 on The Early Show as is the standard practice. So, I turned on TV as I was heading out the door to my day job only to hear them say that Julie Chen has the day off today. Huh? I didn't bother recording as they didn't mention BB9 at all.

But there they were -- taped after the finale last night. I found the video of the interview on the CBS website. It's not embeddable, but if you follow me after the jump, I'll bring up some of the main points ... or, at least the ones I found interesting!

(S09E11) Expect the unexpected. Those of you who are dedicated BB fans know this phrase all too well. It could mean that your ex-boyfriend is getting thrown in the house with you. It could mean that your estranged father is one of your fellow houseguests. It could mean that your nemesis who you campaigned against is getting another chance at the Big Brother crown. Last night we evicted another houseguest, found out what the siren meant, and got a new HOH all in one hour. It's not going to be a really short season of BB after all!

A review of last night's Big Brother 9 follows after the jump...

In my review of The Office last week, I called Ryan one of the best villains on TV today. I thought it was obvious that the producers were taking Ryan in this direction and that my comment was a compliment to the fine acting and writing on the show. I was met with a bit of resistance, however. Some of our readers felt that Ryan's ideas made a lot of sense and that, if anything, Michael's overall incompetence is the real villain on the show.

I thought a post was in order to further explain why I thought Ryan was a villain. And what's the best way to explain a point? Well, considering the direction that the internet is moving, the answer is, of course, a numbered list! The nine reasons why Ryan is a villain after the jump.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Whoa! Paris Hilton just lost 60 million dollars in inheritance?
  
• Television cartoons from the 80's are making a comeback.
  
• I had almost forgotten completely about them, but then Trista and Ryan had a baby, just in the nick of time.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

These paintings are rather good and quite inexpensive.

They're drawings of the cast of The Office (the U.S. version, though there are pics of David Brent, Dawn, and Gareth from the original too). The mouth on Kevin is just about perfect, Pam looks especially worried, and Toby looks...well, exactly like Toby. You can also buy pics of Michael, Jim, Dwight, Angela, Ryan, Kelly, Stanley, and Jan.

And the paintings are only $8.50! That's not a bad price at all to get a print that you can hang in your cubicle. Or maybe you won't want to hang it in your cubicle. Hard to say. It could either be a funny reminder that there's a TV show that understands the pain of working in an office day after day after day or it could be a sad reminder that you work in an office day after day after day.

[via Best Week Ever]

(S06E15) Ryan tells us that the guys had an "incredible show" Tuesday night. Hold on a minute, Ryan, back up. Sure the boys were better than the week before, but I certainly wouldn't call their show "incredible." To quote Randy Jackson, "It was just ahright."

Besides, after tonight's Top 10 Ladies show, I'm more convinced than ever that this year's American Idol will be one of our fine ladies. I also think that it's going to be a tight race to the top between our lovely divas -- Lakisha, Melinda, Jordin, Stephanie, and Sabrina.

But tomorrow two unlucky ladies will be going home. Who will it be?

(S04E16) Does this count as the end of an era? I'm not sure. When The OC first began, it sure felt like the beginning of an era. Now that it's over, I'm not exactly sure what it's the end of. Other than something that I'm really, really going to miss.

I have to be honest. The first twenty or so minutes of this episode fell pretty flat for me. I really wasn't enjoying the six-month jump, only to find out that everything we thought we knew was no more. Julie was engaged to Bullit, Taylor was back in France, and Seth and Summer had become "comfortable." Nothing was right, and despite the fact that we all knew how this was going to end, I was a little put off by the way it started. But it picked up steam and by the episode's end, I was completely satisfied with the way it all turned out.

(S04E15) It's starting to feel very final isn't it? I'm really impressed with the way the series is wrapping itself up. Some of the cheese factor still exists (Seth getting help from the homeless folks again), but for the most part the characters and their paths are falling into place.

I think this may have been the first episode of The OC that took place entirely at night. As a result, the whole episode was lit in shades of dark and light blues. It reminded me a lot of a season one episode of CSI: NY.

Overall though, what the episode really emphasized for me is how far Ryan has come. This is probably the biggest tragedy that could have possibly occurred in Newport Beach and despite that, the group remained intact with Ryan right in the middle of it. Not bad for someone who came into their lives as an outsider.

(S04E14) It's the end of the world as we know it. Well... not really, but it might be the end of Newport Beach. I have to say, I kind of like the idea that the finale Josh Schwartz "always planned to do" for The OC involves an earthquake. It's the ultimate closure for a show that takes place in California and depending on how bad you want to make it (it looked pretty bad), it can immediately force everyone into a situation where they're forced to start over.

Closure is key though. With only two episodes to go now, a lot of the broad ideas that have been lingering since the beginning of the season were brought back into play. Seth's indecisiveness, Ryan's emotional awkwardness, and Sandy's dislike for Newport all manifested themselves in some pretty creative ways. It was a satisfying episode.

(S04E12) Was anyone else slightly disappointed with this episode? It just felt kind of so-so to me. Plus, everything that was meant to be a big shock wasn't all that shocking. I know it's selfish to expect a masterpiece week in and week out, but this was the fifth to last episode. In this instance, I think we're justified in hoping for more.

All that being said, it was still a decent episode. Plenty of funny moments involving groundhogs, mail trucks, and the return of Bullit. Bang!

(S04E11) Lots going on here, a pretty jam packed episode. As usual, I loved it but there were a few things that irked me. I gripe because I love. Like all fans of The OC, I'm savoring every second of it though. Only five more episodes and it's over.

Just look at how much the show has evolved though. Stuff that happened in this episode would have never occurred in the first season. It's changed a lot and I'm all for it. The show is done. Might as well go out with a bang.

(S04E10) You can tell that Josh Schwartz and his writing team are having fun with this season. They knew the show was going to be canceled well before we did. So it only makes sense that these remaining episodes feel fresh, like the writers are taking chances. Why wouldn't they? The show is over -- they can do whatever they want.

There are pros and cons to that though. Sometimes too much creative freedom can be a bad thing. Example one? I feel like Sandy and Kirsten have been forgotten. Especially Sandy. It seems that lately his only role has been popping in here and there to offer brief words of advice to Ryan. Although I will say that his Jerry Lewis impersonation was hilarious.