Fart Attack And Proposal

Parks and Recreation, S05E05

Jerry had a heart attack, and Leslie got together a garage sale and auction to raise some money for his bills.  She got a little too enthusiastic about the fundraising after learning that Ben was thinking about starting a new campaign project in Florida.  Ron and Andy joined Diane and her kids for trick-or-treating, but things went badly when Diane had to leave them alone with Ron.

I like how they downplayed Jerry's heart attack with him farting so much you wondered as Tom had said if Jerry had eaten farts for lunch.  I liked how Tom was frustrated that the doctor refused to label Jerry's condition as a "fart attack."  It was also nice to see everyone wanting to help Jerry instead of just making fun of him as they usually do (I mean, he's sort of the Charlie Brown of the group, but he's a sweet man).  

Jerry's hospitalization also worked to expose Leslie's insecurity about her future with Ben when she saw that Jerry's plans for the future would no longer be able to go as he planned with his medical bills and possible further health complications.  I love how Leslie tries to deal with her own problems by trying to fix someone else's problem.  Her desperation to fix everything (which I suppose in her mind would have made things magically better with Ben) even led her to try and sell Ann at the auction.  I really loved that part because although two attractive guys bid on her, one really creepy guy with a tank top outbid the others and had unpleasant ideas on how they'd spend their date.

I was really starting to feel so bad for Leslie, especially since she was trying to live through Jerry of all people, until Ben suddenly showed up and proposed!  I did not see that coming!  They totally surprised and delighted me.  It was so sweet and I couldn't be happier to know that they are engaged now.  I don't know if that means he won't take the job in Florida, but I at least know that Leslie will probably shift her focus to planning the most ridiculous wedding ever.  She'll probably spend the most time on figuring out a cake (or I think a sweets bar would really suit her) that has enough sugar to put someone in a coma.  I'm so excited to see their wedding (if we get to see it--I'd be so disappointed if not)!

Ron's story was a little sad too because he just isn't good with kids at all (although Andy is like a huge kid, so he sort of has experience with them).  I was worried that he was going to cast aside Diane for a moment there.  I'm not ready to see Lucy Lawless leave just yet.  And somehow she looks pretty damn good in a ridiculous princess outfit.  Haha.  But I kept wondering what the hell Ron was dressed as?  Was he trying to be one of the dwarfs from Snow White?

One of my favorite things about that story was at the very end when Ron retook the girls for trick-or-treating about a week later.  He just asked people to get something sweet from their house and give it to the girls and then slipped them some money for their trouble.  That's pretty damn sweet.  And even though they were getting things like cookie dough, I'm sure it made their day.

There were also a couple of good lines from this story.  Andy supplied one of them:

[Andy] 7:34 p.m. Man dressed as nerd. Lady dressed as crazy witch.

[Man] Neither of us is in costume.

Ron's best line was when one of the girls told him she needed to use the bathroom and he replied:

I have no idea what to do about that.

Donna also had a good line from when she was attending the garage sale.  An annoyed Twitter follower complained about her tweets on the movie.  She told him to unfollow her if he didn't like what she was saying (why do people on Twitter complain so much about tweets they chose to read by their own will??) and had this to say when he wondered what she was doing on her phone:

I'm live tweeting this dumbass conversation.

I would love to do that to someone if I had the skills to type that fast on my phone.  Because she didn't even make eye contact with that moron.

Great episode.  A lot of good things happened (one that I didn't mention being Tom's possible new business venture).  The best, of course, is that Ben and Leslie will one day be married!  Yes!  I couldn't bear to see them split apart by his job or her job--they just have to make it work somehow.  I hope now we get to see them actually together a little bit more from now on.  I liked their phone conversations but I miss their face-to-face interactions.  Can't wait for more of their lovey-dovey scenes!

Penny Less Raggedy, Sheldon More Raggedy

Big Bang Theory, S06E05

Howard was annoying everyone with his incessant talk about being an astronaut.  Sheldon and Amy tried to compromise on a theme for a couple's costume.  Raj helped Stuart with his Halloween party.  Penny finally made an effort to learn about Leonard's work.

I have to be honest that I, too, was just as fed up with Howard working the topic of space into every conversation as his friends were.  But I can sympathize with him because I feel like I sort of do that nowadays with a different subject.  Even so, I recognize that it's a horrible habit and should be suppressed as much as possible.  I was most annoyed with him when he was pouting about not speaking about his greatest achievement while dressed in an awesome costume of Papa Smurf.  He and Bernadette were rocking their couple's costume and all he could think about was how it sucked no one was giving him props about his astronaut days.  Geez.  So glad that Raj gave him that video of Buzz Aldrin to put things in to hilarious perspective for him.  I would sock Howard if he got as bad as that guy was with handing out candy.

The best story in this episode was Sheldon and Amy's for sure.  As soon as Sheldon suggested that they dress as R2D2 and CP30, I knew that there was little hope for Amy to get the kind of costume she'd want.  But I loved when they were making a Venn diagram of their ideas but getting nowhere.  Sheldon had ideas like Batman and Robin and Kirk and Spock, while Amy's were nothing alike.  She had ideas like Dharma and Greg (who would get that?) and the funnier couple of Blossom and Joey!  Oh, my God!  How I wished Sheldon would have liked that one.  My favorite part of all was when Sheldon explained why he didn't want anything to do with her Raggedy Ann idea:

Those dolls represent three things I do not care for:  clowns, children and raggediness.

"Raggediness" was the part that really had me rolling.  Only Sheldon.

I thought that "Raggedy CP30" was the best compromise that anyone could expect out of Sheldon (and Amy was thrilled), so I guess it was a win for her.  She did almost get a hickey from Sheldon until he figured out what it was.  Haha.  Watching him put one on Amy would have been pretty damn hilarious, though.

Another win that happened was for Leonard.  I mean, for once Penny decided to act like a decent girlfriend and step a little into his world.  It was really nice to see her impressed by the work he did and for Leonard to get some sex that wasn't out of pity, haha.  It did make me like Penny slightly more than I have before.  But I still think Leonard could do better.

Not much to say about Raj except that he is such a dork with his little puns for the food names.  But at least his party planning was a success.  It's just too bad that it was getting Stuart the girls and not Raj.  He could have used that victory.

Pretty good episode.  I'm just happy that from now on we don't have to listen to Howard go on about being an astronaut, and Amy is one step closer to living her dream as having a real boyfriend (as real as Sheldon can be in that capacity).  Penny seems like less of a "raggedy" girlfriend, but she still has some work to do.  Crossing my fingers that she won't backslide and will keep trying to make Leonard a little happier from here on.

Witches And Switches

Suburgatory, S02E02

Tessa was worried that a witch was following her so that she could make her a witch too.  Dallas failed to ask George on a date.  George decided to dress up like Noah for the Halloween party after Noah had dressed up like George.

This was a pretty cute Halloween episode.  First of all, we got to see everyone in different costumes.  The ones I enjoyed best were Malik as Fred and Tessa as Daphne from Scooby Doo.  I would have never expected Malik to pick that outfit (and it was only funnier when Ryan had mistakenly thought to wear the same one), but it suited him.  I also thought that Tessa was adorable in a red wig and her boots.  She totally pulled off that look.  What I didn't like too much was Noah being George and vice-versa.

Although I didn't like their costumes because Noah was being an ass, and George with a blonde wig and lack of mustache (I cried out in protest when he raised his razor to his face) was just so very, very wrong, this situation turned out to be funny.  At the party, George was getting the Noah treatment and Noah got George's.  That was hilarious.  I loved that girls were more into Noah as George and that they escorted his ass out when he seemed to be threatening George.  Love seeing someone like Noah get what they deserve.  But because George had dolled himself up like one of the Chatswins zombies, he learned that he had missed an opportunity to date Dallas.

I felt sorta bad that Dallas, although not completely forthcoming in her invitation, was shot down by George.  Oh, but I also have to say the second I saw her in this episode, I knew that her costume was Barbie.  I just never figured she would imagine that George would want to be her Ken.  But I liked that when Dalia let him know the opportunity he had missed (gotta love that girl for telling him how it is), George basically was Ken by then and he and Dallas had upgraded from "friends who flirt."  But we still can't be totally sure that they are going to make it to couple status anytime soon.

I also liked Tessa's story too because the witch following her turned out to be a feminist hippie of some sort and was played by Rachel Dratch. She's just an odd woman no matter what role she plays.  And it was nice for Tessa to meet someone local who wasn't all about dressing up slutty and getting plastic surgery.  If she remains on the show, she could be a good role model for her.  But I just wonder why it is that Paula can sneak into the school and plant her book in certain places without anyone ever noticing.  That's pretty creepy, no matter what message of feminism she's trying to spread to the clueless students of Chatswin.

And speaking of that book she had planted, I wondered how it was okay for Shelia to just burn it when it was a library book.  Well, I did until I learned that Paula was just putting the book in library on her own accord.  So I suppose it's okay.  But still, the principle of the thing.  That lady is nuts.   And so is Lisa for that matter, trying to convince Tessa to stay by her side and claiming spirits were speaking through her.  I was a little more freaked out by her than I was of the so-called witch.

I liked this episode and I'd want to see it again to take my time to admire the other costumes in the episode that I might have missed.  I liked that it wasn't too cheesy with the scary theme, and it didn't take away too much from the underlying stories of the show (like George and Dallas getting closer).  I would have liked to have more Dalia as usual, and I would have loved to see Malik and Ryan get into more over them both being Fred.  Hell, I just want to see more Ryan period.  Oh, and I hope they can work in some more scenes with George shirtless too (did not know he had it going on like that)!

Where We Left Off

Happy Endings, S03E01

 To start off the third season, they had stories that addressed some things from the season finale.  Dave and Alex were trying to casually date.  Max was trying to keep Penny in a cast so he could get closer to her physical therapist.  Brad was lying to Jane about his new job.

I nearly forgot about this show entirely because its premiere was at the same time as New Girl, and there's no competition between which one I'd want to watch more.  I had also forgotten what had happened last time we saw the gang until I started watching.  Then I remembered that I hadn't been much interested in anything they left hanging, except I did wonder who Max would replace Grant with.

The worst story was, of course, Dave and Alex, who were failing miserably to act casually with their relationship back on.  I hated how they were speaking like stupid frat boys or something--it wasn't funny in the least.  Also, who cares about them together or not?  I have to agree with Max's assessment of hearing them back together, even though I didn't get the Frasier reference.  Haha.

The Brad and Jane story was better, but not by much.  I sorta liked that Brad had a dummy named Sinbrad because it made him a little creepy.  It was also kinda funny that he had a background of his house in his office to fool Jane into thinking he was still at home.  I just don't get why he didn't just tell her. There's no way Jane would be that upset about it, no matter how happy she was that he was taking some time off and getting time to spend with him.  His song with Sinbrad at the end also wasn't terrible.  I might have enjoyed it more if he had used a different song to parody.

Brad and Penny's story was the best, but it's not saying much because this whole episode was blah to me.  I liked that Max was "misery-ing" Penny all for the sake of spending time with Kent, whose ass he was admiring at one funny point.  I just like seeing Max's selfishness causing someone else a problem and in this case, it was almost psychotic the way he was doing, so that was nice.  But what I liked best was the way that Max ended his little charade with Kent when Penny told him everything that Max had done:

[Kent] Max, is this true?

[Max] Yes, but Kent I-I did it for us.  When we're together and we're looking into each other's face--you know what, forget it.  I'm a skeeze.  Get the hell out of here.

 I just love how easily he tossed Kent aside after going to the trouble of drugging Penny to get him.  Haha.  Good ol' Max.  Seriously, I think I keep watching because I just love him so much.  Plus, Jane and Brad have their moments too.  But Max picked up the slack, as usual.

This was a better premiere for this show than I probably would have anticipated, if I was even thinking about it coming back to TV.  I'm not so sure why it's not as hilarious as it was before.  However, it's too early to know if I'm going to have to give up Max for the sake of not dealing with everyone else's poor performances.  I really hope they step out of the box this year and bring back that comedy that attracted me to this show in the first place.

Nick And Jess: Bad Friends

New Girl, S02E05

Jess went out with Cece for her birthday with her model friends and insulted Cece.  Schmidt bought Nick a cookie and was hurt that Nick didn't think about him sometimes.

The two stories where Jess and Nick acted like asses to their best friends wasn't bad, but it wasn't too funny.  I suppose it just interesting to see how little Jess valued Cece as a model and how little Nick valued all the things Schmidt does for him without asking.  I wasn't too surprised that Jess couldn't handle a night out with the models without putting someone down (she's shown us several times that she has ridiculously high standards sometimes), but I was surprised that Schmidt didn't already know that Nick displays emotion as often as a mop does.

With that being said, I didn't like Jess' story as much as Nick's.  I can't even think what would be my favorite part of that story because even when she was struggling to stand on the spinning platform for the model gig, I was just cringing at her awkwardness instead of laughing at it.  I guess I just liked that she finally recognized that Cece isn't just an airhead or shallow because she has befriended her model coworkers.  I don't know how Jess even gets on a high horse at any given time, considering how much of a consistent mess she is.

Now onto the slightly better story with Nick.  Of course, I agree that Schmidt should have spoken out about Nick neglecting him, but I couldn't believe how much he was pouting and bitching about it!  But I wasn't too bothered by him because Winston stepped in to take his side and was doing his own version of pouting as well.  I was just disappointed that Winston didn't take it to Schmidt's level because it would have been funnier than Schmidt doing it.  I mean, Schmidt started crying because Nick takes him for granted.  Really?

But my all time favorite moment of this episode was when Nick tried to repair the damage he had done (over the years, I suppose) by getting Schmidt a cookie.  I had a strange mixture of sympathy and ridicule for him after Schmidt told him that his cookie present was terrible:

All these tears from getting a cookie!  Nick was so adorable!  I never thought he would break down like that.  Way to save this episode, Nick.

Oh, and I did like seeing how Nick and Schmidt met for the first time.  It was so bizarre how they just kinda clicked even though Schmidt was just sitting in his room eating ramen for no reason.  Like their friendship was meant to be--they're both weirdos.

Next time I just hope there is a little less man love being thrown around.  I felt like they were almost acting like teenage girls, it was so emotional (inappropriately so--it was a damn cookie).  I'd rather them being doing something else crazy that doesn't involve their feelings and such.  And as for Jess, I want to get back to see what she's doing for employment.  I'd really like to see her teaching some unpleasant kids again.  That would definitely be good for some laughs.

More Enemies Than You Can Shake A Hook At

Once Upon A Time, S02E04

Rumpelstiltskin went looking for Belle after she disappeared from his home.  Belle found her father after being "kidnapped."  Rumpelstiltskin's past was also revealed, concerning the fate of his ex-wife.

At first, I had no idea why they were showing us Rump's past because I hadn't really thought about his wife at all.  But it was incredibly interesting to see him as his former self, which was a man who was too cowardly to even fight (even though his opponent was a pirate captain) for his wife.  It all tied into his current self, who despite having so much power, was still too cowardly to be open with Belle to have a significant relationship with her.  They do a nice job of tying things together, for the most part, so I don't have to feel like they are throwing in extra stories for the sake of a story.

I was definitely very interested in Rump's past story when I found out that he had lost his wife not to some illness or something, but to an attractive and thrilling pirate his wife happened to meet.  And of course, when Rump met Hook again as "The Dark One" it was so good!  I mean, it was really unfair that he was fighting Hook with all that magic he had at his command, but I just loved him getting back at both Hook and his wife who didn't have the decency to tell him that she was leaving him for another man.  Even still, I never thought he would rip out her heart.  That was pretty badass.  Then he also chopped off Hook's hand, which was expected.  Even though I was rooting for Rump in this episode, it was poetic justic that the hand he had sliced off didn't contain the magic bean he had sought.  Can't win them all.

It's also interesting that Hook has teamed up with Regina's mother.  Wow.  Never saw that coming.  So not only will Storybrooke have to deal with that bitch, but they will also have Hook running about.  That's going to make things really heat up and possibly get Rump and Regina to stop playing the roles of the local villains.

Another thing that tickled me during this episode was when it was just so evident that Rump has a long list of enemies that goes way beyond Hook and those we've seen.  I just loved when Charming was helping Rump out and pointed out that few townspeople wanted to help him because he's made all of their lives unpleasant at one point or the other.  In particular, there was a butcher who was pissed at him because he had turned his father into a pig.  But Rump being Rump, he didn't have the slightest memory of him.  I doubt he'll be like that when he meets up with Hook again.  I don't know what tricks Hook might have learned in Neverland, but hopefully he has some kind of power that can give Rump a run for his money.

Speaking of Neverland, I am confused as to why Smee is in Storybrooke, but Hook is not.  How did that come about?  And I'm also weary of them bringing up Neverland, in fear that Peter Pan might pop up one day.  Ugh.  I'm tolerating Hook because they've worked him into the story so well, but I'm not going to be so keen if that little boy in tights shows up.  Haha.

Anyway, I'm a little happy that Rump was able to share his past a little bit with Belle and she seems willing to give his evil ass another chance.  He doesn't really deserve pity, but he did stop her from being mind wiped and gave her a place to work (and possibly live outside of his walls).  They are a weird couple, but most of the time I want to see them together because it's a rare chance to see Rump in a softer light.

Loved this episode.  It could be my favorite yet.  I'm definitely looking forward to just watching this episode again as much as I am to know what might develop next.  All I have to say is that I was so engaged in this story that I didn't give a damn that we didn't get to see Emma and Snow at all.  But they better get back to that story next time because I'm curious to know what their backup plan is to get home.

Leslie And Safe Sex, Tom and Technology

Parks and Recreation, S05E04

Leslie wanted to teach the elderly community about safer sex, but was shut down by some morality watchdogs of Pawnee.  Tom, after a car accident, was ordered to spend time away from his technology and sought help from Ron to get through his hardship.  April and Ben also wondered if the congressman they worked for was a robot.

Instead of speaking much about each of the stories specifically, I'll mostly just mention my favorite lines.  I did, however, like the story about Ron and Tom the best because Tom was going crazy without being able to text and all of his other things.  One of my favorite moments was when he was trying to recreate his favorite internet venues and devices, such as pinterest.  He just looked so pathetic tapping pictures he had put on a real board and hoping that something cool (like on the actual site) would happen.  However, his best recreation had to be when he tried his hand with his iPhone:

[Tom] I made an iPhone out of paper.  It's not the same, though.

[Ron] This is the work of a lunatic.

It was equally as funny when Ron was able to make progress with Tom's addiction when Tom admitted that he needed some help:

I'm proud of you.  But also a bit fearful that we're verging on what I call "feelings territory."  So let's stare at the fire in silence.

I also love when Tom went to apologize to Ron for damaging his car and Ron silently stood up:

What are you doing?  Are you going to kill me?

 I really love when Ron and Tom get together because they are really like opposites at times and it can't be a better setup for some comedy there.

Donna also had a great line (she usually does, but she's usually beat by even funnier lines) when commenting on Ann's clothes:

It's not my favorite shirt, but it is my least favorite shirt.

I love her tell-it-how-it-is attitude.  I would totally be friends with her.

Finally, I liked when Leslie was still acting like Chris was her boss:

[Leslie] You’re my boss, what do I do here?
[Chris]  Actually, you’re my boss now.
[Leslie]  That’s right! Why am I still weirdly scared of you?
[Chris] I’ve very confident and I make a lot of eye contact.

God, I can't imagine if Chris wasn't around.  He is always saying great things like that! He's a mess, but he somehow makes it work.

I think I really loved this episode because Tom's struggle without his Twitter and Facebook and such was just too funny and the other stories with it were funny as well.  I just wish there were some funnier lines from Ben and April's story (which was funnier in what was happening more than what was being said), but I'll not let that really affect my overall wonderful opinion.  Love this show!

Losers

Big Bang Theory, S06E04

Howard returned home from space, but didn't get the big astronaut welcome he had hoped for, finding no one to celebrate his glory with him.  Sheldon and Leonard lost to Penny and Amy at pictionary, which sparked a battle of different games to prove who was superior after all.

Well, it was no surprise that Howard didn't come home a changed man (save the few inches he grew from being in zero gravity) in the sense that being an astronaut didn't make his life any better once coming home.  He couldn't get any from his wife with her shooting snot from her nose and passed out from Benadryl, his mother was too busy screwing the dentist to have time for him, Raj had moved on with his new bestie Stuart, and the rest of his friends were too busy trying to beat each other to have a second for him.  I don't know if he was more of a loser coming back home or before he left.  I suppose he was more after because he had done something really great, but the only accolade he could reap from that experience was a free piece of cheesecake (which I'd take--it's better than nothing).  I felt bad for him, but you couldn't be too surprised with the kind of luck Howard has.

The funnier losers of Thursday night were definitely Sheldon and Leonard.  I just loved seeing Penny and Amy take them to school on a variety of games.  It was just nice to see Penny be able to hold her head higher than Sheldon.  One of my favorite moments was during pictionary when Penny was just taking her sweet time drawing nail polish because Sheldon was way off (even if it had been Polish as he had mistaken it for).  But it was great that she and Amy didn't just excel at drawing cookies and presents, but they were also masters of finding Waldo with impaired vision and solving long division while dizzy.  But I think my favorite victory for the girls was when Penny easily pinned Sheldon on the ground and then began kissing him to make him even more annoyed!  And then Amy just joined in when Sheldon begged for her help!  Hilarious.  I also loved when Leonard, tired of losing, demanded that Sheldon participate in the pie-eating contest:

Now, you either stick your face in that pie or I’m gonna stick that pie in your face.

I wish every episode could be this kind of game night.  I need the reminder that Sheldon is not skilled in many things outside of science and mathematics.  I even didn't think about how much I dislike Penny because she was being really good about giving Sheldon the business.

This is my favorite episode of the season so far.  I don't know if Howard is going to let Raj be best friends with someone else forever, but he is a married man now, so he might not feel as put out by that as he seemed to be in this episode.  I would love to see a story where Stuart and Howard would have to compete for Raj's friendship in the future.  And any time they can show what a loser Sheldon is again, I'm all for that.  It's just too funny.

Tessa Follows In Her Mother's Footsteps

Suburgatory, S02E01

Tessa came home from a summer with her grandmother and expressed an interest in her mother's passion for singing.  Lisa blackmailed her parents about Ryan so that she could get special treatment in the family.  Noah and Dallas fought over Carmen, both wanting her to raise their kids.

I was really happy to see this show back on the air, but not incredibly impressed by the premiere.  I was a little disappointed that Eden was totally out of the picture, but then again I do like the possibility of George dating someone else (especially Dallas) more than his whirlwind relationship from last season.  I was a little interested in Tessa's desire to embrace the talents she might have gained from her mother, but I wish there was more she had learned during her summer about the mysterious woman.  The battle over Carmen was like a comedy relief from the slightly dramatic Tessa story, but not really more interesting than Lisa barely milking her one piece of control over her mother.  The latter story was also disappointing in how little changed as an end result.

I thought it was cute that Tessa wanted to be a little like her mother, even though I felt like George was threatened by the idea a little.  It did seem like she sort of wanted to cast aside his contributions to her being who she is, but then again, George has raised her most of her life, so it's impossible that any influence he has been upon her could be lost by her trying to mimic her mother a little.  The best part of the episode came from this story when Tessa was nearly about to give up her interest in music until George finally shared something about her mother and encouraged her to perform, despite whether she would be good or not.  And I think Tess was pretty good!  It took me a moment to notice that she was singing the theme song, but that was a little cool (since I do like the theme song a lot better than most other shows).  I hope that she continues to do something with singing or playing the guitar because I think it would be a good fit for Tessa, who already showed some talent in writing poetry.

I really wanted Lisa to take her mother for all she was worth with that bombshell of a secret under her belt!  She did try to get to have the solo in their family skit (or whatever that ridiculous prancing around in cat outfits was), which was basically popping out of a trashcan at the end.  Really?  I don't know if she got even an ounce of the "golden child" treatment that Ryan has been given over the years, and Lisa will never have such power over her mother again.  Or a very little chance of having it again.  I knew Shelia would eventually turn the tables on her daughter (because Lisa is nowhere as crafty as her mother), but I had hoped Lisa would really get to enjoy the ride while it lasted.  Her reign of power seemed so short that I felt like why did she even bother to bring it up?  In the end, everything went back to their normal, the potting shed was burned, and Lisa still wasn't doing the solo.  The only difference was that Lisa's parents know that she knows.  And I guess if Ryan ever finds out he's not a Shay by blood, it'll be Lisa's fault for sure.  Not sure Lisa understands how to really take full advantage of an opportunity.

Noah (especially) and Dallas fighting over Carmen was just stupid.  The only good part of it was that it seemed to affect Dalia enough that she felt like she could talk to Tessa about her concern over losing her nanny.  Of course, when she spoke to Tessa, she was both expressing her fondness for Carmen and putting Tessa down at the same time.  That's a talent.  But it was nice to see there was no change really in their relationship.  I would hate to see Dalia stop treating Tessa so badly--it's one of the funniest things.  As far as Carmen leaving Dallas, I don't know if that's really something I care about at this point.  I would think that she would be better suited for Noah, who seems to think it's okay to put a cup holder on his baby.  Before child services come (I doubt they do in Chatswin) I pray that Carmen actually does start to take care of that baby.  Little Opus' mother certainly doesn't give a damn since she's off on a book tour instead of raising her newborn.  These women in that town...

Not the best episode, but not bad enough that I would question watching this show anymore.  After all, it was certainly one of my favorite new shows from last season, so I hope that it can remain one of my favorites.  Lately, my favorites seem to be dropping like flies, so I'm trying to give things more of a chance.  I want to see Tessa singing a little more in the next couple of episodes!

The Double-D's And The Ditz

2 Broke Girls, S02E04

Caroline convinced Max to go on one of her favorite shows, Cupcake Wars, and the two gおt picked for an audition competition.  Although they were a bit confident and relaxed while making their audition tape, they were a disaster in front of the camera.

Even though I'm aware of the show they tried to get on, it never popped in my head that Max and Caroline would try to be on it.  It makes a lot of sense, and I think the idea of it was pretty good.  I think more than anything that necessarily happened, there were a lot of funny lines.  One of such was when Caroline asked Max what kind of show it was (although it feels self-explanatory):

I thought Google eliminated the need to ask questions out loud, but fine.

Hilarious.  I would like to say that to someone at some point because in this day and age, really?  I mean, use the damn technology that's at hand.

I also applaud when Max was doing some alterations to the shirts that Caroline had made for them:

[Caroline] Max, what are you doing?
[Max] Crew necks are for squares and mormons.
[Caroline] Oh, cute! Should we do mine?
[Max] I don’t know.  If you have no car, why open the garage?

This joke about Caroline being flat (or rather Max being busty) continued later on when they were assesed by the talent producer of the show:

[Janis] You’re edgy with big boobs.  You’re the “try hard.”
[Caroline] I’m sorry, I’m the what?
[Janis] That’s your brand.  The muscle and the hustle.  The double-d’s and the ditz.
[Caroline] I went to Wharton. I’m not a ditz.
[Max] Well you ain’t the double-d’s. Can you believe she openly commented on m’goods?

That would be a hilarious name for their cupcake business.  No one would take them seriously and some people might not exactly understand the product they were trying to sell, but at least they would grab some attention for their business.  I would just be happy not to be called stupid like Caroline, despite someone was judging me just because of the size of my chest.  But hey, it's just like Max said about people being judgmental while watching TV.  It's pretty much a given, especially with reality TV.

 I'm not surprised when push came to shove, Max got stage fright and Caroline showed that she doesn't know a damn thing about baking.  But it's too bad Max's chicken and waffles idea for a cupcake didn't bear any fruit.  But perhaps someone will eat in in the diner now that Max has put them in the restaurant.

This was a pretty good episode.  I can't say that it was a waste of time for the girls because, like Sophie had implied, there is really no easy way to making it big (for most people anyway), and they'll need to do things like working for just the connections before they start getting paid the big bucks.

I'm Worried For Marvin

How I Met Your Mother, S08E04

Lily and Marshall finally got some time to themselves, but decided not to spend much of it with their friends.  The two began getting fearful of their deaths and thought they should pick a guardian for Marvin just in case.  Robin, Ted, and Barney began vying for the title of Marvin's guardian.

I would have never guessed that this episode would have led to Lily and Marshall thinking about how they would die (except I did see a commercial for this episode last week).  Nor did I think that their friends would attempt such stupid tactics to win the responsibility of taking care of Marvin in the worst-case scenario.  I mean, all Robin and Ted did was bring big ol' bears.  They didn't put much effort into their bribery.  Barney, on the other hand, put some effort into making children's songs into bro-themed lyrics, but I couldn't see how that was supposed to impress anyone.  I know it's Barney, but still--what was that?  He has to think somewhere in his head that doing that wouldn't make Lily and Marshall snap their fingers and tell him he's the one.  Out of all of them, he could have used his money to actually buy less stupid gifts than teddy bears to bribe them.  It's puzzling.  And it wasn't too funny.

Later, I was a little excited to see Marshall pull out a huge game wheel because Marshall always has the funniest games.  Plus, it's just ridiculous that anyone would make one of those in the first place.  The time he used to make that could have been spent just talking and hanging out with his friends in the first place, but, hey.  Anyway, the categories weren't especially clever, nor were the "contestants' " answers.  We all knew that Barney wouldn't provide a decent answer for most things, but I do think his approach to helping Marvin heal a broken heart was kind of funny:

I know this hurts little buddy. But you will love again someday because time heals a broken heart. But not that bitches window.

But when you think about it, Barney felt like the better choice when you had Robin, being a little too frank about death, threatening to send Marvin to military school, and shamelessly buttering up Marshall by saying he was a stud when it came to sex and Ted, mostly using a damn puppet to explain things to Marvin and caving into his every whim the moment Marvin looked a little sad.  Although, I would still never choose him.  In short, they all seemed like they would be horrible parents.  At least, if we were thinking about each of them raising Marvin by themselves, I would be really concerned about what would happen to the kid.

So I thought maybe Marshall and Lily would see that they all weren't good guardians, but they surprisingly chose them all.  I didn't know you could do that.  And also, even if they raised Marvin together, he would be a complete mess.  They're good friends, but I don't think they would necessarily teach Marvin good life lessons so he wouldn't grow up to be all the bad parts of Ted, Robin, and Barney (that mishmash would be a monster).  But I guess since Marshall and Lily had no family they could agree upon, that was the best they could do.

I also want to say that I was a little shocked that Marshall told his friends that Marvin wasn't one of the most important things in their life, but was the most important thing.  Perhaps one's child is to many parents, but to say that straight up to your friends would still feel like a slap in the face.  I had to share Ted and company's feelings when they walked out after that.  I don't ever think I've seen Marshall and Lily act like such jerks.  They made up for it, but damn.  It just bothers me when people seem to toss friendships away once they have kids.  Your kids are special, but you're not going to be able to bitch to them about your problems or go drinking with them (not while they're underage anyway) or probably hang out with them much (because they'll think you're too old and uncool).  So it doesn't make sense to me.  Good thing they patched things up some.

I guess this was an okay episode.  It distracted me from wanting to see those other two dumb relationships fall already.  I truly didn't even think about it because I was too focused on how Marshall and Lily were acting.  But next time I would like to see them get back to that and put an end to one or both of them.

Moms Doing What They Gotta Do

Once Upon A Time, S02E03

Charming asked Henry to stay out of the rescue for Emma and Snow, leading him to cut school to do his own investigation.  Emma and Snow were released from their prison and returned to Charming and Snow's old house to find the wardrobe Emma was sent away in.  In the past, King George continued to attack Charming by going after his loved ones.

Henry is definitely in the right family because he basically blows his nose at danger.  I can't believe how easy it was for him to fool Regina and get into her vault.  I actually felt a little bad for her because she probably really looked forward to that lunch that never happened.  I can see that she really is keeping to her word, so far because instead of going to stop Henry herself, she told Charming and he went to get Henry before his ass got bit by a bunch of snakes!  Like, is Henry crazy??  There could have been any kind of evil thing under the sun in one of her boxes and he thought it would be smart to just open one at random.  He knows that she was always up to no good, so I don't know why he thought he would find something good in her little secret lair.  What a moron (he's taking a lot after Emma who also in the episode is taking danger too lightly).  It was a little cute at the end when Charming decided he'd buy him some wooden swords to practice with (since Henry is jealous that his mother and grandmother get to go sword fighting in the other world--if only he knew he'd probably be dead in a minute with his current knowledge of that world).  I hope Charming can get Henry to settle down and stop trying to run off to do things (like his grandfather keeps doing when it's convenient for him).

Similarly, Emma was doing a shitty job of fitting into the other world and failing to listen to the experts, mainly her mother and Mulan.  I know Emma is used to handling things on her own, but I feel like that situation requires that you swallow your pride and learn from the "masters" instead of what she was doing.  I can't even believe that she was sort of bragging that she killed a dragon (which she didn't even do half as well as she thinks and should have learned that guns are useless) when warned about the ogres.  No surprise that she not only let the ogres know where they were, but almost got killed by one.  Seriously, Emma, it's time to shut up.  Hopefully by now she's learned her damn lesson and will stop acting like she knows what she's doing.

I have to also say that Aurora is so annoying.  Sure her love got killed and all, but damn.  Trying to get Snow by the throat with a knife?  I wish Snow had done more than she had before Mulan butted in.  I still think Snow needs to kick that girl's butt.  But Aurora seems to be willing to help Emma and Snow now.  I guess.  She might still be secretly bitter.

It was pretty sweet and sad when Snow and Emma were looking around the remains of her nursery.  I kind of forget that Snow had dreams of raising her daughter and had to give it up so that her daughter wouldn't be cursed.  I didn't think Emma would start to forgive Snow for abandoning her, so it was nice to see that they made some progress.  They don't have the best situation, but at least they do have each other, so they can continue to go from there.

Another mother who showed her sacrifice was Charming's mother.  I wasn't so sure why she was brought up again when she was just going to die until they had shown that King George had cursed Snow.  Then when Charming mentioned that lake that could cure anything, I knew that Snow would be the one to be saved, and Charming's mother would put herself aside.  I had wondered how the two got married and imagined it to be some big, grand thing, but it was sort of touching how simple it was with just the two of them, Lancelot, and Charming's mother looking on before she took her last breath.  Wow.  That was sort of beautiful.  She got to see her son married, Snow took the cure without knowing, and Charming's mother was able to die knowing that her son would have everything he wanted in life.  I just wonder if Snow ever needs to tell Charming what his mother did for her.  I suppose it doesn't really concern him since it was his mother's decision and there's nothing he can do about it now.

I really enjoyed this episode because it was nice to see all these different mothers in the show giving up things so their children could be happy.  But, there's no telling what Regina's crazy-ass mother is up to.  It'll be interesting to see what might happen if she's able to get to Storybrooke.  I just wonder who will be able to get to the non-magic world first: Emma and Snow or Regina's mother?  I'm little worried it's going to be the latter with her in possession of the ashes of the wardrobe.  Someone needs to stop that bitch before it's too late.

Take That Penny!

Big Bang Theory, S06E03

Sheldon hired a new assistant to look through his old journals and papers to see if there was anything brilliant in there, and Amy felt threatened by a woman working closely with him.  However, when Amy dragged Penny along to spy on the assistant, Penny was the one who became worried about her and Leonard.  Howard was getting antsy and unraveled during his final days of space and getting worse with the news his return home would be delayed.

After last week, I was questioning whether I really liked the little side story about Howard in space until he started to go insane this time.  I liked how it was sort of a turn on or something for him to see people drop pencils for him, and it had made Raj uncomfortable when Howard had asked him to do that for him numerous times.  But my favorite thing was when Howard was trying to make a secret code for him and Bernadette to speak in:

We should probably talk in code. From now on, "frog" is me, "sandwich" means you and "lemon" means rocket.  So, come on, sandwich, build me a lemon 'cause froggy wants to come home!

That was probably my favorite line of the episode.

Another notable quote was when Amy and Penny were putting on makeup and Amy remarked how the eyelash curler looked:

[Amy] Looks like something used by Tinker Bell's gynecologist.[Amy] Who I hope for her sake is not Captain Hook, so...

A little gross, but pretty clever.  I don't think I'll look at an eyelash curler the same again.

What I liked most about this episode was that Penny finally got a little payback for stringing along Leonard when she saw that Alex and he were having a pretty good conversation.  Maybe Leonard's not the most desirable guy, but it's nice to see them do a story where Penny is reminded that Leonard does have options if he were to stop blinding himself with his love for her (which can't possibly last if she keeps treating him like a charity case).  I really hope that sort of thing continues on in the next episode.  Oh, and I liked how Leonard sort of set up Raj so he could easily chat with Alex, but in Raj's condition of being unable to speak to women he just moved to a different table.  That was a great moment too.  Almost as good as Penny experiencing some jealousy.

For once I sort of want to see what happens next.  It would be interesting if Alex wanted to date one of the guys, no matter who it was.  Although, I would most like to see her get with Raj because he really hasn't had any luck with girls at all.  Like I've said many times, it's way past due for someone to throw him a bone!  Come on, when are we going to see Raj find love??

My First Favorite Story

The Mindy Project, S01E03

Mindy got Shauna to get her into a club, and it ended up being an office outing.  Mindy was able to get into the VIP section and meet some interesting guys, but in the end she had to decide whether abandoning her friends was worth a possible hookup.

I didn't expect an episode about a club to be so good, but there were quite a few interesting moments.  One of such was when they first arrived and the group was waiting outside in the line.  Someone remarked that NBA players come to the club quite often:

[Mindy] This is amazing ’cause black guys love me.[Shauna] Keep your racism voice down.[Mindy] Sorry.  That’s not racist.  It’s a scientific fact that black guys love Indian girls.[Shauna] Don’t…[Mindy] Black guys also love ass, which I happen to have a lot of.

I love hearing about different stereotypes and was interested to see if Mindy could prove it to be true.  At first she didn't seem to be having any luck, and then she finally got into the VIP at what seemed to be at the request of one of the players.  It turned out to be from the sports attorney, but he turned out to be less of a douche than he first appeared (my first impression was that he was really rude and perhaps out to play her).  I loved when Mindy was just chilling with the players and having a great time.  She just seemed so cute, yet not awkward chatting with them.  It's just too bad she had other priorities than possibly the most amazing night of her life.

I'm actually glad that Mindy has a big heart and would rather stick by Shauna  and Betsy than go off have fun by herself.  I was pretty impressed with her.  It says a lot about her character.  If she had gone, it would have told me she was really only looking out for herself in the world, and I probably would have started to like her a lot less.

I also started to like Danny a little more in the episode, getting to see him cut loose and dance, but I felt bad that Shauna likes him and he went home with some random girl.  I hope that Shauna can get his attention one day because he doesn't seem to often give attention to anyone unless it's necessary.

I also felt like Morgan was off to a good start in this episode as well.  I loved that he had all these things with him like he was a bathroom attendant, but had no intention of being one, as I thought he did.  I mean, I was confused at first that he didn't understand why he was being given money; it took me a second to realize he had really just brought those toiletries for himself.  Wow.  Then, I thought it was sweet that he picked up everyone's tab at the end of the night with the money he had made (even though it was less than $40).  He could easily become one of my favorites.

This time, I definitely felt like this show has really started to win me over.  I at least care about some of the characters now and want to see how they might grow as people as the stories develop.  I wonder what will happen between Mindy and Josh.  He seems pretty into her, but I don't know if Mindy is there yet.  And I'd like to see Shauna have a real chance with Danny.  I think they could be at least an entertaining couple for a little while.

Everybody Hates Schmidt

New Girl, S02E04

Jess began to hang out with some kids that had just moved in, but didn't seem to like Schmidt because he was too old.  Winston worried about not having very long left to live.  Nick became obsessed with pranking Schmidt, especially in making him feel like he was getting older by the second.

It's funny what manages to ruffle Winston's feathers, and this time it was Schmidt's actuarial.  I mean, he really took that thing to heart, despite he thought at first it told him he should have died about 4 years ago.  Of the 3 guys, I would guess that Winston would live the longest because Nick both fails to take care of himself and is prone to stupid decisions, while Schmidt just seems like someone who would end up being stabbed or shot one day.  Still, I guess Winston freaking out about his life running short did inspire him to not so very eloquently demand that he be given a promotion at work.  Although he has his own show, it's at a graveyard time slot, so it's almost a non-promotion, but hey, he's at least taking a step forward.  I think that will end up being a very interesting new job for him.

Nick, on the other hand, was letting his insanity sink him further into debt because he wasted over a grand playing pranks on Schmidt!  What the hell??  One of the most elaborate was when Schmidt noticed that his height line was higher than his current height.  I was shocked at the detail he put into that when he explained it to Jess:

I took a photo of the wall, shrunk it down, made a copy at an architect’s office.  From there, it was just your basic spackle-and-silkscreen job.

Seriously??  I've never seen Nick put so much energy and work into something, and when he does it has to be something spiteful.  He is so crazy!  And Winston is also crazy because he doesn't know how to prank adequately.  I don't which is funnier:  the fact that he goes too small (like sprinkling dust near Schmidt's car) or goes too big (hitting people with skis or throwing acid on them).  I'm actually a lot more concerned about Winston attempting a prank than Nick.  Nick will bankrupt himself playing his tricks, but Winston is likely to kill you.

Finally, in the Jess and Schmidt story, it was a treat to see those kids looking upon Schmidt like an unwanted growth.  But I think when Schmidt first caught on that he was hated and had to pretend he had work so he could refuse the kids' invitation to hang, I did feel bad for him.  No one wants to be the unpopular guy, so I couldn't help but want Schmidt to somehow win them over.  But it was pretty funny in general watching Jess being treated like the coolest person in the world, while Schmidt, with all of his bad slang and nonsense hype, got nowhere.  I also loved when Nick said that nothing about Schmidt being hated was new:

If I had a dollar for everybody I couldn’t hang out with because they hated Schmidt, I’d be rich.  Like, fill my gas tank all the way up rich.

I wasn't too surprised that even when Jess tried to help him that Schmidt still failed because he was just trying too hard.  But what I really liked is that Jess came clean about stealing catchphrases from 80s sitcoms and realized that she wasn't really identifying with those kids, but had already grown as a person beyond them.  But the kids still liked her and wanted to hang with her.  Aww.  I like when people like Jess because she is sweet and fun, but sometimes people don't like her because she does things her own way and is overly awkward in the most simple situations (and is the victim of bad luck).  It really shows that interacting with younger people is what she was born to do.

 This was a great episode.  I wonder if Jess will continue to see her new neighbors every now and then--I think they could add a little more crazy situations in their apartment building.  I'm pretty sure Winston's little show is going to make his job even more interesting or probably make him go insane with the strange work hours.  Don't really care what happens with Schmidt right now, but I'd like to see Nick not do anything else to throw the money he doesn't have away.  Nick would be living in an alley right now if he didn't have his friends.

Piss-Pants Coward

2 Broke Girls, S02E03

Caroline used Max as a shield when her life was threatened and peed her pants in fear of a robber.  Max took Caroline to the movies without paying for a ticket and hinted that she wasn't over being Caroline's shield.

Caroline not only has the worst looking pee face I've ever seen, but is a straight up cold bitch for throwing Max in front of her when a gun was pointed her way.  Then the piss-pants coward thought apologizing twice was enough to compensate putting Max's life in trouble.  Seriously?  I can't believe her.  Then at the end when Max fled the scene when they were about to get caught without tickets, Caroline said they were even in selfishness.  Hardly!  Max could have died.  Maybe Caroline would have been locked up for a little while--but not dead or paralyzed from a random shot!  She was right that both girls are looking out for number one, but to say that Max is on the same par as Caroline is stretching it.  No, I'm gonna have to disagree there.

It's also interesting that Han is so young.  I mean, I thought he was maybe in his 30s, though, so it's funny that he's still in his 20s.  The running gag where everyone was shocked by his age was pretty funny.  And it was slightly funny to see Han pull out a gun from his fanny pack.  That was the last thing I expected him to pull out.  He is full of surprises.  Furthermore, it's surprising that Max now thinks he cool enough to hang out with in the future.  Haha.  She has his eye on him.  I'm pretty sure she'll be disappointed the day she decides to make good with that offer.

Good episode.  I have another reason to dislike Caroline, but it's not like I'm asking for her blood (because I know how she's supposed to be).  I'm glad they decided to show a little more of Han's depth since so far we don't know more about him than him being a dork who sometimes argues with him mom on the phone.  What else might we learn about Han?  I'll hope they continue to put a spotlight on him from time to time, rather than have us learn anything else about someone like Oleg.  I'm fine with him being as one-dimensional as possible.

I Liked Mrs. Buckminster

How I Met Your Mother, S08E03

Marshall and Lily had a hard time finding a nanny before Lily went back to work.  Robin and Ted tried to best each other in whose relationship was going better.  Barney tried to return to his own tricks as a single man, but was bored with his old shtick.

Well, I knew from the beginning that Lily and Marshall would eventually pick Lily's dad to look after Marvin, but I had hoped that I'd be wrong and they would keep Jane Carr who played Mrs. Buckminster.  I've liked her ever since she did voices on Fairly Oddparents.  She just has such a comforting voice--I love it.  And it was kind of weird but funny how she was looking after Barney and then screwing him at the end.  Not that surprising because I anticipated it when I saw her helping him out, but still.  Weird.

Robin and Ted's fight was just so stupid.  Especially since we all know that they're arguing for no good reason because their relationships are both doomed.  I'm annoyed that they didn't even break up one of them in the episode.  The torture goes on...  But I did like seeing Victoria being so slovenly in Ted's apartment.  She was just throwing things left and right as soon as she entered the door like a tornado of filth.  That was amazing.

Barney's story was even sadder and more boring.  It was a little twisted that he was interviewing nannies just so that he could get sympathy as a single dad and sleep with one of them, but it wasn't enough for me to think I was glad he had a little story of his own.  I also knew that he would be the one to pay for Mrs. Buckminster from the moment I heard that her salary was too high for Marshall and Lily (still hoping that she'd be on the show more).  I can't say that I'm happy to see the old Barney back.  In fact, he just seemed like an annoying fly buzzing around talking about "Bangtoberfest."  Geez.

I guess I didn't hate this episode because I did like seeing Lily's father show he did do more for her than abandon her and take her to race tracks, but it wasn't enough for me to be glad I had watched it in general.  I feel like I was just waiting for it to be over so I could enjoy 2 Broke Girls.  Even though they don't really have the same sentiment as this show, I find that its brand of comedy is less taxing than HIMYM right now.

Regina Repeats History

Once Upon A Time, S02E02

Storybrooke began to panic when they found out they would lose memory of themselves if they left and were concerned about what the Queen would do to them with her power back.  The Queen got her mother's book of magic from Rumpelstiltskin so that she could use magic to return Henry to her side.  Her past with magic was also revealed.  Charming tried to lead the townspeople while using some magic from Rumpelstiltskin to find someone who might know how to use the hat that sent Emma and Snow away.

One thing that is interesting to me is how I've sort of forgotten about Charming being David ever since he started acting like his former self. I mean, it's like David totally disappeared, but at the end when he was making a grand speech about the townspeople being both their magic and non-magical self, I sort of remembered him again.  I could see everyone else accepting their other self, but not him--David was a mess.  But I suppose if he embraces the bad parts of himself, he can try harder not to let himself ever be that sort of person again.

Charming is pretty restless, though.  I mean, I know that the town has gone through an emergency situation, but they could go look to someone else for answers.  He was running around like a chicken without a head trying to chase down Hatter and calm the people down so they wouldn't riot or run out of town to their doom.  So it was no surprise that Red sort of made him choose priorities and focus on the most foremost problem.  I don't think it's quite fair that he as to take care of that, but I guess a prince has to overlook his own wishes for the greater good of his people.  And if he hadn't, everyone was just going to run out of town (are they idiots??), and he'd be alone with probably only the most unreliable people left (like Rump).

Charming probably will be okay even though Hatter ran away from him because no one's really leaving town, and Storybrooke's not that big.  So eventually, he'll run into him again and can question him about getting his magical hat to work again.  Unless things just never settle down again.

Onto the Queen.  I was rather interested in her whole thing with that book of magic.  It once belonged to her mother who had gotten it from Rump.  Apparently, Rump has had his eye on Regina for the longest time and was the one who taught her about magic in the first place.  He even mentioned they were back where they belonged--together.  What does all that mean?  Regina eventually became his rival, so I don't know if Rump planned for her to be more useful to him in the future and she turned out to be an enemy, but it's very curious.

It's also curious how history repeats itself.  Regina's mother used magic to trap Regina when she was younger and Regina fought to not use magic in an attempt to not be her mother.  Similarly, when Regina used magic to take Henry back and keep him in their house, Henry wanted nothing to do with her magic in an attempt to not be Regina.  I'm certain that Regina, although giving Henry back to his grandfather (don't you love it when Henry calls Charming "Gramps," by the way?), isn't done using magic to force people and things to her will.  If she was, she might have burned that book of magic from Rump.  That's a good sign that she's just waiting until someone threatens her enough that she needs to take out her bag of tricks again.  And I can't blame her because those townspeople would have totally killed her by now if it wasn't for Henry.

On another story, I wonder why Rump is so angered by the fact that they can't leave Storybrooke?  I know he wanted the curse broken eventually, but why does it surprise and irritate him so that the curse isn't entirely gone?  I thought he was the one controlling everything, so something must have gone wrong.  Maybe he wanted to leave to look for his son?  After all, his son was sent to the real world somewhere outside of Storybrooke.

Emma and Snow seemed to be screwed since Mulan is treating them as hostile and they've ran into Regina's mother.  That can only mean something even worse is going to happen to them.  I don't know why no one has no idea about who Snow is yet.  I thought she was famous enough that the entire magic world would know her.  But perhaps not.  Still, I can't wait until someone does recognize her and she can tell them about what's been going down in Storybrooke (though I doubt anyone will really believe her).

Lots of things going on, as usual in this show, so it's hard to really comment about everything little thing (which I wish I could do).  I'm just loving watching this show again and still find that it is the thing that I look forward to most in the week.  Really interested to know what will be revealed and resolved next time.

Too Many Stories, Not Enough Funny

American Dad, S08E02

Stan tried to assassinate a war criminal during a family vacation while keeping Francine in the dark about it.  Hayley and Jeff tried to rekindle their sex life.  Steve followed a boy to a nude beach and kept meeting dangers along the way.   Roger was dumped by an elderly man he met while he was acting out one of his widowed characters.

Stan trying to go behind Francine's back to do CIA work was just irritating until Francine was more than a little into helping him kill the man.  With her part of it, it was much better to watch, especially when Francine was hitting Joe with the racket for ruining her vacation.  And it was nice that they found a way to make the hip hop necklaces scene seem less random by it being the cause of why Francine wasn't killed by a direct shot to the chest.  I don't mind random, but sometimes things are so incredibly random (like that particular scene at first) that they are a little distracting.  But I suppose the funniest thing about this story was Stan's rivalry with the gardener who kept besting him all the way to the end when he killed their target.  I liked that because the gardener was just a nice guy who happened to be better than Stan was.  And I like seeing Stan knocked down a peg sometimes.

I feel like the Steve story was better or just simply a necessary side story because it was just bad decision after bad decision that distracted you what was going on with Stan and Francine.  I don't know why Steve was so enchanted by everything his new friend Liam suggested and went along with it like a moron, but he paid dearly for every mistake he made while Liam was left unscathed.  I guess that it was a good thing that Liam wasn't just leading him to his destruction and they did make it to where he claimed they were going, but it sucks that Steve was the only one who had suffer in the process.  My favorite line of that story was when Steve realized that Liam wasn't as smart as his accent made him sound:

You sound smart, like Hugh Grant the movie star, but you’re stupid, like Hugh Grant the person!

I'm not sure why people are so affected by particular accents, but they are.  It's interesting how the same thing said by two different accents could give off two completely different reactions just because of the sound and delivery.  I like how people are so influenced by sounds.

Roger's story was okay, but I felt like it could have been cut.  I mean, why the hell does he need to be a character while on vacation?  I shared Steve's annoyance that he was choosing to do that, especially one who was a senior citizen woman.  At least he was still true to his Roger self (who is pretty damn vindictive) and changed characters just to screw over the man who screwed over his character.  It's just weird to me what Roger chooses to do during a vacation when he could have just spent it as normal guy character just chilling at the bar.  But I suppose if he hadn't been Abigail, he would have been hanging with Steve and Steve wouldn't have needed to follow Liam around.

Jeff and Hayley's story was even more unnecessary.  It was a big ol' heap of "who gives a crap?"  There's something really gross about hearing them getting it on and I'm not really sure why that is.  I feel like I'd much rather hear Roger talking about his sex life than them.  Even grosser than their sex life itself was Steve sort of checking them out at the nude beach (or Hayley, I guess), not quite convinced he was seeing his sister.  Eww.  I know he got trampled and dragged along by a horse, dropped to the ground, and had bees stab him from the inside, but dang.  No need for the slight incest there.

Well, it wasn't a terrible episode, but it wasn't great either.  I can put this into the so-so pile without much thought.  I wouldn't bother to watch this episode again on purpose, but I wouldn't mind if it was on TV.  They would do better to have a few less stories in an episode and work on just maybe two that were actually funny.

Leave My TV Alone, Peter

Family Guy, S11E02

The Griffins were selected to be a Nielsen family, which gave Peter a lot of power to influence local TV shows.  Peter stole more of the Nielsen boxes when he realized this and started to ruin TV nationwide.

This episode poked a lot of fun at many different TV shows while Peter took advantage of being a part of the Nielsen family.  They also went after some of the people who play a hand in making some of the popular TV as well, which was nice as well.  I'm glad that Family Guy didn't go too crazy with bashing any particular show, but they did make sure they got a jab at as many as possible before the half hour was over.

One of Peter's first changes to TV when he suggested that prairie dogs pop up during the news whenever Tom said something sad was kind of funny in a cute way.  I just find news in general to be a little too serious (and rightly so), so I enjoy Peter's attempt to make it a little more entertaining for the simple-minded (which I can tend to be).

I was a little annoyed later when Stewie was concerned that the volume on their TV wasn't working:

No matter how low I turn the volume, Aziz Ansari is always shouting at me.  What did I do?

He's not that loud!  I know it's a joke and all, but come on.  When I think of Aziz, him shouting all the time isn't the first thing that comes to mind, so I'm annoyed that they didn't think of something more clever for him.  Boo.  But least they didn't say anything racist because they love to go down that road whenever they can.

My favorite TV star they mentioned was definitely Jon Hamm.  I think he is hilarious when he's not playing a dramatic role (though sometimes I think Don is hilarious), and I had no idea he was gonna to pop up on this show.  He and Peter had a pretty funny conversation:

[Peter] Hello, Jon Hamm?  Peter Griffin, Nielsen family.  Listen, did I catch you at a good time, or are you and the critics busy sucking each other’s butts?
[Hamm] Excuse me?
[Peter] Look, your show is really boring. But don’t worry, I got some ideas on how you can jazz it up.
[Hamm] Listen, I don’t need your suggestions, pal.  I’ve been a big celebrity for a year and a half now.

But then Hamm changes his mind when Peter makes their ratings drop and listens to his suggestions to put in light sabers and Kiss (I think) playing the theme to Star Wars.  For a show like Mad Men, that is just the craziest thing ever, but I feel like it would be so off the wall that I would totally watch an episode like that.  I'd like Family Guy to make some more jokes about Mad Men if they are going to give me as good as a laugh I had last Sunday night.

That was about the best thing in the episode, but I also liked Mayor West complaining about Cougar Town:

You put a real cougar on Cougar Town, and now that cougar’s dead because Courtney Cox ripped it apart with her teeth and claws!

And I also liked Peter basically summarizing what J.J. Abrams' shows are like while speaking to him:

[Peter] J.J. Abrams, you take wonder and complexity and present it in a way that no one can possibly understand.  Whaddaya got?!
[Abrams] I’ve got an alien that goes back in time and encounters a koala bear in an Eastern European town.
[Peter] Totally confused.  Do it!

I'm still not sure what the hell was going on in Lost, which was really aptly named.  Haha.

I also thought it was nice of them to do this episode in memory of the deceased Phyllis Diller and Michael Clarke Duncan.  I enjoy when they dedicate these episodes because it just sort of helps the memory of their lives live on.

This could be one of my favorites for this season, but it is a little early to know whether something will top it later on.  I hope that there are a lot of stories with a lot of good jokes, like this one, instead of like last season where I felt I spent most of my time complaining about what I didn't like.  Good job this time!

Maybe My Favorite One Yet

Bob's Burgers, S03E02

 

 

Teddy threw a Halloween party and kept all of his guests there to find out which of them killed his pet guinea pig.  The kids went trick-or-treating for the first time by themselves and went out to King's Head island in search of better candy.  They got their wish, but were in danger of being pranked by the local high school kids.

I didn't care much for the story about Teddy and his "murder mystery" party.  It was basically just him being stupid and Bob trying to lie himself out of a bad situation, but eventually coming clean.  I guess if I had to say something that was slightly amusing, it would be that Teddy was really harsh on the mailman with uneven legs and called him "Wobbles" at one point.

I liked the experience that the kids had in King's Head.  Not only did they get to enjoy having full-sized candy bars over there, but unlike their parents, the kids over there could recognize what their costumes were.  Edward Scissorshands is a pretty cool costume, by the way, and Gene's Queen Latifah U.N.I.T.Y. days costums also gets some props.  Then I just liked that things took a turn for the worst (as I would assume because these kids can't stay away from trouble) when the teenagers came out for Hell Hunt.  It was funny that they were known for throwing balloons filled with pee at the younger kids, among other unpleasant things.  I'm a little surprised that Tina stopped Gene and Louise when they had an opportunity to make a clean getaway and was more surprised that they didn't end up getting drenched in pee balloons because of her conscience getting in the way.  Luckily, these kids were sort of smart enough to lure the dumb boys away with a phony text from a girl.  Actually, I should say that Louise was the smart one until she took it too far.  But I'm sort of glad she did because putting hot sauce in kids' underwear is great idea.  Too bad only one of the boys was wearing underwear.  They were also lucky that when their prank on the teenagers was discovered that the friends they had saved came to save them.  Full circle.  Nicely done.

This wasn't a bad episode, and I usually think the opposite when watching the show.  I'm nowhere near love or anything (I can't see that happening), but I guess even this show can surprise me sometimes.

For the 23th Special, Pretty Good

The Simpsons, S24E02

A black hole that Lisa had a hand in bringing about was sucking everything in Springfield into it.  Homer filmed some paranormal things going on in the house, revealing a demon that wanted to take Maggie.  Bart went back in time to buy a comic book for less and ended up changing the present to his benefit but to Homer's disadvantage.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed this Treehouse of Horror this year.  It wasn't one of my favorites of all time, but it was definitely good enough that I felt like I'd like to see it again to see what little things I missed in it.  My favorite of the three was probably the last where Bart went into the past and made it so that he was Artie Ziff's son.  However, I will say that the second story, where they spoofed Paranormal Activity was a close second.

The first story where a black hole was sucking everything had a lot of good parts.  In a way, I felt like it was kinda spoofing Gremlins because Lisa specifically told the family not to feed it and they all kept throwing things into it while knowing the danger.  My favorite thing thrown in was Bart's homework that kept getting spat out, and Bart finally gave up and threw Mrs. Krabapple (or should I call her Mrs. Flanders?) in there.  The best line of the story was when Homer said:

A black hole?! (whispers) I'm sorry, can we call it that?

Anytime someone says something like that, I pretty much enjoy it.

The second story was a pretty good spoof of the aforementioned movie.   In general, I just liked seeing Homer and Marge act like the couple in that movie, but putting their own funny spin on it.  Specifically, I liked when Homer tried to "comfort" Lisa when she asked why all these horrible things were happening in their house:

Oh, sweetie.  Sometimes a mysterious, invisible being from Hell waits for a family to go to sleep then kills them.  Now, go to bed.

I really like when Homer says things in a comforting way, but his actual words are doing the direct opposite.  I almost always laugh when he does that.

I also thought it was funny at the end that the demon wanted a threeway with Homer and another demon if he wanted to save Maggie from being taken.  That's not what I thought would happen at all!  Then Homer was sort of a little too into it to the point that the demon wanted him to stop whatever new sex thing he was trying out.  Gross, but damn funny.

The last story was probably my favorite because I like when they do stories in different timelines.  Also, this is the second time that Bart has met Homer in the past (another was in the episode that spoofed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and it was so easy for Bart to screw up his parents' first meeting.  I really liked how angry Homer got at Bart and how repulsed Marge was by his treatment of him.  Then it just got better when Bart easily accepted that Homer was out of his life when he returned to the present to find he was rich and a Ziff (plus he just looked so cute with that little afro).  It continued to be entertaining when teenage Homer traveled forward in time with Bart and met his older self and they worked together to beat Bart at his own game.  I guess I'm a sucker for happy endings because I liked that even though Artie and Bart beat the crap out of all the members of the United Federation of Homers Through History, Marge realized her mistake and took in all of those guys into her home (I don't know how she'd feed them and pay for all the destruction they would do, though).  I liked all the different Homers and how none of them could find the time to take out the trash in a whole day.  Marge has to love Homer because there is no way anyone could tolerate more than one Homer at one time.

The opening animation about the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar was a little interesting, but not that funny.  I just like how it could have been prevented if Marge didn't help Homer and hadn't had Moe sacrificed instead.

I'm pretty pleased with this episode, and I hope that they deliver more stories like this in the season.  After last week's disappointment of doing New York City again, I'm happy that there's a glimmer of hope for this season yet!  Maybe there will be a hilarious episode down the road if I'm lucky.

Not The Best Halloween Story

The Cleveland Show, S04E01

Donna and Cleveland forbid Junior and Roberta from dressing up for Halloween, so to teach their parents a lesson, they dressed as their parents and went out to cause trouble.  Cleveland took Federline to a football game so he could be the designated driver, but the boy ended up stealing a wooden doll from Stoolbend's rival town and causing a riot.

Compared to last year's Halloween story, I didn't like this one as much.  I suppose because it didn't really have too much to do with the holiday.  Cleveland's story was about football/town rivalry, Donna was getting arrested for prostitution, and Junior and Roberta did a prank (which is a little more in the spirit of the holiday) but it didn't really lead to anything significant.  I will say that it is nice that they didn't make a cheesy horror story instead, but it being mostly about football and riots was kind of lame.

Rather to continue to go on about what I didn't like, I'll point out my favorite parts.  One was when Cleveland was trying to get a hold of Toonces, the driving cat.  That was great!  Toonces was one of my favorite SNL skits ever!  And I liked that the cause of Toonces' death was not the more likely car accident, but feline leukemia.  It was just unexpected and good (in a dark kind of way).  Cleveland was also funny when he told Federline to go after he had ruined their night sufficiently:

[Cleveland] Let him go.

[Tim] No one's trying to stop him.

 Junior also had a pretty good line when Chet had a knife to his throat:

How did you find my throat?

 Lastly, I enjoyed the insanity that Rallo was left to himself while he was bleeding to death.  It became a running gag in the episode and at the very end Rallo was seen as a ghost saying:

Hi, I died--just kidding.  I'll see ya'll next week.

This kind of echoes that running gag in the show that Rallo is often left unsupervised by parents (and siblings) who really couldn't give a damn about what kind of danger he gets into.  But although I liked this, I was annoyed that they pretty much left Rallo out of the story.  Last year was good because we got to see him be scared to death along with Cleveland.  But anyway.

This was probably better than most episodes I saw last season, so I can't be too mad this was their premiere.  I'm actually just looking forward to the episode they're supposed to have with Bruno Mars in it (love him!).  So until that happens, I can be all right with a few stupid episodes until then.

A Toilet, A Pothole, And A Road Trip

Parks and Recreation, S05E03

Leslie tried to get a bill passed by doing things her own way, but saw that sometimes she has to do things the "easier" way.  Ron and Andy went to fix a lady's pothole after being unable to solve the woman's problem over the phone.  April and Ben tried to drive to Pawnee to see their loved ones, but got stopped in the parking lot for several reason until it was too late for them.

I think the best thing about the Leslie story is that all she had to do to get her bill to pass was to pacify her fellow councilman by giving her his office, which he only wanted so he could have his own toilet.  To think that decisions are made over something as simple as a toilet is pretty funny.  But I like that Leslie resisted giving into Jamm's demands, until the very end after winning over Milton had failed.  I can't be mad at her for making some concessions when it came to her own policies, especially when it made a bunch of kids happy.  Plus, she got to shove Jamm into a pool before he told everyone how she got the bill passed.  So all, in all, a victory for her.

There were also some good lines in that story.  My favorite was when Milton was offering Leslie and Tom the salad and Tom didn't want to eat it because Milton had already said some offensive things to him:

[Leslie] Tom, eat some.
[Tom] I’m not eating racist salad.
[Leslie] The more we eat, the faster we talk.
[Tom] You can really taste the ignorance.
[Milton] It’s pronounced “anchovies.”

I'm really glad that Tom is by Leslie's side not just for the support, but for the much needed laughs.

I also thought April and Ben's story was really good just because it involved the "Odd Couple" stranded together in a car.  It's too bad that we didn't get to see more because I think the tension would have been crazy funny.  I especially liked how April made fun of his choice in music and gave him a look when she heard what he had on his "summer jam" CD.  Ben is such a dork, which makes him the best person to showcase April's coolness.  They could make a spin-off of them working in D.C., for real.

What I liked best about the Ron story was, of course, that Ron began to like a woman named Diane, who was played by Lucy Lawless.  That seems like a great match!  It was really sweet how Andy made sure that Diane came to see him by writing a note for her on the fixed pothole.  Otherwise, I think Ron would have been too embarrassed to ever show his face again.  It will be nice to see Ron dating someone who can match him on his powerful level, yet not be crazy like all of his evil ex-wives.

Also, at the beginning of that story when Chris was explaining about starting therapy, I loved how he wouldn't let Jerry share anything about his own therapy, suggesting that it was too much.  But I think I liked best when Chris was sort of talking to himself in an attempt to thank himself and admitted that he sounded insane.  I knew that him starting therapy would make him more insane!  I'm glad that Chris just doesn't disappoint.  And if he has any other crazy ideas like the 311 line, I can continue to be pleased by his new path for mental health.

Great episode.  It could only be better if April and Ben's story were extended, but we simply didn't have enough time.  I'm pretty excited to see how Diane and Ron's relationship goes, especially since it seems like Diane is about his equal.  Looking forward to seeing more of Lucy Lawless next time!