Posted by Dustin on 11.07.2009 at 5:27 pm

I have to say, I was completely lost on this episode. It started off with a former med student turned stripper who went missing apparently haunting a doctor at the hospital. Did he kill her? Nope. As it turns out, he was just a clue and a lead to another guy, the Dean of Rockland University where Eli works. The doctor at the hospital was in line to become the new dean, but this other guy (guest star Bruce Davidson) got it instead. This guy also knew the missing girl. Eli didn’t like the Dean because he kept denying him tenure.

Melinda talked to a watcher, who warned her of the Shadows, the bits of peoples souls left behind when they go into the light. He said the “Book of Changes” was so afraid of them that it makes no mention of them, to keep them from destroying it. However he hinted it might still hold answers. In the end the Dean was afraid of the Shadows too, they had taken control of his mother who is comatose in a hospital and were threatening to make her unplug the machines keeping her alive if the Dean didn’t keep doing what they told him to. One thing he was supposed to do was split up Eli and Melinda, that’s why he was denying him tenure, to try and get him to leave.

Okay I just didn’t get it. It’s like they’ve dropped all the storylines with the hospital they’ve set up and now have moved onto the Dean and the Shadows. Huh? This is starting to remind me of the sloppy writing back with Melinda’s so called half-brother and the souls under Grandview.

Also, maybe I missed it, but whatever happened to the med-student-turned-stripper ghost? Did they even resolve her, cause I don’t remember them doing so!

Posted by Dustin on 11.06.2009 at 7:40 pm

Once again, doing a recap with my thoughts all mixed in for the Thursday night dramas.

Grey’s Anatomy
Alex got another slap in the face from Izzie, because she ran and he’s her husband, her medical bills now fall to him. He worked with Bailey on a case involving a baby. He had to hold the baby next to his skin, so she demanded he take his shirt off, so the baby survived. It was some method about human contact and giving strength to the baby (I missed some of this story). In the end, Alex refused to walk away from the kid because this he could do, even when the rest of his world was falling apart. Bailey also told him that he would make a good pediatric specialist.

Okay I have to say, I just can’t see Alex as a pedes person. He’s always so cold and impersonal! I think it might be interesting if he did go that route though. I got the feeling from this episode, and the previews that Izzie might be pregnant, that he will. I also get the feeling with her cancer, the baby could be an at risk pregnancy, and that might push Alex further into this specialty.

A girl who jumped off her roof while tweaking on shrooms was brought in. Callie had to rebuild her bones, and later when she started coding in the OR, Christina jumped in to save her. She knew what had to be done, but Owen wanted to wait for the heart surgeon to arrive or what not. Christina knew they didn’t have time, and with the help of one of the Mercy Westers took over and did what was needed. Owen was furious with her, but the Mercy Wester turned on by her. They almost hooked up, but she stopped him and said she was involved.

With this story it was great to see Christina back to being the bad-ass she is and not the suck up she’s become lately. I loved her telling Owen off that she didn’t do this to prove a point, but because it was who she was. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her and the Mercy Wester. With Kim Raver showing up next week to take Burke/Hahns place and be Christina’s new “mentor” oh yeah . . . a huge war is on. She’s also Owen’s ex BTW, so I think there is some serious jealousy and sleeping around about to happen!

Finally Arizona was dealing with a terminally ill child and his parents. She basically told them that the fight they’ve been putting up for 2 years, the thing they’ve dreaded, is here. She said it was time to say goodbye. The father wanted more surgery, but Arizona said honestly she didn’t think he’d survive, and if he did it would only buy him 2 more months at the most. The Chief however pushed her to do the surgery, because this couple was leaving 25 million dollars (or some equally insane amount) to the hospital. Arizona did the surgery, the kid died, and the Chief demanded she stay away from the parents . . . because basically she just killed their kid with this surgery and set the hospital up for a lawsuit. In the end though, she went to them, and they agreed to give the 25 million anyways. Why? As the father put it, not because The Chief and his lawyer were ass kissers, but because Arizona really knew their son and was more than just his doctor, she was his friend and was just as heartbroken as they were over his death.

This story was yet another kick in the ass for The Chief. The hospital got the money, but not because of him. I really think by the end of this season Derek is going to replace the Chief given the way things are going. Also this story, Arizona’s heartbreak and all, brought her and Callie closer. They finally uttered those three words . . . “I love you.” A final note . . . if Wallace’s mother looked familiar it’s because she is! The bad news, she’s familiar cause you either have a great childhood memory or are old 🙂 She was Cocoa on the TV version of “Fame.”

Private Practice
Over all I felt like this was a serious filler episode, odd since it’s November Sweeps!

Addison basically became a crazy cat lady. A cancer patient of hers who decided to go into hospice rather than fight anymore asked her to look after her cat. A cousin came forth to take responsibility, but in the end Addison kept the cat.

Okay, while seeing Addison with a pet is cute and all, and while I personally think everyone should have a pet because relating to an animal makes you a better person in many ways . . . Addison needs a MAN. Us fans don’t want to see her become a crazy cat lady, we want to see her with a MAN.

Naomi was furious when William (the guy who owns the practice she heads up) hired, without her knowing, a genetic specialist to help engineer babies. Naomi felt this was crossing the line. The first couple sent to them were little people who wanted to make sure their child was a little person. The argument they gave was that they wanted a baby like them, not a tall person who people would always wonder “is that your kid?” This went against Naomi’s belief system, as well as the fact that to do so they’d have to implant a sick embryo (the genetic selection to make sure it was a dwarf basically had a side effect that the baby would be at risk). She had to convince the couple she could give them a healthy baby, but there was a 50/50 chance it would be a little person like them. She also told off the genetic guy saying he had no moral compass, and she would be his moral compass as long as he worked here.

I actually really liked this story, because it was important given the way society and medicine is headed. We are quickly approaching the ability to have designer babies as Naomi put it, to select what we want and what we don’t want. The issue of diseases in children was given by the genetic specialist as a reason for doing this. Basically they can already determine if children are going to have the genetic disposition for a certain disease and work to eliminate that, so what is the difference between selecting for that and other traits? As Naomi put it, it’s one thing to make your way down a slippery slope carefully, it’s another to go skiing down it full blast. I feel what the “little people” wanted was a dangerous allegory that spoke to everyone watching in some way, probably different for all given your situation. We want a light skin black baby. We want a dark skin black baby. We want a child with Asian features. We want a child with a more American look. We want a child who will be tall. We want a child who will be short. We want a child that is straight. We want a child that is gay. Basically it’s one thing to weed out disease and have a healthy baby, it’s another thing to have a healthy “designer” baby. When you start messing with mother nature and designing babies for your likes, you’re screwing with mother nature and selection big time.

The final story dealt with a patient of Pete and Violet’s who was severely depressed after her father’s passing. She made the choice that all the alternative therapy and psycho babble wasn’t working, she wanted Electro Shock Therapy. They gave it to her, and it helped her in the end. She was happy again. She felt a weight was off her shoulders. However she didn’t seem to remember the man she was engaged to at all. Violet felt something deeper had gone on here, something they needed to get to the root of. In the end, the woman knew her fiance, she just didn’t want him anymore! She felt pretending like she forgot him was easier than saying he was a downer in her life and she had moved on. Pete and Violet played along as to not hurt this guy, letting him think he had been erased and should move on with his own life, accepting his former bride-to-be was happy again.

This story was a let down for me. The commercials made it out to be a shocking secret that would floor you. Okay sure, I didn’t guess she was faking it. On the other hand, the explanation the patient gave was that he was a good guy, completely dependable, who never hurt anyone and she just couldn’t do this to him. Basically she didn’t have the guts to say “I want someone less boring” or “I need a little more excitement from you.” Frankly I thought the patient was a #$#$@#$%@$%. Also the storyline seemed to serve the purpose to point out that Violet was healing from Katie’s attack, while Pete wasn’t and the two were drifting apart.

Posted by Dustin on 11.05.2009 at 8:22 pm

Some of these I posted before, but the releases don’t always come together for these two shows. Here is the entire month of November for both “Ghost Whisperer” and “Medium.” The final week (the 27th) is a repeat for “Ghost Whisperer” and my guess is the same for “Medium.”

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Posted by Dustin on 11.04.2009 at 9:20 pm

In last week’s “Ugly Betty,” Betty was swamped doing stuff people had given her and falling behind in her idea for a story for the magazine. The story was the uniforms of the top ten most thankless job in New York. Because she needed help, and Willy was tired of Marc nosing around Nico, she gave Betty Marc! Marc wasn’t very thrilled, but basically by the end of the episode he and Betty made up, especially when she gave him co-writing credit on the article.

I was so thrilled that Marc and Betty came to a mutual understanding by the end of the show. I was tired of this feud between them, it sucked. Unfortunately Betty and Amanda’s war might just be starting, as she won’t let go of snagging herself the rich Matt.

The only other story (well that I remember, it’s been a few days) was Danielle falling back into old patterns of hiring pretty girls. At the same time he was taken to a “support group” by his new punk friend. It was the Community of the Phoenix, and the leader promised to help Daniel and the others make contact with their dead loved ones.

Oh yeah, Daniel’s got himself mixed up in a nike wearing comet chasing cult! Poor Daniel can’t catch any breaks lately.

Posted by Dustin on 11.04.2009 at 6:52 pm

So I watched “V” last night and enjoyed it, enough to keep watching. From my understanding this is going to be like “Harper’s Island,” a one season deal and not supposed to go passed that. I guess if the ratings are good enough, who knows really.

I wasn’t sure what they were going to do given this was a reboot. I mean if you watched it chances are you’ve seen the original, or found out about the original somehow (the net, another person). So the surprises aren’t really there. We know they are lizards. We know they aren’t “of peace.” If they stick to the original story, we know they’ve come to eat us. My guess is they have, as the woman in the scene with the apples levitating didn’t take a bit, but instead handed it to someone else.

I guess what I was most shocked about was how they basically crammed the first 2 hours of the miniseries into this pilot. Visitors arrive – Check. Set up recruiting the teens – Check. The resistance is formed – Check. The Visitors are exposed as lizards – Check. I kinda wonder how they will deal with a whole season now. I’m sure they have a plan, well I hope they do.

One thing they definitely did different was to have the Vs already established on earth and creating strife and conflict so that when they arrived, the world would somehow unite and be brought to peace. In the original it was the other way around, the uniting was really in the world working together to fight back once they realized who the Vs were. Also the original was at a time when nuclear war was on everyone’s mind, and it’s no coincidence the original Vs came in bright red (communism) uniforms.

The show hasn’t gone without flack. A friend felt the show was specifically using Obama wordage to cause controversy and outrage, I guess hoping people would tune in. If you google V and Obama you’ll find all the similarities people have drawn between the two (Change, Hope, universal health care, the fact that Anna seems to look exotic and her ethnic/racial origins aren’t quiet known).

Posted by Dustin on 11.03.2009 at 6:45 pm

Last nights “Heroes” took place three years in the past. Hiro traveled back to save Charlie. Not only was he trying to save Charlie from Sylar, but at the same time HRG was trying to find Sylar (not knowing what he looked like) while Claire was getting ready for the homecoming game which would become the famous cheerleader massacre.

It was an interesting episode. Hiro convinced Sylar to save Charlie by destroying her brain tumor. In exchange he’d tell him of his future (he said he gained many powers, was very evil, and everyone ganged up on him to kill him).

Samuel meanwhile needed Hiro back at the carnival and doing work for him. He kidnapped Charlie at the end, having his own time-traveler trap her somewhere in space in time. He’d tell Hiro where she was . . . if he did something for him. Samuel’s time traveler, like Hiro, had a brain tumor and taking Charlie was his last act alive. Samuel told Hiro he had made a mistake several weeks back, one that needs to be fixed. We then learned he apparently killed Mohinder weeks ago, which is why we haven’t seen him.

It was an okay episode, and the time traveling provided a fun twist to things, like seeing HRG working with some female partner we never saw before. I’m not sure why she was there really, other than to show HRG’s marriage wasn’t perfect at all (she wanted to have an affair with him).

Meanwhile, the news broke last night as to the prominent male star who has been fired by the show and will be permanently killed off. Read after the jump if you want to know!

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Posted by Dustin on 11.02.2009 at 6:54 pm

The first official “Glee” cast album (Volume 1) drops tomorrow. Some of these have already been released as iTunes singles, some haven’t though. Here is the official track list.

The following is the Amazon.com list of the soundtrack . . .

1. Don’t Stop Believin’ (Glee Cast Version) 3:52
2. Can’t Fight This Feeling (Glee Cast Version) 3:30
3. Gold Digger (Glee Cast Version) 3:01
4. Take A Bow (Glee Cast Version) 3:36
5. Bust Your Windows (Glee Cast Version) 4:20
6. Taking Chances (Glee Cast Version) 3:56
7. Alone (Glee Cast Version Feat. Kristin Chenoweth) 3:41
8. Maybe This Time (Glee Cast Version Feat. Kristin Chenoweth) 2:59
9. Somebody To Love (Glee Cast Version) 4:43
10. Hate On Me (Glee Cast Version) 3:30
11. No Air (Glee Cast Version) 4:22
12. You Keep Me Hangin’ On (Glee Cast Version) 2:40
13. Keep Holding On (Glee Cast Version) 4:04
14. Bust A Move (Glee Cast Version) 4:24
15. Sweet Caroline (Glee Cast Version) 1:58
16. Dancing With Myself (Glee Cast Version) 3:10
17. Defying Gravity (Glee Cast Version) 2:29

The iTunes album appears to have a BONUS song

18. I Say a Little Prayer (Glee Cast Version) 1:40

Posted by Dustin on 11.02.2009 at 6:45 pm

The last few spoiler releases for the end of November and the official sweeps period are out today. As usual, Thanksgiving Week will probably be one filled with specials and repeats.

Highlights include Rosanna Arquette guest staring on “Eastwick,” Bailey’s dad on “Grey’s,” Addison’s dad (Stephen Collins!) on “Practice,” and the cult takes over Mode on “Ugly Betty.”

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Posted by Dustin on 11.02.2009 at 5:53 pm

The next two episodes of “Heroes” spoilers (past tonight’s episode that is).

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Posted by Dustin on 11.02.2009 at 1:59 pm

A thoughts-recap mash-up of both “Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers and Sisters” follows . . .

“Desperate Housewives”
Susan and Mike were forced to try and be nice to Katherine, as she was threatening to sue Susan for shooting her. It didn’t last long, as Susan found Katherine setting up a seduction scene for Mike, who she called to fix a pipe. By the end of the show Susan was telling Katherine that she needs help, Katherine was going to Angie to get the gun for evidence to charge Susan, and Angie went to Susan and put the idea in her head that Katherine may have attacked Julie . . . thinking she was Susan.

While I’m completely over crazy Katherine, I do like that the show keeps throwing these twists and turns out in the story of Julie’s attack. I think Katherine will be cleared, and at this point I wouldn’t be shocked if Angie was the attacker, having found out about Julie and Nick. Though if they have any hope of keeping the new family on Wisteria Lane that probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

Angie got caught in a big lie by Katherine, but covered. She claimed it was her mom’s birthday and her mom was dead, she gets upset on this day. Later Katherine caught her on a prepaid cell phone talking to her mom, who she claimed was Nick’s mom. Angie was saying how she missed her, and it was too dangerous for them to see her, how Danny was almost 19 now. Basically it definitely sounds like they are in the witness protection program after that scene.

Karl gave Bree a pin that was his grandmother’s, left to him because there were no granddaughters to leave it to. He was supposed to give it to a special girl someday. Bree quickly found out at dinner with Susan that Karl gave it to her first, and she supposedly lost it and he yelled at her for it. Karl took it though, letting Susan think she lost it, as at the time they were going through a nasty divorce. Bree claimed she bought it at an antique store in town. Bree gave it back to Susan, who later gave it to Bree again as Karl was in her past now and Bree bought it. Bree was not pleased with Karl, who proposed to her. She claimed they were both married still, and she needed to see the better side of Karl . . . so they would not be having sex for one month! She wanted to see the changed side of him he keeps saying is there. Meanwhile Orson went to the antique store to replace the brooch with something else, only to learn they only sell furniture . . .

YAWN . . . I’m not really enjoying this Bree-Karl affair. I’d much more enjoy seeing Orson off this show 🙂

Lynette learned that Tom was failing statistics, a required but pointless course in his eyes, and he cheated on the midterm to pull through. His other classes are also touch and go, he’s struggling. Lynette was furious, he should come to her, seek help, hire a tutor. He should NOT be cheating, it sets the wrong example. He fired back, reminding her she was lying to Gabby and Carlos about her pregnancy, so don’t get moral with him. He said sometimes in life you have to break the rules to get by, that’s something parents don’t want to tell their kids.

What I don’t get is . . . Tom was a business exec and in advertising no less . . . how can he fail statistics? Also maybe Tom should have just gotten The Rosetta Stone, it would have been cheaper than going back to school to major in Chinese 🙂

Finally speaking of school, Juanita got in trouble for saying the F dash dash dash word in the middle of the school play when she messed up her lines. The principal (Norma on Passions!) explained the punishment to Gabby and Carlos. Gabby thought it was too harsh and told the principal off, saying she’d get Juanita into a private school. Of course Carlos found there were no openings, so Gabby was force to home school her. That went about as well as one would imagine.

Gabby and Carlos had the best scene of the show when they argued about who told Juanita the blank word, giving each other examples of how they use it every day. Gabby told Carlos he wouldn’t be getting blanked tonight . . . and he said he blanked off earlier!

“Brothers and Sisters”
On “Brothers and Sisters” Tommy returned in this episode to see Kitty. The hippie commune in Mexico seemed to have a good effect on him, he was much calmer than the Tommy they all knew. Of course leave it to Nora to find out his secret and expose it at a family dinner. Tommy hadn’t spoken to or seen Julia or Elizabeth in months. Julia was not only filing for divorce, but didn’t even want Tommy to be a part of her or Elizabeth’s life. Tommy felt they were better off without him, he broke their marriage and life, she should do what she needs to to be happy. He wouldn’t argue with his mother, he was tired of living up to her expectations.

Later Nora realized that Tommy was always the easy child, the perfect one . . . she had just come to expect it from him as she had 4 other kids who she needed to take care of. She realized she just gave Tommy over to William to take care of and mold, she gave her son away the way he was giving Elizabeth away.

Kitty was the one to talk sense into Tommy in the end, by showing him a book she’s making for Evan. It started out as a baby book, now it’s turned into what they call a life book . . . a book to help him through phases of his life in case she’s not there to do so. Tommy eventually decided to go to Seattle, to see Elizabeth, to make things work as best as he could.

Tommy was the same old jerk as always in this episode. He got on my nerves. Nora isn’t perfect and she is a nosy busy body, but when he went off attacking his mom . . . Oh no! Don’t try and justify the fact that your being an ass and abandoning your child because it’s too hard to live up to being mommy’s perfect child. By the end of the show he at least seemed to realize he was being a jerk. Clearly the door has been left open for us to see both him and Julia again in a future episode.

Sarah’s kids found out about her french lover Luc and they were cool with it. Luc moved into the guest room in her house.

Kevin caused waves for his and Scotty’s surrogate when he pulled out the legal contract. Scotty felt he was making it cold and impersonal, Kevin was trying to protect them. The surrogate felt maybe she wasn’t right for this after all. It wasn’t until the whole Tommy-Julia-Elizabeth fiasco came out that Scotty realized Kevin was doing the responsible thing and looking to protect them. Well duh Scotty! Clearly he’s never seen a Lifetime TV movie dealing with fertility or surrogacy issues. Kevin also went to the surrogate, Scotty’s friend, and convinced her they could make this work and explain where he was coming from.

Finally Ryan continued to help William’s old nemesis/partner destroy Ojai. Ryan helped him learn about Holly’s financial troubles. He offered to buy out Holly’s shared of Ojai. but she flat out refused. Clearly though he’s not going to give up. It was bad enough when Holly invaded the company, but now we have the possibility of this jerk? I hope someone catches onto what Ryan is doing before it’s too late. Can we send Ryan to Seattle with Tommy 🙂