Weekend In Reviews

I mostly played catch up over the weekend. There were several things on the TiVo I hadn't watched and really needed to. What I didn't get to over the weekend was the pilot of The Forgotten which I plan to watch tonight before House starts at 7:00, the second episode of The Beautiful Life: TBL which I'm not going to watch because that show was cancelled last week so there is really no point (first cancellation of the new season - a very good decision based on abysmal ratings and a completely uninteresting show), and the third episode of The Vampire Diaries which, to be honest, I haven't decided if I'm going to stick with yet.

And here's what I did watch:

Psych - I was 5 episodes behind on Psych so I got caught up. It's a very cute, funny show the way that Monk used to be. This may not have any longer a shelf life than Monk did but maybe it will, after all, Monk is one joke told over and over in every possible way while Psych is at least three jokes which allows for more combo options. Either way, I love the psych-outs at the end when the cast sings.

Glee - Despite the fact that this show actually premiered last spring, and I'd already decided I wanted to watch it, I hadn't watched a single episode yet. So I hunkered down and watched all 4 yesterday and absolutely fell in love. The show is sweet and funny with just enough acid to make you believe that Ryan Murphy is involved.

I really want Will to divorce his scheming shrew of a wife and marry Emma. I would also really like Finn to realize that Quinn could not have gotten knocked up from him just because he shot his load in a hot tub with her once and that means she isn't the virgin he thinks she is. Also, she and Puck totally deserve each other - they're both very good looking but total ass holes. It's a match made in heaven. The best part is that that would open the door to Finn and Rachel falling in love and nothing on television would make me happier than that!

The bottom line on this show is that it's the funniest of the season and I think it really benefits from it's 1 hour running time rather than the standard 30 minute sitcom format. There is good reason why this this was the first new show to receive a full season order. If you're not watching this, please start, you won't be disappointed!

Modern Family - This comes on right before Cougar Town and let me just say that this show is so incredibly superior to CT that it makes me a little sad they couldn't have found a better place for it. Like, paired with Glee for example! Yeah, I know they're on different networks, but it's too bad because their sensibilities are so similar.

It's a single camera mockumentary sitcom. The premise is one extended family made up of three completely screwy family units - the patriarch (Ed O'Neil) is married to a much younger woman from Brazil (Sofia Vergara) and they're raising her 11-year-old son Manny; his daughter (Julie Bowen) has been married for over a decade to the kind of guy who tries way too hard to be the "hip" dad to their three kids; and his son is gay and just adopted a Vietnamese baby with his partner who is beyond a drama queen.

Everyone is completely nuts but there is nothing but affection between them all and that's fantastic to see.

Numb3rs - Crimes happen in LA and Don and his team use detective skills while Charlie helps them with math. It's the same old thing over and over but it still manages to be enjoyable for a crime-drama junky like myself. And now Charlie and Amita are engaged.

Flash Forward - Well I still say that the premise is a one-season wonder but it should be one VERY good season. Everyone in the world collapsed for two minutes and seventeen seconds at exactly the same time and had a vision of their life on April 29th, 2010 at 10pm (Pacific Time). It wasn't a dream and people who were together in the visions had the same visions.

Joseph Fiennes is a recovering alcoholic FBI agent whose vision shows him drinking again and going a bit mad investigating this very case. His wife's vision is of her shacking up with another man which, we were informed via some exposition that she would leave his ass for good if he started boozing it up again so no big surprise there. Her colleague who was in the middle of a suicide attempt when the flash occurred, had a vision of a great life so he's all better now. His colleague (John Cho) had no vision at all so he comes to the depressing conclusion that his lack of vision means he will be dead before April 29th. Joseph's AA sponsor has a vision that his killed-in-combat daughter is still alive so, you know, weird!

The whole thing is obviously very dun dun dun. But the biggest DUN of all comes when we find out that while every security camera the FBI can get their hands on from everywhere in the world clearly shows all the people falling unconscious at the exact same time, a camera at the baseball stadium in Detroit caught one man still conscious and walking around mysteriously and creepily. Shit is going to start going DOWN here and it'll be very interesting to see how.

On a side note - it was certainly an interesting little wink and nudge to include a billboard for Oceanic Airlines so prominently in the episode given that Oceanic is the airline whose flight crashed onto a bizarre island in ABC's smash hit Lost, the audience for which they are so clearly courting for this show.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - An insufferably stupid take on A Christmas Carol where the "Scrooge" character is a womanizing sleaze-bag, the Cratchit's are his brother and his brother's fiance, and the ghosts are trying to teach him to stop being a dick and settle down.

The movie isn't funny, it isn't romantic, it isn't fun to watch and it feels hours longer than it's 100 minute running time. Skip it and watch Scrooged instead. It's a far superior re-imagining of the old tale.