Dancing and Donnellys 3/26/07

Color me shocked. I've already started voting on Dancing with the Stars. I called in a couple times last night to vote for Laila Ali, because she was just fantastic last night.

In fact, just about everyone danced very well last night, at least according to the judges. There didn't seem to be much differentiation among all the couples, which make me wonder what's going to happen when we get down to the final two couples. Is it going to be a popularity contest again?

The one couple's scores that surprised me was Brian and Shandi. I didn't think they rated a couple of sixes and a seven. (I think that's what they got. I didn't take notes, so I could be wrong.) It makes me curious if the judges judge just the celebs or if they judge the couple themselves. If it's the couple, I can see why they gave Shandi and Brian a higher score, because Brian was doing all the work. Shandi looked really stiff, so if it's just her that they're judging, I would have given her a lower score.

I'll admit that even Billy Ray looked much better this week. I'm still not thrilled with his choice of music for a quickstep, but he looked a bit better this week. I think the slicked-back hair helped, too.

Heather Mills shocked the heck out of me. If I didn't know that she had a prosthetic leg, I wouldn't have been able to tell with her performance last night. The back walk-over was amazing! I may have to start voting for her, provided she doesn't get the boot tonight. I'm also glad they decided to give her a better looking outfit. She looked so much better this week compared to last week, clothes-wise.

Overall, a very entertaining show. I don't know if I'll tune in to the results and recap shows tonight. DWTS is trying to be too much like Idol, in my opinion. Especially with an hour-long results show. They really don't need that entire hour. And they've added an hour-long recap show. Seriously, this is why I have a little anger towards Idol. Having so many hours of programming devoted to one show is never a good thing, in my opinion. Look what happened to Millionaire!

Anyway, on to the second show of the evening, The Black Donnellys.

I actually felt somewhat bored by this week's episode. It really felt like filler to me, for some reason.

The one thing I did like, of course, was Kate Mulgrew. That woman can say more with one facial expression than a lot of people can say with hundreds of words. When she caught Sean calling Kim, the downturn of her face was amazing. Really, they should give her more to do on that show.

The Jenny and her father story seemed a long time in coming. They've been hinting at her father losing his memory for some time now, and we first get to see that happen now? Seems a bit off to me. Plus, unfortunately, I don't really care all that much whether their diner closes or not. I like Jenny, but the diner story seems so far off from the main story in the show that it feels off whenever it's featured.

Poor Tommy. I know what it's like to have to help people out, but I've never been so in over my head as he is. I felt terrible for him, having to beat up someone that he considered a friend for money. I can tell it's tearing him up inside to have to be so involved in cleaning up his brothers', specfically Jimmy's, messes. Although, I did like how he's still trying to help Jenny out even though he rebuffed her attempts to make nice after she slept with Samson.

I wish Kevin would have a bigger role in the story, too. He's seems more like a sidekick than a brother at the moment, which is unfortunate. I think there's a story for him waiting to be told. I just hope we'll get to see it.

The whole Irish vs. Italian thing is going to lead up to a big mob war, isn't it? I'd really prefer not to see that happen, but I'm guessing that's where it's heading.

I guess I'm less in love with this show after this week, only because I didn't find it as riveting as it could have been. I'm hoping that this is just a little slump. Next week looks to be pretty good, so I'll keep tuning in.

What did you all think, or those of you that watch either of these shows? I look forward to hearing comments from anyone, really.

AMC's Babe Carey: Where the Writers Went Wrong

Disclaimer: Those people who absolutely adore Babe Carey on All My Children and defend her every action probably won't want to read this entry. Not that I'll be completely bashing Babe, but I'm certainly not defending her actions either.

I've been thinking a lot about Babe Carey lately. Mainly because on one of the message boards I used to go to, people have started to defend her every move without remorse or thought. However, I don't find her to be all that appealing, and with this blog entry, I hope to detail why exactly I feel this way.

First of all, the first episode she appears in, she sleeps with Jamie Martin. This, in itself, isn't a horrible thing. It's kind of labeling her as the new town tramp, and I could have lived with that. However, the reason she slept with Jamie is that she was scared to meet her new husband's (red flag #1) parents. Even this is not so bad. However, then we find out that her husband is none other than JR Chandler, who happens to be Jamie's stepbrother. There's red flag #2.

OK, so that certainly doesn't make her the town saint, but I still didn't mind her. She did have some redeeming qualities, especially her friendship with Bianca. She didn't judge Binks at all, even after Bianca came out to her. They even ended up being pregnant at about the same time. (Bianca was raped, Babe got pregnant and some SORASing occurred in utero.)

This is when it all started to fall apart. At this point came the baby switch plotline that also involved OLTL. Now, this story idea wasn't all that bad. In fact, I kind of enjoyed the storyline in the beginning. What happened was Babe and Bianca got run off the road during a storm and ended up both giving birth at the same time. Bianca ended up passing out due to blood loss, and Babe called her former husband (who she had been married to when she married JR... I forgot to mention that before), Paul, to help her and Bianca. It turns out that Paul's sister Kelly was desperate for a baby to hang on to Kevin. So, Paul hatches this plan to steal Babe's baby to give it to Kelly. However, things go awry when the Chandlers catch up to the faked helicopter crash. Adam was so adamant about getting Babe's baby that Paul was forced to say that Bianca's baby was Babe's. This led to intensely emotional scenes in which Bianca is told that her baby died. (I cried like a baby during those scenes.)

Anyway, this baby switch things happens and Babe doesn't believe that she'd given birth to a girl. She was certain she had a boy, but everyone convinces her to go with the flow and not worry about it. Eventually a DNA test is done on the baby to determine if it really is Bianca's, and Krystal (Babe's mom) switches the labels to protect Babe. This is nothing new for a soap. DNA switches are about as common as people coming back from the dead. Plus, it's just a plot point to keep the baby switch story going.

Babe eventually figures out that her baby was the one that actually "died" in the helicopter crash. And this is where the writers really took Babe down a path of no redemption. If I were writing the show, I would have had her give Miranda back to Bianca, and tell JR that it was their baby that died. Then they could have bonded more over their grief. Does Babe do this? Of course not. Instead, she keeps Miranda (whom they're calling Bess) because JR has fallen in love with the baby. Never mind that Bianca is supposedly Babe's best friend and is still grieving the loss of her child. Babe even goes as far as to make Bianca godmother to Bess. Like that's going to make up for keeping a baby from her mother.

Then Babe found out that her son was actually alive and living as a Buchanan in Llanview. She proceeds to get Jamie wrapped up in a plan to kidnap Ace and take him on the run. She also writes a letter to JR saying that Bess isn't their child and their son actually died in the crash. It's at this point that Babe finally gives Miranda back to Bianca, who is understandably ticked about this whole turn of events.

Again, if I had written the story, and left everything alone up until this point, I would have had Babe figure out her son was alive, but instead of not telling JR, I would have had her plot out a way to get her son back with JR's help. That way their toxic marriage may have had a chance to become more a marriage of love than what it now is.

Of course, she didn't do that. JR eventually caught up with her, and there was a huge custody battle for Little Adam. From then on, she basically stayed with JR, even though she led Jamie on a bit as well.

Some time after that (I don't remember quite how long, though) Babe did something (probably involving another man) that made JR angry, and he ended up plotting to kill her. Unfortunately, he ended up putting Kendall under a pile of rubble instead. Naturally JR was arrested and ended up going on trial for attempted murder. Now, if I had written the storyline, I would have had Babe not say anything and let JR do his time in prison. However, Babe decided to lie and say that JR wasn't trying to kill her so he could avoid a prison sentence. This is where I started hating Babe. (Yeah, yeah, I know it was Dixie's idea for Babe to lie to get JR off of murder charges, but still. She could have let him rot in prison.)

Babe continues to use the excuse that he almost killed her to win fights about their trust issues. That's valid and all, but she'd done her share of damage to JR's trust when she continued to make googly eyes at other men. At this point, it was specifically Josh (Erica's unabortion--I'd go into detail, but that's another blog entry entirely).

The final straw, for me, was when Babe slept with Josh after JR didn't pay enough attention to her. JR had a good reason for this. His sister was presumed dead in a yacht crash. (She wasn't dead however.) JR was basically torn up by this and couldn't allow himself to feel any emotion. However, Babe doesn't understand this and goes to Josh for comfort. They end up at Fusion having sex on the office floor and the roof of the building in a kiddie pool, forever tainting my view of kiddie pools in general. JR ends up finding her on the roof, naked in a kiddie pool, and she offers a lame excuse that she was hot in the office and decided to go up to the roof to cool down.

If I had been writing the show, this wouldn't have even happened, because one of my changes above would have taken effect and taken this storyline in what I would hope to be a completely different direction.

JR goes on a bender after Babe finally admits that she boinked Josh, and ends up throwing himself out a fourth floor window at the Valley Inn. Babe is distraught that JR was nearly dead, and I figured this might be a turning point for her.

And it is, for a while. They come to a tentative truce, and are happily in love for a bit.

Then along comes the Satin Slayer story, and Dixie ends up eating poisoned pancakes that were meant for Babe. This pushes JR over the edge yet again, especially after finding out during Dixie's dying breath that Krystal is carrying Tad's baby instead of Adam's. JR proceeds to use this to blackmail Babe into giving him custody of Little Adam.

Babe is torn on what to do, but doesn't have much time to contemplate her decision before she's attacked by the serial killer. She's presumed dead, but really she's been spared by Josh and others and is recuperating in the sub-basement of Zach's casino. It is at this point where she seriously considers kidnapping Little Adam and running away with Josh. And it is at this point where I hate Babe yet again, because she's done this before, yet hasn't learned anything from the last time.

All this brings us to the present, where everyone knows that Babe is alive. And we're now at the point where I think the writers really screwed up in their intentions with Babe. I don't think I'd hate her so much if more people in town hated her for the chaos she brought to town with her. We have Tad basically gushing that she's alive. (He also helped her instead of his own stepson when she ran off with Little Adam the first time.) We have Bianca forgiving her for keeping Miranda from Bianca for nearly a year. Bianca also asks her for a chance to be friends again. That's what irritates me most, by the way. It should be Babe begging for forgiveness from Bianca and asking for another chance. We also have Kendall setting aside her hatred of Babe for the time being. There's Josh, who's so over the moon about Babe that she's all he thinks about. JR has turned over a new leaf to keep Babe as his wife. Colby now loves Babe, when before Babe "died" it was Colby's sole purpose to get the Careys out of the Chandler mansion. Basically everyone, except for Erica, is singing Babe's praises, even though she's hurt just about everyone in town in some way or another.

This is the point where the writers really made Babe completely unredeemable in my eyes. If she was the town pariah at this point, I wouldn't have as big an issue with her. But she's become the town saint, even though she hasn't done anything to deserve that reputation.

So, this is why I can't stand the character of Babe. She could have been written so much better, and probably have been less hated by me in the process. But because everyone sings her praises even after all the things she's done to make everyone's life a living hell, I can't stand her.

To close, I just want to reiterate that the writers really screwed up on the character of Babe Carey. The one thing they could have done is show how she's making amends for the things she's done, instead of having every other character tell us what a wonderful, walking miracle she is. It's at this point that I've become completely ambivalent about what happens to Babe, and would rather see her off my screen than have her constant presence in Pine Valley ruin my enjoyment of All My Children.

ABC Thursday (3/22/07) Primetime Lineup: A Night of Montages

Apparently Thursday night was montage night for all the ABC shows. Typically I hate montages, because I feel that add nothing to the episode. But in Thursday's case, they weren't half bad. There is one exception to that statement, but I'll get more into that when I cover that show.

First off, Ugly Betty. What a fantastic episode! I don't think I have one bad thing to say about this episode.

I was really surprised by the outcome of Marc coming out to his mother. I think it was a good twist that his mother wasn't that accepting. So often, on TV, we see the parents being supportive of gay characters, when that isn't what typically happens in real life. It was refreshing to see a non-supportive parent. Granted, it was still heart-breaking to watch, but it seemed much more true to life.

Also, I found it hysterical that Marc's last name is Weiner. Marc didn't have much of a chance of being straight with that last name.

Wilhelmina was in fine form in this episode. She's definitely back to being a manipulative witch. She knows how to play both the Meade siblings quite well, without them even realizing that they are being played. The only one that was on to her was Claire Meade. (As an aside, how fabulous is it that Judith Light was in this episode, too?) Claire clearly doesn't suffer manipulation at all, and I was thrilled that she didn't fall victim to Willie. The end of that scene, with Claire struggling to get a sip of the vodka was hilarious.

I see now that Claire has put the clamp down on Wilhelmina running Mode, Willie's going to try to one-up her by becoming the next Mrs. Meade. Willie is definitely playing with fire here. She would do well to remember what happened to the last person to get in Papa Meade's pants.

I felt really horrible for Daniel. He's worked so hard to find his place in Mode, and Alexis is usurping all of that, just because she can. I'd love to see Mode readership going down from this issue, just to have Daniel be the one to beat Alexis for once. Daniel, though, seemed to slip right back into his old persona after not getting his issue of Mode into the presses. That makes me sadder, because he's worked so hard to throw off that image.

I was really wondering how the Marc/Betty angle was going to work out this week. It was brilliant to have Amanda be the one to throw them together, especially after the lies Marc told his mother about her. That was definitely a good arc, both funny and heartbreaking at the same time. I especially enjoyed the end, when Marc told Betty that he finally came out to his mom, and told her that she would always be his little chimichanga, but that doesn't mean he likes her. No matter how often Marc and Amanda say that, I have to think that they are getting won over by Betty. How can they not like her?

I felt really bad for Henry, too. Yes, he made his bed by sticking with Charlie, but he has major feelings for Betty. The fact that he knows so many teeny details about Betty shows how much he cares for her. Speaking of which, that is one thing I especially like on TV shows. They should show us how the characters are feeling, not tell us. So, kudos to Ugly Betty for that little scene.

The montage at the end was quite nice, too. Betty reading Daniel's letter was a nice touch to seeing all the scenes of the main characters. I especially liked the scenes with the Suarez family playing cards. They look like such a fun, happy family. It makes me wish I were a part of it. Not that I don't have a fun, happy family, but it's not quite the same thing. Also, that particular group of actors seem to really have gelled as a family, and I found it very heart-warming. A nice way to end the episode, for sure.

Next up is Grey's Anatomy. First of all, I have to yell at ABC's promo department. How dare they throw in a shot of McSteamy half-naked and sweaty jumping rope and not even include that in the episode they were promoting?!?!

OK, I'll get out of the shallow end of the pool now.

Mark's use of a "right now" plan for the hospital was a stroke of genius. The only thing that would have made that scene better was Bailey really going off on him. Maybe that will come in later episodes. I don't know. But I think it would be fun to see him verbally smacked around by the Nazi.

I also liked how Mark semi-used Meredith. It probably had a lot to do with winning points from the Chief, but I think it was good for Meredith to actually do something hard to get everyone to stop handling her like a piece of expensive art.

Alex and Jane Doe were so sweet together. They have certainly formed quite the bond. I'm excited to see how that will change and evolve when her face heals. I really liked how Alex helped her choose which face she wanted by giving them each a personality. I just really enjoy the depth they're giving to Alex.

Hector Elizondo was a brilliant casting choice! I can totally see how Callie came from someone like him.

I really like how George stood up to Papa Torres, too. Granted, he stood up to him as he was realizing what happened the night before, which put a damper on his gaining a backbone. Although, I think that's what helped him.

I'm worried about George, though. Everyone knows that secrets can't stay hidden for that long, and it's only a matter of time before Callie finds out George slept with Izzie. (I'm still mortified by that myself.) I don't see it turning out well for George and Callie at all.

I really liked the scene where George confronted Izzie about the night before. Having no dialogue heard made the scene even more powerful than if we would have heard them yelling and screaming. Kudos to the writer of this episode.

I thought this was a really good episode, although I'm frustrated now that we have to wait for a new episode again. I'm very interested in seeing how all the stories play out for the rest of the season. Even Burke/Cristina, because I thought they were cute in this week's show.

Finally, October Road. This is the show where the montages went wrong. The main thing to note is that I used the plural of montage. Having more than one montage in an hour show is just too much. It makes me think that the writers don't really know how to write enough of an episode for an hour-long drama. Plus, I didn't really see the point of either montage. It's hard to care much about the emotions of the characters when we don't really know the characters at all.

Given that I don't really care about many of the characters yet, I can't say I'm really enjoying the show. The good thing is that I really like the main character, Nick.

I'm not sure about him harassing the dean to get a job, though. That seemed a bit like overkill to me. I just can't imagine that would work in any school anywhere. But, I guess I can suspend my disbelief a bit for that.

Eddie (at least I think that's his name), the guy played by Geoff Stults, is still very poorly fleshed out. I can't believe that he really thinks that getting a girl that Nick likes into bed is getting revenge on Nick. Seriously, what is he, in high school? I found that whole arc to be awkward and completely unrealistic. Plus, I want to know what Nick wrote about Eddie that would make Eddie be so angry with Nick. That's a fairly major plot point to leave hanging.

The rest of the show was just kind of boring to me. I'm still going to give it a shot for at least a couple more weeks, though.

And as a final aside, I finally realized where I knew Bryan Greenberg from. I didn't watch whatever WB/CW show he was on before, but in his interview with tvguide.com, it was mentioned that he was in Prime. Then it all clicked. I knew he looked familiar, but it wasn't until I read that that everything came together for me.

Anyway, I wasn't incredibly thrilled with October Road, but it's not horrible either. Like I said, I'll give it a few more episodes to hopefully find it's groove.

What did you all think of Thursday's shows? Did I hit most of the major highlights?

Oh, and I know this is late, but I was busy Thursday night, so I couldn't watch the shows until last night, and today is the first chance I've had to blog about them since. So, sorry for the lateness, but hopefully my blog is still worthwhile to read.

Lights and Lost 3/21/07

I think I'm just about officially on board the Friday Night Lights bandwagon. I really, really enjoyed last night's episode, for the most part. I'll get to that in a bit, though.

First off, and I've probably already said this so bear with the repetition, the dialogue on this show is so real, for lack of a better word. The characters actually stutter and repeat themselves, instead of sounding very polished. It's just a nice little detail to hear on a show. Not that I don't like polished dialogue, but on a show like this, the dialogue they use seems to fit better.

Anyway, I guess I'll my analysis of the show with the things that annoyed me. The one major thing that annoyed me was Lyla, at least through most of the episode. The way she was going on about how she just made "one mistake" when she slept with Riggins. I'm sorry, but sleeping with another guy when you're engaged or married to someone else does not classify as a mistake. It's not like she tripped, her clothes fell off, and she fell on an equally naked Riggins. Of course, maybe I'm just identifying her with AMC's Babe Carey a bit, who did the same type of thing, and also called it a mistake. Characters like that just annoy me.

However, I did like that Mama Garrity filled Lyla in on Buddy's past transgressions. And the only reason I like that is the way she took out her anger on Buddy. Going and destroying the car dealership was a stroke of genius. I love the symbolism of it all.

Buddy himself continues to annoy me. He's just so smarmy, trying to play Lyla against Mrs. Garrity, and trying to weasel his way back into their lives. If he cared so much for his family, he should have thought more about sleeping with other women. I, for one, am thrilled that he's been kicked to the curb.

At first, I was really shocked that Tyra's mom (whose name I haven't gotten down yet) was so against Tyra being anything more than a high-school dropout. It seemed like such a backward way of thinking to me. Parents should support whatever their children want to do, not discourage them from it. I'm glad she changed her tune near the end of the episode, though.

Question for fans of the show. What happened to Tyra's dad? I've been reading recaps, but I don't recall what the deal is there.

I really like Mrs. Taylor, too. (Why can't I remember her name?) I like how she's trying to get Tyra to see potential in herself. I also like how she didn't take any crap from Coach and Julie when they were all huffy about going to the father/daughter dance. She's such a cool mom.

As you all know, I have a thing for Kyle Chandler, and that is still alive and kicking after this week's episode. I've been reading too many recaps on TWOP, I think, but I was especially paying attention to his hair in this episode, specifically when he was making chili. I also really liked his scene with Julie in the car before the dance. It was a really nice father/daughter moment, and I liked how he wanted to hear Julie's opinion on the possible job at TMU. I also liked the close-up of Kyle's eyes. (I like eyes, what more can I say?)

I'm really glad that Jason is having second thoughts about his engagement to Lyla. And I really like his chemistry with the tattoo girl. They have a nice easy rapport going, and I'd love to see them explore that more. I think my favorite Jason scene, though, was when he was coaching Matt. That was just touching, and I could tell that it made him feel good after not making the team that was going to Beijing.

I also really fell in love with Little Bo. He's such a cute kid. I loved how he was all excited when Riggins was going to stay to watch Back to the Future. I couldn't help but giggle a little at that. I wasn't surprised when Tim tried to kiss Bo's mom, though. I misread that moment, too. I'm curious as to how their little fling is going to play out in the future.

The Smash/Waverly story was kind of boring to me. It just seemed very anti-climactic to end it like that.

Overall, a great episode, and the previews for next week look like another good episode is in store for us.

On to Lost. This was a terrific episode. I have to start out with Michael Emerson. He plays creepy so well. The thing that creeps me out most about him, though, is how he can seem so honest, but yet is always calculating. His putting John against Jack was rather brilliant on his part.

This is most likely needless to say, but I was shocked about how Locke became paralyzed. I knew his father was a creep, but I had no idea he'd ever go that far to get his way. I can't imagine the twisted mind that would do that.

I also have to say that I loved the directing when John was first being put in a wheelchair. I thought that was some brilliant camera work, and seeing John's frightened expression was pitch perfect.

I have to toot my own horn a bit to say that I figured out that we'd be seeing John's father again at the end of the episode. I knew for sure when Ben was leading John to the room where he was holding what came out of the box. But even before that, I had an inkling. I'm not entirely sure what made me think that, but I just had some sort of hunch that we'd be seeing him again.

My favorite non-Locke related scene was the brief moment when Danielle sees Alex. It was touching and heartbreaking at the same time seeing Danielle's look of longing when she finally saw her daughter after 16 years.

The other non-Locke scenes were simply okay in my opinion. I didn't really find anything terribly compelling in those scenes, except for the fact that Kate still has obvious feelings for Jack. But that wasn't exactly anything new.

Next week looks to be very good, too. Apparently another castaway is going to die. I have no idea who it's going to be, but I hope it's more shocking than the last major death we saw.

Now, as usual, here's a list of questions that I'm thinking about after watching this week's episode.

- What is the fallout going to be between John and his father?
- Now that we know that Ben was born on the island, is it safe to assume that he's not healing as quickly because he's become immune to the island's healing properties?
- Who else was born on the island? Ben made it very clear that he wasn't the only one.
- How are Jack and Juliet going to feel that their escape was sabotaged due to Ben's manipulation?
- Is Ben going to remain in power with the submarine gone and with him being in a weakened state? I could definitely see a coup-like attempt happening.
- Where is this magical box that Ben was talking about, and where can I get one?

I guess that's about all from me. As always, I look forward to hearing some of your comments about both of these shows.

Dancing and Donnellys 3/19/07

I'm really digging the alliteration in the title of my post.

Anyway, let's talk about Dancing with the Stars, first. This is the only reality show I watch, because I'm fascinated by dancing.

I think this may be the first season that any of the celebrities may be able to go all the way to the finals. Most of them looked good on the dance floor, even with shorter time to train than in previous seasons.

I was especially impressed by John Ratzenberger. He did very well for having only half the time to train as all the other competitors.

The only celeb that I wasn't entirely impressed with was Billy Ray Cyrus. I think he just didn't pick the right music to dance to. Plus, he didn't seem to have rhythm while he was dancing. Although, I do have to give him some props for the shameless self-promotion by using a song of his.

I thought Heather Mills did a fabulous job, especially with her disability. It didn't look like she had a fake leg at all. I'm just hoping that one of her legs doesn't fly off when she dancing a different dance. (Was that too off-color? I'm not sure if I crossed the line there or not.)

I also have to say that Apolo Anton Ohno's hip action made my heart flutter a little bit. (Yeah, I'm shallow. Shut up.)

On the professional dancers side, I was really happy to see Jonathan Roberts back. I was always impressed by his dancing, and it's kind of sucked lately that he hasn't been able to move forward in the competition farther.

Cheryl Burke is the luckiest dancer of all of them. She always gets lucky with the partner they give to her. Drew Lachey, Emmitt Smith, and now Ian Ziering. I hope if she returns next season, they give her more of a challenge.

Brian Fortuna seems like a cocky little guy, but he is a good dancer, so I won't berate him too much. He also got pretty lucky with his assigned partner.

Overall, I think this will be a very entertaining season. I'm looking forward to next week to see what the celebs will bring.

Next up is The Black Donnellys. First, let me say that I was especially happy to see Kate Mulgrew have more of a role in this episode. I like how she's a no-holds-barred kind of mother. She's really good at playing that type of character.

I was also happy to see Sean as an actual character instead of just a prop lying in a bed. That's essentially what's he's been through the run of the series so far, so it's nice to see him fleshed out a bit.

Tommy just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper into the mob scene. I still find myself amazed that how seamlessly he's entered the whole scene. Yet, I can tell that he doesn't exactly like what he's doing. He's a very interesting character, and I've been enjoying his interactions with everyone.

I loved the scene with Jenny and the priest in the church. "I know a sin when I see won," is such a classic line. I like that she feels guilty for what she's done, not only to her husband, but also to Tommy. That didn't come out right. It is totally in character for her to feel the way she does.

I also liked the scene between Tommy and Jenny at the end. He was right to brush her off like that after she basically treated him the same way in the last episode. I definitely see potential for them to get together by the end of the series, whenever that may be.

Kevin had a lot of nice sarcastic remarks during the episode. I enjoy a dry humor, because that's what I tend to use as well.

The scene at the very end, with Kate's son telling Tommy that he knows what Tommy did, was a really good way to end the episode. I didn't see that twist coming, and if this show can keep surprising me like that, it'll keep me tuning in.

I'm kind of thinking that Kate may not be as oblivious to what Tommy is doing as she seems. I could be wrong, but I'd like to think she's got a keen eye. The only reason I think this is the phone call she made to Tommy. It sounded slightly more accusatory than frightened. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

This episode was pretty good. I thought it lacked a bit of action, but the plot moved forward, and it was pretty character-driven, which is what I really look for in a drama. With the twist at the end, it's got me as a viewer for at least another week.

Ugly, Grey's, October 3/15/07

This is the first time I've had to post about three shows that aired on the same night. I have a feeling this is going to be an extra-long entry. Of course, that should really surprise none of you.

Starting off with Ugly Betty, (bolding to make each section easier to see), I really liked last night's episode. There were so many classic lines flying all over the place. I think my favorite part of the episode was Amanda. She looked absolutely ridiculous wearing that beyond skin-tight silver dress. And the hat was just priceless. I was enjoying myself so much that I had no idea it would be the woman she shoved out of the way at the party that was setting her up to look so ridiculous.

I also loved how Amanda always makes herself out to look like the good person when she tells stories about her. Seeing the flashbacks was too funny! I think my favorite line came from Marc, when he said he was a little jealous that Amanda's dress didn't come in his size.

I always like the Christina/Betty scenes. She's definitely what Betty needs. Someone to tell her that she's needs to look out for herself, instead of getting trampled on by other people. I could use a Christina in my life, too.

I knew from the beginning that the whole orthodontist thing wasn't going to work out for Betty. She so clearly still had feelings for Henry. I think even Charlie could sense it, even though she's acting completely oblivious. I'm really glad Betty took Claire's advice to stop hanging out with Henry and Charlie. It was doing nothing but hurting her.

Speaking of Claire, how fabulous is Judith Light? I'm really hoping that she isn't going to disappear from our screens. I love her as Claire, especially her dry, snarky comments. I love me some snark! She even has her human moments, like when she told Betty not to do what she did. It's hard to believe that she hasn't been on the show for the entire run. She's definitely left an indelible impression on the show.

Lucy Liu was magnificent as always. I'm hoping that we see more of her, too.

Ignacio's immigration officer (whose name is not coming to me at the moment) is hilariously crazy. The actress that plays her is amazing. She just goes all out to make this lady obsessed. Hilda doing her hair was hilarious, too. I hate to say this, but I don't think Hilda's going to make it as a hairstylist. Also funny, immigrations officer's impersonation of Mariah Carey. I think I about rolled off my couch after seeing that.

Alexis and Daniel's fight about The Chin was well done. I figured Alexis would get all turned around by Willie (look what happened to Christina), but I'm glad Daniel was finally able to tell her the truth.

It was just an overall great episode of Ugly Betty, and the previews for next week, with Marc using Betty as a beard, look hilarious!

On to Grey's Anatomy. I can't believe that George slept with Izzie!!!! I really hope this doesn't mean the end of George and Callie. I like them together, and want to see them make their marriage work. They both need to work on their communication skills, though.

In a related note, was I the only one that found Callie being an heiress to come out of left field? I'm having a hard time reconciling that with her living in the basement of the hospital.

I'm glad that Meredith had dinner with her family. It was nice to see her bond with the new Mrs. Grey, and to even see her father in a newer light. I hope she continues to try to make that work.

Alex living in Meredith's house will bring an interesting new dynamic to the relationships in the house. That's part of the reason I'm hoping George doesn't break up with Callie. I'd love to see how Alex, Meredith, and Izzie living together works out. I am curious, though, where he lived before this. Clearly he lived somewhere, but we've never seen him outside the hospital or Joe's. I'd actually like to see his character fleshed out even more, and him living in the Grey house will help in that regard.

Speaking of Alex, I continue to be amazed by his soft side when it comes to Jane Doe. I like how he apologized to her for putting her baby in harm's way by encouraging her to go through with that surgery. It's really nice to see him have more human moments, instead of having the doctor demeanor on all the time.

I was surprised to see that Cristina had a long-term relationship before Burke. And I can't belive it was with the Sheriff of Nottingham, um, I mean a teacher at Stanford. (Sorry, whenever I see that actor, I think of Robin Hood: Men in Tights.) Cristina's whole blase attitude about marriage is why I've never really bought her sudden willlingness to be Burke's wife. She really doesn't seem like the marrying type to me. And for as much as Burke says he loves Cristina, he certainly made huge assumptions about her. Maybe he was blinded by love, I don't know. All I know is that that is one relationship I don't see lasting.

The attendings are all acting very childish lately. Even the interns seem more mature than the attendings, which isn't something I would have thought would happen. I'm almost getting the feeling that Richard is going to reverse his decision to retire, based on the antics of the attendings. I mean, the only reason he decided to retire was to get Adele back, but that's clearly not happening, so I could totally see him changing his mind.

Speaking of the attendings, there was this one reaction shot where we saw Mark's very pretty blue eyes that I just loved. Yes, we've all established that I'm shallow, so I had to mention that. Mark has a hot body, but eyes tend to really get to me, and the lighting was just perfect so we could see how blue they were.

My favorite line from the show is from Meredith. "Yeah, I had a near death whatever." That's so Meredith.

I liked this episode in general. I don't think it was as thrilling as the ferry crash arc, but it was still good, and it moved story in new directions, which is always a good thing in my book.

Finally, October Road. I gave this a shot because it looked pretty interesting to me. Plus, I don't watch anything at 10 pm on Thursdays anyway, and it's on after Grey's. So, I figured, what the heck?

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this show. I think there are elements that are quite compelling. I'm kind of a sucker for the returning to your roots story, like on Providence and other shows.

I also find the main character quite compelling. I definitely knew what he was feeling when he was up on stage and had tremendous stage fright. I've been there when I've taught a class, but I've never run off like that. But, I know the anxiety that can come with standing up in front of a large crowd.

The secondary characters, though, all seemed a bit like cliches to me. I'm not really enamored with any of them yet. I just don't find any of them to be all that compelling, or interesting. Maybe in a few episodes, I'll grow to like them, but right now, I don't really care all that much.

I'd really like to find out more of what Nick did while he was away for 10 years. I have the basic jist, but more details would be nice. I'd also like to know more about what he wrote in the book that ticked everyone in town off so much. There are a lot of things I'd like to know about him, and I'm hoping we get a chance to see that.

One question to soaps fans out there. Was Nick's editor played by Nicholas Pryor from Port Charles? I didn't catch all the credits, so I didn't notice his name. It looked and sounded like him, but I'd like some confirmation on that, if anyone can provide it.

So, I guess I'll give October Road a couple more episodes to really determine if I like it or not. The one thing going for it is a great main character. That's always a good start. I'll reserve further judgment until I see a couple more episodes.

What did you all think? Are you going to give October Road another chance? Did you like Grey's Anatomy this week? Did you find Ugly Betty as hilarious as I did? I'm looking forward to hearing from fans of all these shows.

Lost 3/14/07

Who knew that Claire was a goth chick back in the day? That was one of many interesting bits of information that was revealed on Lost this week.

I should probably start with what should have been the most shocking. That is, Claire and Jack are step-siblings. That reveal landed with a thud, mainly because I pretty much knew it was coming from reading random speculation and spoilers. I know, this should tell me not to be such a spoiler junkie, but I can't help it. This site, in particular, makes it way too easy to find info about certain shows.

I really enjoyed the subplot with Claire realizing that those were migratory birds (even though they just looked like plain old seagulls to me). It tied in nicely with her backstory, and showed that she still wants to get off the island. Also, I liked how it tied Desmond into today's episode and got one more person in on the secret that he's psychic, at least when it comes to Charlie.

As an aside, the rock where Desmond found the bird looked very much like a beach I went to when I went to Oahu just over a year ago. I couldn't tell for sure if it was the same one, but it did look very familiar. That's one of the bad parts of this show. It makes me miss Hawaii, or beaches in general. Seeing all the big waves crashing onto shore last night made me very nostalgic for both Hawaii, and home. (I used to live near Lake Michigan.) Although, it is kind of fun to really watch the show closely to see if I've been anywhere else that they feature. One place I know for sure is when they filmed Locke's sweat lodge daydream, the airport was actually the convention center in Honolulu, which is where I had a conference.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the show.

Was it just me, or did anyone else think that as the birds flew over the Others/Hostiles compound the one carrying the note was going to get shot? It just seemed like something that would happen, since the Island itself seems to foil every escape attempt they try. I was very happy that my fear didn't come true.

I thought the note that Claire wrote and attached to the bird was very well-written. It was a nice summary of what's gone on with the Losties. It also feels like a major plot point. I'm not sure where it will come back, but I feel like it's going to be brought up again either later on this season or in the coming seasons. Perhaps Penny is the one studying the birds? Or am I just grasping at straws?

I'm not sure what Claire's backstory was telling us, besides that she's related to Jack. Sure, she cares about her mother, but beyond that, I don't really feel like we learned much about Claire. I will say that the last scene of Claire's flashback with her apologizing to her mother was very touching, and well-acted.

I also feel bad for Desmond. It's gotta be hard for a guy to see the various ways that Charlie is going to die, and to know that Charlie's going to look at him in a somewhat nauseous manner whenever he's in the vicinity.

Oh, and before I delve into the other part of the episode, I'm curious if I was the only one that thought Charlie telling Claire that she's the one he wants to do some day-seizing with was dirty. I'm guessing probably I am. I really need to get my mind out of the gutter.

The other part of the episode with Kate, John, Sayid, and Rousseau definitely made up for the lack of action in Claire's story. I think my favorite part of that story was the scene when Kate asked Rousseau why she hasn't asked any questions about Danielle. I've never really given all that much credit to the actress that plays Rousseau, but she did a phenomenal job with that scene. I really felt bad for her, and completely understood her position.

I'm really starting to think that John is trying to sabotage any effort to get off the island, especially given the events of the last two episodes. He blew up the communication station, he clearly knew that the house was lined with explosives, and he killed Mikhail. Granted, he said he didn't know that was going to happen, but I'm beginning to wonder about him. How he's been acting lately is very curious.

The last shot with Kate seeing Jack and wanting to run to him, and then noticing that he seems to have become an Other was very interesting. It'll lead very nicely into next week's episode, I think. This is actually the first episode in a long time where I'm really anticipating the show next week, not so much for Locke's backstory, but for what's going to happen between the Losties and the Others.

Speaking of Locke's backstory, I'm a bit leery about the preview stating that it'll be shocking. I'm going to try to keep my expectations low, so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised next week.

As typical with my Lost entries, I have a list of questions I'm thinking about after watching this week's episode.

- Has Jack really been converted to an Other? If he has, was it by brainwashing via the Clockwork Orange type rooom? Or has he just accepted the fact that he'll probably never see his Losties again?
- The fact that Mikhail and the other Others know so much about the Losties brings up the fate issue again. Were the passengers that survived Oceanic Flight 815 preordained to arrive on the island? And is that why all the attempts to get off the island, except for when Michael and Walt left, always lead back to the island?
- How can the Others possibly know all this information about the Losties? Given the first episode of the season, all the Others seemed pretty surprised that a plane exploded right above them. Do they have some way to communicate with the outside world to get this information? Or are they all psychic? Or is the island a metaphor for purgatory, and all the cast is reliving their past in order to make amends? I know the writers have specifically stated that that's not the case, but evidence keeps trying to lead me, anyway, to that conclusion.
- What will Claire do with the information that Desmond is psychic? Will she help him try to prevent Charlie's death? Will she be able to prevent Charlie's death? It all comes down to the fate issue again.
- Is Claire's mother still alive?
- Is there any significance to Sawyer reading an Ayn Rand book?
- What did Mikhail mean that Kate and others were "flawed"? Is it that they have done some terrible things in the past? Or is it something more fundamental?

Wow. I didn't expect to think up so many questions just from this episode. It's definitely one that made me think. I'm looking forward to hearing other people's thoughts on the episode, and if everyone else is as excited as I am for next week.

Shamelessly Asking for Comments

OK, so I'm considering deleting this blog, only because I publish basically the same stuff on TVGuide.com, and I don't get any comments here. So, I'm asking those of you that might read this to at least comment and tell me that I should keep this blog up if you like it. Or comment and tell me you hate this blog. In any case, give me some comments! If no one is reading this, I'll most likely stop publishing here and just concentrate on my TVGuide.com blog.

So, I'll keep checking this blog to see if I get any comments for the next week or so. If I don't receive any, I'll probably delete this blog next week, since it seems pointless for me to continue to write things that aren't getting read.

To close, leave some comments for me!!!

The Black Donnellys 3/12/07

Well, I can't say that I'm hooked on this show yet, but I'm getting closer. I thought last night's episode was quite well-done.

First of all, I was thrilled to see Ilene Kristen (Roxy, OLTL) in the beginning of the episode. At least I'm fairly certain it was her. The lighting wasn't great, but the hair was right, and the voice sounded familiar. I just looked it up on imdb, and it's not listed. I also looked in the credits at the beginning and didn't see it or got distracted by the action on screen and missed it. In any case, I'm nearly positive it was her, and it was a nice little cameo, I must say.

I also thought Kate Mulgrew was fantastic again, although I wish she'd have a bigger role in the show. Next week looks like I might get my wish.

The person getting hit by a bus plot point is getting a little tiresome to me. Sure, I've only seen it on one other show this season, but still. At least in this case it wasn't telegraphed, like it was on Lost. And we did get a nice reaction shot of Kevin when that happened, so it wasn't entirely bad.

I think what I really liked about this episode was that it centered on how easily that Tommy is adapting to this new life of his. It's kind of scary, and very compelling. I am glad, though, that the show is still showing that he has a heart, especially in his scenes with Huey's widow and her son. I'm also glad he was conflicted about holding Huey's wake, and that Jenny called him on it.

I couldn't help but feel bad for Tommy when he saw Jenny leave with Samson. You could just see his heart breaking when she left.

How incredibly lucky for Tommy and Jimmy that Jenny didn't clean up well enough, so that there was still blood in the drain in the basement. I know for the good of the story that something like that had to happen, but that felt really contrived to me. (And trust me, I know how contrived writing can get. I watch soaps, after all.)

As much as I wanted to slap Jimmy silly throughout most of the episode, I was really quite thrilled to see a new side to him show up when Dokey threatened Jenny. It was a nice touch, and I'm hoping we see more of that in coming episodes.

If there's one thing that I don't like about this show, it's that I have a hard time hearing a lot of the dialogue. It seems like people mumble more often than not. I realize that that's what people normally talk like, but it's hard on me to strain to hear a good chunk of the dialogue. I know I could turn up the volume on my TV, so I really don't have much of an excuse, but I just had to complain a little bit.

Overall, a good episode, and it'll keep me tuning in. I also have to say one more thing. Does it make me shallow that I wanted to see another glimpse of Tommy without a shirt? It does? Yeah, I thought so...

General Hospital February Sweeps

This is the third and final blog entry on my take of February sweeps. I saved General Hospital for last because of two things. The first is that I think it was the most spectacular sweeps of all the ABC soaps. The second is that this one will probably get me the most comments, since GH seems to be the most popular ABC soap.

General Hospital decided to do a different kind of storytelling for February, in that it was 24-style story. Each episode reflected an hour in real time (or at least as real as you can get with commercial breaks and such). As different as this was, it still felt like a soap opera, instead of a primetime show.

The main story going on was the hostage crisis at Metro Court. This is also the same site that held the Port Charles Hotel before it burned up. So, clearly, this site has some bad karma attached to it.

The whole reason for the hostage crisis was that Alcazar had put some delicate shipment in the extremely secure vault that Jax had installed in Metro Court. The person that was supposed to receive the shipment, the now-infamous Mr. Craig, became impatient and stormed the lobby during a fundraiser (because this is a soap and you have to have a lot of people someplace when something big happens) to get the briefcase. Naturally, things went wrong. Sam pushed the silent alarm which trapped Maxie and one of Craig's team in the vault for 12 hours.

During that 12 hours, Mr. Craig was very sadistic to the hostages in the lobby, which including Lulu, Alan, Liz, Sam, Emily, Nikolas, Sonny, Carly, Mateo, Max, Robin, and others. (I may be missing some, but I got the main players.) Craig ended up shooting Robin, which led Patrick to lead Emily and Carly through surgery over the phone. This led to one of the best one-liners from Carly. She told Robin, "Wake up you sanctimonious little twit. You aren't going to die on me and let it be my fault."

Of course, because just having hostages isn't enough, Mr. Craig wired the entire lobby with explosives, and rotated the device that set the explosives off among all his crew, so no one would know who had the device.

In the midst of all of this, Alan had a heart attack, which eventually led to his death. He did get to escape the hostage situation, though, and made it through emergency surgery.

Meanwhile, outside of the hotel, everyone in town was worried, because everyone had at least one family member in the lobby being held hostage.

It was all very dramatic, and one of the best stories I've seen on soaps in a long time.

The thing I loved most about this sweeps period is that just about every cast member was used to some extent at some point during the month. Sure, there were some cast members that could have been used more, Bobbie for example. And Jax was off saving his brother from the Russian mob, so he wasn't in town either.

Of course, the thing I hated most was that Alan was killed off. I absolutely hate the way ABC, in general, treats the characters that have been on the show for decades. While there is really no reason for them to kill Alan off, at least it propelled story a bit (unlike AMC's Dixie, but I've written about that already). Especially moving was the fact that Jason didn't have a chance to say goodbye to Alan before Alan died. This is going to cause Jason some turmoil for years to come, especially now that he knows that he is the father of Liz's baby.

Speaking of which, as in Amber's blog, I was thrilled that that secret finally came out. It was a long time coming, and it makes sense that it would come out when they're trapped in an elevator thinking that they might die. People say and do things differently in the face of death, or so I've heard. I don't have personal experience on that myself.

Less thrilling is the fact that only Liz and Jason know right now. That's supposed to be changing in the coming weeks, but it can't happen soon enough. We all know, though, that Lucky will be the last to find out.

The explosion of the Metro Court lobby is one of the most incredible things I've seen. There were some really great effects going on there. And the aftermath was amazing. It was just some incredible stuff.

Overall, this was a very thrilling sweeps, and the fallout for this story will propel other story for months to come. And that is how it should be.

What do you all think? What were your favorite parts? What didn't you like? Would you have changed anything about the story? I look forward to comments about this. Again, I love talking about my soaps, so feel free to chat away!

One Life to Live February Sweeps

Today's blog entry is going to be on sweeps month for One Life to Live. This is the second part, because it's sort of halfway between All My Children and General Hospital in terms of quality. At least it is in my opinion.

One Life to Live is kind of unique compared to the other ABC soaps in that it didn't have a major event or a climax to a story during sweeps. Sure, Spencer was killed in February, but that was kind of a launching point to the rest of that story. I like this approach to sweeps, because if a show can only get big ratings with events or stunts, it's not that great a show.

There were two major stories that were really going strong during sweeps. Spencer's murder and its aftermath, and the arson story.

I'll start with Spencer's murder. First of all, count me among the many that are thrilled that Spencer is finally off the canvas. Paul Satterfield was great in the role, but Spencer was way overexposed since his debut last summer. (I think it was only last summer when he first showed up.) Actually, surprisingly enough, I was starting to really enjoy Spencer when he was going completely insane. Although, when he went to Blair's room to "marry" her, he got too creepy, and clearly, someone else on the canvas thought so, too, because that was the point where he was stabbed nine times. Talk about a crime of passion!

Of course, the person found with the murder weapon was Rex, and while he was a minor suspect, there is no way that anyone could have convinced me that he was the one the killed Spencer. The thing that made this a good murder mystery was that at least half the cast would have had a motive for killing Spencer. We still don't know for sure who killed Spencer (well, I think I might from reading some spoilers, but I won't spoil it for those of you that might be spoiler-free).

As usual, at least on OLTL, Spencer had a will-reading from beyond the grave, and that introduced the new character of Miles. Miles is a man who was hospitalized for his entire life due to a massive tumor on his face, and Spencer, of course, helped him become normal looking again. Also, Miles inherited most of Spencer's vast fortune, which makes him a major player in town. What's more is that Miles's brother is Mitch Laurence, so that makes him affiliated with two of the most hated men in Llanview, which will make it interesting to see how he fits in everywhere.

The other big story that is starting to really move itself along is the arson story. During sweeps, the arsonist targeted Nora and Antonio.

Nora's house was burned to the ground, but luckily she and Matthew made it out safely and are now living at Asa's. There were some really nice scenes after Nora's house was destroyed between Nora and Matthew and Bo and Matthew, where they were talking about what it's like to lose something so important. It was very heartwarming in the midst of such drama.

Antonio had already lost at least one building to a fire, but during sweeps, his club, Capricorn, was targeted. While this moved the arson story along, it also propelled the Nash/Jessica/Antonio triangle. Nash and Jessica ended up trapped in the storage room of Capricorn when it was on fire, and they each declared their feelings toward each other. Of course, Antonio rescued them, and was the one that was most injured in the fire. Now that Jessica has admitted her feelings about Nash, what's going to happen? As of now, she's sticking with Antonio, but I'm not certain that will remain the case in the coming months.

Again, I'm going to protect the spoiler-free with regards to who the arsonist is. I don't know for sure, but there is a common thread among all of those that have been targeted (Vincent, Antonio, Nora). It may not be completely obvious, but if you think about it, you'll get what the connection is.

So, those were the two major stories starting to heat up (excuse the pun with regard to the arson story) during sweeps. There were other stories that pretty much held steady, including the Viki/Clint/Dorian triangle and the Cristian/Evangeline/Todd triangle. The latter of those was starting to gain momentum toward the end of sweeps when Todd received "proof" from Rex that his baby with Margaret is "dead." Really, it's Tommy, Marcie and Michael's adopted son. When Todd found this out, he had a mini-meltdown, and Evangeline ended up comforting him with a kiss. Cristian, being the jealous man he is, didn't like this very much, and now he and Evangeline are on the rocks. How will this play out? I'm not sure. Personally, I like Todd and Evangeline, but I am interested to see where it goes.

The other things I want to talk about with regard to sweeps is the outstanding Valentine's Day episode. This was a quasi-stand-alone episode that focused on three key stories.

The first part was a medieval fantasy with Todd, Blair, Evangeline, Cristian, Starr and Cole. Todd and Blair were king and queen; Starr was their daughter, a princess; Cole was a knight; Evangeline was a princess from a neighboring kingdom; Cristian was her bodyguard; and Dorian showed up as the king's servant. The basic jist of the story is that Blair betrayed Todd and was thrown in the dungeon, and Todd was going to marry Evangeline. Evangeline was in love with Cris, and Starr was in love with Cole, but those couples couldn't be together because princesses couldn't touch lower-class people. I'm totally taking all the humor out of this part of the episode, but it was hilarious. It was nice to see all the actors really have fun with the material they were acting out.

The second part of the episode focused on Natalie and John. This part took place as an archaeological mystery, where Natalie was an archaeologist (with Rex and Roxy as her team) and John was a pharoah that was brought back to life after being given his heart back (by Natalie, coincidentally). The story ended with the idea that John and Natalie's relationship might be doomed to failure, which is very much in line with how their story outside the fantasy was going.

The third part of the episode dealt with the Nash/Jessica/Antonio triangle, and was a variation on Wuthering Heights. This was the most dramatic of the three stories, yet it was still very closely related to their story outside the fantasy.

Seeing all the period costumes was great fun, and the actors all looked like they were having a trip playing out the stories, so it was a fun episode all around. For those of you that didn't get to see it, I hope you do at some point, either on Soapnet or perhaps clips of it are floating around the internet somewhere.

Overall, sweeps was a pretty good month for OLTL. Even without a major event or a major story coming to a conclusion, it was very enjoyable, and will keep me tuning in to see how the stories play out. Anyone that watches OLTL and would like to comment on things I've missed or just to talk about the show, feel free. Like I said in my last post, I love chatting about my soaps!

All My Children February Sweeps

I realize it's kind of late to do an analysis of sweeps month on the ABC soaps, since we're already a full week into March, but I needed some time for it all to sink in to make some sense out of it.

I'm doing this blog in three parts, because otherwise it would just get too long.

I'm starting with All My Children for a couple different reasons. First, it was, by far, the worst of the three ABC soaps. Second, All My Children has always been "my soap" so I feel especially compelled to analyze it first.

First of all, I can't help but start with the sweeps before the sweeps, as a certain exec at AMC called it. That is, Dixie's accidental death at the hands of the Satin Slayer. You all have no idea how upsetting that was for me and basically all the fans of All My Children. We've endured a rather hellish year of Dixie being a lurker and being written completely out of character. And just as she was starting to be Dixie again, she gets killed off, for what seems like some really poor decision behind the scenes. We were promised a reunion with Tad and both of them finding their daughter Kate in the near future. The reunion with Tad took the form of him asking her out on a date the morning she died. She found out about Kate after she died. She saw Kate and Tad in the park (as a ghost, no less) and realized who Kate was. Talk about disappointing!

The majority of sweeps month, though, focused on the climax of the Satin Slayer storyline. For those that may only tune in occasionally, AMC decided to do a serial killer story to pare down the cast a bit (which was getting rather large, in my opinion). It was discovered that Zach's father, the presumed-dead Alexander Cambius, Sr., was killing off the women of Fusion to teach Zach a lesson in obedience. This is all because Zach, ne Alex, Jr., faked his own death to get out from under his father's thumb. Senior had also laid the blame of Zach's mother, Amelia's, death on Zach, even though Senior was the one that pushed her off a balcony.

While parts of this story made sense, namely the killer being related to Zach because he was going after women important to Zach's wife Kendall, most of the story seemed to be pulled out of thin air. This is not surprising, since the soon-to-be-former-head-writer admitted to launching the Madden in a box torture story without knowing who buried Madden beforehand. The fact that the killer went after women that are only connected to Zach by the thinnest of threads made absolutely no sense at all. It would have made more sense if the killer would have went after Kendall or Spike (Kendall's baby with Ryan) at first to torture Zach. All in all, it was a very ill-conceived plot device.

Then, of course, we had the faux-death of Babe. Babe was saved from the grave by her sometimes-lover Josh, because he's hopelessly devoted to Babe. (Now I have the Olivia Newton-John song stuck in my head...) So, Josh kept Babe alive, but let her family, including husband JR and pregnant mother Krystal, grieve for Babe. Josh said it was to protect her from the serial killer, but we all know that it's to keep her away from JR. This whole plot stunk to high heaven, too. Especially for those of us who aren't Babe-lovers.

Beyond those three main stories, nothing else happened during sweeps month. To say it was a lackluster sweeps month is an understatement. The only thing that redeemed some of the stories was the acting, specifically by Thorsten Kaye, Alicia Minshew, and Ronald Guttman in the climax of the Satin Slayer story.

The one good thing that happened in sweeps month is that head writer Megan McTavish was fired. Don't get me wrong, I don't like when anyone is fired, but soaps are a business, and if you're putting out a lousy product, you don't deserve to be in charge anymore.

So, that's my analysis of All My Children. The other two soaps will be covered in the following days. Please comment if you feel I've missed something or agree with me or even disagree with me. I love discussions on my soaps.

Lost 3/7/07

I thought this week had a pretty good episode of Lost. I love it when the backstories delve into the character's psyche and explain their motivations to us.

First off, the fun stuff. I thought it was quite interesting that Sawyer didn't recognize a con when he saw one. And I love that Hurley is the one that pulled it off. That was so cute. I knew immediately that Hurley was going to totally beat him at ping pong.

Also, who didn't laugh when Sawyer asked Nikki who the hell she is? I certainly did. That seemed like a nice little shout-out to the viewers.

On to the more serious part of the story. I was very intrigued by Sayid's backstory. It definitely gave us some clue as to who he is, and why he let Mikhail live, and even back to when he let Benry live.

I'm also very glad that Sayid insisted on following Kate to wherever she was going. He has a finely honed lie detector in him, which always seems to come in handy.

I am curious as to why Mikhail made up such an elaborate backstory regarding the "hostiles." I guess Mikhail was just trying to gain the Losties' trust, but still. I could think of better ways to do that.

Poor Mrs. Klugh! After so much time wondering what became of her, she ends up dying in last night's episode. I actually would have liked to learn more about her and what her position is with the Others.

As soon as I saw Locke looking at the computer with what looked like awe, I knew that it was going to end badly. Apparently he hasn't learned anything from the last time he was alone with a computer. And, of course, once I saw that the basement was lined with explosives, I knew that Locke playing with the computer would result in an explosion.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see the very end of Lost. Nature was screaming at me, so I turned up the volume to listen to the dialogue of the show, but I missed the very last scene, and I'm hoping one of my blog buddies can fill me in on what happened. I heard the explosion, and Sayid said they should leave after it happened. Then I heard the music swell, and assumed something important was being shown in the final frames, but I don't know what that was. So, if anyone can tell me about it, I'd be very grateful!

To end this entry, some questions I'm pondering after seeing this episode.

- Will we see the person that Sayid tortured again?
- How is it that people are first finding a whole bunch of stuff in the jungle now? Is this the first time they've really explored the island?
- Was Mikhail really part of Dharma?
- Did Dharma really exist, or was it just some covert government operation? Or was it something completely different?
- Most importantly, if John ever discovers a computer again, will he remember what happened the last two times he played with a computer and not even touch it?

Again, any info on what happened in the very last scene of Lost will be enormously appreciated! And if anyone already has answers to the above questions, feel free to comment away!

Gilmore Girls and House 3/6/07

OK, this week's Gilmore Girls took a slight downturn. It was still a very good show, but it lacked the punch of the previous couple episodes, in my opinion.

I did find it rather funny how Emily kind of invited herself on Lorelai and Rory's trip to North Carolina. I was wondering why on earth they'd all go on a road trip together, but it completely makes sense the way they wrote it.

It was a little bit jarring for me to see a new Mia, though. That's only because I coincidentally watched the episode Mia was in in season 2 just a couple day ago. Kathy Baker did capture Mia pretty well, though. It still was kind of a shock, in my opinion.

I thought the whole wedding thing was nice, and a bit uncomfortable, which is how it should have been with Emily there. We all know how Emily feels about Lorelai's relationship with Mia, and I felt really bad for her.

I wasn't all that impressed with Logan in this week's episode. At least not until the end when he quit working for his father. That was nice to see, in my opinion. I'm glad he realized that the maturity he gained didn't just disappear because he made a mistake.

I really liked the very end when all the Gilmore girls were bonding over a Will Smith movie. That was just sweet. It felt like a turning point in all of their relationships.

I also thought it was sweet that Lane and Zack asked Luke to be godfather to their twins. It does seem like the perfect choice. He's the only man in town that I'd pick to be godfather to my children. I also liked how he was giving advice to Zach. He needs a parental role model, and I think Luke may be perfect.

I'm hoping that the next new episode (whenever that may be) actually shows us Lane with the babies. The end with Rory showing the pictures to Lorelai and Emily aren't going to be enough for me. Just seeing Zack and Lane with their kids could provide plenty of humor and drama. Heck, I could see a potential spin-off happening there, if the writers chose to do so.

Next up is House. First of all, who decides when new shows are going to be scheduled? Seriously, they give us one new episode, and now we have to wait another couple weeks for another new episode?! What's the point? I know it's probably just for Idol, which irks me to no end. I know I'm probably in the minority when it comes to Idol, but I couldn't care less about who wins, or the show in general. It eats up too much airtime the way it is. (I realize that this paragraph is going to get me flamed, but I don't care. I want to express my displeasure at a show eating up airtime from quality shows that should be showcased.)

Anyway, I had an inkling from the very beginning that House was only pretending to have brain cancer. I didn't think it would be just so he could get high, but it makes sense for him.

I did, however, love his code name as a patient. Luke N. Laura. How great is that?! I giggled about that for some time.

The thing I found most bizarre, though, is that Cameron, Chase, and Foreman basically neglected the patient they already had to check up on House. Now, I'm no medical professional, but that seemed to be a bit unethical to me. Yeah, I know they care about House, but he's not the patient. It's just hard for me to suspend my disbelief for that one.

I do think that this was a nice turning point episode for House, though. He may be starting to grow and want to connect more closely to people. That will probably change in the near future, though, knowing House.

I don't really have much else to say about this episode. It was good, not great, but I didn't mind watching it either. I'm still a little ticked that it's being pre-empted yet again, but there's nothing I can do about that.

Anyway, let me know what you all think. Do you think House is growing? Are you surprised that House was faking having cancer? What do you think in general? And let me know your opinions on Gilmore Girls, too. I like getting comments!

Heroes and The Black Donnellys 3/5/07

Yes, I've added two more shows to my roster of primetime TV. Don't ask me why. I guess I like to pretend I have a whole lot of time on my hands, when really I don't.

So, I'll start off with Heroes. I've just started watching this show about three weeks ago, so I'm still learning who the characters are and what's going on with them. But, using the wonderful recaps on TWoP, I've pretty much caught up.

Compared to lsat week's episode that focused only on a few characters, this week's seemed packed to the brim with action and characters, and yet more new characters for people to get to know. It almost seems like they tried to show every character on the show to remind people of everyone before they go on hiatus for six weeks or so.

I wasn't as thrilled by this episode as I was by some of the others, because there was just too much going on.

I did like the twist at the end where the Petrelli's mother knew all about Claire and was trying to protect her. From what I've read in recaps, I didn't think that their mother knew about their powers, so that was interesting to see.

As an aside, I've seen the woman that play Mama Petrelli in so many different things, most notably in season 1 of Gilmore Girls as Christopher's mother.

Claire is quite resourceful when she wants to get something done. Who knew she was a little pickpocket in disguise.

I'm fascinated by Sylar. He's so deliciously evil that it makes it fun to watch him. I knew Mohinder wasn't going to be able to keep him subdued. That would have been too easy. I also like the way they're explaining getting rid of Milo's bangs. It was cool that the camera panned down and we saw a clump of hair fall down.

I wasn't at all surprised by the new girl morphing into Mrs. Bennet. They kind of telegraphed that plot point when she commented on Mrs. Bennet's hair. It was especially obvious when her cell rang and it wasn't that annoying doggy ringtone. It seemed a bit contrived to me.

I'm still confused as to what is up with the company that HRG works for. Why do they want to catch all the mutants, for lack of a better, non-made-up word? I'm just curious if that's been answered and I missed it in the recaps.

Also, I know a lot of people love Hiro, but his cutesy shtick is getting a little annoying to me. Maybe that's just me, though.

Overall, a decent episode, but still too jam-packed with characters to really have a clue what's going on.

Now, The Black Donnellys is a show that I wasn't sure I'd get into. I'm typically not a fan of the mob shows, but I kept tuning in per the suggestions of Rod and others. I wasn't thrilled by the first episode, but it was interesting enough for me to tape it on Monday.

I must say, though, that I didn't expect to be as invested in this show as I am. The stories are great, and it's not as mob-involved as it is Tommy protecting his family. I think it's a show that I'll keep watching.

Of course, I have to give major props to anyone that's going to cast Kate Mulgrew in their show. She's a great actress, and it's nice to see a bigger name on the show. She really sold Mama Donnelly to me.

And can I just say how shocked I was to see how ripped that the guy that plays Tommy is? Seriously, I don't think he had an ounce of body fat on him. He, as eye candy, is enough for me to keep tuning in. (Yes, I know. I'm a shallow, shallow man.)

I also loved the use of humor in the show. Everyone being sarcastic was great, because I'm a big fan of sarcasm. It's my main source of humor.

It was kind of cute how "Ice Cream" (whose name is not coming to me at the moment) kept inserting himself into his stories, and the Donnellys were all confused as to how he showed up. That was just hilarious.

I'm really amazed at how far Tommy's willing to go to keep his family safe. I didn't think he had it in him to be cold enough to start breaking a guy's bones with a sledge hammer just to get rid of evidence. I guess it's true. It's always the nice ones you have to watch out for.

Surprisingly, I think I'm getting hooked on this show after only two episodes. If it can keep up this pace, I'll probably continue to tune in.

Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters 3/4/07

Just so you all don't get confused, I've shortened Brothers & Sisters to Siblings in my title. I'm sure most of you would have gotten that, but I want to be very clear. :)

I wasn't all that enthralled by Desperate Housewives this week. Parts of it were pretty good, but most of it just ranked a blah on my scale. (I know, it's an odd scale, but just go with it.)

I did enjoy that they gave Rex a voiceover this time. It's a nice switch-up for a change. However, I don't really watch the show for the men, so I didn't really care about what was going on with them.

I loved meeting Edie's son. For those that may have recognized him, he played Ben Stiller's son in Night at the Museum. That kid is such a cutie, and he's a pretty good actor, too. I really liked how Carlos went off on Edie for not being a great mother, too. He was completely right in that regard. That short arc also gave a new dimension to Edie, which I rather enjoyed. It's nice to see her being fleshed out a bit instead of showing lots of flesh. ;)

Kathryn Joosten as Mrs. McClusky totally stole the scene she was in. I cracked up when she was talking about her husband's lackluster anniversary gifts. Her last line, "My last gift was a vacuum cleaner. He died two weeks later. I wasn't sad," was hilarious! Seriously, she should be used more often on this show.

Is anyone as curious as I am what cards Ian was holding during their showdown at Tom's pizza place? The only thing he could have had that would have beaten Mike is aces full of something, or four of a kind, or potentially a straight or royal flush. I just want to know how he won, darn it!

In any case, I don't think Mike is going to give up that easily. Considering how much he's gone through in the past year, giving up probably isn't going to happen.

I also liked Andrew calling Austin on being a dog. I enjoyed his little line about liking dogs, too. I could sense some innuendo in that line.

They did a great job finding a stand in for Marcia Cross, too. Although, it was very clear that it was a stand in since they carefully didn't show her face.

Overall, though, it wasn't the best episode I've seen. Especially compared to the last new one.

Brothers and Sisters on the other hand, was fantastic! I like when one little (or not so little as the case may be) thing drives the story for an entire episode. The reveal of Rebecca being a step-sister to the Walker clan was amazingly done.

I love how the whole thing just snowballed, hitting every cast member in a different way.

I'm actually really happy Saul had the courage to go against the rest of the family to tell Nora about Rebecca. I think he had the right idea, since the last secret he kept from her was incredibly devastating. I don't think his choice of venues was the greatest spot for the reveal, but I'm glad he spit it out.

I thought Kevin confronting Saul was great. I really like Kevin, not only because he's gay, but because he seems to be the most sensible one in the family. It felt very in character for both of them to feel the way they felt.

As a side note, could this week's episode mark the beginning of the end for Kevin and Chad? I really hope so, because I don't really like their pairing. Not to bash Jason Lewis, but I don't feel like he's as committed to the part as he should be. Perhaps it's because he's just supposed to be a short term character, but still.

Anyway, back to the main plot. Kitty and Justin's reactions were spot on. I love how Kitty just wanted to sit still because every time she moves something seems to blow up in the family. It's very true, unfortunately. I'm really glad that she has someone to lean on now, though.

I was a little worried for Justin, though. At first I thought he was buying some drugs. You wouldn't believe how happy I was that he just called his sponsor. He's really taking the sobriety seriously, which is great.

As another side note, I've always identified most with Justin, and I've finally nailed down why in this episode. It was when his sponsor was telling him that he doesn't like to see people hurt and that's why he became a medic in the army (or whichever branch he was in). I'm the same way, except for being a medic. I hate the sight of blood, so being a medical professional of any sort isn't my cup of tea. Anyway, bringing myself off the tangent I inadvertantly got myself on, I'm a lot like Justin. I hate to see other people hurting, and I tend to want to help them out, or take on their pain in some way. And if I'm in pain, I typically just want to escape. I don't use drugs as the route of escape; I'm more of a brooder. But, still. I try to escape in whatever way I can. So, I really understand Justin and his mindset with the whole thing.

Back to the main story (again!), I also liked how worried Tyler was for Justin. I'm quite sad that their relationship isn't working out at the moment, but that doesn't mean that they'll never get back together. I think it's good that Tyler walked away gracefully and only wanted to see Justin well. That gives me hope for the future of that couple. They're a great pairing, and I really would love to see more of them in the future.

I LOVED how Sarah told Rebecca the truth. I like how that whole scene played out. First how Sarah thought she'd met Rebecca before, to her inviting her into her office to tell her. I got a lot of delight from that moment.

I'm glad Rebecca went and confronted Holly about it right away, too. That was great. And I'm a big fan of bringing in backstories, so hearing about how William brought Rebecca a doll when she was in the hospital was perfect for me.

I was not thrilled by how Holly acted so hurt that Sarah told Rebecca the truth. Holly's done nothing but tear that family apart since her arrival on the scene, so for her to act so self-righteous about what Sarah did really ticked me off. Although, it's totally in character for Holly to do that, so it wasn't all that surprising. I, personally, just get really annoyed with people/characters who act all entitled when they really aren't. (AMC's Babe, I'm looking at you!)

I think my favorite moment of the episode, though, was the end where Justin and Rebecca were bonding. It was just a nice, touching moment. Small moments like that are what really make a story resonate with me. Plus, I really enjoyed how Justin and Rebecca were practically connected before this by having a friend in common.

Overall, a great episode of Brothers and Sisters, and I'm really looking forward to new episodes, whenever they may air.

Friday Night Lights and Lost 2/28/07

Some of my fellow bloggers will be happy to note that I'm writing about Friday Night Lights this week as well as Lost.

I'll start with Friday Night Lights because I have less to say on that show. I'm beginning to see why so many people recommended it to me. It is a very well-written, well-acted show.

I actually feel like I'm catching up on who all these characters are and what the main storylines are, which is pretty impressive for only watching two episodes of a show with a rather large cast. I'm still confused by some things, though, but that will take time, and the watching of some repeats to get a handle on.

Of course, I can just ask my fellow bloggers for help, too, so that's what I'll do.

First, why is Buddy so upset that Coach might leave Dillon? I understand that people in a small town tend to get invested in their local sports, but he seems to be way too invested in Coach's life, especially considering how his life is in a shambles as Coach rightfully pointed out. Plus, I found it to be very disturbing that he was snooping about why Coach went out to dinner.

What is up with Lyla? I get that she'd be a little threatened by a girl cozying up to Street, since they are engaged, but this tattoo parlor girl didn't seem all that threatening to me. I can understand Lyla's emotions being a little bit heightened after what happened to with her parents, but still, it seems a bit odd for her to go off on Street.

I'm also confused by Waverly. Has she been on for the run of the series so far? If she has, did we know she was on mood altering drugs? Even not knowing the show all that well, I could tell that something was off with her right from the beginning when she snuck into Smash's room. (That was Smash, right? I'm still working on associated characters with names.)

I think that's all I'm confused about. I must say that I really like the whole Taylor family relationship. I especially enjoyed the scene where Coach and his wife (sorry, blanking on names again) were driving to the house and saw Buddy on the porch. The dialogue seemed so real, not like typical TV dialogue. Plus, I can totally understand the wife's reaction. I've had the reaction myself many a time.

Overall, a very good episode, and I'm tempted to keep tuning in.

Now, on to Lost. I have to say that I absolutely loved this episode. True, I'm slightly biased because Hurley is my favorite character, but still this episode was very good.

There was one thing I didn't like about it, though. It seemed a bit disjointed to me, which is unusual for Lost. The whole subplot with Kate going to see Rousseau just didn't seem to belong with the rest of the episode. It's almost like whoever wrote the show found it to be a little short and had to fill in the episode with something.

Don't get me wrong, I completely see where that arc is going. I knew right away that Kate was going to see Rousseau because of Alex. And I think it's a brilliant move on her part. However, it just didn't fit with the rest of the episode.

Besides that, I loved the rest of the episode. Hurley's flashback explained a lot about him. I can understand why he's so desperate to do something productive.

Sawyer was incredibly funny in this episode, too. "Hey, you found yourselves a hippie car!" I laughed out loud with that one. I also giggled when he called Hurley Snuffy. I don't know why I giggled, but I did. Plus, I've said this before, but I love a good pop culture reference.

Speaking of the hippie car, when I saw it, I was still reminded of the bright yellow VW bus in Little Miss Sunshine, even down to how the car didn't work right away. I was half expecting the horn to go a little haywire.

I also thought it was a great touch to open the episode with Hurley talking to Libby. I'm glad that someone on the writing staff is remembering the dead. I'm just hoping that the mention of her name will lead to seeing her in a flashback of someone's. I'm still miffed that they killed her off. She's another character I wanted to learn more about.

I was slightly apprehensive towards the end of the episode. I actually had a slight inkling that they were going to kill Hurley off. It sort of felt like Hurley had worked out all his issues, and we know that that typically means that the character who has the flashback is going to die. I, for one, would have completely tuned out of Lost if they had killed Hurley off. I wouldn't be able to forgive them for that, so I was pretty happy that he made it through the episode relatively unscathed.

Speaking of killing people off, I think my jaw dropped to the floor when the meteor crashed into the Chicken Shack, killing Tricia Tanaka. I knew Hurley had bad luck, but I totally wasn't expecting that. Good job, writers, at keeping me o my toes!

Of course, to conclude, I'll list some questions I'm thinking about after watching this episode.

- Why was there a hippie car in the jungle? How did it get on the island? And why would the Dharma people use it if there are no roads on the island?
- Will Charlie stop moping now that he's cheated death again? Has he really cheated death?
- Will Rousseau help Kate, Locke, and Sayid? What will she do if/when she finds her daughter?
- Is Hurley's curse broken because he found hope?
- Will we ever hear about the numbers again, and will we learn their significance?

It was definitely a great episode of Lost, and it made up for the somewhat disappointing episode last week. I'm very interested to see what will happen next week. I'll be tuning in, that's for sure!

Gilmore Girls 2/27/07

With the exception of a few tiny little things, I think this episode was the best Gilmore Girls of the season.

I guess I'll start with the bad stuff. First of all, while I totally understand that Logan is in a bad place because he made a colossal mistake regarding the company he bought, the fact that he's drowning his sorrows by going off with Colin and Finn takes away a lot of the maturity he'd been showing in recent episodes. I just have a bad feeling about the whole thing. I always thought Logan was the ringleader of that little group and the worst influence, but now I'm thinking that Colin and Finn are the worse influences. I guess I can reserve judgement for a little while, but I don't like where this is going.

The only other thing that disappointed me was the Rory interview thing. I actually wanted to see the interview. I know, it's not really part of the whole theme of the episode, but it still felt like it should be important enough for us to at least see her meet the right bald guy.

Beyond those couple things, this week's episode as excellent! I love that Stars Hollow was very involved in this episode. Seeing Lulu, Gypsy, Babette, Miss Patty, Kirk, Lane, Mrs. Kim, Zach, Brian, Gil, Sookie and Jackson was just great, and gave me warm fuzzies.

I loved how Lorelai was playing mediator between Lane and Mrs. Kim. It makes total sense that they would have a fight about how Lane was going to raise her children. Mrs. Kim is a take-charge type of woman (as evidenced by her selling techniques), so of course she's going to tell Lane what she thinks is best. I'm glad they made up, though.

I thought it was so sweet when Mrs. Kim got tears in her eyes when Lorelai told Mrs. Kim that she didn't want to see Mrs. Kim have the same fate as Emily. That was very heartwarming.

Of course, I loved how Mrs. Kim berated that one driver as they were rolling Lane to the baby shower. "You did not come to a complete stop! And use your blinkers!" That's just classic.

I thought that Liz and TJ were again shown for just the right amount of time this week. Actually, I wouldn't have minded a bit more Liz. I can handle her pretty well, but TJ gets on my nerves more quickly. Although I did chuckle a bit as he was talking about how all Liz's beads and stuff were a choking hazard for Doula (poor kid getting stuck with that name). All I could think as he said that was that he probably still tries to eat beads. Seriously, I can't be the only one that thought that, can I? He hasn't exactly been the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.

While I was watching today's show, I went back to a discussion in the comments of the last blog I wrote about Gilmore Girls. Someone (I believe it was Amber or Fi, but I could be wrong and am too lazy to go look it up) was talking about how much stock Luke puts in Liz's opinions. That was shown very clearly today when he sold his boat to Kirk, bought a new boat, and talked to April about doing something different when she comes to Stars Hollow for summer vacation. I think he may have been a little too rash in doing all these things, but I really see how much value he puts in his sister's opinion.

Sort of a tangent, but Kirk with a boat! That just seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Look what happened when Kirk tried to drive a car. Granted he got blinded by the camera Taylor so proudly installed on the only traffic light in Stars Hollow, but still. I wouldn't trust Kirk to drive anything with a motor, not even a moped.

Today was just a great episode all around. This show is just proving that they needed a little time to work the show out of the hole that was dug for it last season. Don't get me wrong, I think the Palladinos are great, but I think the show jumped the shark last season, and the fact that it's been pulled back to being good is a testament to the current regime.

Next week's episode looks great, too. The Gilmore girls on a road trip. Sure, it seems a bit far-fetched since Lorelai and Emily can't make it through dinner without picking a fight, but still, it should be hilarious to watch. If nothing else, it'll be trippy. (Yeah, I know, that's a horrible pun, but I couldn't help myself.)

Oscars 2007

Yes, I know, most people are probably sick to death of Oscar talk, but I want to put my opinions out there, because, well, why not? I don't need a good reason to make my opinions known, do I?

First of all, I nominate Ellen to host the Oscars every year. I thought she was fantastic. I don't think I've laughed that hard during the opening monologue for the Oscars in quite some time.

I don't have a whole lot to say about the major awards. Not many surprises, there, except for Alan Arkin winning supporting actor. I guess Maitland McDonagh was right on the podcasts. All the trailers for Eddie Murphy's Norbit may have lost him the Oscar. I was really happy Alan Arkin won, though. I loved Little Miss Sunshine, and he was terrific in it.

I was kind of hoping for a Little Miss Sunshine upset for best picture, even though I was pretty certain that that wouldn't happen. I, personally, was shocked that it got nominated at all, because it's not a typical Academy Award nominated movie. Plus, it was actually a movie I'd seen before the nominations were even announced, which was even more shocking. That doesn't happen very often.

Also shocking was that Happy Feet won best animated feature. I thought Cars would be a shoo-in. But, hey, what do I know?

I was kind of hoping No Time for Nuts would win best animated short, just because Scrat gives me warm fuzzies. He's so cute, in that so ugly he's cute kind of way. Plus, he was the best character in the Ice Age movies, in my opinion.

I was happy that Melissa Etheridge won for her song. She and Tammy Lynn Michaels make a very nice looking couple, I must say.

The winner of best live action short, West Bank Story, looks really funny. I wonder if I'll ever be able to see that.

Speaking of the shorts, how cute were Abigail Breslen and Jaden Smith? They were just so adorable!

Did anyone else want to throw a tomato at Jerry Seinfeld when he was doing his little schtick about movie theaters before presenting best documentary feature? He acted like he was hosting the gig or something. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the award he was presenting. I was just yelling at him to shut the %&$*@ up. Oh, and plus, I didn't get the announcement about those of us wondering where he's been. I, for one, wasn't really all that curious. But that's just me.

Seeing the clip for documentary short subject, I think Rehearsing a Dream looked very interesting. Although, I do have a thing for dance programs, so that may be why I was intrigued.

Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell were hilarious introducing the sound editing award.

Was anyone surprised that Pirates 2 won the visual effects award? Seriously, that movie was rocking the visual effects!

I loved the little sketch that Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway were doing before introducing the costume design award. I especially liked how the camera went to Meryl Streep and she was in Miranda Priestly mode. I just cracked up during that whole thing.

Also, I think Emily Blunt looked absolutely gorgeous last night.

Speaking of gorgeous, Forest Whitaker's wife is beautiful! I like how she was so proud of him for winning, too. I also like that he actually made notes this time, so he'd sound coherent when he won. But that's just a minor quibble.

And lastly, I loved all the performances of the original songs, but I was a little worried that there was going to be a wardrobe malfunction while Jennifer Hudson was singing. I'm just saying...

Anyway, that's it from me. Since I don't see many movies, I don't have a lot of commentary about the awards themselves. Given that, though, I think this was one of the most entertaining Oscars I've seen recently. And that's all due to Ellen, and the rest of the presenters actually throwing in some humor here and there. The only thing that would have made this show better is if it didn't end so late. I know they're doing this on the West Coast, but for those of us on the East Coast, it's a pain to stay up past midnight if we have to work the next day.

OK, I swear I'm done now. Anyway, feel free to send any comments regarding this my way, unless, of course, you're sick of Oscar talk (which I wouldn't blame you in the slightest for). More on new TV shows in the coming days.