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.

Grey's 2/22/07 and Psych 2/23/07

The first thing I have to get off my chest is that I hate how the networks tend to blow previews of upcoming shows completely out of proportion. They kept saying that there was going to be this devastating ending to Grey's this week, and yes, parts of it were sad, but I didn't think anything was devastating. I mean, I get that networks have to promote their shows, but there is such a thing as overhyping a show. And this week's episode was a perfect case in point.

Granted, I still thought Grey's was fabulous this week, as it always is. I just felt a little bit cheated after all the hype I've heard about it. (And unfortunately, most of the shows I watch are on ABC, so avoiding the commercials for Grey's is practically an Olympic event.)

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, on with a review of the show.

First of all, I'm not sure about anyone else, but I definitely noticed Marti Noxon's influence on the show. For those that may not know, she was a big part of Buffy, so seeing her involvement on a show that's leaning towards the spiritual and supernatural makes complete sense.

I loved how Cristina handled her grieving. I never would have expected her to go shopping, because she seems like the type to not want to deal with people in general, and going to a store means dealing with people. Though, she did seem a bit lucky because the store looked almost completely empty. Still, it was definitely interesting, and I loved how she was showing Joe all her "finds."

I also felt strangely satisfied that George is not forgiving Izzie right away. What she said in last week's show was totally out of line, especially considering that Meredith was near death. It would have made more sense for Izzie to break out into inappropriate laughter than to tell George that he made a mistake marrying Callie. Granted, as much as I like George and Callie together, I'm not entirely convinced that it wasn't a mistake for them to go to Vegas to elope. George was a big gaping wound grieving for his dad that hadn't had a chance to heal at all before he got married. I don't think that George and Callie can't work through it, though. So, I'm glad that George is not letting Izzie off the hook for making an incredibly rude comment.

I also liked that while dealing with such a weighty drama concerning Meredith that there was still some humor thrown about. I giggled when Alex told the pregnant Jane Doe that he knew more about her than some of his closest friends, and she told him that was just pathetic. I also enjoyed Mark's reaction to Addison challenging him to not have sex for 60 days. The numb shock and long wipe of his face were priceless. (As a side note, I liked how after Mark told Addison that she couldn't sleep with anyone either and she asked who she would possibly sleep with, the scene cut directly to Alex. Nice touch.)

I thought it was really touching how the Chief was talking to Ellis after she died. It was just so sweet that he'd go see her. I also thought his little comment about dying his hair for the ladies was cute.

On to the meat of the episode, which is the time spent in Afterlife Seattle Grace. I thought it was brilliant that they brought in all these characters that were part of major stories in the past. The most surprising to me was Doc. It made perfect sense that Meredith would want to see him first. Of course, this led to another funny moment, when Denny and Dylan were telling her that she drowned, and she says, "Yeah, that sucked."

And of course, I loved the banter between Denny and Dylan. "Great. Now you show up and be a smartass." Classic. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Jeffrey Dean Morgan show up for a short stint on FNL, as Amber mentioned in her blog (Through Amber-Colored Glasses).

I thought it was very humorous, in a dark way (which is how I like my humor a lot of the time), that Bonnie kept bleeding out when she was trying to get Meredith to realize that she shouldn't be dead. Especially the second time, where Bonnie's like, "Oh, come on!" I don't know why, but I giggled at that a little.

I also identified a bit with Meredith with how she thought, for just a minute, that there was no point in fighting and swimming anymore. I haven't exactly been in that position, but I've had my moments where I wonder what the meaning of life and my role in the world is. Plus, she has issues with one parent, like I have issues with one of my parents, and not being able to work out those issues can lead to what happened with Meredith. So, I completely understood her when she was explaining to Denny why she gave up.

Another funny came a bit later when she was yelling at the group assembled about how she has intimacy issues and she realized how stupid that sounded now that she was dead.

I knew, though, that it would take her mother dying and telling Meredith that she wasn't just ordinary to get Meredith to want to go back and live her life again. So, I wasn't completely shocked when Ellis died. It was the only logical thing that could have happened.

Of course, I knew that they weren't actually going to kill off Meredith. OK, maybe I wasn't entirely sure, but I just didn't want to wrap my head around that possibility. Luckily, I didn't have to.

The end of the show was really nice, too. I liked how Cristina was in such a hurry to tell Meredith about her and Burke getting engaged that she just spilled, while at first prefacing that that wasn't even a thought that Meredith should really be thinking about. It was cute. Also cute was Meredith's first word being ouch.

I also liked the little moment between Denny and Izzie. It was just nice.

So, all in all, while the overhyped previews made this episode somewhat disappointing, I still think it was a good episode. It didn't feel out of place at all in the grand scheme of the show, and it progressed story along, while telling a short-range story. Definitely a good ending to this arc.

And now, as promised by my title, I have a short little something to say about Psych, which is my favorite cable show right now. (OK, so it's the only cable show I watch. That doesn't diminish it being my favorite.) The only thing I have to say is that I loved the "227" reference. I'm a sucker for pop-culture references, but that one really tickled me, just because I loved 227 when it was on back in the 80s. That's all I have to say about Psych, besides that it was a very well-written episode. I just love that show.

And now, I'm going to stop writing, because I feel I've gotten to wordy with this blog already. So, feel free to comment, those of you that made it all the way through this large entry. :)

Lost and a little Friday Night Lights 2/21/07

OK, color me confused. Last night's episode was even more trippy than the one the week before with Desmond going back in time.

I feel like I learned more about Jack in the main story than in his flashbacks last night. I guess I'm just not entirely sure where in the timeline that Jack's flashback took place. (Yes, I know from a prior episode that only fools are bound by time and space, so I guess this makes me a fool. ;)) Clearly, it had to have been after Jack went to the medical board about his father, but it must also have been before he went to get his father in Australia. Am I correct, or just losing my mind?

I also don't understand the purpose of learning about his tattoos. I know that it's probably important to the overall mythology, so it will probably make sense in later episodes. But, still, it didn't feel like all that much happened in the flashbacks. Jack was in Thailand for several months, got some tattoos from the lady he was sleeping with, and then got beat up because he got these said tattoos. Maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention to the details, but I was more confused in this episode than I have been recently.

I did like the main story, though. I like that Jack is loyal to Juliet after she told him more about herself. I really enjoy their chemistry together, too. I think they'll make good allies, although I'm still not entirely sure if Juliet is all that she's appearing to be.

Did anyone else want someone to just push Ben off the canoe that was taking them to the main boat? Just me? OK...

I'm also finding it quite intriguing how the Others' society works. It felt like a very early-America fictional society, sort of like in The Scarlet Letter (especially with the branding) or in the short story The Lottery. Am I the only one that felt that way?

The sheriff really creeped me out, though. She sort of reminded me of the jewelry store lady in Desmond's flashback. It was the same kind of creep factor. Interesting character, though, so I'd like to see more of her.

I liked Kate and Sawyer's conversations, too. I think a lot was said in very few words between them. I also like that when Sawyer shows his softer side, like he did with Carl. I could tell that Sawyer was still hung up on Kate and thinks she's worth the trouble that she's caused him.

How cute were the scenes with both Carl and Alex looking at the stars from where they were? I was totally reminded of the cartoon An American Tail, specifically of the song "Somewhere, Out There."

Next week's episode looks hilarious. I love Hurley. And the vehicle they found reminds me a lot of a light blue Little Miss Sunshine VW van.

Things I'm pondering after watching this episode:

- What did the mark on Juliet mean? Is there any significance?
- Is Juliet what she appears to be?
- Will Ben really be able to stay in power now that he's pretty much helpless?
- Does Jack's other tattoo have any significance to the overarching mythology?
- What will happen when Kate and Sawyer return to the camp? How will the other Losties react? Will Kate and Sawyer know who Nikki and Paulo are?

And now for a little on Friday Night Lights. I sampled this show on the recommendation of other various posters. I will say that I'm interested enough to give another episode some viewing. I'm not going to write much about it, because I'm still slightly confused by who all these people are and the history of the show. I don't like to comment on things I don't know much about, so I'm going to hold off.

All I will say is that I like the Coach and his wife. They have one of the most real relationships I've ever seen on TV. (Of course, I still have my thing for Kyle Chandler, too. :)) Next week's episode looks pretty good, too, so I'll keep watching and try to catch up on what's happened so far so I'm not as confused next week.

I guess that's it for now. Next Wednesday looks like a great night of TV for both shows, so I'm looking forward to that. And I'm especially looking forward to tonight's Grey's Anatomy, but that's a discussion for a future blog.

Gilmore Girls 2/20/07

I actually get to post about a show the same night it airs! That's only because House isn't on tonight, and I have no life. :)

Anyway, I keep saying this week after week, but I totally think Gilmore Girls is getting better and better. In fact, I'd go so far to say that it's risen above the downturn it took last season.

First off, I loved Miss Patty and Babette talking in code about how Christopher left. I was cracking up during that whole thing. It was so like them to be gossiping, but trying to keep Luke out of it. I also loved how Kirk was taking their conversation so literally. When he started talking about an ostrich mating with a hen, I just about fell off the couch. I also loved the mention of East Side Tilly, whom we've never met, but scooped Babette about Luke and Lorelai's breakup and the rift between Lorelai and Rory.

It was great seeing all the Gilmores having so much screentime this week. It makes complete sense to me that Richard would be acting differently after having a heart attack. And Emily is crazier than normal, which seems about right. I also like that the current writing staff is keeping the Gilmore's rotation of maids flowing. I felt bad for Aurora. She kind of reminded me of a little chihuahua, shaking like a leaf just working for them. I loved Francette (I think that was her name). It's about time someone was that Emily hired was able to go toe to toe with her.

Paris and Doyle doing yoga was priceless.

The opening seemed to have a significant time jump from Lorelai and Rory being stranded to them suddenly being back to wherever they needed to be. It's not a bad thing, but it did leave me with a sort of whiplash-type feeling.

The Rory/Papa Huntzburger exchange was very odd to me. I know Mr. Huntzburger (whose first name is escaping me at the moment) doesn't think Logan can do anything by himself, but it still seemed odd that he thought Rory was the cause of Logan's success, especially considering that he and the rest of the H. family (I'm tired of typing out their whole last name) didn't think she'd fit in. I am glad that Mr. H's comment to Rory not having "it" was addressed.

Of course, the whole Daddy being happy with Logan's success was just a foreshadowing to Logan getting crushed in his business deal. I should have seen that one coming, though. I was shocked when Logan got that phone call. I could feel his spirit sinking, too.

I felt really happy for Lorelai being able to help Emily with the tax stuff, getting her up to speed on how to find the things she needs from the computer. I was surprised, however, that Emily was hiding liquor (in Richard's study, even!) and offered it to Lorelai. It was a nice plot device for Lorelai to finally be able to tell Emily about her marriage to Chris disintegrating. I'm glad that Emily couldn't say anything at first. It was a nice little breather.

I must say, though, that the scene where Emily was praising Lorelai seemed very weird. Yes, I know Emily was drunk, but even with that fact, it didn't seem very Emily-like to be so comforting to Lorelai. It was still nice to see.

That praise also made the next morning even tougher to watch. I knew Emily was going to make some comment about having to cancel that party, and I could feel Lorelai's mini-high crashing as they spoke. I just felt bad for Lorelai, especially since she wanted to make the marriage work, no matter how doomed it was.

As an aside, Emily must have a fantastic liver. She was the most well-put-together person I've ever seen after a night of drinking. I wish I would wake up without a hangover after drinking quite a bit. ;)

All in all, it was a very good episode. I'm looking forward to next week's even more. Lane's having her baby shower! It looks to be a fun-filled event, and I can't wait to see it!

Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters 2/18/07

Desperate Housewives really had me hooked this week. There were so many answers given to the mysteries this week that if someone missed it, they missed a whole lot.

I got a little joy in seeing that I was right about Gloria Hodge killing Monique, only because I called it beforehand. Let me tell you, I now understand why Orson put Gloria in a home. She is one twisted mother. I mean, she even made it look like her husband committed suicide (although I don't think I quite caught why she did that). I couldn't believe how evil she actually was. She reminds me a lot of Vanessa on All My Children. She was the same type of mother.

I hate to say this, but I'm kind of happy that Alma is dead. Although, if she did become pregnant, that would be sad. But, really, she was dead weight on the show anyway. (She was more interesting than Nora, though.)

Zach is still too creepy. I could feel Gabby's mortification when he stood up to propose to her. I like that she told him off, though. I actually wouldn't be terribly upset if we never saw him again. Or if we do, have him get a haircut.

I love how protective Andrew is of Bree. I like him much better now that he's not a psycho, unlike his sister.

I have this feeling that Mike is going to be fighting for Susan now that Ian has proposed. Just the look on his face gave me the idea that he wants her back, now that he remembers his past.

I'm also feeling like Gabby and Carlos make reconcile. I would rather see them remain friends, though. They seemed to be a bit toxic as a couple. I like their chemistry as friends much more. I also think that Gabby should be alone for a while to find out who she is as a woman. She definitely shouldn't be so dependent on a man to give her company.

I'm glad that Tom and Lynette worked out the problem with the chairs and they've completely made up. They make a great couple.

I'm very curious as to what the rest of the season is going to bring. Now that the main mystery is resolved, I don't know where they're going to go. Clearly, Susan and Ian are going to be thrust into the forefront as they prepare for their wedding, but I'm really not sure what else is going to carry story for the rest of the season. I guess I'll just have to wait to find out.

As far as Brothers & Sisters goes, this episode didn't keep me as glued to the TV as other episodes have.

The one thing I will say about it is that they did a much better job of incorporating most of the cast into the episode, with the exception of Justin, whom I'd like to see more of personally.

It just didn't feel like a lot of the stories progressed much in this episode. The Kevin/Chad story really didn't move at all, except for Kevin having doubts about Chad, which isn't anything new.

The Senator/Kitty romance really hasn't progressed either, except for the poll, which seemed a bit contrived.

Joe and Sarah seem to be heading toward a divorce. That's sad, but in this episode, I really didn't sense much chemistry between them. I guess that's what was supposed to be conveyed, but it seems like the whole falling apart came very quickly. I will admit, though, that casing Joel Grey as the therapist was brilliant.

Tom and Julia having twins was surprising, but nothing much happened after that. I do like, though, that Tom is trying to make a mark in the world that has nothing to do with his father. It's very brave of him to do that, especially working with Holly, who I still believe has some sort of hidden agenda.

Speaking of Holly, we finally got to meet Rebecca. I'll agree with Michael Ausiello that Emily Van Camp is a great addition to the cast. I didn't watch Everwood religiously (but I have caught up with it on ABC Family before they took it off again), but that cast was great, so I'm very intruiged to see what Emily will bring to this show. It would be interesting to bring Treat Williams's character back to this show and have he and Rebecca interact, even if just for a few seconds.

Anyway, I don't think this was the greatest episode of Brothers & Sisters ever, but it wasn't horrible either. I'm definitely going to keep watching, but I hope there is more progress next week.

Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy 2/15/07

I know I'm really late for this blog, but as always, life gets in the way. :)

I'll start with Ugly Betty. First of all, how cute was Justin reenacting Hairspray to Santos on the subway when it broke down? I loved that so much, not only because I love Hairspray (the musical), but because it was just incredibly cute. I like how Santos is sort of turning around about Justin's tendencies, for lack of a better word. I would have loved to see Santos beat up that guy on the subway who critcized Justin. But that's just me.

You know, I want to hate Charlie because she's getting between Henry and Betty, but she's just so sweet and nice. The actress that played her reminded me of someone. And no, it's not because she was on Heroes (which I haven't gotten into). I'm not sure where else I've seen her before, though.

I also liked Amanda showing up in Betty's thoughts encouraging her to get rid of Charlie. Becki Newton needs to get more props.

I felt really bad for Christina. I didn't quite think that Willie was going to be that vindictive, even though I had no reason not to think that she wouldn't be. I do like, though, that Marc is sympathizing with Christina. That could be a very interesting friendship.

I also felt bad for Alexis. Here she thought that she was making headway in people believing that she's a woman and she gets her hopes crushed. Although I do think that she's pretty naive to think that people wouldn't have heard about her gender switch. But still, I felt bad for her. I did enjoy Willie punching that guy out to help Alexis. I guess Willie does have some loyalty to some people.

I also loved seeing Lucy Liu on TV. She was great as The Chin. She reminded me a bit of Ling on Ally McBeal, except a bit softer. Very enjoyable guest stint.

As a side note, I kind of liked that Daniel was playing The Chin by calling Becks all the time pretending to apologize these various women he's hurt. It seems very Daniel to do that.

OK, I've rambled on about Betty for long enough. So, on to Grey's Anatomy.

Three words for this episode: Oh my gawd! I'm having a hard time believing that they will actually kill off Meredith, although that would be quite a surprising ending to this arc.

I admit that I had read some other blogs saying that Dylan and Denny would show up in this episode, but I wasn't expecting it like that, at the very end. I got a little glee, even though Meredith was dead, to see both of them. I loved Denny, and have a thing for Kyle Chandler. (I know I should be watching FNL, but I already have way too many shows I watch.) So, it was great to see Dylan the bomb squad guy again. (As a side note, I was thrilled to see that ABC replayed the Super Bowl episode of Grey's on Friday.)

There was so much other stuff going on on this show that I don't know what to discuss, because the Meredith being nearly dead (where's Miracle Max when you need him? ;)) overwhelmed the rest of the show. Plus, apparently some interstates were closed in PA on Thursday night, so they had to interrupt several times during the 9pm hour to say either to find more details on a different channel, or have a ticker and a voice talking about the road closures. That's so useful because people watching TV at that time of night are clearly going to be driving around as well. ?:|

Of the parts that I did see, I liked Alex again in this episode. I hope Shonda and the rest of the writers continue to develop his character more.

I also enjoyed that Mark came and comforted Derek when he found out about Meredith. I know they weren't on the best of terms, but real friends do the comforting thing, even if they practically hate each other. It was just incredibly nice to see that the bond between them hasn't been completely severed.

I like that George found the kid he was looking for. I giggled when he was going on about how he was going to "thank" Callie, and she had to take control of the OR.

I loved Izzie bragging to Cristina about being a "rock star." That was hilarious.

I also completely understood what Cristina was trying to tell Burke about Meredith being "her person." Cristina has a lot of trouble expressing her feelings, which Burke should know already, especially if he wants to marry her, so it makes complete sense that she'd explain what she's trying to say using a dead guy as an analogy. So, I didn't understand why Burke was getting all huffy.

The one part I didn't really like was Izzie telling George that she thinks he made a mistake in marrying Callie so quickly. And that's more because of the timing of her statement than anything else. Izzie just isn't the type of person to say something like that during a critical time for a friend.

Anyway, great episode, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the resolution play out next week.

Lost 2/14/07

Well, I must say that Lost had another good episode last night. Unfortunately, I was too tired after the episode last night to post on it, so I'm posting this at work. (Don't tell anyone.... ;))

I really liked how Desmond's flashback was the main focus of the show instead of just brief bits and pieces of his story here and there. It was a little hard to get used to at first, but it totally made sense to do it that way.

What I'm really curious about is whether Desmond actually traveled back in time or was reliving his life in a dream. I'm leaning toward the latter, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the former.

I don't know about anyone else, but the scenes with the jewelry store lady felt very much like The Matrix to me. With the ability to see the future and being slightly creepy, that lady reminded me of the oracle (at least I think that's what she was called on The Matrix). I'm very intruiged by the notion of fate and whether we can change the path we're on or not.

I'm pretty sure that the guy that played Penny's father also plays Daniel's and Alexis's father on Ugly Betty. I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that it was him. And I don't feel like googling the episode to be sure. He's just as much of a hardass as Penny's father as he is as Papa Meade.

I was stunned that Desmond was trying to save Charlie this whole time. It made sense, though, and I understand why he did the things he did in the first batch of episodes, too. I'm not entirely sure that I believe that Charlie will die no matter what Desmond does, though. If it is the case that Charlie is meant to die, why wouldn't he have died in the first season when he was strung up in a noose? I guess only time will tell.

Things I'm pondering after watching this episode:
- Will Charlie die? And is Desmond psychically linked to Charlie? He was the only Lostie that was in his flashback, after all.
- How did Desmond get his psychic abilities? Was it just due to the release of the magnetic energy?
- What will Charlie due with the information that he's destined to die?
- Is there fate? Can we change the path of our lives?
- Where do Penny and Papa Widmore fit in in the grand scheme of things? Will Penny be able to find Desmond? Does Mr. Widmore have something to do with the island?
- Were all of the Losties fated to end up on the island? And were the ones that have died already fated to die?

This episode brought up lots of philosophical issues, which is part of the reason I liked Lost in the first place. I liked it a lot, even though I'm probably more confused than ever. :) I'm definitely looking forward to next week and the rest of the season.