Laura's TV Round-Up, Week 11

1. The Amazing Race – I usually don’t watch it because it annoys Tim and I don’t like watching it online for some reason, but I caught some of it this week. I came in on the part where they were doing the word jumble, and I solved it in about three seconds. I cannot believe the Globetrotter team took a four hour penalty because they couldn’t figure it out. He knew the first letter was “F” and there were only four other letters, so he should have just kept trying combinations till he worked it out, because doing that would have had to take less time than four hours.

2. House – I know I said I was done, but HIMYM was in reruns, I had a screaming headache and I just wanted to stare off at something familiar. Only problem with commenting on this episode is that I missed about 10-15 minutes in the middle when I was picking Tim up from class, but I still thought the episode was pretty decent. I think the reason I enjoyed it was because it didn’t center around House, and as evidenced by previous posts, I am sick of socially retarded, friendship bashing, relationship screwing, no moral compass, woe is me I’m in so much pain and no one likes me but wait I don’t care but wait I do care, oh wait that reminds me of something that ultimately leads to my patient’s diagnosis at 8:51 House. Wilson I like. Wilson I can deal with right now. But what’s up with characters on medical shows donating part of their liver? Robert Sean Leonard couldn’t possibly have a pregnancy to hide like Ellen Pompeo.

3. Scrubs – I can only comment on the first episode and the first five minutes of the second episode, but I’m still a little torn on this. The episode that was supposed to be the series finale was so strong that having episodes to follow it (especially with JD back) almost feels cheap. That being said, it was better than I thought it would be, though I’m curious if they ever explained the absence of the other characters – Carla, the Janitor, Ted, etc. Did they even say what Elliot was up to aside from being pregnant (and I wonder if they would have put that in if the actress wasn’t pregnant in real life....at least they didn’t make her donate her liver to someone). I was happy with the return of “Guy Love” and I was really excited to see Wendell of the Miller High Life being a security guard catching JD as he fell out of a tree. I loved those commercials, and I loved him even more when he showed up to a 2007 Indians-Red Sox playoff game with a sign that said “Living the High Life with Wendell and the Tribe”. In short, I think I’ll watch another episode or two and see how I feel.

4. Glee – I really liked what was going on in this episode plot-wise, though I wasn’t a huge fan of the majority of the music used in this episode. The exception to that was the use of “Smile” at the end, because it’s been a favorite of mine for a long time. I really liked that while everyone was smiling and happy in the yearbook photo, it wasn’t a happy ending. I feel like too many episodes have put a smiley face stamp on the end of them by just saying “here’s the Glee kids singing an upbeat song even though nothing’s really resolved,” so I appreciated there being a little bit of depression in the air. Other thoughts:

- Thank goodness at least one of the lying pregnancy storylines has been resolved. I was afraid Will was going to buy yet another lie from his wife and was pleasantly surprised when she was revealed. I understand what Emma was saying to defend Terrie and that she wasn’t condoning what she had done, but I still don’t think Emma’s come so far that she would say that. I’m really afraid Will still winds up with his wife, at least for awhile.

- Finally we can see a little bit of a pregnancy belly on Quinn. If she was far enough along to know it was a girl like five episodes ago, she really should have been showing back then. I really hope the Puck as a father reveal happens next week. Please.

- I like the whole idea of Will not being able to go to sectionals with them. But I hate that there were a few possible outs – For one, Quinn could have revealed Sue and screwed the yearbook photo altogether. Two, Will could have just paid for the mattress he slept on. There’s probably a third out, but I don’t want to waste more brain power on a tv show right now.

- Sue yelling “it’s over” in Will’s face was a little too typical villain for me. Like she should have been twirling a mustache or something.

5. Monk – I’ve only seen a handful of episodes, but for some reason I felt compelled to watch the series finale. And it was awful. The pacing was horrible, the revelation of the killer happened too soon, the “twist” was obvious, and there was a new song by Randy Newman. Which means it was every song by Randy Newman with new lyrics. Not to sound like my husband, but that reminds me of those two sketches from Family Guy...which I’d link to if they hadn’t been taken off of You Tube. That somehow makes me even more pissed at Monk.