Laura's TV Round Up Week 16

This week's TV Round Up features House, How I Met Your Mother, Lost, Modern Family, Grey's Anatomy, Project Runway, and the Saturday Night Live Sports Special. You can thank my cold for the large amount of material reviewed because it made me too tired to get off the couch.

1. House - I missed about 15 minutes in the beginning and a couple minutes in the second half, so I'm going to say that maybe I liked this? I'd fill in the blanks online if their posting agreement wasn't so stupid. I should promise that I'd never again tell you how dumb it is for new episodes to be posted eight days after the original airdate, but I don't know if I can. I'm pretty sick of Cuddy at this point, and I don't like Lucas as her boyfriend. I loved Lucas the PI, but I still find the pairing of him and Cuddy off. I'm not usually a fan of Foreman, but I actually enjoyed a glimpse into his past and why he might be the way he is. Is his brother at a halfway house because of jail issues or is it a psych problem ( if so, my money is on schizophrenia at this point) and I'm interested to see more interaction between the two characters as long as it doesn't completely consume him, like Abby's family bipolar family members did on ER. They have my attention for the moment.

2. HIMYM - This is why I watch this show! This was a perfect episode to go along with Barney's perfect game. One of my loyal readers (okay, I don't really have loyal readers, but I like to say it and pretend I'm important) remarked that there was a continuity error in Ted being excited to have a beer with a Yankee. However, I think he was more in the spirit of helping Barney out, plus not all Indians fans light Yankees memoriabilia on fire like some of our mothers do. Not to mention that there was a major shout out to us Indians fans - While Ted was talking things out with Barney, the music from Major League was playing. I really appreciate that we have a fan on one of my favorite shows. My only nitpicks (1) I would have actually found it interesting to see Barney fired and in a different job, but I suppose this holds true to a statement that Barney made previously about how he could never be fired because he knows too much and is more likely to wash up dead on the shore than be let go and (2) as Tim put it, Barney really just needs to get VD at this point. Anyway, this was definitely the strongest episode of the season and I hope there's plenty more like it in the bottom half....Dude, how was there not a joke about playing in the bottom half?

3. Lost - I'm not a fanatic here, I was just lethargic on Tuesday night and I've found it enjoyable in the past. With the recap show, I was able to understand most of the premiere, or at least as much as anyone can understand an episode of Lost. I was convinced that it was going to be Charlie under the "present day" rubble and not Juliet, especially when those scenes were juxtaposed with Charlie's arrest (yes, there's double meaning to that word) on the alternate universe flight. I'm very curious about the alternate universe flight and really liked when Locke and Jack met. Even knowing Locke's fate in "present day," it was still sad to see him stuck in his plane's seat, with none of the confidence he displayed when the island healed him. I'm really hopeful that this show has a strong ending, because I really do find it inventive and typically interesting. It better not go out like Alias when they didn't really tie up loose ends so much as shove them into a box and even stole a scene directly from Indiana Jones Last Crusade...But that's a different rant for a different time.

4. Modern Family - I think this episode (and some past episodes, actually) have been hurt by the promo people at ABC. They tend to show commercials every five seconds with the same line, so by the time the episode rolls around, the joke has lost its flavor (this week's example is Cameron's "moon landing/splashdown" joke). Also, they gave away the fact that (1) Haley and Dylan reconciled and (2) Gloria crashed into the cupcake; the first wasn't that surprising, but the second was a joke that could have been a lot funnier if it hadn't already been revealed. Anyway, it was still a very funny episode and Julie Bowen (Clare) had some great lines during her rant ("fornicating on the stairs....No, MARIO!"). Manny and Mitchell interacting was awesome as well.

5. Grey's Anatomy - Not a bad episode, but not a great episode. I think I need to break it down:

-Derek as chief - I don't know why so many people think he threw him under the bus. Weber actually appointed Derek as chief back at the end of season 3; Derek turned it down and told him that this time around, the chief would know what to do. Since the chief took to drinking and making poor decisions, I think it's more than right for Derek to step in. I was a little suprised that he rehired April (resident from Mercy West) and Meghan (former Seattle Grace intern) but no one else - April makes sense because she was fired for a patient oversight that occurred because things were hectic, but I'm not sure why Meghan deserves to be brought back on unless it was proved that the sole reason for firing her was her pregnancy. Nice to see Meredith there for both Derek and the chief, and very happy to see that the chief accepted Derek's offer.

- The patient who woke up during surgery - I was too distracted by the bad acting going on by this patient to really care. Nice to see the interaction between Bailey and the anesthesiologist (if Taye Diggs can't be Bailey's boyfriend, I'll settle for him) and how she handled Meredith when the patient requested her as the solo surgeon.

- Mark/Lexie - I really don't care about them at this point. Mark's selfish and Lexie's dumb. Can't really root for them.

- Alex/Arizona - The case wasn't particularly believable for me, but I do like the idea of Alex as a pediatric surgeon. He's been very good with pregnant women and children in the past, so I really think this fits. I really hope he stays away from Reed, because I really cannot stand that character. Her hair makes her look like an elf, she's self absorbed, and has absolutely no redeeming qualities. She's basically Izzie in elf form at this point. Honestly, I don't really care for any of the Mercy Westers at this point, save Avery.

- Cristina/Owen - While I appreciate actually hearing them talk things out (rare for couples on this show), I am really startig to despise them together. Owen has become very hypocritical. He's yelling at her because she doesn't readily open up to him, but when has he opened up to her without being forced? She had to pry things out concerning his PTSD (and aside from one therapy session together, we have no proof that Owen has further explored this with her), he didn't tell her that he had been engaged till his ex actually showed up at the hospital, and he's intentionally trying to distract her from cardiac surgery. I'm sick of hearing that Cristina is closed off and has no people skills and blah blah blah blah. She has clearly grown since her early days on the show and I wish the writers wouldn't keep changing that fact at their conveinence. Relationship drama is inevitable on Grey's Anatomy, but I'd prefer a different brand.

6. Project Runway - Underwhelmed by this week's designs. I love the real woman challenges - It's one thing to design for another contestant's relative or women starting out in their first careers, but designing for women who have survived things like open heart surgery is something these designers could be really passionate about. There was barely any complaining about making dresses that aren't a size 0, but I still feel like the designers could have done a little better by their clients. I thought Maya's was very interesting, but overall agreed with the decision to let Amy win. I wasn't a big fan of Mila's stars, but I appreciate her branching out from the basic design. Jesus' dress was rather tacky and I wish it could have some of the elements taken off because he could have had a nice dress. I don't really care for Jesus, but him being on made me laugh because every time Tim Gunn said his name, I imagined Tim Gunn telling Jesus Christ that his garment had a whole lot of look and he shouldn't piss Nina Garcia off.

7. SNL Sports Special - To make a successful clip show you pick your funniest bits from the show's duration (which is thirty-five years at this point, I believe) and make it fit into a two hour time frame. It really doesn't seem that difficult, but SNL keeps failing. First and foremost, they need to realize that clip shows do not require a host, and if you really deem it necessary, then you need to pick a host who doesn't start to annoy you after two minutes. The reason many SNL characters work is because they're administered in small doses. That's the reason so many of the SNL movies have failed (Wayne's World, you are an exception). Typically you see a five minute sketch and then you don't see the character for at least two weeks, if not more. By doing the same bit repeatedly in a two hour time frame, you begin to grate even the most patient viewer. Gilly in the Christmas Special and Twinkle & Star in this special were not particularly funny and just became annoying. What's even more annoying is when you have a host and then you include a five minute clip featuring the hosts (and a fairly stupid one at that), so if you weren't sick of them by then, you certainly were about five seconds into it.

The writers seemed particularly confused as to what they should include - Is it okay to have sketches that have nothing to do with sports but feature an athlete (see the Sexual Harrassment video or Charles Barkley in MacGruber)? Is it okay to have sketches about sports that do not have an actual athlete in them (see the Tiger Woods sketch, the Bowling Sketch)? Is it okay to have sketches that really have nothing to do with sports at all but feature beer (see Schmitts Gay)? I honestly think they had enough skits over the years featuring athletes that they didn't have to pull from the impersonating sports stars bank, perhaps with the exception of Little Chocolate Donuts and the synchronized swimming sketch.

However, a lot of the sketches featuring athletes were really bad - Michael Phelps on the Charles Barkley Show and Derek Jeter's opening monologue, just to name a few. The worst part is that as a viewer, I can think of several things that merited inclusion and I'm not even a very avid watcher, not to mention that I wasn't alive till 1985 and missed a good chunk while I was too young to watch (not everything was caught up by reruns, clip shows and the occasional video). It is a crime that Michael Jordon was not included - His sketches with Stuart Smalley and the Bears fans are classics. And even if you're not going to include the Bears fans with Michael Jordon, at least give them a sketch. They're hilarious and it's a week away from the Super Bowl. I also thought that Derek Jeter dressed up as a Yankee wife (and uttering the line "Derek Jeter? He looks like the Rock had sex with a muppet") should have been on the list as well. NBC, please call me before you attempt this again.