Survivor: Gabon - Want To See The Elephant Dung? - Ep 1701 - Season Premiere
Ugly Betty - The Manhattan Project - Ep. 301 - Season Premiere
Grey's Anatomy - Dream A Little Dream Of Me - Ep. 501 - Season Premiere
The New Adventures of Old Christine - A Decent Proposal - Ep. 401 - Season Premiere
The folks at The Office are trying to shed some weight, and I think the show shed whatever it was that was bogging it down for most of the 4th season because the premiere was as good as the amazing finale (that rebounded the show to its full potential). Even with the hour long format (which is what partly bogged it down last year).
Love the way they are dealing with Pam being gone to Pratt (the laptop interview was a hoot), love that Ryan is back, loved Kelly's weightloss regime, loved that Stanley was actually losing weight, and loved that Phyllis was blackmailing Angela who sleeps well at night with pillows and other things!Plus, The Office addition of Holly is totally working so far which makes them two for two in having plainish looking movie stars (who will or were nominated for Oscars) and making them blend seamlessly into the mix. First Amy Adams and now Amy Ryan (or do they have to be named Amy too?), who as Jim points out, is a perfect foil for Michael because she's a dork too!
Survivor: Gabon. Wow, even after the initial picks for the teams, it was so obvious there was going to be a smart team (who happen to be super hot too) and a stupid team. Poor Michelle got the bums rap.
Seriously, in theory I should hate how hot team Kota is but at this point, I'm just going to root for them until they annihilate the other team. Then it'll get good when the pretty people will have to turn on one another. The bromance/unrequited gay/straight crush between Charlie (cute and gay) and Marcus (hot and straight) is almost cringeworthy. Not because it's not sweet. Just that it feels a bit deja vu in my own life.
Dan on the other team is pretty too (if Marcus is the hot blonde, Dan would be the hot brunette) but he's kinda dumb isn't he? (Unless it's just a game face?). Isn't he a lawyer? Or as my sister noted, does that REALLY mean anything? (ha!)
And I sure was wrong about a lot of others. Based on the premiere, I was kind of right about Ace, wrong about Bob Nye the Science Guy, wrong about "lovable" Gillian, wrong about strong Crystal (who I still think MUST be playing it "slow" right?), wrong about Ken (cough, loser), right about Jacquie, right about Sugar, wrong about Michelle, right about Paloma, right about Marcus, wrong about Corine. Oh well, anyways, my way-too-early-to-predict-prediction is for Jacquie to win. Uh, or Paloma, or Marcus.Ugly Betty is back. But not fully. I was being positive and looking at the show through hot pink coloured glasses in the second half of last season when creator Marco Pennette was unceremoniously dumped, but I will admit that it's lost a bit of its flair since. The first half of the second season was fantastic, and then it seemed like Ugly Betty got a big confused and lost.
What worked so far?: Any family dinner table scenes. Whether it be the Suarez (and make sure Hilda and Justin get to talk) or with the Meades (where Daniel acting all strict and fatherly was a bit of a turn on). Or at Mode with Wily, Marc and Amanda being freezing cold hard bitches. Lindsay Lohan's guest appearance. It didn't scream of star power, reminded us that Lindsay can actually be good on screen, and was actually pretty funny and fit well into the Ugly Betty family of overdramatics and divadom. What's not working?: They still don't really know what to do with Christina. The Player magazine and setting is one lame joke stretched way too long. The whole excising of Gio and Henry. Yes, I know. People were tired of the triangle but I hate when things are just cut super quickly. On the other hand, quickly bringing in Val Emmich (30 Rock's gay-for-Jamie) as Betty's new neighbour/future romantic entanglement Jesse might make it all worth it. Speaking of new neighbour, the whole crap New York apartment switcheroo was cliched. True, but still cliche.
Grey's Anatomy: Christina ROCKS. Thank heavens she let it RIP into Meredith about Mer constantly blabbering about Derek. When they're together, when they're broken apart. Yap Yap Yap. Christina (and us) finally put a muffle onto the Mer Der back and forth whining.
And then the heavens did THAT to her? Oh Cold SNAP. An icicle stabbing from the sky. Ew.
As oh-god as the flashforward dream of old Mer and Christina was, it was actually pretty funny and I could TOTALLY picture them like that. Especially Christina.
Loving Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt. What a GREAT addition! And he even already comes McPrenamed! 
I didn't realize he was starting on the show right away but I knew he was coming as a new McHottie but how did no one mention Bernadette Peters (or Kathy Baker) was guest starring? I guess they've been relegated to classy but old actors who do unceremonious guest starring roles. I'm also liking the whole Rose twist/non-twist though I'm sad that she backed down in the end and is moving to pedes. The awkwardness between Hahn and Callie! Lexie's discovery of George and Meredith's past. Alex and Izzie's continuing dramas.
The premiere wasn't perfect and it dragged on a bit long at 2 hours but at least it is still on the upswing from the aggravating episodes from late Season 3 and early Season 4.
The New Adventures of Old Christine is back and gay. Well, not really. But the big buzz about Christine's new gay marriage with Barb to keep her in the country was funny without needing to be controversial or a huge "issue" and the hilarity came more from Christine's own self delusions (again) and Richard's reaction to losing the "moving-on" race.
Not loving Hamish Linklater's (Matthew) new short haircut, but that's about the only complaint I could come up with at this point.
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