Before The Summer Heat Goes Away - Gossip Girl, Greek, The Secret Life of The American Teenager, 90210, Privileged, Mad Men, Do Not Disturb

Gossip Girl - The Dark Knight - Ep. 203
Greek - Brothers & Sisters, Crush Landing, Let's Make A Deal, Gays, Ghosts and Gamma Rays - Ep. 201-204
The Secret Life of The American Teenager - Back to School Special, Just Say No - Ep. 110-111
90210 - Lucky Strike, The Bubble - Ep. 103-104
Privileged - All About Honesty - Ep 102
Mad Men - Three Sundays, The New Girl, Maidenform, The Gold Violin, A Night To Remember - Ep. 204-208
Do Not Disturb - Work Sex, Birdcage - Ep. 101-102

Some quick thoughts on everything that's been new on TV this summer before Fall officially begins this week and the onslaught of all the new TV starts and I get lost in it all. (And I'm still behind on Weeds and Burn Notice since we didn't get them this summer in Canada).

How good has the sophomore seasons of both Greek and Gossip Girl have been so far? I'm LOVING them! I can't believe The Secret Life of The American Teenager ended like THAT. I SOOOO want more. And all three of those shows have been FAR more interesting than 90210 which so far has only been interesting in seeing how many plugs for Spring Awakening they can fit in each hour.

Meanwhile, I loved the second episode of Privileged just as much as the first. And I think I almost cried when Joan Holloway was tossed aside for the TV Marketing Research position for a guy who knew nothing on Mad Men.

And serves me right for bothering with Do Not Disturb. I knew I should have listened to the title.

Gossip Girl has been deliciously naughty as usual, with lots of camera time spent on Chace Crawford's Nate's face and that mop of his (which I love), and how deliciously tangled web he's gotten himself into. I mean, gigolo? That's fantastic. Even the blackmail The Duchess (Madchen Amick) pulled on Vanessa to back off was quite brilliant.

As was Chuck's creepy and sneaky way back into Blair's heart, which was SO obvious and still deliciously evil and fantastic!

Also, loving Jenny's career goals and that Evelyn (the great Margaret Colin)

And just how pretty is the whole cast? So pretty... (pet)

Things haven't dumbed down on Greek in its second season either. So much to love.

From the return of Charisma Carpenter as Tegan.

The return of Max Greenfield as Calvin's boyfriend Mike. (And that both Charisma and Max had parts in Veronica Mars is another cool point too). Love that Heath (Zack Lively) is still around the Kappa Tow house and that he was awkwardly in the middle of Mike and Calvin at the gay bar. This usually happens more often in real life but TV shows rarely show it because usually they wouldn't have kept the actor around long enough for this to happen, so it's totally great that they can have Calvin hide his frosh fling while still being forced to see Heath all the time while around Mike.

I just love that the side characters in the background are always there. Love Beaver (Aaron Hill).

Though the addition of Max "The RA" Tyler was a bit obvious, it was nice to have a big version of Rusty, and even better to have Casey fall for the nerd (though somehow it doesn't creep me out even though Max is just like a big Rusty). I JUST realized that Michael Rady who plays Max was also Costas in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. WOW. That makes Max even hotter than before, and I was rooting for him and Casey already!

Plus we get some more brother/sister bonding between Casey and Rusty and that's always nice. Jacob Zachar and Spencer Grammar really have incredibly likable vibes. Kelsey should be proud.

Glad Frannie is being ignored for dating Evan. Meanwhile, I was just getting used to the idea of Cappie and Rebecca. Oh well. Now if only they can find someone for Ashleigh. Once she pays off her charge card (again, I like that they carried a long forgotten little side storyline from way long ago as if it were in real time. It's a nice little bonus).

I'm also enjoying some of the cribbing the writers are doing. Usually it annoys me when shows "borrow" famous stories but the blatant use of 21 and Bring It On! both somehow worked and made sense and was still enjoyable. Though maybe because we got to see Evan, Cappie and Beaver in cheerleader outfits. That's just funny.


I still can't believe how much I loved The Secret Life of The American Teenager. Even worse, I can't believe I actually agreed with a lot of its morals and how the characters are behaving. Even Grace.

I can't believe the parents Anne and George are going to actually split though. That was an ending I wasn't really expecting. It was real and harsh and not sugar coating it (The hooker storyline was particularly funny with another great cameo from veteran character actress Jennifer Coolidge). Then again, a lot of the show doesn't sugar coat life's ups and downs which I did NOT expect from this show. Bravo! The acting can still be wooden as hell but I kind of like the flatness to it all. Can't wait for the next season (coming in 2009)!

90210. I know. The backlash was inevitable and it's been almost too easy (like some of the girls on the show). But I almost feel sorry for Tristan Wilds and I have to keep remembering he can apparently act (in The Wire) especially when all he's given to do is clean up at The Peach Pit.

Shenae Grimes must have made it in Hollywood though now since word on the street is she's a big anorexic diva, but I can't help but feel so proud of the Degrassi alum when she share the Spring Awakening stage with Jessica Walters (who was a hoot singing "Mama Who Bore Me". It was SOOO wrong and about the only bright spot in the episode.

And was Luke being the babydaddy the most anti-climatic duh! ever? Please. Who DIDN'T assume it was Luke's?

Privileged is really a Cinderella story in a way isn't it? with JoAnna Cassidy's Megan as the new Cindy and Anne Archer's Laurel as the sort of evil stepmother but in this case, just a hard driven rich woman who expects perfection. I guess the same thing.

At least Megan has TWO Prince Charming's to choose from. Brian Hallisay's Will (above with Garcia) and Michael Cassidy's Charlie. Will sure is pretty to look at but pick Charlie! Pick Charlie!

There are no prince Charming's right now on Mad Men, unless you count Father Gill who has a strange closeness to Peggy.

But seriously, between Joan being looked over for a job she would be perfect for, from Betty's breakdowns at home AND being used for Don's own career advancement, the new girl secretary being used by the boys to gain access to an office, then being reprimanded by Joan, and Kitty Romano (below with Salvatore and Ken Cosgrove) who lives in a marriage where Salvatore is obviously gay (from out 21st century hindsight), are ANY of the woman happy? I feel sorry for them all.

Stupid men.

Do Not Disturb still sucks. In fact, they re-cast the most likable character (Brando Eaton as) Jason with Dave Franco (yes, James' brother, and yes, he's also one of those side background characters on Greek) as Gus, a surly unlikable character.

They also totally skipped the pilot, which now looking back, wasn't that bad at least compared to subsequent episodes.

Seriously, someone needs to save Niecy Nash from this show. She's so much better than this dreck.