Like A Phoenix From The Dead - Ugly Betty, The Amazing Race and More

Maybe I was just in a happy mood this weekend but I was kinda loving Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice from Thursday and I'm glad to see re-emergences from Emma Caulfield, Ben Shenkman, and Jeff on Top Chef.

Ugly Betty - There's No Place Like Mode - Ep. 315

I didn't watch this until Sunday which is probably a first. I just didn't find myself needing to watch it RIGHT away anymore. And yet, as soon as it was on, I was glad I was back in Mode!

Now that the Ignacio/Family storyline has run its course (mostly), we get Betty back at Mode and back in the bitchy fashion world and back with lots of Marc and Amanda! (Well, not enough Amanda but just her 2 second pop-ins were hilarious). Plus it's fashion week (I appreciated the insert of the actual Fashion Week 2009 Tent that they must have filmed last week) and they nicely wrapped ALL the storylines back together with Betty's new job of producing a fashion show, Christina's pregnancy and the birth of Wily and Bradford's spawn (FINALLY) and even a new love potential for Betty, Daniel's new relationship and even Hilda and Elena making up at fashion week.

It still wasn't as zippy as it used to be and could still be filled with more hilarity but I was generally pleased with the whole episode that seemed to streamline all the stories back to the central focus of fashion.

Plus while I'm sure we will all get bored of Betty's new potential boy, sports writer Matt (Daniel Eric Gold, who seems to have an impressive resume), so far I'm loving him (or maybe it's the fact that I realize I dress in the same faux-pas way with an untucked shirt sticking out below my jacket so that it looks like a flapper dress).


More on Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Top Chef, The Amazing Race:

Grey's Anatomy - An Honest Mistake - Ep. 515
Private Practice - Wait and See - Ep. 217

You know, just as I was about to give up on the Shonda Rhimes shows, they manage to pull up their socks just enough to get me suckered back in for now. Not amazing episodes but generally competent and interesting. Plus at least they cast some terrific guest stars. I forgot to mention Ben Shenkman (Angels in America, Breakfast with Scot, Love Monkey) last week as Jennifer Westfeldt's husband. LOVE Ben Shenkman. Just look at the stuff he's been in. Love him.

Faye Dunaway guested as Dr. Campbell who shows up from nowhere as a surgeon who has been with the hospital since forever (how convenient huh?), but there was some nice tension pitting youngun Christina and Faye Dunaway (whose character gets dunaway) with Callie and Owen in between. Generally all the stories had some nice tensions (FINALLY), including Bailey's reference letters vs Richard with George in between, and the battle between Derek and Addison with Meredith in between and Sloane... I'm not even sure what that was about (I guess I zoned out a bit).

And EMMA CAULFIELD on PP!!! Seriously, why does girl not have a show of her own yet? Let alone almost disappearing from the spotlight? Anya deserves better. Plus Eric Palladino, probably the most hated character on ER, but I kinda like him cause he plays the dick really well. Here, he played... well... a dick of a husband who won't recognize and accept his baby's undefined sex. Maybe it was because Emma was there but I generally liked the whole episode. I don't think I've said that in a LONG time!


Top Chef - The Last Supper, Finale Part 1 - Eps. 512, 513

I liked the Last Supper challenge though I would have loved to see ALL the star chefs at the judges table.

While I don't love the idea of cut chef's returning, Jeff and Jamie were good and I thought undeservedly cut, but then if that were the case, they should have brought back Arianne too. It was still nice to see Jeff do so well to be a front runner, but in the end, I'm glad Carla won. Love her!

ALL the Cajun food looked SOOOO yummy. I'm glad that all five chef's did so well, and was amused that Stefan and Fabio actually ranked the lowest in relative terms. It's a nice smack at Stefan who deserves a smaking. And while I'm not a Hosea fan, it's nice to see him do se well. It's nice to see ALL the chef's do well and the judges having a hard time picking who the winner and loser is.


The Amazing Race - Your Target Is Your Partner's Face - Ep. 1402

At this point, I don't think there's a single team that annoys me. Which is kind of shocking since they've always seemed to cast the "evil" team since Team Tara and Weasel in Season 2 (and I guess Team Guido in Season 1 too). I guess it still might be too early and the claws haven't totally come out yet, but even Team Hicks Linda and Steve were adorable (if not adorably pathetic) this week and I felt bad for them but it was nice to see them so into the race and loving their experience.

Even Team Gag Me Their So Pretty Couple Amanda and Kris are kinda sweet (and I guess it was the first eliminated team Preston and Jennifer that were the "annoying" couple team). With little screen time, I'm still impressed with Team Old Couple Brad and Victoria (Victoria seemed to run down that mountain pretty fast) and all the girl groups have generally been alright so far.

I must say, as old style comedy as it is, having people throw pie's in each others faces is still pretty damn funny. Even funnier is that most of the hungry teams enjoyed eating the cake off their faces. Classic!

I'm sad to see the Hicks go, if only to see their faces as they get to explore the world, but I guess they probably wouldn't have lasted that long anyways.

Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com