Dirty Jokes - The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Samantha Who?

The Big Bang Theory - The Shiksa Indeterminacy - Ep. 115
How I Met Your Money -Rebound Bro - Ep. 318
Two and a Half Men - Fish in a Drawer - Ep. 517
Samantha Who? - The Gallery Show - Ep. 113, The Affair - Ep. 114

Yes, I watched Two and a Half Men. That wasn't a dirty joke. I was just too curious about the writers crossover they did with CSI. If you didn't know, the writers of CSI and Two and a Half Men swapped shows for this weeks sweeps stunt and if anybody can get suckered into a sweeps stunt, I'm yours for this minute. So yes, I'll be taping CSI this week as well. A little George Eads never hurts.

So did Two and a Half Men feel a bit smarter this week? Hard to tell since I rarely watch, but there were still some low dirty jokes (um, but I still laughed at some of them in the episode), which seemed to run through the night, but seemed funnier on the other shows. With circumcisions, erections, lipstick on the dipstick and Regina's new sexy panties, the Monday night comedies wanted to mine some of the sexual taboos.


The Big Bang Theory:

Sheldon's hot twin sister Missy visits and the other nerds go crazy fighting each other to ask her out. Rajnesh goes on a medical trial to test out a new pill that helps with shyness.

If Sheldon is a hoot with words, Rajnesh is hysterical with just a look and a turn away, which made his unshyness a little disconcerting, at least until the pill wore off, which was right when Sheldon's sister Missy was ready to make her play for Rajnesh (after turning down the circumcised Howard and Leonard)! So cute!

Yet again, Penny was practically useless which is too bad because I actually like Kaley Cuoco's reactions. She has the perfect bemused face.


How I Met Your Mother:

Sarah Chalke!!! Stella returns! Or, in actual fact, we just finally see her this week even though Ted and Stella had been dating for the past 2 months.

Barney is wallowing in his breakup with Best Bro Ted and tries to seek someone else to wing man, but finally resorts to his last choice Randy (Will Forte), the regular loser at work who gets a nosebleed when he gets an erection.

Robin helps out Barney by being Randy's test female subject in the bar, to help train Randy in Barney's tips for picking up women, but Randy is just a poor man's Ted and Robin helps point out that Randy is just Barney's sad substitution for the real thing. You have to admit, there's a freshness to Cobie's Robin when she's paired up with Barney and even though the affair is never to be spoken of again, let's hope they will!

Meanwhile, Ted and Stella still haven't been intimate, nor has he met her daughter Lucy. When Stella is ready for the next randy step, Ted learns that she hasn't been intimate for 5 years, and of course tells the gang about it. Big mistake. Apparently, some girls don't like when their intimate secrets are shared with others (unless the girl themselves shares it with other girls). Apparently some guys just don't get that. And girls? That's not his fault, sometimes, he just doesn't realize it's a bad move because he's a sweet, gentle, and supremely naive and honest guy that he sees nothing taboo about sharing things. I know this because my super sweet coworker, who if we played for the same team, I'd be all over, answered after someone asked about his weekend, (during lunchtime no less) that he went over to his girlfriend's place and then made love to her. He was smiling but not as a joke. He was just honestly telling us without harm or motives, he's just simple and sweet that way. Still, too much information. Especially at lunch. I think someone almost choked. Only after our groans did he think maybe sharing that might have been too much. Too funny! (Throughout the weeks, I've now learned a LOT about him, and if he weren't as hot as he were, I would probably be disgusted or disturbed but at this point it's kind of a turn on).

So when Ted and Stella are finally ready to take the relationship to the next step, Lily and Marshall blow the plan when Stella realizes Ted told them her 5 year secret which brings them apart. Ted apologizes, Stella accepts, and they take the relationship to the next level... by introducing Ted to Lucy.

Oh but they do do it too!

Meanwhile, Dylan (Lyndsy Fonseca) looks bored wondering why Ted is still telling her stories of her mother when she's really wondering why her Wisteria Lane mom is crazy mean to her father.


Two and a Half Men:

I watched. I laughed. I felt dirty like a cheap whore after. I guess watching the show is kinda like being on a date with Charlie Sheen I imagine?

Ah, yes, Two and a Half Men still felt the same, even with the CSI writers in control.

The kid (Angus T. Jones) is still the best thing of the show, with Holland Taylor and Conchata Farrell the next best, but the CSIing of the show was amusing, especially with the "Who ARE you...Men Men..." opening credits.

Still, I loved twisting the typical boob and cheap comedy into the procedural mode, with Charlie Sheen's Charlie hitting on the hot and cleavaged investigator and with Berta asking for a full body search from the hot studly cop. I had to laugh when the investigators wanted to check for semen traces in Charlie's room after his new father-in-law was found dead on his bed.

Alas, the twist ending (they were con artist lovers playing father daughter to sucker in the Harpers) brings an end to the guest appearances by Jenny McCarthy and Robert Wagner who I gather had been guesting for a while.


Samantha Who?:

Now that Todd and Chloe are good together, Sam finds a date to show up Todd at his own gallery showing. Too bad Sam's date Craig (Jerry O'Connell, who is either not funny or very funny to people, and I fall in the later group) turns out to be a former mugger who has apparently reformed. The newly reformed Sam doesn't really believe it.

Sam also doesn't believe that her mom Regina might be having an affair and tells her father as they track Regina down. Except she isn't having an affair, she's just working at her new secret job that would castrate Howard's ego.

Loved when Regina and Howard were at the art gallery though (this is art?) and Howard zeroes in on a picture of a naked lady, who turns out to be Sam. Awkward!

Later, Sam and Todd reunite by trying to have an affair (with Todd shelling out a super expensive hotel room, with $8 chocolates from the mini-bar included) behind Chloe's back but after thinking her mom had been having an affair, Sam demands Todd chooses one of them, and he chooses her.

Cute, but that's it? It was that easy? That romantic ending seemed way too easy to come by.

More After the Jump...

Tapeworthy - Men in Trees, Desperate Housewives, Samantha Who?, Scrubs, The Big Bang Theory, Bones, Corner Gas

Men In Trees - Wander/Lust - Ep. 215, Kiss and Don't Tell - Ep. 216
Desperate Housewives - In Buddy's Eyes - Ep. 412
Samantha Who? - The Butterflies - Ep. 112
Scrubs - My Bad Too - Ep. 707, My Manhood - Ep. 708
The Big Bang Theory - The Bat Jar Conjecture - Ep. 113
Bones - Player Under Pressure - Ep. 311
Corner Gas - Final Countdown - Ep. 518 - Season Finale

Men In Trees: Seriously, with my pathetic love life, I have to live vicariously through Men in Trees. I really should just move to Alaska shouldn't I? I especially love/live through Jane and Plow Guy Sam the most. Seriously, adorable! Loved when he bought the ring from the lost and found at his work (the sanitary dept. for the city) and Jane was grossed out, lost the ring, fell in love with it and had it returned right to her on her doorstep. Cute and a complete fairy tale but a fairy tale I so needed.

Also loved the awkwardness of Julia's (Kelli Williams) return last week AND Cash's (Scott Elrod) return this week. It's so silly that Marin and Jack can't seem to have friends of the opposite sex and be cool with it but the way they write it, it actually seems real and grounded.

Patrick finally has the gumption to go on his round the world trip and stops in New York joining Jane at her workplace where he charms Sofia Vergara and everyone else in the office with his small town boy charms! Annie finds herself alone in Elmo but charms newly single Buzz (from losing Mai's Hawaii-in-the-home fund to a gambling addiction) and all the radio listeners when she replaces Patrick at the mic. Annie was adorable getting Buzz to trust her ("hell no!") but why has no one even mentioned her adorable short haircut?

I had to laugh when Sofia Vergara's character asks Jane to essentially pimp out Patrick to her in exchange for her book deal. I love that this show throws in salacious things all the time and it still somehow feels like a wholesome show.

Desperate Housewives: As much as seeing Jason Gedrick again is not a terrible thing, I kinda hoped the pizza place thing and Lynette's family troubles would simmer down a bit. For goodness sake, let something good happen to the woman for once!

Orson's sleep walking was truly disturbing, and when he unknowingly revealed all in front of Julie, I had shivers Lost style on me. CREEPY!

Bree's comeuppance at the awards ceremony that was intended for HER was cliched yet still hilarious and her newfound respect/realization of Katherine as a perfect frenemy seems potentially frentastic!

Samantha Who? and Scrubs: One's new, one's getting old, and both are not at the game level they should be playing at (but both may be on the same network come fall), but I like the main characters enough to continue to stick by, even though I'm not laughing as much as they could be making me.

I'm still contending that Judy Reyes and John C. McGinley deserve Emmy Awards so I almost want Scrubs to continue staying on until they get a nomination in the very least.

The Big Bang Theory: Jim Parsons = hilarity. Jim Parsons + guest star Sara Gilbert + her former Roseanne costar Johnny Galecki = something far funnier than all of Chuck Lorre's previous efforts combined. I found myself already laughing out loud several times as Leonard, Rajnesh and Howard ask Leslie to beat Sheldon in a quiz showdown, but Howard's victory strip took it to another level.

I actually like Kaley Cuoco but at this point, her Penny is pretty useless to the proceedings. They really need to ask Sara Gilbert to join permanently.

Bones: Someone remind me not to eat dinner while I watch this show, which always seems to happen. And then I end up sitting with my mouth open in disgust, this time when a star college basketball player gets SQUEEZED through a grate. Ewwwwwwww.

It's also a second week in a row where one of the suspects/creepy people is a Lost alum! This week with Artz (Daniel Roebuck) as someone suspected of giving the star player some steroids.

But again, the real fun is back at the lab, with Hodgins uses Cam's personal blender to mix larvae (again, remind me NOT to eat while watching this show), Cam attempts to get Angela to keep Hodgins in check, and nicely blackmails her with a surveillance tape of the storage closet at lunch time that features starring roles with a naked Hodgins and Angela. I love that Cam was nice about it and that Angela ends up being quite proud of the tape!

Corner Gas: On the season finale, Brent turns 40 and plans to drink the 20 year old whiskey he bought 20 years ago that Hank had used 20 years ago. Loved Emma and Lacey's cake bake off fight but this was also the episode that seems to be getting some attention in the states for the small random cameo from Kiefer Sutherland as himself, living in his mother's (Canadian actress Shirley Douglas who has been on the show as someone else and just guest starred on Degrassi) house.

Here's the clip where Davis calls for backup and get the son of Shirley Douglas on the phone:

More After the Jump...

Tapeworthy - Bones, Samantha Who?, Corner Gas, Beauty and the Geek

Just random shows I've been watching that I just wanted to mention and give my 2 cents this week on things I continue to find Tapeworthy.

Bones - The Man in the Mud - Ep. 311
Samantha Who? - The Girlfriend - Ep. 110, The Boss- Ep. 111
Corner Gas - Season 5 So Far
Beauty and the Geek - From Geek to Chic Ep. 505, Flame Broiled Chick - Ep. 506

How terrific was the return of one of the most romantic and one of the funniest shows around? Bones got right into the mood with that romantic escape into the mud pits for a young hot couple until they find a dead body in the mud. Ew!

The squints are back in the lab, Angela is back to being lovely, and Bones and Booth are back to their bantering ways, and I loved every minute of it.

But let's talk about the best scene of all, the double date with Dr. Sweet (John Francis Daley) and his girlfriend doing clay pottery with Booth and Bones during an "excursion". And let the awkwardness fly along with the clay spinning on those spiny things! Loved when Sweet tried to apologize for his girlfriend after Bones' usual literal diatribes and loved how Booth tries to smooth things out. It was a great little interplay of four very different personalities and it's what this show does best!

Even without going into the continuing stories like Gorgamon or Angela's ex, the show speeds by with actual human emotions and character development without losing the case-of-the-week steam (which I TOTALLY thought would be wheelchair man because Chris Martin (not Coldplay guy, Canadian actor from Tom Stone, Felicity) played him (no?) and the creepy lawyer guy played by Lost's M.C. Gainey was too obvious. And STILL I was wrong!).

You know, I was REALLY liking Samantha Who? before it went off the air from the writers strike/losing Dancing with the Stars lead-in and while I never necessarily thought of it as a comedy (it's really more of a drama with funny situations), I really didn't feel the return of Samantha Who? was funny at all, but I really want to like this show. I really do! I think it has something to do with Christina Applegate who I just really want to like, and the fantastic supporting cast.

At least the second episode was funnier, with Samantha dealing with the loss of Todd to Kiele Sanchez (who in theory I should like but always seems forced upon (see her quick death on Lost)) and then dealing with her boss coming on to her. Which would be really funny if it weren't for the fact that Timothy Olyphant (above), who plays Samantha's boss, looks a bit like Barry Watson (Todd, below). Still, there were some better moments, especially with Andrea.

I still watch every episode of Corner Gas, the one lone Canadian comedy hit (sorry, I don't count the CBC stuff because none of it is actually funny anymore) so I'm saddened to hear that next years 6th season will be the last, as Brent Butt will be ending the show while it still is actually funny.

Still loving the dry humour and anything Hank does. The entire cast is terrific (and it threw me off a bit when I passed by The Perfect Storm and saw Janet Wright in a dramatic role in a big Hollywood movie but it just shows how awesome she is as the sarcastic Emma). Loved the B&B that Leroy set up unbeknownst to Emma. The bit with The Mighty Ducks' Travis Moen showing up in Dog River somehow worked hilariously, even with Moen's deer-in-the-headlights acting. Love everything the Davis and Karen do as the cops, and love Wanda's sarcastic retorts.

Been loving the whole season so far (and series so far) and glad there will be one more at least to go, but I'll actually miss the comfort of hanging out with the folks of Dog River at Corner Gas every week.

Finally, the best part of Beauty and the Geek is the makeovers (oh, okay, the inner change of the Beauties and the outer confidence growth of the Geeks is great too but seriously, the makeovers is the most fun to watch) episode so it was a little disappointing when last weeks makeovers probably made most of the guys worse looking. Seriously, Tommy looked better before. Chris was WAY more adorable before, now he just looks like they scalped half his hair off. Greg looks essentially the same, Jason looked slimier with his new look, and Matt looked equally as geeky (but adorable still) but with more hair gel.

Only Joe made a vast improvement on the outside, but sadly, his inside was getting uglier, when he really started to make things worse in every situation. Like spitting on Randi after an argument.

Of course, Randi brought out the biatch in her, setting the ultimate rivalry with poor sweet Greg and poor sweet Tara (who I was really liking, although maybe partially because she reminds me of Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother, American Pie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as the poor pawns caught up in Joe and Randi's war of words.

Alas, there was no elimination in last week's makeover episode (because it's just that special!) but sadly, Randi and Greg were sent home from Joe's initial scuffle. And Joe, the lone annoying figure left in the house remains, but at least Tara gets to stay.

More After the Jump...

Notes From How I Chucked Your Mother, Say Who?

I really tried to work that title didn't I?

Chuck - Chuck Versus the Nemesis - Ep. 110
Samantha Who? - The Wedding, The Virgin, The Restraining Order, The Hypnotherapist, The Hockey Date - Ep. 103 - 107
Notes From The Underbelly - She's Gotta Have It - Ep. 201 - Season Premiere
How I Met Your Mother - The Yips - Ep. 310

Victoria Secret models on Mother, Eddie Cibrian on Samatha Who?, Matthew Bomer back as Bryce on Chuck, and some funny preggers people on Notes. Something for everybody!!!

There's something to be said about Chuck when they can make a horrendous mistake like Morgan and it still rarely detracts from the awesomeness of the show. Now that Bryce is found alive, Casey and Sarah want to know why he went rogue while he's trying to prove to Chuck that he wasn't. In another game of who to trust, Chuck falls in the middle of the shoot outs again as The Fulcrum attempts to track Bryce down to capture the Intersect/Chuck.

So many hilarious moments, some even with Morgan this time. Who while still always annoying, was being watched by new girlfriend Anna who suspects Ellie is taking Morgan away from her at the Thanksgiving dinner. Chuck, now back in love with Sarah after the bomb-kiss, discovers Sarah kissing Bryce, leaving Chuck torn as to what to do, and leaving Sarah secretly torn herself. But since that was the last Chuck for 2007, we will have to wait until the new year before we find out if Sarah decides to leave with a cleared-Bryce, off on a covert mission again, or answer Chuck's lovelorn telephone call. On the good new side, Chuck's been given a full season, the bad news is, there is still a writer's strike that may not actually give us the rest of the full season so it's time to make a call to the networks today (in another WGA campaign). Let's hope Henry Tang returns when the strike ends and Morgan is forced to Hawaii. Can we see that happen people?


I haven't really posted about Samantha Who? and while I realise it's really only getting the big numbers because it follows Dancing with the Stars, I still really enjoy it even though there are a lot of haters out there. Though I don't see the show as a typical sitcom. While Chuck feels like a comedy within the confines of an hour action/drama, Samantha Who? feels to me more like a drama within the confines of a half-hour sitcom.

Christina Applegate is terrific as Sam, good or evil. She was better as evil at first, but her charms are incredibly winning even as good Sam as she tries to figure out parts of her life and I enjoy following her situation. I came to watch Samantha Who? because of the rest of the cast and I'm still loving Melissa McCarthy and Jean Smart and even Jennifer Esposito is funny as the mean bitch best friend but Barry Watson has surprised me since he's doing the whole befuddled ex-boyfriend job really well and really funny (well, I guess he played unintentional comedy all through those years on 7th Heaven). I will say the whole show is more amusing then hilarious, yet when it hits the right notes, they totally can be. Still, I'm watching mainly because of Christina Applegate which is weird because I never loved her or anything but I really want to see her do well for some reason.

Anyways, this week Sam's mom sets her up with Kevin (the hunky Eddie Cibrian) and they share a hockey moment since Sam remembers something about her liking hockey but not remembering why.

Following Sam, Notes From the Underbelly returned for a (surprising) second season but for a show following a couple during pregnancy which sounds REALLY REALLY lame, it's terrifically funny, although tonight's season premiere was more amusing then LOL but usually I find Notes totally LOL funny. Still, I liked it enough to place it on my Top 20 list of the 2006-2007 Television season.

Part of it is Rachael Harris alone as Cooper, friend to pregnant Lauren, a lady whose career is number one and where pregnancy basically disgusts her. Harris whips every line into comic heaven.

I still don't know where Peter Cambor came from but there's something adorably funny about his Andrew against more straightlaced yet neurotic Lauren (Jennifer Westfeldt) but the couple works well. The crazy Danny character can be too much sometimes but the pairing of him and Cooper last night set a perfect match up between the pregnant couples best friends. Meanwhile, Melanie Deanne Moore's Julie is always surprisingly funny even though everything about her screams annoying, yet it works, without being annoying. Maybe it's the pair up with her usually calm husband Eric (Sunkrish Bala).

If you aren't convinced, Notes From The Underbelly is produced by Barry Sonnenfeld. The same person that also produces and originally directed Pushing Daisies. While Notes is a realistic take on life, there is still a lot of zingyness to the scripts like Daisies, and much more than you would expect from a comedy about pregnancy. Then again, who knew a pie-maker bringing dead people back to life would be so funny?

Finally, on How I Met Your Mother, we finally get to meet the woman who deflowered Barney and created the womanizing monster that he is, and apparently, the first time, was all a lie. Sadly, finding out Barney's persona was based on something his brother James (Wayne Brady back again) had paid for wasn't as funny as one would have hoped. It wasn't as Slaptastic as Slapsgiving which really was as amazing as the buildup. Luckily, and surprisingly, the best part of the episode was when Ted and Robin finally were through with each other.

The gang joins a gym and Robin, unselfconscious about her looks (being mistaken for a lesbian or a man) totally turns off Ted. When Ted, who had been secretly avoiding actually working out, is finally forced to move after Lily and Marshall pawn off Marshall's terrorizing personal trainer onto Ted, Robin is totally turned off. Simply done. Laugh out loud funny!

I wish Barney's return to the manmaker were better but it was more amusing then hysterical but it was all worth it just to finally have Ted and Robin separated for good, and remaining friends only.

Oh, and Heidi Klum and a bunch of other models I couldn't really care about/get excited about appear when the boys attend the Victoria Secret's show after-party and Klum continues her TV domination playing funny with her German mother tongue.

More After the Jump...

TV Bloggers Favourite New Shows

Just as I put out my list of current Top 10 shows to watch right now, Scooter McGavin put together our fellow blogger friends favourite new shows of the season (must have debuted after August 1st 2007) now that we've had several weeks to really watch them and not just base them on our initial kneejerk reaction to the pilots. Like Scooter puts it, last year most people hadn't thought about Friday Night Lights as the one to watch for (well, ahem, I did but whose counting? Though I do admit I didn't think it would last) He "tallied up all the votes and entered them into a scientific method that would make Einstein smile, and here is the list that came out the other side" :

1. Pushing Daisies - ABC (8)
2. Chuck - NBC (2)
3. Dirty Sexy Money - ABC
4. The Big Bang Theory - CBS
5. Gossip Girl - CW
6. Aliens in America - CW
7. Samantha Who? - ABC
8. Moonlight - CBS (1)
9. Reaper - CW
10. Journeyman - NBC

(numbers in parentheses denote first place votes)
Also receiving votes: Life, Woman’s Murder Club, Private Practice, Bionic Woman, Cane

Voters: Dan, Ducky, Kath, Jo, Liz, Rae, Sandie, Scooter McGavin, Tube Talk Girl, TVFan, Vance

No real big surprise with the top choices. It's interesting to compare our initial excitements and see what has lived up to expectations (Pushing Daisies, Chuck), what has surprised us (The Big Bang Theory, Gossip Girl, Aliens in America) and what is dropping (Reaper) and what is holding on to its last breathe (Bionic Woman, Cane, Private Practice).

And AHEM... again, I think I did a pretty good prediction on what would be good or not. Did I not call out the bad Cane and Bionic Woman while going out on a limb for Gossip Girl, The Big Bang Theory and Aliens in America? Hehe...

Anyways, my ballot that I submitted to Scooter was this:
1. Pushing Daisies
2. Chuck
3. Aliens in America
4. Gossip Girl
5. Samantha Who? (although I had debated back and forth between this and The Big Bang Theory)

Dirty Sexy Money would have been next. It's getting better, but it's still not there yet for me.

More After the Jump...

Scrubs and Some Reshuffling in Canada

Scrubs is back with all that JD and Elliot action! Or at least, whatever happens post-handgrab.

Scrubs returns for their supposed last season 7 at 9:30pm on NBC following The Office, and on AChannel in Canada at 8pm (followed by 30 Rock at 8:30pm)

I actually noticed there's already been a bit of a re-shuffle in Canada as CTV dumps some of the lower rated new shows (originally to be shown on CTV) over to their new sister network AChannel. Big Shots now switches over to AChannel (it starts tonight showing last weeks episode at 9pm and the regular slot at 10pm). Dirty Sexy Money as well but now on at the same time as in the states (Wednesday at 10pm). Samantha Who? is being simulcast with ABC on Mondays at 9:30pm.

The Big Bang Theory is at 8:30 on Mondays on AChannel as well (simulcast with CBS).

This leaves CTV free to move ER back to 10pm on Thursday (I guess it's still doing well in Canada). This also leaves a spot free on Sunday which they've filled in with CSI this coming weekend but my guess is it's left open for the return of The Amazing Race (starting Nov. 4th). (The fact that Moonlight is still on the main network makes me wonder ...)

Global is also showing Are You Smarter Than a Canadian 5th Grade? (groan) at 9pm tonight so I have no idea when they actually plan to show The Office and My Name is Earl and since their website sucks, I can't be bothered to scroll through their entire schedule to find out when. So just watch it on NBC.

At least CTV tends to show the episode eventually or throw it to AChannel now but Global just lets whole episodes disappear. I felt compelled to talk about 'Da Kink in the Hair but now I feel less proned to.

More After the Jump...

My Four Favorite Words: Worst Super Heroes Ever? or Let The Aliens Takeover?

Chuck - Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp Ep 105 - Super
Hereos - Fight or Flight Ep 205 - Worst
How I Met Your Mother - How I Met Everyone Else Ep 305 - Super (finally again)
Aliens in America - The Metamorphosis Ep 104 - Super Duper!
Samantha Who? - The Job Ep 102 - Super

What did we learn this week?

- When in trouble/amongst geeks, USE THE "SAFE" WORD... shhh... (Aliens in America)
- too-much-tongue-guy and incredibly-small-mouth-girl are, uh, the "Worst Super Heroes Ever". (How I Met Your Mother)
- Kristen Bell makes the best detective ever and always looks good in a car on a cell phone on the lookout... but even she can do so much with lame lines and a boring plot. Where is Rob Thomas when you need him? (Heroes)
- Alums from good shoes (Veronica Mars alums Kristen Bell on Heroes and Adam Rose (Max) on Aliens in America ) and bad shows (What About Brian alums Sarah Lancaster on Chuck and Barry Watson on Samantha Who?) can still be awesome.
- Apparently there are only 4 Asian actors in Hollywood because it's the same 4 people that keep getting the guest spots (Joy Osmanski (so brilliant in The Loop) as Sam's poor secretary on Samantha Who?, that old chinese guy James Hong that always plays the old chinese guy in EVERYTHING on Chuck, Gwendolyn Yeo (Desperate Housewives) as the chinese spy on her personal mission to save her brother on Chuck, Julia Ling (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) as the Nerd Herd's female component on Chuck). Apparently Chuck is the only show to do well in Asian representation. You would think it should be ER or something.
- "My four favorite words": Chuck Is Super Awesome (though not as awesome as Captain Awesome but can anybody be?)

So Kristen Bell joins the cast of Heroes! Finally! She has powers! She has electricity running through her! Kristen Bell is AWESOME!

Kristen Bell isn't enough to save the suckage that has become of Heroes. She's awesome, but everything around her was still very hokey. She deserves better.

Wow. Is it bad when the only points of interest was seeing Kristen Bell and pretending it was just Veronica Mars the sequel (especially when she was in the car on the cell phone) and when Monica Dawson (Dana Davis) discovers her powers, and adds a bright spot missing while Claire is off the screen. Even the sight of Masi Oka wasn't enough to save this episode as he sent messages from the past to Ando.

There was some whole ridiculous fight with clean shaven Nathan Petrelli and ugly scared Petrelli, and Matt Parkman against the Haitian until they wind-up fighting each other somehow. Oh and Peter rolls back his eyes like Isaac used to and freaks his new girlfriend out. More people get the sign to be killed... yada yada... why wasn't Kristen Bell in the show longer?

I will also admit that the spy plot in Chuck wasn't the greatest either, and it's not always a great sign when the B-plot involves more of annoying Morgan but as Chuck finds himself lying to his sister and friend as he's taken away by Sarah and Casey on a stakeout, he gets the case of bad time management. Chuck and Sarah are supposed to celebrate "Mothers Day" (in the fall) and while it seems odd that Ellie would be so persistent that Chuck show up, it's all nicely explained at the end by one quick explanation that "Mothers Day" was the day when their mother left leaving them with a useless father and that was the day when the brother and sister learned to rely on themselves. It was such an awww moment that it forgave the slightly weaker stakeout plot and somehow even redeemed Morgan (though his nicety to the customer during the sales competition moved Morgan up a notch as well).

How I Met Your Mother finally redeems itself with this seasons so-so year when the gang is alltogether at the bar and meets Ted's date BlahBlah (future Ted can't remember her name) who he met on the internet (which they show at the end!!!). Except she had some story to cover that up, but in doing so, points out to Barney that she's crazier than hot on the Crazy/Hot scale. Lily and Marshall re-tell their first meeting, now perfected to a performance, Ted reveals how HE first met Lily, Barney retells how he first met Ted and Marshall, and we remember why we loved this show so much in the first place. Plus the Crazy/Hot chart was very educational in its demonstration. The "sandwiches" were a nice touch.

Samantha Who? finds Sam going back to work, trying to figure out what she does, realises she was a crazy ass mean boss (who makes her secretary start her apple off with a bite), was deathly afraid of elevators, worked for an unethical developer (aren't they all?), and was planning on getting a boob job. It's strange that this show is paired up with Dancing with the Stars and while I'm sure the lead in helps it with the ratings, it seems like it would have been more suited with Denis Leary's defunct The Job or Arrested Development or even Notes from the Underbelly (which was so tragically underrated). Jean Smart is wicked funny as Sam's mom, who tries to make the connection with Sam despite being the typical nagging annoying mom (which is their jobs though, but someone like old-Sam would have had none of it).

Another wicked-funny mom was Amy Pietz in last nights funniest show, Aliens in America. Since last week when it really hit its stride, it's becoming more and more a favorite and while I'll hold off one more week to see if this trend can continue, this show will probably move to my 4 or 5 star category (and thus highlighted in red on my sidebar. Yes it's a big deal because I'm lazy at changing the codes so you KNOW it must mean something. Meanwhile, Heroes may just get downgraded finally (I was holding off until Kristen Bell showed up but her 3 scenes only convinced me that Dawn Ostroff is a complete moron for cancelling Veronica Mars). Alas, I must give Ostroff a few points though for Aliens in America, where last night, Justin's old girlfriend from kindergarden, now the popular girl, somehow gets convinced by Raja to become the smart girl and they all start hanging out. Claire joins the cool group, replacing Justin's new friend position in the hierarchy of school, and finds out that those cool parties she's been missing, were kinda gay (the guys wrestling shirtless was a riot and Claire's reaction was priceless).

Gary gets dolled up (and oranged up) for work to impress the boss, as Fran shifts her energies when Justin rejects her wardrobe choices. Justin, now convinced his new girl friend loves him back, and Raja is just so honest and simple and into his education (computers really DO rock!) that you just want to squeeze Adhir Kalyan who plays him so lovingly.

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Fall TV Review - Samantha Who?

Pilot
written by Cecelia Ahern and Don Todd, directed by Robert Duncan McNeill

That was a pretty funny pilot. Despite the name change (originally Sam I Am, which was better until Seuss and co. entered). So, I'm not sure where I heard all the bad reviews but I thought Samantha Who? was pretty hilarious and quite a good concept for a show. Granted, I've never actually seen Overboard but this basic plot of bad girl gets amnesia and turns good is paved with comic gold so why change it? I mean, if Shakespeare can mine the 7 basic plots out there (or whatever it is), then why not everyone else?

To be honest, I never thought Christina Applegate would do much beyong being a Bundy. So I thought she was cute as Jesse which surprised me. Then when she did good as Sweet Charity on Broadway, I was happy for her. Then a few movie roles, and voila, a semi-respected actress considering, well, she was a Bundy (on the other hand, Katey Segall has also moved on quite well with herself). So I'm glad to see her as Samantha, the girl in question who wakes up with no memory of anything from her past, not remembering her family (Kevin Dunna and Jean Smart), best friend (Jennifer Esposito), boy friend (Barry Watson), stalkerish loser friendly non-friend (Melissa McCarthy), and most importantly, not really remembering all her evil former ways.

We get to see the evil in flashbacks, when she first stole Todd's coffee and giving him the finger before they become an item, or we see the evil in sporadic bursts that eject from Samantha, like when she's at a club and another partyer is being annoying. If anyone can convince us that she can be a bad girl AND a good girl, Christina Applegate is probably near the top of the list, and she milks it for all the funny.

What makes this show work even more than just the typical central girl character show is the surrounding cast. I loved Jean Smart since she was Charlene on Designing Women and she was surpringly super scary/fierce in 24 so taking on the nutso role of Samantha's mother, who only alludes to their former riff, is FANTASTIC!

Jennifer Esposito plays it nicely as Samantha's way-too-cool best friend and bad influence and it's nice to see her back in comedy, but Melissa McCarthy, taking on the role of the sad fat girl who is mistaken as Samantha's friend, even though they hadn't been since grade school, was far funnier than it probably should be. It's a cliched role yet Melissa owns it and makes it (no pun intended) a fully rounded character. Sookie she ain't. Sookie was a happy character. Dena is just sad (but very very funny to us).

Barry Watson is fine as Todd, the boyfriend who had just finally gotten the nerve to break up with Sam before her accident, and almost convinces me that he is weak enough to have been whipped by evil Sam, but just strong enough to be, well, Barry Watson. Plus, and I know he cut it during What About Brian's season 2 but really, who watched that?, Barry Watson finally has a decent hair cut.

Of course Tim Russ has to be the black man with the words of wisdom (or memory of Sam's formal life) as the doorman to her building but it actually worked better than I thought, even though the words Benson kept popping up in my mind.

So, I'm glad the pilot met all my expectations since I was excited about this just based on the female cast alone (and newly shorn Barry Watson doesn't hurt), so at this point Samantha Who? gets 3.5 Stars (***1/2) though it has the possibility of being higher but again, I tend to hold of giving automatic 4's or 5's until I've seen a few more episodes (I've learned my lesson from The Nine).

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