Early Obituary - Life Unexpected

Life Unexpected will no longer air on the CW after its January 18th two-part finale at 8 p.m. Hellcats will take its spot, which is disappointing. Even though Life Unexpected had its problems, it was more watchable than Hellcats.

The last episode of LUX had Cate and Baze finding out shocking facts about Lux's past, and the mother-daughter dynamic and theme was very touching. Life Unexpected struggled with being boring when it showcased Ryan and Cate's stupid marriage problems in the first half of the season, rather than Lux's struggle to fit into her new family. But the second half of the season has a decently riveting affair with a teacher and Lux's past front-and-center.

The series finale will wrap up that storyline and have Lux fitting into her family more than ever, plus some surprises, so we recommend that you watch. Britt Robertson, who played Lux, did a good job, and we think she has a future. She has a nice, capable presence, and she could find a good home on any other teen show. The Vampire Diaries needs another female human now that Caroline has been turned....

Life Unexpected was a sweet show that tried to emphasize the importance of love and family. The scripts, plots, and the development of Cate were sometimes lacking, but overall, the show was more good than bad. One of us is sad to see it go. The other one is apathetic. We hope another show comes along and tries this sort of thing, only with the success of say, Gilmore Girls, because TV needs this sort of show. Right now, the show that embodies this spirit is Parenthood, another good one. R.I.P.

Series Grade: B-

The Last Tests

Our last tests of the semester are tomorrow. Wish us luck! Anyway, the blog will be back in full swing after that. Thanks to Hatts for all the help, and happy holidays.

Golden Globe TV Nominations

Best TV Series — Drama
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
The Good Wife
Mad Men - Leeard's pick
The Walking Dead - Ern's pick
Dexter, while always good, was not at its best this season. One of us doesn't care for Mad Men, and The Good Wife is sort of last year. This leaves Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead, and they are both worthy. With Scorsese, Buscemi, and the budget, Boardwalk Empire should have been much better than it was. The Walking Dead is the more notable achievement. LOST was robbed of a nomination. While the last season disappointed some, it was a lot better than at least three of these choices. Leeard isn't caught up on Mad Men, but honestly, it's probably always a good choice.

Best TV Series — Musical or Comedy
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
The Big C -Ern's pick
Glee
Modern Family - Leeard's pick
Nurse Jackie
30 Rock is good, but overrated. The Big Bang Theory is cute, but not on par with the other choices. Glee is slacking in season two. Nurse Jackie is not funny enough to be a comedy, even a dark one. Modern Family and The Big C are left, and because Modern Family is just repeating the same things, Ern picks The Big C. Leeard is going to go with Modern Family, because it's a very well-received network comedy, though both are worthy shows.

Best Miniseries or Made-for-TV Movie
Carlos
The Pacific
The Pillars of the Earth - Ern's pick
Temple Grandin
You Don’t Know Jack - Leeard's pick

The Pillars of Earth is the only one Ern watched, and she thought it was good. Leeard saw You Don't Know Jack and while it wasn't amazing, she can't physically make herself root against Al Pacino.

Best Actor - Drama
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House M.D.
We would be good with any of these winning, especially the first three.

Best Actress - Drama
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs - Ern's pick
Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer - Leeard's pick

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Thomas Jane, Hung
Matthew Morrison, Glee
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Either Alec or Jim would be good. Matthew Morrison hasn't had enough material in a while and Steve Carell's Michael Scott is becoming even more uncomfortable to watch, if that's possible.

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Lea Michele, Glee
You really can't beat Toni Collette at much. The only one we disagree with on this worthy list is Tina Fey. She doesn't have enough charisma for acting, even though she's a funny writer. She just plays herself on that (admittedly funny) show.

Best Supporting Actor in TV Series, Mini-Series, or Made-for-TV Movie
Scott Caan, Hawaii Five-0
Chris Colfer, Glee
Chris Noth, The Good Wife
David Strathairn, Temple Grandin
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
Any of these are fine. Chris Colfer might win, but Eric Stonestreet is our pick.

Best Supporting Actress in TV Series, Mini-Series, or Made-for-TV Movie
Hope Davis, The Special Relationship
Jane Lynch, Glee
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Julia Stiles, Dexter
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
It's Sofia's turn.

None of these nominations are particularly interesting. Blah.

Commenting on Stephen King's 2010 Favorites

Stephen King put out a list of his top ten TV shows of the past year, with commentary. You can find his list, with pictures and his commentary, on the "recent interesting links" page. We've listened to this man ever since he dogged Stephanie Meyer's "writing." Just kidding. We've listened to him ever since he said, "I'm sick of people saying something is 'Harry Potter for adults.' Harry Potter is Harry Potter for adults." No, wait. We misremembered. We've loved him since our teenaged hands got a copy of The Gunslinger.

He usually has good taste in TV too. He turned us onto Breaking Bad a few years ago, so we will pay attention to his list. The commentary here is ours, duh.

Steve's List
10) Morning Joe - We've never seen it, but it sounds awful. Pat Buchanan is on it? You couldn't pay us to watch something with him, and both of us are Christians (Catholic counts as Christian).

9) Boardwalk Empire - Typical guy pick, Uncle Stevie, but we agree. For the most part.

8) Spongebob Squarepants - Stephen King WOULD like this. Ha. We've laughed at a few episodes before, but it's never been a favorite, even when we were kids.

7) Sons of Anarchy - We have GOT to catch up on that before next season. Way too many people we respect say that it's great.

6) Dexter - Not it's best season this year, but still enjoyable.

5) Damages - One of us has never seen it. The other one watched it like it was her job back in seasons one and two, but it got a bit too ridiculous for her. Should we catch up?

4) The Event - Ugh, disagree. Was he paid to plug this? It's been getting lots of promotion lately (in a lame attempt to save it), especially on E! Take away this life support and let it either survive on its own or die. IF ONLY it were comparable to LOST and 24.

3) Breaking Bad - Agree

2) The Walking Dead - We JUST started catching up on this (we've seen about 1.5 episodes), and so far, we agree. It's better than all the new shows combined.

1) Friday Night Lights - Surprising first pick from Stephen King (over the horror and other weird shows), but we approve. It's nice to see FNL get some love from a celebrity in its final (tear) season.

If you ask us, this list is missing The Vampire Diaries. If he can dredge up some love for Spongebob and Pat Buchanan.... And TVD is WAY more clever than The Event. TVD kept TV good for us this whole lackluster fall season.

Dexter Season 5 Finale

After last season, and with all the madness set up last episode, we expected this season to end with some sort of shocker. Well, it didn't. In fact, it was too happy. We were waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it never did. Deb didn't find out about Dexter, and that curtain thing felt like a cop-out. Everything was too neat. It's not like the people who watch Dexter watch it for a nice love story, a subtle and poignant ending, and a sweet little birthday party. NO! We want dead Ritas, blown up Doakeses, revelations, Dexter hunted, rival serial killers, cliffhangers, mysteries, and some good killings.

However, this interview with the producers makes us feel better about the season: http://insidetv.ew.com/2010/12/13/dexter-season-5-finale-the-big-one-sara-colleton/

We especially like the quote, "Eventually, some season is going to have to deal with Deb finding out about Dexter." Yes, it is. Seriously, every Dexter viewer should read that interview. It doesn't spoil anything that's going to happen next season; it just talks about what happened in this season that is actually important.

After some thought (and reading that interview), we realize that this season was a vital step for the characters, especially Deb, Dexter, and even Harrison. Deb opened her mind to the grey areas in life, and Dexter found healing after Rita's demise. It was appropriate to spend a season on the mourning of Rita. Deb wasn't ready to find out about her brother, and after the finale, she probably is.

But we all wanted the shocker.

Episode grade: B-
Season grade: B-
(All Dexter season grades, for comparison- Season one: B+, Season two: B-, Season three: B, Season four: A)