The Vampire Diaries - House Guest

This episode gave us a lot, including two deaths. We were sad about them, because these two were only guilty of trusting the wrong people (until Jonas' revenge frenzy). They were good people who were just trying to save the life of a family member. Jonas’ death was particularly sad for us. We never really warmed up to Luka. But Jonas DID stab Matt in the neck, so maybe we aren’t that sad.

The Vampire Diaries has been teasing that Aunt Jenna would finally be told what’s going on in Mystic Falls for a while now. The actress has given interviews about it as well. Amazingly, we totally forgot about the possibility of Matt finding out the truth. But this show loves to surprise us. Matt knows that Caroline is a vampire and that his sister, Vicki, was right about their existence. This ended on a cliffhanger: Matt looked like he was blaming Caroline for his sister’s death. Hopefully, when he stops yelling, Caroline will be able to tell him that she was turned after Vicki’s death. We forget how much Matt has been through because he has been so stable this season. The real question for us is whether Matt is down with dating a vampire, even if she does sing to him so beautifully. That was a little cheesy, but we love Matt and Caroline so much that we will accept it. We also loved his reaction to hearing the truth - it felt real and we don't blame him for totally freaking out.

Also, now Bonnie knows how to kill Klaus. Good. Let’s get that party started. Also, we love that Damon had the fortitude to reject Katherine’s sex offer. We've also decided that Katherine should not die at the end of this season. We like her.

This show is now on hiatus and will return April 7th. We are pissed.

Episode grade: A+

Grey's Anatomy - Not Responsible review

The most interesting part of this episode for us, even though it wasn’t necessarily at the forefront, was the fight between Cristina and Owen. First of all, because it was realistic. Second of all, because they both had great points. The show left it unresolved and we think that it’s going to start a bunch of problems between the newlyweds. We will be less amused if they break up over this, because they’ve been through so much as a couple, it would be a shame to break them up over babies. We've already seen that happen with a couple on this show. It would make our favorite character, Cristina, seem cold. It would make Owen seem like another Burke repeat who didn’t know or accept Cristina either. We don’t think that’s fair to either character.

Cristina told Owen that she married him because she was a “PTSD wastoid,” freaked out, and rushed into it. We were all thinking the same thing, but he married her for the right reasons. That’s not good…and not nice to hear from someone you are married too. He has been really nice to her through all her meltdowns, walking out, and offering to trade him for Teddy. She’s our favorite, but she’s not being nice. A career is NOT all there is to life. When you mature, you realize it is your loved ones who matter. He is completely right about that. Yeah, kids poop and keep you up at night, but they are part of life. It’s nice to be unselfish and have a family. Plus, he's being reasonable. He's not pushing for it while she's a resident and focusing on her career. He didn't throw down an ultimatum. His main point was that she should consider his wishes, discuss the possibility, and lay it out on the table. He thinks he should have a say.

However, when it comes down to it, we think Cristina should win this fight. He went into the marriage knowing that she didn’t want children and “thought she would come around.” She was honest. He married her anyway. You can’t marry someone thinking you are going to change them. It’s not fair and it hardly ever works. Case closed; he needs to live with it, even if he thinks she’s wrong. Even though Owen has been really good to Cristina this season and he has a point, we are Team Cristina on this, because she has been fair as far as this issue goes. Also, how funny looking would those kids be? Actually, they would either be really ugly or really gorgeous in an unconventional way. Whose side are you on?

Another reason this is interesting is that it may be related to other, more substantial insecurities. Owen doesn't feel listened to. Cristina is blocking him and insisting that their marriage might not have been a good idea. She might be wondering if he wants to change her like Burke. She might have intimacy issues because of her dead dad and freaky mom. We foresee that this is going to stir up a lot of drama for these two in the final half of this season. This looks like a catalyst to take this couple through a rough time. It might be about more than babies. This could turn into something VERY interesting. It could either mean personal growth for Cristina and more uncovering of the warm, gushy heart we know is hiding behind those walls. Or it could mean a split for this couple. That could create opportunities to couple these up and provide more plots for the show. Or it could create the opportunity for them to get back together and re-marry, and do it right this time and not rush it.

Other thoughts on the episode:
-Did anyone else tear up when the little boy, Kyle, started singing "Walk the Line" to his mother? So sweet (and sad).
-We liked Stark more after he asked April out. He wasn’t being a jerk and he was even cute in a dorky way when he did it. We always pictured April getting her V-card plucked by one of those male models posing as doctors, not mean, older Stark. This was funny and we look forward to an awkward date between these two. It rounds his character out, too.
-This episode also redeemed Lexie and Jackson a little bit for us. Lexie has many immature moments, but her speech to the cystic fibrosis girlfriend was direct, wise, and professional. It probably saved their lives as well. Jackson, known for saying really stupid things at really stupid moments, finally said something right when he told Lexie that he was “in line” for her. We know so many people will be upset that Jackson might ruin Mark and Lexie, but those two have had a while to get together and have blown it too many times for us to still care. Besides, Jackson and Lexie are more appropriate together.
-We were with Mark. Knowledge is not worth risking a miscarriage. Take it as it comes. Don’t risk making things with your baby worse. Plus, nine-inch needle. Mark is doing a great job with this whole inconvenient triangle, and he’s embracing responsibility. Lighten up, Arizona. He’s a laugh!
-Meredith has been benched, for the most part, for the SHOW for the last two seasons; the chief doesn’t need to bench her from the O.R. Ughhhh. Meredith was right (probably) about the chief’s wife. Maybe he hates her subconsciously because of that.

We liked that, while this episode featured the Mark/Callie/Arizona baby drama, there were other things in the episode. It was well-balanced between all of the characters. They all had substantial storylines Thursday night.

Episode Grade: B+

Unknown

One of us just saw Unknown, starring Liam Neeson. Whereas Taken, Neeson’s other action vehicle was a stupid story with good direction and entertaining pacing, Unknown was a pretty good story with poor direction and pacing that made it stupid. This is an unremarkable action thriller. The first half is really bad. There are moments during that first half where the movie feels like a parody of an action movie. The second half picks up in momentum, starts revealing things, and gets a little more entertaining. This blogger never really cared about the characters or what was going on in the movie though. It’s pretty run-of-the-mill. Slightly above average. There were times where we were bored.

If you really want to see this, go ahead. If your friends are trying to drag you to see it, fight it. But if they won’t give in, go ahead and see it. It’s ok. It’s mildly amusing. But this blogger is sure that anyone who enjoyed Taken and is looking for something similar will be disappointed. It’s really a shame, because the trailer looked interesting, and there’s not much in theatres that we haven’t seen that is watchable.

Liam was decent. Diane Krueger was good. January Jones can act about as well as a piece of bread. It was set in Berlin, so it was nice to hear a little of the German language. The artist guy from The Lives of Others was in it, but that just made this blogger sad that she was watching Unknown and not The Lives of Others.

Movie Grade: C+

American Idol Top 24

We found a good picture gallery of the top 24. We don't think it's time to pick a favorite yet. A lot of these people we have yet to hear very much out of. We like Casey, Lauren, the Italian guy, and Robbie.

Here's the link:

http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/%27American-Idol%27:-Season-10%27s-top-24/G2061,A8578

Idol is so much better this season than last.

Tomorrow, as soon as possible, we are going blog about Grey's Anatomy, Fringe, and that doozy of a Vampire Diaries episode last night.

Great Freaking News

Two and a Half Men has shut down production for the rest of the season. Yayyyyy!

Glee news

Someone is going to be dying right before regionals. It's going to have a big impact on regionals. Guesses?

We hope it's Artie.

American Idol - 2/23

Ern is really bummed that Ashley went home. That girl is entertaining, and she definitely has a voice. She is a real life, female Gollum! But whatever. Ern should NOT pick anyone she likes, because, historically, everyone Ern likes is sent home. This could be because Ern has crazy taste in American Idol contestants (Siobhan Magnus anyone?), but it could also be that Ern is jinxed.

We are both less bummed that Chris Medina was sent home. That guy was likeable, but he didn’t have a voice. And he sang “Fix You” by Coldplay. YUCK and cliché. The producers probably put him up to it. No wonder J-Lo cried: The show strung him along so that it could take advantage of his sob story. We would have cried to be a part of that too. We like that Jennifer Lopez cried. We don’t think it was manipulative or acting. We think that this is a person who really knows what it’s like to come from nothing and have a dream. She could really connect with all of these people in a way that Simon Cowell could not. This may lead to emotion. She’s human. And she learned a lesson: Idol will exploit everyone’s weaknesses for entertainment, even those of a famous judge.

We get that some of the contestants are only 15, but the fact that they don’t think they’ve ever heard a Beatles song (they have and just didn’t know it) should bar them from any respectable stage. But some of the people we haven’t seen much of before started to stand out. There ARE some good people on this show this year, they just didn’t have interesting enough stories to get coverage earlier. Singers everywhere: If a close family member gets cancer, your first thought needs to be, “Great, I’m trying out for Idol this year.” Scotty, Robbie Rosen, and Lauren Alaina made it through. We disagree with letting Scotty through. He’s shown himself to be supremely lame during Hollywood week. And if he sings that one song he likes again, we are going to smash our TVs. Molly the White House intern is gone, and we think they should have kept her instead of Scotty. Leeard will be happy, because she hated Molly’s personality. Sadly, they got rid of Hollie Cavanaugh too, even though she certainly held her own during this week. The judges told her to come back in a few years, and we think she should. Then they won’t be able to say she’s too young.

We are so ready for the rest of the top 24 and to get this show and voting started.

Glee - Blame it on the Alcohol review

Did Glee REALLY rub another Bieste/Will kiss in our faces? While this one was more friendly and quick, it was still them kissing and we are still not fans. Also, we didn’t like the topic this week at all. It was preachy and awkward. Interestingly, there were no students in the Glee club who thought drinking was wrong, even though there are plenty of high school kids who do. Hey, at least they had a DD….With the statistics casually thrown out and the lame moment where Will quit drinking, plus the fun party scenes, we felt like the episode contradicted itself. One of us thinks there is no reason that teens should be drinking. When one blogger was a teen teetotaler, she got the message from the media that drinking was the most fun thing a person could do, and that a full life could not be complete without it. Adulthood newsflash after some boozing: Drinking IS fun (depending on who you do it with), but it isn't even in the top ten most fun activities, unless your life is just sad. This episode definitely made drinking look like an amazing time, when really only one time out of ten is that fun. There were some consequences of course: Will’s drunk dial and the vomit, which we will get to in a moment.

The show should have treated the drinking episode with pure, Heathers-like dark humor, not half PSA and half funny episode. You can’t have a PSA in the episode where hangovers last from Saturday morning until Monday. It would have been gone by then, even if they had enough to black out. Also unrealistic? How good and autotuned Rachel and Blaine sounded singing when they were that drunk. Not that we didn’t enjoy the heck out of that number, which was the best, most simple, and most fun song of the night. But what on earth was Rachel wearing and where did she get it? Don’t her gay dads have enough style to dress her? We are loving her hair though. Straight bangs were just too harsh on her.

Rachel’s song about her headband made us laugh out loud. Thank God the character Rachel isn’t REALLY writing the songs with dumb Finn. We read that Max Martin, maker of such top 40 hits as….well, most P!nk songs, boy band songs, and other very popular pop, helped write the original Glee songs. Nice.

The Rachel/Blaine kiss was awesome. They go great together. Too bad Blaine is really gay. We love both Rachel and Blaine drunk. When Blaine’s hair is a little more wilder, he’s even cuter (what’s with us and hair, this post?). Kurt was dead-on with his hilarious words to Rachel after she went on a date with Blaine. He was less dead-on with his words to his father about how he wished his father would be able to give him advice on gay loving. What was that? His father is accepting. Does he really need to know the technicalities of what went on in the Brokeback Mountain tent to be a supporting father? Also, he was treating Kurt just like he would if Kurt were straight. Most 16-year-olds aren’t allowed to have lovers spend the night. That’s just good parenting, gay or straight. He was also a douche to Blaine in this episode. But we like when the show allows Kurt to have faults, rather than portraying him as this tragic, perfect martyr. He’s a real character.

We liked the final performance, because Heather Morris has charisma, but the Ke$ha cover was completely unnecessary. The vomit was funny though. Ern is happy to say she has never been vomited on; Leeard has not been so lucky. The best part of the episode, for one of us, was when Sue played Will’s accidental drunk dial meant for Emma over the school’s loudspeaker. We loved Emma’s little smile, and Will’s mortification was very funny. After suffering this trauma, Will took it out on the Glee kids by having them sign a pledge not to drink until Nationals. It was a heartfelt moment. Will gave the kids his number in case they got drunk and needed a ride home or an adult to call. This is actually a cool move. Ern’s school principal did this at the beginning of every school year. Some kids actually did call him when they were in trouble. They had to endure a mother of a lecture though….We’re sure Will would just throw out a few platitudes and then go off to mack on Bieste again.

Overall, the fun moments outweighed the awkward and preachy ones.

Episode grade: B

Song We Like This Week

Adele has been getting a lot of attention, because she's a critical darling who has released her sophomore album. These bloggers often disagree with music critics. Katy Perry's album was fun, ok? And Justin Bieber was robbed of a Grammy award. And forget Green Day, the best rock band around right now is Switchfoot, dangit. Also, Janelle Monae hurts our ears.

But Adele has some nice songs, and her second single off of her new album is powerful, catchy, gorgeous, and very well-sung. The song is called "Set Fire to the Rain," and darn it if we can't find a youtube video with the song on it. It's worth buying off of iTunes though. We can't stop listening to it. It's a lot more addictive than the first single she released.

How I Met Your Mother - Garbage Island review

How I Met Your Mother has finally told us how Ted met the mother. He meets her at the wedding from the first episode of this season! Maybe! Does this mean that we get to meet the mother at the end of this season? We are so excited. Finally, this show is moving forward. Kinda. Also, it was revealed that Zoey is definitely not the mother. In fact, it’s going to end badly between her and Ted. YAY! We never really liked her. It's not Jennifer Morrison's fault. Her character was just introduced as too much of a political freak. We don't think women like that are ever attractive as characters, for whatever reason, justified or not. They come off as harsh, unfeminine, pains.

We are surprised how much we like Nora, considering we want nothing coming between an eventual Robin/Barney wedding. But Nora is cool. Maybe it’s the accent, maybe it’s the laser tag, or maybe it’s that she didn’t sleep with Barney yet. But we are liking her and we are liking that Barney is falling for her. The way he couldn’t say her name without smiling was adorable. We are not freaking out that the wedding Ted meets the mother at might be Barney and Nora’s wedding. We are still convinced that it will be Punchy’s wedding. Remember? The guy from Ted’s high school who asked Ted to be his best man? Because if Nora marries Barney, we will hate her. The only Barney marriage that would last would be one with Robin, because they are friends and he actually respects her. That’s if Barney should get married at all; his whole character revolves around him being a womanizing bachelor, and that’s the character we love.

The plot with The Captain finding out that Ted is the one who stole Zoey was funny. Lily trying to get Marshall to have sex with her was dull. We liked Marshall setting the waitress up with his fired co-worker, due to their hatred of him. We also like that Marshall is probably going to quit his job and do something that he cares about. Does anyone else think that older Ted is hotter than regular Ted? They are both hotter than Moustache Ted from The Captain’s fantasy.

In conclusion, this episode gets an A from us for being entertaining, for giving us some answers, and for finally moving things along.

Episodes Season One

Showtime’s Episodes ended last night, and it was a pretty fun little show. The last episode was perfect. We loved that the husband didn’t sleep with Morning. We loved how Matt LeBlanc handled the situation at the end. It definitely didn’t need to be more than seven episodes, but we can see a short season two working. The fight between Matt and Sean was about as good as physical comedy gets. The show improved as it went along, and the last few episodes were the funniest and least mean. Focusing on the shallow Neanderthal that was Matt’s “character,” rather than cutting up on TV execs, helped the show actually become funny, rather than superior. If you only saw the lame first episode, you saw the worst of it.

The show was Matt-less during the first episode, but once he showed up, it was witty hilarity. We loved his ability to make fun of himself by becoming a parody of an average Hollywood TV star. We realized at the end that we actually cared about the British couple at the center of the show. Beverly was always hard to like, because she was a stereotypical serious female shrew, but after she slept with Matt, she became a better character. Also, if you really think about it, every time she was being a buzz kill or judgmental, she was totally right. Overall, this was subtle, enjoyable and pretty original. We are glad it found its voice before the finale. But we sort of wished we were watching Lyman’s Boys instead (the British version, of course).

Season grade: B

If You Miss Firefly -- Check this out

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/02/21/help-nathan-fillion-buy-firefly/


http://helpnathanbuyfirefly.com/


http://www.facebook.com/HelpNathanBuyFF?sk=wall#!/HelpNathanBuyFF

Anne Hathaway to Guest Star on Glee

How did we not know this sooner? Sorry for the month-late news, but if you didn't know, Anne Hathaway is going to be on Glee.

Quote by Anne:
"In my head, I've written a part for myself on 'Glee.'" she told Fallon. "In my head I've cast myself on 'Glee' and I know what song I'd sing... I would wanna play Kurt's long-lost aunt, his mother's sister who is also gay, who comes back to help him deal with his sexuality, and I would sing, 'You Are Not Alone,'" a song from Stephen Sondheim's 'Into The Woods.'

Does she mean "No One Is Alone"? Because that would be good. Apparently, Ryan Murphy liked her idea. But, come on, like he WASN'T going to like that idea. Ha. She sure knows what to pitch.

We aren't huge into Glee guest stars, but Anne Hathaway has a beautiful voice, so we will take it.

Dropping V

This isn't like when we "dropped" Gossip Girl and one of us caved. We are both really dumping this show. Even though our blog stats say the reviews are popular, we just don't want to watch it anymore. It will probably be canceled after this season anyway. A DESERVED axe.

This week, a semi-important character died. We had heard rumors of a death, and we got excited, thinking it might be Tyler. Sadly, it was not. Also, we realized that there wasn't a single character we would mourn at all. After nearly two season, that's a problem. Heck, after five episodes into the first season of a show, that's a problem.

Also, the show makes no sense. As commenter Jim Z pointed out, the Vs could just put a tracking device on Ryan to find The Fifth Column. That comment pretty much ruined the entire show for us (not that there was much to ruin). There are lots of things the Vs could do to find The Fifth Column. They are too bumbling to be scary.

It's a dumb show. And boring. It's like The Hills: They just walk around and talk about each other. Nothing happens. Occasionally, someone bites someone else. We may go back to the original and see what on earth there was that made a remake seem like a good idea.

The only episodes of this show we will be watching are the finale and the episode where Tyler, inevitably, dies a horrible death.

Show Grade: C-

Fringe - 6B review

Fringe is still owning its new Friday slot. The ratings went up this week. We will be surprised if it doesn’t get a fourth season, which is great news for nerds. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Fringe is the best nerd show on right now. It’s not as good as LOST or The X Files, but we are in a nerd TV draught. Don’t even mention V or The Event to us. Or Flashforward. Buncha failures. They forgot one thing: Nerds are SMART. We need mythology, philosophy, spirituality, and three-dimensional characters we will care about.

On Fringe, Walter gets more loveable all the time. He’s a far cry from the weirdo wetting his britches in season one. Making pancakes for Olivia and Peter to try to get them back together was so adorable. And after Peter made that perfect little speech to Olivia about what it was like when he thought they were together, we were surprised she didn’t immediately give in. But finally, she and Peter decided to give it a go and went upstairs…presumably to play board games and drink chocolate milk. Ya think?

The case of the week, with the fake ghost, was eerie and felt supernatural, even though this show sticks to science rather than spirits. Does the vortex freak anyone else out, a lot? The one that looked like a whirlpool?

Alright episode of a good show. It’s nice to have Peter and Olivia get together again. It balances the scales for the universes, after last week’s episode.

Episode Grade: B-