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Friday, May 27, 2011

You know, for a crazy homeless person ... he's pretty cut.

Thor is getting rave reviews, so we thought we would check it out. After all the hype, we were a little disappointed. Why? Because of the lightweight plot and lightweight characters. It was formulaic to the max. This means that any sequel will probably be too complicated. They always do that with movies. The most interesting character probably won’t be present too. Maybe a sequel will bring us more amusing Kat Dennings scenes?

However, there were some funny bits, great fight scenes, it wasn’t too long, and the special effects were incredible. It’s worth seeing in theaters to see Thor’s heavenly planet in all its designed glory. It was entertaining superhero froth. People are saying that it’s “pretty good,” and that’s about the most accurate thing you can say about this movie. We liked the Iron Man reference. Nerd points to those who caught it.

If you are interested, it’s not bad at all. If you are not interested, we’re not going to try to convince you to rush to the theater. And religious people: relax, he's not God in the movie. He's more like an alien with superpowers and lots of responsibility.

Leeard liked the movie more than Ern did; it's a nice addition to the Avengers movie universe.

Movie Grade: B

Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Ern and Leeard Season Awards-

This post is for Charvi.

Seasons/Shows Overall
Best season, overall: Leeard’s pick- The Vampire Diaries. Ern’s pick- Parks and Recreation
-Runner up: Leeard’s pick- The Chicago Code. Ern’s pick- Fringe
Worst season: Leeard’s pick- The Office. Ern’s pick- V
Best drama season: Pretty Little Liars
Worst drama season: Undercovers
Best comedy season: Community
Worst comedy season besides 2.5 Men: South Park
Guiltiest pleasure this year: Leeard- The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Ern- America's Next Top Model
Most overrated show this season: The Good Wife
Best reality show: American Idol (the pickings were slim, because So You Think You Can Dance airs in the summer)
Worst reality show: Bridalplasty
Best comeback season (after a lame season last year): How I Met Your Mother

Finales
Best finale, overall: The Vampire Diaries
Worst finale, overall: Gossip Girl
Best Comedy Finale: The paintball episodes of Community.

Individual episodes
Best episode:
“As I Lay Dying,” The Vampire Diaries (are you surprised?)
Worst episode: “Night of Neglect,” Glee
Best Pilot: Lone Star
Worst Pilot: Nikita
Saddest episode: “Taking the Plunge,” The Big C. (When the son finds all his presents.)
-Runner-up: Any episode of The Killing where we see those parents cry for their daughter.
Most entertaining episode that wasn’t very good: "Song Beneath the Song", Grey’s Anatomy (the singing one)

Romance
Best steady couple: Angela and Hodgins, Bones
Worst steady couple: Jim and Pam, The Office
Best couple getting together/execution of that plot: Blaine and Kurt, Glee
Worst couple getting together/execution of that plot: Arthur and Guinevere, Camelot
Best wedding: April and Andy, Parks and Recreation
Best proposal: Matt Saracen, Friday Night Lights
Nicest breakup: Dexter and Lumen, Dexter
Nastiest breakup: Owen and Cristina, Grey’s Anatomy
Best Kiss: Ben kisses Leslie, Parks and Recreation
Best sex: Mina Minard and Tommy, Off the Map
Most unrealistic couple pairing that we hate: Eli and Miranda, Grey’s Anatomy
Most unrealistic couple pairing that we like: Puck and Lauren, Glee
Couple pairing we wanted to happen all season: Travis and Laurie, Cougar Town

Individual characters and actors
Best character, overall:
Santana, Glee
Worst character, overall: Maddie, Better with You
Hottest guy: Neal Caffrey, White Collar (mainly because we couldn't pick just one guy from The Vampire Diaries )
Least hot guy: Arthur, Camelot
Best actor: John Noble, Fringe
Best actress: Alison Brie, Community
Worst actor not on Secret Life: Ed Westwick, Gossip Girl
Worst actress not on Secret Life: Lucy Hale, Pretty Little Liars (but it might be the part she has)
Best Dad: Burt Hummel, Glee
Best Mom: Kim Keeler, Make It or Break It
Worst Dad: Frank Gallagher, Shameless
Worst Mom: Anna, V
Nicest character, male: Sasha Belov, Make It or Break It
Nicest character, female: Tammi Taylor, Friday Night Lights
Most evil character: Lauren Tanner, Make It or Break It. She'll probably win this category until the show goes off the air.
Biggest slut, female: Kalinda, The Good Wife
Biggest slut, male: Chuck Bass, Gossip Girl
Most overrated character: Kalinda on The Good Wife. The way the media talks about her and her secrets and sexuality, you would think she was the most fascinating thing ever. We find Alicia more interesting.
Best reality star: Tie - Haley Reinhart and Casey Abrams, American Idol
Worst reality star: Randy Jackson, American Idol
Cutest Baby: Zola, Grey’s Anatomy

Writing, directing, and plotlines
Best writing:
Parenthood
Worst writing: No Ordinary Family
Best cliffhanger: The Vampire Diaries (No hesitation on this one. Absolutely no contest.)
Most intense season: Make It Or Break It (That's what happens when you cancel 24)
Most boring season: Bones
Best twist: Caroline gets turned into a vampire, The Vampire Diaries
Stupidest twist: anything that happened on The Event
Most predictable season: Make It or Break It
Best use of gay characters: Callie and Arizona, Grey’s Anatomy.
Worst use of gay characters: Marshall, his jerk boyfriend with the white hair, and the boy Marshall cheated on blondie with, The United States of Tara.
Best plotline: Cristina loses her mind for half a season on Grey’s Anatomy. Although we wish it had led to the expected growth for the character, it gave Sandra Oh great material.
Worst plotline: Cate and Ryan’s marriage on Life Unexpected. Cate’s material that season probably killed the show.
-runner up: Emily Kmetko gets pregnant on Make It or Break It. Also, Sasha blames himself for everything that happens (irrationally) and takes off to Romania.
Most unrealistic show: Harry’s Law

Events
Best fight: The Jim and Dwight snowball war, The Office.
Most disturbing image: Will and Beiste kiss, Glee
-runner up: the stuffed last supper, The Borgias
Best death: that surprise Southland death. Never has the demise of a main character been that unexpected.
Stupidest death: Jean, Glee
Most-hyped event that turned out to be not a big deal: someone getting sniped, Bones
Best removal of an unpopular character: Vanessa’s exit from Gossip Girl
Wisest moment: Kurt’s dad giving him “The Talk” on Glee.

Goodbyes and renewals
Show that shouldn’t have been cancelled:
The Chicago Code
Show that should have been cancelled: House
Show that lost us as viewers this season: Gossip Girl
Ending that angered us: Off the Map (it ended on a bunch of cliffhangers and is not coming back. Rude)
Show we will miss that had a good run: Tie - Big Love and Friday Night Lights

New show awards
Best New Drama:
Ern- The Walking Dead, Leeard- The Chicago Code
-Runner up: Being Human
Worst New Drama: Skins, US remake
Best New Comedy: Happy Endings
Worst New Comedy: $#*! My Dad Says
Best remake: Hawaii Five-O
Most disappointing new show: Boardwalk Empire

Miscellaneous
Show that’s getting old, even though it’s still good: Modern Family
Best wardrobes: Glee
Best hair: Quinn Fabray, Glee finale
Funniest piece of art: Jerry’s painting on Parks and Recreation, where Leslie was a centaur.

Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Happy Endings

The end of Parks and Rec season three came too quickly (it was last week). This show is never dull or slow, and every episode was funny. This was a hilarious, flawless season. It ended with sort of a cliffhanger, but love has to win out over politics, right? Although it would be great to see Leslie be mayor. Think of the material that would bring. We’ve never seen a comedy that loves its characters and has such a sweet spirit. We are laughing with these people, not at them, but we are laughing extra hard. Also, fans of this show need to check this out. Seriously, check it out. http://catstvmusings.blogspot.com/2011/05/rewarding-parks-and-recreation-fans.html

Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: A


Modern Family has been really repetitive. It’s amusing, but not the comedy revelation it was in its first season. We don’t like when shows change or try too hard, but they shouldn’t just cover the same areas and jokes. We really like everything with Phil and Claire, like when they tried to change roles or when their kids walked in on them doing the deed. But the show is getting tired for us.

Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: B-


Cougar Town just had its first solid season where Courtney Cox never, ever acts like a cougar. The rocky beginning this show had turned off a lot of people, but those tuning in now will find zany humor watching the group of wine-drinking buddies. They “pound grape.” If this show is your sense of humor (and it isn’t everyone’s), this season was pretty good. We like that the main relationship stayed throughout the whole season, leaving the group dynamic and Travis’ love stories to pick up the plot slack. This show doesn’t even need plot. It’s like hanging out and drinking in your living room with buddies.

Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: B+


Happy Endings hasn’t been on for a very long time, and it aired a lot of back-to-back episodes, just chugging them out one right after another. Most of them are up on hulu. But this show made Ern stop hating Elisha Cuthbert, and that’s a hard task, because Ern watched 24. We’re glad it’s getting another season so that it can become more popular, because it really is pretty funny.

Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: B+

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Glee Season Two - Highs and Lows


Glee just had one of the most uneven seasons we’ve seen in our lives. It was almost as uneven as Grey’s Anatomy season 5 (one of the best and stupidest seasons of the show). Half of the Glee episodes were heartless, confusing, and flashy. The other half of the season would have earned the show an A. Let’s hope the show learns not to try so hard and just goes back to being a good show with heart. Glee is getting a few new writers for season three, so hopefully that will bring some restraint and coherence.

Let’s look back at the high and low points of the season.

High: Our first introduction to the Warblers with their great rendition of "Teenage Dream". Also, their versions of "When I Get You Alone" and "Somewhere Only We Know". Also, Blaine. Mainly Blaine.

Low: Their other covers. Did we really need to hear "Misery"? Who isn’t sick of that song? And "Raise Your Glass" and "Candles" made us want to cover our ears. The group that was capable of a cappella heaven stayed in top 40, overproduced hell most of the time. We feel robbed.

High: Quinn and Sam. He was a loveable dork, and she was a girl trying to take it slow after last year’s drama. And they had some great chemistry. Just watch their duet of "Lucky".

Low: Quinn most of the time. She started cheating again, got back with Finn, slapped Rachel, chose the Cheerios over Glee for a second, and had that stupid meltdown at Nationals. Plus, the prom queen obsession. That character regressed and has become almost completely unlikeable, and it makes no sense.

High: Rachel’s rendition of "What I Did For Love" in the first episode.

Low: Rachel’s bangs, her dramatic weight loss, and most of the other songs she sang. "Firework" and "The Only Exception" were completely unnecessary.

High: Gwyneth Paltrow’s first guest appearance, where she sang Cee Lo and played a fun part well.

Low: Gwyneth Paltrow’s other guest appearances, where she was uninspired, butchered ADELE, acted like a slut, and just wasted our time.

High: Burt’s sex talk with Kurt. We’re still crying and muttering, “Amen.”

Low: Too much focus on Kurt. As one blogger put it, “He works better in an ensemble. He’s just been the moral of every story, rather than a character.” A little Kurt goes a long way. Half of his storyline this season was touching and awesome. The other half was heavy-handed and preachy.

High: Jesse coming back

Low: Jesse not getting great material, just being a straight douche, and not singing enough.

High: That they gave us more Brittany and Santana.

Low: Too much Artie

High: Brittany’s dancing.

Low: Theme episodes, as a whole.

High: How fair the religion episode was.

Low: How safe and dull the religion episode was.

High: Sam forming “The Justin Beiber Experience,” which was hilarious, however you feel about “The Beebs”.

Low: The episode where Kurt and Finn’s parents got married, the vows and reception were all about Kurt, Sue married herself, and Carol Burnett wasn’t that great (for once in her life).

High: Finn and Rachel being such a nice, healthy couple for the first half of the season.

All-time Low: THE BEISTE KISS

High: The first two original songs, "Loser Like Me" and "Get it Right".

Low: The Christmas episode, which was just an excuse to sell us a Christmas album.

High: John Stamos

Low: The Will/Emma relationship

High: The Rachel/Blaine duet and drunk Rachel.

Low: The way Sue was used this season. Especially when she was mean to Becky and nice to the Glee club. What?

High: All the Fleetwood Mac covers.

Low: All the songs they sang at prom. (Leeard VEHEMENTLY disagrees with this one, but Ern insisted on putting it here).

High: No Mr. Schue rapping.

Low: Artie rapping, too much autotune, and too many top 40 hits. We already have those songs, show. Introduce us to lesser-known stuff and classic stuff.

Leeard's season grade: C
Ern's season grade: B-
Average: C+

Glee - New York review

Last night’s finale was mostly about Rachel, story-wise. Except for the Finchel advancements and the glee club, predictably, losing at Nationals, not much really happened. What was good about this episode was that it resisted the urge to be too flashy. There was only one celebrity sighting to be found! It wasn’t one of those over-the-top episodes that most people have come to hate.

First things first: Quinn’s hair. We are so jealous that our hair won’t do that. Ern has had it that length forever and it just looks like a homeless woman’s hair. Her haircut made her ten times cuter.

Shortly after their arrival, the cast sang a mash-up of “I Love New York” and “New York New York,” which neither of us loved. We felt like they had to do a big tribute to New York number, but no one was going to like it. And Leeard doesn’t feel that way about New York. We both thought the song was “meh,” and just an excuse to show off their cute outfits and hair as they pranced around the city.

The best thing about Rachel and Finn’s date was Patti LuPone. She’s on our iPods, and we liked that she was so sweet to Rachel. We also liked that she didn’t completely take over the episode like some guest stars this season. “Bella Notte” was cute, but it’s not something we would put on our iPods. Ditto to “My Cup.” It was well into the episode, and we were feeling bummed over the lack of good music so far.

We loved Kurt in this episode. When he and Rachel are friends, it feels natural and sweet. We hope that continues and grows. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a good way to further that relationship. Their version of Wicked’s “For Good” earns the award for best song of the episode, even though one of us hates Kurt’s voice (usually) and wished it had been Kristen Chenoweth reprising her role. The other one of us thought that would have broken the illusion that the Glee world is a fictional world.

Will was supposed to go on Broadway, but he decided to stay with the kids. No one is surprised, right? But wouldn’t it have been interesting if he left for a season and left the Glee club to be coached by now-ally Sue Sylvester? Or Emma? Or someone new? Sadly, he did not. He was content to sing one of Matthew Morrison’s lame adult contemporary songs. Dear Matthew, you are better at singing Broadway stuff, not adult pop. Your songs are lame, and that’s why no one bought them. It’s also annoying that Glee is trying to force his music career on us in such an important episode. Charice also sang a lame and boring song, but she sang it well. And how cute were her team’s dresses?

Onto the original songs. Way to procrastinate, kids. If we were in New York, about to perform songs we hadn’t yet written, we would freaking out, not sight-seeing and breaking into the Broadway show Wicked. Good show, by the way. It made Ern long for that trip to New York a couple of years ago where she got to see Wicked. So fun. Anyway, “Light Up the World” was catchy, energetic, and cheesy. “Pretending” was a little dull and unoriginal. It ended with a Finn/Rachel kiss that one of us thought was unprofessional and one of us thought was awesome and in-the-moment.

Jesse saw and was upset. We both love Jonathan Groff and one of us prefers Jesse to Finn, even when Jesse is being a jerk. At least when Jesse is a jerk, he’s aware of it and it looks intentional, unlike when Finn is a jerk. We think it’s unrealistic that Sam and Mercedes are dating, but we like it. We are sad the season didn’t end with Brittany and Santana getting together, but we are happy that Blaine said, “I love you.” Love Blaine. But we love his music with The Warblers more. Oh, why does he have to transfer to New Directions, show?

We’re glad the club didn’t win at Nationals, because they need something to shoot for in subsequent seasons. And it was realistic. The episode could have been funnier, had better songs, and had more happen though.

Episode Grade: B

Later today we will post a Best and Worst Moments of the Glee Season 2 entry. And this summer, we will cover the Glee reality show.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Why We Both Like "Make It Or Break It"

Sometimes, Ern likes to binge on a show that she has never seen right before the finale, in order to be caught up for the big day. Living up to our blog title, Ern watched two seasons of Make It or Break It in three days, and she was thoroughly entertained the whole time. Leeard was surprised. Leeard’s most trusted channels are AMC and ABC Family, so she’s been watching the gymnastics show for a while. But that kind of thing isn’t really up Ern’s alley. But it’s made the list of faves.

Here’s why we like the teen gymnastics show:

1) Make It Or Break It has actual substance and life lessons. We would seriously make our teenage girls watch this show, if we had them. There are lots of good, but not cheesy, plotlines about perseverance, honor, honesty, loyalty, leading, the obsession with success, the struggle for perfection, and self-respect. Example: Payson realizing that there is more to life than gymnastics and that she should keep trying and dreaming, even without her sports career.

2) On this show, as soon as someone does something wrong or has a secret, our first thought is, “It will be interesting when that comes out.” Because it always does on this show, more often than on other shows. But this “truth always comes out” mentality that the show fosters in its viewers is realistic. It is best to fess up, in your own time, rather than have someone like Lauren Tanner tell someone first…and make it sound worse than it is.

3) The tension can be horrifyingly thick for a teen soap. You really care, and during competitions, you are on the edge of your seat.

4) The villains. Lauren Tanner, a gymnast, is the most infuriating villain we have ever seen. She’s more evil than just about anyone we’ve ever seen on TV, followed closely by gymnastics big shot Ellen Beals. But sometimes the baddies are sympathetic. Within two episodes, you will be screaming at the screen at Lauren, desiring her slow death, but the next episode will have you tearing up on her behalf. Most shows with sympathetic villains don’t let them do truly unforgivable things. Not so with Lauren. She goes too far, all the time. And we love to hate her. You understand why she does what she does, but what she does is SO bad. We really can’t think of many characters more horrible and backstabbing than this girl…and it creates a lot of drama.

5) Like most teen shows these days, the show gave one of the girls a crush on her teacher. When looking at the fan sites, we saw that the teen girls, after watching the episode where the young gymnast kissed her coach (that ended on that cliffhanger), just assumed that the romantic relationship was on. They started debating the two as a couple. Rather than having him reciprocate and make the audience root for an abuse of power, the show had him react correctly and he even smoothed over the awkwardness with the student, restoring their working relationship. Aaaand that’s how it’s done, LUX and Pretty Little Liars.

6) Let’s get real here: Most Christians on TV or in movies are either simple, childlike, African-American angels or white, holier-than-thou monsters. We think that’s a little weird and racist toward both groups, but it goes overlooked most of the time. And those who practice abstinence are mocked and painted as having unrealistic views of how things work. We don’t think that’s fair. So it’s refreshing to see this show has an abstinent, white, kind, Christian adult woman. We kept waiting for her to turn into a two-faced stereotype, but she never did.

7) The gymnastics is fun to watch.

8) Cute boys, good parents, and lots of the men who are really good guys who respect the women on the show and act unselfishly, killing off yet another stereotype for young viewers.

9) The show’s tone is fast-paced, but its relationships aren’t. This isn’t like Glee where Finn breaks up with someone eight times a season. The couples stay together a while and take a while to get together.

Is this show immune to mockery? Absolutely not. In fact, we look forward to mocking it next season when we start covering it more often. Is it a work of art? No. Is it soapy? Oh yes. For instance, we both HATED the pregnancy storyline and we hope it ends soon. The best way to handle that on a show like this is to just have the girl miscarry. Can’t that happen, already? Leeard is upset that the show had her, a Catholic, kind of rooting for an abortion. Also, a lot of the twists and lines are incredibly predictable. And too many bad things happen on the show. If something can go wrong, it will, and it’s a little like watching that movie The Pursuit of Happyness. It’s mostly pursuit with little happiness. But it makes the happy moments all the more rewarding. In short, we recommend this show to teens, gymnasts, and young women, and maybe even their moms if they want to watch it with them. It’s a fun show, with more genuine drama than Gossip Girl and 90210 combined.

Finale Grade: B
Season Two Grade: B+
Season One Grade: A

Monday, May 23, 2011

One Year Later, We're Still Blown Away By The Originality That Was LOST

Today is the one-year anniversary of the LOST series finale, and boy do we miss that show. One year ago, Leeard, Ern, and two of our best friends went to a LOST party at someone’s house. We lived far away from each other, so a few had to travel, but it was worth it. One of our friends printed out “Dharma Initiative” labels and put them on all the food and drinks at the party. We were so obsessed. There was perfect silence during the show and loud arguing during the commercial breaks. Perfect. That was a good night. This post is a reminiscent one for all LOST lovers. Spoilers follow.

Were we mad that the finale didn’t answer all the questions? Do we still wonder how that bird was able to say Hurley’s name? Did we want something besides a good vs. evil redemption story? Not really. We think that everything the show didn’t explicitly answer can be figured out through thought and subsequent viewings of the series. Or they were questions that didn’t matter that much. Seriously, present us with a legitimate question about LOST that you are hopping mad that the show didn’t ever answer, and we will try to answer it. We are satisfied with what we know.

The greatest thing about the island was its mystery. Once you dissect that and lay all its guts out on the table, it loses its mystery. There are people who want answers to every question, but there are other people who just enjoy the ride and get that there are things, not just on TV but in life, that we don’t get spelled out for us. Grey areas are fun. They are playgrounds for the mind.

Plus, the finale was a wonderful emotional ending that was true to the show’s (sometimes cheesy) big heart. And it added a dose of spirituality that the show was famous for. We think the element of mystery and the spirituality and philosophy is what made it great. Because that’s what creeped us out and reached us on a deeper level than most shows. Hurley got the island, and the show gave hints as to what the characters did after the finale/before death, but didn’t explicitly tell us, leaving us full of hope.

Over time, we got attached to our favorite characters, but LOST’s themes were what really brought the heart. Leeard didn’t even realize she was emotionally attached to any LOST characters until Jin and Sun died together. It wasn’t the characters that made this show stand out (even though they were complicated and interesting and sympathetic). It was the themes. None of the other LOST copycats (Flashforward, V, The Event) GOT that. They just thought people wanted a sci-fi serial with some action and mythology. Not so. We want universal themes, well-articulated, that resonate with most people.

The characters had such rich journeys. Locke had never accepted who he really was. He wanted to be the hunter, the warrior, and the athlete. He wrongly picked the knife when he was a boy, he didn’t want to go to science camp, etc. He didn’t know how to embrace the kind of special that he was. The island gave him purpose...but, shockingly, that didn’t end too well for Locke. We were shocked that the show went there. It gave us this character that we hated, felt for, and were fascinated with. The show gave him so much to do and built him up. Then it killed him and his last thoughts were that he was confused? For a while. Jack’s journey from control freak to humble savior was annoying at times, but it paid off. Most of the characters could have carried a TV show all on their own, with just their own stories.

The way the show played with time was also a huge plus. The flashbacks that tied everything together and got us off that island. The flashforwards and sideways. Desmond’s mind hopping around his life. Who DOESN’T love time travel when it’s done well. It’s nerd heaven.

Let’s look at a few of our favorite things, characters, and moments from LOST.

1) That moment in the season three finale where Jack says, “We have to go back!” and we realize that we had just seen the future and they got off the island. Mind. Blown.

2) That moment when we realized that Locke had been in a wheelchair after that guy (rightly) told him that he couldn’t go on a Walkabout.

3) The episode “The Constant” where Desmond time travels and ends with a phone call to Penny. You know you cried, and if you didn’t, check your pulse, because you’re a zombie. For the most part, LOST could have done its romantic stuff better. We weren't exactly wanting to rip our bodices off watching this show. Desmond and Penny got to us, though, and so did Juliet and Sawyer.

4) Ern’s favorite scene in the whole series? The whole scene where Ben talks Locke out of killing himself only to strangle him. We don’t think we breathed through that.

5) Hurley. Just Hurley.

6) And Ben. Whoever thought we could care about a genocidal, jealous, lying, creepy, bug-eyed, cold, kidnapping dictator like Ben? But we did. Ben and Locke had the best material, as characters, and the actors delivered.

7) Those creepy numbers that we still know by heart.

8) All the daddy issues.

9) The episode where Michael kept trying to kill himself, but he couldn’t.

10) That some of them actually got off the island for good.

11) Feral Claire.

12) The episode “Greatest Hits” where the show actually managed to convince us that Charlie was a beloved hero rather than an annoyance.

13) The fact that Echo died (even though his death was really lame), because we found him boring, and he knew jack about Catholicism.

14) Every Locke back-story episode.

15) Every mention or sight of Sawyer loving reading or Little House on the Prairie. And all of his nicknames.

16) Creepy episode titles.

17) One of us also thought the pilot was extra good.

18) In the finale, when Ben asked Locke for forgiveness and they made up. So sweet.

And some things we didn’t like:

Walt (well, one of us thought he was useless), Charlotte and Miles, Nikki and Paulo, the Kate love triangle, the Bai Ling episode (obviously), Juliet’s sad death, that whole part of the finale where the goal was to unplug the drain and get the light back or whatever (we loved the finale, but that made no sense), the episode with young Jacob and his young brother, that they pulled a Sixth Sense on us for a whole season (they could have just created the final concert meeting place for the emotional ending. The sideways world could have collided with the island world in a different way, and that would have been more satisfying.), that manipulative episode where Sun had her baby, and the fact that The Others could have served a bigger purpose.

Overall, LOST didn't go with the regular TV formula, and for those looking for more than just quick entertainment after work, it was one of the greatest shows of all time. And we defend that finale.

A Look Back At Our American Idol Prediction Post

Hey, we picked the top two! We were so wrong about Thia and Haley though...and we are glad we were wrong, in hindsight. Haley turned out to be one of our favorites.

Game of Thrones About to Pick Up, Shock You, and Get Awesome

Raise your hand if you think it takes too long for things to happen on HBO's Game of Thrones? They talk, eat, occasionally kill an animal, and conspire. The atmosphere is often dim, dank, and dull. The show is so far lacking the spiritual, magical, and creepy elements that usually make fantasy interesting.

But we are shocked at how quickly the show is going. The books are very long and detailed, and the series is currently nearing the last 100 pages of the first book. We swear, it's about to get good. The series has even pulled things from the second book into the first book plot line already.

This is us: "NED ALREADY GOT STABBED IN THE LEG?!! VISERYS IS ALREADY DEAD?!!" It feels slow, because you don't know where it's all going, but rest assured, it's all happening. This isn't like Boardwalk Empire, another HBO show that kept us waiting, because this show follows the books closely, so we know what's coming and when. In Game of Thrones, anything can and will happen. There are surprises coming up. They will go there. And we can't wait until you see where "there" is.

Wasn't the death of Viserys satisfying? Also, we've decided that we like the TV series better than the books. It's fun to see it live, and it goes a heck of a lot faster. You think the TV series is slow? Try reading 500 pages of what has happened thus far. Zzzzzz. But the second and third books are much more eventful, and we want you to watch the show so that it has a chance to get further along in the story, because once it does, we think it's gonna be worth the time.

The Office, America's Next Top Model, and The United States of Tara

Photo credit: jeffedoe
Last week, two of these shows ended their seasons, each with decent, but not amazing, finales.

The Office gave us a string of possible bosses. When we first heard that Steve Carell was leaving, our first reaction was that Dwight or Creed should replace him, if the replacement was in-house. We are glad the show agreed enough to let us see those two in action, but Dwight’s stint as boss was too short-lived. This show needed to drag that out for about three episodes. We get that they can’t stay bosses forever though and we like the idea of adding some fresh meat.

But the parade of bosses we got in the season finale didn’t give us much hope. No one really stood out to us as a funny, memorable option, except for maybe James Spader’s really confident guy who thinks that everyone is just after sex. We can see that. We loved his showdown with Dwight. We think that the recipe for a good character is the ability to have a good showdown with Dwight. But this might not be the final boss shortlist. Maybe a totally new option will present itself this fall.

As for America’s Next Top Model, after one of the most entertaining cycle in a long time, the wrong girl won again. This cycle wasn’t great because of the photo shoots, prizes, or anything the show threw at them, it was great because the girls were catty messes who could model, for the most part. There was no one who was a terrible model. Every elimination felt too soon. Alexandria led hundreds of people to this blog, because people were so obsessed with her that they kept searching for her name on Google.

Between Brittani and Molly, we were Team Molly. We had supported Brittani for a long time, but when it became clear that Molly was a top contender, we started looking at her more closely. This girl could take great pictures, we really sympathized with her struggle with being adopted, and she had the model look. This girl could actually have a career as America’s next top model, rather than some eccentricity on Tyra’s shelf of misfits that she is trying to make happen.

Brittani, on the other hand, clearly has anxiety issues and her face is not symmetrical. Tyra praised her unconventional angles and said, “The modeling world is obsessed with symmetry, but Brittani proves that you don’t have to have that.” Umm, you don’t prove things to the modeling industry 99% of the time. Every once in a while, a girl breaks a barrier, starts a new trend, and gets by with a new look. But we doubt it is going to come from a reality show, which wouldn’t have the cool, elitism factor that the modeling industry would respect enough to make an exception for. But good luck to both of them.

Also, how mean of the show to cut both their hair man-short before sending one packing. New haircuts just for panel? No photo? Rude.

Lastly, for those of you who have not yet heard, Showtime canceled The United States of Tara today. We chalk it up to the show’s insistence on focusing on boring things such as Kate’s search for meaning in her life (at 18, this is really NOT a crisis yet) and Charmaine’s nasty men and her baby. Heads up to storytellers: While a baby is very exciting in real life, in fiction, it usually makes your story grind to a halt, unless the mother births some kind of mutant/monster or you grow it up quickly, like on soaps.

The reason we watched the show and stayed with it was Toni Collette’s acting, the alters, her relationship with her husband, and the craziness and hilarity that was the whole mental illness thing. By depriving people of what’s unique about the show and focusing on Kate and Charmaine, the show made people lose interest. Besides, Kate and Charmaine have lame attitudes most of the time. That said, we like Kate’s new flight attendant job. It has pulled her out of her useless funk. There is no saving Charmaine. Or, it seems, this show.

Hopefully, the show ends with some closure.

The Office Finale Grade: B
The Office Season Grade: C+, as opposed to the season before that, which would have gotten a D were we blogging then. We loved this season's Christmas episodes and Michael's goodbye.

ANTM Finale Grade: B-
ANTM Cycle Grade: B+