Super 8 Review

Why didn’t we love this movie? Why was it not mint? Why did it not earn the A we totally wanted to give it? Ten minutes after leaving the theater, one of us ran into a friend at the gas station and he asked us how it was. Response? A shrug and an, "It was OK." We're in the minority though, so feel free to argue.

We love the star Kyle Chandler, we love Steven Speilberg, we love nostalgia, we love J.J. Abrams’ creations and his attitude. This movie has an 83% on RottenTomatoes (which is the perfect rating, because it’s not high enough to be pretentious Oscar/critics’ fodder and it’s not low enough to be crap). It has great special effects, it’s sci-fi, there are some humorous bits, it has a good message, it’s touching, you can catch a brief glimpse of Amanda Foreman, the characters were good, and it’s entertaining. So what’s wrong? Were our expectations just too high due to hype?

Let’s start listing gripes then.

1) It wasn’t scary enough for adults. Everything J.J. does is going to get compared to his greatest creation, LOST, so we’re going to go ahead and do that. The great thing about lost was how eerie it was. Come on, LOST fans. LOST was creepy as ****, no? Super 8 had some jumps, but no real scares. The only reason they hid the object was so that it wouldn’t seem stupid to just immediately whip out something ludicrous. That’s a good idea, but the badness was like a reject from MANY other movies.

2) So maybe it’s for kids? Wrong. It’s not scary enough for adults, but it’s not clean enough for the kiddies due to language alone. These kids cuss as much as real kids and a stoner says the “F” word. And, of course, there is a heap of violence. This movie is perfect for the middle school and young teen crowd. Boys and girls ages 12-15 are going to love this movie. Sadly, we’re older than that.

3) We’ve seen this movie before. Usually we don’t mind when moviemakers borrow from other movies, as long as the result is incredible fun. Example: Tarantino. But this movie wasn’t quite good enough to excuse it from its imitations, and it brought nothing new to the table.

4) We got bored in some places. Granted, we watch a lot of TV, so our attention spans are not what they used to be, so this might not be a problem for some people. But we’re just throwing it out there.

5) We wanted the story or something in the movie to have more mystery and wonder. It’s lacking that magic that makes sci-fi and fantasy so intriguing. Once again, it was all just too familiar. There were no surprises or shocks at all. While we cared about the characters and their relationships, we weren’t invested in the action and the tension just wasn’t there. We didn’t get swept up in the movie. The events are not involving. We are going to forget about Super 8 as soon as we finish this review, and we won’t likely think about it again unless someone brings it up. We like movies that stick with us days after you leave the theater.

It seems like Abrams is repeating himself, and we are starting to chalk up his success to other people (his LOST writers) as he continues to churn out the disappointments. First was Alias, then Undercovers. First LOST, and now he's going back to an island for Alcatraz (of course we will be watching that anyway). Now we have Super 8. This is better than Cloverfield though. This guy can create some great stuff, but he's not one of our most-trusted creators anymore.

Bottom line: It’s not bad, but unless you are a 13-year-old boy, it’s not making your favorite movies list. The story just isn't there. Lots of specific things and moments worked, but as an overall experience, it's kind of a mess.

Movie Grade: B-

Summary of Pretty Little Liars Season One

----UPDATE---
A summary of seasons 1-3 can now be found here. We updated it AND made it more thorough.

Some people don't have time to catch up on shows and just want to jump right in. Lots of people have heard that Pretty Little Liars is good, but they heard it too late. Hey, we were surprised at how good this show turned out to be as well.

Pretty Little Liars is a convoluted show with lots of characters, subplots, clues, mysteries, and cliffhangers. So we probably didn't mention EVERYTHING that happened or will be touched upon again. But we did try to mention everything you would reasonably need to know to start watching season two when it airs this coming Tuesday.

The premise: There were five friends. One of them, Alison DiLaurentis, was a real jerk, but the other four worshipped her anyway. One night, Alison disappeared. The rest of the girls lost touch, but one year later, the four remaining friends came together on the day Alison’s dead body was found. That was also the day the mysterious “A” started sending them text messages, taunting them. The text messages included secrets about the girls that each girl had only revealed to Alison. So the show has two mysteries: Who killed Alison and who is A?

The four main girls:

Spencer Hastings - Ern’s favorite. She’s tough and smart, but she has a weakness for her sister’s guys.

Hanna Marin - Leeard’s favorite. The girl has a slick mouth that she probably got back when she used to be chubby (because when you aren’t gorgeous, you have to develop other strengths). But now, Alison is dead and Hanna lost weight, so she is the towns new most popular girl. She’s cool and hilarious, but she struggles with things like shoplifting and the occasional purging session.

Emily Fields - Probably the nicest of the girls, and the best person, Emily discovered that she was gay over the course of season one when she started a relationship with a new neighbor, Maya. Emily is on the school’s swim team, and she’s very good. Emily’s mother is having trouble accepting her daughter’s sexual orientation. Emily’s mom told Maya’s parents that Maya was smoking pot (which was true), so Maya was sent away to some sort of boot camp/boarding school. Emily spoke with her over the phone and it sounded like Maya had changed, so the relationship is over, for now. She’s currently digging a girl named Samara, even though she has kind of been dating a girl named Paige from her school. The trouble is that Paige is still in the closet, and Emily is over that.

Aria Montgomery - No one’s favorite, unless she is confronting her dad and his mistresses. That was the only time she was remotely cool. (Mr. Montgomery cheated on Aria’s mom and Aria knew. There was drama with Aria keeping the secret and then Mrs. Montgomery finding out and leaving Mr. Montgomery. They are getting cozy again though, so they might get back together.) Aria spent most of season one secretly dating her English teacher (and potential statutory rapist), Ezra Fitz, who she met in a bar before they knew she would be his student. Aria has a brother.

Other characters:

Jenna - She’s the blind girl. You can tell because of the cane and the eyeglasses. She is one creepy mofo. She forced her stepbrother, Toby, to have sex with her. Jenna is blind because Alison decided to set fire to a garage to play a prank on Toby. The four main girls were there, and the whole incident is one of their secrets.

Toby - Jenna’s stepbrother, who used to be the main suspect for Alison’s death, but only because he comes across as creepy at first. He’s really not. He’s dating Spencer right now. Spencer used to be dating a guy named Alex, but he’s not in her life anymore, due to a misunderstanding. We only mention this in case Alex ever comes back and starts some triangle business. And because we really liked Alex.

Melissa - Spencer’s sister. She is pregnant with Ian’s baby.

Ian - Suspect number one for the death of Alison, with whom he had a secret relationship. He made out with Spencer a long time ago.

Wren Kim - Melissa’s fiancé. That ended when Melissa caught Wren and Spencer making out. He’s gone now. Plenty of guys just disappear from this show. We disapprove.

Noel Kahn - An actual age-appropriate guy who likes Aria and knows about her relationship with her English teacher. He tried to leverage that knowledge into a better English grade, but apparently that is the one thing Ezra feels is morally wrong. We thought he was gone from the show too, but if the split-second shot of him in the finale is correct, he's coming back.

Garrett - A cop snooping into all the show’s incidents. He pretends to be a friend to the four main girls, but we know better. He's dating Jenna.

Mona - Hanna’s popular-girl friend who is kind of a jerk but entirely hilarious.

Lucas - A nerd who loves Hanna, but she’s not into him. Leeard loves him for a multitude of reasons.

Caleb - A guy Hanna was crushing on who had no place to live. She let him live in her house, until she found out that Jenna was paying him to spy on Hanna. He swore he quit spying once he got to know Hanna though. Caleb tried to tell Hanna that he loved her, but Mona intercepted the love note. Lucas found out about Mona’s bad deed and went to get Caleb and drive him back to town.

How we left it: English teacher Ezra Fitz took a job at Hollis College with Aria’s dad…and his ex- fiancée. Noel Kahn still likes Aria. We found out that Ian has been taping all the girls in town, creepily. We found out that Alison got a hold of one of Ian’s videotapes (when she was with him vacationing at Hilton Head) that included a nice scene of Jenna telling Toby that she will say he raped her if he doesn’t sleep with her. Alison had the video on USB and Jenna has been trying to get it. We found out that Jenna is dating Garrett. She’s still up to something, and we don’t know what. Emily might have to move to Texas with her family. Ian chased Spencer through a church bell tower and tried to kill her, but he was pushed off a high perch by…someone. His body was not found. He is the presumed killer of Alison at this point, but you can never be sure with this show. So A is still out there, sending clues and taunts.

Anything else you can just pick up as you go or get from the "Previously on Pretty Little Liars" recaps at the beginning of each episode. We also have a few recaps of episodes that we've done, if you click on "Pretty Little Liars" at the top of this page. This really should be enough to give you the overview you would need to jump in. If anyone else can think of something important to add, put it in the comments!

Pretty Little Liars season two will be on Tuesdays on ABC Family. It starts on June 14th. We can't wait.

ABC Family update - Switched at Birth pilot and Secret Life season finale

Switched at Birth Pilot Review

One of us will watch just about anything that ABC Family airs, including Secret Life, and isn’t ashamed of it. Okay, she’s slightly ashamed, but she’s trying to get over it. Therefore, she obviously watched the pilot of Switched at Birth. If this is literally the first you’re hearing about the show, the title tells you just about everything about the show: the two main characters, Bay and Daphne, were switched at birth. Bay grew up privileged with two loving parents and a brother, while Daphne was raised by a single mom and grandmother. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff there. One of the more interesting and unique things about this show is the fact that Daphne is deaf. One of the bloggers is very interested in deaf culture, and is pretty excited to see it on television, even if it is watered down. And speaking of the deaf culture, we thought it was very interesting how Daphne became deaf from a meningitis infection when she was four. We hope that this causes conflict in later episodes, because we would probably enjoy the discussion; if Bay and Daphne hadn’t been switched, would Daphne still have become deaf? Would Bay have instead? We really hope that wasn’t just a one-time thought for the show.

However, we really didn’t like how fast the first four minutes of the episode were, covering eight weeks in their lives. We would’ve appreciated getting to know the girls and their families before finding out that Bay and Daphne were given to the wrong parents. As it was, we didn’t care for the sloppy introduction. We also wish the show had shown us how different Bay and her mom are, instead of having Bay repeatedly tell the audience.

We didn’t love the episode, but after hearing bad things about the pilot from a lot of other sources, we were pleasantly surprised. We do expect more from ABC Family now, however. In terms of quality, we want this show to be more like Pretty Little Liars, and right now, it’s leaning more towards Secret Life.

Episode Grade: C

Secret Life Season Finale

Speaking of which: oh Secret Life. How one (AND ONLY ONE) of us loves you so. Y’all, this episode was insane. We predicted it from the previews, but Adrian’s baby died. We would like to say first that having a baby die like that is horrible and we literally can’t imagine the kind of pain that Adrian, Ben, and their families must be going through, not to mention the pain felt by the people who actually go through that in real life. No one deserves that kind of hurt. That being said, the actor who plays Ben is a horrible fake crier. It needed to be mentioned. Also, this might sound horrible, but we’re kind of excited about what this development will mean for Adrian and Ben. They got married and moved in together because they were going to become parents. How are they going to deal with it now that they aren’t? Will they stay together or separate? Obviously, our money is on them separating, but probably not getting divorced; that wouldn’t fit with Secret Life’s image.

Episode Grade: B+

What were your thoughts on the Switched at Birth pilot and Secret Life season finale?

What REALLY Happened in The Cuban Missile Crisis: X-Men First Class Review

Little known fact, because it’s nerdy as all get-out: Ern likes X-Men comics. Leeard likes (no, loves) James McAvoy. This week, these things came together in the new X-Men movie. Now, Ern is actually going to turn off the comic book fan and review the movie pretending she never read them. Why? Because most people haven’t and the movies are for the masses. Also, because the movies are nothing like the comic books. Occasionally, movies will follow the comic books exactly, and while that pleases purists, it doesn’t really work onscreen.

Onto the movie: This is the first of a planned origins trilogy, so it's nice to see good casting if we have to look at these people for years to come. One of the movie’s strengths is the bromance between damaged, vengeful Erik Lehnsherr and idealistic, encouraging Charles Xavier. Also, it’s really nice to see them younger and hotter and more mobile. James McAvoy’s Xavier brought lots of smiles to faces as a smart, idealistic little charmer with a heart and beer-chugging abilities. And that accent was adorable. Ern hated James M. because of the movie Wanted. Don’t even get her started on Wanted. BLECK. But now, she’s a fan. He did Professor X proud.

Michael Fassbender had some sort of weird, ever-changing accent that we can’t pin down. We know he’s a mix of German and Irish, in real life. But other than that, he was great, and it was the director's fault/idea anyway. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/x-men-first-class-star-194364.) There’s nothing like an antihero to steal a show. One of us has liked him since Inglorious Basterds (where his crazy accent actually got everyone killed), and he made an alright Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre too. But we think that both he and James did their best jobs here, and we’re glad to see them get such good material. The two had great chemistry and milked their parts for all they were worth. They could have been the only mutants in the darn thing, and it would have still been good.

Ern was really hard on Thor (too hard, probably) for being generic, and she gave it only a B. The X-Men movie is a little better, because it had more going on in the relationships between the characters. The story was fine, the direction was great, and the pacing was much better than Thor’s. It went by quickly and didn’t feel slow, while Thor sagged a bit in the middle. Really, what you want in a movie is to be entertained, right? Pacing is a big part of that.

There were a few good laughs and cameos too. There was tension, even though we all know what happens to the main characters, eventually. The effects were good. The X-Men movies have nice tolerance messages that can sometimes get a little heavy-handed, but we’ll forgive that. The new characters were fun.

What didn’t work for us? Well, Jennifer Lawrence brought a lot to a boring role, but we didn’t like the origin story where she and someone else were best friends. When you look at the other movies, there is no continuity with that plot line. Also, lots of things could have spanned two movies. They didn't need to wrap up and end so much if there is going to be a trilogy. Beast was a little whiny, and we weren’t digging the Kevin Bacon performance. Or the January Jones performance. But is that really a surprise?

Bottom line: This is one blogger’s second-favorite superhero movie, if you don’t count Kick-Ass, which was more of a comedy. The number one is still The Dark Knight. That was this blogger’s Titanic. This blogger saw it six times in the theater. Wow, why am I admitting that?

Movie Grade: A

Thoughts on The Hunger Games Cast

Time to comment on The Hunger Games cast, because they’ve chosen enough people for a full post. Of course, the blogger writing this post has read all three books. The other blogger has read the first book. We liked what we read well enough, and we are ready for a movie that doesn't ruin it.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen- We couldn’t be more thrilled. People are quibbling, but there really wasn’t another contender, in our opinions. We don’t care that she had to dye her hair, and we aren’t too attached to her being thin and hungry looking. That is the only drawback we can think of, and there are enough of those girls in movies anyway. We know that it fits the part for her to be thin, but she did hunt to get food. It would make sense that she would be among the most well-fed in the poor part of her district, right? We saw Winter’s Bone, and the girl in that was pretty much Katniss. There aren’t that many young women her age who can bring strength to the screen. It could have been so much worse. From her quotes about the books, we feel like she has the right idea of who the character is and the right attitude to take it seriously. The author even likes her in the role. Approve.

Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne- The guy from the latest Miley Cyrus movie? Ugh. He’s not dark-looking, he’s not a great actor, and he’s not that hot. With all Gale’s hatred, this could have been an interesting role. Not anymore. He may yet surprise us, but right now, we disapprove.

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark- We like his excitement to play the character, especially when he changes in the third book. We didn’t see The Kids Are Alright yet, but we are going to. We aren’t thrilled with this choice, because there were a lot of choices for this role (unlike for Katniss), but we’re reserving judgment until we actually see him in something. He doesn’t have to be Brad Pitt if the personality can swing it. So many young women fell in love with this guy, and it’s understandable that everyone had a solid picture of him and wants him to be their type. You really can’t please most people with this character. Romance and dreamboatness aside, we will just wait and see the performance.

Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket- So many people were crying out for Kristen Chenoweth for this role. Not us. We are more excited to see her in Good Christian Belles, because we’ve seen her be an Effie Trinket before. We haven’t really seen Elizabeth Banks in a role like this, and we like her from all the great TV and decent movies she’s done. She’s capable, she’s got the look, and she won’t just be recreating lots of her old roles. Approve.

Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy- One of us hates Woody Harrelson from Cheers and Natural Born Killers. Those are both things we loathe. However, he was funny in Zombieland. But will “funny” cut it for Haymitch? When the casting directors were picking this one, we wonder if they went off a character description that just said, “He’s drunk a lot.” Where’s Robert Downey Jr. when you need him? Disapprove.

Willow Shields as Primrose Everdeen- Who really cares? This character was supremely lame until book three when she started doctoring people. But our requirements for Primrose is that she looks and acts like a sweet, innocent, 12-year-old girl who could never have survived in The Hunger Games. Does she look a little too old to anyone else? Other than that, fine.

Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman- Pretty perfect. We’re excited for this choice.

Lenny Kravitz as Cinna- Not what we envisioned, but ok. We’ll accept it.

Paula Malcomson as Mrs. Everdeen- She looks appropriately tired and old enough to be the mother of a 16-year-old. She’s also attractive, which fits, because she was a heartbreaker when she was younger.

Donald Sutherland as President Snow- Love, love, love this choice. He’s a good actor with a strong resume, and he looks creepy enough.

Amanda Stenberg as Rue- She’s cute, she’s young, she’s black, and she’s an unknown. Approve.

Phillip Troy Linger as Katniss's Father- We’re just happy we get to see this guy. Flashback alert!

The other tributes/everyone else- Don’t care. Foxface has a foxface. That’s all we really require, haha.

What do you think?

The Voice so far

Well, now that American Idol is done, we're glad that The Voice is here to keep us company. Here's a list of the people on each team and our thoughts about them.

Team Adam:

Casey Weston – One of us loves her. She had a pretty good blind audition, and she sounded amazing in the duet. She has a tendency to sound a little …. goat-y at times, but if she cuts that out, she’s a great singer. We don’t expect her to win, but we’ll enjoy her voice as long as she’s on the show.

Javier Colon – An early favorite, for good reason. His audition was definitely better than his duet, but we’re just glad he knocked out Angela Wolff. He’ll stay for a while, if his iTunes success is any indication.

Devon Barley – This pre-med student is just too precious. We think he pretty handily beat Rebecca Loebe, even if the song wasn’t the best choice for either of the singers. We haven’t heard too much about him though, so he’ll have to grow a fan base quickly.

Jeff Jenkins – We adore him. He has such an amazing voice. We read a comment about him somewhere that described his voice as a good hug, which is basically the best way we can think to describe it. He’s definitely one of the frontrunners right now.

Best duet:

Verdict: Team Adam is pretty stacked. The only change that we can think of that might’ve made his team even stronger would’ve been Casey Desmond instead of Devon Barley, and even that isn’t too big of an increase in talent. Team Adam should do well in the next phase of the competition.

Team Blake:

Patrick Thomas – We are so confused by him. We enjoy his voice, and he seems like a nice enough guy, but there’s something about him that comes across, to us, as fake. Judging by what just happened on American Idol, though, we might be in for the long haul with Patrick.

Jared Blake – We’re kind of meh about him. We like his backstory, and we definitely think he’s put in enough hard work and dedication that we’re happy for him for getting this far, but we haven’t been blown away by him. Hopefully he’ll do something awesome soon so we can be fully on his side.

Dia Frampton – One of us loves the band Meg & Dia, so we’re thrilled that Dia is on this show. We’re kind of surprised that she seems so awkward on stage, since she’s been performing for so long now. Her voice is so amazing though, so we’re glad she gets to share it with more people on this show. She probably won’t last too long, but one of us is crossing her fingers, hoping she sings “Monster” before she leaves.

Xenia Martinez – We love her. Once she gets more confident on the stage, we hope she’ll start kicking butt. From what we’ve seen so far, she has a great, young personality; if she lets America see that, she should stick around.

Best duet:

Verdict: Team Blake isn’t too bad. One of us loves Dia and Xenia, but we aren’t too sure that Blake’s team will have the mass appeal that other teams appear to have. We possibly would’ve picked Tyler Robinson over Patrick Thomas, but we’re okay with the decisions.

Team Cee-Lo:

Vicci Martinez – Easily had our favorite duet of the entire battle rounds. We think she has a great energy and we’re so excited to see her next week. The goodwill she earned from the duet will last her a few weeks, for us at least.

Nakia – We are way less excited about Nakia than the judges and most of America seem to be. We like his voice, but we just don’t understand it. But apparently people don’t agree with us, since the judges love him.

Tori and Taylor Thompson – We have a confession to make. One of us loved American Juniors, and remembers quite a bit about the show. So much so that when they first appeared on The Voice, she knew exactly who they were. While they’re not spectacular singers alone, together they’re good. We don’t think they can win though; the show isn’t called The Voice(s).

Curtis Grimes – We are shocked. Not that Curtis and Emily kissed, but that Cee-Lo picked country Curtis over punk rock Emily.

Best duet:

Verdict: We’re confused by Cee-Lo’s team. We adore Vicci and we know the crowd and judges love Nakia, but Curtis over Emily? And Tori and Taylor over Kelsey? We’ll see about this.

Team Christina:

Frenchie Davis – One of us preferred Tarralyn over Frenchie in the duet, which surprised us. Frenchie has a pretty good amount of name-recognition though, so we expect her to do well.

Beverly McClellan – We love her. She honestly seems like someone we would want to hang out with, which is kind of rare in a reality competition show. We want her to do well.

Raquel Castro – Again, we disagree with Christina’s decision. We think Julia Eason out-sang Raquel in their duet, but apparently Christina forgot, again, to call us to ask our opinion. She's cute, and has a fun personality, but we don't see her lasting long.

Lily Elise – We didn't love this duet, but after Christina was bummed she didn't pick Lily the first time, we're not surprised she chose her as the winner of the duet. We don't see her lasting too long either.

Best duet:

Verdict: We disagreed with quite a few choices Christina made, but we'll defer to her expertise in this area. We hope Beverly does really well, though.

The Bachelorette - Sizing Up the Guys

We didn’t like Ashley last season. Not that there was a lot to like about Brad’s second season, but still. Anyway, here’s a recap of the new guys on The Bachelorette and our thoughts/predictions for each of them. Keep in mind, these are our first impressions.

Sidenote: We wrote this after the first episode, but were just now able to post it. We’ll talk about our thoughts on the second episode later

Ryan P.; 31; Corona del Mar, CA; “Solar Energy Executive” - Describes himself as “someone who genuinely wants better for the world”. As opposed to all those other jerks who want the world to go to hell in a handbasket? Seems like a sweet guy, if a little bland. Actually reminds Leeard of Jake, pre-crazy. Also, he got the first impression rose, so good for him.

JP; 34; NYC; Construction Manager – Cute, and we’re pretty sure we’ve seen him in the previews, so he’ll go at least a few weeks.

Ames; 31; NYC; Portfolio Manager – Other than the wonky eye, he’s cute and obviously intelligent. We did feel slightly insulted when he felt the need to tell us that Yale is in Connecticut, but hopefully he doesn’t turn out to be the kind of person who always needs to talk down to other people. He has been to 70 countries though, so Leeard is pretty envious. We won’t really go into his marathon obsession.

Ben C; 28; New Orleans; Lawyer – We love New Orleans, so he’s up there so far. Also, he’s a piano player and describes himself as romantic and passionate, and he’s adorable. We like him so far, but we’re afraid he won’t really stand out. AND he speaks French. We just changed our minds; there’s no way he’s not making it far.

Ben F.; 28; Sonoma, CA; Winemaker – He reminds Leeard a little of Rafael Nadal, so yes please. He also has a (recent?) parental death, which reminds Leeard of Chris L. from Ali’s season, so basically if this Ben doesn’t hit it off with Ashley, he can call Leeard.

Bentley; 28; Salt Lake City, UT; “Businessman” – Um what exactly does “businessman” mean? His daughter is completely precious, if poorly named (Cozy). He kind of comes across as an arrogant jackass, so this should be exciting. Ashley is stupidly giving him a chance.

Anthony; 28; Wyckoff, NJ; Butcher – He seems very entertaining, with a good personality. We think Ashley might find him abrasive, but we hope not. And apparently we were right, since he was eliminated at the first rose ceremony.

West; 30; Chapin, SC; Lawyer – He has a horrible backstory about losing the love of his life. He seems like a great guy, and we really want him to be happy, but he probably shouldn’t be on this show.

William; 30; Galloway, OH; Cellular Phone Salesman – He has such a wonderful smile that he’ll probably stay for a while. He’s another one that seems pretty boring though.

Jon; 26; Vancouver, WA; “E-Commerce Executive” – Kind of weirdly suggested that he and Ashley just go straight to the honeymoon, which some women would be charmed by. Apparently Ashley isn’t one of those women, because he was eliminated at the first rose ceremony.

Lucas; 30; Odessa, TX; Oil Field Equipment Distributor – We love Texas boys, and he definitely seems like a gentleman.

Mickey; 31; Cleveland, OH; Chef – He went in for the kiss before even introducing himself, but luckily he did it in a funny way. He’s pretty cute and, from what we’ve seen so far, has a decent sense of humor.

Tim; 35; Long Beach, NY; Liquor Distributor – Literally the first words out of Leeard’s mouth: “Yeah, he’s not sticking around for a long time”. And she was right; Ashley eliminated him before the first rose ceremony. Of course, getting hammered the first night probably didn’t help matters.

Stephen; 27; Manhattan Beach, CA; Hairstylist – For a hairstylist, his hair was looking pretty greasy to meet Ashley. Kind of a bland introduction, so we don’t see him lasting too long if he doesn’t bring out the big guns.

Chris D.; 25; Chicago, IL; Sports Marketing Coordinator – He rapped (well, tried to rap) his introduction, which was weird. But it showed a fun side of him, so it might’ve been a good move. If he can bring out the goofy side of Ashley, he’ll stick around.

Rob; 27; Monroe, MI; Technology Executive – Uh-dorable, with some sort of accent. We liked him, but it was pretty obvious he was going home when we learned next to nothing about him. Obviously Ashley didn’t get a chance to read his abc.com profile, because he sounds pretty awesome.

Matt; 28; Bridgewater, MA; Office Supply Salesman – Tried to teach Ashley a handshake when he first met her, which we liked. We kind of hope he makes it far enough to tell us what exactly inspires someone to get a Turf Management degree. His mom can call us and drop those little pearls of wisdom whenever she feels like it.

Jeff; 35; St. Louis, MO; Entrepreneur – And we’ve finally made it to the masked man. We don’t really know how we feel about this approach. On the one hand, it could be like The Voice: judge based on personality, not looks. On the other hand, this is The Bachelorette. How can Ashley get rid of the ugliest guys first if she doesn’t know what one of them looks like? Anyway, let’s see how long his shtick can last. Ern is pretty sure that if a GIRL did this on The Bachelor, the guy would get freaked out and eliminate her immediately. But this was a great way to get the producers to pick him in order for him to make the cut for the show.

Frank; 29; Murfreesboro, TN; College Admissions Director – Yeah, there’s no way he’s going to last. Ashley’s laugh when he picked her up was about as fake as they come. Plus, he kills the college dreams of hundreds of stupid kids every year. Sad.

Mike; 29; San Diego, CA; Technology Salesman – Nope. Not happening. This is what we mean when we say that she’ll get rid of the ugliest guys first. He did make some cute dentist jokes though. And, no surprise, he got eliminated at the first rose ceremony. Note: we don’t think he’s ugly, but in terms of this competition? Kinda.

Chris M.; 27; Edmonton, Canada; Construction Company CEO – Ridiculously good-looking, and is full-on Canadian. It might be just that one of us missed hockey, but we love him. We weren’t happy when he got eliminated at the first rose ceremony, partly because we’ll miss him and his accent, and partly because we definitely didn’t call him leaving that early.

Ryan M.; 27; Royal Oak, MI; Construction Estimator – Is a “big fan” of The Bachelor. Oh honey. And he brought a camera. Well that’s kind of weird. But also probably smart. Anyway, he has to go home soon. But apparently he won’t be going home too soon, since he made it past the first rose ceremony.

Nick; 26; Tampa, FL; Personal Trainer – He’s probably our favorite for Ashley right now. We can’t really explain it, but at the beginning of every season, Leeard gets a feeling about one of the bachelors. She’s only been right once, but that was Trista’s season, and we all know how that turned out. Basically what we’re saying is that the bachelorettes should call Leeard and pick the guy she likes the most.

Blake; 27; Greenville, SC; Dentist – The dentist!!! Okay, we love him, too. And we were glad he wasn’t eliminated.

Constantine; 30; Atlanta, GA; Restaurant Owner – Tied a floss ribbon around her finger. We actually think that was adorable, and way cheaper than the ballet tickets Ames tried to use to buy Ashley’s affection.

Guys left after the first rose ceremony: Jeff, Constantine, Ben. F, Lucas, Stephen, Matt, Nick, Chris D., Ryan M., Blake, Mickey, Ben C., West, William, JP, Ames, and Bentley

Who are your favorites so far? Let us know in the comments!

Hey, at least there was an evil peacock. Always a win.

While we enjoyed the celebrity voices in Kung Fu Panda 2, we didn’t think it was as funny as the first one. Only Leeard saw the first one, but she really liked it. The strength was the jokes. The second movie was heavy on fight scenes and light on jokes.

We don’t know about you, but if we want to see an hour of action, we don’t want it to be cartoon action. There just needed to be more jokes, because the ones that were there were funny. Kids should like it just fine, but was a little boring for adults. And way to rip off the plot of Harry Potter!

Movie Grade: C+

Phil: It happened again. Tracy: What is wrong with you three?

Once again, we disagree with the majority of critics on this one. Their point is that it’s the same plot in a different location, so a lot of it lacks the element of surprise. The critics say that this makes The Hangover 2 a bad, unfunny movie.

While we acknowledge that the same thing happens in the movie, we ask you, in a sequel to The Hangover, DOESN’T THERE HAVE TO BE A HANGOVER? Isn’t that the whole point of these movies? Granted, there didn’t have to be a wedding in order to induce said hangover, but other than that, there needed to be the same plot.

If you go in knowing that the same thing happens to these poor guys a second time, you will enjoy the jokes and the differences rather than feel like you just paid ten bucks to see the same movie. Just go in expecting that.

Because once you get past that, The Hangover 2 has some really funny moments. It moves fast, it shocks, and it entertains. The beginning where they set it up is a little slow, because you know where it is headed. But, after that, you’re just laughing at a monkey, Alan, and the horrible things that happen to Stu.

The majority of people who would see this movie will be entertained. A girl in the theater behind us actually asked the question, "Who is Bangkok?" The Hangover series isn't exactly Chris Nolan-level fare, but for what it is, it's funny. This movie is not recommended to anyone who didn’t like the first one. It’s for people who want more of the first one. If the first one is an A-, this one is a B+.

Movie grade: B+

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

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+

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.

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

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.

http://becausewewatchtoomuchtv.blogspot.com/2011/03/better-lock-them-doors-and-turn-lights.html

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+

Community Ended Its Second Season Last Week

We just wanted to quickly comment on Community ending. The two paintball episodes that closed the season were perfect. We only wished that we had watched them back-to-back. We are getting a major girl crush on Annie, and it was great to see Josh Holloway from LOST again.

We’re interested to see the group with Chang in and Pierce out. We kind of wish that Chang was a teacher again. Pierce makes a great villain, so we can keep him that way. Britta and Jeff are secretly doing it, but the beauty of this show is that very few people care.

Because this show does not completely hinge on love stories. It probably hinges on pop culture references. But it’s funny and consistently watchable. The first half of season one was pretty rough, but starting at season one’s Halloween episode, this show has been one our favorite Thursday night comedy, and that’s saying a lot.

Finale Grade: A (for both paintball episodes combined)
Season 2 Grade: A