Nov 16, 2010

90210 Review: Falling Through Plot Holes...

Look, 90210, I've been critical of this boring season for awhile now, but I was willing to give you a pass on the Teddy storyline.

I found it disappointing and simply lame that such a major development was spoiled by producers over the summer, but, hey, at least I've been giving the series credit for slow-playing this character's self-realization and dealing with such a pressing topic in a respectful fashion.

Then, you air an episode such as "They're Playing Her Song" and give viewers such a glaring plot hole that I can't help but wonder what the writers are doing over there. The plot hole in question: If Teddy forgot his wallet, how did he get into the gay bar?!? I know Trevor Donovan is like 59 in real life, but he is portraying a 17-year old, right?

Growing Tight

This will sound like nit-picking, I know. And I'm aware it's not a major detail in the overall story - but it is symbolic of just how lazy 90210 can often be. There are many ways in which the show could have had Teddy require Ian's help... so why choose something that makes so little sense? It's insulting to viewers.

Elsewhere, I can give a positive review to everything involving Annie and Charlie this week. I was ready to rail against the latter character for being so underdeveloped and the series forgetting all about his and Liam's back-scar storyline.

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But it brought it back in a realistic way this week, as it makes perfect sense that Annie would feel pressure to "lock in" a college man, and it was also a nice moment for the two to share once she came clean and then he did the same. Important message, readers: sometimes, there are ways to get close to someone with your clothes on!

As for Navid? Weak! If the show wanted to really take a big step and give us some gravity, it would have had Mr. Shirazi kill himself. This truly would have been an unexpected jolt, something that would affect Navid to his core.

Instead, it half-assed the storyline and gave us the unbelievable (in a bad sense) notion that Navid's father would up and leave the country, just a day or two after a guidance counselor apparently spoke to authorities. Talk about a sudden reaction to the baby steps of an investigation.

Finally, we get to Debbie and Ryan. I'm all for this pairing. Why not, right? The two characters do have a lot in common these days... if you entirely forget the events from last week, that is. After all, wasn't Ryan the one totally in control of Jack and seemingly knowledgeable about babies?

Fast forward an episode and suddenly he can't tell if his son needs his diaper changed?!? I understand that Jen leaving would result in a bit of panic, but the show took it to an extreme and is now painting this previously reliable father into a total buffoon. Just poor pacing and inconsistent character development.

What did everyone else think? Are you more on board with Silver and Navid now, in light of the way Adrianna is acting? Did Do you wanna see Naomi and Ivy buddy up? Has Liam or Dixon does anything noteworthy all season long? Sound off now!

How I Met Your Mother Review: Two Great Beavers....

The first time I watched this week’s episode, I was left wanting. But at some point during my second viewing, while writing this recap, I caught a case of - dare I say it?!? - Beaver Fever.

Barney found a video of Robin’s TV show and showed it to the gang. What was supposed to be a kid’s show came off more like a USA Network Up All Night soft-core porno.

Nicole Scherzinger on HIMYM

Loved the shout-out to the metric system when the Space Teen’s ship was shown “1,000,000 Kilometers from Earth.” Also, amazing cameo by the Omnibot 2000. Where did the creators even find one of those relics? I thought they were all lost or destroyed following the North American video game crash of 1983.

I could have watched Robin Sparkles and her sexy Keytar playing sidekick Jessica Glitter “brace for turbulence” all day. Bless you, Wayne the camera guy.

I really appreciated Marshall’s nod to You Can’t Do That On Television. I would have loved to see them work in a references to Moose and Alisdair or at the very least Barth the chef, but all in all a moment.

The casting department could not have picked a Canadian celebrity with a better name than Alan Thicke to be the one who yelled out things like, “to the joystick” and “don’t stop now, almost there!” When he put his hands behind his head while Robin and Jessica did multiplication problems, I just about fell off the couch.

The scene where Ted and Barney tried not to laugh while Alan Thicke asked how much wood he would need to keep both Robin and Jessica’s beavers fed all weekend long was epic. I smell Emmy for Thicke, eh?

Glitter and Sparkles

Lily did look adorable as she cried, but Marshall stole the moment when he exclaimed, “for crying out loud you broke up with Robin?”

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As much as I was left “Punchy” drunk by Ted’s friend from Cleveland, I did find his “Times Square is da bomb” line funny. That and Barney’s reality show, elimination catch phrase montage, made for a solid scene at MacLaren’s. Sashay Away!

Teenage Jessica Glitter, with her teased out hair and eyeglasses, was way hotter than Rangers Organist Jessica. Did it seem weird or just downright crazy how Lily told her that she and Marshall were “about to get pregnant?”

Sadly, a second appearance by Omnibot could not salvage the brutal final scene at the Hoser Hut, but just like “two beavers are better than one,” any How I Met Your Mother episode is better than none. I now present my favorite quotes from the installment:

Robin: Look, I hate most babies, but your baby; I'm going to love that kid so much. I'm going to pick it up and everything. |
Robin Sparkles: Hey Jessica, how's your beaver.
Jessica Glitter: Great! How's your beaver?
Robin Sparkles: Busy as ever! |
Barney: Space? Teens? Is this a porno?!?! |
Marshall: Oh you're wearing a flower.
Barney: Thank You!
Marshall: I didn't compliment, just observed. |
Barney: He has got to go, you need to be like you are the weakest link goodbye! Punchy, the tribe has spoken. Please pack up your knives and go. Your work of art, didn't work for me. You're times up. I have to ask you to leave the mansion. You must leave the chateau. Your tour ends here. You've been chopped! You've been evicted from the Big Brother house. Your desert just didn't measure up. Sashay away! Give me your jacket and leave Hell's kitchen! You did not get a rose. You have been eliminated from the race. You are no longer in the running to be America's Next Top Model. You're fired. Auf Wiedersehen.

Gossip Girl Review: Win One For Team Brooklyn

It was far from perfect, but "The Witches of Bushwick" certainly didn't lack for romance, suspense, or cranking the vengeance meter up to 11 after a slow start to this season.

The Jr. Junior Varsity Mean Girls - Juliet, Jenny and Vanessa - may deserve a promotion after flawlessly orchestrating one of the most elaborate schemes in Gossip Girl history.

Meanwhile, Chuck and Blair provided the B-story, but still the most compelling part of the night. When those three monosyllabic words escaped Chuck's lips? Wow. Just wow.

Some Chair HEAT

Unfortunately for Chair fans, this was short-lived. Still fairly epic, however.

By the end, it seems the plan perpetrated by Juliet and her fellow witches worked so well and was so brutal, we actually felt awful for Serena (and fear for what might happen next).

Chuck and Blair managed to break up, again, but only after their everlasting love was overtly expressed, and on a note that gives us hope for the future. Now that's a difficult feat!

Now did we get there? Where to even begin.

A major theme of Gossip Girl this season is whether Serena is a selfish, irresponsible vixen or just an airhead who makes bad decisions, so often wronged by happenstance and fate.

The way she toyed with Dan and Nate may not have been malicious in her mind, but became so frustrating for them (and us) that they actually bought into Juliet's grand plan.

That plan stems from the mysterious link between Ben and Serena, which was finally brought up, albeit not verbatim (she never said "Ben slept with Serena," but ... come on).

Juliet bribes Lily with a piece of information presumably only she, Ben, Serena and her mom are privy to. Those of you who've theorized about boarding school look to be on point.

"Boarding school? Serena was a minor," she says, knowingly. So Ben is in jail on a statutory rape charge ... which he blames Serena for? How about himself? Why is it her fault?

Obvious open-ended questions and plot holes aside, that's why they want to take her down, and Serena's not getting much love from mommy dearest when it comes to her antics.

Fortunately for her enemies, Lily doesn't trust her, Chuck and Blair were preoccupied and Nate was just too easy to play. No one was there to save Serena this time, and she paid.

At Chuck's "sinners and saints" masquerade, in a plot device the show has already used, both Juliet and Jenny wear the same dress they saw Serena wearing on Gossip Girl.

Mystery Gossip Girl

Which Serena is this? Did Team Brooklyn fool you at all?

As if the SIM card-swapping (Jenny's apparently a CIA agent now) weren't a big enough stretch, Jenny and Juliet manage to successfully impersonate S in at least half a dozen run-ins.

Masquerading as Serena, who we are to believe Blair, Nate and Dan wouldn't recognize, Juliet kisses both love interests as Gossip Girl informants capture it all. Then Jenny outs Chair!

More on that shortly. In her one piece of solid scheming all evening - Jenny really was carrying her, as Juliet hilariously said - Vanessa passed Nate's mom an application from Serena.

This turns Blair against her, because once again, she's convinced her friend is out to steal whatever's hers. Brilliant touch by Team Brooklyn. Then Nate and Dan both dump Serena.

Looks like the Date bromance is stronger than any bond with her at this stage. Hard as it is to believe this diabolical plot worked so well, it did play on real emotions and actions.

Dan and Nate really had been jerked around by S, and thanks to her own insecurities or her friend's own insensitivity, has a major chip on her shoulder about S' role in her life.

Then there's the coup de grace. Juliet somehow slips Serena something, stuffs her into a cab, TEXTS THE DEAN that "she" is withdrawing from Columbia (come on), and bolts.

As we leave Serena, she's a captive in Juliet's home. Misery, anyone?

Serena van der Woodsen Photo

It's been years since she returned to Grand Central, but Serena's past still haunts her.

While all this transpired, Chair found itself conflicted in assessing its past, present and future. Their feelings are genuine, but both have high-profile public images to protect.

Blair and Chuck had rekindled the passion, but were both torn by their reputations. He's the hedonistic bad boy whose business relies on bachelorhood. She ... can't date Chuck.

That's what Nate's mom Anne told her, anyway, as she tapped Blair to be the new face of her foundation. Forgiving Chuck? Not exactly setting an example for empowering women.

In any case, their sneaking around was exposed, and mere minutes after Chuck confessed he did mean those three words, it seemed they would put each other above all else.

Alas, his publicist was cool with Chair as a couple, but Anne Archibald was not. This led Blair to put herself first and break it off, which Chuck was surprisingly at peace with.

If you love someone, set them free. That was basically Charles' take on the whole thing, and while it seemed Blair did a 180 in about three minutes, it did sort of make sense.

The nice thing was that her man understood and said he'd wait for her. Maybe now isn't the time, but destiny will one day unite them for good. So sanguine, that Chuck Bass.

Overall, the episode was a bit up and down, but wildly entertaining at times, leaving us excited for the coming weeks when the gang must unite to save S from grave danger.

At least we think they will. Dan and Nate might be too busy hooping it up.

Watch Chuck Season 4 Episode 8: Chuck Versus the Fear of Death (Chuck s04e08) Online Streaming

Watch Chuck Season 4 Episode 8: Chuck Versus the Fear of Death Online. Chuck s04e08 with title Chuck Versus the Fear of Death airs on Monday, November 15 2010 @ 08:00 pm on NBC.

Chuck Season 4 Episode 8: Chuck Versus the Fear of Death Summary:
In order to repair his status as an agent and his relationship with Sarah, Chuck agrees to go on a dangerous mission with an eccentric partner. Morgan and Casey must stop Jeff and Lester from knowing the true identity of Greta at the store.

Watch Chuck Season 4 Episode 8: Chuck Versus the Fear of Death  (Chuck s04e08) Online Streaming

Watch Chuck Season 4 Episode 8: Chuck Versus the Fear of Death (Chuck s04e08) Online Streaming

Watch How I Met Your Mother Season 6 Episode 9: Glitter (himym s06e09)

Watch How I Met Your Mother Season 6 Episode 9: Glitter Online. How I Met Your Mother s06e09 with title Glitter airs on Monday, November 15 2010 @08:00 pm on CBS.

How I Met Your Mother Season 6 Episode 9: Glitter Summary:
When Barney finds a copy of the Canadian kids show “Space Teens” starring Robin’s alter-ego “Robin Sparkles,” the gang learns more about Robin’s past as a performer than they expected.

Watch How I Met Your Mother Season 6 Episode 9: Glitter (himym  s06e09)

Watch How I Met Your Mother Season 6 Episode 9: Glitter (himym s06e09)