The Jone Dome’s Writer’s Arch (Extract)

The Writer’s Arch is an extension of the Jone Dome, where Poptimal.com’s best writers join Ference and Sebastian to have a spirited debate, sometimes drag out fight, about movies they have just seen.  And by just, we mean immediately before the show.

This episode is a discussion  movie Extract staring Justin Bateman and Mila Kunis with writers Renata Sellitti and Jamal Henry. Feat. Host Sebastian!!

[display_podcast]

Click here Listen in MP3

T. Dubb is a lover of the arts and enjoys drawing, listening to music, and watching movies in her spare time. Originally from Los Angeles, she currently resides in Davis, CA.

Jennifer’s Body: More Than Meets the Eyes

I will give Jennifer’s Body a lot of credit. In a time when so many of today’s horror flicks are remakes of old movies (often recycled garbage), what Jennifer’s Body has got going for it is that it’s unique and completely unconventional. Written by Diablo Cody, who won an Oscar for her quirky Juno, and directed by Karen Kusama (High: Girlfight. Low: Aeon Flux.), Jennifer’s Body is somewhere between gory horror, dark comedy and an exposition on teen females’ sexual awakenings. Unfortunately, if you’re going into this thinking that this film will mirror the last one from the woman who brought you “real” teens facing real life hardships like a pregnancy, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

The film is about two unlikely friends, Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) and Needy Lesnick (Amanda Seyfried). The former is that gorgeous and aggressive teen who happens to be a cheerleader, and the later is a mousy girl who hides behind her glasses. They’ve been BFF since the sandbox, so close that Needy often puts Jennifer, the girl who doesn’t like to be outshined especially by her best friend, before her own boyfriend.

I don’t want to let you in on too much of the story because, truthfully, I think if I even tell you a tiny bit, you’d be able to discern the entire course of the film. But Jennifer turns into a demon which amplifies her, already, man-eating ways tenfold. Oh, and it takes the man-eating part from the metaphorical to the literal realm. You wonder throughout the film what Needy will or even can do to stop her friend from slaughtering the male population of their town. Let me say, if you’re not a fan of blood and guts or cannibalism, than I suggest you pass this film up.

What I found interesting throughout the film was, however, how smart of a horror film it truly is. Clearly Cody is in touch with teen angst and up on her pop culture. Both the characters of Jennifer and Needy are common movie caricatures but the way they are written, the dialogue they are given and how the actors attack the roles make them entities of their own. It really is funny and not just about boys getting eaten.

When a band’s song “Through the Trees” becomes this little town’s anthem after a large group of people tragically die, every time you hear the media tout this song or play it over and over again, you can’t help but laugh because it is reality. Think of any tragedy in the last ten years and how the media covers it straight until the stories run out and they have to find ways to keep milking it. It gets a little sad sometimes, but she also shows it from the view point of how people latch onto these kernel’s of hope and how tragedies affect teens. It’s commentary like that, which may pass over the heads of boys and men alike just hoping to get a glimpse of a naked Fox, but kept me from feeling like the film was a wash.

All in all, Jennifer’s Body may not be the type of film to drop cash on in the theater but it’s definitely worth a DVD rental. In my opinion, Megan Fox does prove that she’s more than a pretty face and that she can be dramatic and funny! It reminds me a lot of Carrie, in the sense, that the point of the film is not to condemn Jennifer (though you do end up rooting for Needy), but to empathize with the maniac. Also the soundtrack is killer! (No pun intended!)

House: Yay or Nay to a Smiley House?

It’s the tagline Fox has been teasing us with all summer: What happens when the doctor becomes the patient? Well if this patient’s name is Dr. Gregory House, then those poor doctors are in for one hell of a fight.

Season six opens with an intense montage of House going through Vicodin detox at the Mayfield Psychiatric Clinic. After weeks of getting clean, he decides he’s ready to leave. The head doctor at the clinic, however, deems otherwise. Dr. Darryl Nolan believes House’s problems go beyond just Vicodin abuse and encourages him to stay a little bit longer….especially if House wants him to write his letter of recommendation so he can get his medical license reinstated. Well someone’s stuck in a corner now!

House very unwillingly stays, and at this point in the show we’re still dealing with a bitter, cynical House who is ready to turn things upside down at Mayfield. He comes up with a simple plan: to be as uncooperative as possible so that the doctors will want to get rid of him and write his letter.

Before going any further, it wouldn’t be fair to cast aside the other important players in this week’s episode who add a bit of color and life to the show. These other institutionalized patients include a hyper depressed man named Alvie who loves to freestyle and can’t keep his mouth shut for more than 60 seconds, a claustrophobic, an anorexic, a suicidal woman, a paranoid man, a man who calls himself Freedom Master and thinks he’s a superhero, and a woman named Annie who has not spoken in a decade. Alvie also happens to be House’s roommate and substitute friend while at the clinic. You can imagine how fond House is of this chatterbox…

House goes through at least four different plots to try and outsmart the Mayfield doctors:

1) Contradicting everything he’s told to do and being downright mean to the patients. “How depressed were you when you woke up the next morning in the hospital and found out you were still alive?” he asks the woman who cut her wrists. Needless to say, his smart mouth lands him a few trips to the isolated, padded room.

2) Rope in the other patients and start a revolution! Why aren’t they allowed to play ping-pong with the paddles, and why isn’t there a net? The patients all agree that hanging yourself with the net from a ping-pong table is weak. The revolution fails, however, when Dr. Nolan one-ups House and gives the patients back the ping pong paddles.

3) Attempt to blackmail Dr. Nolan and gather information about his personal life. This doesn’t go over too well either, especially when House calls Wilson to run a license plate check on Dr. Nolan only to find out Dr. Nolan has already gotten in touch with Wilson and warned him not to help House. Outsmarted again, House! Good on Wilson, though, for finally sticking up to House and telling him no. And Wilson’s brief 2 minute screen time is all we get from House’s comrades at Princeton Plainsboro for the whole two hour episode. If anything, I was happy to see a bit of Wilson!

4) Cooperate, but not actually cooperate. Get it? House pretends to be taking all his pills, he acts happy, takes part in the clinic activities, and so on. The medical team there isn’t convinced, however, and Dr. Nolan’s suspicions are confirmed when he starts giving House placebos instead of the real pills and House never notices.

In what quickly becomes the turning point of the episode, House defies the doctors again and escapes the asylum for a few hours, taking Freedom Master with him. He’s desperate to prove he can help other people better than the Mayfield doctors. Everything seems to be going great; House and Freedom Master go on a wind-type ride which gives them the ability to “fly” like a superhero, and it’s such a wonderful scene because you can see truly genuine smiles on both House and Freedom Master’s face. It’s obvious they’re having the time of their life. But then happiness turns to shock when all this serves as a catalyst for Freedom Master to jump off the side of the wall in the parking garage. Luckily, he survives the jump but it’s clear how hard this turn of events has hit House. It’s a humbling experience for him when he realizes he was only using Freedom Master for his own selfish reasons and never considered his mental health. House finally agrees to fully cooperate with the treatment and take the meds. No more plotting and planning, but doing everything by the book to get better.

Throughout his months-long stay at Mayfield, House develops a love interest named Lydia. She’s not a patient, but the sister-in-law and best friend of the mute patient, Annie. Lydia and House initially bond over her piano playing, but Lydia returns nearly every day and they develop a close bond. First they share a smooch, and then comes the sex. Better yet – it was real! He didn’t hallucinate it this time! Could the days of Cuddy and House finally be behind us?!

Well, we should know better than that. Lydia and her family are moving away with Annie who has since regained her voice after being “saved” by Freedom Master (it’s a really sweet moment!). It’s clear after their final encounter that this relationship was over before it could really begin, and for all purposes of the show, Lydia’s introduction was just a way for House to start learning that it is possible to trust people and develop close bonds. Or, as Dr. Nolan tells him, he needs to “acknowledge failure and move on with your life.”

This wasn’t your usual episode of House since there were no serious medical mysteries to solve aside from Annie’s loss of voice. And that was mostly solved by Freedom Master, bless his superhero heart. It was much more about House’s character development. Although I have to say the patients at the ward were so fun and likeable, they almost stole the show. It’s a shame we probably won’t be seeing them anymore in future episodes now that House has busted free with Dr. Nolan’s recommendation letter.

As a graduate of the Mayfield Psychiatric Clinic, viewers are now left with a more relaxed and smiley Dr. House. How this will play out for the rest of the season remains to be seen. The show could either become really great and blow our minds or do the complete opposite. As long as we have a relaxed House, though, how about some more freestyling?

For another take on this episode, check out The Doctor Is In: House Hobbles Back by Cameron Cubbison.

Season 6, Episode 1: Broken (Originally aired September 21, 2009)

For more on House, click here.

Tuesdays 8/7c on FOX

Photographs courtesy of Fox, NBC Universal, Larry Watson, and Michael Yarish

The Doctor Is In: House Hobbles Back

Fox’s star show is back for its sixth season, and the premiere bravely breaks from the show’s heretofore religiously adhered-to formula. It is extremely well-acted, but it’s also fairly drab, predictable, and stretches into two hours what it easily could have done in one. Gregory House is not my favorite television doctor. That title will forever go to John Becker. But House is one of the most worthy and memorable tv characters in years, and he and Hugh Laurie deserved a better script (and a better haircut). This premiere is basically a low-rent road show version of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, with House taking over the R.P. McMurphy made famous by Jack Nicholson.

If you’ll recall, last season ended with House checking him in to the loony bin after he realized he was going nuts and hallucinating dead people and events that never happened. Yeah, that’s definitely not what you want in a doctor extraordinaire. Thus, this episode takes place entirely in said loony bin. None of the other series regulars are involved in this premiere. It is truly a standalone episode, and in my book that’s a real treat, because save for Cuddy, I hate everyone else on House and have for quite some time. Foreman is neither likable nor interesting, Taub is a tool, Cameron’s a sanctimonious twit (why oh why does she have to share my namesake), and no one else is even worth writing about.

While I didn’t love this premiere, it certainly proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Hugh Laurie really is the whole show, that you don’t need any of the other people to make it work. By the end of this episode, the groundwork had been laid for House to return to his job and for the season to get back to the medical mysteries, status quo formula that the show has always had. But I would much rather see Hugh Laurie and House continue to go in new directions, maybe travel more. What about having him travel to a new place every week and solve a mystery? After all, I’m pretty sure not every impossibly obscure medical mystery crisis occurs in New Jersey.

At any rate, we open with an artsy montage sequence showing House detoxing at the loony bin, accompanied by moody music and jump cuts. Um, did House check into the loony bin or the French New Wave Land? Actually, they aren’t all that dissimilar. Either way, House does slowly clean up and proceeds to try to leave the clinic. After all, he checked in voluntarily, he should be able to leave voluntarily. But the head honcho, Doctor Nolan (played by the always dependable, veteran character actor Andre Braugher) has other ideas. Nolan believes that, though House may be off Vicodin, Vicodin isn’t his problem. His problem is much more deep-seated. He is, as Roy McAvoy half-jokingly described himself, “chock full of inner demons.” Thusly, Dr. Nolan refuses to write a letter reinstating House’s medical license unless he stays to be cured.

So House then devotes his every effort to driving the loony bin staff nuts (no pun intended) until they happily boot him out of there. He goes out of his way to mock his fellow nutcases, especially his manic depressive Puerto Rican roommate Alvie. Besides Alvie, there’s a druggie, a claustrophobic, a paranoid, an anorexic, a world-class cellist who hasn’t spoken in ten years, and a guy who thinks he is a superhero. Watching House do his thing on these people is very entertaining, but you’ve seen it before. That’s the problem. You pretty much know everything that’s going to happen.

The other significant element of the premiere is the character of Lydia, who is the sister-in-law of the silent cellist, who comes by weekly to visit. She’s played by Run Lola Run and Bourne veteran Franka Potente. She and House slowly form a bond, but I’d be lying if I said that I was foaming at the mouth for them to get together. Which they do, by the end, though of course it can’t last. Potente and Laurie play off each other really well, but the best scenes in the episode are the ones between House and Nolan, two stubborn doctors vying for control.

There’s also no real medical mystery that House solves this time, though there is a mini-mystery. But again, it’s nice to have a break from the formula. House is such a strong character that he can exist free of a formulaic enclosure. House is somebody worth watching in any situation. So really, I guess if I had to sum it up succinctly, I’d say that I admired the episode for daring to break from a well-established formula and for ditching a sensationalist disease-of-the-week mystery for the sake of pure character study. It’s a bold move, and, to be a broken record, Hugh Laurie is still mesmerizing. He makes the episode worth watching. But it’s only merely worth watching, and House ought to be must-see.

For another take on this episode, check out Yay or Nay to a Smiley House? by Stephanie Jaar.

Season 6, Episode 1: Broken (Originally aired September 21, 2009)

For more on House, click here.

Tuesdays 8/7c on FOX

Photographs courtesy of Fox, NBC Universal, Larry Watson, and Michael Yarish

Heroes: “There’s A Lot of Change Going On…”

Dear Heroes -

I know I said it last year, but I’m serious this time. You and me, we’re done if you let me down this season. I keep holding on to hope, but if I have to sit through another implausible storyline where all the characters I love act like crazy people I don’t even recognize, I will go mad myself. So you’ve had your 100 millionth chance, and I’m not going to just sit around forever.

Love, Nisi

Phew! Now, I don’t mean to be mean but that just had to be said. However with the season premiere behind us now, I can vouch that things are definitely on the ups in Heroes-verse. As Peter said, “There’s a lot of change going on with me.” Volume Five is title “Redemption,” and could they have picked something more fitting? The tone of this season is very similar to the first season that made it a breakout hit. It’s dark and mysterious, as if each week we’ll be ripping off layer after layer until we’re finally illuminated.

The focus has returned to the show’s characters and how they balance being normal and extraordinary at the same time. It’s about their thoughts and emotions, and not so much about throwing as many battles as humanly possible into an hour or two in this instance. It’s a thin line to tread, being too character driven or acting like you’re making a live action comic book. The truth is we want both, but not if one is a detriment to the other.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
“Redemption” will focus on a band of circus folks who actually have REAL powers. Robert Knepper (aka T-Bag from Prison Break) joins the cast as the carnies’ leader Sam, a man with a power I still don’t get but has to do with a compass. Not much has been revealed yet about their motives, but it’s clear they’re about sticking with their own. The things we have learned are that Sam wants to travel back, possibly to change his brother’s death, who’s buried during the show’s opening. I’m sure you can guess who he turns to, but how finding our other Heroes will help his plan is still to be determined.

Sam has the ability to control earth, but he can also create powerful tattoos. He uses another carnival worker Lydia’s ability to discern information from these tattoos when they’re put on her body, and he also uses a tattoo to choke Edgar when he gets a little mouthy for his liking. Edgar is another carnie with lightning fast speed and some sweet knife-wielding abilities. When Sam sent him out to find a compass, that’s important for some reason I’m sure they’ll clue us into later, he’s a little doubtful about following Sam’s lead. Maybe another hero with a conscience?

IT’S 9 O’CLOCK. DO YOU KNOW WHERE OUR HEROES ARE?
Peter is still Mr. I Need to Save the World, but he’s doing it on a much smaller scale nowadays. He’s working as a paramedic using his powers to help people who would most likely be goners if the man attempting to save them didn’t have super strength and super powers. Sadly, he’s regressed socially, ignoring calls from both his mother and Nathan.

Claire starts college but quickly becomes the odd frosh out when her roommate seemingly leaps to her death from their dorm room window. She also meets a new friend who finds out Claire’s abilities when she sees her bloodied and broken after jumping from the aforementioned window in a forensic experiment. Her friend Gretchen is played by Madeline Zima (Californication), and she was such a naughty girl on that show, I can’t really trust her just yet.

Tracy has been murdering people left and right, seeking revenge on those who tried to hunt her down and kill her last season. Danko’s still holding a grudge, but can you really blame her. It’s a kill or be killed world. A perfect example of how the show’s direction is changing, and hopefully will continue to do so, is the fact that the focus isn’t about the chase in this case. It’s about how Tracy reconciles what she’s done with what she knows is right. And the fact that Noah offers her a helping hand (even after she tried to kill him), and erased Danko’s mind to forget her and give up his hunt, gives her a second chance. Unfortunately, it’s the last chance for Danko since Edgar takes him out.

Noah, on the other hand, is getting the second chance that I think he deserves. As the poster boy for everything the Company did wrong, he’s gotten the short end of the stick. His wife still isn’t speaking to him, so he’s living a sad and lonely life. He gets a smack in the face when he calls her and a man picks up. Ouchie! All Angela wants to do is pull him back in though all he wants is his family back. And when he does get involved by finding the compass, Peter acts as his bodyguard but only for a short time, rescuing him from Edgar but leaving him with the compass. Since Edgar won’t give up, in the end Noah ends up without the goods and in the hospital. Poor HRG.

But there are two in an even worse state. Nathan, who we know is really Sylar without Sylar’s consciousness and with all of Nathan’s memories, has begun to realize that something is off. Powers he never had are starting to emerge. And when he turns to Peter, who went through a similar abilities transition, he gets no love back. Good thing he doesn’t notice how warily Angela regards him since she sees Nathan acting as Nathan but looking like Sylar in her visions.

It’s actually so burdensome that she turns to Matt, the one who locked Sylar away, to help straighten Nathan out once more. But like so many other Heroes, Matt just wants to spend time with the family he neglected and almost lost. What he did last season, though, haunts him quite figuratively. Sylar taunts at him saying what he did left a piece of him in Matt, and he wants his body back.

And across the world, Hiro is still not doing so hot since he still has the nosebleeds.  Taking it easy, he’s not doing the grand version of saving the world anymore without his time traveling powers, so he starts a cute little business with Ando called Dial-A-Hero. During  his first and only assignment so far, he freezes time but then ends up freezing himself. While he and Ando try to figure out what’s going on, he ends up going back in time and meeting Sam. He pushes Hiro to use his powers to help other people by rewriting the past. But having always thought you shouldn’t change time because of the butterfly effect, he’s hard to convince. But when he does something so small as to prevent Ando from spilling a slushy on his sister Kimiko’s favorite dress when they were kids and when he returns to the present, Ando and Kimiko are in love. Is he a fairy godfather or playing with fire?

WRAP IT UP
Just know that things are looking more and more like the Heroes so many of us loved before they went off the deep end and stated writing like they were writing fan fiction. This season is off to a promising start, but it’s happened before, and I will not get my hopes up this early on. So far so good though. Heroes, you can still take me out on that date next Monday if I didn’t hurt you too bad earlier. I can’t promise you any more than that.

Season 4, Episodes 1 & 2: Orientation & Jump, Push, Fall (originally aired September 21, 2009)

For more on Heroes, click here.

Mondays at 9/8C on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal, Justin Lubin, Chris Haston

Entourage: The Show I Know and Love

Now THIS is the show I know and love. Sunday’s episode felt effortless and exactly like a day in the life of a superstar and his buddies.  One thing I appreciate about Entourage is that it’s the little things that make it seem authentic. Yes, Vince is a movie star, but everything he does doesn’t have to be larger-than-life to be cool. The episode resolved two conflicts, added a new wrinkle to a present conflict, and introduced a new dilemma in classic Entourage style: end the episode with a small bomb and then boom: perfect song over the closing credits. Yes, the closing song matters; it cues you in on how to interpret what you just saw and puts a figurative bow on top of the episode.  Since the show ended with Jamie-Lynn telling Turtle that she would be shooting a new TV show in New Zealand (probably signaling the end of their relationship), it was fitting that Michael Jackson’s “I Wanna Be Where You Are” rang out loud and clear after we saw Turtle’s stunned face.

I was quite pleased with the episode because the writers have ended Eric’s farcical relationship with Single White Female, Ashley a,fter she asks E to check his email.  That is beyond crazy but the crazier thing is that Eric actually considered going along with it!  After remembering his initial impression and getting sound advice from Vince to call it quits, Eric gives her the old heave-ho.  Vince is a great friend; he’s always loyal and supportive and never pushy.  Although the decision to dump Ashley should have been a no-brainer, he let E make the choice on his own.  While Eric tries to disengage himself from a personal mess, Drama tries to free himself from a professional one.  He has a shot at the new Melrose Place, but only if Dan Coakley lets him out of his Five Towns contract.  Coakley has been making Drama’s life a living hell and his character isn’t faring much better.  The chances of Coakley releasing him from his contract are slim to none.  Lloyd represents Drama and is now working for Adam Davies.  He tries in vain to get him released, but Lloyd is a guppy in a big pond.  Enter Ari to save the day, not because he gives a shit about Drama, but to spite Lloyd, who he has vengefully blackballed.  When Drama sees that Lloyd can’t pull the strings that Ari can, he accepts Ari’s offer for representation.  You know as well as I do that the only reason Ari even tolerates Drama is because he is Vince’s brother.  He only wants to rep Drama in order to punish Lloyd.  Despite this thoroughly mean act, Ari later mercifully releases Drama back to Lloyd after Johnny asks him to admit whether or not he thinks he has any real talent.  Lloyd believes in Drama; Ari could care less.

I’m like a spurned girlfriend and Entourage is my lost love that returned home.  I won’t ask any questions, and I don’t care where you’ve been – I’m just glad you’re back.

For another take on this episode, read Yup, She’s Crazy by Renata Sellitti.

Season 6, Episode 10: Berried Alive  (originally aired September 20, 2009)

For more Entourage, click here.

Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro

Entourage: Yup, She’s Crazy

Two things stuck out about Entourage this week: 1- E finally realized that Ashley was restraining-order psychotic and dropped her like a bad habit, and 2- wait, is Vince still even on this show? He’s been the visual equivalent of a piece of set furniture lately, with minimal dialogue and almost no story arc, but this week they really shelved him hard. I know he’s waiting to film his new movie but give the guy some lines already, will ya? Here’s what the other characters who actually took part in the episode were up to.

Turtle needs to get his priorities straight and realize that he has girlfriend gold with Jamie-Lynn, and no amount of skank-tastic coeds should derail that. Caught in the middle of a love triangle between the brown-haired slutty groupie and the woman who actually cares about him, Turtle seems to be losing focus. Even when Jamie-Lynn decides to start driving Turtle to his classes (which, I have to admit, is pretty emasculating) to keep an eye on the underwear stealers who are encroaching upon her man, Turtle still seems distracted by the attention the sorority girl is throwing his way. To make matters worse, Jamie-Lynn learns that she has gotten the lead in a new series, but the catch is that it films in New Zealand. Yikes. I don’t know who should be more paranoid, Jamie-Lynn that the slut army will make their move on her boyfriend, or Turtle that some hot New Zealand surfer-type will try and steal his woman. I’m not sure how this one will end but I’m pretty sure Turtle won’t realize what he has until she’s gone.

Also having girl issues this week was Eric, who finally realized that Oksana Baiul Ashley is a card-carrying member of the jealous girlfriends club. Actually, that b*tch is certifiably crazy, which she proved to E when she asked to be able to read his BlackBerry emails to confirm that he wasn’t up to any shady behavior. Clearly suffering a temporary case of “I have no manhood”, E hands over his blackberry and continues about his day – until his smokin’ hot assistant convinces E that this is not acceptable girl behavior and that Ashley’s trust issues = total deal breaker. Plus, I think she has the hots for him even though she denies it. Then E invites Ashley to a dinner so he can discretely and respectfully dump her – in public. Good idea, E. Too bad it ended with Ashley hurling insults at the top of her lungs in front of 200 restaurant patrons. No matter, I’m sure E will find another girl to rob him of his manhood again soon; here’s hoping that the next one won’t resemble a troll doll.

Lastly, Johnny Drama bumps into an old producer friend of his who just happens to think he’d be perfect for a part on his series, the new “Melrose Place”, if only Drama were free to take the gig. Sick of taking Dan Coakley’s script-imposed abuse on “Five Towns”, Drama calls Lloyd and tells him he needs to get out of his contract ASAP.  Lloyd breaks the news that he’s left Ari, and Drama basically tells Lloyd that whoever can get him out of his contract will be the one to retain him as a client, and if Lloyd can’t swing it then maybe Ari can. Desperate to inflict punishment on Lloyd for leaving him, Ari snatches up Drama as a client by bribing Coakley into letting Drama out of his contract, a feat that Lloyd was unable to do since Ari basically had him blackballed out of Hollywood out of spite. Cue the Jerry McGuire mushy scene: Lloyd finds Drama and tells him that he has something that Ari will never have for him – his undivided attention. Lloyd’s heartfelt plea telling Drama how much he believes in him was actually pretty adorable, if desperation-induced. Drama then goes to Ari’s office to thank him and invites him to lunch and quickly realizes that Lloyd was right about Ari all along. After some convincing, Drama manages to get Ari to set his spite aside and let him rejoin Adam Davies’ firm as Lloyd’s client. I had been hoping for the antics between Ari and Lloyd to escalate in a more entertaining way, but they got their point across anyway.

Over all it was a decent episode, not as great as some recently but still fairly solid and necessary to keep the plot moving along. All I can hope for with the last few episodes of this season is that the writers focus less on substance and more on the antics that we have come to love and expect from Entourage. If nothing else, at least we got rid of Ashley and I’m curious to see if Drama’s neurotic ways return to ambush his Melrose screen test. Stay tuned, kids.

For another take on this episode, read The Show I Know and Love by Tanya Lane

Season 6, Episode 10: Berried Alive (originally aired September 20, 2009)

For more Entourage, click here.

Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro

Gossip Girl: A Farewell to Headbands

Last week people had complicated relationships held over from the summer and this week we’re off to college!  Blair and Dorota are getting Blair ready for her first day at NYU and all the Dorota fans out there go crazy!   And then Blair goes crazy on Chuck’s mouth before he objects to her living in the dorms so she can establish herself as the queen of NYU, but Chuck thinks the only queens she’ll meet will have tickets to see Liza (how outdated).  Down the block, Serena is not happy about shipping off to Brown but she wishes Dan good luck as he joins his peers (i.e., the intelligentsia snobs of Greenwich Village).  He meets one of those potential snobs in the form of an attractive co-ed, Katie, who’s enamored of Dan’s writing and wants him to join her writers’ group.  Unless it’s at a Learning Annex, writing groups are by definition snobby, I mean look at Poptimal.

Anyway, Rufus wishes Serena good luck at school and she carts her stuff off to . . . Chuck’s hotel room/apartment.  She’s skipping school and crashing with Chuck.  And just as Blair is passing out headbands to all her new freshmen friends, Georgina runs in and gives Blair a big hug to welcome her as her new roommate.  Blair is not amused and they start to fight.  An “I’m too cool for school” Vanessa walks by and looks like she wants to vomit all over Georgina’s perkiness and Blair’s conceit.  But Blair is not going to let Georgina get her down.  Oh yes, you guessed, she’s having a party and putting Grandmaster Dorota on the case.

At the bookstore, Vanessa apologizes to Dan, then Georgina apologizes to them (after shocking Dan) and wants to be friends with them since she’s so lonely.  Over Dan’s objection, Vanessa makes nice.  Speaking of making nice, Nate is in bed with Bree hiding their scandalous Romeo and Juliet romance and singing Timberlake in the shower.

Chuck’s working on buying a building to convert it to a speakeasy (remember Victrola?!?).  During negotiations, drunk Serena stumbles in and spills the beans to the building owner what Chuck’s really planning.  Chuck’s pissed at Serena–apparently a board won’t approve of a place with coat check girls who give happy endings.  Really?!?  So Serena’s homeless again and crashes at the loft with Dan, who tells Serena to talk with Rufus about her non-college issues.  But after a lousy visit with Rufus, Serena says she’s not going to Brown and calls up Carter to go out partying that night.  And by party, she means crash another one of Chuck’s business meetings.  Mission Accomplished, S!  Only Carter calls Serena out on her silly games.

So back at the dorm, no one shows up to Blair’s sushi party, but no one cares.  I suspect Georgina is part of the plan to shut out Blair by making her seem like an out of touch snob.  I guess too many wasabi facials will give off that impression.  As the second part of Georgina’s plan, she’s throwing a rooftop party and telling Blair that she’s a loser who will never fit in.  Au contraire, Georgina.  Blair is forming her own alliance with Dan, who’s her date to Georgina’s party under one condition: no headbands.

And now’s the time on Gossip Girl when we swirl our martinis and party!  Dan introduces Blair to Katie and we get a great laugh line that Blair has no idea that Dan’s a writer.  Dan extends an olive branch to Georgina and asks her to lighten up with Blair; Georgina calmly says that Dan’s being used.  Well knock me down with a feather, never would have guessed that one!

So night has fallen at the roof deck and Blair grabs the mic and talks about Georgina a “Jesus freak,” which is the code word for a group of evangelists from Georgina’s camp to come parading in with pamphlets and songs.  A silly cheap laugh but Georgina is furious at Blair but it works to Blair’s advantage because she’s corralling people to party with her at Monkey Bar.  But Dan isn’t having any more of Blair’s games, so he grabs the mic and stands up for Georgina while trashing Blair.  But before anyone can slow clap, the freshmen of NYU agree to stay at Georgina’s party.

A defeated Serena shuffles back to talk with Rufus and says she called Brown and decided to defer for a year so she can take the year to discover herself (and a pair of clean underwear, we hope).  Does this mean she’s growing up? Probably not, but we get a touching scene between B and S saying farewell to their youths on the steps of the Met and hello to B’s stability with Chuck and S’s nosedive into the whirlwind known as Carter.

Oh and Dan and Georgina hooked up after her party.  Stew over that one until next week, folks.

Listen to The J Factor with J.B. and Jaimie here or on iTunes.

Season 3, Episode 2: The Freshmen (originally aired September 21, 2009)

For more on Gossip Girl, click here.

Mondays at 8/7C, The CW

Photographs courtesy of The CW, Giovanni Rufino

Mad Men: O. M. G.

I cannot believe that happened.

I cannot believe I was just sitting here watching an episode of Mad Men, drinking it down with glee (it was one of those truly delicious episodes, filled to the brim with the gorgeous character exploration that is what this show does best, with lots of lovely heartbreaking news about Joan and Don and Betty and poor poor Sally and just the right amount of levity from the SC underlings and tantalizing hints of upcoming corporate shakeups and mysterious phone calls and funny jokes and did I mention Joan’s fabulous green dress?) and then, and then, and then, Lois ran over a guy’s foot with a lawnmower.

O.

M.

G.

What can I even say about this episode? It was the best of the season so far, probably, even better than “My Old Kentucky Home” despite the lack of Pete and Trudy dancing. But I still haven’t recovered from the sight of Guy, poor beautiful Guy, Guy who looked like our new star, Guy who I was fantasizing was Peggy’s future British husband (and who knows, he might still be that), lying on the floor with his foot shriveled up and his blood spattered all over Harry’s glasses.

I’m trying to think of a comparable out-of-nowhere television moment. Seeing Charlie hung from a tree back in season 1 of Lost, maybe. Although that was at least foreshadowed via, I believe, Ethan announcing that he was going to kill Charlie. Whereas this scene was only foreshadowed by Ken preening like he does every week (he even hitched up his belt, hee!) and Smitty getting bored. And, OK, a tiny bit by the episode title (“Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency” – hee, again), but still. Come on. Try to tell me you saw this coming, I dare you.

The questions stemming from this insanity linger, of course. Will Lois get sent to the same psych ward where they locked up Peggy? Is Ken getting fired next week? Is Don really going to be OK with a promotion that comes as a direct result of his younger, maybe even hotter, competition being unable to ever golf again?

Up until that scene I was thinking about spending this week’s character explanation on Joan. Let’s see if I can pull it off even with my arms shaking. Because Joan, a far superior woman to both me and to my beloved Peggy, saw that blood spray and sprang into action, going right up to that shriveled foot and taking charge. Forget office management, I want Joan to come over and manage my whole life for me.

What’s Joan going to do now? I’m sure there are many, many jobs she’d have the skills for, but that doesn’t mean she could get hired for them. And, of course, she could manage any office she set foot in (sorry, that was a poor choice of words; I blame Roger’s bad example) but she probably wouldn’t get paid as well as she did after ten years at SC (of which she spent an indeterminate number sleeping with the boss).

Joan is a priceless character, and she, like Don, is one of the Mad Men universe inhabitants I find hardest to pin down. We still don’t know much about her background, other than her mostly unfortunate romantic history and that heartbreaking season 1 scene with Carol, her former roommate. We know she didn’t go to college; odds are, she’s a secretarial school graduate like Peggy. We know she’s into soap operas, even though there’s no way she could watch them, seeing as how she’s worked every day for ten years. We know she prioritizes her appearance and must have spent a good chunk of her salary over the past decade on clothes, makeup, and haircuts. And we know that that was a practical, tactical decision, just like every decision we’ve ever seen Joan make.

I adore Joan, and she terrifies me. That’s because ever since the pilot, I’ve never really stopped seeing Joan through Peggy’s eyes. I’d like to think that five years from now, the two of them will have developed a Betty/Francine-esque mutually affectionate friendship, but I know that’s wishful thinking, because neither one of them will ever be able to stop seeing Joan as the superior party. She isn’t smarter, but she’s wiser, much wiser, and even though many, many bad things have happened to Joan, she still manages to stride right over to that shriveled foot every time, make the decisions that have to be made, and forge ahead. (Although I guess one could argue that fainting into Pete Campbell’s arms isn’t such a strategically bad move either.)

Imagine if Joan had been born in, let’s say, 1979, rather than 1931. She’d be running Apple. She’d be the editor of Vogue. She’d already have launched her presidential exploration committee. C’est magnifique, indeed.

And, oh, right, I forgot to summarize what happened this week. Um: Joan’s husband didn’t get named chief resident and now they have to move to Alabama and/or he has to give up surgery or something (it was never made clear, much to Joan’s and our frustration). She’s already quit her job at SC and they had a big goodbye party and everything, but now she needs the money and is in an awful predicament. The guy Don met at the garden party turns out to be important, as we knew he would; in fact, he turns out to be Conrad Hilton, who, awkwardly for the show I would think, was a real person, and he wants Don to work for him. The British overlords came to visit SC and unveiled a new company organization chart, which did not, to Don’s dismay, involve him moving to London. But that’s now all being rejiggered since the gorgeous Guy, who was supposed to take over the COO spot, can no longer golf again, which may be good news for Don (and Betty, who desperately wants a pram). Sally developed a fear of baby Gene, because she has conflated his birth with the death of Grandpa Gene, and is demonstrating this fear by throwing Barbies out the window and issuing blood-curdling screams in the middle of the night, but Don helps her get over it. Oh, and poor delicate Peggy fainted at the sight of blood and Pete caught her; it was cute.

Next week, tune in for what I’m sure will be more carnage in the halls as SC gets reorganized yet again (and Peggy, hopefully, learns that while Guy may no longer golf, everything else is still in working order).

Season 3, Episode 6: Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency (originally aired September 20, 2009)

For more on Mad Men, click here.

Sundays at 10PM/9C, AMC

Photographs courtesy of AMC and Carin Baer

The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards: Highlight Reel

The surprises Sunday night didn’t come from any of the wins and losses, that’s for sure. The surprise for me was how wonderfully fun and exciting the Emmys can be when they tweak a few things and choose a great host. Sure after last year’s horror show ::shudder::, anything would have been good in comparison. And with that in mind, this show was more than good. It was fantastic! So let’s get down to what was so fantastic about it.

HOST WITH THE MOST
I love Neil Patrick Harris. His face and voice just make me smile. His opening number “Put Down the Remote” focused on why you shouldn’t change the channel, and from that moment on, I never did. It didn’t hurt that the music and lyrics were well written, and he performed it wonderfully.

One of Harris’ best moments was when he lost in Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, and he ripped up his cue cards, saying it’s not going to be awkward. He then proceeded to check with the actual winner to make sure the card didn’t have his name on it. But nothing can beat an homage to Dr. Horrible. I really should have watched it by now, but after seeing the Emmy-version of the little internet miniseries that could, I will definitely be Netflixing it. Who knew Harris and Nathan Fillion could fit so much musical funny into two minutes?!

DEJA VU
Alec Baldwin won again for 30 Rock. I was kind of hoping that it might be Jim Parsons’ year, but there’s no question that Alec still deserved it. 30 Rock also took the win, again, for Outstanding Comedy and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy.

Mad Men, also a shoe-in, won in the Best Drama category, and after the deep and dark season two finale, I could only stand up and applaud them.

Jeff Probst won for the second time as Best Reality Host for Survivor, and The Amazing Race won Best Reality Series for the seventh time. No surprises there. It really is a breathtaking show with a non-stop pace so I understand, but sometimes you just have to share the love. It’s reality TV! Jon Stewart, who I could watch win over and over again, took it home for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy series for the seventh time too.

And Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston won for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama, while Glenn Close won the female counterpart for Damages. I’ve never watched Breaking Bad, and I passed on this past season of Damages, so I can’t say if they deserved their awards. But when in doubt, just guess that they’ll give it to last year’s winners, right?

THE UPSETS
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, the first award of the night, went to Kristin Chenoweth, and the tears she shed immediately were so genuine. It made me start to tear up, especially since I never thought Pushing Daisies would win! I mean, it was canceled. Clearly, the critics and I are the only ones who loved that show.

Next up, Toni Collette won for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy for United States of Tara. I always get so excited when I hear someone, who more oft than not, plays an American, talking in their real accent. Hers happens to be Australian and damn awesome. The fact that Tina Fey didn’t take this one is still shocking, accent or not.

Some other new wins include Michael Emerson for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama, after one of his best Lost seasons, and Cherry Jones for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama, after her turn as the first female President in 24.

A little perplexing is how Jon Cryer, from Two and a Half Men, won for Supporting Actor in a Comedy. I know there are a lot of people who love this show, and they have the Nielsen results to prove it. But he didn’t win for so long; I just never thought he’d have a chance this far down the line. I did appreciate his opening speech quip (see: Quotables). I guess he truly is funny.

And Justin Timberlake, also, won an Emmy. It’s just for Guest Star in a Comedy, but it must be like a sucker punch for the “real” actors who were also nominated with him.

GREAT FILLER
We get a tour of the stage, and they really jazzed stuff up, putting the control room and the band on stage. They even give Harris a podium to hang out at during the show. All the better to push the show along, my dear.

John Hodgman (the PC guy!) was also the color commentator, the person who gives you fun facts like how many awards the winner has won as they walk on stage, but it also made me think of a beauty pageant. Thankfully, he funnied it up with stats of some of the winners’ worst pieces of work or just flat out lies.

Maksim and Karina from Dancing With the Stars and some of my favorite SYTYCDancers performed a number, choreographed by NappyTabs, and if you read any of my past reviews you’d know I was super jazzed about that. That’s me though. Most of the people in the audience just wondered why they were watching dancing at the Emmys, reality host award or not).

Sarah McLachlan sang “I Will Remember You” as the In Memorium played in the background. We really did lose a lot of amazing people this year who worked in the media. Let’s just say by the time they got to Patrick Swayze and closed out with Walter Cronkite, I was bawling my eyes out.

QUOTABLES
“I’m not employed now so I’d like to be on Mad Men. I also like The Office and 24.” – Kristin Chenoweth.

“This is how you host the Emmys.” – Jeff Probst to Harris. He did look like the most angry and embarrassed of all of last year’s hosts by the end of the show.

“I used to think awards were just shallow tokens of momentary popularity, but now, I realize they are the only true measure of a person’s real worth as a human being.” – Jon Cryer.

“Trevino was struck by lightning twice and now I know how he feels. I’m glad Glenn Close is a woman.” – Bryan Cranston.

“I will make my speech as brief as possible in the hope that it won’t be interrupted by a congressman or a rapper.” – Ken Howard, who won Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries.

“The thing about the Oscars and the Golden Globes, they’ve got film stars with their jaw lines and chiseled looks, making me feel bad, but in this room, I’m probably above average. Yeah, definitely. Here, Steve Carell is considered handsome. But Rainn Wilson, we’ve got to be honest, he’s weird, even here.” – Ricky Gervais.

Tracy Morgan just speaks and people laugh, even if what he’s saying is not funny.

WRAP IT UP
Yes, there was only one place to go but up, but I think Emmy producers have finally realized what they need to do to put out a entertaining show that viewers want to tune into and keep watching. Pick a host that’s actually funny. Don’t spend too much time on fluff. Pick comedians that make us laugh to keep the show upbeat and focus on the stars we love.

Here’s to hoping that it’ll only get better in the years to come.

61th Primetime Emmy Awards (originally aired September 20, 2009)

For television reviews, click here.

Photographs courtesy of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, CBS, Monty Brinton  and  IMDbPro.

« Previous Page — Next Page »