I’ve heard people wonder why the big networks are still so concerned with what night certain shows air, what with the advent of digital video recording (DVR) and all. I admit I’ve been one of those people, scoffing at whether or not giving a show a particular time reflects on its stature or provides a likelihood to increase viewership and survive the chopping block the way it used to.

Let me tell you what I think. I think the network executives and the series producers continue to consider it a big deal because it is.

Some of the reasons timeslot is important may have changed, but more remain very valid, and timeslot alone has the ability to make or break a show.

A quick lesson on network scheduling and the reasons it’s traditionally been important:

1 – People need to know when a show airs so they can make sure they are home to watch it. There may be an argument for this being outdated, but it’s important to remember that there are plenty of people out there who cannot afford or simply choose not to bring a DVR into their homes. There are still people who watch live television (the poor souls). What night a show airs also matters to those people who want to watch right away in order to discuss an episode with friends, or around the “water cooler” at work the next day.

2 – Certain nights are “stronger” than others, where every network places its strongest shows in the ring for direct competition. In recent memory, really since NBC put together a ridiculous Thursday night “Must See TV” lineup surrounding Friends in the late ’90s, Thursday nights have become the “it” night. Thursday is the promised land, the place to be, the spots every series vies for and the ones that are hardest to fail in. Mondays are probably second best. If a show is on Monday or Thursday, viewers are trained to believe in its quality, true or not. Friday nights have consistently been where shows go to die. Examples: Dollhouse, Ugly Betty, Ghost Whisperer.

3 – Research shows that Americans are lazy. I know, right? I mean, who would’ve thought? In all seriousness this plays a part in scheduling, because it also means people are literally too slothful to change channels. The thinking behind this is if you have one wildly successful show and another that’s either struggling or new and you put the one that needs help immediately following the one that is successful (or even better, sandwich it between TWO successful shows) the struggling series will increase its viewers simply because people won’t change the station. It works, too. Using NBC as an example, their Thursday night lineup consisted of Friends (7-7:30), Will & Grace (7:30-8), Seinfeld (then Fraiser) (8-8:30) and E.R. (9-10) for years. The show they landed on for the 8:30-9 slot, Just Shoot Me, was actually a terrible show but one we remember simply because people didn’t change the channel between Seinfeld and E.R. A current example would be CBS starting The Big Bang Theory sandwiched between How I Met Your Mother and Two and A Half Men. People started watching because it was on between to highly rated shows, and now that it has established itself as a powerhouse, CBS has moved it to anchor their Thursday nights.

I started thinking about this after Fox announced their decision to move Fringe to Friday nights. The optimistic among the fans say it doesn’t matter, that the people who love the show will keep watching. In theory, this is correct, and I know I’ll still be setting my DVR. I can’t say enough about this series. Fringe, in my opinion, isn’t just a good show. It’s a great show. It’s the freshest, best written, most highly conceived, fabulously acted series on television right now.

None of that is going to matter.

After all, we have to make room for American Idol on Thursday nights. That was sarcasm. American Idol is the show that deserves the bump to Fridays, not Fringe.

With the move to Friday nights, I predict we’ll get 2-3 more seasons (and that may be optimistic) out of J.J Abrams and his wonderful cast and writers. The problem is, they’ve lost their access to all three points above. People don’t watch Friday night shows with their friends, and they’re not at work to talk about them the next day. New viewers are unlikely to find the show both because they’ve lost the lead in of Bones (a show that’s declining but still has a loyal group of viewers), and they’ve acquired the stigma of a Friday night series.

I think it’s crappy. I think it’s heartbreaking, and when it comes down the cancellation of this show will be one of those moments when loyal, smart viewers question how the network execs could get it so wrong. Why the shows we love and never, ever miss get cancelled and shows like American Idol and C.S.I., in all of its incarnations, are left to bleed dry.

I don’t have the answers, and if they do they’re not telling. What about you?

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Images courtesy of Fox/IMDbPro and Sonja Flemming/CBS.

Burn Notice is back for its winter season and in a Q&A conference call with Bruce Campbell (who plays Sam Axe) and Gabrielle Anwar (Fiona) the two talk about the dangers of Season 4 to Michael and Crew. And if you think it’s been a rough road for the burned spy, things are only going to get worse and worse…

On what’s ahead in season 4.5:
Things are getting grim for Michael (played by Jeffrey Donovan) and Company and in the season ahead the team learns that the deeper they search to find out who burned Michael Westen, the more powerful, and dangerous, their enemies become. “I think it’s safe to say that we’re going to get more bad guys and we’re going to get worse bad guys because this is getting worse,” Bruce Campbell says of the upcoming season. “Michael Westen’s situation is compounding and he’s in a world of hurt that drags us into it also.” Campbell continues on saying “every episode it seems to escalate.” This is a description with which Gabrielle Anwar agrees, calling it a “continual snowballing effect. We can’t seem to get out of trouble.”

The “crescendo:”
With this rise of danger that the team seems to find themselves in, all this trouble promises to be explosive. And that explosion comes in the last episode of the season which Campbell calls “a jaw dropper.” “The cases come in every week from different ways, but there’s still the through line of Michael Westen’s situation is getting more and more perilous and dangerous and he’s getting more powerful people pissed off at him…” Campbell says. “There’s going to be a big boom at the end of this. There’s going to be a big ‘What the f?’ moment.” Possibilities abound for what a “what the f” moment means, but given Burn Notice’s history of being willing to make Michael Westen disappear in dangerous situations over season breaks, the possibilities are terrifying.

On being vigilantes:
In the black and white world of right and wrong, it’s safe to say Michael and crew live in a wide world of uncompromising grey. They are the good guys who step outside the law for the sake of the greater good. In short, they’re vigilantes. “We’re actually fighting for the right thing, but we just have way different approaches in how to do it,” Campbell says. “We break laws every episode, but we don’t do anything wrong… I think the world needs a few vigilantes, someone who’s out there, who’s willing to step up and go ‘You know what? This ain’t happening. I got to take care of business here.’”

On Fiona:
Running with these boys is not an easy task, that’s why you need someone as badass as Fiona to keep them in line. And this is a task and privilege that Anwar gladly accepts. “I’m truly blessed to be able to step into her shoes every day.” Anwar says, “I love the fact that she really is not apologetic for her inner vigilante.” Campbell adds, “It’s good for womanhood in that it’s just another ass-kicking woman who just steps up and she’s just like the guys…she can take you out as many ways as Michael Westen or Sam Axe, probably more.”

On the challenge of being tough:
But being tough isn’t easy. When asked if they receive any training for their roles, Anwar and Campbell answer with a resounding no. So when it comes down to surviving the 7 months of filming, it comes down to sheer willpower. “I’ve done some action stuff, but it’s always been you figure out the choreography as you shoot it on the given day,” Campbell says. “[But here] you don’t –and in, especially Gabrielle’s case, every week, they’re shoving a new weapon in her hand, something that’s even bigger and bigger… you got to hold it up there and look like the tough guy and that thing’s as heavy as you are sometimes.” Adds Anwar, “In the beginning, I’m like, ‘I can handle this’ and ‘Look at me’ and ‘HEAR ME ROAR!’ And then by the end of the season I’m like a little kitten, whining and meowing.”

Burn Notice meets…

When asked what shows they would like to see Burn Notice do a crossover episode with talks turn to spy classics. Anwar suggests The Avengers and In Like Flint. While Campbell likes the Bill Cosby version of I Spy and Robert Culp, “because now you’d have old school spies, new school spies.” I have seen none of these shows, and when I think Bill Cosby I think Ghost Dad.

On Simon’s Bible and general confusion:
Campbell describes Simon’s bible as a puzzle. “When you put the puzzle together, you step back and you see an amazing picture. So what Simon’s bible does is present the opportunity to see and know everything.” Can you sign me up for that Bible now, because I’m completely confused. At this point that I’m envious of the knowledge that Campbell and Anwar have that this clue doesn’t confuse the heck out of them as it does to me. But perhaps acknowledging the possibility of confusion, Anwar and Campbell admit that it’s sometimes hard for them to keep up with the script. “They’re very dense,” Campbell says. “Sometimes Gabrielle and I will look at each other in a scene and go, ‘Is that guy-how bad do we-do we really hate that guy?’… Because we’re trying to figure out…” “Why did we just kill him?” Anwar finishes. So if you found yourself confused by the twists and turns of the first half of season four, worry not because relief is coming in part two.

On Jesse (played by Coby Bell):
And of course, you want to know what’s going to happen now that Jesse knows it was Michael who burned him. Unfortunately that’s going to have to remain a mystery for now as there is a strict gag order against revealing this. “We can only tell you so much about that stuff because it’s all relevant to what’s happening,” Campbell says before offering “if you have to work together for the greater good, you will… but it’s going to be a long road.”

And that road picks up this Thursday with the winter season premiere of Burn Notice. Want to see Fiona continue to kick butt? Want to see how many people Michael can tick off before he goes missing again? Want to spend every Thursday night with Coby Bell? (Sorry, I went shallow with that last one.) Then tune in to Burn Notice which premieres on USA this Thursday at 10 pm.

For details on how to win a Burn Notice Gift Bag, including a Season 3 DVD set, click here.

For more on Burn Notice, click here.

Thursdays at 10/9c on USA Network.

Photographs and video courtesy of USA Network, Nigel Parry, and Glenn Watson.

It’s Halloween, and everyone at The Office is in an uproar. In preparation for NBC’s Halloween episode of The Office, Poptimal.com had the opportunity to interview Angela Kinsey and Ellie Kemper from the hit comedy show. And if you think the crazy antics of the Scranton Branch of Dunder Mifflin make for really great tv, just imagine working there. In my session with Angela and Ellie, more commonly known to Office fans as Angela Martin and Erin Hannon, the actors talk about the upcoming Halloween episode, Ryan as the great filmmaker, and how it feels to get paid to let loose.

Everyone who’s seen The Office is aware of the show’s concept of a wacky look at a corporate workplace. But this Thursday, things get even more insane with an episode that focuses on the spirited tradition of Halloween. The employees of Dunder Mifflin face off in a costume contest for the coveted prize of… a coupon book. (What else would you expect from Michael and crew?) So, just to what extent will your favorite characters go to receive the holy grail of retail? Here’s what you need to know about “Costume Contest.”

It’s Insanely Fun
In our interview Angela Kinsey calls the episode ‘scary fun.’ Imagine your favorite Office episode played out with your favorite characters in outlandish costumes (and no, the Willy Wonka episode doesn’t count.) Ellie gives a special shout-out to the wardrobe staff who really went all out to create such horrifying and elaborate costumes. This trip around our favorite office workers goes all out, bringing the best and worst of their characters forward. As Angela describes, it’s amazing to see these characters want something and go after it. So be prepared for some wild antics and sabotage coming up (and keep a special eye out for Kelly.)

The Ryan Project
To gear up for “Costume Contest” NBC has released for Office fans the webisode, “The 3rd Floor.” From the disturbed mind of your favorite former intern-who-made-it-big-then-was-subsequently-fired-and-rehired-as-a-lowly-temp (I have nothing against temps) Ryan Howard, this webisode features your favorite Dunder Mifflin staff in their own mini horror movie. Angela and Ellie both say it was a blast to be a part of this mini-movie, even though they describe the movie as “gruesome” and “gross,” a true Halloween tale.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to The Office episodes. Upcoming shows feature Ryan trying to start his own personal networking site, much to the frustration of everyone else. The Office gang attends the baptism of Jim and Pam’s daughter with varied results. (I’m betting one of them can’t cross the threshold of the church.)

“Costume Contest” premieres this Thursday on NBC. To see more on “The 3rd Floor” visit the movie’s website at http://www.the3rdfloormovie.com/main.shtml.

For more television reviews and interviews, click here.

Images courtesy of NBC Universal and Chris Haston.

This week’s episode of Grey’s finds a disillusioned Derek questioning his future at Seattle Grace. After losing a pregnant patient and facing the prospect of a lawsuit by the deceased’s husband, he’s confronted with a snapshot of his case history.  As the hospital’s resident rock star, he’s developed a reputation for taking on risky surgeries, but great risk doesn’t bring great reward alone. Despite being published and lauded for his work, he’s also compiled a lengthy list of corpses.  Sorry for the morbid characterization, but he’s basically being likened to a murderer. That’s certainly unfair, but Derek seems to have internalized the insult.  Sporting a 5 o’clock shadow and looking as bad as he probably smells, he refuses to budge from the sofa until he has to show up for the pre-trial deposition.  Meanwhile the Chief is going nuts trying to find someone to fill in for the AWOL Shepherd.

Izzie is also nuts, obsessed with diagnosing Patient X.  The interns finally come up with a prognosis, and it’s bleak for Patient X, er Izzie.  At least the writers have acknowledged that her character was hallucinating, and we are no longer expected to swallow the crap about Denny’s ghost. They score one redemptive point for that one.  If anyone is on the fast track to supplant Derek, it’s Alex. He correctly amends an epilepsy diagnosis for a patient, saving her life when more experienced eyes failed to notice. He and Izzie’s relationship is blossoming, just as her diagnosis seems to doom it.

This last episode ratcheted up the drama, as usual – introducing the startling possibility that Derek may no longer be one of Seattle Grace’s finest.  Between him quitting and Miranda leaving to pursue pediatrics, the Chief is unraveling.  It will be interesting to see where the writers take us next. We didn’t learn much more about Cristina and Owen’s developing romance, and O’Malley is fading into the background. His character is becoming a cruel joke of sorts, a whipping boy and punchline for the other residents to the point where a decline in competition and success is referred to as “pulling an O’Malley.” Ouch. If they are going to write TR Knight out of the show, at least send him off with some dignity and pride.

Season 5, Episode 17: I Will Follow You Into the Dark (originally aired March 12, 2009)

For another take on this episode, read Inisia Lewis’s review, Dark Derek, here.

For more Grey’s Anatomy reviews, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

Everything is back to normal at Seattle Grace. Secrets are spilling out, romance is in the air, and our docs are saving lives like the best of ‘em. I’m lovin’ it!

Lexie proves she could never be a double agent since keeping secrets is not her forte. No matter how hard he tried, Derek couldn’t keep a lid on his potential engagement. The world seemed to stop whenever Christina and Owen were near each other, and Miranda battled with one pediatric surgery to many.

Meredith and Christina are back to being butt buddies, and I’m happy with that. It reminds me of fights with some of my closest friends where the next thing you know we’re cracking up and rolling on the floor. It’s a little different for Meredith and Christina since their fun is thumbing through mom’s final journal. Mer passes it off to her BFF because she’s reached the part where her mother and the Chief start getting hot and heavy. Not the best bedtime story!

And speaking of all things steamy, Christina and Owen haven’t defined their relationship, but they way things are going, I don’t care either way. Their eyes sparkle when they look at each other. Their subtle flirting and teasing is HOT, and all the tension will most definitely make for an explosive love scene. (Could they make Grey’s history?!) A surprise visitor from Owen’s past puts a slight damper on things, but Christina is there for him even when he tries to push her away. Will this sudden appearance extinguish their flame before it’s really burned?

Mark and Lexie weren’t exactly reveling in their secret affair like some other lovers. Lexie has never been good at keeping a secret, so the idea of holding this in is tandem to killing herself. Little Grey acts a lot bigger this week, when she gives Mark an ultimatum, either their out or she’s gone. The cute thing is, you could see on Mark’s face how much he really likes her, but when he tries to confess to Derek, Derek at the mere idea of Mark in a monogamous relationship. It looks like our new lovebirds may end up very alone.

When another child comes in with a weak heart, Bailey wants off the case. However, she sucks it up, hoping that the case will be simple. When the girl’s surgery doesn’t go so well, Bailey can’t take it, actually walking out. The Chief told her that, pending Board approval, she will be promoted to a general surgery attending. (About time!) So you could say that Bailey is trying to hang in there, but she’s hanging by a thread. The best thing about Chandra Wilson playing this character is she’s so real and natural. She goes from strong doctor, to emotional mother who remembers losing her son, to supportive friend of a scared child, and she even deals with freaked out Virginia. (One of the best scenes of the episode involves Christina and Bailey hugging . It’s supposed to bring her heart rate back to normal.)

Izzie freaked out this week as well, when she starts melding teaching first-years with secretly conducting tests on herself. Her obsession with finding out what is wrong with her is comical, but still kind of crazy. (Izzie could have been deemed clinically insane for the past three seasons! First George and then dead Denny.) She doesn’t find anything wrong with herself, but, of course, we know there’s something much bigger going on. We’ll just have to wait to find out, and so will Izzie.

However, I would say the award for the doctors driven most bonkers goes to Derek and Meredith. Derek desperately triedsto decide when and how to propose to Meredith. Most of all, he wonders if she is even ready. When she tells him that their kids will be cuter than the kids of their two patients, he knows it’s time. Too bad, by this time, everyone in the hospital knows, even his patient who almost spills the beans. Meredith, on the other hand, keeps getting the “somethings fishy” vibe every time she steps in the vicinity of Derek and another doctor, making her think that her baby comments freaked him out. (It’s cute that she worries he wouldn’t want to make babies with someone as messed up as her.)

With the help of Mark, he decks the room out in rose petals and candles, but he gets a phone call from that fabulous, west coast ex-wife of his and dashes off. Meredith gets home, and I expected the surprise to be spoiled, but not only was he not there, but the whole room is empty. The only trace of evidence for Meredith to find is a lone petal, and when your boyfriend tells you he’s working, a rose petal looks a lot like cheating. (Potentially the worst preface to an engagement.)

I loved watching tonight. The only thing that really bothered me is how they are using Mary McDonnell. Having Arizona pop in is okay with me. When there’s a pediatric surgery, I can expect to see her so when she appears it isn’t a shock to my viewing system. The same doesn’t go for Virginia. It’s all so random, almost as random as George appearing on the screen.

Other Must See Moments:

• A man is brought in (to be “unplugged”) after trying a very adventurous sexual position with toys that he and his wife found in a magazine.
• Callie gets propositioned by Arizona in Joe’s ladies’ room. (No worries, there was nothing sleazy about it.)
• The entire cafeteria scene where our favorite residents check out the infamous magazine article.
• Bailey giving the child with the sick heart a backpack so that she wouldn’t spend her days stuck in a hospital. (She even bedazzles it for her!)

So, what’s wrong with Izzie? And will Mark be able to forget Derek’s chuckle and man up to how he feels? Will Bailey end up a general surgeon or a pediatric surgeon? When will Derek get down on one knee, and what’s going on with Addison? (Maybe if I kept up with this season of Private Practice, I’d actually know.) EIther way, I smell a crossover!

Season 5, Episode 14: Beat Your Heart Out (originally aired February 5, 2009)

For more Grey’s Anatomy reviews, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

Only dark and twisty Meredith could hang with a serial killer and not show signs of being freaked out. How would I react if I came face-to-face with a cold blooded lady murderer? I’m pretty sure I would be creeped out and run in the opposite direction.  Then again, I also wouldn’t be caught dead in an OR. My scare-o-meter has a pretty low threshold no matter how much I like to push it.

We pick up where we left off last week, except this time there is someone who actually does scare the bejesus out of Meredith. Mrs. Momma Shepherd stops over in Seattle Grace to see her hunky, thick-haired son Derek. Raising a whole family of doctors, you know that this woman is one tough cookie. She wastes no time becoming the mama of the hospital, grilling Meredith on her life, questioning Lexie on her sex life but giving her the thumbs up, fussing over Owen’s sleep patterns, and chastising Mark for having such low expectations for himself when it comes to real romantic relationships.

Speaking of Mark, he and Callie have been working together a lot lately. It seems that no matter how many women they throw at this chick, they realize they can never replicate the chemistry between these Mark and Callie. A man who tried a leg lengthening surgery through the use of some wicked-looking rods ends up with those rods removed and the loss of an additional half inch. To a man who’s 5”3’, that’s no small thing. He complains and complains (obviously something he’s done all his life), until his brother breaks, recounting all the things he never confides in his own brother about because all he cares about is how short he is. It takes this outburst for him to realize that maybe size isn’t all that matters.

Bailey’s still trying to figure out how to help the cute little boy who’s grown up before her eyes. Bailey wants to be proactive while Arizona says they have to believe in the process. Like a fairy godmother granting both of their wishes, Karev has news that they’ve got organs! Unfortunately once the surgery is underway, Sadie realizes there is something wrong with them and there’s only 24 hours to find donors.

Patient numero uno is getting under Derek’s skin and sidling closer to Meredith. He says he doesn’t want to die strapped to a chair like an animal, choosing to die in the hospital instead. He even offers to donate his organs to Bailey’s patient. While Meredith wavers on resuscitating him when he flatlines, Derek adamantly won’t allow him to die. The patient prods Derek, comparing Derek’s job as a doctor to his choice to kill women which doesn’t bode well with McDreamy.  Meredith, on the other hand, gives him the out he wants. She tells him that if he were to damage his already sensitive brain, he probably wouldn’t live. He waits, oh five seconds, before slamming his head against the metal bar of his bed.

On a side note, Owen asks Christina out on a date but after thinking about the bad times overseas, he gets drunk and shows up late. Meredith also confesses to Momma Shepherd that she’s not the type of person mothers like because she feels bad for serial killers. Sloan tells Callie to walk tall even though she loved and lost before he goes after Lexie, and Izzie breaks up with her ghost because she wants a real world relationship.

On a happy note, Momma Shepherd tells Derek that Meredith’s the one, the type of person who can help him cope with his feelings surrounding his father’s death with her compassion and understanding. She even gives him the family ring to prove it.

On a sweet note, Christina is there for Owen when he opens up about the horrors of Iraq through a story of his best surgery. Plus she hops in the shower with him. (Simmer down. They’re both clothed.)

On a EVEN sweeter note, Alex asks Izzie to road trip to Iowa with him to meet his mom.

All this drama has set up Grey’s Anatomy for what seems like a season finale with the “duh, duh, DUUUUH!” to go with it.  But thankfully, it’s SOOOO not! I have nothing but giddy excitement for next week. Will Derek propose? Will Bailey save her “kid?” Will the best neuro-surgeon in the land try to fix the man who doesn’t want to live and could save another’s life? Will Izzie really let go of Denny? Or is it the other way around? Did tonight bring Christina and Eric closer? Is George being slowly phased out? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Season 5, Episode 12: Sympathy for the Devil (originally aired January 15, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out Tanya Lane’s review, Mommy McDreamy here.

For more Grey’s Anatomy reviews, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

Now that’s what I’m talking about. After last week’s mediocre episode, Grey’s delivers the goods with the latest installment, “Sympathy for the Devil.”  Sometimes the show is ridiculously emo, but I have to admit it entertains me. Picking up with two storylines introduced last week, Bailey and the new resident Dr. Robbins continue to clash over the treatment of Bailey’s pediatric patient, Jackson.  He’s waiting for a liver and intestine transplant and he’s running out of time.  Meanwhile, Derek and Meredith continue to care for the serial killer awaiting execution in 5 days. He sustained massive brain contusions and refuses a life-saving surgery.  Derek correctly asserts that the man – played by Eric Stoltz in a nice departure from his perennial nice guy shtick – is trying to “beat” the system by avoiding execution and dying on his own terms rather than those of the state.  Derek despises the man for his crimes and assures him that he will receive excellent care and tells him that he has no intentions of allowing him to die on his watch.  The man goes one step further to offer his liver and intestines to Bailey’s patient, as a way to leave this world having done something right and good. I can only assume that he is the “devil” referenced in the episode’s title. Tempting as his offer may be, obviously that’s not the way it works in the medical field.  But of course, if Izzie can steal a heart for Denny, what’s to stop the writers from finding a way to allow the doctors of Seattle Grace to skirt medical ethics once again? Stay tuned for that one.

Grey’s always juxtaposes the principal new storyline involving patients with the continuing storylines involving the doctors.  Derek’s mother (played wonderfully by Tyne Daly) is in town and Meredith is predictably petrified.  Mark is also nervous about what Mrs. Shepherd will think of his cradle-robbing affair with Little Grey (Lexie).  Mama Shepherd is pretty cool though.  She warms to Meredith and counsels Mark.  The parting words she has for her son are a ringing endorsement of his relationship.

Revisiting the patients briefly, one of Callie’s needs to be treated for dangerously undergoing a leg-lengthening procedure in Hong Kong.  The man, accompanied by his brother, laments life as a short man.  He risked his life just to gain a mere two inches of height.  This was an interesting storyline to me, because the man practically acted as if he were physically deformed or disabled.  Instead of being grateful that he’d keep his legs (I thought for sure they’d need to be amputated), he complains about not getting the two inches and actually losing a quarter of an inch in height in the surgical repair of his damaged limbs.  I don’t know if people suffer from such a severe Napoleon complex in real life, but it was a reminder of how we focus on the physical aspects of human beings too often.

This episode marked a return to the excellent and challenging writing we’ve come to expect.  It ended with Eric Stoltz’ serial killer inflicting head trauma on himself in order to become a donor candidate for Jackson, whose initial transplant surgery was unsuccessful.  He decides to kill himself after Meredith slyly warns him that any blow to the head will end his life.  Then she walks out of the room.  It’s like telling a suicidal person, “hey the alcohol’s in the kitchen and the sleeping pills are in the cabinet.  I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” Unethical? Yes. Effective? Probably. I can’t wait to tune in next week to find out.

Season 5, Episode 12: Sympathy for the Devil (originally aired January 15, 2009)

Wanna know more about this episode of Grey’s?  Check out Inisia Lewis’s review, Sweeter Notes, here.

For more Grey’s Anatomy reviews, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

*Yawn* This episode of Grey’s Anatomy, “Wish You Were Here,” picks up with the still-feuding Cristina and Meredith. Now everyone is taking notice of their awkward silences and thinly-veiled animosity.  When a death row patient arrives, the two are at odds in the level of compassion and treatment they are willing to provide.  Cristina and Derek have little sympathy for the patient, who has a shank lodged in his spine.  Meredith attempts to ease his pain and form a rapport, but she’s in the minority.  They finally learn of the crime for which he’ll be executed, and he’s every bit the monster Cristina and Derek assumed him to be. Meanwhile, resident horndogs Callie and Sloan continue to lust after Lexie and Sadie.  Izzie continues to talk to her imaginary friend, Denny – and confides in Alex that she’s been “interacting” with a now deceased old flame.  Surprisingly, Alex is supportive and understanding. He has really turned over a new leaf with Izzie and seems to genuinely love her.  Hopefully she’ll tell Denny to beat it before she blows a good thing.  Meredith and Derek are going strong, as he sweetly tries to fill the void left by Cristina, while Cristina shuts out Dr. Hunt when he tries to cheer her up.  Cristina is emotional and needy, so I thought it was odd that she shot him down after recently pining for him.

This was a pretty uneventful episode, and I was a little disappointed with it.  One would think the writers would have come up with better material after making viewers endure a lengthy hiatus between new episodes.  Perhaps next week’s episode will fare better. I’d rather have moist eyelids than heavy ones, so bring back a storyline good enough to inspire some emotion!
Season 5, Episode 11:  Wish You Were Here (originally aired January 8, 2009)

For different take on this episode, check out Wish Granted by Inisia Lewis here.

For more Grey’s Anatomy reviews, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

I am befuddled by the enigma that is Grey’s Anatomy.

On one hand I think the show has jumped the shark, but on the other hand last Thursday’s episode hinted at the familiar evocative nature for which the show is known.  The frustrating thing about Grey’s right now is that any good, interesting storylines are overshadowed by the continued absurd plot involving Izzie and Denny. Dead-as-a-doornail Denny has moved from the crib to the job, following Izzie around and interrupting her conversations with the living. As I’ve said before, this storyline is weird, implausible, and ridiculous.  I can’t believe the writers are pursuing it.

The last episode picks up with the residents’ zealous pursuit of the first solo surgery.  While Cristina wins the honor, she’s prohibited from performing the surgery due to her punishment for allowing the interns to run amok.  The Chief instructs her to select a resident to operate in her place.  That resident will in turn choose another resident to scrub in.  An intern would usually be allowed to scrub in, but they too are being punished by the Chief.  Tasked with selecting a resident, Christina must also entice the eccentric Dr. Dixon to join Seattle Grace, a coup for the cardiology department and a feather in the Chief’s hat.  Remember, he is trying feverishly to raise the hospital’s rank, and landing a top-notch surgeon can only help.  Taking Dixon’s advice, Cristina puts personal feelings aside and chooses Alex to perform the solo surgery, as he presents the best case and is most qualified.  Meredith, as usual, always assumes that everything is about her.  She thinks Cristina is still smarting from their beef and selected Alex to get back at her.

Cristina sets her straight and then escapes with Dr. Hunt for a romantic tryst in the boiler room.  That doesn’t sound romantic, but it is.  There’s a grate in the boiler room, and if you stand over it, a gust of wind will erupt from the vent, giving an unexpected rush.  It exhilarates Cristina, and she and Owen share a passionate embrace.  Meanwhile, there’s some untoward amorous activity going on between Sloan and Little Lexie Grey.  While not as absurd as Izzie and Denny, this plot wrinkle is equally disturbing.  They are making Sloan look like a predator and a sex-crazed creep who can’t resist any pair of xx chromosomes.  Sloan’s last f-buddy Callie now has a crush on Crazy Sadie.  It’s like musical beds on this show.  At the episode’s conclusion, Alex is poised to successfully amputate a patient’s leg with Izzie at his side.  I hope the writers allow Izzie and Alex to have a chance.  Please kill Denny AGAIN, it’s beyond foolish that he’s around.  Alex is really opening up to Izzie and I’d hate for it to be all for naught because she’s stuck on a ghost.  Speaking of ghosts, George O’Malley may as well be invisible.  I believe the rumors of T.R. Knight wanting to leave the show.  His character has been relegated to a one-note punching bag and punchline with no discernible growth this season.  I realize I’ve ranted more than reviewed, but the last episode was frustrating.  I hope the writers can steady the ship, as the best episode of Grey’s may already be in the rearview mirror.

Season 5, Episode 10: All By Myself (originally aired December 4, 2008)

For another take on this episode, read Inisia Lewis’s review, Solo Torture, here.

For more Grey’s Anatomy reviews, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

It’s back! And by back, I mean the soapy, charming drama I loved that tackled issues like Meredith’s mother’s degenerating condition, mixing work and play, friendships on the rocks and striving for excellence in the workplace. You may be wondering, is Izzie still seeing dead people? Yes, she is, but I’ve chosen to ignore that inane storyline and enjoy the new ones developing.

As I’ve commented in earlier recaps, the first solo surgery has become a major plot point of this season, and the Chief has decided to unveil the big decision. In a great opener, the interns practice reading lips (extremely poorly at that) and relay the results to their respective residents. However, the choice isn’t what anyone could have expected. Christina is voted the winner hands down but because she’s sidelined she gets the pleasure (torture) of nominating the person she deems worthy to take her place. What ensues next are many feeble attempts at sucking up and bragging as her friends plead their cases. (Even a doctor I’ve never seen before in my life gets some lines. I think we all knew she wouldn’t be getting the surgery, though that would have been true comedy if she did.) On top of all this pressure, Christina also has to baby Dr. Virginia Dixon whom the Chief wants on his crew ASAP. (Poor Yang, who definitely does deserves the first solo surgery out of everyone.)

Though most of the focus this week is on the doctors, the patients had strong storylines too. They didn’t get much screen time, but there was humor and sadness and pain all wrapped together, something I’ve missed dearly these past weeks. One pair of siblings is brought in battered and bruised due to a “texting behind the wheel” accident. Holly and Emma are, obviously, polar opposites and get on each other’s nerves to no end, throwing “I hate you”s at each other like pitchers throw balls. Emma even tells her sister, “I hope you die” before she’s wheeled away. And Mark takes on a woman who lost her voice to cancer and depended on post-its and a computer to communicate with the world. Her husband is over the distance that has grown between he and his wife due to her condition, and it’s clear their intimacy has suffered. Each of these two stories deal with close personal relationships that are marred and complicated and that’s what Grey’s Anatomy does best.

Big and little Grey take on supportive roles for these patients. Meredith, who can’t always be forthcoming and supportive in her own relationships, gives Emma the strength to not only say goodbye to her sister but to forgive herself for her harsh words when she passes away. (It’s obvious Meredith’s relationship with her mother mirrored this relationship closely.) Lexie, on the other hand, helps the woman without words overcome her fears of the surgery’s possible failure and find her voice. When the woman finally says “hi” to her husband, the look on his face and his simple “hi” back is so emotional in its simplicity, how can you not tear up a bit?

The writers also gave Christina her moment to shine this episode when she looks critically at her sense of loyalty, her friends’ medical skills, and her friendship with Meredith. Though Meredith tells her to make an unbiased choice, you know she believes she’s still the best choice and that Christina will see it her way, especially since they’re best friends. However, when Christina picks Karev, Meredith’s none too happy. She tells Christina that she wished she wouldn’t have made a personal decision because of their fallout last week, but Christina spits that it was Meredith who made it personal, and that she chose Karev because he made the best points. (I do like how the writers are testing their friendship and keeping Meredith’s relationship with Derek on stable ground.) Christina also stands up for herself in front of the other doctors, saying she truly deserved this surgery, and the interns’ screw-up was all of their faults, not solely hers.

The best part of the episode, though, was the emerging relationships at Seattle Grace. Mark fought strongly to keep Lexie far away from him emotionally, but when she shows up at his door, undressing and asking to teach her, you know she’s not talking about successful surgeries and you know he can’t resist anymore. His new BFF Callie starts to see the hot, new intern Sadie as a potential flirtmate. (Though I don’t trust Sadie as far as I can throw her.) And when Owen brings Christina to his secret place in the hospital (a huge, liberating vent), they give in to the mind-blowing kiss we always knew would come. Luckily, this time it’s without booze or without injuries so I’d say this time is for real.

Like I said earlier, I chose to ignore the Denny storyline, but I can’t keep you completely in the dark. Izzie and Denny are now work buddies who are still getting it on, though now it’s at work as well. Intuitive George gets some airtime when he begins to realize that Izzie is acting really strange. (Getting caught talking to an imaginary friend will look this way!) And although she came through for Karev and assisted him in his first solo surgery, he still can’t see that the girl he’s in love with is not the same Izzie at all.

I finally feel Grey’s is back to the level of excellence that I expect from week to week, and I hope the show sticks in this stride. Now, if only Shonda would bump Izzie off to go star in movies and join Denny in the afterlife sooner rather than later.

Season 5, Episode 10: All By Myself (originally aired December 4, 2008)

For another take on this episode, read Tanya Lane’s review, I’m Befuddled.

For more Grey’s Anatomy reviews, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

I usually have nothing but high praise for Grey’s Anatomy, but a few storylines have me puzzled. First of all, Erica just disappeared from the show. Maybe I missed the little blurb/explanation for her absence – but one minute she’s arguing with Callie, and the next minute her character has vanished.  Secondly, the writers must abandon this ridiculous business of Izzie and Denny’s ghost.  It was fine when she imagined him once or twice. Annoying, but okay.  Now they are actually having conversations and sexual relations!  This is just crazy to me, how long are they going to drag this out?

Speaking of crazy, the interns are continuing their rogue medical procedures in the basement.  They started out by giving each other IVs, and have progressed to administering an epidural, rendering one of them immobile from the waist down.  Their foolish ambition is cute but disturbing, especially when Lexie gets the bright idea to perform an appendectomy.  Her willing patient is that creepy, sexy, vampire-ish intern with the pale skin.  Something’s wrong with this chick.  When Lexie wisely questions the intelligence of her idea and becomes reluctant, the intern makes the incision, forcing her to continue. Meanwhile, the residents are wondering where all the interns have run off to.  When things predictably become complicated with the appendectomy, Lexie tells Cristina and Meredith, who come to the rescue and then inform the Chief.  The Chief praises their judgment until Lexie bursts in the office to mistakenly defend the pair because she assumes they are getting reamed out.  She reveals that Cristina knew of the basement house of horrors before the botched appendectomy, and the Chief goes from praise to reprimand. This causes a big blow-out between the two BFFs, with Cristina accusing Meredith of hanging her out to dry.

Although I have my complaints with some aspects of Thursday’s storyline, it was a very entertaining episode.  I like the way Alex’s character continues to evolve into a more thoughtful, compassionate doctor and friend.  Too bad he has to compete with a dead guy for Izzie’s affection.  Will she snap out of it? Will Cristina and Meredith mend fences, and is Dr. Hunt gonna be Cristina’s new beau? I can’t wait to find out.

Season 5, Episode 9: In The Midnight Hour (originally aired November 20, 2008)

For another take on this episode, read “This is Just Creepy” by Inisia Lewis here.

For more on Grey’s Anatomy, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

If you haven’t kept up with your Grey’s Anatomy watercooler chitchat then you’ve missed some major news. Just when Callica was starting to make some headway in the relationship department, they’ve been ripped right out of the GA script pages. (At least Erica Hahn X-ed.)

It was as much news to Brooke Smith as it was for the viewers who heard whispers last week that Hahn would be leaving Seattle Grace. With a surprise visit from Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as well, I was wondering how this unexpected entrance and exit would play out.

Gone was the flighty fun for which Grey’s is so well-known. This episode had everything from a dying true love to Izzie seeing dead people to withering new relationships to an abundance of unclaimed cadavers. In short, there was a lot more gloom and much fewer laughs this episode.

The central focus was on Izzie and Hahn. Izzie was one of the residents to aid in a procedure that would buy one of Hahn’s long-time heart failure patients a little more time on earth. Things start getting creepy when Izzie realizes that this is the patient from whom she stole a heart for Denny in the season two episode “Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response.” It’s crazy to think we’ve been on this roller coaster of love for so long. Izzie finds it hard to deal with her feelings of guilt, at having to face the patient who might be a healthy man today if she had done things differently, and the remorse she feels for her lost fiancé. It doesn’t make matters easier when he’s put in the same room where Denny passed away.

Denny appears everywhere, haunting her from beyond the grave. He doesn’t say much, but with those caring eyes and that soulful smile, he says enough. Hahn is infuriated when she finds out what Izzie did and that the Chief didn’t reprimand her or Bailey, her after-the-fact accomplice. She’s so enraged to the point that she wants them put before a judicial board and the hospital’s transplant capabilities revoked. Apparently, someone, anyone has to pay even if it doesn’t help her patient in the slightest.

It becomes clear as the episode unfolds that these two characters are being pushed to their professional and personal brinks, and it all makes sense how Denny’s appearance and Hahn’s exit work in tandem. Denny appears to give Izzie a chance to move on with her life when she finds the strength to help the patient fight through his hard procedure, and Hahn is so fed up with how the Seattle Grace is run that she can’t continue working there or dealing with her up and down relationship with Callie. As she says, “There is no gray area here. You can’t kind of think this is okay. You can’t kind of side with Izzie Stevens, and you can’t kind of be a lesbian…I don’t know you at all.”

This was an incredibly abrupt exit, and Hahn may have gotten a little short-changed since she didn’t seem like the type to go out without a fight, but truthfully, her character was never likeable. And the moments we started to like her and understand her, her relationship started to annoy us (not the lesbian part but the “we suck at this relationship stuff” part.) Due to the writing, it was always a lose-lose battle for Brooke Smith.

WHAT ARE OUR OTHER FAVORITE DOCS UP TO?

Hunt chews out Cristina, nitpicking at every little thing she does and says regarding their patient. When he breaks the final straw by professing his disappointment that she doesn’t even remember her patient’s name, she tells him a story of watching her father die and feeling his heartbeat stop. It’s emotional but also subtle. This is the reason she’s a great doctor, and she proves to him that she does know her patient’s name. Hunt, finally, sees her in the way he saw her the first time they met. One step towards lovemaking at a time, right?

Lexie proclaims that Cristina never teaches her interns anything and goes so far as to “claim” a ton of cadavers for their medical education. She really has become the leader of the interns.

Bailey and Derek see, first-hand, what non-dysfunctional love really looks like, making Bailey wonder about how far marriage counseling will really take her and Tuck. It’s the typical tearjerker storyline that only Chandra Wilson can do with such grace, dignity and truth. It’s never over-played and always gets you where it hurts.

George uses every medical procedure known to man to save Robo-patient Stan, a computerized surgical model. The tiny, endearing amount of comic relief the episode has is put mostly on this storyline, but the episode needed some kind of respite.

Also leaving us with some laughs is Sloan, who at the behest of Derek, attempts to woo Cristina and separate Meredith from her partner in crime. Now that Momma Grey’s boundless journals have been uncovered, Meredith and Cristina spend their evenings gushing over them during late night phone calls. Derek starts to miss some Mer-Der time of his own or just a little sleep. While Sloan is so unsuccessful it hurts, Derek accepts that Cristina will always come with Meredith. They’re a sardonic two-some.

Quotables:

“They’re like the Harry Potter books I never had.” – Cristina

“Your bedside manner is what sucks.” – Stan to Alex

“Bow to me. I am the queen of the interns. I’ve assembled an army of the dead to teach us things.” – Lexie

Season 5, Episode 7: Rise Up (originally aired November, 6, 2008)

Don’t agree with Inisia?  Read I’m Crying Again! by Tanya Lane here.

For more on Grey’s Anatomy, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

Sometimes the force of habit causes us to become de-sensitized.  Repetition can breed apathy.  Applying this to the doctors of Seattle Grace, it appears that the act of saving lives every day has caused them to view patients from a clinical rather than personal standpoint.  This is understandable, because a doctor needs to be dispassionate, and emotions frequently cloud our judgment.  On the other hand, you don’t want to start viewing patients as slabs of meat. They are living, breathing human beings, and their lives are precious.

With the exception of George and Izzie, the residents at Seattle Grace don’t exactly have good bedside manners.  They routinely quibble over patients, and in the last episode they bickered over a trauma patient, seemingly more concerned about getting a leg up on the competition than saving the man’s life.  This is when Dr. Hunt flips out, reminding Alex and Cristina that their focus should be on patients, going so far as to call them inconsiderate vultures.

He was right.  There is a middle ground between becoming inappropriately attached to patients (like Izzie) and being a total cold fish (like Cristina).  Later, Hunt and Cristina share a moment where she reveals her reasons for becoming a doctor.  She didn’t choose to practice medicine to flaunt her intelligence or become wealthy.  She’s wanted to save lives ever since she witnessed her father’s death after a car accident when she was 9 years old.  In a rare display of vulnerability, she and Hunt made a connection.  We’ll see if this is the first step towards something greater.

If the possibility of a Hunt/Cristina pairing seems likely, the idea of Erica and Callie is becoming a distant possibility.  Erica learns about Izzie’s relationship with Denny and that she was the one who swiped the heart her transplant patient needed two seasons ago. That patient is now at Seattle Grace, still suffering and in need of the heart that he rightfully should have already received. Izzie can tell from the patient’s charts that he’s the one who was supposed to get the heart, and she freezes up.  When Erica finds out the history of the situation, she’s understandably livid. She goes to the Chief with her complaint, threatening to go public. The Chief explains that Izzie was appropriately disciplined, and that the matter is resolved.  Erica is not satisfied, and Callie tries to explain that blowing the whistle would not actually help her patient, and that there is no reason to make a fuss over the matter at this point.  Erica wants to stand on principle, so alas the two are at an impasse.  Erica realizes that they are fundamentally different, and it looks like their prolonged dalliance may be over.

This episode gets a 10 on the tear meter. I was bawling, due in large part to a subplot involving an elderly couple and the husband’s inability to accept his wife’s death.  She signed a “do not resuscitate” form, but when she began to code her husband wanted the doctors to fight for her life.  In a heartbreaking scene, he began to perform chest compressions.  He couldn’t be the one to let her die, so Bailey took over.  Bailey didn’t want to let her die, so Shepard took over, and then he stopped and the woman expired.  It was a tough, painful scene. I thought to myself, damn it, I’m crying again! I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed another great episode.

Season 5, Episode 7: Rise Up (originally aired November, 6, 2008)

For another take on this episode, read Inisia Lewis’s review, Death Is Everywhere, here.

For more on Grey’s Anatomy, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC
Photographs courtesy of ABC

Thursday’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy finds Christina reunited with Major Owen Hunt, the uber-macho trauma surgeon she encountered a while back.  He’s working at Seattle Grace now, and his brash, no-frills approach doesn’t endear him to his new colleagues.  To teach the doctors and their interns about working with live tissue, he uses sedated pigs and creates the trauma by stabbing them.  Izzie is horrified and refuses to participate.  Christina and her interns are left to tend to the pigs, and Christina fumes the entire time.  Hunt can’t remember Christina’s name and she is understandably offended.  Despite her initial disappointment at being stuck with the pigs, she ends up caring for the creatures instead of looking at them as bacon to be.  After saving the pigs lives, she is saddened to learn that they must be euthanized anyway because their recovery would be painful and inhumane.

Seattle Grace’s reputation remains the Chief’s top priority, and he is grooming Bailey to take over for him one day.  To that end, she is entrusted with saving the life of a 10 year-old girl with an inoperable tumor.  Bailey, Meredith, Erica and the Chief brainstorm and Meredith comes up with the idea of removing the girls’ organs so they can get to the tumor.  The surgery is a success, no thanks to Erica AKA Negative Nancy.  She’s in a funk because Callie flaked out on her again.  After having sex, Erica shared a personal childhood story, likening her experience with Callie to the clarity she achieved with new glasses.  This kinda freaked Callie out and she bolted.  She then slept with Mark again, to see if she still liked sex with men. What?? That’s not cute, it’s selfish, and in blatant disregard for Erica’s feelings. By the end of the episode she confessed and apologized, but she’s lucky Erica hasn’t had enough of the emotional roller coaster ride yet.

Alex and Izzie continue to awkwardly navigate the unfamiliar terrain of a relationship while Derek and Meredith are doing okay – for the moment.  The door is open for Christina and Major Hunt, but I think it’ll be an uphill battle.  He witnessed the demise of his unit in Iraq, and he will probably be emotionally unavailable, at least in the short term.  Grey’s Anatomy is consistently entertaining and well-written, and this was another great episode.

Season 5, Episode 6: Life During Wartime (originally aired October 30, 2008)

For another take on this episode, read Inisia Lewis’s review here.

For more on Grey’s Anatomy, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC

Photographs courtesy of ABC