HollywoodHubbub.com

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

Once again my study commitments have raised their ugly head and I just haven’t had the time to post anything.  I’m still getting in some TV watching but even that has shrunk a little with the workload.  I’m gonna do my Best of the Week in a Twitter style 160 character format this week in an effort to get something posted and to save just a little time.

1.  Archer “Skorpio” (1×06) – Either Carol or Lana naked or in lingerie for the entire episode. The best story and some of the funniest lines yet. Best episode so far.  9.5/10

2.  30 Rock “Anna Howard Shaw Day” (4×13) – Five cool cameos. Horatio Sanz, Dean Winters, Jon Hamm, Jason Sudeikis, and Jon Bon Jovi. Liz tripping balls was awesome too.  7.5/10

3.  Survivor “Slay Everyone, Trust No One” (20×01) – Steph is back. That alone makes the return of Survivor kick ass. But add in Russell, Amanda, Tom, Courtney, Rupert, Colby & Jerri too. WOW!!  7.5/10

4.  Community “Communication Studies” (1×16) – The Breakfast Club montage alone made this ep superb, but Senior Chang dancing like Michael Jackson sustained the greatness.  7/10

5.  Lost “What Kate Does” (6×03) – I hate to put it this low but Kate episodes are always so dull. The few revelations in this ep didn’t make up for it’s mediocrity.  5.5/10

6.  How I Met Your Mother “Rabbit or Duck” (5×15) – Why is HIMYM so average this season? Maybe if they actually introduced the “mother” it would inject some life into the show.  5/10

7.  The Mentalist “Blood In, Blood Out” (2×14) – Cho’s a former gang member. That’s the biggest leap this show’s asked of me, and that’s saying something. None of these CBI guys are tough.  4.5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

Just under two weeks until Lost premieres.  Oh my God I can’t wait.  I tried to get as much TV watching in as I could this week but I haven’t felt too crash hot.  Plus I watched a lot of late night talk shows and finally saw Sherlock Holmes and The Fantastic Mr Fox so all that ate into the time I could spend on prime time TV.  I’m also trying to catch up on The Mentalist, The Office and I’ve started to watch Chuck so I’m going right back to the beginning on that one.

1.  Archer “Diversity Hire” (1×03) – The show’s only three episodes old and it’s already getting hard to come up with ways to say it’s damn funny and the best show on TV.  So aside from that I’d also like to mention the fabulous voice work by all of the actors.  Every single one of them does a superb job.  Roll on the next episode.  8/10

2.  30 Rock “Winter Madness” (4×11) – The gang head to Boston as a reason for Jack to meet up with Nancy.  I loved when Tracy said nothing bad could happen and behind him Pete says “smash cut to”.  It’s writing like this which makes the show so damn good.  7.5/10

3.  Better Off Ted “Lust in Translation” (2×10) – I really enjoyed this episode.  All three stories were fun.  Especially Ted and Greta using the translator with Phil’s voice while having sex.  The episode also had more great stuff with Linda and Veronica.  Whenever those two are together it makes for some awesome scenes.  7/10

4.  Fringe “What Lies Below” (2×13) – A good standalone episode.  That’s been a hard thing to come by this season.  I especially liked the idea of a virus decimating the Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago and then being defeated by a volcanic eruption.  It seems very X-Files to me but not in a derivative way.  I wasn’t too fond of Peter going crazy from the virus but I guess there had to be personal stake for everyone involved.  And there was once again more hints as to Peter’s death and Walter getting an alternative.  The next episode is titled “The Bishop Revival” so I’m really hoping that the show finally deals with what Walter did after the original Peter died.  7/10

5.  Community “Interpretive Dance” (1×14) – This episode was actually an improvement over the last few but it still wasn’t anything too great.  Danny Pudi continues to be the best thing about the show but he doesn’t seem to be getting much to do.  I’m not to fond of the idea that Britta is gonna be jealous of Jeff and the accounting teacher.  I don’t want another will they or won’t they show.  6.5/10

6.  How I Met Your Mother “Jenkins” (5×13) – Yeesh.  Talk about fucking average.  HIMYM is fast becoming a hit or miss show.  One week it’s brilliant and the next it’s barely acceptable.  It was nice to see Amanda Peet on the show but she was completely wasted with such a shitty story.  The same happened with Rachel Bilson last week.  They better not fuck up Carrie Underwood’s appearance.  5/10

7.  The Mentalist “Bleeding Heart” (2×12) – Eh.  Eco-terrorism and local council politics don’t make for a good episode.  Average as always but Jane wasn’t really that compelling this week.  And as much of a fan as I am of Robin Tunney in Empire Records and Encino Man I’m fast approaching a can’t stand her attitude to her on The Mentalist.  Her performance/character just rubs me the wrong way.  Amanda Righetti too.  I really wish there were more Red John stories on the show ‘cos a couple per season isn’t anywhere near enough.  4.5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

TV finally came back in a substantial way this week so that means I can do my Best of the Week post again.  It was an especially great week because we got double episodes of Fringe, 30 Rock, Better Off Ted, Chuck, and Archer, and there was comedy gold on just about all the late night talk shows concerning the Leno vs Conan vs NBC drama that’s been unfolding.

1.  Archer “Training Day” (1×01) – Ever since I saw the pilot back in September (which I guess is no longer the pilot considering the order that FX chose to show the first two episodes) I’ve been dying to see some more.  I’m thrilled beyond belief that I wasn’t let down.  I loved the Archer and Cyril story about training him and thinking Cyril killed a hooker.  I always know a show or movie is good when the time flies while watching it, I don’t even once look at my watch, and it leaves me wanting more as soon as it ends.  All the best shows do that.  30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, South Park.  Archer is already up to that level.  Two episodes down and it’s already the clear frontrunner to be my favourite new show this year (and second only to Lost as my favourite of everything on TV).  9/10

2.  Archer “Mole Hunt” (1×02) – It’s still hilarious after all the times I’ve watched it.  If anyone’s interested I did a little review of this episode back in September.  Check it out here. 9/10

3.  Parks and Recreation “The Set Up” (2×13) – Aziz Ansari said that this may be his favourite episode of Parks and Recreation yet and I think I have to agree.  Not only did we get a guest appearance by Amy Poehler’s husband Will Arnett as the uncomfortable date that Ann sets Leslie up with, but we also got the first episode in Justin Theroux’s arc and the supremely great Aubrey Plaza once again shined with some increased screen time.  Nick Offerman also continues to be balls out hilarious.  9/10

4.  30 Rock “Klaus and Greta” (4×09) – James Franco as himself and in love with human sized pillow with an anime girl on it.  Priceless.  Kenneth and Jack on a mission was also fantastic.  9/10

5.  30 Rock “Black Light Attack!” (4×10) – It was nice to see Danny again, and for Liz to get some action (in back to back episodes no less), but overall it just wasn’t as good as the previous episode.  The Jenna and Tracy stories really brought it down a notch or two.  8.5/10

6.  The Tonight Show – Late night talk shows don’t really belong in this list but the circumstances have been rather unique this week.  Conan moving to The Tonight Show resulted in him curtailing some of his more outlandish behaviour and that was a real shame.  However, with all the drama surrounding his probable ousting from the show this week it’s freed him up to do the type of comedy that he’s great at.  Not to mention the almost continuous attacks on both NBC and Leno have been a thing of beauty.  It’ll be a shame when Conan goes off the air and Leno returns to suck NBC’s cock and fondle their balls like the bitch he is.  8.5/10

7.  Better Off Ted “The Impertence of Communicationizing” (2×08) – The outtakes for this episode which were posted online during the week were far better than what was actually used, but it was a nice episode about following company mandates despite how illogical they may seem.  Better Off Ted does a good job of highlighting the bureaucracy of company life and this was another solid example of that.  7/10

8.  The Mentalist “Rose-Colored Glasses” (2×11) – I watched about half of the 1st season of The Mentalist and then gave up on it for no real reason.  I figured I’d give it another watch seen as how it’s doing really well in the ratings on Thursday against some good competition.  I can tell you it hasn’t changed at all since about the same point last season.  Simon Baker is still effortlessly charming as Thomas Jane and the rest of the gang are still D grade wanna be FBI Agents.  The show lives and dies by Baker’s performance and as long as Thomas Jane doesn’t become a one trick pony the show is at least mildly entertaining.  Other than that it’s just the current procedural du jour.  6.5/10

8.  Better Off Ted “The Long and Winding High Road” (2×09) -  Another good episode of Veronica using Rose as a tool to get what she wants.  I love it when they do that in the show.  Aside from that though it was a pretty average episode.  6.5/10

9.  Fringe “Johari Window” (2×12) – A pretty decent standalone episode which has been a rare thing so far this season.  I wish they’d get back to the mythology of the show though.  That’s where the real gold is.  And you gotta believe that Peter is gonna find out about being a double at some point this season.  There’s been too much of it so far for it not to be revealed.  6/10

10.  How I Met Your Mother “Girls vs Suits” (5×12) – A real letdown for the 100th episode.  There was nothing for Jason Segel or Alyson Hannigan to do and Cobie Smulders was left to be a jealous hot chick.  Plus there was more of that damn annoying mother teasing.  Either the mother is important to the premise of the show or she isn’t, but 100 episodes in should be far enough for her to be revealed by now.  If she’s important she should be in the mix by now, and if she’s not then introducing her doesn’t need to be some huge revelation.  I wish the writers/producers would just bite the bullet and cast someone already.  5.5/10

11.  Jimmy Kimmel Live! – Once again, another late night talk show appears on the list.  This time thanks to Kimmel impersonating Leno for an entire show.  Props to Chevy Chase for also making a minimal effort to appear as Conan.  6/10

12.  Fringe “Unearthed” (2×11) – Fox airing a previously unaired season one episode was just stupid.  Charlie Francis died early this season yet there he is in all his glory being a bad ass FBI Agent.  It made zero sense in the context of the season and I’m sure I’m not the only one who was confused when I first saw him on the screen.  Couple that with the fact that it was a very average episode and I get the feeling that Fox is burning off episodes so that the show can be dumped at the end of the season.  4.5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

Not much on TV this week as everything winds down for Christmas but I did get to finally see Where The Wild Things Are and the stupendously great Avatar.  On a shitty note my PS3 died so I was forced to buy a new one because Sony Australia won’t fix a US PS3.  Plus Uncharted 2 was in the drive when the machine died so I can’t get it out.

1.  Dollhouse “The Attic” (2×10) – It’s hard to stomach the fact that Dollhouse has been so good this season yet it suffered the ignominious fate of being cancelled by the retards that run Fox.  This episode inside the framework of The Attic was very Matrix in style but it had some outstanding moments that hint to the possible future depicted in “Epitaph One” and also provide the very real possibility of a satisfying conclusion to the series.  I’m beyond ecstatic that Adelle has now been shown to be with the good guys in their attempt to bring down Rossum.  I really like the group that’s been assembled with Adelle, Boyd, Ballard, Ivy, Topher, Echo, Victor and Sierra.  With only three episodes left in the series I’m very hopeful that the show will go out with a bang.  And that Topher and Adelle will come together to cure Miss Lonely Hearts deep sadness.  Plus no-one understands and cares for Topher like Adelle.  8.5/10

2.  Dollhouse “Stop-Loss” (2×09) – No too bad of an episode but I wasn’t too fond of the central plot of Victor’s release and subsequent induction into the military unit.  There was a definite Borg connection with that collective which was fairly cool but the best stuff in this episode was the scheming by the various people within the Dollhouse.  If anything, this episode acted more as a setup to “The Attic” than as its own standalone story.  7/10

3.  How I Met Your Mother “Last Cigarette Ever” (5×11) – I really liked the gang all having smoking in common, and their unified attempt to break the habit.  I also enjoyed the new guy playing Robin’s co-anchor, but I just wish they’d get around to introducing the now mythical mother.  7/10

4.  Survivor “Two Brains Are Better Than One” (19×14) – Russell continues to go along unchallenged which continues to surprise me because it seems like everyone has commented about how he can’t be trusted.  I particularly loved when he decided to keep the immunity necklace as a souvenir rather than play it at the last time he was allowed.  That’s how confident and cocky he is.  I just have a hard time believing he’s gonna win it all because of how much I really want him to.  6.5/10

5.  Dexter “The Getaway” (4×12) – Another average episode that has some people buzzing about the “shocking” ending.  I think that whinging Rita had it coming and I’m just upset that it wasn’t Dexter who did the deed himself.  I also find it a little convenient that Trinity found Rita seen as how the address he got for Dexter was his old apartment and it’s entirely questionable whether there would be anything at the apartment which let him know of Dexter’s new address.  Seems like the show needed Rita to die and they went about it in a contrived fashion.  It would have been vastly better if Dexter had lost control with Rita like he did with Quinn, the cops and the hit and run guy.  The end result would have been the same but there would also be the added element of his potential remorse and the mounting suspicion of the disappearance of Rita.  Now we’ll just have him be sad and saddled with three kids he probably doesn’t want next season.  5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

After a few weeks of almost no TV this week was pretty decent for content.  The Christmas holidays will mean that just about all the shows worth a damn will be on break for a while which is kinda disappointing but at least I’ll be able to get some movies watched.  I’m off to see Avatar on Friday and I may even go see Where The Wild Things Are on Tuesday.

1.  Survivor “Damage Control” (19×13) – Russell is a fucking legend, but I’m still positive he won’t win it all because of how much I really want him to.  8/10

2.  Dollhouse “A Love Supreme” (2×08) – The presence of Alpha alone makes this the better episode of Dollhouse in this weeks double-shot, but it was also a great episode in its own right.  Although Ballard isn’t strictly dead (and I’m sure Topher will be working on bringing him back) I still love it when Whedon kills one of the main characters.  Too often on other shows there are characters constantly placed in danger but nothing ever happens to them.  How is the audience supposed to be worried for their safety if they always get out OK?  It’s such a shame Dollhouse has been cancelled because these latest episodes are really building towards what was hinted at in Epitaph One.  I would love to have seen how it all developed over the course of another two or so seasons.  7.5/10

3.  Parks and Recreation “Christmas Scandal” (2×12) – I guess Louis C.K. is gone for good now and that makes me wonder how long it’s gonna be until Justin Theroux shows up.  It’s nice to see more of April (Aubrey Plaza) and I like the idea of her and Andy hooking up.  7/10

4.  30 Rock “Secret Santa” (4×08) – I’m a huge fan of Boogie Nights and Children of Men so my love of Julianne Moore should be obvious.  As such, even though I thought the secret santa stuff with the writers and Kenneth was pretty dull I think that the increased screen time for Cerie, the creation of YouFace and the presence of Moore all made this a pretty decent episode.  It was also a pleasant surprise to see the new guy actually on TGS.  I thought his appearances were gonna be few and far between but he’s had a good amount of screen time since he was added.  7/10

5.  Dollhouse “Meet Jane Doe” (2×07) – I really didn’t like the story for Echo in this episode.  The only good thing about it was the fact that she was using breaking the girl out of prison as training for freeing the dolls in the Dollhouse.  I loved Topher telling Adelle about his remote imprint technology (a great link to Epitaph One) and Adelle’s betrayal of Topher’s trust.  It’s nice to see Olivia Williams playing Adelle as a woman who is now concerned about her own position within the corporate structure.  This makes Adelle’s relationship with Topher in Epitaph One even more moving.  There were some great elements to this episode but it wasn’t very impressive as a whole.  6.5/10

6. Dexter “Hello, Dexter Morgan” (4×11) – Hurry up and dump Rita and those damn kids already Dexter.  And while you’re at it why don’t you kill Trinity.  Jesus, enough with dragging it out.  6/10

7.  How I Met Your Mother “The Window” (5×10) – If Dexter should hurry up and dump his wife and annoying kids, Ted should hurry up and find his wife so he can have his annoying kids.  Bring on the mother and Rachel Bilson (one and the same maybe?)  5.5/10

8.  Fringe “Grey Matters” (2×10) – Some more mythology at last but not nearly enough William Bell.  So far this season I’ve been pretty disappointed with Fringe.  It’s just lacked something compared to last season.  And what the hell happened to Olivia being special and turning out those light bulbs with her mind.  Maybe I’m missing something but that didn’t seem to go anywhere at all.  5.5/10

9.  Community “Comparative Religion” (1×12) – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Jeff should forget about that dull bitch Britta and set his sights on Annie, Troy and Abed should have more stuff to do because they’re the comedy gold on this show, and Shirley should be shot because she’s so fucking annoying.  I can see this show becoming stale like My Name Is Earl did in no time which is a shame because I had such high hopes for it.  5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

Due to time constraints concerning my damn Uni commitments this installment of Best of the Week will be in Twitter style 160 characters form.

1.  Survivor “Tastes Like Chicken” (19×09) – Russell survived yet again.  Another Idol, really? Laura is pissed because he’s better than her.  Hope that bitch goes next.  9/10

2.  South Park “Dances With Smurfs” (13×13) – About time someone took on that asshole Glenn Beck.  I hate him so damn much.  Nice nod to Avatar too. Definite improvement over recent eps.  8.5/10

3.  How I Met Your Mother “The Rough Patch” (5×07) – Finally Robin & Barney broke up. They weren’t the same together. Loved the fat suit showing how the gang perceived Barney.  Roll on ep 100.  7.5/10

4.  30 Rock “The Problem Solvers” (4×05) – About as close to a Liz/Jack romance as there will be. Great ep. Loved the new guy.  “Who said I’ve been alive forever”. Classic.  8/10

5.  Fringe “Of Human Action” (2×07) – OK, but still not enough mythology for my liking.  This week’s Observer-centric ep should fix that though.  7/10

6.  Community “Debate 109″ (1×09) – Finally Jeff & Annie kissed. Not meaningful in any way so far, but hopefully they’ll hook up & not Jeff & Britta. Abed continues to rock.  6.5/10

7.  Dexter “Slack Tide” (4×07) – Last season it was a brother replacement, this season it’s a father replacement. Get over it Dexter and kill Trinity already. Rita too.  5.5/10

8.  The League “Sunday at Ruxin’s” (1×03) – Only watch because of Katie Aselton and the funny character of Taco. Any guy who has a Genesis is cool in my book.  5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

I didn’t get to watch a bunch of shows that I wanted to this week as the uni workload in preparation for my exams took all of my time.  Besides eating, sleeping, shitting and working all I did was study. Ah, I hate it so much.  I did see Trick r Treat though.  It was a cool horror flick.  Not that scary but cool.  I got a real Tales from the Crypt vibe from it.

1.  Parks & Recreation “Ron and Tammy” (2×08) – A nice episode which introduced one of Ron’s previously mentioned ex wives (played by the beautiful Megan Mullaly).  I find it a little odd that I hate Will & Grace so much yet enjoy Megan Mullaly in the guest appearances of hers that I’ve seen.  I remember her from an episode of Seinfeld as one of George’s girlfriends, from 30 Rock as a child adoption agent screening Liz, and then from this episode of Parks & Rec.  On the whole it was a pretty funny episode and it was great that Ron was the focus for once.  Not much Aubrey Plaza this week though which is a downer.  7.5/10

2.  Bored to Death “The Case of the Stolen Sperm” (1×07) – The show is really starting to hit it’s stride now.  More Zach Galifianakis and more Ted Danson (especially being involved in the cases) is a good thing.  I particularly liked the storyline this week linking into Ray’s sperm donations to the lesbians which I thought was just a simple joke in the episode it was raised in.  It was nice that it formed part of a future story.  Oliver Platt and John Hodgeman make great enemies for George and Jonathan.  It was also great to see the adorable Sam Bee (The Daily Show) in a tiny little role as one of the recipients of Ray’s sperm.  7.5/10

3.  How I Met Your Mother “Bagpipes” (5×06) – I absolutely loved Barney convincing Marshall that it was a good idea to tell Lily he didn’t want to do the dishes and that she should do them.  Ted arguing against Barney’s logic was just as great.  It was like the devil and an angel battling over him.  Aside from that though I thought the episode was somewhat average.  I like Barney and Robin together but the stories they’re coming up with for them are so average.  Aside from the Robin Sparkles based episodes Robin hasn’t had much good stuff over the course of the show, but Barney has been nothing but comedy gold.  It seems like this relationship is dragging him down into mediocrity.  I really hope that the 100th episode brings a much needed boost.  6.5/10

4.  Fringe “Earthling” (2×06) – Nothing mythology based this week but we did get a fairly decent standalone episode which brought to light some of Broyles’ backstory.  This was probably the most that he’s appeared in any episode so far.  Not much for Olivia or Peter this week either.  The ratings are also continuing to go down too.  I don’t think Fox will cancel the show before the end of the season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they elect not to pick it up for a 3rd season if the ratings don’t show some improvement.  That’s a real shame because the show on the whole is very good.  6.5/10

5.  Dexter “If I Had a Hammer” (4×06) – When will Dexter be done with that fucking whining bitch Rita.  I’ve never hated her as much as I do right now.  She’s a prime example of why I hate the idea of marriage.  Trying to change someone and make them do all the things that they don’t want to do.  Why would anyone want to go through that kind of life.  Dexter’s situation is a little different because he’s pretty much forced to live that life in order to blend in and escape detection, but it just pisses me off so much that he’s changed his core self in the adoption of that life.  A couple of episodes ago he stated that he couldn’t lose them.  There’s no way he would have felt that way about anyone except Deb in previous seasons.  The one real bright spot of this episode was the development in the search for info by Deb about her father.  I really hope she discovers the connection between him and Dexter’s mother soon.  I don’t want that to be the cliffhanger for the season finale.  Something tells me it will be though.  Oh, and I’m over the Batista/Laguerta relationship too.  6.5/10

6.  South Park “The F Word” (13×11) – South Park encouraging kids to call bikies faggots is advice that I wouldn’t suggest be followed.  Bikies account for a great deal of drug dealing and as such are probably not to be messed with.  That much can be seen by their blatant law breaking in the incident at Sydney airport where a fight broke out between rival gangs in the departure terminal and they beat a guy to death with a metal bollard.  That being said, mocking them as they did in this episode was pretty damn funny, and it’s true that all the noise from those bikes does make them fucking assholes.  Still not a very impressive episode though.  5.5/10

7.  V “Pilot” (1×01) – Having a whining teenage kid complain when his mother says she wants to listen does not build sympathy for him, it just makes him seem like a fucking baby.  Call it the Kim Bauer effect if you will.  There was some stuff to like about the pilot but nothing spectacular.  I’m still mad that Elizabeth Mitchell left Lost to star in this show.  It’s been a while since I was truly blown away by a pilot (that being Lost).  For the most part every pilot since then has been OK at best.  5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

No Fringe again this week and that goes along with no How I Met Your Mother or Dollhouse.  Disappointing.  Never mind though as this coming week both How I Met Your Mother and Fringe (if there’s no game 7 in the World Series) return for the November sweeps period.  The V remake also premieres on ABC on Tuesday.

1. Subtle Sexuality – “Male Prima Donna” (webisode) Holy crap this was fantastic.  I hadn’t seen any of the other webisodes based around Subtle Sexuality but I knew that a music video was coming soon.  This far exceeded my expectations.  There’s no way on Earth that this couldn’t be a top 10 single.  It sounds like every top selling pop artist currently worth a damn (in that it’s autotuned about as far as it can be) plus it has the awesome Mindy Kaling, Ed Helms and BJ Novak.  I was surprised by how much I liked Ellie Kemper in it too, seen as how she doesn’t get that much to do on The Office.  I think I’ve watched the video over 10 times now and it’s still great.  The only problem is that parts of it get stuck in my head and I sing them to myself all day. 8.5/10

2. Parks and Recreation – “Greg Pikitis” (2×07) Another great episode from the most improved show on TV.  I loved that Leslie has a seasonal feud with a high school kid, and that he bests her once again.  Roping in Dave and Andy was great too.  I loved that Dave would entertain Leslie’s behaviour simply because he liked her so much.  I really hope that Louis C.K. continues to appear on the show but I think he’ll be gone soon.  Shame.  The whole Halloween party thing was OK, nothing special though.  Except for April coming with her boyfriend and his boyfriend.  That was a nice call back to the season premiere.  I also liked that one of the boys came as a straight person and then Mark stands next to him.  8.5/10

3. South Park – “Whale Whores” (13×11) Fuck you dolphin.  Fuck you whale.  Ah South Park, how you make me laugh.  It’s about time South Park tackled the political debate on whaling and they of course did it by shredding another cable TV show.  Cartman singing Lady Gaga was hilarious.  But the best part of the episode was the end where they highlighted the hypocrisy of western society condemning whaling whilst simultaneously killing an almost endless amount of chickens and cows.  They talk about charismatic species in international environmental law and how people are far more concerned about protecting those animals with charisma (whales, elephants, tigers etc) to the exclusion of other less charismatic animals.  South Park did a good job of showing this in that closing scene.  7.5/10

4. 30 Rock – “Stone Mountain” (4×03) A fairly forgettable episode other than seeing Tina Fey’s bra and Katrina Bowden in a bikini.  The rule of three stuff was pretty good though, especially the cameo by Jimmy Fallon.  It was funny how they played up his status on late night by saying his first guest was a dog that plays soccer.  7/10

5. Dexter – “Dirty Harry” (4×05) Finally Dexter has discovered the identity of Trinity.  I certainly wasn’t expecting him to have a home and family in Miami.  When is Dexter gonna leave Rita and those damn kids.  That’s just a terrible situation for him and it doesn’t provide us with any kind of compelling viewing experience either.  It’s so dull.  I find myself fast forwarding through those scenes with him and Rita because they’re always the same, Rita telling Dexter he has to change.  I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would want to get married.  I thought Jennifer Carpenter had a lot to do this episode and she did a great job.  That scene near the end in the car park was crazy.  I thought she was gonna throw up a lung she was breathing so hard.  6.5/10

6. Survivor – “Houdini Magic” (19×07) The best thing was that Russell continues to survive and next week brings the merge.  Natalie also continues to be smoking hot.  It’s rare for my favourite contestant and the hottest contestant to both still be on the show this far into the season.  I really really want Russell to win.  But I’m almost always disappointed by the final winner of the show.  6/10

7. Community – “Introduction to Statistics” (1×07) Far more for Chevy Chase to do this week which was great but other than that and Troy’s costume, this wasn’t a particularly noteworthy episode.  Abed’s Batman impression was pretty good though.  Oh, and as always Ken Jeong continues to rock the comedy world.  Only slightly above average.  5.5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

I know I’m a little late with this post but I had a supremely lazy weekend of sleeping, playing video games and watching movies.  I finally saw Moon and also watched The Taking of Pelham 123, Surrogates, and GI Joe, as well as a bunch of other flicks I’ve seen before.  All in all an enjoyable weekend.  As for TV this past week, I think it was a very solid week of shows.  Vastly better than the week before.  I guess the only downers this week was the very average South Park and that no episode of Fringe was aired.

1. Dollhouse – “Belonging” (2×04) It’s a shame that there aren’t many viewers of Dollhouse because it truly is a great show.  They seem to be getting further and further away from the standalone episodes each week, adding in more mythology and showing some of the master plan.  Unfortunately I don’t think Joss Whedon’s ultimate vision is going to be realised thanks to the assholes at Fox.  Already limited by a commitment to the initial 13 episodes with no mention of a back 9, Fox has now confirmed that the show is being pulled from the schedule for November sweeps.  It won’t be long until Dollhouse is added to the long list of Buffy/Angel alum run shows on Fox that have been cancelled too soon.

As for this weeks episode it was a showcase for Dichen Lachman with Eliza Dushku taking a backseat to allow us to see the story of Sierra/Priya and how she ended up in the Dollhouse.  Fran Kranz and Olivia Williams once again delivered superb performances and their interactions hinted at the development of their relationship for the future we saw in “Epitaph One”.  I really think the thing I’ll miss most about Dollhouse when it’s cancelled is the work of Fran Kranz.  He’s simply amazing as Topher.  Who’d have thought that Topher would become one of the emotional centers of the show.  No Ballard this week but Boyd stepped up in his absence and helped Topher and Priya dispose of their little problem.  It was nice to see Miss DeWitt impliedly approve of the situation.  It showed that she’s in line with their thinking and does indeed have a heart.  Her interactions and concern for Topher were once again very touching and I’m really hoping that their relationship will develop before the show ends.  8/10

2. 30 Rock – “Into the Crevasse” (4×02) A definite improvement on last weeks season premiere.  Some absolute knockout lines, I especially liked Liz saying that the kid she mentored in college taught her how to use a tampon.  Tracy shooting a porno of Liz’s life was also excellent but I’d have preferred it if that was a more significant part of the episode.  Then again I love porn and Tina Fey so I’m probably a little biased.  It was fantastic to see Will Arnett back as Devin Banks too.  God I love that guy.  He does such great work opposite Alec Baldwin.  Why oh why can’t he be added to the cast.  8/10

3. How I Met Your Mother – “Duel Citizenship” (5×05) I’m not sure why it’s “duel” and not “dual”, I can’t recall any kind of battle taking place other than the subtle one for Marshall’s loyalty but Lily wasn’t aware that there was even a competition between her and Ted over Marshall.  Weird title for the episode.  It was a nice return to form for the show after last weeks terrible ep.  Great to see Barney be his old un-neutered self and not be forced into changing just because he’s in a relationship.  The best HIMYM episodes are the ones where each character is given something equally funny to do, and this episode achieved it.  And as someone who bases his desire to travel to the US at least 50% for the food, I can totally understand Marshall and Ted’s desire to go to Chicago for pizza.  7.5/10

4. Bored to Death – “The Case of the Lonely White Dove” (1×05) Much better than the previous episode as there was a distinct case and out of that came some nice comedy.  This episode was certainly more noirish than recent ones which is my main attraction to the show.  I loved that George was experimenting with being gay as a way to increase female readers for his magazine.  It was cool to see Romany Malco too.  I loved him in The 40 Year Old Virgin.  Zach Galifianakis continues to rule.  7/10

5. Parks & Recreation – “Kaboom” (2×06) I hold this show to high standards and compared to the previous episode featuring Fred Armisen this was a step down.  It may rate the same as Bored to Death this week but whilst Parks was a step down from last week, Bored to Death was a definite improvement.  That’s why they are ranked in this order.  I guess the biggest thing this episode did was fill in the pit so that isn’t saying much.  Another negative was the distinct lack of screen time for Aubrey Plaza.  I’d grown used to her increased presence so far this season and it was a bit of a bummer that she didn’t do much this week.  7/10

6. Survivor – “This is the Man Test” (19×06) This was advertised as a shocking episode and it was apparent from the ads that someone got hurt pretty bad.  I’m glad it was black Russell and not white Russell ‘cos white Russell is the best contestant since Tom and Steph.  I really thought the injury was gonna be violent and bloody so I was a little disappointed that it took the form of passing out.  It was kinda cool to see him almost dead on his feet though.  Kinda like when a boxer takes a massive hit and is knocked out before he even hits the ground.  None of what I just wrote should be interpreted as racism by the way.  I’d have been equally happy if it was Shambo.  6/10

7. Community – “Football, Feminism and You” (1×06) I’m a bigger fan of Annie than Britta so it was nice that she got some increased screen time this week.  A stronger storyline for Troy was also a welcome surprise.  It’s nice that they’re not just focusing on Jeff and Britta.  To be honest, if there has to be romantic element to the show I hope it’s between Annie and Troy, not Jeff and Britta.  Hell, even Pierce and Abed would be more interesting.  Speaking of Abed, Danny Pudi did another stellar job this week.  Damn that guy’s funny.  6/10

8. Dexter – “Dex Takes a Holiday” (4×04) Not much in the way of Lithgow creepiness this week.  In fact it wasn’t that great of an episode.  What saved it was the shooting of Lundy and Deb.  I figured that Lundy was gonna die sometime this season, but I though it would be a little later in the season at the hand of Trinity (especially with Trinity’s third victim being a male beaten to death).  In all likelihood it was Trinity who shot him, but that’s not how I expected Lundy to go out.  As I’m writing this I’ve yet to see the latest episode which will probably shed more light on the circumstances of the shooting.  On a side note, when is Dexter gonna realise that married life isn’t for him and ditch Rita and those damn kids?  What happened to the guy we met in the 1st season who had no emotions whatsoever?  I miss him.  6/10

9. South Park – “W.T.F.” (13×10) You know what, this episode was so damn average that I can’t think of anything to say other than it disappointed me to no end.  5/10

A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them.  It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week.  Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.

Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.

I’d planed for another good week of TV, what with Heroes not being on my calendar which automatically made me feel happier and the return of the fantastically wonderful 30 Rock.  Unfortunately everything I watched this week was pretty damn average.  In addition I once again didn’t get around to watching a bunch of shows.  Those of note are The Office, Community, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Parks and Recreation, and Dexter. I’m now three or four weeks behind on both The Office and Dexter.  I just know I’m gonna end up watching the whole season of those shows in April.

1. South Park – “Butters’ Bottom Bitch” (13×09) It wasn’t a show I knew was good when I was watching it, but when I looked back on it for this post I realised that there was nothing really negative about it.  Butters is one of my favourite side characters (along with Craig) so I always enjoy episodes where he plays a major part.  The cops going after prostitution was great too.  7/10

3. 30 Rock – “Season 4″ (4×01) It’s great that the show is back, but I was pretty underwhelmed by this premiere.  I overlook the generally poor ratings that 30 Rock gets because if this is ever brought up I always point to the fact that it’s fucking hilarious (Alec Baldwin rules).  I know that the show is gonna be good, if not great, but this season premiere was a letdown.  Plus it looks like Josh (Lonny Ross) might be written out after being forgot the last couple of seasons.  I was actually hoping that he’d be given a bigger part in the show.  7/10

2. Fringe – “Dream Logic” (2×05) Another average “freak of the week” episode.  I hate those.  The only saving grace for this weeks episode was the hint of Peter remembering something from his childhood about Walter (being taken from the alternate reality perhaps), and the presence of the awesome Kevin Corrigan.  I’ve said it before but I’m really hoping he continues to be a part of the Fringe universe.  6.5/10

4. Survivor – “Walking on Thin Ice” (19×05) It’s fast becoming the case where I don’t care who gets kicked off as long as it’s not Russell.  He’s by far the best survivor since Steph and Tom from Survivor: Palau.  Apparently bookmakers have Russell as the favourite to win it all.  I’m hoping that this doesn’t jinx him because I’d really love him to win.  A guy that sets out to make everyone’s live miserable would be a great Survivor winner. 6/10

5. Bored to Death – “The Case of the Stolen Skateboard” (1×04) The worst of them all so far, but still a little above average.  Aside from Ray jerking off in the bathroom at the beginning of the episode there was pretty much no screen time for Zach Galafianakis.  A lack of Zach is sure to reduce the score that an episode will get from me.  5.5/10

6. How I Met Your Mother – “The Sexless Innkeeper” (5×04) I can’t believe it but How I Met Your Mother was the worst show I watched this week.  I’m glad that Robin and Barney have got together but if the future of the show is lame rehashed sitcom storylines like this one then I can’t wait for them to break up.  Barney is one of the best sitcom characters created in a long time but so far this season his relationship with Robin has neutered him.  He’s just not the same awesome guy he was for four seasons.  I’m looking forward to the upcoming 100th which promises to be fairly mother-centric (plus the rumour that Rachel Bilson has been cast as the mother) so I’m hoping that the writers are gonna get back on track to what made the show great for the past four years.  God I hope Rachel Bilson is added to the cast.  I loved her on The O.C. 5/10