Lea's Weekly Recap 1/24 - 1/29

Chuck 4.12 "Chuck Vs. The Gobbler"

CASEEYYYY NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!11
Ok, so actually I'm not that concerned about Casey. I don't really think the dude is going to die. How much permanent damage he has remains to be seen, but they aren't going to kill off my Casey (Really, he probably should be dead. Because seriously, unless you're John Locke, you really shouldn't even survive a fall like that, but I digress). So, the rest of the episode was pretty good. I have to give it up for Timothy Dalton who has been an absolute DELIGHT every time he's been onscreen. Best guest star ever or best guest star ever (and this for a show that consistently has good guest stars). I still can't believe how readily Volkoff let Sarah walk into his organization, and the misunderstanding at the end was kind of lame. BUT the action was good and when Chuck and Sarah kissed in Castle, I swooned. Next week is supposed to be a real doozy, so I can't wait!

American Idol "Auditions #3 Milwaukee" & "Auditions #4 Nashville"
I. HATE. SOB. STORIES.

The Office 7.14 "The Seminar"

Everyone is talking about the Ricky cameo and rightly so! It was absolutely perfect. The look on Michael's face when he realized he had met his soul mate was priceless. I'm really glad they did that, and that they didn't dwell on it either. It was there and gone and so so satisfying. And what? Another good episode? Yay! Maybe this season is getting back on track! I just have to say that I could listen to Michael and Holly speak in weird accents to each other all day. And Andy was of course, magnificent: "I guess when you looked in me, you forgot about my balls. They're on the outside. Don't know how you missed them."


Community 2.13 "Celebrity Pharmacology" 

I was going to do a post about Community season 1 as I just finished watching the DVDs recently, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've been watching the recent season 2 episodes despite the fact that I missed the first half of the season, but regardless, this show has quickly become one of my favs. It's another one that doesn't make me laugh out loud all the time, but it's so dang enjoyable. The show is meta to a fault, but I actually love it. Some of my favorite episodes, like the paintball ep, were the ones that reminded you constantly, 'hey, you're watching a tv show!' I think the show took a little while to get its footing, but by the end of season 1, all of the character's 'places' in the show got figured out and it truly became great.
As far as this episode goes, I liked it a lot. Despite the fact that Chevy Chase is amazing on the show, Pierce isn't one of my favorite characters, but him riling up a group of middle schoolers into chanting "we want drugs!" was amazing. Not more amazing than Senor Chang however, who cracks my shit up every time he appears. I love him. He needs to be in every scene on this show ever.

The Ricky Gervais Show 2.3 "The Fly"

If you aren't watching this show, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! It's consistently one of the funniest things I watch all week. I cannot believe Karl Pilkington is a real person.

Lea's Weekly Recap 1/16 - 1/22

So we're trying something sort of new here at the good ol' blog. Every Friday or Saturday, Zozizzle and I (and yes, I changed my moniker to just 'Lea' now. Although Mind Grapes is still in my heart) will attempt a weekly recap post, where we talk about all of the television that we watched for the week. Granted, sometimes an episode that we see will be so great and so full of excitement that a short thought-synopsis won't be sufficient, and in that case, those episodes will be getting their own separate posts.  But for all the other tv that we watch (let's face it, we can watch a  lot of tv), these posts are for that.

Chuck 4.11 "Chuck Vs. The Balcony"

 Chuck is back after the hiatus with a pretty strong episode. The episode focused less on a real mission and more on the sub-mission to get Chuck to propose to Sarah. Amusing stuff mostly because of the inclusion of Morgan, who first worked with Chuck, then Sarah, and then with Casey to try and get it done (Gosh, I remember a time when I hated Morgan. No longer. I love Morgan! Love him!). I thought the episode was sweet and funny and my heart grew 3 sizes when Casey told his proposal story to Chuck: "Forget the balcony. All you need is the girl."
And then I got a Lester story line. A LESTER STORY LINE! Mayhaps you know that I'm kind of a big Lester fan, so when he brought his prospective fiancee into his "Saskatchewan Hinjew" cavern, I felt great joy. That was only surpassed by the appearance of JEFFSTER! Never change, Jeffster. Never change.
I will admit to being a tad bit annoyed that the proposal got cut short if only b/c this show has sometimes run the risk of dragging out Chuck/Sarah issues for a little too long. I'm ready for them to finally be engaged, dammit! The storyline resulting in the capture caught me a bit off guard, just because it seems so implausible (but lol what is plausible on this show, really), buuuut the preview for next week looks amazing and so I'm definitely willing to see how it plays out. I'm just glad my Chuck is back!

American Idol 10 "Auditions #1 New York/New Jersey" & "Auditions #2 New Orleans"

 Ah my love/hate relationship with American Idol continues.  So everyone's freaking out because Simon is gone, eh? Meh. I only started watching this show at the very end of Simon's run, when the dude had clearly checked out and was envisioning a world with an American X-Factor where he could control everything, and I never really found his critiques all that helpful. So I'd rather look forward to new judges (and no more Kara! PRAISE JESUS HALLELUJAH!), and so far I'm cautiously optimistic. Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez had a good first outing. Steven is sort of like the new Paula, wacky and out there and making up phrases, but he also was surprisingly compassionate and let people down easy, while still being tough. He also enjoys singing along to everything, which could get annoying, but eh, it's Steven Tyler, you let the man sing. So far he was definitely the bright spot of the episodes, but J.Lo did a pretty good job as well. She may have had trouble saying no, but she actually gave some strong critiques as well as seemed to really care about the contestants and what she was doing. The real test for both Steven and Jennifer will definitely be the live shows. That's where these guys are really going to sink or swim, but as of right now, I'm encouraged.  And Randy Jackson was just Randy Jackson. I've always had a soft spot for Randy, so as long as he keeps wearing cardigans and serving out "yo dawgs", I'm good.
Oh, the actual contestants? All I remember is that there were a shit-ton of teenage girls whose voices all sounded the exact same to me, which doesn't really bode well (are they looking for a female pop-singer?). A  few teenage boys got through, who I really only remember for their sob stories (Wheelchairs! Twins in Harlem! Picked on because of being a ginger!) than anything else. A fat Justin Bieber. And then of course there was Yoshi-Pop! We'll leave it at that.

Modern Family 2.13 "Caught In the Act"

 I thought this was a pretty solid episode, with quite a few laugh-out-loud moments for me. My watching of Modern Family has started fairly recently, when I went through the first season in about a month and have been watching season 2 ever since. I find this show extremely enjoyable and one that is always entertaining, even in it's "worst" episodes. I've kind of always seen it as the much less dysfunctional version of Arrested Development. But while that show had me in stitches practically the entire episode, Modern Family doesn't always get guffaws from me, but it's always really pleasant to watch. It makes me smile and it makes me happy, and the 3 different families give you at least one thing to grasp hold of every episode. One of them doesn't carry the whole season, but instead all are given good story lines throughout (my favorite story lines however, are the ones that bring all the families together).
The main plot of this one with the kids walking in on Phil and Claire in bed was pretty good, mostly for the kid's reactions (I love Luke and the actor who plays him. His one-liners are a riot: "I don't know what they were doing, but it looked like Dad was winning.") and for Phil being Phil: "Excuse me for thinking your zesty performance deserved some praise."
The mixup with Gloria's email and her thinking Claire was angry about something other than what she was was a liiiiitle too sitcom cliche for me, but the pay off - with Gloria propositioning them to "taste her cupcakes" and Phil almost passing out - was hysterical.
The Cam/Mitch story line felt a little like an afterthought, but I was dying as Cam tried to think of the correct actress who owned the rug as he was freaking out (also, is Lilly the most well-behaved child ever?).

The Office 7.12 "Ultimatum" 

Another pretty good episode after a hiatus. I think, along with it seems like many of the viewing public, that this season of The Office is the worst of it's 7 year run. I know I'll always love it no matter what and will keep watching until it ends, but some of the story lines this year have seemed a bit stale and repetitive (and in fact, I worry about that a bit with the Michael/Holly story line. Those two need to get together in the end, yet I thought a lot of to-do was made about them this episode, where ultimately nothing really happened. Holly's taking a break now? That's it? Boo!). However, I really enjoyed this episode, because there were quite a few great lines and moments which had me rolling. First, Erin has kind of become a caricature, but I don't care, she is hysterical. I love her helping Michael so readily with his video and his "sad box" and "happy box" (with the gummi bears in the sad and the gummi worms in the happy, obviously). And her hatred of Holly is never not funny. Also: "My goal was to learn a new word every single day. And I must say that it is going immensely."
The resolution story line is one that would be incredibly stupid in real life, but it led to some awesome gags, especially Kevin being forced to eat broccoli as he struggles and then spitting it out everywhere. And of course, Andy roller skating to DMB and then dancing to a strobe light, things that are never not good. Greatest line of the episode however was uttered by the legendary Creed, "F*** YOU! F*** YOU!" in response to Erin doing the perfect cartwheel, which Creed only dreamed a possibility.

68th Golden Globes: The Ashitaka's Angels Live Blog Edition! (Sort of)

You know you're excited.

Yes, the Golden Globes gives Hollywood another chance to pull a contortionist act and pat itself on the back. Yes, it is a spectacle. But it's a spectacle that is oh so amusing! 

Even we here on the blog could not resist the sparkliness of the festivities (the dresses! the stars!) nor the inevitable mishaps (the unexplainable and frequent bleeping! Christian Bale's crazy beard!). Also, we realized, 'Hey! We actually saw some of these shows/movies!' 

And so we watched. And thus, came the live blog for your reading pleasure. 

Here are some excerpts in 2 parts. First, here's Lea's coherent assessment at the end of the night, on the evening as a whole:

L: as an ~awards show, it was disappointing. Whenever they have Ricky Gervais presenting at these kinds of shows, he's hilarious, but I found him unfunny and just mean the majority of the time. Tina/Steve and RDJ were the highlights of the awards show for me.

11:05 PM

As far as winners/losers, I was glad to see The Social Network win for so much. It was definitely one of the best movies I've seen all year, so I was glad. And SUCH a deserving win for Colin Firth

TV-wise, I'm glad to see Boardwalk getting recognition b/c it was such a high quality show.

But Glee winning is just going to encourage the bad writing on that show

Oh, but the sweetest win was Chris Colfer. I may hate Glee, but his emotions and his speech were so genuine, it was great to see.

Below are portions of our conversations that took place while we were watching the awards last night. Beware, as there is much flailing. Take it in slowly, and you'll be just fine:

The evening looked promising:

Master of Ceremonies. The beer may have been light, but the jokes weren't. 

1/16/11, 8:00 PM

L: The globes are starting! The globes are starting!

Z: Yay! Has Ricky already got a drink?

L: Ricky Gervais is drinking a beer

Z: Starting light, I see

However, the night slowly started to unravel when Christian Bale walked up to the stage to accept his award for 'Best Actor in a Supporting Role' for 'The Fighter'. Don't get us wrong, we love him, but...

Thumbs up on the acting. Thumbs down on the hair.

(Around 8:05 p.m.) 

Z: It's Christian Bale with a Jesus beard

L: Andrew Garfield is SO CUTE OMG

Z: Christian Bale!!!

L: (right after realizing the beard) WHAT HAS HE DONE TO HIS FACE?!
L: Every time they show Bale's beard, a puppy dies.

Then, there was the frequent bleeping, much to our confusion on the blog: 

Mysterious bleeping began with Bale.

L: "What you didn't see at home: Bale just ended his speech by launching into a big, expletive-laden Robert DeNiro lovefest."

Z: There's an audio issue. Are you hearing random bleeps?

L: Yeah, the crowd is too loud. And it keeps bleeping things out

8:20 PM

L: Maybe everyone is swearing very loudly!

lol

Z: Well, they are allowed to drink at this awards show

Even Giamatti, awarded 'Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Comedy' couldn't escape the bleeps.

Z: Damn you, censors! I want to hear Paul Giamatti swear!

L: How drunk is Giamatti?

L: I've loved him since he played JOHN ADAMS!!!!!!!!

Z: He's saluting Canada...so, pretty drunk.

Z: Not that I have anything against Canada. 

John Adams. Another film I have yet to see.

10:30 PM

L:~miniseries

Z: My mistake. I remember you said it gets pretty graphic.

L: Someone gets their boob cut off. Anyways.........

Another Recurring Event of the Night: Our knee jerk reactions to the stars of TRON: 

First, as Garrett Hedlund presented an award with Leighton Meester:

L: Zosette! Zosette!.....TRON

Z: it's FLYNN!!! Where's your lightcycle at?!!!

Then, as Olivia Wilde presented an award with the bravest Hufflepuff there ever was Robert Pattinson:

L: TRON

Z: I want my lightcycles!

And finally, as Jeff Bridges presented the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture to Natalie Portman for 'Black Swan':

Z: JEFF BRIDGES!

L: THE DUDE

Z: TRON!

A lot of the wins made complete sense to us. Hence, more flailing:

Adorable.

On Chris Colfer's win for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a TV Series:

L: OMG I'M SO HAPPY FOR HIM. HE LOOKS SO SHOCKED

Z: You go, KURT!!!!! I liked his speech.

L: And I hate Glee! But I'm glad he won

Z: I like it sometimes; he's usually part of why I like it

L: But yeah, I like Glee for everything except the ~serious story lines. They do an extremely poor job at them. BUT! Kurt's serious story lines are the only ones I think they do pretty consistently well.

On Boardwalk Empire's win for Best Television Series--Drama: 

Nucky and Margaret sans Jimmy and Richard Harrow, alas.

Z: BOARDWALK!!!!

L: BOARDWAAAAAAALK

Z: YAYY

L: MARGARET!!!!

L: OMG IS JIMMY THERE?! WHERE IS JIMMY

Z: Michael Pitt, where are you?! Where's Richard Harrow?!

L: I has a sad

Z: Richard Harrow is lying down at a sniper's perch right now; Jimmy is beating on some fools

On Colin Firth's win for Best Actor in a Drama for "The King's Speech":

All hail King Firth.

L: SO deserving. This is going to sound weird, but he makes having a stutter sound natural.

It had to have been sooo difficult to keep that up the whole movie. It was really just a fantastic performance

10:50 PM

and a delightful movie.

Z: I need to see this movie.

L: YOU NEED TO SEE EVERY MOVIE

Z: it's true; I need to see a million movies.

On The Social Network winning basically everything including Best Screenplay--Motion Picture:

Z: Wow, Social Network is cleaning up the place

L: Social Network is gonna win everything. I need to see that movie again. WE SHOULD WATCH IT TOGETHER

L: Really though, it was such an interesting movie that really made you think

and they REALLY don't portray Mark Zuckerberg in a good light

On Al Pacino winning 'Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Made for TV Motion Picture' for 'You Don't Know Jack':

No 'stop talking music' for this BAMF.

L: People just hand out awards to Pacino. SHARE THE WEALTH, PACINO! naw j/k I love me some Pacino.

Z: He should make his own awards; [and call them] The Pacinos. God knows he has so many. He should just melt down all of his old awards and hand them out to people.

L: PACINO'S AWARDS COULD STOP WORLD HUNGER

Z: He and deniro should make their own award. Then, world peace could be achieved.

L:They won't play the 'stop talking' music for Pacino either

Z: No one tells pacino to stop talking.

L: He'll kill you.

Z: Godfather style.

Z: lol; the orchestra waited for him, and they played a flourish at the end of his speech.

You know you've made it when you get an orchestra flourish at the globes... at the end of your long speech.

And, of course, we were happy to see many of our favorite celebrities. Especially these two, who brought out the biggest flails of the night from both of us. 
Maybe they should've hosted the whole thing instead? 

"Gervais, I'mma let you finish...but I'm gonna get the biggest laughs of the night."

"As stars who are also writers, it gives us great pleasure to honor the nominees for best screenplay." -- Steve

"Screenplays we could have written if we had time. Like the one about the mountain climber. " -- Tina

"I would have given my right arm to have written that." -- Steve

L: He really can do no wrong.
Z: I'm following Slezak's live blog, and he has a good suggestion: Tina and Steve should host the Oscars.
L: That's brilliant!

Z: Somebody pitch that! Or, they could have Liz Lemon and Michael Scott host the Oscars.

That would be hilarious.

L: GREATEST. OSCARS. EVER.

Z: If that ever happens, Lea, WE HAVE TO GO. 

And there you have a glimpse of our take on the night, which was much like the Golden Globes themselves--a mixture of things that make sense with some ridiculousness thrown in, but nonetheless always entertaining. Hope you enjoyed it. 

[Image Credits: kypost.com; EW.com; LAtimes.com, GoldenGlobes.org]

Downton Abbey Episode 1 Recap: If You Read This Whole Post, I'll Give You A Fancy British Lady Hat

Like Lea said, we at the blog have promised to post more for 2011, so...

...hold on to your hats, because this post is a small Russian novel. The upcoming ones will be shorter, I promise! 

Let's get to it, shall we?

Seeing as I’d only watched PBS’ Emma and Sherlock Holmes last year, I’m kind of a novice when it comes the Masterpiece Series. Both shows were well-cast, had great performances, and were overall extremely enjoyable. When I saw a new series, Downton Abbey, was premiering last Sunday, I decided to DVR it just to try it out. The components—another glimpse of British society, an interesting and expansive cast with some heavy hitters (hello, Dame Maggie Smith!)—looked promising. My verdict so far after episode 1? Downton Abbey delivers in many ways.

The Rundown: Since this show has a fleet of a cast, I'm going to play the lazy card and direct you to the PBS Masterpiece site, which gives a much more thorough and clear synopsis and character rundown than I ever could. 

BUT! Here are the basics if YOU want to play the lazy card and not click on the link: Basically, the story begins in 1912, right when news breaks about the Titanic sinking. The Crawleys find out that 2 of their male relatives, one of whom was supposed to take over their countryside estate, Downton Abbey, were passengers on the liner and did not make it. Mary, the Crawleys' eldest daughter was to marry Patrick, her father's nephew, and produce an heir to the family fortune. Since Patrick died, Mary either has to find another suitor or lose the family fortune to the only eligible male relative left, Lord Grantham's 3rd cousin once removed, Matthew Crawley. There are also servants. Also, Maggie Smith plays the HBIC, the Dowager Countess, Violet Crawley. *Gasp* There. That was a mouthful. 

On to the commentary!!!! One aspect I find interesting about this show so far is that it looks at both the lives of the Crawley family as well as the servants. It gives us a glimpse of life both upstairs and downstairs. In true Masterpiece fashion, both glimpses are nuanced in their own right. Like the Crawleys, the servants' stories so far are given real character depth; within their group, they have their own inner hierarchy, their own hidden or not so hidden ambitions, regrets, desires, etc. No one in this show is easy to characterize, which I love. 

With any good show, it only takes one episode to find a few great characters that are stellar at chewing up scenery, and DA does not disappoint. I give you...

My Favorite Characters So Far,  In No Particular Order:   

HBIC. Scene stealer.

1) The Dowager Countess herself, Violet Crawley

Maggie Smith, correction Dame Maggie Smith, is brilliantly cast as the matriarch bent on saving the Crawley estate; she manages to steal every scene she's in, naturally. That usually happens when you've been a national treasure on stage and screen for multiple decades. Violet Crawley loves her family, but she's not your typical warm and fuzzy grandmother. Smith plays her as a woman who knows she's pulling the strings but with good intentions. 

I also can't help but think of McGonagall when she comes on screen, but that's not a detriment in any way, shape or form. 

2) Mr. Bates, Lord Grantham's Dignified Beyond Belief Valet

Perhaps the most sympathetic character in the show. And it's not just because he's a valet with a limp. Every expression that comes across John Coyle's face is tinged with just a hint of sadness, but not so much that it's overdone. He's stoic enough that he conveys this quietly wounded quality that makes me root for his life to get better. His interactions with possible love interest, Anna, were very sweet and a bit heartbreaking. I wonder why he didn't say anything to stop her from leaving his doorstep? It could've been he was just acting like the gentleman he is, but is there something else? This is Masterpiece Classic, after all. Secrets and secret lives are the lifeblood to a show like this. 

Speaking of....can we talk. 

Other Characters I Don't Necessarily Like, but Like to Watch:

Not your typical footman.

1) Thomas

Though he may not warm the cockles of my heart, Thomas, one of the footmen, is certainly a character to watch. He exudes arrogance and an ambition that seems ruthless and mean at times. However, we also get a glimpse of his vulnerability when he shows his affection for the Duke of Crowborough. He briefly lets down his guard for his secret love interest, only to be rejected and dismissed as a summer dalliance. To add insult to injury, the Duke throws all traces of their relationship (a stack of letters) into the fireplace, and their history literally goes up in smoke. It's interesting to see that even Thomas can get hurt; that scene made me sympathetic towards him, despite his usual abrasive qualities. 

Matthew; Lady Mary Crawley, trying to keep a tightfisted hold of her fortune since 1912.

2) Lady Mary Crawley

There's no mistaking she's a bit of an ice queen, but she has shades of gray as well. Like Thomas, Mary's definitely got a secret or two underneath her cool exterior. What I want to know is what is her relationship to the author of the letter she keeps tucked in her book? It was signed 'Sincerely, Evelyn'. Who could that be??? 

Other thoughts: She and cousin Matthew didn't exactly have the friendliest of introductions, but I have a feeling they're supposed to end up married to each other. They seem to be thrown together as part of your typical adversarial relationship turned romantic, or rather, 'girl-thinks-guy-can-barely-hold-a-knife-like-a gentleman, guy-refuses-to-become-haughty-aristocrat-like-girl, they meet in the middle somehow, hate turns to love sort of deal'. (Unless, the 'Evelyn' in that mysterious letter makes an appearance (which could throw an interesting wrench in the plot)). From the previews for ep. 2, it looks like Mary's going to have a dalliance or two of her own. We'll have to wait and see.

Other Stuff I Just Thought Was Cool:

Bells. Shiny. Oh, hey, Mr. Carson!

1) The bell system the servants answer to. 

It is wayyy more awesome-looking than a boring modern day intercom. DO WANT.

2) The Pre-WWI Bromance between Lord Grantham and Mr. Bates. 

When LG ran after the carriage to stop his old war buddy from leaving, thus giving him a second chance at keeping his job, my heart melted a little. 

3) The Dowager Countess' hats. 

In addition to making good period dramas, the British really know how to make and wear hats. I almost want one for myself, but I'm pretty sure I could only pull it off if I had a matching country side estate complete with a fleet of servants, both of which would be riddled with intrigue. Oh, well. A girl can dream. 

Every matriarch worth her salt needs a good hat that says, 'I run this bizzle.'

Episode 2 airs tomorrow night on PBS at 9 p.m.! 

[Image credits: fanpop.com, pbs.org]

Can you even handle your lives?

Hide yo kids, hide yo wife

Hey there, nonexistent people who read our blog!
Happy...

har har. We are just soooo funny here.

Yes, it's the new year and with the new year means new posts! eh? EH?
I am a bit shamed that the last post here was one about violent pandas in October, so we've made a pact that we're going to start posting more to the blog from now on. Hopefully we'll have at least one post a week, and probably a little more!

I'm looking forward to all that 2011 has to offer, whether in TV or movies or books or music or random commercials about violent pandas! :)

Keep reading!