Chuck 508 Review- The Game of Life

Sarah's Mom (to Chuck): I know I don't know you very well yet, but thank you for giving her all of this.

It was teased back in September that Sarah Walker's mom would be introduced in the final season of Chuck. Over three months later, Momma W finally showed up, played by the wonderful Cheryl Ladd in "Chuck Versus the Baby," and helped produce what was one of the most emotionally rewarding episodes of the series.

Although she came to Chuck Bartowski, as well as the audience, with a hard candy shell, it didn't take long for both parties to figure out that Sarah Walker had a softer side. While Sarah's father wasn't all bad all the time, it was obvious that Jack Burton was not responsible for the giant heart Sarah has proven to have over the past four years.

Cue Cheryl Ladd and a baby. There were so many heartfelt moments between Sarah and those two that it is difficult to wait until the Heart section of the Chuck Triple Threat to comment on them. Between her inherent need to help the baby, wanting the kid to have all of the normal things she never did, and the pair of reunions after five years apart, Yvonne Strahovski and Ladd knocked it out of the park together.

All of the emotional moments dealing with Sarah's life, combined with a solid stand alone mission, Morgan and the Awesomes playing games in Castle, and a couple of additional guest stars in Tim DeKay and the return of Tony Todd, made "Chuck vs. the Baby" even better than last week's highly regarded "Santa Suit."

To read the rest of my review of last night's Chuck, head over to TV Fanatic.

Chuck 508 - "Chuck vs. the Baby"
Review
Recap
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Top 11 of '11- Best Shows

Since I am now a legit television critic, as my exclusive interview with huge Chuck star Scott Krinsky proves, I figured I should bear down and do what every tv critic does at the end of the calendar year...Make a "best of the year list." However, since I am a list-maker extraordinaire, I will be doing five lists as 2011 winds down this December. I’ve already posted The Best New Shows, The Worst Shows, The Best Episodes, and the Best Performances of the year. Finally, here are The Best Shows of the year in what I call the Top 11 of ‘11.

These are my favorite shows over the course of 2011. I had a very difficult time working this category down so I ended up with a tie at the 11 spot.

Tie 11. The Vampire Diaries

Tie 11. Chuck

10. Sons of Anarchy

9. The Office

8. Curb Your Enthusiasm

7. Happy Endings

6. Breaking Bad

5. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

4. Community

3. Game of Thrones

2. Homeland

1. Justified

Chuck 507 Review- Shaw's Shanked Redemption

Shaw- "Merry Christmas Sarah. Miss me?"

Whether it was Daniel Shaw in season three or Alexei Volkoff in season four, Chuck has had some of its more memorable moments in recent history when Team Bartowski is challenged by a charismatic and interesting villain.

That's the one thing that this final season of Chuck had been missing... up until "Chuck vs. The Santa Suit," when Shaw made his triumphant return. Equal parts ruthless and charming, Daniel Shaw made it as difficult for our heroes to succeed as he made it entertaining for the audience to watch.

Shaw complimenting himself through the Sarah-sounding voice box, as well as making out with a passed out Sarah Walker to see if there was any fire left between them, was certainly reason enough to bring back the fantastic Brandon Routh for this episode. The fact that it was also an explanation for why all of these random bad guys were out to get Chuck made it that much better.

It wasn't just that some new guy in Decker was against Chuck for all that had happened over the first four seasons. Shaw, the man who Chuck almost murdered, stole Sarah back from, and eventually put in prison, was back for revenge. It brought a lot of the missing pieces together, and as well will get to at the end of this post, it seemingly put something else important to the future of our favorite characters into motion.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Chuck, head over to TV Fanatic.

Chuck 507 - "Chuck vs. the Santa Suit"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Top 11 of '11- Best Performances

Since I am now a legit television critic, as my exclusive interview with huge Chuck star Scott Krinsky proves, I figured I should bear down and do what every tv critic does at the end of the calendar year…Make a "best of the year list." However, since I am a list-maker extraordinaire, I will be doing five lists as 2011 winds down this December. I’ve already posted The Best New Shows, The Worst Shows, and The Best Episodes of the year. The Best Shows will soon follow, but up next is The Best Performances in what I call the Top 11 of '11.

These are my favorite performances, acting or otherwise, over the course of 2011. Like in the episodes category, I decided not to put multiple actors from the same series on the list. If that was the case, there definitely would have been multiple from a couple of shows, leaving less room for recognition.

11. Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm

10. Rob Mariano - Survivor

9. Michael Pitt - Boardwalk Empire

8. Adam Pally - Happy Endings

7. Peter Dinklage - Game of Thrones

6. Donald Glover - Community

5. Margo Martindale - Justified

4. Jason Gann - Wilfred

3. Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad

2. Steve Carrell - The Office

1. Claire Danes - Homeland

Homeland Season One Report Card

Now that many of our favorite shows are either on hiatus or have just finished up a season, TV Fanatic is handing out grades to various shows the way Santa hands out presents to good kids...in bunches.

On the heels of Matt Richenthal's report on The Good Wife's first half of season three, Dan Forcella now steps up to the plate in handing out what might be the easiest grade of the year. It's time for a TV Fanatic Report Card on the first season of Homeland...

Quick Out of the Gate: Critics and fans alike noted early and often that the Homeland pilot was the most promising of the fall. The compelling story of a prisoner of war returning home, and the CIA agent tasked with finding proof that he had been turned by terrorists, made that evident from the start. The Showtime drama became appointment viewing from the word go.

Best Episode: "The Weekend" was not only the best episode of Homeland's first season; it may have been the best hour of television that aired in 2011. At the midpoint of the season, this was when Carrie Mathison and Nick Brody maybe got a bit too comfortable with each over a weekend at a cabin. It was incredible watching their chemistry together just before Carrie spilled the beans about spying on Brody and thinking he had been turned. Brody's anger in the aftermath - which we now know was because Carrie was correct in her assumption - was equally exciting and scary.

To read the rest of my report card on Homeland's first season, head over to TV Fanatic.

Top 11 of '11- Best Episodes

Since I am now a legit television critic, as my exclusive interview with huge Chuck star Scott Krinsky proves, I figured I should bear down and do what every tv critic does at the end of the calendar year…Make a “best of the year list.” However, since I am a list-maker extraordinaire, I will be doing five lists as 2011 winds down this December. I’ve already posted The Best New Shows and The Worst Shows of the year. The Best Shows and The Best Performances will soon follow, but next up is The Best Episodes in what I call the Top 11 of ‘11.

These are my favorite single episodes over the course of 2011, with the lone caveat that I decided not to put multiple episodes from the same series. If that was the case, there definitely would have been repeats and not as many quality programs would be able to be recognized.

11. “A League of Their Owen” – Men of a Certain Age

10. “The Anti-Social Network” – It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

9. “Face Off” – Breaking Bad

8. “Palestinian Chicken” – Curb Your Enthusiasm

7. “To the Lost” – Boardwalk Empire

6. “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons” – Community

5. “Brother’s Keeper” – Justified

4. “Baelor” – Game of Thrones

3. “Goodbye Michael” – The Office

2. “Always” – Friday Night Lights

1. “The Weekend” – Homeland

Top 11 of '11- Worst Shows

Since I am now a legit television critic, as my exclusive interview with huge Chuck star Scott Krinsky proves, I figured I should bear down and do what every tv critic does at the end of the calendar year…Make a "best of the year list." However, since I am a list-maker extraordinaire, I will be doing five lists as 2011 winds down this December. I’ve already posted The Best New Shows, and The Best Shows, The Best Performances, and The Best Episodes will soon follow, but next up is The Worst Shows in what I call the Top 11 of '11.

These are all series in which I watched at least one episode of this year. I try to attempt to view at least one episode of every new show, but sometimes I know that they will be so bad that they don’t even get a pity watch from me. These 11 series either were so bad upon one viewing that I felt they deserved a mention, or I continued to watch for a number of episodes, hating myself more and more every time I turned the show on.

11. Charlie's Angels

10. Hung

9. V

8. Ringer

7. Glee

6. Terra Nova

5. I Hate My Teenage Daughter

4. America's Got Talent

3. Whitney

2. Louie

1. The Killing

The X Factor Finals Review- I Believe She Can Fly

It was once again time to face the music, as Josh Krajcik, Chris Rene, and Melanie Amaro battled to become the first winner of The X Factor in the United States.

Apparently Simon Cowell didn't know that this was the first season of the show because he claimed that it was going to "be the closest finale we've ever had" before any of the performances started. Yeah, of course. It's the only finale you've ever had.

Let's take a look at what happened in round one of performances, which unfortunately for two of the finalists, paired each contestant with a famous recording artist for a duet.

Josh Krajcik "Uninvited" - He was boring me to death, and then Alanis Morissette came on and showed him up. Their voices sounded even worse together. When Josh had his own little moment again, he seemed to just be mumbling through the whole thing.
My Score: 4/10

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor Finals, head over to TV Fanatic.

Top 11 of '11- Best New Shows

Since I am now a legit television critic, as my exclusive interview with huge Chuck star Scott Krinsky proves, I figured I should bear down and do what every tv critic does at the end of the calendar year...Make a "best of the year list." However, since I am a list-maker extraordinaire, I will be doing five lists as 2011 winds down this December. The Best Shows, The Best Performances, The Best Episodes, and The Worst Shows will soon follow, but first up is The Best New Shows in what I call the Top 11 of ‘11.

These are all series that premiered for the first time in 2011. Just so you are aware, some of these are no longer with us, but that doesn’t mean that those shows aren’t deserving of recognition for what they did in their short time on the air.

11. Hart of Dixie

10. New Girl

9. Lights Out

8. Once Upon a Time

7. Suburgatory

6. Revenge

5. The Chicago Code

4. Wilfred

3. Happy Endings

2. Game of Thrones

1. Homeland