Quiet Pool Perspective

30 Rock 604 Review- The Pagemaster

2012-01-27T11:30:00.000-06:00

Liz- "What are those?"

Jenna- "Leaches. They're good for your skin, and I've lost tons of blood weight."

Who needs whom to survive in this crazy mixed up world 30 Rock has created over the years? "The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell" answered that question in the second episode of Thursday's 30 Rock double feature.

Liz Lemon and Jenna Maroney need each other as best friends. enna needs all of the attention, which Liz steals none of. Liz, on the other hand, needs someone to vent to, and since Jenna listens to nothing but her own voice, they work perfectly.

Thankfully for the viewer, they work great on the comedy side of things as well. Jenna as a successful star is great fun, especially when she brings her besties Charlie from "Charlie Bit My Finger," some Kardashian and Mankind to her dressing room.

It also helps when she makes ridiculous statements, such as you're nobody if PETA doesn't either love you or hate you.

Kenneth needs his job as a page, and Jack needs Kenneth as said page so that he can blame all of his stupid mistakes on somebody. No matter how many random series or episodes Not Kenneth brought up when someone said anything in front of it, the computer was no Kenneth! I mean, it wasn't even a redneck!

To read the rest of my review of last night's second 30 Rock episode, head over to TV Fanatic.

30 Rock 604 - "The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell"
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30 Rock 603 Review- We Have A Magical Horse

2012-01-27T11:15:00.000-06:00

Liz- "And now he's inserting himself into this."

Criss- "Well that's what she said but..."

As the first of two 30 Rock episodes this Thursday, "Idiots Are People Three" featured a lot laughs and served as a fitting conclusion to last week's "Idiots Are People Two."

Things picked back up with Pete passed out, Tracy and his fellow idiots out for Liz's livelihood and Jack out for her relationship. The first of which led to my favorite story of the episode.

Kelsey Grammer, fresh off of his Golden Globe victory for his dramatic work on Starz's Boss, was absolutely hilarious in his role as...Kelsey Grammer. It must be awesome to play yourself, especially a much more James Bond like version of yourself who calls everyone "baby."

I'm not sure which was better, Kelsey deciding to make up a one man play about Abraham Lincoln in order to distract the people of 30 Rock, or the fact that he pulled it off and everyone in the crowd loved his performance. Either way, the "Best Friends Gang" needs to stay together forever.

To read the rest of my review of last night's first of two 30 Rock's, head over to TV Fanatic.

30 Rock 603 - "Idiots Are People Three"
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One Tree Hill 903 Review- Hey You Lies!

2012-01-26T07:30:00.000-06:00

Mouth- "The stupid dry cleaners shrunk another shirt. What is that, three now?"

If the opening moments of the One Tree Hill season 9 premiere didn't make it clear that these characters were going to face severe consequences over the next few weeks, then the final minutes of "Love the Way You Lie" certainly did.

Julian Baker, one of the few people in Tree Hill that we have been able to count on for stability over the past couple years, got a bit too excited about the prospect of producing a television show at his way too empty sound stage, and might be paying the ultimate price for it.

What, exactly, happened at the end there? Baby Davis was gone. Julian's car windows were smashed. There was a stretcher, cops and an ambulance at the scene. So was the baby stolen? Hurt? Worse? Whatever the case may be, this is the worst thing that Julian has ever done, and that is taking into account the embarrassing Goonies monologue he performed in front of Jamie's class hours earlier.

At this point, though, not many people that we know in Tree Hill are in good places...well, except maybe Chris Keller, who is having himself a jolly good time interviewing coeds for intern positions and taking Chase out to strip joints.

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

One Tree Hill 903 - "Love the Way You Lie"
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Justified 302 Review- Prison Chess

2012-01-25T09:45:00.000-06:00

Raylan- "When did ya get married?"

Goodall- "Two months before I got divorced."

Justified took its foot off the pedal a bit in "Cut Ties." But that's understandable. If you continue at the pace of the action-packed season premiere for too long, you're likely to drive off a cliff.

There was definitely a more methodical feel to the episode, but with the appearance of a woman from Raylan's past, some field action for Art Mullen, a quasi chess match between Raylan and Boyd and the introduction of Mykelti Williamson as the haunting Ellstin Limehouse, it was a fantastic second installment.

Let's start with the fabulous Carla Gugino. I've never seen Karen Sisco, but many are saying that Justified's Assistant Director Goodall could have shared that last name. She's a U.S. Marshal with ties to Miami, so it makes sense.

Goodall was a fine addition to the hour, but I didn't much see the point of bringing her in until Raylan went in for that major lip lock with Winona at the Marshal's office.

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

Justified 302 - "Cut Ties"
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Chuck 511 Review- For Canada!

2012-01-21T10:00:00.000-06:00

Casey- "I need you. My daughter needs you. And your country needs you."

Lester- "Canada?"

Whether it be Chuck, Morgan, Sarah, or any number of others who have had the intersect inside their brain over the course of these past five years, the individual with it has always shown flashes of brilliance in the field.

Chuck could be described similarly; a series that has shown flashes of brilliance if not an all and all ingenious show.

This fifth and final season, however, has been nothing of the like, as "Chuck Versus the Bullet Train" was another fantastic hour in a long line of purposeful, poignant, funny, action packed, and heartwarming episodes.

Over the years, Chuck has been sort of hit or miss in writing for Jeff and Lester. In giving these two characters not only a specific plan of action in the final season, but an important one, they solidified a historically inconsistent pair as an interesting and fun aspect of the final run.

Ever since Awesome convinced Jeff to stop sleeping in his car - way back in "Chuck vs. the Frosted Tips" - these two have been on a journey that for all intents and purposes culminated this week by having them save the day, and finally told the truth about all of the spy stuff going on around them.

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

Chuck 511 - "Chuck Versus the Bullet Train"
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The Office 812 Review- Nobody Calls Me Chicken Fight

2012-01-20T10:00:00.000-06:00

Val- "Does Daryl not swim?"

Kevin- "That's racist!"

There were bits and pieces of each story that worked in "Pool Party," but neither Robert's stroll through parties never had, nor Erin's endeavor to make Andy jealous, came together to make completely funny or interesting tales.

What we were left with was yet another decent episode of The Office in which there were a number on things to laugh at... in which one couldn't help but feel it lacked th humor and creativity of what the series used to be.

The one piece to the puzzle that worked really well was Dwight and Erin completely getting after it in their attempt to make Andy jealous. The receptionist going 110% in the final game of chicken, squeezing Dwight's neck until he became unconscious and in danger of drowning, might have been what the writers thought would be the icing on the cake.

Instead, it served as a letdown, an unfunny ending to an otherwise hilarious pairing I never would have imagined. When Dwight puts his mind to something that is outside his normal range of actions, it's usually comical. In this case, him flirting with Erin - whether it be sexy eating, telling Andy he's gonna go crazy on her with sex, or saying to Erin "I could just bang you right now" in hopes of Andy hearing him - was easily the best part of the episode.

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

The Office 812 - "Pool Party"
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30 Rock 602 Review- I'm In Chinatown Baby

2012-01-20T09:45:00.000-06:00

Jenna- "Imagine what the internet would do with this. Maroney found in closet with unconscious married man and inbred virgin...again!?!?"

"Idiots Are People Two" was another funny installment of 30 Rock's sixth season, but it failed to work as well as the premiere due to a retread of the same old Liz's weird boyfriend storyline, and the confusing appearance of Kelsey Grammer.

Honestly, haven't we seen this a thousand times on 30 Rock? Liz has a boyfriend who has a bunch of strange quirks, and eventually she figures it out and drops him. Sure, The Floydster and Carol Burnett were close to normal, but those are the exceptions to the rule.

Watching Liz nitpick over her significant other's blatantly weird behavior has never really been that funny, so watching her imagine Jack's doing the same thing was less than humorous. It was just weird. I know complaining about weird on 30 Rock is unheard of, but this just didn't seem to fit.

Then there was the return of Kelsey Grammer, playing himself, which was completely out of left field. Let's cut to Kelsey at a makeshift casino where he makes strange statements with James Bond-like music!

To read the rest of my review of last night's 30 Rock, head over to TV Fanatic.

30 Rock 602 - "Idiots Are People Two!"
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One Tree Hill 902 Review- Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

2012-01-19T10:00:00.000-06:00

Alex- "Don't you need some actors or maybe a writer?"

Julian- "Uh, I had both of those things and she wanted to be a musician."

One Tree Hill continued its stellar start to season nine with an episode not as epic in nature as the premiere, but just as emotional, and - thanks to the appearance of Chuck Scolnik - maybe more hilarious.

Because they use song titles for episode titles on One Tree Hill, sometimes it's a stretch to connect the dots between the single and the content. That wasn't the case with "In The Room Where You Sleep," as it became clear early on that the location of where a number of characters would be laying their heads in the near future would be a theme of the hour.

Alex and Chase, who I have loved separately and together since each arrived in Tree Hill, took some major steps forward and then, just maybe, a giant step back.

First of all, it was a ballsy move by Chase to just go ahead and move all of her stuff into his place. On the one hand, if she's down for it, it could be seen as completely romantic. On the other, if she's unsure of herself like Alex seemed to be, it could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

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

One Tree Hill 902 - "In The Room Where You Sleep"
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Justified 301 Review- Ice Pick Your Poison

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-06:00

Boyd- "Raylan, if a book could only be judged by its cover, you'd be a best seller."

Competing with last year's magnificent second season - which I named the best show of 2011 - isn't going to be an easy task, but "The Gunfighter" gave Justified a great start to season three, delivering an abundance of potential for interesting stories down the road.

As great as Margo Martindale was as Mags Bennett last year, and as fun as Walton Goggins is to watch as the sometimes-a-friend/sometimes-a-foe Boyd Crowder, Timothy Olyphant is the glue that holds this cowboy masterpiece together.

Although the season premiere essentially picked up three weeks after the traumatic events of "Bloody Harlan," Raylan had yet to recover from his gunshot wound, which created a couple of new situations for the U.S. Marshal.

Sure, he was still as sarcastically charming as ever in comparing Winona decorating his place to putting lipstick on a platypus, or contemplating the idea of naming his future child Jiffy Pop or Palmolive, but Raylan couldn't run, he couldn't shoot and he was sidelined on some events he normally wouldn't be.

To read the rest of my review of the Justified season premiere, head over to TV Fanatic.

Justified 301 - "The Gunfighter"
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Chuck 510 Review- Bo Knows Espionage

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

Morgan- "I acted out physically, too, and I rocked Bo Derek's world."

There was nothing spooky about this Friday the 13th episode of Chuck. There was, however, a lot to enjoy in "Chuck Versus Bo," including my favorite song of all time, the return of the frosted tips, and the appearance of apparent actress turned super spy Bo Derek.

Most importantly, though, it ended with yet another character inheriting the intersect. In my interview with her on Tuesday, Yvonne Strahovski teased that there would be conflict between Sarah and Chuck before the end. I guess this event is what will lead to said conflict.

Could anyone in their right mind blame Sarah for the decision she made? It was either download the intersect, or allow herself and Casey to die by the guns of yet another uber-villain out to get the intersect himself. She had to do it. Her already super spy skills combined with the intersect kung fu made it a breeze to get away from the dozen henchmen with guns pointing straight at her.

The question remains, how will THIS intersect affect Sarah. They all work in different ways, so this one might not necessarily do to Sarah what the last one did to Morgan. With only three episodes remaining in the series, I don't think it's going to take her as long as it did Morgan to make a decision about it.

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

Chuck 510 - "Chuck vs. Bo"
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The Office 811 Review- What Is SEE-attle?

2012-01-13T10:00:00.000-06:00

Dwight- "You're a perfectly fine toilet. I'm just an extraordinary piece of crap."

Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. In The Office's first episode of 2012, the titular storyline of the gang playing "Trivia" in Philadelphia worked really well, but the forced trio in Florida definitely did not.

That's not to say that there was nothing to laugh at, as Dwight stormed Sabre headquarters to get a managerial position with Dunder Mifflin's parent company. Mr. Schrute's jumping fist pump as he walked the hall to Robert's office was among the best moments.

Gabe comparing himself to a toilet was also one of the more clever lines of the night, but the entire situation just felt forced. We've seen Dwight act like this before... and then he always just returns to being a great salesman.

I'm not one to complain about lack of growth in a sitcom character, but if the repetitive nature of said character's actions reduces the hilarity of our beloved Dwight Schrute, it's not a good thing. Combine that tiresome activity with an individual who has yet to find his footing in Robert California, and we were left with a "B" story that didn't quite work.

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

The Office 611 - "Trivia"
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30 Rock 601 Review- Jenna's Hangin' Out With McEnroe

2012-01-13T09:45:00.000-06:00

Jenna- "Emma that was pretty good. You were trying to get me to commit suicide, right?"

Tracy was still acting out for attention, Jenna was still doing whatever it takes to get more rich and famous and Kenneth was still putting all of his beliefs into something bigger than himself - but the return of 30 Rock felt different than the status quo.

If I hadn't chuckled once during the half hour, "Dance Like Nobody's Watching" still would have been a great episode of television. That's not something you normally say about 30 Rock. It's there to be silly and make the viewer laugh out loud, not to simply be a interesting story about characters we enjoy.

That's what this sixth season premiere pulled off, though. It was pleasant to sit through, and interesting to watch what the characters - especially Liz - were up to.

In the past, Liz's story might have ended with her actually being a crack whore, or taking some weird drug to help her deal with Tracy. Instead, Tracy and Jack figured out that she was just enjoying her life, dancing like a weird dance team in Madison Square Garden.

To read the rest of my review of last night's return of 30 Rock, head over to TV Fanatic.

30 Rock 601 - "Dance Like Nobody's Watching"
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One Tree Hill 901 Review- Hell Is Empty

2012-01-12T09:15:00.000-06:00

Brooke- "Sometimes my heart aches at how my life turned out...in a good way."

One Tree Hill, due to its flare for the dramatic, has always been a series that gives that extra bit of effort for a finale. Showrunner Mark Schwahn and company hold nothing back at the end of the year, presumably in an effort to leave the audience blown away.

If "Know This, We've Noticed" is any indication of what's to come, we may be in for a final season of One Tree Hill that feels like the combination of each and every past finale. That is, 13 episodes of heart pounding, gut wrenching, big laughing, scary, silly, romantic, drama-filled action.

It's difficult not to think that way when the season begins with a burning building and Dan Scott cocking a loaded gun. I will leave the prognosticating of when that flash forward will take place for the end, but seeing Chase in the back of a cop car, Brooke destroying the cafe, Julian getting beaten to a pulp and Haley lifting up a sheet to reveal a dead body was certainly a great way to get our blood pumping.

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here."

Nathan recited those words to open the episode, and again to close it. Both times Dan Scott was on screen. Both times it was absolutely haunting. Paul Johansson is an extremely talented actor, and it's a shame that the show hasn't found a way to keep him on as a regular cast member the past couple of years.

To read the rest of my review of last night's One Tree Hill season premiere, head over to TV Fanatic.

One Tree Hill 901 - "Know This, We've Noticed"
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Chuck Exclusive- Yvonne Strahovski Teases "Edge of Your Seat" Finale

2012-01-11T10:00:00.000-06:00

"On the edge of your seat 'til the very last minute of the series finale" is how Yvonne Strahovski described the end of Chuck to me over the phone early Tuesday afternoon.

I've been sitting that way through the entirety of this final season, of course, which is why I was extremely pleased to talk to the star that portrays Sarah Walker on our favorite NBC spy comedy, as she spent the day in New York promoting Chuck and her new ad campaign for SoBe.

"There are definitely going to be some surprises," Strahovski said of the two-part finale. "There definitely was for me when I read them. It's a little bit shocking. The storyline sort of takes a turn that is unexpected."

I was pleasantly surprised to hear of some sort of a shift in the story as we head down the final stretch of the series. With some of the emotional payoffs the writers gave the audience recently - notably in "Chuck vs. the Baby" - I was a bit worried we might be in for a slow and uneventful finish.

To read the rest of my exclusive with Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski, and to see the entire interview video with bonus SoBe photo shoot footage, head over to TV Fanatic.

Weekly Comedy Rankings- You're an Awesome Mate

2012-01-08T13:00:00.000-06:00

The Weekly Comedy Rankings are back in full effect this week, as the ABC sitcoms returned. Here are which episodes I liked best over the course of this week.

1. Happy Endings
2. Angry Boys
3. Suburgatory
4. iCarly
5. Modern Family
6. Last Man Standing
7. Work It

Happy Endings continues to be great, but HBO's Angry Boys stepped up to the plate with two hilarious early episodes this past Sunday. I understand that it wouldn't be everybody's type of humor, but it works for me.

In fact, I gave Daniel, one of the Australian twin brothers, my MVP vote for the week. His mix of hatred and love for his deaf brother never ceases to be a source of humor. For best moment of the week, I think it has to be Daniel making fun of his brother. Every time he says something nice - which for him means calling Nathan and "awesome mate" - he proceeds to call him names behind a magazine so Nathan can't read his lips. Genius.

Both my LVP and worst moment go to Work It, which will be a one and done for me. As bad as it was, it is not nearly as bad as every critic in the world is making it out to be. I actually think the problems with the show are the exact opposite of what Sepinwall and Fienberg said. The writing showed promise, but it was the absolutely atrocious performances that ruined it.

It's still really bad, but I preferred this pilot to I Hate My Teenage Daughter, and maybe even to Man Up.

Chuck 509 Review- The Secret Ingredient of Caring

2012-01-07T08:45:00.000-06:00

Sarah- "Put on the banana hammock and stop whining."

In a final season that has been "chuck" full of monumental episodes, "Chuck Versus the Kept Man" didn't stray far from that pattern. Between Sarah's possible pregnancy, Jeffster stumbling upon Castle and Casey thinking about settling down with a woman, it certainly felt like there were only four hours left in the series after "The Kept Man" was finished.

Unlike a number of other episodes from this fifth season of Chuck - notably the previous two - the epic events from "The Kept Man" didn't quite equal an epic episode.

I love John Casey as much as the next guy or gal, but the main issue of the episode was his main story with Verbanski. Their little game of cat and mouse was cute, but certainly not cute enough to keep my attention buzzing for 40 minutes.

As great as those two seem like they should be together, it has all seemed a bit forced during this last stretch run. Do we need to see Casey settle down with a woman? Or can't it be enough that he is building such a great relationship with his daughter?

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

Chuck 509 - "Chuck vs. the Kept Man"
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The X Factor Season One- What Worked? What Didn't?

2012-01-03T11:00:00.000-06:00

After some time to rest, and some time to reflect on the first season of The X Factor, let's now analyze what worked and what didn't work for FOX's new reality singing competition.

Join me as we look back at the highs of Josh Krajcik's "Wild Horses" and Astro's near elimination, as well as the lows of L.A. Reid's judging style and Marcus Canty's hundreds of backup dancers.

WHAT WORKED

Finding Favorites: As is the case for any reality competition, The X Factor was a platform for fans to pick a favorite and cheer for said favorite to win the $5 million recording contract. There is a reason why so many of these types of shows perform well in the ratings, and it is mostly because of the rooting interesting involved for the audience. I picked Drew and Chris Rene as a couple of my favorites early on, and even when I knew they didn't perform so well, I still wanted them to make it to the next round. That makes the viewing experience exciting, and it is a main reason why The X Factor will stick around.

Quick To The Finish: The fall season is much shorter than the spring. Where American Idol is able to have weeks and weeks of audition episodes, Hollywood weeks, and semifinals, before getting rid of one contestant per week during the live performances, The X Factor was not. Thank You! Simon and company chopped off a slew of finalists at the beginning of the live shows, and as the holiday season came quickly, the judges began cutting two at a time on the regular. The annoying judging table, the overproduced performances, and the statue that was Steve Jones would have become more and more difficult to watch the longer it went on. Short and sweet is advantage for The X Factor.

To read the rest of my commentary on the first season of The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- Top Ten

2012-01-03T09:00:00.001-06:00

I recently finished listing all of my favorite shows of the year, but what about now? What shows that are still on the air are the series you all should be watching? Well that's what the Quiet Pool Bi-Monthly Power Rankings are for. In the first rankings of 2012, we will recognize the shows that have been succeeding as of late, and some that will be returning to our screens for the first time in a while this winter. Next up are spots 10 through one on my list.

Rank. Show (Last Time) green=moving up, red=moving down

10. Chuck (10) Fridays on NBC
After a hilarious start to the finale season with Intersect Morgan stealing the show, Chuck has had a couple of episodes of late that have been less funny but epic in scale. The most recent chapter with Sarah and her mom was one of my favorite, emotionally, of the series. If they continue to hit on all of these cylinders down the stretch, we should be in for a nice ride.

9. Mad Men (7) Sundays on AMC
Is this show ever going to come back? The longer the hiatus, the further and further down the power rankings it goes. Mad Men needs to be on the air to hang on to its elite status for me. It doesn't leave the same last impression that something like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad does.

8. Sons of Anarchy (5) Tuesdays on FX
Sons drops a few spots after leaving such a sour taste in my mouth with that season finale. As good as the entire season was, they almost ruined it all at the end. All of the action, the turmoil, and the consequences the characters were facing leading up to the finale seemed to mean nothing as the final reveal wiped the slate clean. It didn't feel organic at all. Combining the facts that Clay lived, Jax stayed put, and Juice got out of trouble, made it all feel contrived.

7. It's Always Sunny (8) Thursdays on FX
It was a truly fantastic season for Always Sunny this year. Like Seinfeld before it, these characters have been on a momentous transformation from strange to effing out of their minds. The more I watched the season finale (which is now in the double digits), the more I laughed at almost every single line of dialogue.

6. Community (6) Thursdays on NBC
Community has hit on so many of its risks as of late that it's almost too easy to forget how risky some of those decisions are. Will people find this multiple timeline episode funny? Who cares? We're doing it because it's funny to us. And it was to me as well. One of the funniest episodes on television this year.

5. Breaking Bad (4) Sundays on AMC
As great as Breaking Bad is - see me ranking it at number five here - it is still frustratingly slow at times. The first half of this past season was excruciatingly so at times. The end was great though, and as we are all usually prisoners of the moment, Breaking Bad remains at the top of everyone's list.

4. Homeland (16) Sundays on Showtime
This is a gigantic leap, but Homeland was my second favorite show for all of 2011, so I have to give it some love up at the top. Through 12 episodes I have complete faith in the writers to keep telling good story, while there is no doubt that Claire Danes and Damian Lewis will make sure that there is something interesting on screen during almost every second of air time.

3. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2) Sundays on HBO
This past year wasn't one of Curb's finer seasons, but its track record allows the show to stay up near the top for the time being. If it has another less than stellar sample next time around, and Always Sunny brings the heat again, we may have a change at the top of the comedy hierarchy.

2. Game of Thrones (3) Sundays on HBO
Winter is coming back, but we still don't have a premiere date. Game of Thrones should return in April, and I am as excited as can be. If Justified had my favorite season of 2011, Game of Thrones is my most anticipated season of 2012. I can't wait to see where this story goes.

1. Justified (1) Tuesdays on FX
Returning in just a couple of weeks, Justified has topped a number of my lists as of late. I'm hoping that the show can match the magical season two it put forth last year, unlike its FX partner Sons of Anarchy, which followed a fantastic season two with a horrid third installment.

Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- 20 Through 11

2012-01-02T09:00:00.001-06:00

I recently finished listing all of my favorite shows of the year, but what about now? What shows that are still on the air are the series you all should be watching? Well that's what the Quiet Pool Bi-Monthly Power Rankings are for. In the first rankings of 2012, we will recognize the shows that have been succeeding as of late, and some that will be returning to our screens for the first time in a while this winter. Next up are spots 20 through 11 on my list.

Rank. Show (Last Time) green=moving up, red=moving down

20. The Walking Dead (11) Sundays on AMC
I had a difficult time keeping The Walking Dead inside the Top 20 after its horrendous fall run. They aired seven episodes of action that easily could have been done in three. This, of course, led to an extremely slow pace, and not a lot of interesting material. Also, I still haven't found a character that I enjoy.

19. The Office (12) Thursdays on NBC
The Office has not been good in its first season without Steve Carell, but it also hasn't been all that bad. Even though most write it off as awful while touting the much worse Parks and Recreation, it has been much better than expected this year. If they can figure out how to work Ed Helms out of the starring role, The Office has a chance to stay in the Top 20.

18. Revenge (HM) Wednesdays on ABC
It's so very soapy, but Revenge has been extremely fun to start the year. It's refreshing not seeing Emily Van Camp complaining every second after those last few years on Brothers and Sisters. The back half of this first season is going to have to go somewhere interesting to keep Revenge in the running for a top spot.

17. Dexter (9) Sundays on Showtime
I don't know what was worse, the terrible imaginary killer story line in which the imaginary character did non-imaginary things, the terrible Deb story line in which she seemingly fell in love with her brother, or the terrible moment to end the season when they wasted an epic moment in the series with an absolutely non-dramatic scene. I have faith that next season will be interesting though.

16. Wilfred (18) Thursdays on FX
Since June, very few have recorded comedic acting performances like Jason Gann had over the first 12 episodes of Wilfred. As long as series like The Office and Modern Family keep heading in the wrong direction, Wilfred's first season looks more and more like one of the best comedies of the year.

15. Survivor (20) Wednesdays on CBS
This move up in the rankings is more of a reflection on its competitors than on Survivor itself. This season was very good, but so many series (Dexter, Walking Dead) took nose dives that this reality giant moves up by default. With any luck the next season of Survivor will not feature Redemption Island, and will not feature a Hantz showdown.

14. Boardwalk Empire (17) Sundays on HBO
As slow-moving as the second season was for a majority of the time, it did feature one of my favorite episodes of the year. The season finale was so rewarding that it made up for some lackluster moments early on. They really went for it, and the story they decided to tell in year two was brilliant.

13. Parenthood (15) Tuesdays on NBC
The family drama never stops for the Bravermans. At this point I'm really curious what they're going to do with some of these child actors as they begin to grow up. It is already becoming glaringly obvious that Jabar is ridiculously obnoxious. He was fine as a tiny kid, but as an older one, he's brutal. Less screen time for him would be preferable.

12. The Vampire Diaries (13) Thursdays on The CW
Nobody does the cliff hanger like Vampire Diaries. Well nobody does it as often. After marathon-ing my way through the first two seasons, the third has gotten off to a quality start with Joseph Morgan stealing the show thus far.

11. Happy Endings (14) Wednesdays on ABC
This ABC comedy has become a must watch on Wednesday nights. This gang has gelled in ways that not many casts do. Adam Pally is excellent, and it has three funny females, a feat almost never achieved. Who would have thought that The Girl Next Door would be one of the funniest women on tv?

Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- Honorable Mentions

2012-01-01T09:00:00.004-06:00

I recently finished listing all of my favorite shows of the year, but what about now? What shows that are still on the air are the series you all should be watching? Well that's what the Quiet Pool Bi-Monthly Power Rankings are for. In the first rankings of 2012, we will recognize the shows that have been succeeding as of late, and some that will be returning to our screens for the first time in a while this winter. First up are the honorable mentions, which are not necessarily ranked 21-30 on my list.

Show (Last Time) red=moving down, green=moving up

American Horror Story (HM) Wednesdays on FX
I wasn't the biggest fan of the first season of American Horror Story, but it was definitely interesting, and I can't complain about what they decided to do in the future. I said throughout the first season that there was really nowhere this story could go following the events that were occurring. Making it an anthology, almost a la The Twilight Zone, gives it enough legs to stay on the air for a number of seasons. It was surprising, though, that they didn't try to keep stars McDermott and Britton on for the entire ride.

Boss (-) Fridays on Starz
Kelsey Grammer was fantastic in the leading role of Boss. The series was extremely well made, but lacked a bit in holding my interest overall. It did help that there were only eight episodes in the first season. Also, I will watch anything with Kathleen Robertson.

Fringe (-) Fridays on FOX
I don't even want to say much here, because I am speeding through this series so quickly at this point. Starting with the pilot about 11 days ago, I am now midway through the second season. If given time, I hope to write an entire post about how much I am loving Fringe. I highly recommend catching up on this sci-fi series if you have yet to watch it.

The Good Wife (-) Sundays on CBS
After watching five episodes of the last season before the Emmys, I was impressed by The Good Wife. Now that I've seen the first half of this season, I'm much less impressed. At times I have been bored out of my mind, and there haven't been nearly enough highs to make up for those lows.

Hell on Wheels (-) Sundays on AMC
This AMC series hasn't yet turned the corner of must watch television, but Hell on Wheels has definitely been one of the better new shows of the fall. Cullen Bohannon is a fun lead character, and Common has been a surprisingly strong number two as Elam the slave.

The League (HM) Thursdays on FX
It's had its moments this season, but there is no arguing that The League was a major step down from season two this fall. It came on strong down the stretch, mostly thanks to Kevin going insane over his need to win a championship, but most of the time it missed on a lot of jokes. Sometimes it just became to crude for its own good.

Modern Family (19) Wednesdays on ABC
This is the first time Modern Family has been out of the Top 20 since November of 2009. It has been on a long and slow journey downhill since bursting onto the scene. This year has just been extremely lackluster, and I can't help but not laugh while watching it these days. Phil continues to be the highlight, but other than him and the one sentence Luke gets each week, Modern Family just isn't all that funny.

New Girl (HM) Tuesdays on FOX
Zooey Deschanel has been terrific as Jess on the New Girl, and the show is worth it just to watch her light up the screen, but the rest of the cast is really dragging it down. Schmidt is off and on, Winston has given nothing, and Nick is just the absolute worst. Just make it all Jess all the time.

Once Upon a Time (HM) Sundays on ABC
If you can look past the absolutely awful special effects, Once Upon a Time has a great start to its first season. The story telling is fun. The characters are likable. Most importantly, I can't wait to figure out the inner workings of this universe. That's something that can make a show work so well.

Next Iron Chef (-) Sundays on Food Network
If you enjoy Top Chef, you really should start watching this cooking competition. On this most recent season, the contestants were all ridiculously talented and famous. You don't get all of the terrible food that some of the awful cooks on Top Chef put on the plate, but instead, you get fantastic food by fantastic chefs that you know. And as a bonus, the winner becomes an Iron Chef and joins the pantheon of greats in America.

Chuck 508 Review- The Game of Life

2011-12-31T11:00:00.000-06:00

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
Quotes

Top 11 of '11- Best Shows

2011-12-25T09:00:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-24T10:00:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-24T08:30:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-23T10:45:00.003-06:00

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

2011-12-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-22T09:00:00.002-06:00

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

2011-12-22T07:15:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

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

Terra Nova 111 Review- No Hope Plaza

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000-06:00

Zoe- "Lieutenant Washington was a nice lady."

The largest issue I have with the Terra Nova season finale is that there were many nice moments in "Occupation/Resistance" that could have been great if they weren't part of a show that - in general - is just not good.

For example, the early scene at the bar was nice. Lucas making a big deal about his pseudo brother/sister relationship with Skye was funny, and then after he tried to go a bit too far with his fake sister, Josh coming to the rescue was admirable. Lucas again proved to be a viable villain as he took a number of free shots on the teenager, before Big Jim Shannon came storming into the bar to save the day.

For as smart as Elizabeth is supposed to be, this was the first time she really did anything to prove her intelligence. Her ruse on Weaver, which got him to give up Jim, was bright, hilarious, and moved the plot exactly where it needed to go. It took 12 episodes, but Elizabeth finally did something worthwhile.

Unlike a number of the times that Terra Nova has attempt to pull at the heart strings of its viewers, the sweet moment between Zoe and Commander Taylor worked like gangbusters. It worked because it was an honest moment between two characters that we have had a chance to get to know over the season's run, and two characters that we've seen have a history (Zoe playing Taylor at the festival). It didn't hurt that the girl's "If you need another hug, just ask" was the cutest darn thing I've ever seen.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Terra Nova season finale, head over to TV Fanatic.

Terra Nova 111 - "Occupation/Resistance"
Review
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Quotes

Survivor Finale- Explain Yourself

2011-12-19T11:00:00.000-06:00

It never ceases to amaze me that the contestants on this show don't know who are the right people to bring to the end. Well, other than Boston Rob, because he did a fine job of bringing the correct people to the end last year. Not bringing Rick to the end was the worst idea any of these people had. The same is true of kicking Brandon to the curb.

The problem lies at the root of Coach's strategy and all around goal in life. You never want to surround yourself with the best in this game. At the end, you want to be sitting next those players that did absolutely nothing, nobody liked, and have no way of convincing the jury they deserve to win.

If Coach had sat next to any combination of Albert, Rick, Brandon, and Edna in the finale, he would have left with the million dollars. After all, he didn't play a bad game. Like Edna explained in her fantastic speech at final tribal, he used religion to create a bond within his tribe. That bond, and the fact that he was at the head of it, propelled him to the very end of Survivor.

The problem lied in the fact that Sophie did something things here and there to warrant herself a victory. In the end, her ability to put her strategy and what she accomplished into words in front of the jury, won her this game.

That is what I love about Survivor. Each and every season it is something different that wins the contestant the prize. Sometimes it's being the nicest person in camp (Bob from Maine). Sometimes it's riding coat tails and not being hated as much as who you're sitting next to (Russell's Natalie). Sometimes it's playing a great strategic game and bringing pitiful candidates to the end (Boston Rob).

And sometimes, as was the case with Sophie this time around, it is doing just enough in every facet of the game to warrant a win, but then explaining yourself with so much more eloquence than anyone else that it's hard not to believe you deserve to win the whole darn thing.

Whether Sophie really did as good of a job figuring out what the tribe was all about and finding her place in it as she said or not, she convinced enough people of that to win the prize. Good for her.

Did Coach deserve to win? Maybe a little bit more than Sophie, but he also deserved to lose way more than Sophie. He did some outright dumb things in this game, and when he actually thought about bringing Ozzy with him to the end, I absolutely lost it!

Between Coach, Brandon, and Cochran, I enjoyed this season a bunch. I grew to hate Ozzy a lot of the course of the fall, so I have no idea why he won the Fan Vote by such a gigantic margin. Why does America love this guy? Well I guess they also like themselves some Rupert, so America is just dumb.

...

Can we now talk for a second about how awesome Russell's cameo was? This dude will never get over the fact that he was the GOAT but nobody will ever admit it. He is astonished that Brandon wanted to change the Hantz name on Survivor, because he made this game what it is today! I love that he took all of his 45 seconds to trash his nephew's play and state once again that he is the GOAT. Well done sir.

...

And on to fantasy. Let me first say how embarrassed I am of our league that the Champions failed to pick the winner. 16 players drafted, two left out to dry, and one of those two was Sophie. The Developmental League wasn't that much better, as Tippy selected the eventual winner in the final round of their draft. This goes to show you that is always difficult to pick which random girl is going to make if far in this game. It's much easier to pick which alpha males are going to go far, which is why they're always first off of the board.

Congratulations to Larry for hanging on and winning his first ever Quiet Pool Fantasy Survivor Championship! He is the last of the four originals to win this Survivor Game. Let's take a look at the history...

Fall 2011: Larry
Spring 2011: Jaydon
Fall 2010: Dan
Spring 2010: Jaydon
Fall 2009: Jaydon
Spring 2009: Jaydon
Fall 2008: Mags

Mags, who has not won since the first ever season of Fantasy Survivor, came in last this time around and will be relegated to the Developmental League come spring time. Jack, in his first ever Fantasy Survivor appearance, won the "B" League and will join Larry, Jaydon and myself in the Champions League in 2012.

Champions League

Larry

Brandon +468: Duel Loss (-10)= +458
Rick +529: Votes (-12)= +517
~~Christine~~ +13
~~Dawn~~ +151

Last Week +1,057: Team Total= +1,139

Jaydon

Ozzy +52: Duel Win (+10), Immunity (+20), W16 (+121), Votes (-12)= +191
~~Whitney~~ +165
~~Cochran~~ +242
~~Edna~~ +327

Last Week +786: Team Total= +925

Dan

Albert +565: W16 (+121), Votes (-4), W17 (+137)= +819
~~Mikayla~~ -7
~~Jim~~ +69
~~Semhar~~ -43

Last Week +584: Team Total= +838

Mags

Coach +591: W16 (+121), W17 (+137)= +849
~~Elyse~~ -142
~~Keith~~ -89
~~Mark~~ -173

Last Week +187: Team Total= +445

Free Agents
Sophie +643: Votes (-8), W16 (+121), Immunity (+20), W17 (+137), Sole Survivor (+154)= +1,067
~~Stacey~~ -27

Developmental League

Jack

Albert: W16 (+121), Votes (-4), W17 (+137)= +254
~~Whitney~~
Coach: W16 (+121), W17 (+137)= +258
~~Edna~~

Finale= +512, Team Total= +2,384

Tippy

Ozzy: Duel Win (+10), Immunity (+20), W16 (+121), Votes (-12)= +139
~~Cochran~~
~~Elyse~~
Sophie: Votes (-8), W16 (+121), Immunity (+20), W17 (+137), Sole Survivor (+154)= +424

Finale= +563, Team Total= +1,628

Marsh

~~Mikayla~~
Rick: Votes (-12)= -12
~~Dawn~~
~~Christine~~

Finale= -12, Team Total= +808

Rizzo

~~Keith~~
~~Mark~~
~~Brandon~~
~~Jim~~

Finale= 0, Team Total= +680

Free Agents
~~Stacey~~
~~Semhar~~

Homeland 112 Review- Bomb In A Bunker

2011-12-19T08:45:00.000-06:00

Carrie- "The world is about to end and we're standing around talking!"

With an extended Homeland season finale comes an extended Homeland season finale review here at TV Fanatic. I will attempt to keep my thoughts contained, but since "Marine One" was such a tremendous end to this almost perfect first season, I make no promises.

No show in recent memory has combined such interesting character studies with such amazing storytelling as well as Homeland has done over its first 12 episodes.

This season finale had me on the edge of my seat for the entire 90 minutes. A number of series can pull that off on finale night, but Homeland managed to do it every single hour over the course of an entire season. Bravo.

It started with Dana walking in on her dad praying in the garage, a moment I was so glad that Brody was somewhat upfront about. For obvious reasons he couldn't be honest with his daughter when she almost walked in on him again, this time with a bomb strapped to his chest.

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

Homeland 112 - "Marine One"
Review
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The Office Midseason Report Card

2011-12-18T09:30:00.000-06:00

With so many shows either on hiatus or having just wrapped up their most recent seasons, TV Fanatic is taking a look back... along with a slight look forward.

We've already handed out grades to 2 Broke Girls, Supernatural and Covert Affairs, among other shows. Now, critic Dan Forcella takes us through the highs and lows of the first half of the first season of The Office without Steve Carell...

Funniest Line: There are plenty of worthy nominations, but for me it's a tie between Nate's "You had me at clookies" and Dwight's "I'm gonna make you the buffest dude Val Kilmer has ever seen." What was your favorite quote of the first half of the season?

Best Prank: It has to be Jim writing a book entitled The Ultimate Guide to Throwing a Garden Party for the sole purpose of Dwight buying the lone copy and following the book's crazy orders to the "t." It made for one heck of an episode, which brings us to...

Best Episode: "Garden Party" Dwight following along with all of James Trickington's chapters gave the episode brilliant focus, as well as a ton of laughs. The half hour also gave us Mose's valet stunt, Andy's family acting like jerks, and everyone else sucking up to Robert through multiple toasts.

To read the rest of my The Office midseason report card, head over to TV Fanatic.

Chuck 506 Review- Awesome Short Cunnings

2011-12-17T09:15:00.000-06:00

Sarah- "Ellie must have used your open table account."

Chuck- "She always does. She knows I love the points!"

Mr. and Mrs. Awesome, as I affectionately refer to Devon and Ellie Woodcomb, were responsible for a majority of what worked so well for "Chuck Versus the Curse."

The episode was good on the whole, but if you were to take out everything dealing with the Awesomes, most of the hour would have felt either lacking or repetitive.

Nothing Chuck, Sarah, Casey or Morgan did ever materialized into something interesting or even all that entertaining. Each one had its moments, of course, like Beckman drinking straight from the bottle, or Casey and Sarah killing every bad guy in the place once they got the power off for good, but none of it ever came together for a moment that was worth pulling the camera off of Ryan McPartlin and Sarah Lancaster.

As for the new antagonist, I just have to shake my head. I thought it was awesome that Chuck was willing to kill off what I figured to be the big bad of the final season in episode five. If I had known Decker was just going to be replaced in the next episode by a female version of himself doing the exact same job, I would have thought it better to just keep Decker around.

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

Chuck 506 - "Chuck vs. the Curse"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Covert Affairs Season Two Report Card

2011-12-16T12:45:00.000-06:00

With so many shows either on hiatus or having just wrapped up their most recent seasons, TV Fanatic is taking a look back... along with a slight look forward.

We've already handed out grades to 2 Broke Girls, Supernatural and The Walking Dead, among other shows. Now, critic Dan Forcella takes us through the highs and lows of season two of Covert Affairs...

Best Episode: "Half a World Away." This was the best of episode of the second season, and the greatest in Covert Affairs' history. Finally learning how Auggie lost his sight, and getting more of a back story on this lovable character, was a long time coming for fans. The hour did not disappoint.

Worst Episode: "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" Covert Affairs has yet to swing for the fences and miss, but occasionally the series will just spit out a less than interesting episode. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" was a bit too boring to keep our interest as we waited for the second season to come to a conclusion.

Best Character: Auggie. His talent, his charisma, and, let's face it, the way he looks with his shirt off, combine to make Auggie Anderson the most fun character to watch on Covert Affairs. None of that changed during this second season, as Christopher Gorham continued to help Annie, and even had time to begin a serious relationship of his own.

To read the rest of my report card for the second season of Covert Affairs, head over to TV Fanatic.

Survivor Week 15- Are You At Peace?

2011-12-15T13:15:00.000-06:00

Probst- "Brandon, are you at piece?"

Brandon- "No sir."

That moment - that sullen, emotional moment - was exactly the type of behavior that turned Brandon Hantz from a loathsome, irritating contestant, into an interesting character that became really fun to watch.

The kid is genuine, and that is difficult to find on reality some times. He's genuinely emotional. He's genuinely religious. And he's genuinely stupid. That last fact made for an extremely exciting tribal council.

He's loyal. I get that. And like his former "gang" members, Albert used Brandon's loyalty to get ahead, taking his immunity necklace and not giving it back when it was ever so apparent that the kid was in trouble at council.

Bravo to Albert, who acknowledged earlier in the episode that loyalty and honor meant nothing to him in the game of Survivor. He did what he had to in order to survive out here. He played up his religious beliefs, which I assume were exaggerated by a million so that Brandon would save him.

While all of the religious aspects of this season have had their way of wearing on me at times, they have also been a constant source of laughter. Coach told Brandon that he was going to pray, and that whoever God told him to vote for, would be the name he would write down. That is all well and good, but Coach Wade is such a phony that I don't believe a word he's saying.

He was never this religious before this season, which only makes it more apparent that he's playing a new character for the cameras. I'm still enjoying this character, but sometimes the genuine foolishness of Brandon is more entertaining than the artificial foolishness of Coach.

I don't know what any of these contestants are thinking anyway. God does not have the time to tell them who to vote for in this silly game of Survivor. Don't they know he has too much on his plate in making sure little Timmy Tebow and the Broncos win every NFL football game for the rest of time.

Having said that, Brandon did have himself a bit of a Tebow moment in the immunity challenge. The chips were down, he had won nearly no competitions to this point in the season, but when it counted he came through in the clutch. If God helped him win that challenge, it's a shame he made Brandon look so foolish when he gave up his immunity and got voted the eff off the island.

That was just a crazy tribal. I only started watching Survivor in 2008 so I'm not sure if this was a first, but he gave up his individual immunity to save another and got sent home?!?! Unheard of. I can see it with a hidden idol, but not the immunity necklace. When you win that thing, you hang onto it.

A Few Other Notes

- When will Survivor get rid of Redemption Island Duels...because they are no longer duels. Even though Ozzy won again this week, he was playing one against six in that challenge. That's not fair at all.

- Coach is losing it. Brandon came up to talk to him and Albert, and Ben Wade freaked out. He started calling out Brandon for bullying!?! How dare you talk to him like that, comparing him to the evil Russell Hantz. Interrupting conversations is what Survivor is about. I would like taking him to the end, he's going to blow up in front of the jury.

- When will people learn that you don't keep the lie going once people find out about it. When Brandon called Albert out for what he said to Rick, he should have quietly said "Of course I told Rick that. What am I supposed to tell him that we're voting him out soon? I have to let him think he's okay so that you and me can go to the end." Boom. Done and done.

Champions League

Larry

Brandon +470: Immunity (+20), Idol Misuse (-10), Votes (-12)= +468
Rick +423: W15 (+106)= +529
~~Christine~~ +13
~~Dawn~~ +151

Last Week +1,057: Team Total= +1,161

Jaydon

Ozzy +42: Duel Win (+10)= +52
~~Whitney~~ +165
~~Cochran~~ +242
Edna +337: Duel Loss (-10)= +327

Last Week +786: Team Total= +786

Dan

Albert +459: W15 (+106)= +565
~~Mikayla~~ -7
~~Jim~~ +69
~~Semhar~~ -43

Last Week +478: Team Total= +584

Mags

Coach +485: W15 (+106)= +591
~~Elyse~~ -142
~~Keith~~ -89
~~Mark~~ -173

Last Week +81: Team Total= +187

Free Agents
Sophie +545: Votes (-8), W15 (+106)= +643
~~Stacey~~ -27

Developmental League

Jack

Albert: W15 (+106)= +106
~~Whitney~~
Coach: W15 (+106)= +106
Edna: Duel Loss (-10)= -10

Week 15= +202, Team Total= +1,872

Tippy

Ozzy: Duel Win (+10)= +10
~~Cochran~~
~~Elyse~~
Sophie: Votes (-8), W15 (+106)= +98

Weeks 15= +108, Team Total= +1,065

Marsh

~~Mikayla~~
Rick: W15 (+106)= +106
~~Dawn~~
~~Christine~~

Weeks 15= +106, Team Total= +820

Rizzo

~~Keith~~
~~Mark~~
Brandon: Immunity (+20), Idol Misuse (-10), Votes (-12)= -2
~~Jim~~

Weeks 15= -2, Team Total= +680

Free Agents
~~Stacey~~
~~Semhar~~

The X Factor Semifinals Review- Who's Feeling Good?

2011-12-15T08:15:00.000-06:00

In the semifinals of The X Factor's first season, we - you guessed it - faced the music. The final four contestants sang two songs for America's vote, and they did a pretty darn good job competing for the final three spots in next week's finale.

The best part of the night might have been when Steve Jones read some random fans Tweet that stated, "L.A. Reid...more like L.A. Rude." Then again, maybe the best part might have been one of the performances. Let's see how the final four did...

Round one was the Pepsi Challenge with songs picked by America.

Marcus Canty "I'll Make Love To You" - This song seems ridiculously inappropriate for this setting. He absolutely murdered the vocal, though. Like I've said a thousand times already, he belongs in the mid-90s, and this Boyz II Men performance proved that. One question, who was that random girl in a red dressing dancing in the background? Simon makes a good point that the song wasn't changed at all from the original.
My Score: 7/10

Chris Rene "Fly" - This is really the song America picked? I'm sorry, Chris. It's nice to see all of his friends joined him on stage, but he's really not getting to do much with this chorus. He kills the original verse within this madness. There is such great originality from him every single time.
My Score: 7/10

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

Chuck Exclusive- Scott Krinsky Expounds on Evolution of Jeff Barnes

2011-12-14T09:15:00.000-06:00

There have been many highlights in the early part of Chuck's fifth and final season. One of my personal favorites was seeing an almost normal Jeffrey Barnes after he stopped breathing in the fumes from his van during his nightly sleep.

Apparently I'm not the only one. Scott Krinsky has enjoyed the change in his character, telling me over the phone: "I think it's great that [Jeff] finally gets to have a little growth. We get to see another side of him that we really haven't seen before."

The difference between the spacey, flaky Jeff we knew for four seasons, and the one Captain Awesome helped develop by telling him to stop sleeping in his van, is so immense that it causes laughter just by listening to Krinsky's normal talking voice on screen.

The actor also enjoys the change for reasons of character development, though.

"When he was younger, Jeff had all of this potential, so it's really great to see what he's like when he snapped out of it," Krinsky said.

To read the rest of my exclusive with Scott Krinsky, head over to TV Fanatic.

Terra Nova 110 Review- Son of a Son of a Taylor

2011-12-13T08:15:00.000-06:00

Lucas- "How is the great Commander? Has he walked on water yet?"

Anyone who has watched the first 10 episodes of Terra Nova knows that it is not brilliant television. The acting isn't all that great, the dialogue has been awkward and the series took a while to figure out just one kind of show it wanted to be.

All that said, "Within" was the third straight episode in which I have more positive things to say than negative ones. Sure, that may be because the problems with each outing tend to be similar week in and week out, and nobody would want to read about that time and time again, but if Terra Nova gets a second season by FOX, I think it's heading in a decent direction.

Let's start with the best of the best. Ashley Zukerman was fantastic this week as his Lucas Taylor finally got a bit more screen time. He was a pretty great villain in this hour, with his character proving to be creepy, funny, smart and emotional. Zukerman combined all of that into the best performance we've seen on this show to date.

Between constantly referring to Skye as "Bucket," wanting to take out his father for what happened to his mom and destroying all of those nobodies with a sonic wave, it's just a shame that it took until the 10th episode to introduce such an interesting character to a series so lacking in them.

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

Terra Nova 110 - "Within"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Homeland 111 Review- Come To Life

2011-12-12T09:00:00.000-06:00

Carrie- "You wait, you lay low and then you come to life."

Those words, uttered by Carrie Mathison in her fit of manic insanity during "The Vest," like most of what she said during that stretch, were absolutely brilliant.

Yes, the plants in the garden are definitely going to live by Carrie's law, but she was also correct in metaphorically comparing said plants to Abu Nazir and his terrorism plot. Ironically, and unfortunately, it also worked to explain Carrie's bi-polar disorder and its effect on her job with the CIA.

As sad as it was to watch Carrie spiral out of control, it was just as entertaining to watch her work (mostly the demand for the green pen), and just as interesting to realize that she was nailing Abu Nazir's plan down to a "t."

What she was missing, however, was the "i," as in Issa. The only missing ingredient from Carrie's timeline, which Saul so perfectly organized on the wall, was the period of mourning after Nazir had lost his son. If she could have only put the pieces together that Brody was just as heart-broken as Nazir, maybe this whole thing could have been solved.

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

Homeland 111 - "The Vest"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Weekly Comedy Rankings- Ronny the Rat

2011-12-10T20:15:00.000-06:00

It was extremely hard to rank episodes two through nine for me, as all were good but not great. This will be the last rankings for a while as both NBC Thursdays and ABC Wednesdays are done for 2011. The Weekly Comedy Rankings will be back in full force come 2012.

1. Community
2. The Office
3. It's Always Sunny
4. Parks and Rec
5. The League
6. Happy Endings
7. New Girl
8. Mod Family
9. Suburgatory
10. Last Man Standing
11. Family Guy
12. Rules of Engagement

I gave my MVP to Charlie Kelly, who was fantastic in every moment that he was infatuated with that cool guy at the reunion. He's having a great season, and may have passed Dennis for MVP of It's Always Sunny with this episode. My funniest moment also came from Sunny. When they revealed that Mac's real name is Ronald McDonald, I absolutely lost it. I couldn't think of a name that would have worked and would have been funnier than that. Bravo.

Chuck 505 Review- Hammered Hacking

2011-12-10T08:30:00.000-06:00

Chuck- "Do you remember why we started Carmichael Industries to begin with?"

Morgan- "The corporate discount on the pinball machine right?"

In "Chuck Versus the Hack Off" two characters felt like they were getting sucked back into something they had tried desperately to get away from in the first place. Chuckles didn't like getting back into the business of working for manipulative CIA head honchos, and Radzinsky* was deathly afraid of getting back into the evil tech device game.

*The character played by Eric Lange was not important enough to be referred to by anything but Radzinsky...the actor's character on Lost.

Thankfully, it looks like neither character will have to deal with such issues ever again. Radzinsky will likely head back to his naked yoga cult in the woods, while Chuck will never have to take another order from the likes of Decker...unless technology advances to the point that a man can get blown back together by a reverse bomb.

Stepping back to the here and now, "The Hack Off" was a great hour on its own, but was an even better example of how Chuck is killing it to start its final season. Fedak, Schwartz and company have weaved the long-running arcs of these characters' end games with funny, action-packed, interesting episodic stories pretty darn perfectly over the first five episodes.

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

Chuck 505 - "Chuck vs. the Hack Off"
Review
Recap
Quotes

The Office 810 Review- Self-Prankervation

2011-12-09T08:30:00.000-06:00

Nate- "You had me at clookies. I can't wait to find out what they are."

The Office has knocked Christmas episodes out of the park in the past, so a high bar was set for "Christmas Wishes. It didn't live up to the original "Christmas Party" or last season's "Classy Christmas," but it was certainly one of the funnier outings of season eight.

There were a lot of things that make up a good Office episode at play here. Jim and Dwight were in a pranking zone, there was a whole lot of Erin Hannon, Andy Bernard wasn't ridiculously annoying, and of course, there was an amazing montage/air band rock out set to TSO's "Carol of the Bells."

Dunder Mifflin has done holiday music well in the past - Angela's "Little Drummer Boy" comes to mind - but nothing like this. Between Kevin and Jim receiving a cookie jar and a vasectomy pamphlet as gifts, Erin pounding shots with Phyllis, and Creed, Nate and Gabe joining Dwight on air guitar, air keyboard, and air bass, respectively, it hit on all levels. Great montage.

Not only were Jim and Dwight back to doing what they do best, pranking, but it wasn't the same old song and dance. No, no, Jim and Dwight were pranking themselves, which made it that much funnier. Whether it was Jim reading his credit card info aloud - leading to Dwight buying $200 flowers for Pam - Dwight putting a porcupine into his own drawer - leading to him calling the animal by name - or Jim drawing devil horns and a beard on a picture of CeCe but then backing down so Dwight wouldn't get fired... these two were on fire.

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

The Office 810 - "Christmas Wishes"
Review
Recap
Quotes

The X Factor Top 5 Results- Shocker!

2011-12-09T08:15:00.001-06:00

The X Factor went from five to four tonight, eliminating one more contestant before next week's semifinals. After listening to performances by two people who would be in the Over 30s group on this show - Lenny Kravitz and Mary J. Blige - Steve Jones and the gang got to the results.

In no particular order, it was revealed that Josh Krajcik, Chris Rene, and Melanie Amaro were safe for another week. Not a huge surprise here, as Marcus Canty is always a bottom dweller and Rachel Crow finished with the least amount of votes from America.

That's when things got interesting. Both contestants sang songs from Top 11 week. Marcus was great with his second performance of "I'm Going Down," but Rachel was ridiculously awesome in her second outing with "I Would Rather Go Blind." I gave her a 9/10 and touted Rachel "BEST OF THE NIGHT" with this song a couple weeks ago, and she might have been even better here. There was just so much emotion in the performance as she feared elimination.

As always, it next went to the judges. Let's see what they decided...

To read the rest of my post on The X Factor's Top 5 Results show, head over to TV Fanatic.

Survivor Week 14- Family Cries

2011-12-08T09:45:00.000-06:00

This season of Survivor is going way too much according to plan. There has been one move in the game - Cochran's switch - and even that didn't amount to anything after the fact.

Luckily this was my favorite episode of every season. It's the ep when these grown individuals cry like babies over seeing their family members for the first time in 30 days. Give it a rest! If I was out there and my mom showed up, I would be like "Oh hey Karebear. What happened on tv since I've been gone?"

After Brandon bawled about setting an example for Christ, we met Sean Hantz, and it was glorious. A lot more like his brother Russell than his son Brandon, Sean started talking strategy with the other contestants and HE'S NOT EVEN ON THE SHOW! Never before has a family member talked game with the other survivors.

"I don't know how he hasn't been voted off yet," Sean said of his son Brandon. Yeah, you and me both Sean. You and me both.

Champions League

Larry

Brandon +382: Votes (-4), W14 (+92)= +470
Rick +331: W14 (+92)= +423
~~Christine~~ +13
~~Dawn~~ +151

Last Week +877: Team Total= +1,057

Jaydon

Ozzy +32: Duel Win (+10)= +42
~~Whitney~~ +165
Cochran +252: Duel Loss (-10)= +242
Edna +357: Votes (-20)= +337

Last Week +806: Team Total= +786

Dan

Albert +367: W14 (+92)= +459
~~Mikayla~~ -7
~~Jim~~ +69
~~Semhar~~ -43

Last Week +386: Team Total= +478

Mags

Coach +373: Immunity (+20), W14 (+92)= +485
~~Elyse~~ -142
~~Keith~~ -89
~~Mark~~ -173

Last Week -31: Team Total= +81

Free Agents
Sophie +453: W14 (+92)= +545
~~Stacey~~ -27

Developmental League

Jack

Albert: W14 (+92)= +92
~~Whitney~~
Coach: Immunity (+20), W14 (+92)= +112
Edna: Votes (-20)= -20

Week 14= +184, Team Total= +1,670

Tippy

Ozzy: Duel Win (+10)= +10
Cochran: Duel Loss (-10)= -10
~~Elyse~~
Sophie: W14 (+92)= +92

Weeks 14= +92, Team Total= +957

Marsh

~~Mikayla~~
Rick: W14 (+92)= +92
~~Dawn~~
~~Christine~~

Weeks 14= +92, Team Total= +714

Rizzo

~~Keith~~
~~Mark~~
Brandon: Votes (-4), W14 (+92)= +88
~~Jim~~

Weeks 14= +88, Team Total= +682

Free Agents
~~Stacey~~
~~Semhar~~

The X Factor Top 5 Review- Mesmerizing Melanie

2011-12-08T08:15:00.000-06:00

Just in case anyone was wondering, everyone faced the music yet again on The X Factor this week. The Final Five performed two songs, one dance hit and another chosen by the contestants.

How contrived was it the "they have one day to practice this song" bit, though? After the Pepsi songs didn't come through, they were given 24 hours to prepare another track? If it's their "Save Me" song, everyone but Marcus Canty should have it in the holster ready to go.

Although the Chevy commercials in between the live performances were much, much better, let's still take a look at how the contestants did...

Melanie Amaro "Someone Like You" - Why would you waste such an epic song like this by turning into a dance beat for this week's theme? She was good, but it could have been a lot better.
My Score: 7/10

Marcus Canty "Ain't Nobody" - This took me back to the 80s and that's not a good thing. He did the song justice, but it did not feel organic whatsoever. Simon said that Melanie's wasn't karaoke. But his was.
My Score: 6/10

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

Covert Affairs 216 Review- Many The Milestone

2011-12-07T08:45:00.000-06:00

Danielle- "Indiscretion is the chicken shit way of saying you boinked your fat assistant."

The Covert Affairs season finale was filled with personal milestones for Annie, an emotional disappointment for Auggie and a painfully selfish - yet strategically savvy - maneuver by Mr. Jai Wilcox.

Annie Walker has been a CIA field agent for a while now, but not until "Letter Never Sent" had she killed a man. In an effort to save herself, and especially her sister, our favorite blonde American took down the guy coming after them with a few shots to the chest. Thank God for that recent gun training.

I was always a fan of Annie's lack of gun use on the show, but here it was necessary, and the writers did a good job building up to this moment over the course of the second season. Without her newfound ability to use a firearm, Danielle would probably be dead, and Annie would be a complete mess.

Thanks to Danielle and her big mouth, Annie started to think about Auggie in a way the fans have been dreaming of since Jump Street. Recognizing that there may be a romantic attachment between them was certainly a milestone for Annie and the show.

To read the rest of my review of last night's second season finale of Covert Affairs, head over to TV Fanatic.

Covert Affairs 216 - "Letter Never Sent"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Homeland 110 Review- The Briefcase Bomb

2011-12-05T11:45:00.000-06:00

Al Zahari- "So I'm bait?"

Saul- "You're bait."

What makes both Abu Nazir's plan of attack against the United States and Homeland's story of deception so successful is that they are both constructed from a number of intricate layers. The thought process that has gone into each has been incredible, and that was never more apparent than in "Representative Brody."

It seems as though Nazir has three Americans working for him that we know of: Tom Walker, Sergeant Brody and the apparent mole inside the government.

Walker is the short-term guy, the one who has been given violent tasks to perform in the States. We witnessed his efforts at their finest when he hired the homeless guy to deliver the briefcase bomb to Al-Zahari this week. His attack was smart, it was destructive and it caught the CIA by surprise. His time is going to run out quickly, I'm sure, but all Abu Nazir seemingly needs him for is to be the shooter at Marine One.

Because Walker knew that the CIA was following said rendezvous with the Saudi diplomat, it became more obvious that there is a mole within the American government. It's another layer to Abu Nazir's plot, and another way for him to complete his tasks.

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

Homeland 110 - "Representative Brody"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Weekly Comedy Rankings- The Toolman's Tops

2011-12-03T09:00:00.000-06:00

After a week off for the Thanksgiving break, the Weekly Comedy Rankings are back. The Top Five of the Week, on the other hand, has not made its way back. I am behind on too many shows to give an honest opinion on what the best non-comedy episodes of the week were this time around.

1. Last Man Standing
2. It's Always Sunny
3. Community
4. The League
5. Parks and Rec
6. The Office
7. New Girl
8. Bored to Death
9. Family Guy
10. I Hate My Teenage Daughter

No single aspect of a show gave me as many laughs as Tim Allen's character on this week's Last Man Standing. The fact that his daughters' side plot wasn't good at all wasn't enough to drop it from the top spot this one time. Sunny and Community had decent weeks, and The League was better than what it has been putting forward this season, but the rest of the output was pretty pathetic.

I gave Allen's Mike Baxter my MVP, and the red-headed mom from Teenage Daughter my LVP. This one lived up to the billing of being awful. Unlike LMS, which critics also hated, Teenage Daughter has no actor I have confidence in to keep the series watchable. That red-headed woman, specifically, had me wanting to kill myself as I sat through the one pity episode I'm giving Teenage Daughter.

The Office 809 Review- Liar Liar

2011-12-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

Dwight- "We figured out your goal. I'm gonna make you the buffest dude Val Kilmer has ever seen."

The Office continued its lackluster eighth season with an episode that was filled with a few good one-off jokes, but failed to come together as a funny half-hour.

"Mrs. California" introduced us to Robert's wife. Now that the CEO has turned out to be much less crazy than we originally thought, this could have been a perfect opportunity to bring in another insane character, but that, of course, did not happen.

Aside from wanting to date Andy, Susan was as normal as they come. More importantly, Maura Tierney's character was good for zero laughs.

The first of the two main stories this week was hilarious in theory, but was very bland for almost the entirety of its run. Robert going overboard with his plan to make his wife happy, while making sure she didn't work at the office, was a funny concept, sure.

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

The Office 809 - "Mrs. California"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Survivor Week 13- In Ozzilation

2011-12-01T15:45:00.000-06:00

A few quick notes from last night's episode...

Ozzy almost benefits more by being on Redemption Island. He's always been great at individual challenges, but doing them against a number of other players in the game is more difficult than one on one battles on Redemption. His lack of social game doesn't come into play. All he has to do is win. And win. And win.

I guess i would have done the same if i were Coach or Albert. I'd much rather be in this game against Rick than Cochran. Cochran is one of the only people playing this game. You keep guys like Rick and Brandon around and you will make it far. I don't think that was their mindset, but it was the right move.

Let's take a look at the scores...

Champions League

Larry

Brandon +303: W13 (+79)= +382
Rick +260: Votes (-8), W13 (+79)= +331
~~Christine~~ +13
Dawn +161: Duel Loss (-10)= +151

Last Week +737: Team Total= +877

Jaydon

Ozzy +22: Duel Win (+10)= +32
Whitney +175: Duel Loss (-10)= +165
Cochran +272: Votes (-20)= +252
Edna +278: W13 (+79)= +357

Last Week +747: Team Total= +806

Dan

Albert +268: Immunity (+20), W13 (+79)= +367
~~Mikayla~~ -7
~~Jim~~ +69
~~Semhar~~ -43

Last Week +287: Team Total= +386

Mags

Coach +294: W13 (+79)= +373
~~Elyse~~ -142
~~Keith~~ -89
~~Mark~~ -173

Last Week -110: Team Total= -31

Free Agents
Sophie +374: W13 (+79)= +453
~~Stacey~~ -27

Developmental League

Jack

Albert: Immunity (+20), W13 (+79)= +99
Whitney: Duel Loss (-10)= -10
Coach: W13 (+79)= +79
Edna: W13 (+79)= +79

Week 13= +247, Team Total= +1,486

Tippy

Ozzy: Duel Win (+10)= +10
Cochran: Votes (-20)= -20
~~Elyse~~
Sophie: W13 (+79)= +79

Weeks 13= +69, Team Total= +865

Marsh

~~Mikayla~~
Rick: Votes (-8), W13 (+79)= +71
Dawn: Duel Loss (-10)= -10
~~Christine~~

Weeks 13= +61, Team Total= +622

Rizzo

~~Keith~~
~~Mark~~
Brandon: W13 (+79)= +79
~~Jim~~

Weeks 13= +79, Team Total= +594

Free Agents
~~Stacey~~
~~Semhar~~

The X Factor Top 7 Review- The Jackson 7

2011-12-01T10:00:00.000-06:00

You guessed it. We faced the music once again on The X Factor, as the remaining seven finalists performed tracks from the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

After we said hello to Michael's brothers Marlon, Tito, and Jackie of the Jackson 5, Michael's mother and children were introduced before any of The X Factor's contestants were brought out on stage. Intermittently asking the Jackson family about their thoughts on the show proved one thing: Prince Jackson is all about the limelight. He and Paris didn't let Blanket say one word.

Let's get to the performances, shall we?

Josh Krajcik "Dirty Diana" - The sound mix was off again. I couldn't really hear anything he was saying. I didn't like how very talky Josh was throughout this. The backup singers then came in and over powered him completely. Then there was the fact that he had the guitar on his back for the first 2/3 of the performance. He finally broke out the axe for a solo where he yelled "come on!" a bunch of times. This was definitely not his best effort.
My Score: 5/10

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

Covert Affairs 215 Review- Not The Thinker

2011-11-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

Auggie- "Annie Walker, welcome to her majesty's secret service."

When the news broke, I wasn't a fan of Covert Affairs splitting up its second season into summer and winter segments, especially knowing that the back half of the order would consist of only six episodes.

Following the third straight mediocre hour - "What's The Frequency Kenneth?" - I stand by my prior claim: this was a bad idea.

Three out of six is a troubling trend, one I'd rather not see out of Covert Affairs. Luckily, next week's season finale - previewed HERE -can make up for most of that with an all-out classic.

It's not that "What's the Frequency, Kenneth" wasn't enjoyable. It just didn't force any emotions out of me. I wasn't excited during the few action sequences, I didn't get mad at Jai for his lackluster efforts to pull a fast one and I certainly didn't get sad that Parker had to leave Auggie for the Peace Corps.

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

Covert Affairs 215 - "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Terra Nova 109 Review- Don't Go Jumping Waterfalls

2011-11-29T13:30:00.000-06:00

Taylor- "The question is how does it end?"

Mira- "We'll find out soon enough."

It's amazing what story, conflict and inner turmoil can do for a television series.

While it wasn't without its usual clunky dialogue and regretfully mediocre acting, Terra Nova put forth some of its best work of the season in "Now You See Me."

A nice action-adventure piece with Taylor and Mira, as well as the longer-form mystery plot dealing with Skye as the mole, combined for an episode in which most of the hour was held my interest. That's something I haven't really said about anything since the pilot.

Sure, there were the normal issues Terra Nova faces. Commander Taylor and Mira jumping down the waterfall looked about as fake as could be, and a leap from that height would most certainly kill them no matter where they landed, right?

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

Terra Nova 109 - "Now You See Me"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Troy and Abed For TV's Most Dynamic Duo

2011-11-28T08:15:00.000-06:00

Troy and Abed are the most dynamic duo on television, but I'm definitely not shocked that they're currently behind in the poll. Only three million people are watching the show each Thursday, and NBC recently Britta'd its midseason schedule by somehow NOT including this sitcom on it.

Because there are still a number of you out there who haven't witnessed the genius of Community, and specifically this fine pair, I'm here to help.

When the series first started, Danny Pudi's Abed was a bit of a budding star, while Donald Glover's Troy lurked in the background waiting for his time to shine. As the second season came into development, the two characters began to hang out more, became fast friends and the rest is hilarious history.

Troy Barnes has become one of the funniest characters on television, and while Abed has dipped a bit since his novelty factor wore out, he still has his moments... most of which come when these two are together.

To read the rest of my commentary on Community's Troy and Abed, and to vote on TV's Most Dynamic Duo, head over to TV Fanatic.

Homeland 109 Review- You Got To Win It In The Fire

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

Nazir- "Why not trust a man who would rather die than give information to his enemy?"

Would you feel sympathy for an American traitor doing what he can to help the leader of a terrorist organization? I wouldn't think so, but Homeland pulled that emotion out of me during "Crossfire."

The end of last week's hour delivered yet another twist in the story, as we realized that Brody was in fact working with Abu Nazir. When it was revealed that he was indeed the individual sitting in that chair, I was a bit surprised - and excited - but after pondering it a bit more over the course of the week, I came into this episode hoping that it was the final turn in the who is/who isn't saga.

Fortunately, we seem to be out of those metaphorical woods, as "Crossfire" focused mainly on Brody's thoughts and emotions now that the audience knows he is definitely helping Nazir. What exactly happened to him to make him want to turn against his beloved country? We learned that, too.

Like everything else that Homeland has done up to this point in the series, it was extremely captivating. As I noted above, it would seem difficult to feel for a man that is betraying his people, but with the way the show has built Brody as a character, and the number of layers they have given him, it was easy to do so here.

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

Homeland 109 - "Crossfire"
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The X Factor Top 9 Review- Thankful For Wild Horses

2011-11-23T11:30:00.002-06:00

This week on The X Factor, we faced the music and gave thanks. What was I thankful for? Melanie Amaro's post-performance speech, and the fact that she broke out a Virgin Islands accent after months of speaking with none at all.

There was still plenty to not be thankful for on this week's episode, specifically L.A. Reid's atrocious method of judging. I don't know why he thinks it is his job to come in to a show prepared to hate every contestant that isn't on his team, but he does.

"I came out wanting to be critical," he told Rachel Crow before praising her performance. He then told Lakoda Rayne "I was completely prepared to not like it," which was followed by more positive comments. Here's an idea. How about you just come in and judge them without bias?

We all may have our favorites on The X Factor, but as a judge of the talent, he of all people shouldn't come in prepared to hate on someone. Let's get onto the performances...

Rachel Crow "Believe" - The overproduction was once again in place as the gigantic chorus drowned out her performance a bit here. When they brought in 20 more backup singers and then dropped confetti from the ceiling, I knew it was going to be a ridiculous night. Rachel was good as always, but she was not nearly as interesting as a few of the past weeks.
My Score: 6/10

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

Terra Nova 108 Review- Who Has Skeletons?

2011-11-22T09:00:00.000-06:00

Taylor (to Lucas)- "You're a traitor. There's no place in Terra Nova for you. I never wanna see your face again."

I'm not saying that Terra Nova has all of the sudden become quality television, but "Vs." easily created the most intrigue the series has seen since the pilot.

Did a majority of the interesting aspects derive from the final ten minutes of action? Yeah, but that's a trick tv writers have been using for all of time. Leave a great taste in viewers’ mouths, and they'll be excited to come back for more.

The sequence in which Taylor detained Jim, revealed what in the heck was really going on with him, the Sixers, his son, and the recently discovered General Philbrick peaked my interest indeed.

Over the past couple months I have grown accustomed to watch Terra Nova with the excitement of a comatose 80 year old, but all the talk about what the Sixers are really doing, and what Lucas was up to got me to the edge of my seat...just barely.

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

Terra Nova 108 - "Vs."
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Homeland 108 Review- The Storage Sniper

2011-11-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

Carrie- "I'm gonna be alone my whole life, aren't I?"

Anyone who thought the game would change after Homeland's big reveal last week, was probably a bit surprised to be turned upside down and inside out as "Achilles Heel" continued to make twist and turn until another shocker came in the final minute of action.

Tom Walker is most definitely still alive. They made that clear from the opening seconds. He is also pretty clearly helping the terrorists, as the sniper rifle in that storage center showcased. He also has an achilles heel, that may or may not save America from another terrorist catastrophe.

He loves his family, and is probably suffering from the same inner turmoil we all thought was going through Brody at the start of the season. Hopefully, some time down the road, the CIA can use Walker's wife and son to help stop him from doing something he may regret for the rest of his life...that is unless he is 100% for this cause, which is a huge possibility.

The question will be whether or not the government can trust Walker's wife again, after she unsurprisingly warned her husband that they were tracing the call. It was pretty obvious that they weren't going to catch him right then and there, but it was still impressive watching him scale walls, take out FBI agents, and finally lure them into a crowded building in order to get away.

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

Homeland 108 - "Achilles Heel"
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Weekly Roundup- Alex, Max

2011-11-19T16:30:00.000-06:00

As we near the holiday break some things are starting to heat up, while others are taking a turn for the worse. The big three continue to stay near or at the top of the Weekly Comedy Rankings, while a couple of familiar faces remained in the Top Five of the Week in its second edition. Let's take a look.

Weekly Comedy Rankings

1. Happy Endings
2. Community
3. It's Always Sunny
4. New Girl
5. South Park
6. Parks and Rec
7. Family Guy
8. Last Man Standing
9. Modern Family
10. The Office
11. Suburgatory
12. The League
13. Good Luck Charlie
14. Bored to Death
15. Rules of Engagement
16. Wizards

I went with Dean Pelton as the MVP of the week for his ridiculous actions on Community. Jim Rash was fantastic as he made both T-time and Jaydon's best moment of the week. Jaydon loved when he uttered "I loved you innnnnnnn, IMDB," and T-time thought the funniest thing on tv this week was the Dean loving Jeffrey's impression of the bald man.

T-time went with Alex from Happy Endings as his MVP, and after a second watch, I have a really tough time disagreeing. I gave Elisha Cuthbert's character best moment for when she wanted to make out with Max, but basically everything she did in this episode was revolved around that same concept, so an MVP vote could have been necessary.

Top Five of the Week

1. Homeland
2. Once Upon a Time
3. Sons of Anarchy
4. Revenge
5. Hell on Wheels

Homeland might have had its best episode yet this past Sunday, Once Upon a Time continued to improve in the early part of its first season, Sons of Anarchy had 90 minutes worth of heart-wrenching stuff, and Emily Van Camp continued to shine in another episode of Revenge, but I was extremely pleased with what Hell on Wheels put forth in its second installment.

Anson Mount has been electric in his first two episodes as Mr. Bohannon. With the introduction of The Swede in episode two, I already have two characters I enjoy 10 times more than anyone through 11 episodes of The Walking Dead. As T-time and I chatted about a couple days ago, TWD seems to be pulling a bit of a Sons of Anarchy season three situation, in that they're dragging a two episode arc into six. Let's move on and pick up the pace.

Chuck 504 Review- Dodge Viper

2011-11-19T08:30:00.002-06:00

Chuck- "The force is strong in this one."

Morgan- "Mmmm. I have no idea what that means, but I am pumped."

It was a slow build, but "Chuck Versus the Business Trip" ended with such an action packed final five minutes that the mundane nature of the journey was completely absolved.

There were a couple of highlights here and there, but the switch really wasn't flipped until the team realized they had caught the wrong Viper. After Chuck figured out that things had been much too easy*, we watched Morgan frantically escape the Buy More, Chuck disable the car bomb, and Sarah take out the real Viper.

*I put down in my notes at the time that it was a bit odd that this guy with such a ridiculous track record couldn't even take out an intersect-less Chuck Bartowski.

Things went up another notch, though, in the final five minutes or so, beginning with John Casey's murder of 27 individuals in a span of 3.4 seconds. I was definitely expecting him to get caught in that situation, so shame on me for thinking you could ever take out John Casey.

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

Chuck 504 - "Chuck Versus the Business Trip"
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The Office 808 Review- Gettysburgatory

2011-11-18T09:15:00.000-06:00

Ryan- "Robert you got your sheep, and you got your black sheep, and I'm not even a sheep. I'm on the freakin' moon."

The Office can't seem to get into any kind of rhythm during its eighth season. It takes one step forward, and then it falls two steps back. Last week's "Pam's Replacement" was one of the better episodes in a while, but "Gettysburg" was far from that distinction.

Andy Bernard was back in the spotlight of the "A" story, and it all became a bit boring. Forcing the historical analogy to the office didn't work, and jumping around with the Dunder Mifflin flag created neither laugh out loud nor awkward moments.

Near the end, Jim stated to Andy that the group likes him as manager of the branch... and that might be the problem. There's not nearly enough hatred between the boss and employees, a dynamic that creates a ton of hilarious moments.

Back at the home front, the "B" story worked much better. Robert California proved again that he is much more normal than the guy we met at the end of last season, but thankfully Kevin is weird enough for everybody.

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

The Office 808 - "Gettysburg"
Review
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The X Factor Top 10 Results- A Poor Sport

2011-11-18T09:00:00.000-06:00

If that wasn't the worst display of sportsmanship in singing competition history, I don't know what was.

The X Factor went from 10 finalists to nine tonight, but not before Astro embarrassed himself and made a mockery of the show by claiming he didn't want to perform for the judges' vote and pouted through his entire performance.

After Rihanna danced around on stage in a pair of ripped jeans straight out of 1991, the top eight vote-getters were announced in no particular order as: Leroy Bell, Lakoda Rayne, Chris Rene, Melanie Amaro, Josh Krajcik, Marcus Canty, Drew, and Rachel Crow.

That's right. That means that Stacy Francis and Astro received the least amount of votes from America. Now I could have been happy that most of America agreed with my take on the young rapper's performance last night, but instead I was quickly saddened how poor of a sport he became.

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

Survivor Weeks 11 & 12- Double Immunity

2011-11-17T19:15:00.000-06:00

Take these scores and like them people...

Champions League

Jaydon

Ozzy +12: Duel Win (+10)= +22
Whitney +147: W11 (+56), Votes (-28)= +175
Cochran +153: W11 (+56), Votes (-4), W12 (+67)= +272
Edna +163: Votes (-8), W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +278

Last Week +475: Team Total= +747

Larry

Brandon +180: W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +303
Rick +136: W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +260
~~Christine~~ +13
Dawn +189: Votes (-28)= +161

Last Week +518: Team Total= +737

Dan

Albert +145: W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +268
~~Mikayla~~ -7
Jim +79: Duel Loss (-10)= +69
~~Semhar~~ -43

Last Week +236: Team Total= +287

Mags

Coach +171: W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +294
~~Elyse~~ -142
Keith -79: Duel Loss (-10)= -89
~~Mark~~ -173

Last Week -223: Team Total= -110

Free Agents
Sophie +211: Immunity (+20), W11 (+56), Immunity (+20), W12 (+67)= +374
~~Stacey~~ -27

Developmental League

Jack

Albert: W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +123
Whitney: W11 (+56), Votes (-28)= +28
Coach: W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +123
Edna: Votes (-8), W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +115

Weeks 11 and 12= +389, Team Total= +1,239

Tippy

Ozzy: Duel Win (+10)= +10
Cochran: W11 (+56), Votes (-4), W12 (+67)= +119
~~Elyse~~
Sophie: Immunity (+20), W11 (+56), Immunity (+20), W12 (+67)= +163

Weeks 11 and 12= +292, Team Total= +796

Marsh

~~Mikayla~~
Rick: W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +123
Dawn: Votes (-28)= -28
~~Christine~~

Weeks 11 and 12= +95, Team Total= +561

Rizzo

Keith: Duel Loss (-10)= -10
~~Mark~~
Brandon: W11 (+56), W12 (+67)= +123
Jim: Duel Loss (-10)= -10

Weeks 11 and 12= +103, Team Total= +515

Free Agents
~~Stacey~~
~~Semhar~~

The X Factor Top 10 Review- Canty-land

2011-11-17T13:30:00.000-06:00

We faced the music yet again, but it was facing the judges bickering that had me covering my ears for half of The X Factor's Top 10 Rock Night.

I mean, come on, L.A. Reid! Your constant badgering about other contestants songs not sounding rock enough was ridiculous. At least Simon was complaining about your boy Chris Rene not choosing a rock song. You, on the other hand, were complaining about contestants taking a rock song and making it their own. Isn't that exactly what these competitions are all about?

Even Randy Jackson didn't put forth a judging performance this obnoxious until his third or fourth season on American Idol. Step your game up, L.A. Let's just move on to the performances...

Leroy Bell "We've Got Tonight" - Boy, do I hate when the crowd cheers and claps during the soft moments of songs, and they did a lot of that during Leroy's performance. Thankfully this was your average run of the mill performance, so I didn't miss much. I'm okay with seeing Elton John go through the motions on a performance at age 60 (which I did four years ago), but Leroy Bell doesn't have that same cache.
My Score: 5/10

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

Covert Affairs 213 Review- River of Dreams

2011-11-16T09:45:00.000-06:00

Annie- "What is it with you and cell phones?"

Eyal- "What is it with you and always checking in?"

After a couple of exciting episodes to start Covert Affairs' winter run, "A Girl Like You" was a much more dialed back, dialogue-heavy chapter.

I very much still enjoyed the hour, though, thanks in large part to another guest appearance by Oded Fehr as Eyal Lavine. When Covert Affairs is at its best, it combines the sweet understated moments with a good amount of action-packed car chases/fights.

I'm talking about understated moments like Eyal waxing on about letting the river take him on his journey, Jai recovering from his bonehead mistake of crossing Joan, or Auggie's admission that he wants to settle down with Parker.

The latter of those came as somewhat of a surprise to me. As I mentioned in my review of last week's "Uberlin," I don't foresee Auggie having a significant relationship on Covert Affairs. Parker having to leave for the Peace Corps in four months plays right into that theory.

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

Covert Affairs 213 - "A Girl Like You"
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Terra Nova 107 Review- He's The Great Imposter

2011-11-15T13:45:00.000-06:00

There were parts of "Proof" that I actually enjoyed. In fact, Maddie's turn as a detective - in attempting to take down the man masquerading as her apparent hero - was surprisingly one of the highlights.

The problem with Terra Nova continues to be that there are just so many... problems. The acting is subpar, the dialogue is some kind of awful and even when you think a story is going somewhere interesting, it turns out to be a dud.

I was completely invested in the Josh and Mira story when I though the latter was letting the former go in exchange for a favor down the road that was going to be important. I thought it would be for something she had planned. The fact that she used up that favor the very next episode in order to help her sick Sixers was extremely disappointing.

More disappointing, though, was the entire robbery scene in which Josh stole the medicine Mira needed. It was never established that he had any plan, which was obvious by what a shoddy job he did once he feverishly broke into the clinic. Nobody heard this happening? The glass shattering? The sonic boom of the gun?

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

Terra Nova 107 - "Proof"
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Homeland 107 Review- Cabin Fever

2011-11-14T10:30:00.001-06:00

Brody- "How do you know what tea I drink?"

That was when Carrie and Brody's lovely weekend, filled with drunken billiards, drunken sex, and romantic hikes, took a turn for the worse. However, our viewing pleasure of "The Weekend" only increased following Carrie's slip up in the cabin.

Brody looked sincerely shocked when Carrie told him she thought he had been turned by Nazir, so I wasn't surprised in the least when he told her to ask him anything she wanted. Nor was I surprised at all of his admissions to her about what had gone on over there, as well as what he had been up to since coming back.

Many of us conjectured that he could have killed Walker in order to survive, and that he turned to Islam as a way of surviving the terrible conditions of his captivity over there. What I didn't expect him to say though, was that he loved Nazir for comforting him when nobody else had. All of these explanations could mean absolutely nothing though, since we know he can lie about anything after last week's polygraph.

Because of the way Homeland has progressed through its first seven episodes, I don't think we can take anyone's word for it that Tom Walker is indeed the POW we're looking for. It's a clever twist, though. I definitely did not see that one coming.

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

Homeland 107 - "The Weekend"
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Weekly Roundup- Clay Nation

2011-11-12T18:30:00.000-06:00

So I am going to continue posting my weekly comedy rankings on this new Weekly Roundup post, but I am going to add at least one other ranking to it, so I thought a name change was appropriate. I try as much as I can to watch all of the comedies for Friday so that I can keep up with Jaydon, Jack and T-time on the Twitter #WeeklyComedyRankings, but I can't watch everything that I attempt to keep current with in a week's time. Some dramas and actions I watch take a back seat if I don't find the need to watch them by a certain time, so obviously said shows won't make it into my Top Five of the Week, but if I'm not trying hard to watch them then they probably aren't good enough to make it anyway.

So here is this week's edition of the Weekly Comedy Rankings...

1. It's Always Sunny
2. Community
3. Bored to Death
4. The Office
5. The League
6. Rules of Engagement
7. Parks and Rec
8. Last Man Standing
9. Wizards
10. Big Bang Theory
11. Family Guy
12. New Girl
13. South Park
14. ANT Farm

Always Sunny and Community continue to rack up firsts and seconds as the season goes on, and while Jaydon and the Forcella brothers continue to disagree on the quality of The Office and Parks and Rec, we all seem to be on the same page regarding the top two comedies of the fall season.

My MVP of the week was Mac from Sunny, but any of the three guys could have earned the accolades in this hilarious episode. If Charlie had asked for a chip one more time, he might have been named my MVP. Funniest moment, and the main reason why Bored to Death jumped all the way to #3, was the grocery story mission. George sneaking up to the PC Guy in a lab coat and sunglasses, and then putting away paper towels in the meat section was the hardest I laughed all week.

Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention at the time, but I didn't get South Park this week. It seems to be a bit hit or miss for me in general, but going from third last week to 13th this time around is kinda crazy.

My LVP was Ben Wyatt, who continues to be an absolute waste of Adam Scott's talent on Parks and Rec. The least funny moment was just the constant yelling and screaming that took place on New Girl this week. Call me hypocritical if you like, because there is always yelling on Sunny, but it just seems different to me.

Top Five of the Week

Here is where I will rank the five best episodes of the week...not including comedies. With all of my episodic reviewing for TV Fanatic, I need another outlet to let the people know what's what.

1. Sons of Anarchy
2. Homeland
3. Parenthood
4. The Vampire Diaries
5. Chuck

Sons has had a fantastic bounce back season as far as I'm concerned. Clay going full blown heel was a great move for the show, and I can only hope this season ends in his death. As much as I've come around on the old man as a character, there is no way this show can function properly if he sticks around.

Homeland continues to be the best new show on tv, and those Lie Detector scenes were unbelievably good this week. Parenthood, without a doubt, gets a tear from my eye at least every other episode. It happened again this week. Haters gonna hate, but no show brings as much excitement and thrills as The Vampire Diaries, and this week's midseason finale was great. Even though I kind of tore it apart in my review, I still had a heck of a time watching Morgan be a jerk on this week's Chuck.

Chuck 503 Review- Frost Yourself

2011-11-12T18:00:00.000-06:00

Morgan- "Just admit that you cannot handle the fact that I'm the badass operative, with the badass tips, and you're the dorky sidekick!"

I have a feeling "Chuck Versus the Frosted Tips" is going to be very divisive. There were so many things to enjoy, yet so many issues with the episode that even I both loved it and hated it all at the same time. Divisive, I say.

Before the conclusion, where it surprisingly became clear that Morgan was going to return to normal, I had many a worry for fans of the Bearded Bandit. Personally, I found his new egomaniacal state to be hilarious, but I could definitely hear the roars of fanboys complaining that this wasn't the Morgan we learned to love back in the beginning.

My problem wasn't with his transition to the Luke Skywalker-forgetting, personal assistant-needing, dumping-by-text-message Morgan we watched for most of the episode, but rather, the ease in which he turned off the cocky switch.

I loved that Chuck was able to talk Morgan down from his king of the world persona, and regain his best friend, but that's it? That's all it took for Morgan to stop acting like this, a chat with Chuck that got him to remember his past? I really thought this was a bigger issue. In the final five minutes or so he was acting completely normal, and I was assuming it would take removing the intersect from his brain to get any of the old Morgan back in our lives. It was just a bit too easy.

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

Chuck 503 - "Chuck vs. the Frosted Tips"
Review
Recap
Quotes

The Office 807 Review- Guitar Hero

2011-11-11T09:45:00.000-06:00

Val- "Not bad fellas. You're better than you look."

Kevin- "Hey screw you!"

Through the first six episodes of The Office's eighth season, I have been right on board with the popular critique that the series has lost its focus.*

(*"Garden Party" is the exception to that rule.)

But "Pam's Replacement" helped sideline the show's recent problems with a multitude of laughs and an improvement to its most glaring problems lately: the misuse of Ed Helms and James Spader.

After being thrust into the lead of the show, with a similar role and similar character to that of Steve Carrell, it seemed as if the Andy as branch manager project had failed. By giving him a smaller piece of the pie here, though, and fortunately creating a tasty flavor of pie, both Helms and The Office were much more enjoyable.

And how tasty was that pie? Andy, Kevin, and Darryl were great in their showcase of the rise and fall of Kevin and the Zits. And while Robert California didn't do anything all that overtly funny, quietly bringing in new great musicians to slowly hijack Andy's band was some of the best stuff from the Sabre CEO since last year's finale.

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

The Office 807 - "Pam's Replacement"
Review
Recap
Quotes

Survivor Weeks 9 & 10- Change of Heart

2011-11-10T15:30:00.000-06:00

Survivor is both an interesting game and an interesting show. I don't think I detested any one contestant more than I hated Brandon Hantz over the first six weeks of this season. But then, once these two tribes merged, his attitude started to become sort of funny to me.

I was the same way with Coach back in his first season of the show. What can start out as annoying can easily lead towards joy if done properly. Sure I'm laughing at Brandon, and in no way with him, as he continued to come to Cochran's aid this week, but funny is funny.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching him the past two weeks, and that kind of makes me sick. Anybody else having a change of heart? Or is it just me?

Champions League

Larry

Brandon +97: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +180
Rick +53: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +136
~~Christine~~ +13
Dawn +106: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +189

Last Week +269: Team Total= +518

Jaydon

Ozzy +48: Votes (-36)= +12
Whitney +44: W9 (+37), Immunity (+20), W10 (+46)= +147
Cochran +78: Votes (-8), W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +153
Edna +92: W9 (+37), Votes (-12), W10 (+46)= +163

Last Week +262: Team Total= +475

Dan

Albert +62: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +145
~~Mikayla~~ -7
Jim +50: Immunity (+20), W9 (+37), Votes (-28)= +79
~~Semhar~~ -43

Last Week +62: Team Total= +236

Mags

Coach +88: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +171
~~Elyse~~ -142
Keith -79: On Redemption
~~Mark~~ -173

Last Week -306: Team Total= -223

Free Agents
Sophie +128: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +211
~~Stacey~~ -27

Developmental League

Jack

Albert: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +83
Whitney: W9 (+37), Immunity (+20), W10 (+46)= +103
Coach: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +83
Edna: W9 (+37), Votes (-12), W10 (+46)= +71

Weeks 9 and 10= +340, Team Total= +850

Tippy

Ozzy: Votes (-36)= -36
Cochran: Votes (-8), W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +75
~~Elyse~~
Sophie: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +83

Weeks 9 and 10= +122, Team Total= +504

Marsh

~~Mikayla~~
Rick: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +83
Dawn: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +83
~~Christine~~

Weeks 9 and 10= +166, Team Total= +466

Rizzo

Keith: On Redemption
~~Mark~~
Brandon: W9 (+37), W10 (+46)= +83
Jim: Immunity (+20), W9 (+37), Votes (-28)= +29

Weeks 9 and 10= +112, Team Total= +412

Free Agents
~~Stacey~~
~~Semhar~~

The X Factor Top 11 Review- The Taste of Crow

2011-11-10T09:15:00.000-06:00

It was once again time to face the music, as The X Factor Top 11 hit the stage for Movie Night!

I hope you had your popcorn ready because L.A. Reid continued his stint as the worst new reality judge on television and Steve Jones remained steadfast in cutting off the panelists as many times as he could in a two hour span.

Oh yeah! The 11 acts also performed their hearts out for America's vote! Let's take a look at the performances...

Stacy Francis "The Queen of the Night" - No Nicole, Stacy having a big diva moment is not her stepping out her element. The upbeat nature of this song, however, was out of her element, and it proved to be detrimental as she seemed to be out of breath throughout the performance.
My Score: 4/10
Obscure Movie Score: The Bodyguard is way too popular to register in this ranking system. 2/10

Marcus Canty "I'm Going Down" - He almost dropped the mic, he could barely get his jacket off when he wanted to, but he still pulled off the performance. His vocals are good, and they are a lot like what you hear on today's Top 40 chart. He might need to learn how to calm down though, as this song was completely stripped down, but his performance was still a bit out of control.
My Score: 7/10
Obscure Movie Score: I've never heard of Car Wash, but it was made nine years before I was born so I'll stay safe and go 5/10.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor Top 11 Review, head over to TV Fanatic.

Forwood For TV's Best Teen Couple

2011-11-09T17:30:00.000-06:00

They might get killed in the poll, and they really are the third most notable couple on their own show... but I'm here to tell you why Caroline and Tyler of The Vampire Diaries are TV's Best Teen Couple.

While everyone watching TVD has fought over who Elena belongs with, there has been one constant: Caroline Forbes is amazing! All you need to do is check in on any one of our Round Tables this season to realize how much love there is for the blonde beauty.

After plenty of time alone, getting turned into a vampire and spending a brief stint with Matty Donovan, Caroline finally found her way when Tyler Lockwood became a major part of her life. The rest is romantic, entertaining history.

These two built a bond when Tyler triggered his werewolf gene, as the newly formed vampire helped him through the sort of transition with which she is familiar. Watching Caroline care for Tyler as he turned at the first full moon was some of the most endearing stuff we have seen on TVD.

To read the rest of my Staff Selection for Forwood as TV's Best Teen Couple, and to vote in the poll, head over to TV Fanatic.

Covert Affairs 212 Review- Back In The Field

2011-11-09T09:30:00.000-06:00

Arthur- "Turn and face the strange."

Annie- "Brecht?"

Arthur- "Bowie."

With only six episodes in this back half of Covert Affairs' second season, you'd think they would want to pack a punch with each chapter in order to make a strong impression over a short period of time. You'd be right.

Last week's return of "The Wake-Up Bomb" was a solid start to the fall session, and "Uberlin" - chock full of action, CIA secrets, some Arthur backstory, and a love interest for Auggie - was just as powerful of a piece to the Covert Affairs puzzle.

It has been a long time coming for Peter Gallagher to take center stage for an hour. We learned about how Auggie became blind earlier this year, and while this episode wasn't nearly as entertaining or revealing, it was nice to learn more about the public face of the CIA.

We didn't flashback to 1989 - because, let's face it, I don't think Gallagher can pull off age 30 anymore - but we did dig deeper into a moment in Arthur's past in order to showcase how strong his love is for Joan.

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

Covert Affairs 212 - "Uberlin"
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Terra Nova 106 Review- When The Lights Go Out

2011-11-08T13:15:00.002-06:00

Lucas- "So much to do."

Although it is still not living up to preseason expectations, at least Terra Nova reverted back to the type of show I though it would be, and the sort of show it has the best chance of excelling at, in "Nightfall."

These people are living in a world that is both hundreds of years in the future and millions of years in the past. It is a perfect opportunity to keep the audience intrigued by mysterious storylines. That's something it has failed to capitalize on since the pilot, but did a much better job here.

The meteor shutting off all power at Terra Nova became a nice opportunity for Mira and the Sixers to go looking for the box that Taylor and company could not open. Because they found it so easily after distracting the Commander with a giant dino, it was once again clear that Mira has someone on the inside.

Although it's a plot that may be a bit played out, there being a mole for the Sixers inside of Terra Nova is at least interesting.

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

Terra Nova 106 - "Nightfall"
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Homeland 106 Review- The Lie Detector

2011-11-07T09:30:00.000-06:00

After many insightful theories in the comment section of last week's review, I came into "The Good Soldier" on board with the idea that Brody could still be innocent and Saul might in fact be the turned prisoner of war mentioned in the premiere.

Homeland changed my mind in regards to that theory, then changed it back, and then turned things around once more... all within the hour. That is what has been so good about this show thus far. You are never quite sure what to think about any situation, and I don't know about you, but I still could be convinced that either Brody or Saul have been turned, both have, or neither have. It is just THAT complicated.

I began watching "The Good Soldier" on the prowl for clues that Saul was indeed the culprit in this whole mess. I came to terms with the fact that being in a prison camp, making things difficult for Carrie, and chatting with the terrorist - where he could have slipped him the razor blade - was enough to put him on our watch list.

The idea that Brody did what he could to survive while a prisoner, and then turned to Muslim prayer as a way of getting through such a tragic time of his life, started to make more sense.

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

Homeland 106 - "The Good Soldier"
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Weekly Comedy Rankings- Which Website Was It?

2011-11-05T17:30:00.000-05:00

It was a very good week for comedies, especially at the top end. Nothing legendary, but quality eps from the top five, and solid performances from everyone in the top ten. Let's take a look at my rankings...

1. It's Always Sunny
2. Community
3. South Park
4. Happy Endings
5. Modern Family
6. Parks and Recreation
7. The League
8. The Office
9. Rules of Engagement
10. Suburgatory
11. New Girl
12. Bored to Death
13. Wizards
14. Last Man Standing
15. Family Guy
16. Allen Gregory
17. Up All Night
18. Raising Hope

My MVP was Pierce Hawthorne and funniest moment was Mac needing to know every detail from the random girl's nude pictures. "There are so many of those websites, which one was it?!?!" Sunny is continuing to have a fantastic season, as I could have gone with any of the big three as my MVP this week, but in the end they just steal votes from each other.

Chuck 502 Review- Who's Luke Skywalker?

2011-11-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

Big Mike- "So listen Devon. Have you ever given any thought to do something that involves less doctoring and more making a commercial for the Buy More?"

Last week's season premiere introduced us all to Morgan Grimes with the intersect, making us all wonder whether or not this was the correct path for the show to take. "Chuck vs. the Bearded Bandit" expanded on that theme in a number of ways, both for good and for bad.

Intersect Morgan is all riled up and ready to take on all bad guys all the time. This can be good, as it proved to be hilarious when he named himself the Bearded Bandit and started talking in weird, deep voices. It also provided a ton of great action sequences because our Bearded friend wanted to fight anyone and anything that was in the way.

This was also bad, though, because he continued to get the gang into trouble. Whether it was getting his picture in the paper for being a terrible vigilante after the convenient store fiasco, or taking no regard for anyone else's ideas in running into Schneider's house all alone, Morgan forced Carmichael Industries to make a number of difficult decisions this week.

Worst of all is what the intersect seems to be doing to Morgan's brain. Throughout the episode I thought nothing of the bearded boys' actions, pointing towards intersect mood swings when trying to understand why he was so aggressive and forgetting clearly recognizable Indiana Jones references, but the final scene made it seem much more dangerous than that.

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

Chuck 502 - "Chuck vs. the Bearded Bandit"
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The Office 806 Review- Doom and Gloom

2011-11-04T09:45:00.001-05:00

Dwight- "There's no way he hasn't strangled at least one stripper. Oscar."

Even though Andy Bernard was named Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, he continues to allow others to take the lead on The Office.

On "Doomsday," it was Dwight Schrute in charge, as he came up with a dastardly plan to reduce Dundler Mifflin mistakes, which led to plenty of anguish and only a few laughs.

The more interesting of the two main stories this week actually involved a pair characters I have not enjoyed all that much during their times on the series. Gabe has been a thorn in everyone's side during his time on The Office, including mine, but he has turned things around lately.

Making fun of Daryl in order to make a good impression on Val was great, although it wasn't quite as funny as when he invited her on a date that included having wine at the cemetery. Really, Gabe? Really?!?

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

The Office 806 - "Doomsday"
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Survivor Week 8- The Switcheroo

2011-11-03T13:15:00.000-05:00

As Swoosie Kurtz screamed at Jim Carrey during the outtakes of Liar Liar...Over-actor! I loved watching Ozzy's ridiculous plan blow up in his face mainly because of his terrible job at selling it. Then again, it wasn't much of a plan to begin with. Did he really think that turning Johnny Cochran into a double agent would have garnered many rewards even if they did buy what he was selling at the final duel?

Way to go Coach for calling out exactly everything that happened over at Savaii over the last couple of days...to the T! Upolu was extremely strong in their pack of six, maybe the strongest I've seen at the merge, but of course they were going to string Cochran along for a bit in order to get him to jump the Savaii ship.

Why wouldn't he? Jim called the twerp a coward a number of times after Johnny Cochran switched over on the re-vote, and he was right. It was a cowardly move, but it was also the correct move. Being brave can also be very dumb. Why would you leave your fate in Survivor up to chance, when you can just as easily switch sides to the stronger tribe and now have a 7-4 advantage over Savaii.

As long as things go as planned, Johnny Cochran can make it to the Top Seven with Upolu before anything tricky needs to take place. The situations change so rapidly in this game, that by that time, maybe the kid makes a few friends within Upolu and they decide to keep him around over Rick or Sophie or somebody. There are too many possibilities to further yourself in this game to leave it all up to chance.

Good job Johnny Cochran.

Now let's take a look at the fantasy scores, in which Jaydon is beginning to catch up to Larry in the Champions League, thanks to Ozzy's immunity dominance. Mags seems to be heading for the Developmental League this spring as Keith was the next from his squad to hit the road. Jack has taken a large lead down in the B League, while Tippy holds strong, and Rizz and Marsh now hold steady in a tie for third.

Champions League

Larry

Brandon +60: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +97
Rick +40: Merge (+8), Votes (-24), W8 (+29)= +53
Christine +23: Duel Loss (-10)= +13
Dawn +49: Merge (+8), Immunity (+20), W8 (+29)= +106

Last Week +172: Team Total= +269

Jaydon

Ozzy -9: Duel Win (+10), Merge (+8), Immunity (+20), Idol Misuse (-10), W8 (+29)= +48
Whitney +7: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +44
Cochran +41: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +78
Edna +55: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +92

Last Week +94: Team Total= +262

Dan

Albert +25: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +62
~~Mikayla~~ -7
Jim +13: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +50
~~Semhar~~ -43

Last Week -12: Team Total= +62

Mags

Coach +51: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +88
~~Elyse~~ -142
Keith -63: Merge (+8), Votes (-24)= -79
~~Mark~~ -173

Last Week -327: Team Total= -306

Free Agents
Sophie +91: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +128
~~Stacey~~ -27

Developmental League

Jack

Albert: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +37
Whitney: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +37
Coach: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +37
Edna: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +37

Week 8= +148, Team Total= +510

Tippy

Ozzy: Duel Win (+10), Merge (+8), Immunity (+20), Idol Misuse (-10), W8 (+29)= +57
Cochran: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +37
~~Elyse~~
Sophie: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +37

Week 8= +131, Team Total= +382

Rizzo

Keith: Merge (+8), Votes (-24)= -16
~~Mark~~
Brandon: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +37
Jim: Merge (+8), W8 (+29)= +37

Week 8= +58, Team Total= +300

Marsh

~~Mikayla~~
Rick: Merge (+8), Votes (-24), W8 (+29)= +13
Dawn: Merge (+8), Immunity (+20), W8 (+29)= +57
Christine: Duel Loss (-10)= -10

Week 8= +60, Team Total= +300

Free Agents
~~Stacey~~
~~Semhar~~

The X Factor Top 12 Review- Desperate For Desperado

2011-11-03T11:30:00.000-05:00

Well, the heck if that wasn't a dramatic improvement over last week's live show. I guess all it took was getting rid of some early jitters to allow more than one of these finalists to shine vocally.

Other than the continuing annoyance of L.A. Reid desperately shoving his faux rivalry with Simon in our faces, The X Factor Top 12 was very enjoyable. Now let's get to the performances...

The Stereo Hogzz "Rhythm Nation" - Unfortunately, my positive comments don't start with this group. In fact the groups were pretty poor once again in general, but the Hogzz might have been the least successful of the three. There was just way too much focus on the choreography, and very little on the actual singing. And were those storm troopers on the stage with them?
My Score: 3/10

Chris Rene "Superstar" - Here is where the improvements began, because Chris Rene had them in spades. The artist I fell in love with during auditions was back as he combined smooth singing vocals with an original rap verse that was absolutely fantastic. When he came back with the chorus to end the thing, I thought the audience was going to fall out of their seats.
My Score: 8/10

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor Top 12 live show, head over to TV Fanatic.

Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- Top Ten

2011-11-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

It's that time again. The Quiet Pool Perspective's Bi-Monthly Power Rankings are back, and a lot has happened since early September here at the Pool. The Weekly Comedy Rankings have been working so well at helping gauge what shows are doing well on a week by week basis, that I might try to start doing the same thing with the other categories. For now, here are the November Power Rankings. Remember these take into account past and present performances, and the Honorable Mentions are not necessarily numbers 21 through 30 on my list. Enjoy.

Rank. Show (Last) red=moving down, green=moving up

10. Chuck (10) Fridays on NBC
Chuck premiered its final season last Friday, and it was pretty good. If you like Chuck, which obviously I do, then this last season is going to be fun. It's fun, it's funny, and it's easy to watch. If you've never gotten Chuck, then I just feel bad for you. That just means there's plenty more Morgan Grimes to go around for the rest of us.

9. Dexter (9) Sundays on Showtime
Some people are hating on this season of Dexter, but to me it's about the same as every other season thus far. It's just a solid show. No longer revolutionary...if I was doing power rankings immediately following its first season, Dexter would probably a Top Three show, but it still bring the thrills on a weekly basis. The religious theme of the season hasn't been a selling point for me, but hasn't really detracted from the series either.

8. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (13) Thursdays on FX
Compared to the other comedies that are airing this fall, It's Always Sunny is having a fantastic season. Is it as great as some of the early Sunny seasons? Maybe not, but I think it's a big improvement over last year. With gems like "The Gang Goes to Jersey Shore" and "Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties" this has turned out to be a great season of laughs so far.

7. Mad Men (8) Sundays on AMC
It's been a while since we left Don Draper and company, and we still have a while to go before we drop in on the crew from the 1960s. The ad men better watch their back because some of these other series are creeping up behind them.

6. Community (5) Thursdays on NBC
Community got out to a lackluster start to begin the third season this fall, but back to back classics in the alternate timeline episode and last week's Halloween episode have brought it back in the game. As long as they continue to put out hilarious eps like those every couple of weeks, Community's place in the Top Ten should be set in stone.

5. Sons of Anarchy (7) Tuesdays on FX
What a great bounce back season for the Sons. They stalled a bit in stretching out the John Teller story line over the first few weeks on the season, but the action and importance of every scene has stepped up dramatically over the past few episodes. Clay is on a rampage and I am loving every minute of it. I wouldn't be surprised if he started calling himself Hollywood Morrow and starting a new gang of bikers called the New World Order.

4. Breaking Bad (6) Sundays on AMC
For as slow and boring as the first half of the fourth season of Breaking Bad was, the second half was just as thrilling and exciting. It was basically showstopper after showstopper to end the season, finishing with a pair of absolutely fantastic episodes. As a whole it wasn't at the level of seasons two or three, but that back half of the order was as good as anything Breaking Bad has done.

3. Game of Thrones (3) Sundays on HBO
We're still waiting for the return of the Starks, Lannisters and company. I honestly don't think I can't wait that much longer.

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2) Sundays on HBO
Curb's most recent season wasn't its best, but it sure was good enough to keep it as the top comedy currently on television.

1. Justified (1) Wednesdays on FX
Justified is going to have a tough time competing with itself after putting forth one of the best seasons in television history last year, but I sure can't wait to see them give it their all.

Covert Affairs 211 Review- The Champagne Boom

2011-11-02T11:00:00.001-05:00

Annie- "How do you always know it's me?"

Auggie- "Some people call it a sixth sense. I like to call it a fifth, but that's just me."

Covert Affairs returned tonight after a long hiatus, and while "The Wake-Up Bomb" introduced some new concepts for the series, it didn't disappoint those of us that were eager to welcome Annie, Auggie and the rest of the DPD back into our lives.

The first difference was that Annie no longer lives with her sister. Viewers might have as much trouble adjusting to Annie on her own as this gorgeous spy had. It was easy to tell that she enjoyed coming home to a warm reception from Danielle and her family, and it was great to watch our heroine receive that love on a semi-nightly basis.

Those days are gone. Not only has Danielle kicked Annie out, but she spent the majority of this episode acting like a complete jerk to her sister. Thankfully, by the end of the hour, Danielle caved, and actually allowed Annie to take her time removing her stuff from the guest house.

As Jane noticed, this situation took its toll on Annie. She wasn't being herself, which is understandable considering the sibling feud and mission failure.

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

Covert Affairs 211 - "The Wake-Up Bomb"
Review
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Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- 20 Through 11

2011-11-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

It's that time again. The Quiet Pool Perspective's Bi-Monthly Power Rankings are back, and a lot has happened since early September here at the Pool. The Weekly Comedy Rankings have been working so well at helping gauge what shows are doing well on a week by week basis, that I might try to start doing the same thing with the other categories. For now, here are the November Power Rankings. Remember these take into account past and present performances, and the Honorable Mentions are not necessarily numbers 21 through 30 on my list. Enjoy.

Rank. Show (Last) red=moving down, green=moving up

20. Survivor (17) Wednesdays on CBS
The quality of scripted television severely outweighs that of reality competitions that Survivor is the only one holding it down for the latter, hanging on to the number 20 spot this time around. This season has been interesting so far. It's nice to see Coach back in the mix, I've really enjoyed the introduction of Cochran, and there a few contestants I love to hate already. All in all, it's a good mix.

19. Modern Family (15) Wednesdays on ABC
Things started out well in this third season, making me think that the second season slump was just that, a slump. Recently, though, Modern Family has reverted back to some of its season two habits that had me wondering where the first year magic had gone. Luke and Phil Dunphy are the only ones holding it down these days. They are both hilarious, but no one else really is all that great anymore.

18. Wilfred (HM) Thursdays on FX
It took the descent of a number of other comedies to move Wilfred up the rankings. Jason Gann's title character has been the funniest thing on television this season. The rest of the show had its ups and downs, but they were mostly up, which is why Wilfred makes it way into the Top 20. Not many comedies can make you laugh out loud consistently while also making you question what in the world you're doing with you life. Wilfred does.

17. Boardwalk Empire (14) Sundays on HBO
The HBO drama has been moving slowly in its second season, but it's still very interesting. Jaydon told me earlier this year that I need shows to be entertaining more than interesting. I think the combination of both makes a show fantastic. It's what Lost was best at. It's what the second half of this most recent season of Breaking Bad was great at. Boardwalk has yet to find the right balance.

16. Homeland (-) Sundays on Showtime
Talk about a great start to a series! Only five episodes have aired thus far and it is already at number 16 in the rankings! I question how well they will be able to succeed in a second season, but the ride in the early going has been one of the best I've seen in a while. Homeland is basically a trillionaire's Rubicon. Rubicon wishes that on its best day it could have been a dead homeless man's worst episode of Homeland.

15. Parenthood (19) Tuesdays on NBC
Parenthood has been on a good run as of late (yet to watch this week's episode) mostly because Haddie and Amber have had much less screen time than a year ago. When they continue to highlight Adam, Zeek, Max, and Joel, Parenthood is doing its best work.

14. Happy Endings (HM) Wednesdays on ABC
At this very moment...11:24 p.m. Tuesday, November 1, 2011...Happy Endings may be the show I most look forward to watching every week. I enjoyed it when it first aired last season to an extent, it continued to grow on me as the season went on, and by the time the second season came around I was sold. It has been between Always Sunny and Happy Endings for the best comedy of the fall thus far, and I might go with the latter by a slight margin.

13. The Vampire Diaries (18) Thursdays on The CW
Before the last episode with all the ghosts I would have been shouting from a rooftop for you to watch Vampire Diaries. Even with that most recent dud, this show is still fantastic. It's non-stop excitement, as they are never afraid to change the game or throw eight cliff hangers into one hour long episode. The addition of Joseph Morgan's Klaus has only added to the stellar cast of characters on this show.

12. The Office (4) Thursdays on NBC
When you lose the funniest character on television from last year (proven by Michael Scott's Poolie in June), you are sure to take a hit. If this was solely on current performance, The Office wouldn't make the Top 20, but being in the Top 10 for so long, and rising as high as fourth at the end of last year, will make it difficult to knock this long time favorite from its perch. Ed Helms is failing miserably in the lead role, and James Spader has brought almost nothing to the cast. Thankfully, Dwight, Jim and a number of the supporting players have kept their performances high.

11. The Walking Dead (11) Sundays on AMC
Those who complained about The Walking Dead's first season being too quick and action packed (notable critics) are probably loving this season of Walking Dead. I, on the other hand, loved the first season, and am therefore having issues with season two. It's just going at a much slower pace, with a whole lot less happening in each episode. It also doesn't help that I don't enjoy any of the characters. Give me someone to root for. Even Rick, who I want to like, does absolutely nothing for me.

Terra Nova 105- A Problem With Procedure

2011-11-01T10:15:00.000-05:00

Taylor- "How do you kill a man with a dinosaur?"

I'm having a tough time reviewing Terra Nova because it's not the show I thought it was meant to be. I'm not even sure it knows what it is, or wants to be.

The series seemed to start out as some version of a serialized science fiction drama. Then, for a couple episodes it tried to be a family drama wrapped in a dinosaur-filled world. Then there was "The Runaway," which seemed to be some sort of spy thriller, and this week's "Bylaw" felt very much like a police procedural.

I don't watch a lot of cop shows (The Mentalist and Hawaii Five-0 are the exceptions), but it didn't seem like this was a terribly bad episode of this genre. They did a decent job at keeping the identity of the killer under wraps until the end, and the setup by Jim and Taylor was nice, but early on it was blatantly obvious that it wasn't going to be the dude who confessed.

I'm not a procedurals guy due to their structure alone. I watch the the programs above for Simon Baker and the Alex O'Laughlin/Scott Caan duo, respectively. If the overarching story isn't going to be all that compelling, I need the characters I'm watching to keep me interested. But Terra Nova is yet to exude those type of compelling, or even just humorous, individuals.

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

Terra Nova 105 - "Bylaw"
Review
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