Quiet Poolcast- Fringe and Justified

In hopes of turning this into a weekly thing over at TV Fanatic, I got together with T-Time to practice a podcast this weekend. We discussed the recent happenings on Fringe and Justified, before delving into a few other shows with The Name Game and The Power Rankings.

Here's a timeline of the podcast so that you can skip by shows you don't watch.

Fringe: 0:00 - 12:00
Justified: 12:10 - 20:30
The Name Game
Chuck: 21:20 - 22:50
Suburgatory: 22:50 - 24:30
Once Upon a Time: 24:35 - 25:45
Treme: 25:45 - 27:10
The Office: 27:15 - 28:00
The Power Rankings
Game of Thrones: 29:20 - 31:05

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Chuck Series Finale Review- With All Of My Heart

Chuck- "I was an assignment, and then you fell in love with me. And I know that sounds crazy, and if I didn't know any better I'd say it's crazy too, but the fact remains you fell for me, Sarah."

I have praised Chuck over the past five seasons for its ability to fuse comedy, action and heart into what I have dubbed here at TV Fanatic the Chuck Triple Threat.

This two-part series finale succeeded in making us laugh, and keeping us on the edge of our seat, but it was the overwhelming number of emotional triggers both "Chuck Versus Sarah" and "Chuck Versus the Goodbye" set off that made it an extremely satisfying ending.

At the outset. it seemed as if the whole "Sarah lost her memory and was going to be a problem" issue was resolved before it even started, but they flipped that scenario right on its head. Sarah, in fact, never got all of her memory back from what the intersect and Quinn did to her, which just gave us more time to watch Chuck attempt to jog it.

Right down to the final minutes of the series, Chuck was reminding Sarah - and the audience - of what great times these two have had together over the past five years. That final scene, which our Round Table panel predicted horribly wrong, was so darn fantastic.

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

Chuck 512 - "Chuck vs. Sarah"
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Chuck 513 - "Chuck vs. the Goodbye"
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Chuck 511 Review- For Canada!

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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Chuck 510 Review- Bo Knows Espionage

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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Chuck Exclusive- Yvonne Strahovski Teases "Edge of Your Seat" Finale

"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.

Chuck 509 Review- The Secret Ingredient of Caring

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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Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- Top Ten

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.

Chuck 508 Review- The Game of Life

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chuck 508 - "Chuck vs. the Baby"
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Chuck 507 Review- Shaw's Shanked Redemption

Shaw- "Merry Christmas Sarah. Miss me?"

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

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

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

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

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

Chuck 507 - "Chuck vs. the Santa Suit"
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Chuck 506 Review- Awesome Short Cunnings

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"
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Chuck Exclusive- Scott Krinsky Expounds on Evolution of Jeff Barnes

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.

Chuck 505 Review- Hammered Hacking

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"
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Chuck 504 Review- Dodge Viper

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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Chuck 503 Review- Frost Yourself

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"
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Chuck 502 Review- Who's Luke Skywalker?

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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Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- Top Ten

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.

Chuck 501 Review- Zoom Goes The Dynamite

Morgan (to Chuck): You're great even without the intersect.

There were many questions regarding the intersect heading into this final season of Chuck. How would Morgan fare as the new vessel? Would Chuck be okay without the intersect helping his spy game? Would any new intersects arise in the near future?

While "Chuck vs. The Zoom" began to answer at least a couple of those, who knew the most important question we should have been asking - well, the funniest anyway - was this: what will Morgan call it when he uses the intersect? That's right, in a very Morgan Grimes fashion, the bearded wonder has renamed Chuck's intersect flash to the Zoom!

The only thing that made Morgan's new ridiculous name for flashing funnier was the fact that Casey seemed to roll with it in stride. He uttered Morgan will zoom on squash with such calm and ease that it was almost as if he was doing it to purposefully bug Chuck.

That is what is so great about this action comedy. Chuck never takes itself seriously, which is why we will begin the fifth and final season premiere Chuck Triple Threat rundown with what else made us laugh during the hour:

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

Chuck 501 - "Chuck vs. the Zoom"
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Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- Top Ten

Whoah buddy! The fall tv season is upon us, and so are the September Power Rankings here at the Quiet Pool Perspective. Here is your look at what you should be watching, or catching up on if you have missed the boat.

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

10. Chuck (11) Fridays on NBC
One final go around with the Buy More crew. Let's hope they bring it. This past season was just as weird and funny as ever, but the story lines left something to be desired. Morgan as the intersect? Chuck running his own spy organization? Shaping up to be a great ending.

9. Dexter (9) Sundays on Showtime
I keep hearing that this past season of Dexter was the worst yet, and by a good margin, but how was it any worse than two, three, four and five? Well maybe since it didn't have Jimmy Smits, it wasn't as good as three, but that's about it. This next season still won't measure up with the first one, but it will continue to be exciting.

8. Mad Men (6) Sundays on AMC
As good as Mad Men is, the longer it is off the air, the more I remember it for being boring and the less I recall that fantastic acting and writing. It's going to be hard to compete with the drunken ways of Don Draper from a year ago.

7. Sons of Anarchy (8) Tuesdays on FX
The season four premiere is tonight, and I've heard good things. I can't wait to see what Jax, Clay and company have in store for us this year. I'm mostly pumped for Jackson's new haircut...nothing like a fresh cut.

6. Breaking Bad (3) Sundays on AMC
I was looking forward to writing about how boring this season of Breaking Bad has been, but the past two episodes have pulled the season out of its own downward spiral. Walt has been fantastic throughout, Jesse was great in "Problem Dog" and Gus did the thing this past Sunday. Still, this has been as boring of a season as an all-time great show can have.

5. Community (7) Thursdays on NBC
Michael K Williams. John Goodman. Let's get it started in here!

4. The Office (4) Thursdays on NBC
I enjoyed James Spader in last year's finale as much as anyone, but I don't know how he will do as a leading man on this show. Is his character too weird? We shall see. I'm hoping Jim and Dwight pick it up and become more of the leading men, as long as Jim steps his game up.

3. Game of Thrones (5) Sundays on HBO
Season two is way too far away. I am so jealous of those who have read the books and know exactly what is going to happen when we return. I just wanna see some dragons!

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm (1) Sundays on HBO
Yes, it has been a lackluster season of Curb, so it drops out of the one spot for the first time in a while. Even this most recent episode wasn't an all-time classic, although it was one of the funnier of the year. One ep remaining to redeem itself as the best comedy on tv.

1. Justified (2) Wednesdays on FX
The new champ is here. Justified had one of the best seasons in television history this past spring, and is now the well-deserved best show on television. Will season three be able to compare? Probably not, but I have faith it won't fall like some others have.

Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- 20 Through 11

It is a sad day when the Poolie Awards are all over, but look at the bright side, there are always the Bi-Monthly Power Rankings to look forward to! The July edition is here to tell you what shows currently on the air you should be tuning in to see. Take a look and then turn on your tv.

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

20. Parenthood (17) Tuesdays on NBC
With a lot of yelling and a lot of crying, Parenthood worked its way into my heart last season. Will it continue to do so? And remain in the top 20 next fall?

19. Parks and Recreation (19) Thursdays on NBC
The favorite among many critics, and many of their blind followers, Parks and Rec is simply a solid comedy at this point. As good as he is as a straight man, it continues to be a sad state of affairs that Adam Scott is being wasted in this role. Have you seen Step Brothers?

18. 30 Rock (18) Thursdays on NBC
Hopefully Tracy Morgan doesn't have any more health issues, because his absence in the middle of last season was tough to take. If his prejudiced remarks don't have an effect on the show, it should remain where it is as another staple in the NBC lineup.

Boston Rob of Survivor

17. Survivor (20) Wednesdays on CBS
Coming off one of its best seasons, I'm excited to see how Survivor backs it up this fall. I haven't heard any rumors about who the returning contestants will be, but if they know what's good for them, Coach or Agent Phil will be involved.

16. Modern Family (15) Wednesdays on ABC
I'm trying not to be swayed by the wonders of the season one dvd I'm currently watching, because season two just didn't stack up. There's no doubt that the Emmy voters will disagree with me, but Mod Fam needs to find the magic it once had to stay this high next fall.

15. It's Always Sunny (14) Thursdays on FX
What some called a great season of Always Sunny, I thought was sub par. The gang can do better, and I have confidence they will next fall. I predict they make their way near or into the top ten at some point next season.

14. Big Brother (11) Summers on CBS
As Survivor creeps further and further up the list, Big Brother has to drop, because there really wasn't much difference between last summer's Big Bro, and this most recent Survivor. Once the houseguests take over this summer, it could be a completely different story though.

Buscemi doing his thing on Boardwalk

13. Boardwalk Empire (12) Sundays on HBO
I've seen the trailer for season two, but for some reason I'm more excited about the first season of HBO's luck than Nucky Thompson and friends to come back.

12. The League (13) Thursdays on FX
These public service announcements from our boys got me all kinds of excited for the fall. It will be a sad day if there is no NFL season, but Andre, Pete and the guys will help me through.

11. Chuck (8) Fridays on NBC
It is a shame that Chuck has fallen this far. Heading into last fall's season Chuck was number one in the rankings, and now they've fallen out of the top 10. I still enjoy Chuck for what it is, but the enjoyable romp through Burbank has had too many holes lately to keep it at the top of my list.

Chuck 424 Review- I Know Kung Fu Too

Chuck- "I'll do anything I need to do to save Sarah."

Before finding out that Chuck was renewed for a fifth and final season, I was worried that "Chuck Versus the Cliffhanger" would live up to its title and leave us all upset when the show was canceled by NBC. Fortunately, we will get 13 more episodes to conclude the series in a way seen fit by creators Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz.

So when "The Cliffhanger" ended the way it did, with Team Bartowski all fired by the CIA, the group as freelance spies, Chuck being told all that has happened to him was an elaborate plan, and Morgan downloading a new intersect, I thanked my lucky stars that it didn't all end like this.

As a season-ending episode it was fantastic, but a series finale? It would have been disappointing. Never to see Morgan show off his kung fu skills, which he so perfectly uttered to the crew in Chuck season two finale fashion, would have been brutal. Now we will get to see our favorite spies go rogue, and they will do it with the help of an intersected Morgan Grimes.

On the other hand, if it all had ended around 8:50 p.m., I probably would have wished it had been axed. Immediately following Chuck and Sarah's wedding, everything was wrapped up quite nicely, and I was satisfied with it ending right then and there. Sarah was saved from the Norseman, the two love birds got their happy day, and the Volkoff story also came to a nice conclusion.

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

Chuck 424 - "Chuck Versus The Cliffhanger"
Review
Recap
Quotes