The Pacific, "Part One": A real turkey shoot

I've already written about HBO's "The Pacific" in both a column review and a behind-the-scenes feature. So now it's time to start reviewing each episode. My take on part one coming up just as soon as I poison a billion coconuts...

"There are things that men can do to each other that are sobering to the soul." -Leckie

I watched the first two episodes of "The Pacific" back in January in the run-up to the Television Critics Association winter press tour. At the time, I liked but didn't love them, finding it hard to let go of my worship of "Band of Brothers" - which shares many producers but not an aesthetic with the new project - and to keep track of the characters and the dizzying action.

Then I watched those same two episodes on the new screeners HBO sent out a few weeks back, and I was much more engaged, and had a much easier time following the action. Some of that, of course, comes from seeing the episodes twice (just like I knew who Muck and Penkala were my second time through "Band," but not the first), and some from the improved picture quality of the final cuts.

I'm hoping the picture issue was the more important one, and that therefore those of you who just watched it for the first time tonight were absorbed by this world from the jump. And if not, I strongly recommend giving Part One (and, if necessary, Part Two) a second viewing if you have the time, as it'll greatly improve your appreciation going forward.

So, no, this isn't "Band." We spend a lot of time in this first episode on the homefront, and not even on basic training like with Easy Company. We follow John Basilone (Jon Seda) to his parents' Jersey home for a family Christmas dinner. We spend time in Alabama with Eugene Sledge (Joseph Mazzello), who can't even enlist yet because of his heart murmur. We see Bob Leckie (James Badge Dale) chatting with old neighbor Vera (Caroline Dhavernas, whom some of you might remember as the lead on Fox's "Wonderfalls"), who will later be the subject of Leckie's letter home from Guadalcanal.

And in all three cases, we see the men deal with fathers not prepared to see their grown sons go off to war, possibly never to return. Parents aren't supposed to outlive their children, but millions of fathers and mothers had to brace themselves for this exact scenario over the course of WWII.

After the long homefront prologue, the focus of part one shifts largely to Leckie, though Basilone and his buddies briefly turn up at the end, and Sledge's buddy Sid Phillips (Ashton Holmes) reads one of Eugene's letters to Leckie.

Hanks, Spielberg and company somewhat reluctantly agreed to produce those little documentary pieces that come at the top of each episode and explain exactly what was happening during the period that hour will depict. Hanks complained at press tour that when HBO initially asked for the documentaries, "those of us on the producing team that felt that context was a waste of time and once we got involved in this story, the context would be obvious." Ultimately, though, I think they turned out to be very valuable, because it means the episodes themselves don't have to waste any time explaining, say the military value of Guadalcanal and instead just give us the jarhead's-eye-view of the campaign.

So even though Leckie and his buddies argue over why they're going to this island nobody's ever heard of before, we understand, and can therefore focus our mental energy on appreciating the experience of being on the ground in this terrifying, alien(*) place.

(*) Director Tim Van Patten and director of photography Remi Adefarasin really shot the jungle as if it were another world. At one point, I jotted down the phrase "it looks like Pandora" in my notes.

In the 12 years since "Saving Private Ryan," the Normandy beach scene has become so iconic that we automatically anticipate something similar as the small boats approach the Guadalcanal shores, and the actors certainly play it up as if they're expecting that kind of hell-on-earth. Instead, it turns out that the Japanese forces have already retreated into the jungle, leaving only other Marines waiting on the beach. It's a nice meta moment, but also the kind of unexpected tension-breaker that Spielberg is often fond of using.

And there's still plenty of action to come, with the episode's centerpiece being a recreation of the Battle of Tenaru (or, as the river's referred to here and in some other places, Alligator Creek). It's at night, and completely chaotic, but I felt only slightly more confused than Leckie himself must have during it. And, in the end, things turn out exactly as Leckie's pal Chuckler predicted, with the combination of American machine guns and poorly thought-out Japanese tactics giving men like Leckie and Chuckler a chance to wipe out dozens of advancing enemy combatants.

The casual racism of the Pacific theater - the way the Japanese were demonized and viewed as something other than human - is a running theme of "The Pacific" (and a big departure from "Band," where the soldiers ultimately came to respect the Germans as being like them), and nowhere in Part One is that more obvious than the morning after on Tenaru, as the Marines take great pleasure in taunting and wounding, but not killing, one of the few Japanese soldiers to survive the night. When Leckie takes out his sidearm and kills the guy, the look on Dale's face is ambiguous enough that you can either view it as a noble moment (Leckie isn't as savage as his comrades and just put the soldier out of his misery rather than letting him die slowly as a Marine plaything) or as a vengeful, cathartic one (after that terrifying night, Leckie just wants to be able to look an opponent in the eyes as he shoots him).

The specific battle is won, and reinforcements (including Basilone) arrive, but no one is still clear why they're there, who they're fighting, or how exactly they can win against men so committed to their cause that they'll hurl themselves at machine guns and commit suicide-by-grenade if they can take one or two Americans with them.

As the other Marines sing to belated birthday boy Sid, "How f--ked are you now?"

Some other thoughts on Part One:

• The miniseries has three leads, but it also has a sort of Very Special Guest star in William Sadler, who goes to town in the role of legendary Marine leader Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller. Sadler kicks off the miniseries in fine fashion with a stirring speech to Basilone and the other non-commissioned officers, in which he declares them the backbone of the campaign and looks forward to sailing with them "across God's vast ocean, where we will meet our enemy and kill them all." Another key difference between this and "Band" is the level of esprit de corps that the Marines have, as typified by their uniform love of Chesty, who has no problem bantering with the enlisted men when he gets to Guadalcanal. (The guys in Easy Company loved each other, but weren't crazy about the Army itself.)

• As with "Band," I could probably watch the main title sequence - featuring heavy pencil sketches of several key scenes and characters, as well as a simultaneously melancholy and stirring theme composed by Hans Zimmer, Geoff Zanelli and Blake Neely (all in place of the late "Band" composer Michael Kamen) - several times a day and not get bored.

• Leckie and Phillips did, indeed, serve in the same company, though because Leckie was a machine-gunner and Phillips a mortar man, some dramatic license was taken to show the two hanging out as much as they seem to here. Leckie's other friends - Chuckler (Josh Helman), Runner (Keith Nobbs) and Hoosier (Jacob Pitts, whom "Pacific" producer Graham Yost later hired for a supporting role on FX's "Justified," which debuts Tuesday) - were all very tight with him in real life.

• I'll admit it's a bit distracting to be spending a lot of time with Sledge this early in the miniseries when he's not even in uniform yet, but Bruce McKenna's script does a nice job of establishing Sledge and Leckie as kindred spirits, with Leckie quoting "The Iliad" on the ship as the guys discuss Guadalcanal, and Sid then reading a letter where Sledge quotes "Gunga Din."

Finally, a few words on how the No Spoiler policy is going to apply to this series. History on a big scale is not and should not be considered a spoiler. If you don't know the larger points of World War II and/or the Pacific campaign, then you and your high school history teacher need to have a chat. But the lives and military careers of Basilone, Leckie and Sledge, for our purposes, will be considered spoilers. So if you know more about one or more of them going in, or read up on them over the course of the miniseries, do not share any of that info in your comments, okay? We were able to get through the "Band of Brothers" reviews without giving away who lived, who died, who got promoted, transferred, etc., and I'm sure we can do that here as well. So until we get to the final episode in 10 weeks, no talking about anything that took place after the events depicted in a given episode - and that includes anything in the previews for upcoming episodes (or, at the end of this one, for the whole series). Okay?

Having said that, what did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

30 for 30, "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks": Presence of mind

Just a reminder that, in addition to the premiere of "The Pacific" tonight at 9, ESPN is bringing back the "30 for 30" documentary series, with perhaps my favorite entry so far, Dan Klores' "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks," which I reviewed in this column a couple of weeks ago. I'm told the version that's airing tonight is going to have a bonus scene at the end from later in the Knicks-Pacers rivalry, but either way, if you like basketball - or just really smart, funny documentary filmmaking - you'll dig this. Feel free to discuss it here after it airs tonight. Click here to read the full post

Sons of Tucson: I watched so you don't have to

Back in the fall, when there were too many shows debuting for me to have the time, energy, or newspaper column inches to review, I did some triage and decided not to even bother with the likes of "Accidentally on Purpose." We're going through another busy stretch right now - and a particularly busy night tonight, with the debut of HBO's "The Pacific" and the return of ESPN's "30 for 30" - that I again had to skip over a show: Fox's "Sons of Tucson."

The short version: Tyler Labine (Sock from "Reaper") is a complete loser hired by three boys to pose as their father while the genuine article is in prison for white-collar crime. It's directed by Todd Holland from "Malcolm in the Middle," and one of the producers is Justin Berfeld, who played Malcolm's older brother Reese, and of course it has three unruly brothers, so the "Malcolm" comparisons are both inevitable and unflattering. The premise is creepy, the brothers not funny, and Labine not very well-used - unless you enjoy watching him crash into things over and over and over.

Pass. Click here to read the full post

How to dismantle a TV bomb

I tweeted this earlier today, but it's worth a mention here as well: Ken Levine found video of one of the most extraordinary moments in TV history, in which Jackie Gleason followed up on the disastrous first episode of his game show "You're in the Picture" with a live, on-air apology.

You will never see anything like this on TV today. Too many people making too much money under too much scrutiny for anyone to so publicly fall on their sword like this. But you watch Gleason apologize with such charm, eloquence and comic timing, and you understand exactly why his nickname was "The Great One." Click here to read the full post

Caprica, "The Imperfections of Memory": Slow ride

A quick review of last night's "Caprica" coming up just as soon as I get a bigger gun...

Last week's episode was the first hour of the series to really feel like a soap opera in the type of stories it was telling. Last night's "The Imperfections of Memory," meanwhile, was the first episode to feel like a soap opera in terms of its pacing. The plots moved, but very, verrrrry slowly. The episode was so flat that many of the act-out moments (which are, by design, supposed to be big and dramatic so you'll want to stick around through the commercials) were almost comical in how low-key they were (Daniel trying to puzzle out a technical problem, for instance).

Because of that, and because so much time was spent on Sister Clarice, a character who's been a colorless disappointment so far(*), this was the first time I've felt actually impatient with the series. I like the world and many of the characters, but when you're doing a pure serial (as opposed to a show with serial elements where each episode is still supposed to stand on its own), there has to be more forward momentum and urgency than I feel like we got last night.

(*) I've recently been going back through the podcast commentaries David Eick has been doing for each episode. In one of the early ones, he talks about how Clarice was originally conceived as more of a hybrid of villain and comic relief, ala Gaius Baltar on "BSG," but it was so clearly not working that they had to reshoot a lot of Polly Walker's material. Whether it's a bad match of actress and character, or the creative team not having a clear enough replacement plan once their original conception turned out to be a mistake, Clarice remains the character whose scenes most often grind the show to a halt for me.

Only two episodes left of the initial winter run. What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

30 Rock, "Future Husband": Rip Torn from the headlines

A review of last night's "30 Rock" coming up just as soon as the pervert community gets wind of morning jogging...

Better. Not great (and still suffering in comparison to "Community" and "Parks and Recreation"), but better.

"Future Husband" had the show dealing with a couple of unavoidable real-life events: Comcast's pending acquisition of NBC/Universal, and Rip Torn's ongoing problems with substance abuse and the law. So in "30 Rock" world, Don Geiss is now dead, and GE is selling the network(*) to the Philadelphia-based "Kable Town," much to Jack's horror.

(*) Somebody want to remind me where Sheinhardt wigs fits into the corporate hierarchy? Do they own NBC outright, or do they own GE outright? I always forget.

The comic highlights were, as they often are, on the margins of the episode: Tracy never giving the same take twice on the set of "A Blaffair to Rememblack," Kenneth's donkey spells, the Jamaican dental hygienist living up to Liz's stereotypical impersonation by using "bobsled" in casual conversation.

But I thought the storytelling was better than it's been in recent weeks, particularly Jack's struggle to accept the Kable Town deal and Geiss's irrelevance (and, then, death), and the way his spirits returned after Avery created the rumor about Jack being the leading candidate to run the new company. I watch "30 Rock" to laugh, but I also need to feel at least vaguely invested in what's happening with the plot and characters, and Alec Baldwin and Elizabeth Banks had a nice moment at the end there (even while not in the same room).

On the other hand, Liz's meeting with the titular Future Husband, played by Michael Sheen(*), fell a little flatter. I couldn't tell if they were aiming for "catastrophe" and instead landed on "slightly uncomfortable," or if Sheen's just too charming to be believable as a guy who wouldn't in any way click with Liz. But it seemed like things should have gone much worse than they actually did.

(*) If you like sports movies at all, I cannot recommend Sheen's turn in "The Damned United" highly enough. I neither know nor care about English football, but I loved every minute of this, thanks largely to Sheen's cocky performance as overly-ambitious coach Brian Clough.

Glad to see Tracy's EGOT quest hasn't been abandoned like so many "30 Rock" running plots before it (wherefore art thou, Liz's baby fever?), and to see someone finally act out the old "I would watch him read the telephone book" cliche.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office, "St. Patrick's Day": Get me Mega-Desk!

A review of "The Office" coming up just as soon as the baby experiences a strong male presence...

In many ways, "St. Patrick's Day" felt like a throwback episode. Not only did Dave Koechner make his first appearance in three seasons as Michael's odious buddy Todd Packer, but we had a fairly vintage Dwight/Jim prank war, a story about Michael struggling to bond with his new boss, and a very low-key vibe that felt very reminiscent of the early seasons.

"St. Patrick's Day" wasn't all that funny, with most of the comedy coming out of Dwight's quest for Mega-Desk(*), but I'll take an episode light on laughs if it feels like the show I know (which hasn't always been the case this season). I liked watching the progression of Michael's relationship with Jo, to the point where he was finally able to set aside his usual neediness and social idiocy so he could stand up for his staff - and that, in turn, finally won Jo's respect.

(*) Where a lot of Dwight's activity lately (like every scene of him at Jim and Pam's house last week) has been too over-the-top, the Mega-Desk story worked for a couple of reasons. First, it was entirely based around the office, and the best Dwight and Jim conflicts have revolved around small things like desk encroachment, Dwight's annoying exercise ball, etc. Second, now that Jim's no longer co-manager (or in any position of authority over Dwight, which he technically was ever since he came back from Stamford), the two are on equal footing and it removes some of the weird power dynamic we got from either end the last few years. Third, Jim knew exactly what Dwight was up to, yet was at times powerless to resist; again, these little fights don't work if they're one-sided. Fourth, Jim's creation of the mis-named Quad Desk, and Dwight having to crawl under it to answer his phone, was a nice reminder of another great desk-related prank, where Jim put Dwight's desk in the men's room back in season two.

So far, Dunder-Mifflin/Sabre doesn't feel that different from Dunder-Mifflin regular, but I'm very pleased with the idea of Daryl moving out of his warehouse office. Michael/Daryl is one of the show's more underrated dynamics, and I have to assume this means Craig Robinson's going to be around more for the rest of this season than he has been to date.

After the big leap forward last week, Andy and Erin are back to taking baby steps again, with her cold getting in the way of their first date. Andy's panic over this (and concern over her overly-physical interaction with her foster brother) felt a little overdone, but I'm amused every time we get a new piece of Erin's tragic backstory, here with the news about her being hospitalized from ages three to six. (She should totally bond with Lux from "Life Unexpected," shouldn't she?)

So, not a great episode, but one that felt "Office"-y enough.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Parks and Recreation, "The Possum": Do you respect wood?

Another terrific "Parks and Recreation" last night, and if you haven't yet seen the "Return of the Jedi"/"Parks & Rec" opening titles mash-up, you simply must. You will never be able to get the song out of your head, but it will be worth it; trust me.

A review of "The Possum" coming up just as soon as I tell a man he can't fart in his own car...

"The Possum" was "Parks & Rec" clicking on all levels: broad physical comedy (various bits with the possum), political satire (the possum case turning into a death penalty allegory), romantic tension (April falling even more for Andy, and Leslie finding out), and just the characters being themselves, whether it was Leslie practically shaking at the thought of being on a mayoral task force, Tom decking himself out in golf clothes or another vintage Ron F'ing Swanson diatribe about the evils of government.

I loved virtually every beat of the possum story, from small things like the Animal Control burn-outs playing "Stop hanging yourself!" to Andy bluntly recalling Shauna Malwae-Tweep's dalliance with Mark to Leslie and April hiding from the possum in Ann's bed. (And, of course, Leslie blurting out the truth to Ann and telling April to run for it.) It was a nice case of Leslie's ambition(*) coming into conflict with her strong morals, and Amy Poehler was again wonderful at getting laughs out of playing Leslie's internal struggle. She's also great at being completely deadpan while delivering lines like "Mr. Campo-Piano, those are photos of three different possums," and at getting frantic while listing all the "can't"s in her life right now ("can't make a good soup, can't do a handstand in a pool, can't spell the word 'lieutenant'").

(*) One issue I have, though, with Leslie's dreams: she thinks she'll one day be president, but she's in her mid-30s at least, and she's still an unelected civil servant in a small Indiana town. The character has evolved past the occasionally-delusional version we saw in season one, so she should know that every day that passes without her running for some kind of elected office to use as a stepping stone to another job, and another, and another, the more remote her dream is becoming. And she wasn't even planning to use the mayor's favor to help run for something, but to help get the pit/lot park finished.That becomes one of those status quo balancing acts a lot of shows have to deal with: you don't want to take Leslie out of the parks department (and away from Ron, April, Jerry and company), but her career complacency becomes hard to justify every time she talks about wanting to be the president - and to wear "a huge beautiful blue hat."

I'm also still really grooving on the Andy/April tensions, which works because Andy is both so oblivious (which we knew last season) and so sweet (which we've learned since Ann rightfully kicked him to the curb), and because April is so guarded and cynical that she's not the type to just come out and tell Andy how she feels. (And Leslie only found out because April was panicking about Fairway Frank.) There are some shows that feel like they're just dragging out the romantic tension because they can, but I completely buy that these two wouldn't be capable of making a move yet, and am enjoying them inch ever so slowly towards each other.

As for Ron Swanson, libertarian and building code violator? Well, aside from being another amusing play on Nick Offerman's own love of wood-work, it was an amusing reminder of the limits of Ron's competence and political philosophy, and the first good Mark story in a while. He was still largely the straight man, but placing him in that death trap of a wood shop to point out all the wrong things about it (the oily rags over the burning fire was my favorite) was a reminder that being the sane man in an insane situation can be a funny thing on its own.

Jabba the Hutt... Jabba the Hutt... Jabba the Hutt...

...sorry. It's catchy. Anyway, what did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

HBO's 'The Pacific' behind-the-scenes: Sepinwall on TV

As a follow-up to yesterday's review of "The Pacific," I have a behind-the-scenes feature with thoughts from many of the behind-the-scenes personnel:

Not long after HBO’s "Band of Brothers" debuted in 2001, "Band" writer Bruce McKenna was sharing a beer with Bill Guarnere, one of the World War II veterans whose story was depicted in the landmark miniseries. McKenna told the former paratrooper that he couldn’t believe what Guarnere and his Easy Company mates went through as they made their way across Europe.

"Bill said, ‘You think we had it rough? You should talk to those boys who served in the Pacific,’" McKenna recalls.

That quote was at one point going to lead off "The Pacific," a "Band" companion miniseries nearly a decade in the making. And it remains the guiding principal followed by McKenna, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and the rest of the team behind the new $250 million production.

"This is ‘Band of Brothers’ goes to hell," says McKenna.

You can read the full "Pacific" feature here. I'll be attempting to write up each episode as it airs (making it a nice bookend to my "Band of Brothers" reviews from last summer), so check back Sunday night at 10. Click here to read the full post

American Idol: The wrong four out the door?

Well, "American Idol" eliminated four more singers to get down to the top 12 finalists. Spoilers, and my thoughts on whether America got it right (hint: no) coming up after the jump...

Where to start? Well, the good news: after two weeks of eliminations that were awkwardly dominated by minority contestants (albeit minority contestants who didn't really deserve to stay), Paige Miles survived on the female side, and Big Mike Lynche and Andrew Garcia advanced for the men. Todrick Hall was, however, eliminated, and he was easily the worst of the four singers sent home.

The bad news? The other three bootees were all significantly better than several of the people who stayed. The other guy sent home was Alex Lambert, who had all the stage presence of a turnip, but who if you closed your eyes had the best singing voice of any of the remaining men. He's someone who, if he got some confidence and good coaching (and cut off the stupid mullet), could have become a really interesting contestant, and certainly had a lot more potential than either Aaron Kelly or Tim Urban. (Tim survived because he's cute, and because he very wisely chose "Hallelujah," which is one of those songs voters will love you for so long as you manage to carry a tune during it, which he did.)

Of the eliminated women, Katelyn Epperlyn was pretty uninspired this week, but she gave one of last week's best performances with her piano performance of Coldplay, and she was better than either Paige or Katie Stevens every single week of the semis. And Lilly Scott had, until this week, been one of the more memorable contestants of either gender, with her spin on The Beatles' "Fixing a Hole" one of my favorite performances of the semis. (Though I'll confess that watching her do her usual baby doll-voice thing on Patsy Cline this week made all of her affectations much more obvious, and I suspect I would have tired of Lilly within a week or two of the finals.) I wondered why the producers were wasting the pimp spot on her this week when she seemed a sure thing to advance, and speculated that maybe they saw in the vote totals that she needed the help. Turns out they were right - and that the pimp spot isn't all-powerful.

So what did in Katelyn and Lilly? As I always say about "Idol," it's better to be bad than to be mediocre. Paige and Katie both got pounded by the judges this week, and rightfully so, and so whatever fans existed for each of them dialed like crazy to try to protect them. Katelyn wasn't great, but the judges' comments were more disappointed than angry, and Lilly got lukewarm praise, which is about the deadliest reaction you can get from the judges, because it inspires nothing but complacency from the voters.

This hasn't been a very impressive crop of contestants already, and with the eliminations of Alex, Lilly and Katelyn - and even of Todrick, who couldn't sing but at least had ambition and tried to do something other than cling to a guitar and sing ballads - the field of finalists looks even less impressive. Can Crystal and Siobhan alone keep things interesting for the next three months?

What did everybody else think? How wrong did America get it? Click here to read the full post

Community, "Basic Genealogy": Now switch!

A review of "Community" coming up just as soon as I choke the Little Mermaid with a bike chain...

It's been instructive to watch the ups and downs of "Community" and "Modern Family" this season, not only on their own paths, but in relation to each other. (And I say this as someone who enjoys both shows a great deal and thinks the whole "there can only be one" attitude among some fans of each to be pretty silly.) Though "Community" got pegged at the start of the season as the colder, more ironic show with all its meta humor and pop culture references, I've found that it's not only displayed more heart over the course of the season than "Modern Family," but done it more naturally. Where "Modern Family" has felt compelled to spell out its morals at the end of each episode and make sure no one could possibly forget that these kooky people really like each other deep down, "Community" has chosen to show and not tell the story of its impromptu family coming together and learning to care about each other.

Yet this week, the roles reversed. "Modern Family" gave us the show's first episode in a long time (if not ever?) that didn't end with a voiceover where one of the actors summed up the deep meaning of the story. "Community," on the other hand, gave us an episode where the characters more blatantly talked about their feelings, about what they mean to each other, what they should take out of relationships with each other and with their biological family members, etc.

And I didn't necessarily mind it, particularly in an episode that had as much good comedy as "Basic Genealogy" did. But the slight change in style was noticeable, particularly in this week when "Modern Family" ducked away from this particular pitch. In particular, Abed reassuring Shirley that she's a good mom and Annie getting Jeff to realize he wants to be a good friend were a bit more on the nose than the show usually gets. (Though in both cases we at least got a good punchline, with Jeff again marveling at Annie's powers of manipulation, and Shirley's son winding up in the vending machine.)

As for the comedy, Troy trying to talk while crying has now become one of the show's most reliable laugh-getters, and the unlikely Troy/Britta partnership again yielded great dividends, with Britta's more-enlightened-than-thou whiteness getting her a good switchin'. Katharine McPhee was fine as Pierce's grifter stepdaughter (and certainly much more lifelike than fellow "American Idol" alum Carrie Underwood was on "HIMYM" last week), and it had been a while since we got some good Pierce/Jeff interaction. Early episodes had established that Pierce is who Jeff will become if he's not careful, and it was nice to see Pierce himself recognize this and for once have the self-awareness to try to talk Jeff out of it. (And that also had a good talking-while-crying gag, with Jeff venting about "Glee.") And the Pictionary/swastika/Rabbi Chang gag was wonderfully set-up.

NBC renewed "Community" last week, after the hilarious "Physical Education" aired. (Here's video of Dan Harmon telling the cast the good news.) This has quickly become one of my favorite things on TV, and I'm glad I'll get to see both the show and the study group grow and evolve for another year.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, "Knights of the Round Table": The incredible Mr. limp-it

Lots of Thursday TV to power through, so some quick thoughts on tonight's "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" coming up just as soon as I react to your offer of chocolate with disgust...

After the high of last week's "Survivor"-at-its-finest episode, tonight's show was inevitably disappointing, and not because my man-crush Tom got voted out, while bullying, hobbled jerks Rupert and James remain in the game.

No, I've been bracing for Tom's ouster ever since episode 2, when it was obvious he was in the minority on his team, and at least I got to watch him team up with JT and Colby for that great blindside on Cerie last week.

The problem is that the Heroes are just so inept in challenges - and, at least, had the black humor to list all of the many, many different kinds of challenges they suck at - that we're getting precious little time with the Villains. And when we do spend time with them, we're hearing almost exclusively from Russell, Rob, Coach, and to a lesser extent Parvati. I'm not sure I've heard Danielle say one word all season. Courtney's said maybe a sentence. Jerri talked more in this one than she has in a few weeks. I understand that some players are better interview subjects than others - that Russell's megalomania makes him an entertaining talking head, as do Coach's delusions of grandeur, and that Rob has been doing the reality thing for so long that he knows exactly what to give the camera crew. But unless these four are going to be the final four (and they're not, since Russell and Rob are looking to oust each other), I have a feeling we're going to see several players who've been virtually-invisible to this point go very, very far in the game, and I hate that.

Tom's initial season was even more lopsided at this stage, in that his team never lost an immunity challenge, but the editors did a much better job at balancing things out, so when we got to the merge with all of his group intact, I had a pretty good sense of who everybody was, what the dynamics were, who'd vote which way, etc.

And, yes, it was annoying to see James' smug face staying in the game, and to see Russell find the hidden idol (which will at the very least protect him through the next Tribal Council the Villains go to, whenever that might be, and which only fuels his own inflated sense of self-worth). But there are highs and lows to a "Survivor" season, and not every episode is going to be great, nor will every episode feature good things happening to the people you root for, and so I'm hopeful next week will be better - and that Rob's uncanny gift for puzzles might temporarily fail him so we can see the Villains go to Tribal again for something more interesting than watching James yell at people.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Cougar Town, "Counting On You": Touch my Blomfy!

Another fun, loosey-goosey episode of "Cougar Town," albeit one that pushed a little too hard on the Jules/Grayson sexual tension thing, with two of the three stories there to nudge them closer together. (The third was, thankfully, just a chance to see Bobby with a giant catfish on his arm.) Because the thing is, even when the stories don't work, each episode is so loaded with random asides and strange running gags (the Blomfy, gay traps, Grayson's tiny eyes) and the characters so likable together that I just go with it.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Scrubs, "Our Driving Issues": Cole's mole

If you didn't have a DVR season pass set up for "Scrubs," you may not have realized that ABC snuck it back onto the schedule last night, with the final two episodes of the season (if not the series) getting an audition as part of the Wednesday lineup. It continued the show's post-Zach Braff creative upswing, and I'll have a few thoughts coming up just as soon as I take an unintended, decisive nap...

Early on in this season, I had a hard time viewing Cole as anything but a watered-down version of Ed, the Aziz Ansari character from last season. But James Franco's Brother Dave Franco has really won me over with his cheerful obliviousness. Cole preparing alternate rhymes depending on the diagnosis was a great gag leading into the main titles, as was Cole's pride as he declared, "Hear that? I'm a tool, yo!"

The writers wisely put Cole and Bob Kelso in a room together for the emotional climax of both men's stories. Ken Jenkins tends to make everybody better when he shares a scene with them, but the combination of the shallow young man who doesn't know anything and the creepy old man who knows everything has been a winning one every time they've tried it this season.

If the Denise/Drew/Cox stuff felt repetitive of material we've seen elsewhere this season, it's still funny to see the different gradations and styles of sarcasm and misanthropy among the three, and all these years in, the writers can still come up with amusing nicknames for Cox to hang on the young'uns, here with him dubbing Trang "Talking Man-Baby."

I've come around to Bill Lawrence's way of thinking that you have to think of this season as a spin-off in everything but name, and on that score, I think they've done pretty well for themselves once JD packed his bags (and even the last JD episode was good). I don't put the chances of a return next year especially high; given the lack of promotion for this episode, you could just as easily view this as Burn-Off Theatre as an audition(*), and I think the network would have to have a pretty horrible comedy development season for "Scrubs" to come back.

(*) And for those wondering why "Better Off Ted" didn't get this treatment, the answer is simple: ABC owns "Scrubs," and not "Ted." Ownership may not matter with more successful shows, but these two get such marginal ratings that the only reason to keep either around at all is if the company has potential for some back-end money. "Ted"s dead, baby. "Ted" is dead. Alas.

That said, I went into this season wondering why the hell they were continuing, given what a strong and appropriate end to the series we got last season, and the first few episodes of this year only confirmed my fears. But "Scrubs Med School" got much better as it went along, and I'm glad I got to meet characters like Drew and Cole, and to spend a little more time with Cox and Kelso and Denise, even if this is the end. (And Bill said there won't be a proper finale for this season/spin-off, so expect another regular episode next week.) Ultimately, this wasn't "Frasier," but nor was it "AfterM*A*S*H," and it was better than the last year or two on NBC. I'm okay with that.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Modern Family, "Truth Be Told": Say goodbye to these!

A review of last night's "Modern Family" coming up just as soon as I recreate a faux pas...

"Truth Be Told" probably had too much going on, in that I didn't feel either of the Dunphy storylines so much came to an end as they ran out of time. (The Luke/Alex subplot in particular.) But it was still very funny, and a nice reminder that sometimes the singer matters more than the song, in that all of the stories were the kind I've seen a million times on other sitcoms, but worked due to the execution(*).

(*) And due to the format, of course. The pet funeral on a stage in front of a studio audience would have been painful, I think, but the quietness of it made it work.

With the show averaging 3-4 stories an episode, I tend to have my favorites, but this was the rare occasion where I felt all the plots were on par in terms of making me laugh. Just when I thought the Mitchell plot was lagging behind (since Mitchell is by design the straight man in that duo), we got the hilarious moment at the stoplight with Cam tricking Mitchell into doing the call-and-response from "Shout." Manny's story provided one great pet name after another (Shel Turtlestein is an awesome name), and another old-beyond-his-years moment for Manny as he stage-managed a dramatic confrontation with Jay in his bedroom, complete with interrogation lamp. (This was also a very good Gloria episode, between her knowing a faked crime scene when she saw one and the mourning head dress she wore to the funeral.)

Judy Greer was playing very much to type as Phil's crazy ex-girlfriend Denise, but of course she keeps getting these parts because she plays them so well, and I loved the running gag about reading Facebook messages in a sexy voice. And Alex's revenge prank on Luke was as funny as it was cruel. Poor, poor kid.

We've now had a few strong episodes in a row with the families largely separate, so hopefully I can retire that complaint. (Though I'm still looking forward to more intermingling in the future.)

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

American Idol: Big man's work

It was the guys' turn on the "American Idol" semis last night, and one man literally and figuratively towered over the rest. I'll have some thoughts on it coming up just as soon as I'm forced to imagine Randy in a bikini (thank you, Simon)...

Okay, as the intro and the picture suggest, last night there was Big Mike Lynche, and then there was everybody else. His "This Woman's Work" isn't the best version of the song I've ever heard, but it was technically very strong. More importantly, it was so confident, and delivered with more star power than any of the other guys could remotely muster. There were a number of performers last night who I thought were just fine vocally - Lee DeWyze, Alex Lambert, Andrew Garcia and, to a lesser extent, Casey James - but I fear that many of them (Alex in particular) will be swallowed up by the huge stage once they move on to the finals next week. Big Mike owned that tiny semi-finals stage, and if he can keep that level of confidence up, he's going to go much farther than the 9th or 10th place finish I pegged him for a few weeks ago when I assumed he'd make the finals largely on likability.

I disagreed strongly with the judges on a few performances. Aaron Kelly sounded awful, all warbly and strained, and I suspect if the judges refer tonight to having heard things differently when they watched the show at home, they'll be talking about him. Todrick Hall also doesn't have nearly enough voice for Freddie Mercury, though by that point you could tell the judges were just glad to not have another guy sitting on a stool and/or clutching his guitar like a wubby.

And I'm losing patience with the judges' loss of patience with Andrew. I get it: they've seen him do his one trick many more times than we have. But you know what? We haven't. And even if re-arranging female pop songs is the only club he has in his bag, I don't care, because his voice is so good, and because I'd rather hear him do his same thing over and over than hear a large number of the contestants of either gender try and fail to stretch themselves.

What was really interesting was how, for the second week in a row, Simon acknowledged that, "We're going to confuse these people so much" with their contradictory advice. Because Simon's leaving the show soon, and leaving it for another show that's largely distinguished from "Idol" by how the judges get to mentor contestants, Randy and Kara have been spurred to try much, much harder to give interesting critiques and advice. (And I've found myself shocked at how often I nod my head when Kara speaks now.) But because there are four judges, the advice is winding up all over the map, and you can tell some contestants (particularly the younger ones like Katie) are basically dooming themselves by trying to listen to all the conflicting suggestions. And I can't decide if Simon is now trying to put the brakes on the mentoring because he recognizes what they're doing to some of the kids, or because he's annoyed that "Idol" is trying to bogart one of the big gimmicks of "The X Factor."

As for who goes home tonight? I'm actually really worried about Andrew. I figure Big Mike, Lee and Casey are locks, and possibly Alex, too. Tim Urban made one of the canniest song choices on the show since Kristy Lee Cook sang "God Bless the USA." All he had to do was not fall completely on his face with "Hallelujah" (and he didn't, even if he wasn't especially good) to likely advance. So there may only be one spot left between Andrew (who's weirdly turned into the judges' punching bag) and Todrick and Aaron (who were both bad but got weirdly praised, owing partly to the horrid acoustics in the studio).

On yesterday's podcast, Fienberg and I talked about the awkward racial dynamics of the eliminations this season. So far, though, none of the eliminated minority contestants really deserved to stay. And if, say, Paige and Todrick are both eliminated tonight from the women and men's sides, those will be fair choices. But if it's Paige and Todrick and Andrew? i.e., not just the maximum number of minority contestants who could be eliminated this week, but including a guy who was easily the male frontrunner (if not the frontrunner of either gender) going into the semis? That's gonna be awkward.

My hope is that it's Aaron and Tim. Todrick hasn't been very good, but at least his performances are unpredictable, and a stylistic contrast to all the coffee-house types we have.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

'The Pacific' review: Sepinwall on TV

In today's column, I review HBO's "The Pacific," which is going to be one of my big obsessions for this spring:

Midway through HBO’s 10-part World War II epic "The Pacific," a group of frightened Marines try to take their minds off of combat by talking about family vacations. One mentions that his father always said of the Grand Canyon, "You have to see it to understand." The family eventually went there, and, the private explains, "My dad was right. Pictures don’t show it. You have to be there, looking down into it."

Most viewers of "The Pacific" won’t have actually witnessed the brutal combat on small islands like Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. But the moving (in every sense of the word) pictures of the miniseries do an incredible job of making the viewer feel like they’re looking down into the real thing.

You can read "The Pacific" review here. I'll have a behind-the-scenes feature tomorrow, and then episode-by-episode reviews every Sunday night. Click here to read the full post

Firewall & Iceberg podcast, episode 7: The Pacific, Justified, Winning Time and more

Another episode of the Firewall & Iceberg podcast has been posted, and as mentioned in both the blog post and the intro to the show, we're now up on the iTunes Store, so subscriptions, reviews and/or ratings will all be greatly appreciated.

The page at NJ.com has the usual rundown of topics and times, and we appear to have consistently figured out how to keep the sound quality good. And, as I did over at the other site, props to David J. Loehr for coming up with the logo(s). Click here to read the full post

24: Tell me when the cancellation is!!!!!

Last night, reports started coming out that Fox is on the verge of declaring this season of "24" the last, in part because of ratings, in part because of expense, in part because Fox needs timeslots to groom new hits, and the one after "House" is some of the best real estate they have. Both reports agree that it's unlikely another network would pick up such an expensive show, especially since Fox's movie studio wants to go forward with a "24" feature film (which can't be filmed until the show is off the air, due to scheduling problems).

As you know, I've had little patience for "24" these past few years, and abandoned any plans to watch this season after Herc from "The Wire" and Starbuck's hillbilly ex-boyfriend showed up in the third episode. So I'm not the best person to ask whether now is the right time for the show to end, since I'd have ended it a long time ago. I haven't heard great things about the season even from more devout fans, but I almost checked out the recent string of episodes with Rami Malek (pictured above with Kiefer Sutherland) because Malek gives one of my favorite performances in HBO's "The Pacific" (review coming tomorrow).

So for those of you who have stuck with the show through thick and thin, how has this season been? And are you okay with the idea of the show coming to an end? Particularly if you get a big-screen Jack Bauer adventure out of it? Click here to read the full post

Lost, "Dr. Linus": Follow another leader

A review of tonight's terrific "Lost" coming up just as soon as I make another trip to Marshall's...

"Maybe you should be the principal." -Locke

Whatever issues I've had with this season of "Lost," there is no problem with the series so great that a little Michael Emerson can't fix it.

Here, Emerson (and a huge group of other creative types, including writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and special guest director Mario Van Peebles) helped give us easily the most compelling episode of this final season so far, one where all the tumblers clicked into place and I was reminded in so many different ways of why I love "Lost," past, present, future and alternate timeline.

Hell, it was even an episode where I enjoyed all the Jack scenes, and given that I'm told I have a pathological hatred of the character, that's saying something.

For now, I'm sticking with my theory that the flash-sideways are an epilogue in advance - that this is where and when the characters all wound up in the aftermath of the war between Smokey and Jacob's forces. (I have no idea if I'm right, nor will I be upset either way when the reveal comes, but right now it's important for me to have some idea of what the alt-timeline scenes mean, even if it turns out I'm completely wrong. Otherwise, there's no weight to them this late in the "real world" timeline.)

During last week's discussion of "Sundown," some of you speculated that if I'm right, we're seeing key differences in the endings of the characters who sided with Jacob and those who went with Smokey. Sayid goes with Smokey, and in the alt-timeline has a kind of monkey's paw fantasy where he's near Nadia but not with her, and still placed in situations where he has to be the killer he doesn't want to be. Hurley, meanwhile, goes with Jacob and ends up far happier and luckier than he was in the original timeline.

And Ben, who ultimately and movingly turns his back on Smokey at the end of this one, winds up in an alternate life that turns out to be more good than bad. Yes, he's only a European History teacher to a mostly-disinterested group of students, but he has a much healthier relationship with his dad than he did in the timeline we know, has the respect and admiration of Alex (even if Alt-Alex was never stolen from her mom), and turns out to be more capable of choosing love over power than the Ben we know ever could...

...until, that is, we see that our Ben deeply regrets the decision he made with Alex. And faced with the choice of regaining his crown under Smokey or being just another soldier in the army being formed by Jacob's chosen, Ben rejects power in favor of penance, of doing the right thing as a pawn rather than the wrong as a king.

Ben Linus, really, is a character who shouldn't work at all. Because he lies and manipulates at every turn, he could so easily exist solely as crutch of the writers, there to nudge the plot in whatever direction they deem necessary, and to mix lies and truths so deftly that the viewers can never be sure what to believe. But the genius of Michael Emerson's performance is the conviction with which he delivers every one of Ben's lies and shifts in allegiance. I know I should never believe any words that come out of Ben's mouth (at least, not in this timeline), but time and again, I fall for it.

And I sure fell hard for that climactic scene with Ilana, as did Ilana herself. I have every reason to distrust Ben, and she has every reason to put a bullet in him, and by the end of his monologue about the reason he killed Jacob(*), I felt for the little weasel, and I believed that he's finally abandoned his quest for power and is maybe capable of doing the right thing for its own sake, and not because he might benefit from it. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out Ben played me (and Ilana) once again, but Emerson sold me, just like he always does.

(*) One of the unavoidable design flaws of "Lost" is that characters drift in and out of the narrative so often that it becomes hard sometimes to keep all the relevant details in mind. By the time Ben got all stabby with Jacob, it had been so long in real time since Alex was killed - and even a month since Smokey-as-Alex laid a guilt trip on Ben in "Dead is Dead" - that I left her death out of the equation of vengeance Ben calculated before he put the knife in. At the time, I was just thinking of how frustrated Ben was to have spent all those years as the island's leader without ever actually hearing from Jacob, but of course he'd be consumed with rage that he let his "daughter" be killed in service to this man who had so systematically ignored him. So when Ben said it to Ilana, it gave that climactic moment from "The Incident" even more resonance.

My fear about this final season was that it would devolve into a contest between two supernatural arch-rivals I don't care a whit about, but an episode like this one nicely reframed the story as being about the human cost of Jacob and Smokey's war. Richard has spent centuries blindly following Jacob's orders, and the knowledge that Jacob apparently died with his plan unfinished has made the immortal man a suicidal one. Ben is similarly crushed by sins he committed (or allowed to happen) in Jacob's name. And Jack, our man of science, who wants a rational explanation for everything (even though he's singularly incapable of asking the sorts of questions that might elicit them), was so transformed by his visit to Jacob's lighthouse - finally unable to deny the grand plans of the island any longer - that he was willing to risk his own death because he had faith, deep down, that the dynamite wouldn't go off.

The scene in the belly of the Black Rock was a great one for Matthew Fox, so well-played that I was mostly able to set aside my usual frustration at how none of the Lostaways are ever able to get a straight answer out of one of The Others. Richard shows up and says "you wouldn't believe me if I told you" where he was, and when Jack offers to try, Richard says, "Not yet."(**) And when I thought for sure Jack was going to use Richard's desperate need for Jack to play Dynamite Dr. Kevorkian to force some answers out of him, he instead lit the fuse, and left their relationship in a place where Richard now considers Jack to be the one with the answers. But because Fox and Nestor Carbonell were so good, I was able to suppress most of my eye-roll reflexes and just go with a very cool moment.

(**) Immediately after Richard says his maddening "Not yet," Kitsis and Horowitz provide a very meta exchange between Jack and Hurley, where Hurley asks why Jack would trust Richard, and Jack replies, "At least he's not stalling." For that matter, I wonder if Alt-Arzt's ability to get Alt-Ben to so quickly explain his plan was also a kind of meta-commentary - that of course Arzt, who in his brief tenure on the show served as a guy who voiced many of the complaints and questions the audience had in season one, would be much better at getting people like Ben to talk than Jack ever was. Suddenly, the idea of an alternate version of the show built around what Arzt, Nikki and Paolo were up to - "Expose" as a series - sounds almost intriguing, and not just because Miles finally dug up the diamonds that got buried with those twits.

Smokey only has a brief cameo, and we don't see any of the people who willingly or reluctantly joined his army, but at least the two sides of the conflict are starting to take shape. Ben has cast his lot with Ilana, and Jack, Hurley and Richard have now joined them (in the kind of dialogue-free, Giacchino-heavy sequence the show so effectively ended many episodes on in seasons past). And in the episode's final, mostly chilling(***) moments, we see a wild-card enter the mix, as Charles Widmore arrives in a submarine, intentions unknown.

(***) Would have been more chilling, of course, if I hadn't spotted Alan Dale's name in the guest credits. Lindelof and Cuse have said there's no way around that, because of SAG rules - even though "Battlestar Galactica" famously managed to circumvent those rules once in an episode where listing the actor in question's name would have ruined everything - and it's a shame. I'm sure the Guild has much larger problems to worry about than credit placement, but it would be nice if they could be more flexible on waivers for shows like this that often depend so heavily on surprising you with the return of a familiar face.

Clearly, this is the "someone" Jacob said was coming to the island, and he has the resources to tip the balance of power one way or the other, or to make things even worse if his agenda runs counter to both parties.

Hell of an episode. Can't wait for the next one.

Some other thoughts on "Dr. Linus":

• One name I was very happy to see in the guest credits: William Atherton, who hit the D-bag trifecta with roles in three of my favorite '80s movies ("Ghostbusters," "Die Hard" and "Real Genius"), and who was perfectly cast as Principal Reynolds, a man sleazy enough to deserve Alt-Ben's hate, but also slick enough to out-maneuver Ben. When Atherton had a recurring role on the second and final season of "Life," I made it my mission to feature an Atherton '80s movie quote in each post about an episode he appeared in. I exhausted most of the good ones then, so instead, go watch this scene from "Real Genius."

• Okay, I recognized Chaim Potok's "The Chosen" (a nice riff on the idea of "candidates") among the books Miles found in Sawyer's tent, but could someone tell what the Benjamin Disraeli book was?

• And speaking of candidates, Ilana confirms that they're candidates to replace Jacob, not Smokey.

• With a bunch of characters now hanging at the beach, armed with rifles, should I get my hopes up about completing the circuit of the outrigger shoot-out? Or am I better off, again, assuming that's one of those things Team Darlton decided to drop for season six?

• A nice touch in the scene with Alt-Ben and Alt-Roger: Ben gives his father gas, only here it's something to keep him alive (oxygen), rather than to kill him (the nerve gas from the purge).

• I also liked that, in the final scene between Alt-Ben and Principal Reynolds, it's implied that even though Ben dropped his demand to take Reynolds' job, he's still finding ways to exploit the power of those e-mails, here getting him to re-open the History Club. (And five'll get ya ten that Arzt winds up having to supervise detention, albeit with a better parking space.)

• Hurley drops his usual "Star Wars" references to ask if Richard is a cyborg like from "Terminator."

• The scene on the beach at the end is the first time Sun has seen Hurley or Jack since the Ajira crash, right? Again, characters flit in and out that I'm worried I might have forgotten something. In character time, it's only been a few days (or weeks at most) since she's seen them, but it's been a while for us.

After reminding you about the No Spoilers rule - which extends to discussing the content of the previews for next week's episode - let me ask... what did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Parenthood, "Man Versus Possum": The Bob Dylan of autism

A review of tonight's "Parenthood" coming up just as soon as I forget my worry beads...

"Parenthood" has a huge cast, and this early in the series, I'm sure there's both internal and external pressure to service them all as much as possible. Down the road, I wouldn't be surprised to see episodes where, say, we focus largely on Sarah and her kids, with the other family members seen only from Sarah's perspective. For now, though, Jason Katims and company want "Parenthood" to be clearly an ensemble, and that means some stories wind up more undercooked than others.

Once again, the plot with the strongest sense of focus was Adam coping with Max's Asperger diagnosis - or, rather, living in denial of it until being set straight by "the Bob Dylan of autism."(*) Peter Krause did a very good job at playing the confusion and need for a quick-fix that many dads would feel in that situation, and I thought Adam and Kristina's half-intimidated, half-horrified visit to meet the Asperger-veteran parents was really funny without really seeming to make too much fun of the other couple. (By the end, you could tell the Braverman's were suffering from information overload but were also kind of impressed that the Lessings know so much, even if sometimes they just let their own kid jump around the house and play loud music.)

(*) Bob Dylan did, in fact, have several albums hit number one, both here and in the UK, so is Max limiting his definition of "record" to mean "single" (where he got as high as #2 a few times)? Or did the creative team screw up not with the Asperger's, but with the music knowledge? I also found it interesting that, after the pilot featured Dylan's "Forever Young" at several points, an episode that repeatedly namechecked Dylan instead closed with Paul Simon's "St. Judy's Comet." I suppose they don't want to get pigeon-holed as "that show with the Dylan soundtrack." That, or his songs ain't cheap enough to license every week.

There was also another very entertaining scene with all the siblings (plus their mom) coming together after the auction, and partaking of the weed Adam found in his yard. These actors work very well together, and while seeing the whole clan get together this often is probably the show's biggest fantasy, seeing the brothers and sisters interact helps give us a clearer sense of who they are when they're each off in their own stories.

And those other individual plotlines were a bit sketchier than Adam's. Crosby, in particular, feels like he's not getting enough screen-time - and I'm surprised to be making that complaint about the Dax Shepard character in a show that co-stars Peter Krause, Lauren Graham and Erika Christensen - as I really enjoyed his breakfast date with his son (the grown-up questions thing, delivered deadpan by Shepard, was quite funny) and want to have a better sense of his relationship with Katie, which is mostly played as a goof.

I feel like I've seen the exact story with Julia feeling jealous of the stay-at-home mom on another show, but I'm blanking on what show that was. (Did Rachel Griffiths go through the same thing on "Brothers & Sisters," maybe?) Right now, Julia's the sibling who most verges on cliche, so I want to see where they take her in the future.

And Sarah actually got two stories in one, with her losing out on the dream job (though it was ambiguous whether she ever really had a shot, or if even the positive first interview was the guy sucking up to Adam by proxy) and then going to bat for Amber with her principal. Graham has the most experience of anyone in the cast on trying to do comedy and drama simultaneously, and you can see the creative team leaning on her for that, as we get to see Sarah be amusingly bumbling at picking out a good interview outfit, then awkward but ultimately charming in that interview, and then full-on mama bear in trying to get Amber out of the 10th grade. I also think Graham and Christensen play well off each other (or appear to, since their interactions are usually over the phone).

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

American Idol: Give it a Wurlitzer

Okay, with "American Idol" airing its only hour-long Tuesday performance episode for a long stretch, I'm gonna offer up some quick thoughts on the top 8 women while "Lost" buffers in the DVR...

As Simon and Ryan said (and as Adam Bonin at Throwing Things likes to point out), this is one of the most dangerous weeks of the season, where each contestant has the worst odds for going home until Top 4 night of the finals. Of the 8 performances, there were two complete duds in Katie Stevens wavering, sharp, froggy "Breakaway" and Paige Miles' fumbling "Smile," but as we know, it's often better to be bad on "Idol" than to be mediocre, and if either of those two have any kind of fanbase, they'll be dialing like crazy.

Crystal Bowersox was once again clearly the best of the night, and talent-wise the class of the competition. She picked what could have been an incredibly predictable song for her in Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason," but she changed it up with the electric guitar and her phrasing and poise and, as the judges say, made it her own. I don't know that Simon's right that she's the one to beat, because I'm still not sure her style will have wide enough appeal, but she's in no danger of going home anytime soon.

Lilly Scott should also be safe, though I'm surprised they felt the need to give her the pimp spot tonight. Usually, that spot in week 3 of the semis goes to a singer the producers want to help make it to the finals - and who they feel needs that help - and I had assumed Lily was one of the female frontrunners. So either her vote totals aren't as impressive as I had thought, or the producers just want to goose her to give Crystal some obvious competition. I thought Lilly was very good, but she tends to come across to me as a bit more predictable and affected than Crystal does. Still, she's safe.

As for the rest? Didi Benami finally got her act together, picked up her guitar and did a lovely, sultry rendition of "Rhiannon." Hopefully it wasn't too little, too late for her. After being slightly overpraised by the judges last week on the basis of a single power note, Siobhan Magnus was actually much stronger technically this week on "House of the Rising Sun," I thought, but the judges were for some reason not that impressed, and I'm worried about the lukewarm praise. I'm also worried for Katelyn Epperly, who didn't get the praise she deserved last week and then was weirdly karaoke tonight. And Lacey Brown is still by far my least favorite of the baby doll-voiced trio of herself, Lilly and Didi.

Ideally, Lacey and one of Katie or Pagie would go home (one from the Mediocre and Forgettable column, one from the Bad and Deservingly ousted column), but the only two I feel completely confident in are Crystal (based on track record) and Lilly (based on the power of the pimp spot).

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Big Bang Theory, "The Precious Fragmentation": It's one ring in a box!

Very funny "Big Bang Theory" last night, I thought. I probably would have watched an entire episode that was nothing but the guys pulling different items out of their cardboard box of geek treasures, and/or an entire episode of the guys trying to psych each other out in their hands-on-a-hard-ring competition, while still making the effort to move together ("And plie! And releve!"). As things stand, it probably worked that we only got a bit of each, but I enjoyed both greatly.

The one flaw, as usual, was that Leonard and Penny as a couple just don't work at all, and having Penny constantly ask herself why she's dating Leonard doesn't really solve that problem.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

How I Met Your Mother, "Of Course": Butt, um

A review of last night's "How I Met Your Mother" coming up just as soon as I get on a stool so I can fall off it...

"Of Course" was frustrating me for a good chunk of its running time, then saved itself in the final minutes with a reminder that "HIMYM" can lean on its romantic side even when the comedy isn't quite working.

Jennifer Lopez was fine (far more lifelike and definitely more adept with comedy than Carrie Underwood) and worked well as a woman Barney would go to great lengths to bed.(*) But the comedy surrounding Barney's quest, and around Ted and Marshall recognizing how badly they'd treated Robin, was incredibly broad and/or weird. Even though the show's established that the gang for some reason cheers on Barney's slutty ways, I don't buy the guys actually singing a song about it, and going on and on with it in front of Robin.

(*) I'm not sure if everybody's commercial pattern was the same as in NY/NJ, but immediate after Barney threw up into the Stormtrooper helmet, we got an ad for J-Lo's awful-looking new movie, which began with her vomiting as well. They're puke kindred spirits!

And speaking of songs, Ted's ode to the Super-Date was just bizarre. "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" worked in the context of the show because Barney's a larger-than-life character, and also because the number took place entirely in Barney's head. But Ted's supposed to be more down to earth, and he was doing it in the middle of the bar, even though the rapidly shifting settings suggested we were supposed to view it as another kind of fantasy. I was amused briefly, but tonally, it didn't work.(**)

(**) And I know you can wave off either song as being a product of Future Ted the unreliable narrator, but I think there comes a point where that becomes a crutch for the writers and/or the fans to excuse anything that shouldn't fit - particularly when we don't hear Saget talking about how this isn't really what happened, but how he'd like to remember it.

There were still some funny moments here and there - the casual return of Robin's "But, um" catchphrase, Anita putting poor Mike the cameraman on her hook (only an episode after Robin allegedly let him off hers), Barney discussing the tininess and softness of his fiber - but "Of Course" really didn't start to work until we got the scenes from previous episodes intercut with new scenes of Robin being upset about Barney.

Robin's seeming ease with seeing her ex-boyfriend turn into the biggest himbo in Manhattan has stuck out like a sore thumb since the break-up episode, and it needed to be dealt with. Beyond that, the closing scenes of "Of Course" gave Barney back some necessary depth and humanity for the first time since he and Robin split. I'd like to think this is all greasing the wheels for a Barney/Robin reunion - that the break-up, and then all the talk by the producers that they missed telling stories about Barney seducing random women, were actually a fake-out before a Barn-man & Robin 2.0 turns out to be a much more successful and fun relationship - but even if it doesn't, Barney as two-dimensional character gets old after a while, even when played by NPH.

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Chuck, "Chuck vs. the Beard": Do you hear the people sing?

A review of tonight's "Chuck" coming up just as soon as I hear the sound of liberty...

"My best friend is a spy? This is unbelievable. This is the best news I've ever heard!" -Morgan

I'm absolutely on-board with the darker direction "Chuck" has taken this season. If the characters don't grow and the stakes don't get raised, then we might as well be watching repeats from season two.

But for one week, "Chuck" was back to being 100% fun - even in the midst of an episode with a huge status quo change and a chilling cliffhanger - and it was a pleasure to watch.

Because Morgan is Chuck's best friend, he seemed like an obvious choice to be the first civilian to find out about Chuck's secret identity. Instead, the show zig-zagged and let Captain Awesome in on the truth, and got some very good comic and dramatic mileage out of Devon struggling to reclaim his awesomeness in the face of entering this dangerous new world. And once Awesome found out, it seemed like we had missed our window for the little bearded one to also join in.

Instead, Morgan Guillermo Grimes became an unofficial member of Operation Bartowski in the most raucous way possible, helping Chuck foil the siege of Castle and giving his best friend back his mojo by providing him a sympathetic ear to listen to. Awesome's no good because he's too busy freaking out, Casey's not exactly empathetic, and Sarah and Shaw are useless because they're causing so much of Chuck's emotional turmoil. So bringing Morgan into the circle of trust, and that in turn leading the Intersect 2.0 to come back on-line (and finally help Chuck use the bo staff that caused him so many difficulties back in "Chuck vs. the Three Words") felt perfect, as did Morgan's ecstatic reaction to greeting Sarah and company outside the Orange-Orange freezer. I had a smile roughly the size of Morgan's for the entire second half of "Beard," going back to when Morgan first followed the bad guys into the Castle tunnels.

And I loved how, even within the revelation, the show again zigged where I expected a zag. We were being set up for Morgan to feel hurt and betrayed at the news that Chuck kept this enormous secret from him, but instead was both relieved to get a good explanation for all of Chuck's shadiness, and happy for his friend that Chuck is doing something, well, awesome.

It's hard to remember now, but at the start of the series, Morgan was easily the least-popular regular character, always getting in the way of Chuck's missions and generally being mopey and weird. When the show came back for season 2, Schwartz, Fedak and company figured out that the character worked much better when he was supporting Chuck (even when he didn't realize he was). Letting him in on Chuck's secret, and making him excited about it - accepting that, while he's never destined for greatness, he can assist in Chuck's greatness - was a wonderful continuation of that trend, and an outstanding showcase for Josh Gomez.

I particularly liked that period in between when Morgan discovered Castle and when he learned about Charles Carmichael. It would have been really easy to play it as Morgan acting smug and superior to what he thought was his cowardly pal Chuck, but Gomez low-keyed it. You can't say he reacted the way a real person would in that situation, because "Chuck" is frankly so ridiculous - and the Buy More corner of "Chuck" even more ridiculous - that reality doesn't really figure into it, but within the show's universe, I believed that this is how Morgan would react, and that he'd try to help Chuck get through this ordeal while he played hero.

"Beard" was the last "Chuck" episode written by Scott Rosenbaum (who's now hopefully salvaging "V"), and very much in the vein of the Rosenbaum-scripted "Chuck vs. the Santa Claus" from season two, with bad guys again infiltrating the Buy More because it's so obvious there's a spy base of some kind hidden there(*).

(*) Which brings us to our "Chuck" Plot Hole of the Week, if not of the series: now that two different evil spy organizations have twigged to the place's existence, what exactly is the point of Chuck still working there as a cover identity? Other than, of course, nobody on the show rightly wanting to say goodbye to Morgan, Big Mike and Jeffster?

It was also the first episode of anything directed by Zachary Levi. That's a big risk to hand such a crucial, mythology-altering episode to a rookie, but I thought Levi acquitted himself really well, even if there were some inevitable growing pains from a first-timer. The scene where Casey throws the flash-bang grenade into the Ring agent's hotel room was shot in an impressionistic, Hey, look at how much I'm directing! style, and the montage of Buy More employees cocking their toy guns in the midst of their revolt also called attention to itself. But I thought Levi nailed most of the humor (loved the way the camera initially drifted past Jeff shoving the apple into his mouth, as if this lunacy is so typical of the Buy More that it's not worth dwelling on) as well as the more human stuff involving Chuck and Morgan. Give him another turn or three behind the camera and I suspect the self-consciously showy stuff will go away and Levi will give us an episode that feels entirely on-format. And I can never complain about a Jeffster! performance being filmed like a rock concert, now can I?

And in the meantime, Morgan knowing Chuck's secret opens up a world of fun possibilities for the show, just as the cliffhanger with Casey getting a call on the Ring communicator opens up a host of scary ones.

Terrific episode (and next week's is even better).

Some other thoughts:

• Fienberg was much less happy with the episode than I was, taking more of an issue with the direction and tone than I did. He does raise one point with which I wholly agree, and that's that it felt redundant to have two episodes in a row climax with Chuck realizing he still loves Sarah. That's why I feel like "Chuck vs. the Fake Name" would have been better off playing up the Peter Parker/Mary Jane scenario with Chuck's reasons for dumping Hannah, and/or why I think this episode's climax could have worked just as well if Chuck got his mojo back simply from being able to unburden himself to Morgan, having already recognized his Sarah-love.

• Interesting that Casey and company are all so convinced that Awesome can handle Chuck's secret better than Morgan, when so far all the evidence points to the contrary. Looks can be deceiving. I'm still as confused about what The Ring does and doesn't know about Awesome, Chuck, etc. as I was back in "Chuck vs. Operation Awesome", though.

• This week in "Chuck" music: Jesus Alejandro El Nino's "Bululu" (Chuck calls Awesome during his vacation), the Billy Idol & Generation X version of "Dancing with Myself" (Chuck bored in Castle), Dawes' "Bedside Manner" (the final montage), Martin Padilla's "Arroz Con Pollo" (Shaw and Sarah locked out of Castle), and, of course, Jeffster! covering Credence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son."

• This week in "Chuck" pop culture references: pick an iconic revolutionary or counter-culture movie moment, and the Buy More revolution had it, but most notably Big Mike paraphrasing the "they will never take... our FREEDOM!" speech from "Braveheart." The Buy More staffers all take a blood oath, which itself is an idea from countless movies and shows, but which I always attach to this scene from "The Untouchables." The staff also raises a Buy Moria flag like the Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima, and two Buy More staffers recreate the iconic Times Square kiss from the end of World War II.

• Between the Buy Moria flag and the mace collection, it's nice to see that Millbarge is dead but not forgotten at the Buy More.

• The revolution was fairly silly, but at least it gave us Casey convincingly talking his way into it by telling Big Mike and company, "The only thing I hate more than hippy, neo-liberal fascist anarchists are the hypocrite fat cat suits they eventually grow up to become."

• With Hannah having quit (not surprising, since she only took the job to be around Chuck) and Anna Wu still in Hawaii with Morgan's Benihana rival, the Buy More could use a little estrogen. If there's a fourth season, and if Chuck is somehow still working there, I'd love to see even a recurring female Nerd Herd'er - or, failing that, to have General Beckman decide to have Sarah and Casey swap jobs. (That's a win-win, come to think of it: Casey would grunt even more about having to push yogurt instead of Beastmasters, and Sarah would get to dust off her old Nerd Herd uniform from "Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer.")

• I remember Brandon Routh having a few funny moments in "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," but it was still a little startling to see Shaw being so goofy while posing as the Buy More CEO to calm down Big Mike's revolutionaries.

• Has someone been keeping a running tally of the number of times characters have had to don or remove rings this season? Here, it's Shaw and Sarah briefly posing as newlyweds while off on the decoy mission.

• Another, more minor plot hole about the Castle siege: how did the bad guys not find the hatch in the floor of the Buy More's AV room? That's way more obvious than the secret passage behind Casey's locker.

• First Subway product integration of the season, with Chuck and Morgan scarfing down meatball marinara subs while playing a little Duck Hunt. Mmm... meatball marinara...

Finally, I want to thank everybody for, as of this writing, keeping such a clear head in the discussion of "Chuck vs. the Fake Name." Some liked it more than others, but everyone was able to disagree without attacking each other or going crazy, and that's much appreciated.

Given the Casey cliffhanger, let me remind you of another of the commenting rules: the No Spoiler policy, which extends to discussing the previews for upcoming episodes. Please refrain, and don't even allude to the contents of it, okay?

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