Community, "Contemporary American Poultry": Rags to riches

A review of last night's "Community" coming up just as soon as throat surgery humanizes me...

I talk a lot in these reviews about how much pop culture referencing is too much, and "Contemporary American Poultry" took the idea about as far as it could go with an extended, marvelously-executed homage to "Goodfellas." We got Abed-as-Henry-Hill voiceover, push-ins, doo-wop on the soundtrack, freeze-frames, the extended piano coda to "Layla" accompanying a massacre of sorts, and even a brief homage to the end of the famous tracking shot of Henry and Karen at the Copa(*). There was also a bit of "The Godfather" thrown in, with people kissing Abed's ring, while the door was closed on Jeff as if he were Kay Corleone.

(*) Poniewozik wondered why they didn't do a full-on tracking shot, and the answer to that is that they take forever to shoot, and no weekly sitcom has that kind of time in the schedule.

All of that was very well-done, and appropriate for an Abed spotlight episode, in that Abed tends to relate to people through popular culture. And it led to a very nice character moment between Abed and Jeff in the kitchen, and it's the show's commitment to its characters, and also to showing how a community works (here with the chicken taking on too much currency) that makes it something far richer and more interesting than just a live-action "Family Guy." And because the "very special episode" conversation between Jeff and Abed felt earned and true to both men, it then gave the show license to throw in the "Sixteen Candles" gag at the end.

Some other thoughts:

• The "streets ahead" running gag is apparently Dan Harmon getting one final bit of revenge against some guy who attacked him on Twitter. I'm sure others of you can fill in the background on this.

• A monkey with the name Annie's Boobs was just the comedy gift that kept on giving, wasn't it?

• Add Alison Brie to the list of sitcom actors I want to see dancing as often as possible, after she busted out both The Running Man and The Robot in celebrating her new backpack.

• Shirley had a great line about Abed stealing Sexy Dreadlock Guy and how Tyler Perry has made a lot of movies explaining why that's wrong.

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

30 Rock, "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter" & "Khonani": Nerds!

A quick review of last night's "30 Rock" double-feature - and why I may be taking a break from reviews for a while - coming up just as soon as Santa Claus takes a shower...

There was a time when getting two episodes of "30 Rock" in one night would have been the highlight of my TV week. The way this season has gone, though, seeing those two episodes on my DVR's list of scheduled recordings only filled me with dread. Watching only one "30 Rock" has felt like a chore lately, and two in short order - both featuring plots where Jack tries and fails to choose between Avery and Nancy - was even moreso.

And where I was able to say earlier this season that even the weak episodes had enough funny jokes on the side to make the viewing time worth it, I mostly spent this combined hour saying to myself, "Okay, I recognize what joke they're going for here" - case in point, both Jack's situation and the janitor spat as Conan/Leno parody(*) - but never actually laughing.

(*) A few weeks back, some of you convincingly argued that the Tracy-as-Bizarro-Tiger-Woods story worked independently of the ripped-from-the-headlines aspect, since it was also a nice role reversal for Tracy (and since plenty of other celebrities have also gotten in trouble for stepping out on their wives). With Khonani, there was no way to view it as anything but Conan, and yet it already felt dated, since the actual mess happened months ago, and since Conan ultimately chose TBS over Fox. The speed with which "South Park," "The Daily Show" and some other series can respond to events in the news like this has made it a lot tougher on shows like "30 Rock" that work on a more elongated schedule.

I don't want to be the crank making the same complaints about episodes week after week, and it's entirely possible that if I can step away from having to write about each episode - a process that requires me to figure out what worked and what didn't, and why - I might start to enjoy "30 Rock" again. (That plan worked wonders for me and "Grey's Anatomy," where I still watch it most weeks and can focus on the parts I like, since I don't have to write about the parts I don't.) So until we get a "30 Rock" episode or two that makes me laugh early and often the way the show used to, I think I'm hiatus'ing it from the blog rotation. Happier for everyone that way.

But for this week, what did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office, "Secretary's Day": C is for suspension

A review of last night's "The Office" coming up just as soon as I send out a snail mail blast...

There were a lot of good things in "Secretary's Day," including maybe the best showcase yet for super cast addition Ellie Kemper, and a fine subplot about Oscar's joke video about Kevin. But several pieces never quite fit together well.

The Cookie Monster video has irrevocably changed the way I will hear Kevin's voice from now on in the same way that I can no longer watch the "Parks and Recreation" credits without singing "Jabba the Hutt!" That whole subplot was a very funny portrayal of an office joke run amok, and had a nice payoff with Kevin taking control of the joke by turning everyone's impressions onto Gabe. And, for that matter, it was good to see Gabe doing something other than playing middleman between Michael and Jo Bennett. The idea of him as the corporate bogeyman whom no one actually fears because they can see he has no power is very promising, and I look forward to more of that.

But when Kevin went to Gabe to complain about the video, all I could think was, "Why isn't he going to Toby?" Had they done this as an episode where Toby wasn't at work that day, it would have been fine, but once we saw him at the fax machine, it became a distraction. Toby eventually figured into the story (by giving Jim and Pam the ammo to get two extra paid vacation days), but overall it felt like they shoehorned Gabe into what should have been a Toby story because they needed to give the new guy something to do (and/or because, as one of the showrunners, Paul Lieberstein has less time to appear on camera these days). It's something that could have been easily fixed either with Toby absent all show, or even with a brief scene of Toby sending Kevin to see Gabe because he didn't want to deal with the problem, but we got neither in the final cut.

As for the Erin story, it worked if you were able to completely forget every previous Michael/Erin scene. Until now, the idea has been that these two have a mutual admiration society - that Erin not only worships Michael, but that Michael in turn is grateful to finally have the fawning sidekick and partner in crime he always hoped Pam would be. Here, though, Mindy Kaling's script tried to portray the relationship as entirely one-sided, with Michael barely tolerating Erin's presence as a favor to Andy. As much fun as some of Erin's non-stop chatter was ("then it became a full Taco Bell and I couldn't keep up"), and as well as she played the freak-out at the restaurant (pictured above, with Erin trying to turn her hair into her room), it wasn't until the final scene on the bench that any part of the episode resembled the previously-established dynamic between those two.

Still, it was good to have the Angela cat finally come out of the bag, and funny to see Erin throw a cake in Andy's face, and also to hear the phrase "a novelization of the movie 'Precious, Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire,'" but as with the Kevin subplot, this needed some tinkering.

A few other thoughts:

• I was afraid to go back and freeze-frame, but did we actually see Meredith's exposed breast in the scene where she was using Pam's breast pump? Also, should I even ask why she would be using it, or just block the whole moment from my memory?

• TV-savviness: Dwight thinks of "Sesame Street" as "that program where all the puppets live in the barrio," while Gabe suggests everyone leave the impressions to "the pros at 'Mad TV.'"

• I should also say that I liked how Kaling's script and Steve Carell's direction gave us a slightly more grown-up, recognizably human Michael, after we've seen a few episodes this season (including the Kaling-scripted "Manager and Salesman") that set him at a more cartoonish angle.

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

'Party Down' season two review: Sepinwall on TV

In today's column, I review "Party Down" season two, and talk about the bittersweet nature of watching a show that's so funny, knowing that one of the main reasons for that (Adam Scott) won't be back full-time if there's another season.

I'll have a short review of the premiere up tonight at 10:30. Click here to read the full post

'You Don't Know Jack' review: Sepinwall on TV

In today's column, I review Al Pacino in "You Don't Know Jack" on HBO, and discuss the ongoing struggle between Pacino the actor and Pacino the ham. Click here to read the full post

American Idol: Idol Gives Back, the voters take dreams away

It's easy to mock or complain about a lot of things "American Idol" does, and even about the length and some of the creative choices of the "Idol" Gives Back show itself in years past, but I refuse to do anything but applaud the charitable approach itself, and I would encourage you to donate some money if you can.

As for the elimination part of the show, I have the results spoilers coming up after the jump...

Unlike season 6, when the show wimped out at the last minute from sending anyone home, or season 7, when they separated the results show from "Idol" Gives Back, here we actually got an elimination on the same night as the telethon, and it was the feel-good ending I was hoping for, with Tim Urban's dimples finally failing him.

What was vaguely interesting was that Casey James wound up in the bottom group with him, leaving Crystal, Lee and Siobhan as the only contestants to not yet wind up at risk on an elimination show. We've gone pretty deep into seasons with one contestant never being at risk (Taylor and Carrie both won their seasons that way, for instance), and I'm sure we've gone far with it never happening with two, but can any amateur "Idol"-ologist tell me what's the farthest we've gone with three never being at risk? Is this unusual, or am I just desperate to find something to pay attention to this season besides Crystal's super-competence?

What did everybody else think? Relieved TUrban went home, or annoyed you'll miss the spectacle of Simon trying to find nice things to say so as not to rile the kid's fanbase? And how did this year's telethon compare to the previous two? Click here to read the full post

Firewall & Iceberg podcast, episode 13: Party Down, Gravity, You Don't Know Jack and more

New Firewall & Iceberg podcast is up, in which Dan and I talk about a bunch of things, including Friday's return of "Party Down." NJ.com has the relevant podcast links and running times. Click here to read the full post

Parenthood, "Rubber Band Ball": Our little genius

A quick review of last night's "Parenthood" coming up just as soon as I leave my sock and take your innocence...

First, in case you missed the news yesterday, NBC renewed "Parenthood" for next season. So no worries on that front.

"Rubber Band Ball," meanwhile, did a good job of addressing some holes the show has left in previous episodes. We got our first extended time with grandparents Zeek and Camille (so much so that I'll try to refrain from calling them Coach and Holly McClane from now on), as they began to tell their own story rather than just offer wisdom and/or comic relief for the adult siblings. It finally occurred to Crosby and/or the writers that he might have a reason to feel angry that he missed the first five years of Jabbar's life. And Amber finally pointed out the unintended subtext of all of Sarah's "don't repeat my mistakes" lectures to her mom. All those developments were welcome/overdue.

Meanwhile, the Asperger's/gifted story nicely humanized Kristina and Adam in their reactions to the idea that Max might not be the only "different" kid in the family - and then to the news that Sydney's difference is something to be celebrated rather than managed. My only complaint with that subplot: after the show made such a big deal about how hard it was to get an appointment with The Bob Dylan of Autism in the second episode, Julia managed to get in to have him evaluate Sydney awfully quickly.

There have been some episodes so far that have felt all over the map tonally, but "Rubber Band Ball" managed to feel all of a piece while servicing all of the different groups, including the grandparents. Nicely-done, show.

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

30 for 30, "Silly Little Game": Turning fantasy into reality

A quick review of last night's "Silly Little Game," the latest film in the "30 for 30" series, coming up just as soon as I buy you a new dress shirt...

"Silly Little Game" directors Lucas Jansen and Adam Kurland faced a tougher challenge than most of the other "30 for 30" directors, in that there's no exciting archival footage of their subject to keep things interesting between the talking heads. So they decided to do re-enactments, and then spiced those up with a healthy dose of absurdity (the interrogation of the league's first female member, or roto players following real players around the base paths). After so many more traditional documentaries in the series, the dramatization approach could have been a disaster, but it worked. Those scenes were funny, and a nice reminder of the stupid level of obsession that comes with fantasy sports. (And I say this as a guy with too many fantasy teams.)

I knew something of the origins of the game, but the full details were a lot of fun, be it the other players detailing the level of Lee Eisenberg's evil or the revelation that in those early days, fantasy baseball was so exotic that strangers actually wanted to hear about it. (Whereas today, the first rule anyone with a fantasy team learns is "no one wants to hear about your fantasy team.")

But while most of this was played for comedy, there was a definite bittersweet tinge to it all, in the way Daniel Okrent and his friends never figured out how to cash in on their huge discovery, and also in the notion that Okrent never managed to win the original league. (Since Okrent compared the box scores to the Talmud, I may as well compare him to Moses leading the Jews through the desert but never getting to enter the Promised Land.) The scene where Meatloaf expressed complete ignorance to and disinterest in the origins of fantasy spoke to the millions of non-famous fantasy players who surely feel the same way, and I'd like to think at least some of those people happened to watch "Silly Little Game" last night, or will see one of its many later airings.

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

Lost, "The Last Recruit": Harmonic convergence

A review of tonight's "Lost" coming up just as soon as I need a moment...

"So nice to have everyone back together again." -Smokey

Last week, I expressed some concern that Lindelof and Cuse had waited too long to get to the Desmond portion of the season, not just because I think his presence (even if largely in the background and unexplained) might have spiced up the sideways stories, but because I worried we had spent so much time on narrative dead ends or seemingly inconsequential stories that there wouldn't be enough time left to properly resolve the stories of both the season and the series.

"The Last Recruit" put many of those fears to rest, reminding me that even when Darlton seem to be dragging their feet within either an episode or a season, they generally have a plan for what to do when it's time to start moving quickly.

For the first time since the premiere, we didn't focus on any one character or pair, but rather bounced from person to person, story to story as everyone began to come together, both in the real world and the sideways one. We got payoffs to a number of arcs and/or mysteries - Smokey admits he was posing as Christian Shepard all these years, Jin and Sun are finally reunited, Kate makes peace with Claire - and some high-caliber acting from just about everyone in the ensemble. (And if I've done my math correctly, the only castmember to not appear was Nestor Carbonell, since Richard is off with Ben and Miles in the real world and has yet to appear in the sideways universe.)

In fact, because "The Last Recruit" was largely devoted to moving various chess pieces into position on the board in both universes, there's less to deconstruct and puzzle over here than usual, so instead I want to point to some of the stronger emotional moments of the hour, in no particular order:

• Since Desmond had his moment of revelation at the end of "Happily Ever After," Henry Ian Cusick has been playing the character in both universes with a look of serene confidence, but here he got to (superbly) play a much sadder note as Desmond listened to Sayid explain what he asked Smokey for in exchange for going to the dark side. Desmond knows about doing crazy things for love, and he also knows far more about what's going on in both universes than anyone else does, and he feels so sorry that Sayid has let himself become a monster for no reason. (Also, as with last week's fall down the well, I have absolutely no concern about Desmond's future until we actually see his corpse - and maybe not even then.)

• While Alt-Jack's relationship with son David didn't do much for me back in "Lighthouse," their scenes had greater weight here now that we seem to be heading towards a point where the sideways characters have to sacrifice their universe so that the real one can survive and Smokey can be defeated. (That's my operating theory this week, at least.) And that means not only do some characters like Locke and Libby and Ilana have to realize they're going to die again, but it means Alt-Jack is going to have to deal with saying goodbye to the son who shouldn't exist, just as they're starting to get along. And while I'm not a Jack fan in general, I do not envy the man the choice I assume is coming.

• Desmond and Penny eclipsed Jin and Sun as the "Lost" couple whose happy ending I root for the most, but it was still nice to see the real versions of those characters finally get back together for the first time in almost three years. (On the other hand, if the only point of Sun's temporary loss of English was to show her love for Jin restoring it later, they needn't have bothered. Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim played that moment so well that no additional garnish was needed, and all it did was distract me with thoughts of, "So we wasted several episodes on this because...?")

• As I've said before, the narrative style of the show means we often won't see certain characters paired together for months or even years at a time, and that can occasionally rob some urgency from their stories. Sun and Jin suffered from this a bit, and with Jack and Sawyer separated since the season's first couple of episodes, I worried that some of the heat over Juliet's death would have gone away by now. But as soon as they were on Libby's boat together, it all came back - with the added wrinkle of Jack having taken over Locke's role as the one who believes in the power of the island (and who isn't a sucker), while Sawyer is now the Jack-like leader who just wants to get everyone the hell off, grand design be damned. Good stuff from both Matthew Fox and Josh Holloway.

• Because Jack never found out Claire was his sister until after he'd left the island, some Jack/Claire interaction was a long time in coming, and we got some in both universes. I particularly liked how, after the initial shock (well-played by Fox), Alt-Jack mainly seemed amused by the idea that Christian had left him with a long-lost half-sister.

All in all, a good episode - not mind-blowing, but necessary.

Some other thoughts:

• Lapidus still doesn't get much to do, but here he was the recipient of two great Sawyer lines, first with James describing him as looking like "he just stepped out of a Burt Reynolds movie," and then with the nickname "Chesty."

• So ultimately, was Alt-Desmond's plan in running over Locke to give him a near-death experience akin to the one that clued him into the real world's existence, or was he just trying to put Locke in a position to meet up with Jack?

• More bleed-over from real world to sideways world, as Alt-Sun is terrified to see Alt-Locke being wheeled into the hospital next to her.

• Was I the only one who flashed on Larry David doing the stink-eye lie detector gag on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as Smokey tried to figure out if Sayid really killed Desmond?

• So, why was Alt-Sawyer in Australia? He seemed too jolly in "LA X" to have murdered Frank Duckett the way real Sawyer did, but he's trying to hide something.

• Assuming I'm right that Sayid didn't kill Desmond, and assuming Claire is sincere in burying the hatchet with Kate, is Hurley right that characters with the "sickness" can be brought back from the dark side, just like our pal Anakin?

• Nice of the writers to give Ilana a role in the sideways world now that she's kaput in the real one.

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

Justified, "The Collection": Art, gallery

A review of tonight's "Justified" coming up just as soon as I can't keep staring at your nipples...

I was less troubled than many of you by the more self-contained natures of the early installments of "Justified," but "The Collection" was an episode where the arc stories were a whole lot more interesting than Raylan's case of the week. And that's despite a very strong guest cast (Brett Cullen, Tony Hale, Katherine LaNasa and the ever-reliable Robert Picardo) in that portion of the episode.

Part of the problem is that this is already the third story in six episodes about a group of thieves double-crossing and trying to kill each other. While that's a staple of crime fiction in general and Elmore Leonard books in particular, Leonard's books come out with much less frequency than episodes of "Justified," and by the time LaNasa's character started blackmailing Hale, all I could think was, "Oh, this again? And so soon?"

And unless an episodic story is executed as well as the Roland Pike one from "Long in the Tooth," it's just not going to stack up well next to Raylan's ongoing problems with his father, his ex-wife, his boss, the Crowder family, etc., etc., etc., and this was an episode that featured movement on all those fronts. One of the advantages of serialization is that, done right, we grow more invested in characters and their stories with each passing week, and that means the stories that aren't continuing have to work even harder to make an impression. It's not a coincidence that the one scene from the art forgery plot that really stood out for me was when Picardo showed Raylan his collection of burned Hitler paintings, because it was such an obvious parallel to how Raylan has built an entire life on defying Arlo Givens and men like him.

But in terms of the ongoing stories, "The Collection" worked splendidly. After Raylan dropped bodies in three of the first five episodes, it was only going to be a matter of time before someone started looking into him, and why not smilin' David Vazquez? And how much worse will said investigation become if Raylan's relationship with Ava screws up Vazquez's case against Boyd Crowder? (Always nice to have Walton Goggins back, by the way.)

And after noting last week that I was starting to forget Natalie Zea is even on the show, Winona was back in a big way here, asking Raylan to look into some shady people her new husband is involved with, and then showing up at Raylan's place to show us a bit of the crazy chemistry that led him to break into her house at the end of the pilot episode.

So Boyd's back (and has some dirt on Arlo), Winona needs Raylan's help, Raylan's in all kinds of trouble at work, and Ava has no interest in running away from Bo Crowder. With this many plates spinning, the show is clearly embracing its serialized qualities. Ultimately, that's a good thing.

A few other thoughts:

• As Raylan was questioning Brett Cullen about all the possible murders being committed, I got an odd Columbo vibe off of Raylan - albeit a Lt. Columbo who'd just as soon put a bullet between his suspect's eyes as trick him into incriminating himself.

• I understand that "Justified" is being done on a basic cable budget, and that therefore some corners have to be cut, but the cheapness of the green screen effects whenever two characters are having a conversation while driving has become really distracting. If they can't afford something more convincing, they need to start placing those conversations in some other setting. Maybe Raylan starts walking a lot?

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

American Idol, Top 7: Inspirational Songs Night

Pretty brutal "American Idol" tonight (as I always assume it will be with this theme and its inherent Mariah-ness), with one exception (hint: look up at the picture). If I hadn't skipped the last two weeks because of my time off, I'd be tempted to just do a "Crystal rules, others drool" post, but may as well review contestant by contestant, just as soon as I tell you that I like Spider-Man...

Casey James, "Don't Stop": This is Casey on auto-pilot, with the perma-smile, the mini guitar solos and the usual Bob Seger/Huey Lewis affectations. As usual, there's nothing bad about what he's doing, but there was also nothing all that memorable.

Lee Dewyze, "The Boxer": This Simon & Garfunkel classic re-arranges itself surprisingly well into a more overtly rock ballad, and Lee was definitely playing with more passion than Casey, or than that he'd shown before, but there was still the usual assortment of notes that made me wonder what target he was aiming at that was nowhere near what was on the music sheet.

Tim Urban, "Better Days": Again, he takes everything remotely challenging out of the arrangement to match his woefully limited skillset, yet this time can't even manage to stay in tune all the way through. Both bad (which can be helpful in motivating your fanbase) and boring (which has the opposite effect) at the same time. Might the collision of matter and anti-matter finally be enough to send him home?

Aaron Kelly, "I Believe I Can Fly": I can't remember anyone on the show ever doing this song well, though Fienberg reminded me that Ruben handled it just fine waaay back in season two. Still, this is one of those songs where anyone who's watched the show for even a short amount of time should know is a trap, and Aaron falls right into it. Cheesey and all over the place vocally, with a whole lot of notes that were just pure pain.

Siobhan Magnus, "When You Believe": God, I hate this song so, so, so much, and while Siobhan managed to sing the power notes well without shrieking, the whole performance was incredibly dull - and that's even with her wearing a collection of butterflies on her dress.

Michael Lynche, "Hero": Dozed off halfway through this bland performance and woke up to Simon explaining that songs from the "Spider-Man" soundtrack can't be inspirational. So Simon hates songs about birds, songs from comic book movies... what else?

Crystal Bowersox, "People Get Ready": Mama Sox has been terrific throughout the competition, but that consistency also has started to work against her a bit - if you start out so much better than everyone else, and are consistent in your performances, it starts to feel like you've plateaued. She'd been great, but without an "Idol" Moment. With her beautiful take on this '60s classic - sans guitar, starting off a cappella, and eventually working herself into tears - Crystal finally had her Moment, and hopefully one that will prevent any kind of bored "You're our resident professional" talk from the judges in the weeks to come.

Best of the night: Crystal. No one else in the running.

In danger: I'd like to think that "Idol" Gives Back will have a feel-good ending with Tim going home, but I suspect Aaron's in more danger, and Siobhan may be, too.

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

Having said that... here's some more news

Busy busy busy day in TV land. I mentioned the "Mad Men" July 25 return date earlier, and several other developments have happened since:

• Larry David agreed to come back for an eighth season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" to air in 2011. Basically, HBO extends an open invitation for Larry to continue whenever he wants, and then they wait around for him to say yes. Presumably, he wouldn't be back if he didn't have an idea he thought could top the "Seinfeld" season, just as he came back after TV Larry died and went to Heaven, or after TV Larry joined the Black family.

• NBC has renewed "Parenthood" for next season, which pleases me. I haven't written about recent episodes due to vacation and/or the problems of it airing while I'm busy trying to analyze "Lost," but overall the show's doing more good than bad, and I'd like to see more.

• Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert signed contract extensions with Comedy Central to continue "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" through the 2012 elections.

And that's all... for now, anyway. The way this day's going, I expect six more renewals or premiere dates to be announced before I go home.

UPDATE: And, of course, I was right. FX just announced that the penultimate season of "Rescue Me," and the funny new Louis CK sitcom "Louie," will both premiere on June 29. Click here to read the full post

Damages: Case closed?

I've explained in the past why I'm not a big fan of "Damages," but with the show wrapping up its third season last night - and with it looking like a fourth season won't be economically-viable - I was curious how people felt about the finale. Were you satisfied with it, either as a capper to the season, or to the series? Click here to read the full post

Of reader mail, 'Mad Men' and Alyssa Milano

Couple of housekeeping things first: Today's column is a reader mailbag with comments on recent topics like Conan to TBS, the sideways universe on "Lost" and the uninspiring "American Idol" cast. And this morning, AMC announced that "Mad Men" season 4 would debut on Sunday, July 25 at 10 p.m. (and that the James Badge Dale-starring thriller "Rubicon" would debut the following Sunday with a two-hour premiere at 8, then air regularly at 9 from then on). So exciting stuff for mid-summer.

Meanwhile, last night saw the premiere of the Alyssa Milano sitcom "Romantically Challenged" on ABC. ABC played a weird game of Hide the Cookie with this one, where they posted a few episodes for review to their press site, then kept changing their minds about which episodes would air first (not a good sign), and then ultimately pulled the episodes that were on the media website (also not a good sign; the TV equivalent of not previewing your movie for critics because you know the reviews will be brutal). And since I was off the last two weeks (and not making an exception to preview Alyssa Milano's new show), I missed seeing the ones that were up and had to watch last night's premiere live (give or take some DVR buffering), and...

... well, I'm glad I hadn't devoted an hour of my life in the last week or two (vacation or not) to watching this. I have no issues with Milano (other than that she once dated Carl Pavano, one of my least favorite Yankees ever), I like co-star Kyle Bornheimer, and I liked parts of creator Ricky Blitt's last show, Fox's short-lived "The Winner" with Rob Corddry. But everyone involved seemed to be trying way too hard (witness the forced smile on Milano's face in the picture above, which she tried to maintain for nearly the whole episode, whether the moment needed it or not), and overall it felt like an example of the set-up/joke/set-up/joke style that's deservedly close to extinction.

I've seen far worse comedies this season ("Brothers," to name one), but this is one I won't be bothering with again, no matter what order ABC shows them in.

Anybody else watch? If so, what did you think? Click here to read the full post

United States of Tara, "Doin' Time": Patient, heal thyself

A review of tonight's "United States of Tara" coming up just as soon as I totally subvert the hero archetype...

"She said that you need me to be sick! Because it's the only f--king thing holding us together!" -Tara

If season one of "Tara" was in part about showing how a marriage could hold together in spite of ridiculous stumbling blocks, season two has shown us that there are some things that even the most laid-back husband will not stand for (even if he's played by the guy who kept taking back Carrie Bradshaw after she screwed him over again and again and again). Between Buck's affair, Tara keeping it a secret and now the emergence of another alter - whom Tara is treating not as another symptom, but as a possible cure - Max is about at his breaking point. And Tara taking her sweet time to bail him out of jail while she had a roadside therapy session with Shoshana sure didn't help.

But is Tara right with what she says above? Does their marriage succeed in spite of the DID, or because of it?

Diablo Cody gave an interview to New York Magazine's Vulture blog a couple of weeks where she confessed to dissatisfaction with the show's first season, and specifically with how she and the writing staff serviced Tara herself:

Ironically, I felt that Tara was one of the least interesting characters on the show last season — the audience responded to her various alters, but not to her. So in season two, we’ll get acquainted with Tara, the core identity of the character, and get some insight into her weirdness and her pain and what drives her forward through this endless storm of transition and treatment.

Looking back at my reviews of the first season, I can see where she's coming from, as I tended to respond more to the alters, or Max, or Marshall or the rest of the family, with Tara sort of along for the ride.

And if Tara's behavior earlier in this season in letting Buck and Pammy's affair go on, or here in letting Max stew in jail so she can talk to Shoshana (and possibly avoid being committed by Max) seems more selfish than before, then at least it's Tara making choices, as opposed to being dragged through life by her alters. It's showing us the imperfections of Tara, and of her marriage to Max, and it's making me more interested in what happens to her, even if I don't always like what it is she's doing.

And the idea of Tara having co-consciousness with her alters allows for Tara's seemingly insane idea of using Shoshana as an actual therapist to make a weird kind of sense. On one level, it's just an excuse for Toni Collette to act opposite a green-screened version of herself, but she so far is doing that well. And if this series is going to be about this war going on inside Tara's psyche, there have to be times when it's just Tara with another version of herself. And the show's portrayal of the co-consciousness gave us that great visual at the end where a fed up Max accepted Shoshana's existence and chose to talk to her under the veil of "doctor"/patient confidentiality, with Tara having to sit out in the hallway of her own mind while her husband shares his innermost thoughts (about her) with one of her alters.

A few other thoughts:

• Because Pammy is a waitress at Max's favorite bar, he has to be frequently reminded of how his wife snuck around on him. And I loved the way Pammy described Tara to Max to remind him of how intimate she was with his wife: "She tastes like rain. Sometimes kiwi fruit. And once, she tasted like a penny." Between that and Marshall and Kate's discussion about Uncle Jemima and Mr. Butterworth, Sheila Callaghan's script had some of the sharpest dialogue of the season so far.

• As I suspected, Charmaine's baby turns out to be Neil's, and that revelation forces her to admit her true, conflicted feelings about the two men in her life: "I want my wedding pictures with Nick, but I want my wedding night with Neil."

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How I Met Your Mother, "Home Wreckers": The money pit

A quick review of tonight's "How I Met Your Mother" coming up just as soon as I picture myself in something Spanish...

Because I was on quasi-vacation, I didn't write about last week's episode, which largely sacrificed emotional truth for the sake of elaborately setting up the (admittedly pretty funny) "King Kong" joke at the end of the episode. "Home Wreckers" was the opposite of that, in that it told a good Ted Mosby story but fell flat in most of its attempts to build laughs around his pain.

I liked the gang's enthusiasm for Marshall's invention of the Drunk Or Kid? game far more than the game itself, and any episode that involves a character falling through a ceiling without Future Ted saying he exaggerated for argument's sake is trying too hard. (Conversely, Future Ted saying "There was no guitar" in response to his stepdad's painting was one of the few strong jokes.)

But if "Home Wreckers" wasn't that successful as comedy, I did like its focus on Ted realizing his personal life has essentially been in neutral since the pilot. I figured we were heading towards the revelation that the awful house would one day be the setting for the longest story in the history of ever, but I still smiled at the time-lapse montage of the living room's transformation.

At the same time, finding out how Ted got the house that he and the Mother will live in takes us no closer to him meeting her than our glimpse of her foot in "Girls vs. Suits" did. I don't know that the show needs to get back to the quest full-time, but it does feel like something has been missing this season. And since the Robin/Barney storyline didn't turn into the big romance it seemed like it might be at the end of last season, perhaps some concentrated, more focused Mother time is necessary, and soon.

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The non-vacationing vacation ends

Well, my family time has come to an end, and as Fienberg joked in the last podcast, I was the worst vacationer ever. Most of what was posted to the blog in the last two weeks was pre-written, but I still couldn't help myself from writing about "Lost," and about Conan going to TBS, and from recording a couple of podcasts.

Regular schedule more or less resumes today (and another blog favorite, "Party Down," returns on Friday). Don't have the time/energy to go back and write about the handful of regular shows I didn't cover while I was gone (the "HIMYM" monkey episode, for instance), but we'll move forward together.

Meanwhile, my return to work brings with it a new blog logo, replacing the David Mills tribute. This one's pretty obvious (so obvious, in fact, that I made it back in October and kept sending it to the bottom of the stack in favor of other ones), but I figure we should ease our way back into things. And, as always, this post has links to, and explanations for, all the previous logo themes.

Good to be back. Lots to do, lots to watch, lots to write and talk about. Click here to read the full post

Treme, "Meet De Boys on the Battlefront": Pride on Bourbon St.

A review of the second "Treme" coming up just as soon as my position is untenable...

"People do a lot of dumb s--t 'cause it's easier." -Albert

What Albert tells his buddy with the damaged plaster sounds like a sentiment that could have come from the mouth of Clarke Peters' "Wire" character, Lester Freamon, and it's been a kind of guiding principal of David Simon and company on both series. Lots of TV shows go for the quick fix (telegraphed plots, shorthand characterization) because that's easy to do (and, to be fair, because they can't afford the kind of patience that HBO allows Simon), but a Simon show doesn't. It doesn't do the equivalent of slapping sheet rock over plaster, or closing college departments with practical applications in a town that could use plenty of practical knowledge, or trying to tear down a largely-undamaged housing project at a time when intact low-cost housing is hard to come by. It takes its time, figures out the best way to do the job, and gets it done right.

So episode 2 of "Treme" is still very carefully setting things up, introducing new characters, and showing us different facets to many of the people from last week - and giving us even more music in a standard-length episode than we got in the 80-minute pilot.

We meet Sonny and Annie (played by Michael Huisman and professional violinist Lucia Micarelli), busking away and getting the approval not only of the naive but well-meaning white Wisconsin kids, but some of the black natives. At first they seem mismatched - Sonny is dark and defensive, and pretty contemptuous of the church kids, while Annie is bright and open and tries to cover for Sonny's hostility - but we also see that she plays along with his game (she's the one who says that "'Saints' is extra"), and later that she has both eyes open in their relationship. When a friend asks about Sonny's tales of rescuing people during and after the storm, Annie says in a sad, knowing tone, "He says he did... I wasn't on the boat."

We learned last week from his big chief dance that Albert is a man who is not moved easily off a plan, and we see here that he's also not a man to be trifled with, as he savagely beats on the thief who stole his extensive and expensive tool collection(*). Delmond looks at his father like a crazy man half the time, and that's without knowing Albert's capable of putting a much younger man in the hospital.

(*) As Fienberg watched this scene, he sent me an IM that said, simply, "Do not steal Lester's tools," followed by another one suggesting that Albert hide the body inside a vacant house.

Meanwhile, we get to see a different side of Davis. In the pilot, he came across as fairly insufferable, where here he's... well, he's a guy who means well, even if he has serious blinders on half the time. He doesn't think the on-air voodoo sacrifice will get him fired, and is just trying to share some local culture with his audience. He takes the hotel job his parents insist he try in exchange for a loan, and makes an effort to be polite and not lecture all the tourists on how obnoxious and backwards he finds them. And where at first I worried he was deliberately sending the Wisconsin kids to a trouble spot, it turns out that Bullets was a place where they had a great time, met Antoine(**) and heard some fine music before ultimately doing a few things the church group won't approve of.

(**) "The Wire" was also very good about having random characters cross paths, and because the barriers between this show's different worlds aren't nearly as strong as on "The Wire," there's a lot more of of that fluidity. Frankly, it would have been a disappointment if Davis had sent them to a place where they didn't run into another main character.

Though the full ensemble is now on stage, the world of "Treme" is still being built, piece by piece. Toni and LaDonna appear to finally find Daymo, only for him to turn out to be another man entirely, as part of the ongoing post-Katrina bureaucratic nightmare. Antoine keeps hustling for work, but the best he can find is playing at a Bourbon Street strip club (which won't help Desiree's fears that he's stepping out on her). Janette fails to get the needed loan from her parents, as we get a better sense of how badly her house is wrecked and how much trouble the restaurant is in. (She's in such a slump she even burns an omelet.) Delmond jams with Elvis Costello, but then gets popped for smoking a joint in front of some patrol cops. And Creighton starts preparing Sofia to return to school in town, but at the expense of some other kids displaced by the storm.

And in the end, Albert not only gets his tools back, but finally connects with another member of his Indian tribe. Their two-man rehearsal doesn't look like much now, but as with the rest of "Treme," it's a very promising start.

Some other thoughts:

• First, some very good news: HBO has already ordered a second season of "Treme," after only a single episode aired. (The previous HBO regime gave "The Wire" a fifth season renewal after the season four premiere; maybe this is their way of making it up to David Simon after letting "The Wire" dangle so long after season three.)

• And speaking of "The Wire," yup, that was Anwan Glover, better known to many of you as Slim Charles from "The Wire," as the inmate mistakenly incarcerated as Daymo.

• Some more real-life New Orleans musicians in this one, with Coco Robicheaux hilariously ending Davis's radio career by sacrificing a live chicken on air (and leaving some blood spatter behind in the studio), and the great Allen Toussaint producing Elvis Costello (and Delmond and the rest of the session musicians) for "The River in Reverse" recording sessions.

• Albert's right: Delmond's been gone from the city and its music for a really long time, and you can see the strain in his face as he tries to play it, particularly in the impromptu bar gig. The music sounds great, but it's a lot more effort to do this than to play the New York jazz we heard him perform at the Blue Note last week.

• Not a lot of John Goodman as Creighton in this one, but he does get a lovely David Simon rant on when he discusses all the impractical departments that Tulane chose to keep (including his own): "It's all about identity. Let's not learn how to do anything. Let's just sit and contemplate the glory of me, in all my complexities. Who am I? I am black Jewish woman, hear me roar." Not too far removed from Frank Sobotka's speech about how we used to build things in this country, is it?

• Loved the first meeting of Antoine's ex-wife and his current baby mama, who wasn't at all pleased to hear either that Antoine and Ladonna have been talking lately, or that Antoine has other kids from other women floating around the city.

• And is it a surprise Antoine has kids all over town? Wendell Pierce is one charming SOB, isn't he? I've watched this episode several times now, and the look on his face as he plays his 'bone while flirting with the Bourbon St. stripper is 10 different kinds of slick and/or priceless.

• Interesting contrast between Sofia, who's desperate to get out of Baton Rouge for good, and Ladonna's husband, whose mind seems clearly made up on never going back to New Orleans. Though he's clearly much more stable a partner than Antoine, I wouldn't be surprised if this marriage of Ladonna's ends just as badly as the last one.

• Last week, I endorsed checking out all of Dave Walker's great coverage of "Treme," and he took things to another level immediately after the premiere ended with his exhaustive annotations for the pilot episode, which he intends to continue for ensuing episodes (at least for as long as we get them in advance). If you want to know anything about the local details on the show, keep Dave bookmarked.

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Breaking Bad, "Mas": Til meth do us part

A review of tonight's "Breaking Bad" coming up just as soon as the chemistry is respected...

"I can't tell what he wants. He won't talk to me, he hardly even comes home. He works all day, all night, barely eats, barely speaks to me. It's like something's eating him away from inside. He's just not the same. He's not. Facing death, it changes a person. It has to, don't you think?" -Marie

The White marriage comes to an end in "Mas," as Walt finally signs the divorce papers and moves out, apparently to go work in Gus Frings' diabolical underground meth bunker. But before he leaves, we get to see that, for all their irreconcilable differences, Walt and Skyler both have a capacity for denial and self-rationalization in common.

In Walt's talk with Gus, and then in Skyler's talk with her divorce lawyer, we see them adamantly denying what they're so obviously feeling: that Walt is both jealous and offended that Jesse was able to duplicate the Heisenberg formula on his own, and that Skyler would love to be able to justify keeping Walt's drug money after all that his career as Heisenberg has cost her emotionally.

In the end, Gus effectively plays to both Walt's vanity and his belief in himself as a good father, and Skyler in turn unwittingly gives Walt the final nudge out the door. Walter White will do many things out of spite - will, in fact, destroy his own life out of spite if he has to - and had Skyler remained cold to him and kept him from doing anything with the baby, perhaps he would have continued his squatting campaign. But Skyler's quiet offer to let him comfort the crying baby(*) - and the implication that she'd again allow him to be father to his children, if not husband to his wife - played perfectly into Gus's speech about redefining "family" as "children," and gave him the peace of mind to leave the house and, presumably, go to work in the Walt-Cave.

(*) And here is where having someone as talented and versatile as Bryan Cranston comes in especially handy. I think a lot of actors could play the monster that Walt actually is, and that others could play the loving family man he believes himself to be, but very few could play both and make them seem like two sides of the same character. The look of complete vulnerability and sorrow and gratefulness and love in Walt's eyes as Skyler tells him to pick up Holly is worlds away from the man who will later be so cold and arrogant in muscling Jesse Pinkman out of the meth business, but Cranston sells them both.

Walt, of course, doesn't realize that Gus is only giving him a temporary reprieve before the Cousins come calling - that his plan is, I'm guessing, to take those three months to let his own people learn the Heisenberg formula until they have no need of Walt himself - nor does Skyler know that she's tentatively letting Walt back into her life at a moment when his life is becoming more dangerous than ever. All she knows is that she's miserable, has no support system other than Ted Beneke, and would just like to let the conflict die a little bit.

And just as Skyler goes from loving the feel of Ted's heated bathroom floor to becoming uncomfortable with it, I suspect Walt's love of Gus's pimped-out lab will fade over time as he begins to recognize just how dangerous a man he's working for. Walt goes into his meeting with Gus convinced that he's outsmarted him, when in fact the only way to do that would have been to just hand Jesse his half of the money and walk away without ever seeing Gus. Gus played him, and Walt's too arrogant and crazy to see that yet. But he's not stupid, even if he has blind spots, and day after day spent under the laundry facility is going to wear on him, especially without Jesse around to teach and/or bully.

And either way, what happens when the three months are up? At least Skyler should be thankful that Walt's not living in the house anymore, given what the Cousins might do to anyone else they find when they come for their target.

Some other thoughts:

• Skyler with the lawyer reminded me very much of Carmela Soprano going to see the elderly therapist who told her in no uncertain terms to take the kids and walk out on Tony and his "blood money." And, just like Carmela, Skyler didn't want to hear that.

• We open with a hilarious flashback to what Jesse was up to in the pilot in between when Walt gave him the money and when he turned up with the RV. Not only does it give Aaron Paul a chance to slip back into Jesse's clueless but happy old skin, it temporarily brings Combo back to life, and shows how Combo caused his own death a few times over. Not only did he agree to become one of Jesse's dealers, but had he not gotten Jesse the RV in the first place, the White/Pinkman partnership would have been stillborn, and Combo wouldn't have become high-profile enough to attract a hit from a rival crew.

• On another show, Hank's discovery that Jesse (whom he knows is connected to Walt) is connected to the RV that carried the blue meth would ultimately lead to Hank again coming thisclose, but no closer, to discovering Heisenberg's identity. On "Breaking Bad," given that we're in season three of what was conceived of as a four-season series (though it could always run a bit longer), I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Hank keep working his way up the food chain - which would not be a good thing for him, methinks. In the end, maybe going to El Paso instead of Gomey would have been the safer move.

• Love the contrast of Walt using the closet in the nursery as an office - complete with a tiny chair that stuck to his behind when he stood up - to Walt being shown the wonders of the Walt-Cave. Walt's a genius, but he's an amateur. Gus Frings is no amateur.

• Saul Goodman, shameless as always: completely on Jesse's side when it looks like that's where the meth money is coming from, then tosses him over immediately when Walt turns out to be the real cash cow - and caves on his exorbitant fees when Walt finally realizes Saul needs him as much or more than he needs Saul.

• That Aztek windshield is just taking a beating, isn't it? It's like the forces of karma just don't want it to remain intact.

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