E: Does anyone else find it hard to believe that we’re so close to the end of Project Runway, and that there are so few impressive designers left? There’s an easy top three, surely, and they’ve all done stuff I like, but is anyone blown away by them?
Yeah, didn’t think I was alone there.
And what do you know, a Grey’s totally devoted to a single medical case. Again. Probably less unsatisfying than last week, but not by a whole heck of a lot. This better be leading someplace, people!
M: Ok, now this is more like it! Last week I felt was the worst episode of FlashForward thus far. For several weeks before I’d been complaining that the show was ending episodes well, and overall was pretty solid, but nothing more than that. Well, this week they made up for last week, and may have started to put it together. A lot of things went into making this what I would consider the best episode since the pilot (E: Absolutely), from the refocusing on the story lines that they had been building over the previous weeks, like the clues on mosaic board in Mark’s office to the potentially doomed relationship between Mark and Olivia, with Lloyd (Mrs Norris) interjecting, with another random, unexplained appearance by the kangaroo from the pilot thrown in (E: “That is the best costume ever!”). Those, and the introduction of a new character, help to put the show back on track, and even on a better track, than it was a few weeks ago. Continue reading
M: This week’s episode of The Biggest Loser ended with a contestant that I like, admire and am incredible inspired by leaving, while Top Chef ended with the departure of a contestant who was entertaining, albeit in a cocky and sometimes aggravating way, and had endeared himself to me by cooking one of my favorite Lebanese dishes in one competition. In both cases, we lost a compelling contestant, but as the numbers start to dwindle on each show, it’s hard not to. Continue reading
E: I hope no one minds, but since The Good Wife was a repeat last night (? what gives?) I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the other non-World Series Fox event of the week - the start of So You Think You Can Dance’s performance shows! Monday, we were offered something the producers of So You Think You Can Dance just love – a first in their history! For the first time in SYTYCD history (all five years of it) the Top Twenty will be introduced via a special where they all get to dance in their own styles! And no one goes home! And lots of twinkly, happy host Cat Deeley! Hurrah!
I was actually thrilled about this. For any neophytes in the house, after auditioning thousands (hundreds? lots?) of dancers, and intensive call backs in Vegas, the judges pare the talent down to ten guys and ten girls, and pair them up to be the fabled Top Twenty. In the last season there were complaints from folks like me that we didn’t get enough time to appreciate the work of a lot of dancers before the voting began. Some people in the Top Twenty got lots of air time in the early auditions (among others, Philip Chbeeb) and others (like Jeanine Mason), not so much. The great thing about SYTYCD is that they really do want the dancers to succeed, and so they took Jeanine, who nobody had seen, and paired her with Philip, who already had a fan base, which ensured she wouldn’t get voted out right away. And in fact, she ended up winning the season. So in another instance of caring about the viewers and dancers, this season we got a special to make sure we had a better feel for everyone before we had to start voting them off. And because of the World Series, it aired on Monday (while the show usually airs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays).
So imagine my annoyance when I learned at the end of this extraordinary gift of time, this delicious dance extravaganza (the tap! the Mandy Moore contemporary! the hip hop!) that there was also going to be a performance show this week. BUT NO VOTING. That’s right, that means the judges kicked some contestants off last night. I thought this was supposed to be about America’s Favorite Dancer, y’all! Nigel Lithgoe, I’m growling at you. I’m not growling at you, friends. Please follow after the jump to see a quick rundown of the ten new couples, the styles they were assigned, how they did, and how they got cut down to nine couples. 
C: First off, kudos to whoever named tonight’s episode! They may be cashing in on the recent undead mania, but they’re also tipping the hat to a fun band.
The opening sequence of this episode was an absolute geek’s fantasy, with rapid-fire references to Harry Potter, Buffy, Underworld, and eventually to The Crow, Aliens, and even The Great Gatsby. The coup de grace: Castle dressing up for Halloween as, essentially, Nathan Fillion’s space cowboy character Mal (E: eeee!) on Firefly. (M: Classic!) I laughed hysterically at Alexis’s critique: “There are no cows in space.”
E: And how about “Didn’t you wear that five years ago? Don’t you think you should move on?”
M: One of the best scenes and verbal exchanges on TV in a while; I love nods to other shows like that.
C: The victim this week is extremely seasonal: a would-be vampire staked through the heart in a cemetery. (Favorite line from Castle, trying on fangs: “Do these make me look immortal?”) The team this week follow the trail of a graphic novel to a disturbing possibility – could the victim could have been killed by a real vampire? Continue reading
