TV Report: Weekly Rankings

I've been sick the past week which meant that this is being posted way later than usual and that I saw a lot of these shows all hopped up on meds. So instead of my usual rambly thought, I'm just going to give 1-2 sentence reactions In general though, most of the comedies impressed while the drama shows stalled a bit. So let's start with those first!

1. Wallflower (Fringe) - Didn't really work for me as a fall finale, but on its own I found many to like mostly the scenes Joshua Jackson had with Anna Torv and Seth Gabel. The ending with Nina was spine-chillingly awesome.

2. Unscheduled Departure (Pan Am) - Difference between this episode and the past few was how focused it was as well as more air time for the awesomeness that is Collette. Plot holes abound, but not to detriment of plot.

3. Shut Up and Eat Your Bologna (Ringer) - Very happy that many pieces are finally falling into place (Gemma's whereabouts, Charlie's secrerts, etc.) and I'm finding myself looking forward to more.

4. Death Row Tip (The Good Wife) - Not the worst episode, but it was definitely one of its lesser episodes this season which is odd since Eli's daughter liking Zach, Kalinda kissing Cary (and flirting with Dana), and Jackie overstepping her bounds were great developments.

5. Treachery (Revenge) - This episode felt a bit tame when compared to older ones, maybe because no one died, but it was also the one show I saw while hazy with medicine. Not enough gay and murder, but y'all know this is my favorite new show still.

6. The Price of Gold (Once Upon A Time) - The Cinderella story was shockingly dull even if I still enjoyed the hamminess that is Robert Carlyle's performance as Rumpelstiltskin.

7. Mash Off (Glee) - The scenes Rachel had in the end with Kurt and her mom as well as everything relating to Naya Rivera was great. Unfortunately there were a whole lot of other things I'd rather not talk about.

8. Lonelyhearts (Grimm) - It was a solid case of the week episode, but this show is quickly losing some of the magic that made it a bit interesting in the beginning. It's all starting to feel like another boring procedural.

9. Proof (Terra Nova) - Honestly can't remember much about this episode other than thinking it was a bit of a mess and just a wee bit filler... and something about a stolen identity. Who knows?

10. How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters (Supernatural) - Don't really think it was the worst show of the week, but other than the end with the possible death of Bobby I really have nothing to say about the episode.


Like I said, while I mostly from the dramas lacking this week, most of the comedies were just plain fantastic. In fact I couldn't even decide on my top pick this week so since it's my prerogative, I'm declaring it a tie!

1. Documentary Filmmaking: Redux (Community) - Perfect episode is perfect. Jim Rash and Joel McHale were the MVPs, but everyone involved should be duly proud of yet another brilliant episode this time with Abed filming Dean Pelton directing a commercial to promote the school. Hilarity ensued.

1. Smallest Parks (Parks and Recreation) - Perfect episode is perfect. As a Ben/Leslie shipper I have no choice to fall in love with this episode since they are seemingly back together, but the other subplots were pretty great too (The Ron Swanson Scholarship made me teary).

3. Tick Tick Tick (How I Met Your Mother) - Everything was Barney/Robin and everything hurt. Seriously, can we just take a moment and appreciate Neil Patrick Harris' hurt face? The Ted/Marshall high plot went on too long, but the ending was worth it.

4. The Code War(Happy Endings) - Must be because I was on meds when I saw this episode, but I honestly could not stop laughing at every little thing that happened from Alex's crush on Max to Brad's impromptu "Oh no he didn't!" soliloquy to Dave's Felicity hair to Jane's bad flirting... so great.

5. The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition (Big Bang Theory) - Another Amy-centric episode and another winner this time with Sheldon showing how much he's grown as not only does he get jealous of Stuart going after Amy, but actually asks her to be his girlfriend. Say it with me... aww.

6. Thanksgiving (New Girl) - This was the best episode the show has offered and I don't think it was just because of the delightful guest star Justin Long playing the male Zooey Deschanel. Great group dynamics and a welcome comeback for the douche-bag jar!

7. After the Fire (Modern Family) - A pretty solid episode with the whole family pitching in together to help a neighbor whose house burned down. Not laugh-out-loud funny, but its sweet with some fun character moments (Phil as masseuse, sleep clowning, Alex using sex as a weapon, etc.).

8. Sweet Sixteen (Suburgatory) - I always like the episodes when Tessa gets sucked into the ways of the suburbanites around her so her getting excited about the elaborate sweet sixteen all for her was great. The B-plot of George being imprisoned by Sheila was not so great.

9. And the Really Petty Cash (2 Broke Girls) - I still really liked this episode and its low rank only meant the episodes above it were better. The Max/Johnny storyline is keeping me interested now with added bitchy and manipulative girlfriend in the mix.

10. Gettysburg (The Office) - Neither storyline worked for me and there really was nothing too terribly noteworthy about this episode to hang on to.

TV Report: Weekly Drama Rankings

Posting this way later than expected, but Sunday got way busier than usual. In any case, it was an interesting week of TV with a couple of shows I usually love delivering weak episodes while shows I haven't showed much love to in recent weeks stepping up.

1. Executive Order 13224 (The Good Wife) - Who knew a critically-acclaimed drama can be so damn funny? And yet last week's episode did just that. It's even more incredible since the Case of the Week was pretty serious as it involved torture and terrorism. But of course the show was able to mine comedy from all the loopholes and red tape and secrecy that Homeland Security inflicts when it's such a case like this. My favorite were the re-enactments of the blacked-out documents with the people getting bleeped out for every blacked-out word. Also liked Diane and Will arguing whilst Alicia was in the room about what they will or won't do with Alicia in the room. Guest star Carrie Preston also brought the funny representing Alicia against the government. "I. Am. Swamped. Look. At. All. This. Paper." Oh, I laughed so hard. I didn't even mention the hilarious scene with Diane and Kalinda overhearing Alicia's ringtone when they were talking to Will who was supposedly at lunch. Uh-oh. The sexual harassment video to end the episode was the perfect capper.

2. And Those We Left Behind (Fringe) - Another masterful episode slowly unraveling the mystery of Peter's disappearance (and now re-appearance) with a purely cool sci-fi concept of time bubbles and time loops. It's a bit heartbreaking seeing Peter try to deal with a version of Olivia and Walter that doesn't know him and more importantly doesn't trust him and the three actors are impressive in conveying all the emotions that are inherent in this situation. As far the the time bubble storyline, that too was it's own brand of heartbreak as real-life couple Romy Rosemont and Stephen Root played a couple separated by mental illness.

3. Truth or Dare (Pan Am) - This episode had a few moments that reminded me of the show I fell in like week those first few weeks of the fall season. First, Collette was back and actually had more than one line of dialogue which is always a plus. Her face when flying the plane was exquisite. Dean also becomes a somewhat interesting character when she's in proximity. The respective romantic story lines of the two sisters were just a tad melodramatic, but I think all of the actors involved handled themselves well. It was especially great seeing Friday Night Light's Gaius Charles back on my TV screen again.

4. The First Time (Glee) - This was the show's best episode of the season which isn't really saying much, but it IS something. Even with the deliberate focus on the episode on Kurt and Rachel losing their virginities, the show was still able to give plenty of time for the other characters more notably Beiste quest for love (made me cry), Mike's continued disagreements with his dad, and Karofsky's evolution. The latter especially was nice as it gave Chris Colfer and Max Adler a really beautiful scene to re-connect a bit. They even introduced a new character, gay Warbler Sebastian, without making it as forced as last week's. You know what else this episode had going for it? Barely any Shuester and not even a token appearance by Sue. Naya Rivera as per usual musically stole the episode.

5. Snow Falls (Once Upon A Time) - Wasn't a huge fan of the pilot and was only okay with the second episode, but this episode I really, really liked. Maybe it's the hopeless romantic in me, but seeing Snow and James' first meeting in fairy land and seeing them apart in the real world tugged my heart. In essence, this episode finally gave me a reason to care and that's important for any show. Also glad to see David Anders on my TV again. He didn't do much, but I'm hoping for more in future episodes.

6. Nightfall (Terra Nova) - Last week I said I'd give this show one more episode before I fully gave up on it. Well damn, because last week's episode didn't suck. It mostly helped that the show's weakest link, Hunter, was mostly in the background. But by doing so it enabled Skye to be developed as a character in her own right. The Maddie-Mark stuff was just a bit too saccharine, but I also liked that they're developing Maddie a bit. The whole black out stuff had potential and wished they were in more danger than what actually transpired, but it was still one of the more exciting story lines the show has offered in awhile. We finally do meet Taylor's wayward son in the end and I'm hoping we'll get to the Big Picture stuff in the next few episodes.

7. Maybe We Can Get a Dog Instead (Ringer) - Some good developments happened in this episode, but my favorite is the long-time-coming reunion between Malcolm and Bridget. It's also nice that slowly but surely everything is working out for her with Andrew accepting Malcolm, Machado getting tricked yet again, and everyone believing she lost the baby. She's also making Siobhan's life a bit difficult with Tyler thinking Siobhan was lying to him (which she was doing anyways). The student-teacher plot line is worrying and cliche. Make it stop.

8. Balcoin (The Secret Circle) - This show is not afraid to go dark especially with what they are doing with Jane. Yes, it makes Charles look more evil, but he did burn down a house with Cassie's mom in it in the pilot. The questionable loyalties of Jake is less interesting since I've seen it done in many fantasy shows before and the actor is not a good enough actor to convey this ambiguity. The introduction of Holden and learning more about Cassie's dark magick background was good. No new episode until 2012!

9. Beeware (Grimm) - Despite its relatively low ranking this week, it was still a generally solid episode. I just thought it's a bit suspect that they are already branching out with non-Grimm monsters which kind of makes this show indistinguishable from Supernatural. With that said, I did like that we got a brief glimpse of possibly something bigger happening the background. Nick's scenes with Adelaide were particularly riveting.

10. Heartbreak Hotel (Castle) - I love this show, but this episode was a complete filler. Sure Nathan Fillion , Jon Huertas and Seamus Dever looked amazingly hilarious in their Elvis getup but I'd be hard-pressed to remember any other detail about the episode. Oh right, Alexis threw a party while her dad was away while Beckett and Gates sort of bonded. Shrugs.

11. Season Seven, Time for a Wedding! (Supernatural) - I didn't like this episode. I wasn't a fan of super-fan Becky when she was first introduced and I still don't like it. And the whole situation of her essentially almost-raping Sam, even if it never happened, was still too skeevy for me to enjoy the episode. The one great thing about the episode was the all-too-brief return of Crowley. Nice seeing him explain the lack of demons attacking the boys as he wants them to focus on taking out the Leviathan.

TV Report: Weekly Drama Rankings

While the comedies went to guest actors for November sweeps, the dramas decided to throw in some game-changing plot developments as you will note below.

1. Cops & Robbers (Castle) - The thing about this show is that it leans toward the light side of drama. But when they do get their mind on doing a serious, pulse-pounding type of an episode, it fully delivers. This last episode was one such episode where Castle and Martha found themselves as hostages in a supposed bank robbery. Beckett and co. had to assist from the outside and while there was no doubt that Castle would live, the fear of Martha dying made the episode nerve-wracking. In the end though, despite the bomb explosions and teary Alexis, it was Beckett and Castle laying their eyes on each other that became the highlight. "We're partners." SIGH.

2. Charade (Revenge) - I have long considered this my favorite new show of the season, but last week's thrilling episode just solidified it. The best part was the reveal that Nolan was "3 on the Kinsey scale" and used some insider info on skeezy Tyler to get some action. And that was just one of the big plot developments in the episode. Frank's quest to uncover Emily's secrets took a big chunk of the episode and provided us a glimpse of the bigger picture Amanda has weaved. We saw that Emily has a Warden that is helping her. We also met the "real" Emily Thorne who ended up killing poor Frank but not before Frank was able to leave Victoria one last seed of doubt regarding Emily. This two-week wait for the new episode is a killer.

3. Novation (Fringe) - Fringe is back! Peter is back! I've missed them both so much. All of the Peter stuff was amazing especially his interactions with Walter (broke my heart every time). I really wanted more of that and possibly answers though of course I knew we wouldn't be getting them right away. But it did make me resent the B-plot despite it being quite solid by itself since I just wanted to go back to Peter and whatever it was he was going through. Still the version 2.0 shapeshifsters are back and it looks like they'll be the big bad (or their boss) for the remaining season. Going back to Peter, Joshua Jackson has been missed, and he seems to be relishing tapping into S1 Peter aka being smart, manipulative, and a wildcard. Loving it!

4. Affairs of State (The Good Wife) - Sometimes I wish that Cary was still working with Lockhart & Gardner, but last week's episode showed that probably won't happen anytime soon. In fact, his patience and skills displayed throughout the episode led him to a promotion and a rare win. There's also some movement on the Will front... meeting Alicia's son awkwardly and becoming new associate Caitlin's crush. With Alicia not wanting Will to meet her kids formally and Caitlin's non-subtle interest, things are about to get interesting. Finally, we meet Eli's wife and she is played by Parker Posey and not only does she get tons of scenes with him full of witty banter that you'd expect, but she gets a nice scene with Kalinda as well. More please!

Those four on top have been leaps and bound better than the shows below for one reason or another this season. Not saying all the shows below are bad, not at all, but the top four have just been really consistent.

5. Oh Gawd, There's Two of Them? (Ringer) - I feel like in spite of itself, I'm still quite enjoying the show, but the twists and turns in this episode really showed promise. First, I'm just glad that Malcolm is finally free from his kidnappers. I couldn't stomach seeing him beat up and drugged up one more time. Second, the shot of Andrew and Henry in the beginning confessing to knowing Bridget was a WHOA moment and thumbs up to the writers for that. Finally, finding out that Bridget's new sponsor not only works for Siobhan but is the one to kidnap Gemma was at once both cool and so utterly frustrating in its contrivance. Oh well.

6. The Genuine Article (Pan Am) - I was hoping that a Maggie-centric episode would make Christina Ricci's character a bit more interesting to me, and in some aspects it did. Learning that she lied her way to become a Pan Am stewardess makes sense for her character, but in spite of this I still think Ricci seems to be playing her a bit too broadly. Perhaps it's just because the writers aren't exactly sure what to do with her yet, but she has the talent. They just need to tap into it. The Dean/Ginny B-plot doesn't really interest me though it looks like Maggie has used it to her advantage. Kate is on precarious grounds with the government and Niko and I'm looking forward to seeing where this will lead.

7. The Thing You Love Most (Once Upon A Time) - This was much better than the pilot especially since most of the "real world" stuff felt a bit more grounded. I especially enjoyed Emma connecting more with Henry and Mary Margaret (they all like cinnamon!) and firming up her reasons to stay in town. I'm still not sold on Regina's intentions and I do hope her character's evilness is explained a bit more, but this episode had two things for it, Giancarlo Esposito and Kristin Bauer, as the Mirror on the Wall and Maleficent respectively. Hope to see more of them in episodes to come.

8. Bears Will Be Bears (Grimm) - Even though I ranked this just a hair below its ABC counterpart this week, I thought it was still a solid outing for a show that I'm finding myself preferring over that other show. My favorite part is actually Kate Burton's performance as Aunt Marie, so her death disappoints me a bit. With this kind of show though, death is never the end. I also liked the re-telling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

9. Beneath (The Secret Circle) - This certainly brought Dawn and Charles back into the fold after being conspicuously absent last week, but other than that most of the episode dealt with more of the hormonal drama the leads are going through. I mean Truth or Dare? Seriously? I DO like that they seem to be giving Cassie some edge and Faye some non-mean dimensions.

10. The Mentalists (Supernatural) - There's just something about this episode that didn't sit right with me. I guess most of it had to do with me being angrier at Dean about Amy than Sam ultimately ended up being. I mean I knew that they had to make up and be all brotherly love again, but I thought it was all just a bit too quick of a resolution. The case itself wasn't particularly noteworthy unless a possible girl for Dean interests you.

11. Pot O' Gold (Glee)* - Apart from Burt confirming he's the perfect man by single-handily saving Sue's ridiculous plot arc of running for office by running against her, I didn't like this episode at all. As adorable as Damian McGinty is, I think introducing yet another character is not what this show needs despite the fact that this HAD to happen by virtue of him winning The Glee Project over the summer. They can still salvage it, but with the bulk of the episode dedicated to introducing him, the rest suffered.

N/A. A Gifted Man - Not sure why they felt compelled to air this episode a week later than they had planned since it gave Margo Martindale lots to do. Unfortunately, I'm dropping this show since it's 100% certain to be canceled in the next few weeks. I'll keep watching though until it happens, but I will no longer include it in my weekly rankings.

N/A. Terra Nova - Last week's episode bored the crap out of me. I'm thinking of dropping it permanently, but will give it one more episode.

*I guess technically Glee should be in the comedy rankings, but at the moment I'm more comfortable putting it here. I'll probably change it next week... or not.

Pilot Thoughts: Grimm

Fairy tales and their characters are real... wait, didn't I just write that same opening line last week? Oh right, there are two shows about fairy tales living in the real world this season, but make no mistake, they really aren't the same show at all. For one thing ABC's Once Upon A Time relies more on the Disneyfied vision of fairy tales while NBC's Grimm, as evident by its name, follows the earlier, darker interpretations of the Brothers Grimm. But inasmuch as this difference make them both pretty distinct, I wish they'd somehow merge into one very good shows as opposed to two lesser ones. Once Upon A Time is just a bit too cheesy while Grimm is just a bit too humorless. With that said, I actually preferred Grimm's pilot just a wee bit more than the other show perhaps since the structure of the show is pretty standard (procedural) except with a slight supernatural bent, no alternate dimension reality at work here!

Nick Burckhardt (David Giuntoli) is a cop who starts seeing strange things such as people's face turning into monsters momentarily. His eccentric aunt Marie, well-played by Kate Burton, informs him that he comes from a long line of Grimms which gives him the ability to see and fight supernatural creatures who live among us. Cue the Monster of the Week in the form of a "blutbad" kidnapping and killing girls who wear red hoodies. There's some world building here with Marie's book catalog of monsters indicating she's been finding the good fight for awhile, Eddie (Silas Weir Mitchell) helping Nick showing that not all supernatural creatures are evil, and Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz) being revealed as the possible Big Bad. Overall, it was actually a pretty solid pilot that was a lot easier to swallow or follow than Once Upon A Time. It's also a show that one could see getting better with time hopefully finding a better balance of seriousness and humor. So while this lacked the magic of that other fairy tale show, it more than made up for it by how grounded and established the show already feels.

The ratings were good-bad depending on how one looked at them. Relative to other networks, it was pretty low, but relative to NBC's depressed numbers and the fact that it was up against Game 7 of the World Series, it did pretty okay. I think for NBC "pretty okay" is good enough, especially for a Friday night show up against similar (and far superior) shows such as Supernatural and Fringe. B/B-