Grid Effect

Even if you didn’t know Mathew Weiner used to work on The Sopranos you could probably figure it out for yourself. His storytelling technique is so similar to that of David Chase’s that it could almost be considered plagiarism. If, you know, Weiner was writing about the mob instead of corporate types.

Still, even with the familiar pacing, this episode was probably the most satisfying we’ve had to date. Much like with Tony Soprano and his underlings, the penultimate episode of Mad Men’s pilot season proved to be as eventful as the series will probably ever get. Joan sort of reconciles with Paul, Peggy loses her temper, Pete confronts Don and Don throws it back in his face with the overwhelming support of Bertram.

We’ll start with the last detail, because obviously the series had to have some sort of collision with Dick and Don, and Pete was all too happy to be the recipient of the news that Don Draper is little more than an alias. To be honest I was surprised this took place this season. It’s the centerpiece of the series, and maybe they intended for it to be a miniseries, either way, they have plenty to build off of now. And anyone who watches this series is all too happy to see the manipulative, jealous, over-privileged Pete Campbell put in his place by Bertram Cooper (played phenomenally by Robert Morse).

Every scene leading up to Bertram’s explanation of “who cares?” was penned, acted and timed perfectly. First Pete catches Don off guard and flusters him as much as he was in Korea, then Don has a moment of crises and asks Rachel to run away to LA with him, to which she calls him out on in probably the strongest scene any female character has had on this series, calling Don a coward and throwing him out. He uses her strong arming him and Peggy’s complaints about unfairness in the office structure to confront Pete (as Leon Black might say, he went topsy-turvy on that motherfucker). His echoing of Rachel’s, “you haven’t thought this through” really reflects how much of his day to day life is influenced by the women he knows.

She’s got some set of balls on her.

Like I said last week, this storyline could go either way and it wouldn’t be surprising. But with Roger out of commission (and likely done with the series, set aside a couple cameos), Don, from a business standpoint is virtually indispensable, especially since current clients tend to want an aura of familiarity when they do business with Sterling Cooper. Not Bertram and two new faces.

But this entire story thread was a testament to Jon Hamm and Vincent Kartheiser, particularly the former. It was probably daunting for him to have to play Don as shaken but putting still putting on a confident facade. And he said so much non-verbally with just his mannerisms. Threatening murder seemed appropriate, because it seems like Don has done much worse to keep his identity, but just with the action Pete knew he had him over a barrel, at least at that very moment.

Obviously, the episode title is a metaphor for the relationship between Pete (silver spoon) and Don (working class), only with contrasting results. Seeing the two of them interact from here on out will be interesting, especially because there is still so many people Pete could spill this information to. I imagine Don keeps him around on a provisional basis, maybe there is an outside chance he confides in Betty, but I’m not holding my breath. However, the bottom line is, as long as Don has this secret that people in his life are not aware of (namely, his family), Pete has some leverage over him. Don wins for now, but he has to realize the threat Pete imposes should he ever discover Betty is in the dark.

Meanwhile, the rest of the office was preoccupied with an office party on election night. Which goes from assurance that Nixon wins to doubt to concession speeches the following night. None of the office employees seem terribly concerned one way or the other, but I guess we’re to infer that they all voted for Nixon to stay in tow with the Sterling Cooper, outdated mentality. This turns out to be the most revealing booze-fest in the history of booze-fests. Apparently, Paul and Joan once had an affair, but Paul was so boastful of his conquest that Joan called it quits (and apparently began an affair with Roger).

Also on the hookup front, Hildy, Pete’s disgruntled assistant, slept with the married Harry. Easily the minion with the least amount of camera time. Both seem to feel relatively guilty about it, but there is also a semblance of repressed history there. My guess is, while everyone thought they were going to take the pregnant route with Peggy and Pete, they actually do it with Hildy and Harry, because we never saw her getting illegal contraception.

Also during the fifteen minute party scene, Paul’s play was discovered, and was initially appropriately mocked by all his coworkers (”A killer in the boardroom and the bedroom”), but since everyone is drunk, they decided to act it out, with Joan and Salvatore as the two leads engaging in an on screen kiss. It’s at this moment that Joan discovers either her immense attraction to Salvatore, or his homosexuality. Because the face she makes after there stage kiss is one of extreme enlightenment.

But, ironically, the one most effected by the party was one of two people not present: Peggy. Already tiresome of the regular office antics, returning to work the following day with her trash can full of what looks like a mixture of Creme De Menthe and vomit (or Creme De Menthe induced vomit. Seriously, that water cooler filled with green alcoholic beverage was a sight to behold. When I think of an office setting in the 1960’s, that is emblematic of exactly what runs through my head) and three dollars missing from her locker. When she notifies building security, it is, predictably, two black manual laborers who take the fall, reducing Peggy to a sobbing mess in Don’s office. Her spiel about following the rules and everyone resenting her for it was heartfelt, if naive. And certainly seemed to take its toll on Don, more so than her pity party about getting a janitor and an elevator operator fired. Which should really be the concern here.

Definitely a top-notch episode that is indicative of what we’ve come to expect from the best new series since The Wire in 2002. Tomorrow’s episode will seem anticlimactic in comparison, but we have a guaranteed second season, and this is The Sopranos way.

With virtually nothing worth discussing on the front end of the week, we’re going to move a weekly links segment up to Tuesday’s. Not to say we didn’t watch anything last night. We tried to stomach Chuck again, and while this series has its strong points (they’re all tonal, bringing in a certain kind of audience that doesn’t really have a nitch yet), the characters and dialog kind of embody everything we’ve come to dislike about modern broadcast network television. It feels like in every review or every recap I read about the series, the writer concedes that he or she is willfully overlooking something they find lazy, simple and cliche. And between five different reviews, they’re will be seven different complaints. This is not the making of quality television, as far as I can tell. With only forty some minutes of airtime an episode, what’s left that we can all agree on?

Anyhow, I flipped off halfway through to watch a horrendous Monday night game with significant fantasy implications, and went to bed pretending I never wasted the half-hour of my life. Onto the links…

Some woman from one of the CSI’s is leaving the series. And our immediate reaction is to ask what’s the consequence of this? Is there any actor on any CSI that isn’t expendable? Aren’t they just like Law and Order’s but with less substance and more flare? Also, I’m sure this woman will never regret this decision. People working on Jerry Bruckhiemer projects always have a fountain of offers afterwards.

Since he generally gives the funniest Daily Show interviews, Brian Williams hosting SNL will mark the first time we’ve watched the full hour and a half in about seven or eight years.

Jon Cryer wants respect for his commercially successful yet critically decimated series. Believing that Two and a Half Men offers more than most critics give it credit for, but are unfairly persecuted for being “old school”. To which I would reply, “Dude, it’s not that you’re ‘old school’, it’s that every single joke is founded on Charlie Sheen being a swinging bachelor and your character being a dependent yet cerebral putz. After a while, the jokes become bland and the situations uncomfortable. So honestly, enjoy your commercial success, rake in your doe, and try to do something more spiritually and artistically rewarding after your run is over”.

Here is a long, long descriptive piece from the New Yorker outlining David Simon’s next project (I suppose after the Iraq project?) in which he details the plight of the post-Katrina New Orleans musician. Damn, will this guy conjure up a premise I won’t find fascinating? Speaking of The Wire…

The next season promises to be as engaging as ever, according to this report. If that doesn’t get you excited for the upcoming season slated to start airing in January, then maybe this teaser will.

Expect to see more of this in January.

One would think that for as great of a stretch HBO had in the late 90’s through the earlier part of the decade, that if David Chase sent a pilot script from one of his writers to the network heads, they would have the foresight to at least give it a read. Well, one would be wrong.

CBS’s Women’s Murder Club destroyed Friday Night Lights in the ratings. Which is kind of ironic, because people probably tune into WMC for strong female leads. We haven’t bothered to tune into the series or anything, but we can imagine that the four leads in it are nothing short of caricatures (akin to that of any other criminal investigation show), while the actresses occupying FNL offer realistic depictions of strong women. Even with the asinine murder plot (Of course, I might have my own biases, this is what I wrote about WMC before an episode even aired). But, I can’t imagine anyone is actually surprised by this development. CBS beat NBC in a ratings grab? Shocking.

Read this article, then explain to me why, even if you have only one hour a week available to watch television, you haven’t been watching Mad Men? This series is versatile enough to appeal to any potential viewer.

It appears the ever looming writers strike might lead to networks airing reruns of better television then what they were initially producing. Question is, is it even worth FOX’s time to run It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia? What with all the required censoring that would come along with it. Each episode would have about fifteen minutes of airtime. More commercials!

Maxim magazine, never one afraid to lower the bar, has named Jenna Fischer the “hottest” divorcee. Congrats, Jen. It’s almost like The Brother’s Solomon never happened.

Finally, even with its fledgling ratings and influence on pop-culture, Survivor is still the most DVR’d series with 2.1 million viewers. I can’t think of a logical reason for this, but am certain it has something to do with Jean-Robert never wearing a shirt.

That’s probably it for today, see you tomorrow with a Mad Men recap most likely.

Welcome, welcome. Hope all had a great weekend. If you’re a sports fan it was almost impossible to have a bad one. If you live in Florida, specifically in Tampa, you’re probably still hungover because out of nowhere you’ve managed to control your own destiny and actually cherry pick a national title game on a transitional year in college football. If you live in Ohio, specifically Columbus, then you recognize that this season is eerily similar to 2002. Oh, and in both college football and professional baseball, you’re prepared to see your team come in second place yet again (2006 OSU football and basketball, 2006-07 Cleveland Cavaliers, 2007 Columbus Destroyers).

Anyhow, enough rehashing my gambling debts. To the meaning of the post…

A couple comedic threads lifted from Friends episodes of all places last night. One with Tim Meadow’s wife’s dog (Rachel once purchased a dog reminiscent of her childhood, that could be easily mistaken for a different species) and another with coitus while under the weather (Monica trying to get pregnant and coercing Chandler into sex). They do seem to be stretched for material, but between Leon’s misadventures and Suzie’s translation tactics, the episode was definitely an improvement over last week.

One does get the sense that Larry David and the rest are sort of going through the motions, but sometimes that pans out in their favor. Originality isn’t the lone form of success. It probably also helped that David Steinberg was directing, and JB Smoove has really become a highlight of this short season, so the supporting cast is helping. Is anyone curious as to why Tim Meadows didn’t play himself? I figured spending over a decade on SNL would give someone, at the very least, enough name recognition to appear as an exaggerated version of himself on Curb. Guess not. Also, we still can’t really figure out why Vivica Fox has taken this role.

But so many of the jokes just felt far-fetched and, honestly, desperate. I’ve always been a Larry David apologist. Even after the much maligned Seinfeld series finale I defended it like people were insulting my grandmother. But last night, is there really any way Tim Meadows’ character mistakes Larry’s hand-drying as derogatory sign-language? Or that Leon and Larry just don’t look at their phones to see if one person or the other is lying about not receiving any phone calls? Or for that matter, would Tim Meadows really believe that Larry was actually on the receiving end of his return call? I guess that could be explained that they both felt guilty for fucking each other over, so they decided to let bygones be bygones? But this sounds out of character for Larry and Leon.

Never the less, Larry’s dismissal of Leon’s prospective employers and Leon’s trashing of Tim Meadows was hilarious. Probably the highpoint of the episode, if not Larry’s confiding all his petty issues with Jeff, which never fails to deliver. Jeff seems to be the only character that he is honest with, and watching him air his grievances in a comfortable setting is a change of pace from the dismissive Cheryl or hostile everybody else. Honestly, who else would listen to someone bitch about their toaster and take them seriously other than a person you’re giving 10% of a goldmine too?

One can just see the registering of being unfairly blamed on Larry’s face.

The thing with the exterminator and his mock high school date with Larry was somewhat out of character for this series. But it climaxed well with the exterminator stomping the rat dog to death, believing it was, in actuality, a rat. Considering the overly PC LA schoolyard was traumatized earlier when Larry took out a spider in a similar fashion, I would have liked to have seen the backlash after the exterminator took out a dog in the auditorium.

Ultimately it was a decent episode, and reminded me more of seasons past than any episode yet this season (sans “The Anonymous Donor”). It just seems that right now, the good is narrowly outweighing the bad, something I thought I’d never say about this comedian or this series.

Thankfully this is mercifully the last post of the day/week. We need to buy jeans and eat a burger with guacamole on it from Red Robin. A day of rest is in order after last weekend, and we can’t think of a better way to spend it than to buy denim pants for the first time in two years and stuffing our faces with peculiarly concocted hamburgers. But, to the subject at hand…

Damn, melodrama is abound on this comedy, definitely a lot to like though. I suppose if they’re going to have another relationship triangle, which I am adamantly opposed to, an Andy-Angela-Dwight triumvirate is about the best they could do. It has the potential to be ostensibly funnier than Roy-Pam-Jim. For the most part, it was handled light-heartedly, with little sadness, sans Dwight, who evoked more pity from me than Jim ever managed to do. And pity from me is fairly unnoticeable. It consists of an utterance of something like, “poor bastard” before I’m distracted by my roommates dog, who’s in one of those cones.

Andy, putting forth way more effort than she is actually worth.

The Jim-Pam thing has really been put on the back burner, which I’m somewhat surprised by. It counts for two of the four leads on the series, and for the most part they’re an afterthought. We got them sitting on the rooftop, debating who has to go with Michael to New York (apparently the tie always goes to the girlfriend, which is something I don’t adhere to, which probably indicates why I’m currently single) and pulling a halfhearted prank on a depressed Dwight with a 5 o’clock shadow. That’s it. In the entire hour. And that I can handle.

The whole Michael storyline was just weird, and creepy. And deviated even more from the reality than rolling his car into a lake. I mean, I enjoyed him misinterpretation of the chatroom party, as well as his and Dwight’s excursion to New York for Sushi, but the entire thing with the pizza delivery kid was lost on me. While the kid was wrong, there is absolutely no chance in hell a pizza delivery boy is taking that much of a stand over a coupon, nor do I think the entire office sits idly by while Michael holds someone hostage. But there was little to laugh throughout the course of this episode. Though his rejection of Ryan’s newfound leadership just might break him.

Some highlights:

-The pre-credits scene.

-”I’m not going to sit around and cry about it, I did that in the car”. -Michael

-John Krasinski signing his actual name to Meredith’s cast.

-Dwight’s entire scene with Kelly and Darryl

-”Its caused a lot of unpleasantness between Dwight and Angela, who are both already prone to unpleasantness.” -Pam

-Angela abusing Phyllis, then Phyllis throwing a wad of paper balls in her face.

-”What is a Jim?”

-”I did so well last week, that corporate gave me two plaques in lieu of a pay raise.” -Dwight

Lots of mixed reactions for this sophomore debut, and most of them revolving around the last ten minutes or so. Which is a shame, because fifty minutes leading up to it were what we’ve come to know and love about the series. But when you have a murder take place on a series that lays its foundation in realism, it’s a gamble that’s probably not worth taking. Especially in some sleepy small football town in Texas.

Of course, that’s easy for me to say, I don’t have to worry about Nielsen’s and new leadership and renewals and other networks and whatever else this series needs to stay on the air. There have been rumors that Ben Silverman, the new NBC president forced Jason Katims and Peter Berg to open up the season with something monumental that will alter the course of the series and potentially be a ratings grab for new viewers (If its new viewers you want, putting it on Friday night probably isn’t the best solution. While I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true, Katims said in an interview that this isn’t the case, and I’ll take what he says at face value. But still, if the rumor has even a modicum of truth to it, then they probably got more than they bargained for.

First off, if they were going to have one of their characters murder someone, it probably shouldn’t have been the physically weakest and nicest male character on the show (remember in the finale when he was telling Tyra he was picking up Lyla because its “the Christian thing to do”?). Someone like Riggins would have been a better option. I understand it was the heat of the moment, so to speak, and he was defending someone he supposedly loves, but good Lord was that out of character. They might as well just had him rape Tyra himself, that would have been in stride with Landry beating the guy over the head with a pipe, then him and Tyra throwing his lifeless body into a running river (which they never show, but we presume they did) at least in terms of incredulousness. It marks a considerable tonal shift in the series.

If she’s going to be an accomplice to a murder, then they might as well put her in a two piece as well.

It just so drastically changes the course of the show. It’s no longer a slice of life, coming of age, for the most part lighthearted yet introspective exposition of small town America. It’s now going to attempt being all that, and this distracting murder mystery looming over everything. And really, do they need to rely on these cheap plot devices? When did that happen? I was sort of hoping this would go the way of many Sopranos subplots, and would eventually fade with time, with a periodic callback to it. Never did I suspect that Tyra’s attacker would resurface to ruin two of the series’ better characters.

And this is particularly true with Landry. Until the end of the first season, he was little more than comic relief and Jesse Plemons handled his dramatic scenes as well as anyone on the series, and in my opinion, better than anyone short of Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. But this is too much for the character. I guess you could now look at him as a tragic, Ziggy Sobotka like figure, but is there any other similarities between Landry and James Ransone’s depiction of the son of a labor union? If there are, then you can count them on one hand.

But anyways, I’m really trying to not let the one, egregious, ill-advised, burdensome storyline detract from the entire episode or the series. But cheap and easy writing has always had an adverse effect on me, and the last place I’d expect it to come from is Friday Night Lights. Never the less, we’re going to be patient with it, see if the writers can nurture this storyline and turn it into something (just) remotely plausible.

Onto the good/great/extraordinary.

Everything about the Taylor’s was pitch perfect. It’s really as good as storytelling can get on a broadcast network. From Tami’s post-partum, to Eric’s ineffectiveness and self-anger to Julie’s resentment and hostility, this was the same mold we’ve come to expect and appreciate. It doesn’t feel rehashed or predetermined or tired, but rather poignant, influx and sincere. My only complaint, and this relates more to personal issues I’d have with the character, should she be non-fictional, is Julie could probably stand to relax a little. I haven’t seen a character that high-strung since Bud West.

The Riggins-Lyla scene was fantastic. Probably my favorite moment of the episode. Just them passively-aggressively jarring back and forth. When did Riggins become such the wordsmith? Or, for that matter, when did Lyla? It appears heavy alcohol consumption and newfound religion have the same effect on one’s wit.

Unfortunately, the screen time for these two was so limited. An ensemble cast will do that to you. We saw Lyla in one other scene (other than the one she was baptized in), and that was her saying grace at the table with her siblings, mother and her mother’s new boyfriend. Let’s put it this way, the grace was probably the most judgmental, catty appreciation to God I’ve ever heard in all my years of table prayers. So essentially, she’s Angela from The Office. Speaking of the Garritys…

…Buddy is in a state of deep depression over losing his family, and the new coach forcing him off center stage of the football boosters. Considering he was having his picture taken at the end of the episode with all the members of last season’s state champion team, its probably not the worst idea. Anyhow, watching him attack his estranged wife’s new boyfriend (in Buddy’s car) was probably the most cathartic thing for him. At this point, the viewer feels little more than empathy for our former sleazy high-school football enthusiast, Buddy Garrity. My how the tide has changed. Pam (his ex-wife) was being a nasty bitch about the entire thing, too.

Other notes:

-Anyhow, the new coach is a dick. And Jason Street is the only one to confront him about his overt-dickishness. What’s new coach’s response? Well, to act like an even bigger dick that he already is. This is all we see from Jason is on the field, no news on hippy Austin girl or his family or anything else.

-While the series all but destroyed Landry, it was great to have him in rare form with Saracen for awhile. Barbing about nonsense and the like is how I prefer this character. Not murdering people and trying out for football.

-Saracen is sort of at a crossroads with Julie. It was kind of boring, but it what about 85% of this shows viewers tune in for. So who am I to judge? He’s still all jittery and whatnot around her, seemed like that would have subsided over the past eight months.

-In case you were wondering, none of the players graduated. And that includes Smash, who’s apparently a bit of a pompous asshole after carrying his team to the state title. On steroids. Or at least for a little while.

Great episode, for the most part, and I’ll probably actually watch it “live” tonight instead of a DVR’ing, I’m that intrigued. If they can keep the rest of this murder mystery without suspending too much disbelief, then I’ll be thrilled. But lets just say cynicism often translates to reality.

Might have to wait until later tonight or Monday for an Office recap, the day sort of caught up with me.

Helluva evening of television last night, obviously we’ll get to much of it later next week. For now, here’s the least of it in text, kind of.

You know, one almost has to assume that at least either Rob McElhenny (sp?), and/or Glenn Howerton and and/or Charlie Day are fans of Arrested Development, because this isn’t the first time I’ve watched an unknowing character date someone who’s mentally handicapped. Then again, since it turned out Dee’s boyfriend wasn’t actually retarded, I suppose that’s a slight modification.

This photo instills more fear than any horror picture I’ve ever seen.

Dee’s dalliances were only half the episode. The other half featured Frank and Mac trying to start a band while rotating front men between Charlie and Dennis. I can’t think of four people more ill-suited to form a band, forget that they can’t play any instruments, the personality issues might be a little too temperamental to stay together. I did like how each member had their own concept as to what the band should look like. Charlie wanted the soul searching, introspective Bob Dylan image, Mac wanted the death metal, head banging persona, Dennis wanted the David Bowie gender ambiguous style of the 80’s, and Frank wanted to dress in vibrantly colored suits and name the band the “Pecan Sandies”.

Obviously, this didn’t go anywhere. Somehow they filled Paddy’s to the brim and much to Charlie’s worst fear, managed to bomb in front of a large crowd. Twice. I suppose Dee’s “hot local rapper” boyfriend was the reason, in which he proved on stage that he wasn’t mentally challenged.

A few highlights from the episode were Mac and Charlie revealing to Frank that they paid for the hotel room they destroyed with his credit card. Charlie “baring his soul” to Mac and Mac completely ignoring him, coupled with Charlie wanting to be behind a curtain or divider of some sort while on stage. Other than that, it was a fairly bland episode. Nothing entirely unpredictable, really. Just five morons acting insanely.

If you watched the rerun episode following it, however, then you saw the episode “100 Dollar Baby”, which, not to take away from the bulk of the episode, had the funniest two minute sequence in the history of the series when Mac and Charlie meet him at his apartment and greet him by throwing a plastic trash can at his head. Now that, is classic television.

A recap of last night’s The Office and last week’s season premiere of Friday Night Lights later today.

A couple weeks ago, I recommended a film entitled King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, well, it appears that Trey Parker and Matt Stone would like to make the same recommendation. Because unless it was a complete fluke, the rivalry between Bono and Randy Marsh last night almost identically parodied that of Derrick Weibe and Billy Mitchell, with Bono playing the latter.

The unwitting villain from King of Kong

Its actually a subtle parody. Very little is similar other than the schematics of the rivalry: being in person versus a video recording, meeting in a logistically equidistant spot, the crowd favorite versus the outsider; but the similarities are there, just might be hard to pick up on given the distinct nature of the two different rivalries. In the film, its pretty self-explanatory just from the title that they’re competing in Donkey Kong. In the episode last night, Randy and Bono are going head-to-head for largest bowel movement.

Probably my favorite moment of the episode was Stan’s asking Bono to just let his father have the record, since Bono has so very, very much. And Randy has so very, very little. I believe the line was (paraphrasing), “You have tons of awards for charity, your music, you’re a billionaire, you have a hot wife and are beloved around the world, seriously, can’t you just fuck off?”. But last night was full of gems like that. From Sharon’s annoyance about the whole ordeal, to the parody of Bono, to everyone’s reaction of the contest to the parallels with the documentary, I couldn’t have asked for a better half-hour. Of course, eating at PF Cheng’s seems relatively unappetizing now, but I’m kind of bearish on Americanized Chinese food anyways.

For the time being, this episode redeemed last weeks overt-simplicity. But it’s a marathon, not a sprint, especially after you’ve been renewed through fifteen seasons and you’re on number eleven. Still, definitely enjoyed the homage to one of the better documentaries of late.

Jean creeping people out

Back at Fei-long, the men are bickering over a crab that James caught, apparently everyone else is incapable of doing this for themselves. James interviews that they’re helpless, but quite a bit of it is unintelligible in the same vein as chicken.

Back at Zahn-Hu, Dave is still over-exerting himself with work at camp, and the tribe is growing ignored with him. Its amazing the lack of self-awareness some people exude, especially when he gets all high and mighty (much worse than last episode) about a brick for a fire. Damn, what a prick.

RC consists of them wrestling on a makeshift boat with two sailboats connected by two planks. It’s 3-on-3, men and women on separate teams, and they have to try and wrestle each other into the water, the tribe with the last standing member wins. It’s almost identical to last weeks challenge, but instead of pushing balls in the mud, they’re throwing each other off a boat. Fei-Long sits out Todd and Courtney.
The women are up first, and Zahn-Hu wins in convincing fashion with all three members still standing.
Next the men, Fei-Long has the three biggest members of this competition, so its fairly obvious who’s winning this. James just manhandles everybody. This is like if Master and Commander had wrestling, large black men and women.
Women are up again, God, there is so much pixelation that it’s more distracting than if they were just all naked. Then again, we would have gotten a clean look at the lunch ladies snatch, not something any of us need to see. PG looks anguished.
2-1 Zahn-Hu, the men are up again and Fei-Long wins again.
2-2 and the women are up again. Zhan-Hu is decidedly lucky the women went first, they win because PG understands the concept of leverage. The reward is some pillows, a tarp and some other such nonsense. They take Leslie over with the clue.

I think its about time for a little versatility in the challenges.

Back at Zahn-Hu, Jaime is thrilled, obviously about the decision to take Leslie, because she is certain that she will reciprocate and give her the clue. Leslie loves the positive nature at Zahn-Hu, and sort of gets sucked into the atmosphere and starts spilling guts about shit they probably already knew. Ooh, they are Christians over on Zahn-Hu, Leslie actually asks them.

James and Jean-Robert have a very frank discussion about their tribe, that starts off killing Leslie, calling her “sister Christian”, then they go into about voting Courtney off, whom James wants to keep, and Jean-Robert suggests, in so many words, that James has a romantic interest in her. First off, James might literally break her in half, were such a situation to present itself. Second, there is always a degree of “locker room” banter, but never is it this demeaning or objectifying. What makes it even worse is Courtney and Todd are within an earshot of all this. And fuck you, Jean-Robert. I was all set to rally against this woman this season, and you have taken that away from me. Now I have to feel sorry for her. I may forgive, Jean-Robert, but I will never forget. Todd makes a bunch of inconsequential idle threats to and vows revenge.

At, Zahn-Hu, Leslie reads her clue and gives it to Jaime, so Jaime’s plan worked in manipulating the “weakest link” on Fei-Long (these dashes are fucking killing me). The clue essentially says the idol is in a tree or on a hilltop. Jaime isn’t getting it, but I can’t remember the first clue so I guess I’m not either.

At IC, Leslie isn’t very discrete about the time she had at Zahn-Hu. The challenge consists of cutting ropes that will drop discs, that the teams have to put on a vertical poll to solve the puzzle, then drag said puzzle across a finish line. And damn, Courtney goes first for Fei-Long, and she can’t get through the ropes, in fact Zahn-Hu is working on their puzzle before she finishes her ropes (meaning, in case you don’t understand because I feel like I’m explaining this really poorly, all four John-Hu contestants cut through their ropes before Courtney gets through hers). Zahn-Hu (a la Dave and Sherea) cannot get through the puzzle and even with the huge lead, Fei-Long makes a game of it. In the end, Zahn-Hu does edge out Jean-Robert and Todd for Fei-Long on the puzzle, and though they struggle with dragging it across the finish line, Fei-Long loses with about half their puzzle left unfinished. Courtney looks devastated.

Back at Fei-Long who has yet to vote out a teammate, spirits are low. Jean-Robert still is set on getting rid of Leslie or Courtney. Aaron is pissed about Leslie telling the other team that he is the leader… Which she shouldn’t have said but they probably know since Jaime was at their camp for a day. Todd is clearly advocating for Jean-Robert, he and Amanda are both set on it. Aaron wants to get rid of Leslie because of her loose lips and her obvious affinity for the Christian laden Zahn-Hu. They show a shot of Todd alongside Jean-Robert, and man is he fucking tiny. He’s about as small as Courtney, if not smaller. While they show this he voices over that he doesn’t want to be competing with huge men post-merge. Well, he shouldn’t want to be competing against huge women either. Get rid of the mute lunch lady!

At TC, Jean Robert calls out the two smallest women. Courtney regals how she feels ineffectual at camp and her voice shakes while she does. Leslie really details how the opposing tribe has so much more synergy. Jean Robert at least realizes he might be going home, which is interesting. Because wouldn’t one think he would alter his behavior if he knows what he is doing is counterproductive? Aaron votes for Leslie, Courtney votes for Jean Robert. The votes read as such:
Jean
Leslie
Jean
Sister Christian (Leslie)
Leslie
Mom (Leslie)
Leslie
Leslie goes home and is in uber-positive spirits about it.

In her parting words Leslie is clueless as to why she was voted off. But knows God wants her to go home.

Tonight: Jean-Robert clashes with Courtney, and Dave clashes with Sherea, it’s amazing they could finish that puzzle together given how much she clearly hates him.

We’ll get to last night’s South Park and last week’s Survivor later today. For now we’ll stick to Mad Men because I’ve been wanting to write about it for a few days now, since it’s had more plot development in one episode than the ten combined that preceded it. No flashbacks, no soul searching, just forward progress.

Was anyone expecting that opening? I was kind of assuming the introduction and farewell to Adam Whitman in “5G” was going to be used for nothing more than character insight. Turns out, his bleak, depressing suicide could out Don about his past. Really, I’m not sure who all will care, set aside Betty and his kids. Because with Roger being sidelined with a failing heart, Don is kind of indispensable to Sterling Cooper. And Betty, being the passive 50’s housewife that she is, will never develop the backbone to leave him, especially when she finds out how miserable his childhood was, and why he’s gone to such great lengths to distance himself from it. I imagine the reaction on the home front would consist of first shock and dismay, then quickly turn to pity.

Also, it seems to be common consensus that Pete Campbell would be incapable exposing someone like Don Draper regardless of the dirt he has on him. While I agree that Don is certainly far more impressive, Pete hasn’t exactly been portrayed as the inept piece of shit we all wish him to be. At some point, credit has to be given to where it’s due. And his assessment of the Kennedy-Nixon race (which tonight’s episode revolves around, and I can’t wait for), combined with his strategic use of combining the laxative ads with Nixon commercials, I wouldn’t call him a pushover. Either way, it will really prove indicative of how desperate Don is to keep his secret a secret.

Peggy is really starting to come into her own, and I don’t like it. Her behavior on the date was detestable, and the guy had every right to lash out (and when he went to far he apologized, not that it would have helped his cause anyway). Her remark about New Yorkers being better than them was like the Sex and The City mentality before Sex and The City. No one cares about you writing copy. At least not before you act with a modicum of decency. Honestly, you think if anyone would realize this it would be Peggy.

From being kicked around by Joan, yanked around by Pete, and I’m sure she has some idea of how she is talked about behind her back. The only person in their office that treats her with an ounce of respect is Don, and that’s because she does his work for him. One would assume she would give the same respect she so desperately seeks, but after being commended by all the big wigs at Sterling/Cooper, I suppose she doesn’t feel the need. Enjoy the belt, Peggy.

Seriously, though, good on her for getting that raise.

Other notes:

-As a subplot, Betty’s discovery with the washer (or was it the dryer?) really was peculiar. Will she ever develop the nerve to give as good as she gets? The salesmen seemed excited.

-Roger’s “confession” to Joan was quite possibly the most clueless thing a man has ever said to a woman in any setting, fictional or otherwise. It kind of typified his shallowness, though. In fact, the extent of his return had a whole Sopranos “people never change” vibe to it. If even after sustaining a heart attack, he can’t lay off the cigarettes, red meat and alcohol, then when will he? The comeuppance was appropriate, considering he had his second heart attack while reassuring Lucky Strikes that it will be a long time before warning labels are added to cigarettes. But regardless you had to feel for his wife, and I liked Don’s reaction after Roger’s relapse. His whole dismissal of the idea seemed endearing.

It seems that by 1960, the north and south had already settled their differences.

-Speaking of Don as he relates to Roger, him getting the promotion in Roger’s office (which does seem particularly creepy) then to be followed in immediately by Pete was fitting. Is there ever a situation where Pete doesn’t put himself in the position to be the first to suck up?

A stellar, eventful episode. Admittedly, I am partial to the ones like “Marriage of Figaro” and last weeks episode, “Long Weekend”. But this series has blossomed so naturally over the course of eleven episodes that I have no qualms with the developments that took place last night. Really, the whole Pete-Don confrontation could go any way imaginable, and it would be unexpected.

More on South Park and Survivor later today.

Sorry for the extrodinarily late post, but the work computer is on the fritz, and I had to wait for lunch to write/post this already week late review of the return installment of South Park. Not exactly an exhilarating excuse, but it’s all I can come up with.

Anyhow, to the topic at hand, this episode left something to be desired. I mean, its not like we haven’t seen an episode of South Park in which cursing was the primary focus. After a certain while it gets old. For those who might not have watched, Cartman discovered tourette syndrome while shopping at a toy store, and naturally decides to mimic the disease for the same privileges. Everyone believes him sans Kyle, and high jinks ensues.

The episode wasn’t a complete letdown. Virtually every scene with Cartman and Kyle was hilarious, then Kyle being forced to apologize to Cartman for calling him a liar (despite Cartman admitting to Kyle in private that he was lying) was probably the pinnacle of the episode. Also, the scene at the therapy clinic with Kyle in complete dismay over the conditions of tourettes victims was funny in the sense Kyle was completely awe struck by some of their confessions was enjoyable.

Maybe I’m just out growing this show, because obviously this wasn’t targeted towards their older audience, but just listening to Cartman curse endlessly didn’t really do much for me. This series has always been about pushing boundaries, but they sort of already did this in the episode where they tallied how many times they said “shit”, just the premise was different. And really, explicit language is a part of every South Park episode nowadays, no need to pretend its still particularly funny or edgy, we’ve all been desensitized.

More Randy would be a great start.

Unfortunately, from the commercials I’ve seen for tonight’s episode, it doesn’t look much better. From what I can tell, it revolves around Randy and a abnormally large bowel movement. While I always enjoy the presence of Stan’s father, this just seems desperate, and like they’re running out of material. This might be a harsh sentiment after just one letdown episode. However, they seem to have been teetering on the brink of irrelevancy for a couple eight episode installments now. So, in the midst of their eleventh season, it has definitely been a good run, but maybe Parker and Stone are on their last legs.

Either way, we’re watching tonight, so I guess it doesn’t matter what our sentiments are. But still, after a season long hiatus, I was hoping for more effort. Like this.

Not to go out on a limb here, but the hour long format might not be suited for this series. Not to say last weeks episode wasn’t funny or anything, it certainly was. But there was too great of an attempt to make the characters either likable or unlikable. Namely, with Ryan.

Personally, I didn’t really see the need to turn Ryan into a villain. He never struck me as a contemptuous character, at least not beyond anything we couldn’t relate to. In the earlier seasons, the most despicable thing he ever did was not offer Jim back his original desk when he returned from Stamford. Now he’s a full blown dickhead, and something felt off about it. Power corrupts, certainly, but he went from passive yet quick witted to pompous and subliminal.

Really, I can only recall two different occasions when we were supposed to despise a character: Andy, when he was in Stamford and before his implosion in Scranton; and anytime Champ Kind shows up (can’t think of his character’s name on this series, sorry). The former was introduced as a villain of sorts, or at least someone we could laugh at (as opposed to with), the latter is just a dipshit. But this transformation is something new to the series, and I suppose if it was going to happen to anyone, it would be to the character that went from Temp to corporate in less than two years.

With that said, there was some decent story lines this episode, both dramatic and comedic. For instance, I can’t recall a time I was made to sympathize with someone who murdered somebody else’s pet and it actually worked. Honestly, who else is Dwight (or Angela, for that matter) going to find that’s willing to tolerate their eccentricities? Dwight’s projecting on the trip to hand out gift baskets was one of the redeeming qualities of this episode and I find this couple so much more entertaining than Jim and Pam. It’s a minority opinion, but watching two people be “cute” with one another isn’t the reason for DVR’ing this series. At least it didn’t overrun the episode, and doesn’t look to be a dominant plot All The Time.

It’s always a tryst with these two, and the explanation of “garbage” is tantamount to genius.

Toby was the almost forgotten highlight of this episode. Is there a more likable character who always gets shafted? Whether it’s in relationships (a seemingly ugly divorce, Pam, whatever else off camera) or in work (seated next to Kelly, a psuedo-boss who rivals him for no real reason), Toby never seems to come out on top. The comedic timing and blunt disbelief he often exudes in dealing with Michael and Dwight do make him a suitable foil.

Speaking of Michael, the writers might need to tone him down a little. Driving into a river because a GPS instructs you to? I know he’s a little quirky, and often idiotic, but nobody knowingly drives a car into a body of water unless they’re attempting suicide or trying prove an elaborate point about technology, neither of which Michael is capable of. It just struck me as beyond the realm of possibility.

Line of the night actually goes to Phyllis, which is unexpected. When she walks up to Jim and Pam to say, “Just so you know, Pam, that when a sales call comes in, you still have to randomly direct it, not just give it to whoever you’re sleeping with at the time”, first my jaw dropped (because where did she ever find the gall to say that) and then I burst into a eye-watering laughter; because that was damn funny.

Definitely some worthwhile, memorable scenes. But something seems lacking, or excessive, and if I had to guess, I’d say its the half hour extension. Initially I thought it could be regularly stretched into an hour (Last paragraph), but it seems I was wrong. And when I’m wrong, no one is more surprised than me.

A post on a desperate South Park premiere later today.

The comedies over the past four or five days will be sharing posts in order to shorten the amount of time I spend writing here while I should be working, or at least pretending to work. We’ll have a post later tonight or early tomorrow reviewing the latest episodes of The Office and South Park as well.

But first thing is first, It’s Always Sunny got back on the right track last Thursday after a derailing of sorts the week before. For the most part, I though these episodes were more abnormal than anything I’ve seen from them in three seasons, which counts for a lot with this series (The “diaper time” thing was especially unsettling). Meaning, the gang seemed acutely oblivious about their goals.

I probably preferred the “Selling Out” episode, simply because the writing and acting seems at its pinnacle when they’re all backstabbing each other for marginal personal gain, but the “famous” episode had its high points. Namely, Dee getting the short end of the stick yet again, and the issues with excessive perspiration afflicting Mac instead of Charlie. However, little could be done to top the reintroduction of Charlie Day’s wife playing the manager at a local generic restaurant chain, and Dennis’ callous indifference towards her. Just a great hour of comedy.

In Curb, well, it seems that we’ve hit a rough patch. Last night’s episode entitled “The Freak Book” had a few absolutely laugh out loud moments, but they were intertwined with too much monotony, and frivolous yet unidentifiable arguments. I really didn’t understand the need to stretch Larry’s conversation with the bartender to over two minutes, considering they didn’t even reference it past the exchange with Ted Danson immediately afterwards. This, among many other mind-numbing scenes, had me checking the clock every five minutes.

Larry being ostracized, much like the freaks in his book.

It seemed this episode wasn’t going to be salvageable, until Larry caused an absolute semi-drunken scene because of the car service while Ted was opening his presents. Him and Jeff laughing hysterically at the freak book reminded me of Mac and Charlie in their penny suits after they stole Frank’s money. This along with the Jon McEnroe “partying” scene that had me in stitches (A similar scene with Johnny Mac takes place in Mr. Deeds with the tennis pro playing himself and showing Adam Sandler “The real New York”. Still remains the only noteworthy scene in that movie) almost saved the entire episode and earned a positive review.

As a side note, I wonder if Larry David inserted the Heather Mills joke as a way of empathizing with Paul McCartney, another uber-rich celebrity going through a very public divorce. The last time I can recall them using an off screen voice as a plot device was in the first season episode, “The Interior Decorator” with Diane Keaton leaving a couple phone messages. The Heather Mills voice was particularly awful, just a harpy, unmerciful thick British accent. Maybe the two of them will start a club, ” The borderline billionaires being taken to the cleaners in a divorce for no apparent reason” club. While I would hate giving up that much money I earned, I would love to be a member.

Still enjoyable, just not what it once was. Either way, it’s a good way to wind down at 3am after driving for eight hours.

Back later with more comedy recaps.

We found a little time to post about Mad Men before tonights episode, which we won’t get around to, nor will we find ime for any other series tonight, and we still haven’t seen last night’s South Park. Essentially, what we’re trying to say is, we’ll have like four posts on Monday. For now, here’s one to tide you over until then. Enjoy the weekend.

Episode ten of Mad Men is one of the most troubling, depressing, desperate, soul searching episodes of television I’ve ever seen. Don confronts his own mortality after Roger sustains a heart attack during the climax of an incredibly creepy courtship, Joan’s roommate Carol concedes her affections for Joan and Pete further demonizes Peggy, and she begins to reciprocate a little.

We’re not sure what Don’s motives are with Rachel. He either laid it on thick either to get laid or out of actual fear (similar to Carmela in episode eleven, season six of The Sopranos, “Cold Stones”…I know entirely too much about that series) after seeing his mentor sprawled out and helpless on the floor. Also, he’s undoubtedly an atheist, and seemed sincere in his confusion. This all brings us to the question: is there any less of a stereotype than a Korean War veteran working on Madison Avenue and denouncing religion in 1960? This character is so layered. He had two great moments in this episode, slapping Roger while he was being carried out on the stretcher, and hobnobbing in order to impress Rachel’s dad in their proposal meeting (shut down their store and reopen it with a “day of indulgence” theme that includes dining and other ventures), both of which seemed effective.

His confession to Rachel (and somewhat foreseeable, based on past, more vague references) that his mother was a prostitute that died while in labor, this was as bluntly revealing of an episode that we’ve had. Rachel said it best when she explained, “you’ve never talked this much”, indeed. Some have complained that this was out of character. But it has been established that Don feels isolated, even from his wife, and is hesitant to convey anything to anyone. She probably knows little to nothing about his childhood and is obviously occupied with her own (relatively petty) concerns. It is hard to imagine where else he would open up at then in the naked arms of a woman who challenges him.

Don’s demeanor towards twin #2 shows he does’t go for simply cheap thrills when he cheats on Betty, whch is in stark contrast to a more mainstream approach to adultery like Roger. His “you’re selling too hard” line managed to be pointed advice and a reminder of his position. This is yet another reason why he opened up to Rachel, not only the physical attraction but the spiritual/emotional.

Even with Don’s existential crisis, it was Roger with the most on the line. You have to hand it to John Slattery being so unabashed with the part. It’s hard to believe this is the same guy who plays the walking bag of cliches on Desperate Housewives. Fucking surreal, actually. He manages to be sympathetic yet despicable, and the audience isn’t really grief stricken when he gets sustains his heart attack and confronts his wife and eventually his daughter. The lack of eagerness to see him recover probably correlates with him riding a girl half his age like a horse, then pining to want to “eat her skin”, and “suck her blood like dracula”. It’s a damn shame Roger Sterling is set in present day, he’d have to be a internet porn king of some kind. Actually, strike that. It’s probably great that he fictionally exists in the 60’s.

This snap shot pretty much sums up the lifestyle of Roger Strerling. And Robert Plant. And Isiah Thomas.

Carol’s confession struck me as odd, because I’m not sure if she’s had more than two lines all season, now we’re supposed to be distraught that her roommate won’t succumb to the revelation of her spontaneously wiley charms? I guess my bias is starting to show, because I really didn’t mind. Carol, a spoiled princess living out of daddy’s wallet is clearly unaware of how to address her obvious homosexuality, and when she finally does, the person Carol’s pined for, for years, shoots Carol down by sleeping with a random schlub, just to emphasize her heterosexuality. Pretty harsh. But maybe its so relatable because Joan is a fucking goddess, I’d be devastated as well. And I don’t have any repressed issues with my sexuality. Or, at least none that I’m fully aware of.

Other notes-

-Never seen The Apartment, but picked up on the significance of the reference as Joan left the office with Cooper. Her having to bite her tongue (though we found out Cooper is aware of their relationship) and write out all of those notices in the middle of the night seemed daunting. Then Joan pushing the elevator button after Roger earlier dismissed the notion of a white, female elevator operator that was portrayed in the movie.

-Kind of a coincidence, but the same day I watched this, I watched Colbert Report and he had a guest on pimping this website. Between the interview and this series, its been a joy watching the birth of superficial politics.

-Pete and Peggy’s verbal spat did nothing more than solidify how meant for each other they are. They’d be the type of married couple that only had sex after they destroyed everything in their house.

The writing on this series is amazing, here are some quotes that were either funny, or illustrated and explained so much about the character that they need to be echoed:

“You don’t like my driving, who do you think taught me?” -Betty about her father
“He’s gray and weak, his skin was like paper” -Don, without hesitation after Rachel assured him that she wasn’t closing her account with them regardless.
“This is all there is and I feel like its slipping through my fingers like a handful of sand.” -Don, explaining his disbelief in an afterlife
“Don’t waste your youth on age”. -Cooper, to Joan after Roger’s heart attack.

Just a great episode, and a fantastic way to ring in the news of their renewal. Tonight, Peggy is used some more, and Pete continues to be meddlesome.

I suppose now is a suitable time to confess that we’re not going too get to any of the new series on ABC this week. Despite our best efforts to watch television we otherwise would have no interest in watching, we were negligent and opted for a movie last night. And now find ourselves short of available free time. On the other hand, The Lookout was damn good. If your looking for some other film recommendations, might I suggest that, along with King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters (if your fortunate enough for it to be playing in your city) and Eastern Promises, those are far better ways to spend your idle time than Carpoolers and Cavemen.

To the recap we go…

Not much change from episode one to episode two. Some people won. Some people lost. For the most part the people who won were virtually ignored. These episodes are just cannon fodder for the actual strategic and dramatic elements of the game . This time we were privy to a tool bag former model named Dave who’s anything but an Adonis, and a she-male wrestler named Ashley with tits that could inhabit a smurf village for all I know. That was the basic storyline. And since we found neither of these people likable or entertaining or relevant, nor do we think either of them have much longevity in them, we were kind of disinterested. At least in the first episode you have the benefit of renewal. A new setting, being introduced to the contestants, etc. But this? This is just more of the same without that benefit.

We got a bit of a subplot with the winning team. Early in the episode a three person alliance is formed between the three of the more bland contestants in the game. Aaron, Amanda and some guy that claimed to be a stewart in the first episode to the poker playing guy. It seems ill-advised, given that there are still eight people in the game. But they assume they can probably find two people willing to piggyback them without revealing their alliance until they feel comfortable doing so. Or until it is obvious.

Speaking of poker playing guy: Jean-Robert (JR), is alienating his teammates with his idle behavior around camp. But claims its all a part of his strategy. Whatever, dude. I know several professional poker players. And you know why they’re professional poker players? Because they’re fucking lazy, and don’t want to work. Do I blame them? Of course not. But their poker skills were refined and developed, not God given.

The challenge was one of those gratuitous, roll around in a puddle of muddy water and have all of the contestants yank off each other garments while attempting to roll a ball through one of two equidistant points. Fei-Long, the winning tribe from last week, wins this one in a landslide. I don’t believe we even see the half of the court Zhan-Hu wants to be in (Fei-Long’s territory, if you will). They get to steal one member of the other team until the next challenge, and said person is given a clue that he/she is to read by him/herself. They choose Jaime, the fetching blond coed. Sorry.

Dave’s insistence on building a water block proves worthwhile when the rain causes the camp to flood. He is really proud of himself, which is all well and good, but why not just build the fire on higher elevation. I mean, I’m not privy to all their conditions, nor am I a forest ranger, but this does seem logical.

Jaime discovers the clue she received is actually directions for a clue to the whereabouts of the Hidden Immunity Idol (HII) that she must offer to one member of the other team. They bicker in front of her, it means nothing this early. She ultimately gives it to Leslie, the Jesus freak, not based on a shared faith or any other non-spiritual bond, but because from what she has been able to ascertain, she believes Leslie is the weakest link. Poor woman. I’m if in the same position, I’d prefer if someone just came out and made their disdain for me known.
Anyhow, she immediately tells Todd the stewart, and he conveys what we’re all thinking, Leslie is codependent. Or something along those lines.

At the Immunity Challenge, they need to smash through two walls with a giant wooden battering ram then solve a puzzle. Essentially every other challenge, but in China. The difference in this challenge is essentially James, the physically daunting gravedigger. The guy’s a total hoss and I cannot believe he isn’t playing a professional sport of some kind. Fei-Long ends up winning immunity, leaving Zhan-Hu to banish yet another cast member. Not surprising when you consider James probably accounts for the strength of at least two members from any tribe in Survivor history, much less this emaciated cluster of deficients.

I’m picturing a series of 50 and up white men sitting with Les Moonves cackling their asses off at this being played on their high-def flat panel.

Dave the model owns up to the loss when they arrive back at camp. He tells the tribe to blame him and not themselves because he stumbled a bit. They posture for the camera a bit and its left pretty undecided as to who’s going home: Ashley or Dave.

At Tribal Council (TC), everyone keeps quiet set aside those who are directly spoken to, and even when they are they remain as neutral as possible, so goes these matters. Ashley complains about Davce being defensive. Well, you are attacking him. What exactly is he supposed to do? Ashley and Dave are entirely passive-aggressive going after each other, until Michelle speaks up about not enjoying the experience. A lack of food and success will do that to you, then she gets all snippy and I just feel embarrassed for her because it seems so unprovoked. Dave is at least respectable when voting her out, she calls him “Zoolander”. Speaking of which, the votes go as such:
Ashley
Dave
Ashley
Ashley
Ashley
For whatever reason, Michelle is in tears. Wait, I know why, because she just humiliated herself for no reason. Well hold on, she voted Ashley out. So she spoke out against the majority yet voted with them? Color me flummoxed.

Anyway, is the outing agreeable? Well, there isn’t really a sound argument for anyone else. Even Dave. His tribemates are complaining about his assertiveness. But it seems like we’re at the point with Zhan-Hu that it is necessary. He never made food a focal point, which others wanted to prioritize, and they probably should have. But what was stopping them from setting up their own fire and producing their own sustenance? If Ashley and Michelle and whoever else had taken the initiative, not only might they have won the immunity challenge, even if they didn’t the rest of the tribe would probably be so grateful for the food and so tired of Dave’s pestering ways that they would have kept her around. But since everyone is seemingly reliant on the person Ashley wanted gone, well, that makes the task a little more challenging.

Since there have been exactly zero pilots that we’re following this fall season (that includes you as well, Dirty Sexy Money, even though I implied you had a glimmer of hope), we’re left with a blank slate the majority of the week. For the record, South Park kicks off its new season tomorrow at 10pm, but since we’ll be driving to South Carolina for a couple football games then (South Carolina-Kentucky Thursday night, Clemson-Va. Tech Saturday) we’ll have to get to it and The Sarah Silverman Program the following week, what with that blank slate and all.

There are a few pilots coming up this week on ABC I might try and get around to previewing. Namely Pushing Daisies, Carpoolers and Cavemen, its all a matter of how much time we can find over the course of next week. Outside of the former we’re not anticipating a positive review for any of them. Anyways, here’s some long overdue link

This article from Tim Goodman deliberates what makes Dexter so appealing. Obviously, it’s violence. We watched the first two episodes that were posted online, and while we could see the appeal, the main character was too unlikeable and the series relied too heavily on shock value for our taste.

Seinfeld apparently has a man-crush on Alec Baldwin. While it makes sense it wouldn’t be a fellow comedian, and not to say Baldwin isn’t a great comedic or dramatic actor, but doesn’t this seem like an opposites attract situation? Seinfeld has always cracked jokes on actors who take themselves too seriously. And while I like Baldwin’s work, he definitely seems to fall into this category. This is like if George Carlin admitted a long time admiration for the head of Goldmann-Saxx.

What is he funny or something?

What a surprise, Jon Stewart’s sarcasm didn’t translate well. Literally. This doesn’t seem to be a newfound development, its rare that countries not named Canada or those located in Europe can detect such humor. And even then, it seems an exception to the rule.

Exploit kids on television for CBS to turn a profit: limited protest. Have said kids slaughter chickens for said exploitation: bring on the rallies of people dousing pedestrians in blood over murdering animals. Really, you have to love this country sometimes. What a freak show.

Here’s a map labeling the location of the fictional settings on Mad Men. While I think its the best new series since Arrested Development, and best new drama since The Wire, this is odd. I know the characters are multi-dimensional and as realistic as it gets, but…people realize this is fictional, right?

It looks like “The View” (which I still refuse to italicize) is up in overall ratings with Whoopi Goldberg, but down amongst younger female viewers since her hiring. While I don’t believe for a minute that men in this country are regularly tuning in for Whoopi Goldberg, that’s what the numbers indicate. So I guess my question is, who gives a fuck as long as the overall audience is supposedly larger?

And finally, though you’ve probably already heard, Mad Men has been renewed for a second season. Not exactly a startling development given its popularity for a basic cable series, but a pleasure to report, none the less.

Back tomorrow with a day early Survivor recap.