American Idol has become such a ratings juggernaut that it’s always a little surprising when something actually tops it. The Grammy Awards were able to do just that last week, thanks to the best ratings for the show since 2004. The other big event for the week was the return of Lost on ABC. It didn’t approach the Idol or Grammy numbers, but it did finish the week as the number one scripted show in the adult demo. Granted, it was the season premiere, but knocking off Grey’s, House, 2 ½ Men, and Big Bang Theory is always worth noting. On cable, the big surprise was probably the performance from USA’s White Collar and Psych. Both were well down from last week. Read the rest of this entry »

After covering this week’s Big Bang Theory, it feels like I have already written this week’s installment of Quotation Marks. It was certainly a laugh-a-minute episode, and I brought back my favorite two quotes from the episode for the weekly edition. Also making its — to my memory — first appearance is White Collar. It is nice to see House show up as well, but we seemed to have misplaced Psych this week. Did you see it? What were your favorite quotes?

Supernatural

“Time travel was difficult even with the powers of Heaven at my disposal.” — Castiel
“Which you cut off….” — Sam
“So what, you’re like a Delorean without enough plutonium?” — Dean
“I don’t understand that reference….” — Castiel Read the rest of this entry »

Obviously, the big news in TV this week was the return of Lost. They’re back at LAX! No they’re not! Juliet’s alive! No she’s not! It was all very confusing, but there was one smoky moment that stood out for me. In other TV news, Modern Family got pixilated, the study group on Community finally acknowledged the growing sexual tension, and NBC’s Thursday night was quite musical. Here are some of the things that didn’t suck this week:

John Locke is a Dot-Matrix printer on Lost.

Wait, that’s not right. John Locke is actually the smoke monster! Except, it’s not John Locke, it’s the Man in Black. Right? Right? I’m so bad at Lost that I don’t even know. However, what I do know is that Ol’ Smokey laying waste to an entire room full of people was pretty bad ass.

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That’s right folks; this episode of The Office was directed by the actor better known as Jim. But if your inclination is suddenly to blame him for how off-track things are … well, I guess you could blame Jim for his part in doing the unimaginable and making Pam and Jim unlovable, or for making office Jim a bore, but John Krasinski probably has little to do with that.

And this episode sunk with some major guns ablazing. Kathy Bates was the big name advertised, but I could have easily done without her. Instead, the great guest for me was Christian Slater, as our guide on the journey that is Sabre, Dunder Mifflin’s new corporate parent. If that whole TV show thing doesn’t pan out for him (it could go either way right now), there are always corporate gigs to fall back on! Read the rest of this entry »

There’s something scary going on in television that we haven’t seen in a very long time, if ever. I can define it in one word: stability. After years where viewers waited on their couch edges waiting to hear if their favorite shows have been renewed, we’re now getting a number of very early seasonal pickups for some popular shows.

Part of this, most likely, is to enable the networks to keep or grow the audience they already have for these programs. The other part — and this is purely speculation —  is they want to show their viewers that they aren’t the train wreck that NBC has become. Either way, the early renewals show us a partial picture of the 2010-11 season. And, so far, it looks pretty good.

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The complete implosion of Heroes just never gets old. I’m fascinated by it, and the show found an all new low last week. Over the years we’ve seen plenty of shows fall from their once lofty heights. But to see one crash so fast, and in such a dramatic fashion, is a rare thing. On a brighter note, the week that was also brought a host of premieres, including 24, Human Target, White Collar, Burn Notice, and American Pickers. And if you want to see some really crazy numbers, click through and take a look at what iCarly did. Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s post could have been quotes from the Golden Globes from top to bottom. We hosted a Live-Blog/Chat, and had a blast watching the award show together. Check the chat transcripts for all of our snarky commentary, and many, many quotes from acceptance speeches. I’ve provided a couple here, but i’ts only the tip of the iceberg.

The Golden Globes

“I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man is Mel Gibson.” — Ricky Gervais, introducing Mel Gibson while drinking a beer

“First of all, I’d like to thank Susan Downey for saying Matt Damon is going to win, so don’t bother to do a speech.” — Robert Downey Jr. at the beginning of his acceptance speech

“If you want attention, sit next to Paul McCartney. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many texts in my life.” — Julia Roberts

Quotes from the Ether

“It’s a shame that all this montage episode told us is how crappy the show’s been lately, by showing us when it was great.” — Keith McDuffee, about The Office
“That’s what every montage episode does.” — Rich Keller

“Keith is right… if Lynch didn’t get the nod, I really don’t see Glee getting it….” — Ivey West (You know, me), about 10 minutes before I ate those words in the Globes Live-Blog/Chat

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