I’m still thinking about Thursday night’s TV. Partially because it took me until yesterday to finish watching all of it,  and partially because it made me cry. Twice.

For the sake of full disclosure I should admit that it’s around that time of the month where I’m feeling a little more weepy than usual. (Other things that have recently made me cry: a poem, watching Dan in Real Life, watching America’s Sweethearts.) I mean, I’m not exactly bursting into tears left and right, I’m just… pre-disposed. And Thursday night’s television took that pre-disposition pony and rode it all around the park until I was sitting on my couch, swiping my eyes and going, “What the hell just happened?”

And why was it so awesome?

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It is a rather well-known fact that quite a few dudes (one example being our beloved staff writer Brett) think that two ladies doing the nasty is totally hot. It is an oft commented-upon pop culture phenomenon that Hollywood likes to cash in on, from House’s Thirteen (among others — see also: Callie of Grey’s Anatomy, Angela of Bones) gallivanting up and down the Kinsey scale to Katy Perry’s famous debut ode to exhibition lesbianism. It’s titillating (see what I did there? Punny, right?) and edgy to have two girls hook up on-screen, and is counted as a win-win. Not only does it make your show look modern and progressive (usually — it can be and mostly is handed poorly, but at least it’s handled), but it brings in the casual dude watcher who’ll tune in week after week in hopes of catching a lip-lock between two ladies. And yet, very rarely do you ever see it even hinted at that two dudes might also want to do the do with each other.

There are a few good reasons for this. For starters, female sexuality tends to be far more fluid than male sexuality. This means when you’ve got two ladies hooking up, it’s easy to write it off when it’s convenient. It was just a phase, you can say, or, that girl was special to this character, and now she’s found the right man to settle down with and have a million babies. And even if the two chicks do end up in television’s happily-ever-after land, lesbians are the ones that settle down with their sperm donor kids and Subarus. Plus, it’s hot. It’s totally hot. Girls and guys agree it’s hot, right?

And then there’s the distinctly American prejudice against guys being gay. Read the rest of this entry »

They say that procedurals repeat really well, and after looking at the lineup for this evening, I wonder if that’s because they are the only shows that networks show in repeats. It’s Wednesday night and there’s no Lost, I just can’t get on board with that. I can’t be the only one that would watch the whole season again in repeats, right?

• CBS kicks off the night with repeats of The New Adventures of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried. They finish off Wednesday with a couple of those patented CBS procedurals: Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
• NBC has two Law & Order repeats after I’m a Celebrity (boy networks throw that word around pretty liberally these days).
• If you love reruns of reality shows then the CW is the place for you tonight: America’s Next Top Model is followed by Hitched or Ditched, with the fun starting at 8.
• TBS has a run of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne starting at 8.
• TNT has two episodes of Bones followed by a repeat of Leverage (a very quotable episode, as Debbie pointed out in her review).
• If you didn’t have enough procedurals to choose from: USA has three repeats of NCIS starting at 8.

For a Thursday night, it’s slim pickins’ on TV. So why not abandon all pretense and just watch crap? Get off the networks and explore all that cable has to offer! No? Bridezillas isn’t your thing? Well, fine. If you’re going to be haughty about it, I’ve also included, Bones, 30 Rock and even a documentary!

• Guilty pleasures don’t get much guiltier than Bridezillas on WE. You can relive the top 10 crazy-ass moments at 8:00.
• If that’s not for you, Booth gets kidnapped on Bones, tonight on FOX at 8:00.
• I’ve been busy with my Weeds Virgin Diaries lately, so I’ve got pot on the brain. CNBC is airing a special on the matter, called Marijuana, Inc. You can check it out at 9:00 and maybe see a real-life Nancy Botwin!
• At 9:30 is the “Senor Macho Solo” episode of  30 Rock, in which Liz has a crush on a little person.
• Kendra, the eponymous show about Hef’s ex-girlfriend, is equal parts hilarious, bizarre, and terrifying. If you missed it the first time, you can catch the series premiere on E! at 10:00
• Man. We’ve got Bridezillas and Kendra. Why not keep the trashy TV train rolling with an episode of 16 and Pregnant on MTV at 10:00?

To the special effects geniuses over at Bones:

Well done, my friends…and, Ew!

Over the last four seasons you have given us some truly horrid dead bodies for Bones and the rest of the Squints to probe and pick at, deciphering clues along the way find the murder weapon and killer. Some of the most memorable were the bodies that were eaten raw by maggots or rats. Your coup de grâce was the liquified body in the bathtub way back in season two. That one was a definite meal stopper!

Those were child’s play compared to this week’s carcas! You really outdid yourselves this time around. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of decomposing bodies before but not one that, uh, foamed as much as this one did.

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This week’s episode of Bones was awesome. I was actually a little teary-eyed by the end. Considering that I had no doubt during the entire episode that Booth would be saved from The Gravedigger, the fact that it moved me was no small feat. I have been a little frustrated with some of the other shows I am watching this week, so I’d like to give Bones a round of applause for keeping things fresh.

At first, when Teddy Parker (Noel Fisher) showed up as a ghost, I was skeptical. I thought, “Why are they doing this? Why are they giving Booth a hallucination? Is it to help Booth get out of here? Is it somehow to give closure to Booth?” I wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but Parker quickly won me over. And then another reason for his presence occurred to me. Read the rest of this entry »

What did you think of “Double Trouble in the Panhandle,” the first of the two episodes of Bones to air last week? It was certainly one of the riskiest episodes we’ve seen from our dynamic duo of Brennan and Booth. The risk? Their unadulterated glee at getting to go under cover as circus performers to catch the murderer of two conjoined twins.

The show completely threw itself into this assignment, from the elaborately painted trailer used in their disguise to the brilliant Russian costumes they don for their act. The episode was no-holds barred, from the phony accents to the knife-throwing itself.

So, what did you think? Was it too much? Was it slightly embarrassing to watch? Or was it brilliant and funny, thrilling in its very audacity? I really think that the show falls into one of the extremes. I don’t think there was a middle ground for this one. Read the rest of this entry »